The Maqamat of Al-Hariri

Maqamat Al-Hariri and Al-Oqilat Literary Culture

A Passion for Reading and Collecting Books While Traveling

By Ibrahim bin Sulaiman Al-Washmi

My father—may Allah have mercy on him—accompanied the Al-Oqilat on journeys to Iraq, the Levant, and Egypt and traded alongside them. He loved learning and literature. Whenever the Al-Oqilat stopped in a town, he visited its bookshops, purchased rare and valuable books, and read its newspapers and magazines.

He regularly visited bookshops in Baghdad, Amman, Damascus, Jerusalem, and Cairo. Among the books he bought, which remain in his library, are: Al-Mustatraf fi Kull Fann Mustazraf; Sayd Al-Khatir; Hayat Al-Hayawan Al-Kubra; and Lataif Al-Maarif, among others.

The Sinjariyyah Maqamah

He particularly treasured a copy of Maqamat Al-Hariri purchased from a Damascus bookshop. He read its stories often and asked us to read them. Al-Hariri composed the Maqamat in elegant rhymed prose. One passage reads:

“Al-Harith bin Hammam related: I once returned from the Levant, bound for the City of Peace, in a company of Banu Numair and companions possessed of goodness and provisions. With us was Abu Zaid Al-Saruji—the restraint of the hasty and solace of the bereaved. Our arrival in Sinjar happened to coincide with a feast given by a merchant, who invited townspeople and villagers alike to his public banquet…”

My father’s final journey with the Al-Oqilat was in 1355 AH. He then laid down his traveler’s staff and opened a shop in Buraidah with a friend.