Maqama (literally 'assemblies') are an (originally) Arabic literary genre of rhymed prose with intervals of poetry in which rhetorical extravagance is conspicuous. The 10th century author Badi' al-Zaman al-Hamadhani is said to have invented the form, which was extended by al-Hariri of Basra in the next century. Both authors' maqamat center on trickster figures whose wanderings and exploits in speaking to assemblies of the powerful are conveyed by a narrator. Manuscripts of al-Hariri's Maqamat, anecdotes of a roguish wanderer Abu Zayd from Saruj, were frequently illustrated with miniatures.
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