Miserliness between Reality and Imagination in the Arab Literary Heritage

Abstract

Miserliness is a social phenomenon known to peoples since ancient times. Although the Arab has long taken pride in generosity and liberality, he has never ceased to recognize miserliness and to satirize misers. Islamic law reinforced the value of generosity and condemned miserliness, which further strengthened the Arabs’ attachment to liberality. However, the intermingling of different peoples within the Islamic state contributed to its spread. The Arab literary heritage has preserved numerous accounts, anecdotes, and poems about misers across the ages in books of reports and literary encyclopedias. Al-Jahiz, in particular, presented miserliness in a narrative form, especially from the perspective of realistic documentation. As for the corpus of Arabic poetry, it abounds in poetic images based on exaggeration, often supported with satirical humor.