The Rhetorical theory by Abdul Qahir Al-Jurjani (471 - 474 H) on intention: A perspective on the theoretical foundation for Arabic Intentional Rhetorical Theory of Eloquence

Abstract

Abstract

The research on the theoretical foundations for Arabic Rhetorical Theory of Eloquence is hardly easy. What has been written is unambiguous as it seems; however, terminological as well as theoretical confusion remains embedded in the theoretical foundations of their architecture. The founders of Arabic Rhetorical Theory of Eloquence had such encyclopaedic experts who produced seminal reference books that constituted the pillars for the linguistic theory of Arabic. However, the terminological and conceptual repertoire for such theory was clear for their time and domain expertise but remain hard-fetching and equivocal for the contemporary researchers and students for their insufficient knowledge to derive he theoretical background to foreground such terminological and conceptual repertoire.

I have come to a conclusion that the concept of “intention” has been primed by Abdul Qahir Al-Jurjani (471H- 474 H) in his Rhetorical theory via network of theses on the rhetoric of eloquence. I believe that such theses assumed more than what is currently conceptualised on the relationship between meaning and intention. Specifically, the classical scholars included so much of theoretical constructs and arguments that presuppose prior theoretical knowledge, necessary for the interpreter to be capable of properly decoding and interpreting them to meet a scientific understanding of them.