Jahiz and digression

Abstract

Al Jahiz Abu Uthman Amir Ibn Bahir, author of books Al-hayawan (Animals) and Al-bayan wa al-tabyin (Elegance of Expression and Clarity of Exposition) and Islamic theologian, intellectual, and litterateur known for his individual and masterful Arabic prose. Al-Jahiz's writing is characterized by deliberately contrived disorderliness and numerous digressions. He tries to utilize such a technique to provide reader(s) with a variety of issues but under a single topic. The individuality of his alert and lively style lies in a concern for the exact term, a foreign word if necessary, picturesque phrases and sentences which are nearly always unrhymed, but balanced by the repetition of the same idea in two different forms. In fact, using digression increases reader's knowledge. The present article aims to examine Al-Jahiz's digression, quantity, and its cause according to his aforementioned books.Keywords: Al-Jahiz; Digression; Al-bayan wa al-tabyin; Al-hayawan