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The ‘Maqama’ are a collection of picaresque Arabic tales written in the form of rhymed prose in which rhetorical extravagance is conspicuous. The style was invented in the 10th century by Badi al-Zaman al-Hamadhani and extended by Abu Muhammed al-Qasim ibn Ali al-Hariri of Basra the following century. The protagonists in the tales are invariably silver-tongued hustlers, especially the roguish Abu Zaid al-Saruji, who trick the narrator and who live on their wits and dazzle onlookers with displays of acrobatics, acting and by reciting poetry.
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Keywords: 1240, abu, al, al-hariri, al-harith, art, arts, asia, asian, banquet, ce, hariri, iraq, iraqi, islam, islamic, literature, maqama, maqamat, mesopotamia, muslim, painting, wasiti, world, zayrd