{And that He is the laughing and the weeping, and that He is the dead and the living};

(Surat Al-Najm / Verses: 43-44);

Al-Jahiz (d. 255 AH / 869 CE) said - in his book 'Al-Bakhla' - commenting on his usual intelligence on this noble verse: "So he put laughter in the shoes of life, and he put crying in the shoes of death!"

It is this subtle definition that makes life equivalent to laughter that replaces Islamic culture with the place of welcoming and encouraging humor and fun.

The correct understanding of the teachings of religion was not a struggle for fun in the lives of Muslims, nor did it encourage frowning and frowning in their relations. Their Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, used to make his companions laugh and joke with them, and he did not say - with that - anything but the truth, and so were the first classes of companions and followers, who accepted life as much as they provided for the best provision for the afterlife, and knew fun and joy, and humor and joking were not a sin or even a mistake.

And laughter has forms and forms;

It is sometimes for the sake of entertainment, and sometimes for the purpose of guidance and education, as it is employed a lot in political and social criticism, and it seems that the latter type is the most and most famous in Islamic social history, and from here Al-Jahiz was the most prominent social critic in the history of Muslims, as he employed all the elements of humor and circumstance And denigration and denunciation to reveal contradictions and shortcomings and phenomena of social, religious and political.

Therefore, Al-Jahiz and his satirical literature were the title of a huge social transformation that took place at the height of the Abbasid Caliphate era.

The barriers between cultures, ideas, races and religions were broken, and the cities of Islam such as Baghdad and others were a theater for science, arts, crafts and commerce, as well as councils for literature, amusement and "enjoyment and sociability".

Laughter among Muslims was not only a psychological relaxation, but rather they tried to make it mental, cognitive and artistic functions, especially since laughter responds to the intelligent and the prophet, and the market of humor and joke is based only on revealing contradictions and oddities, and all of these techniques stimulate thinking and direct it to break patterns And the monotony in the life of people who are erect and noisy, in addition to its formulation and filling it with “the warmest anecdotes and the most comprehensive meanings” is a reductive literary rhetoric art, and therefore laughter artificially inhabits the heart of its owner and recipient adjacent to the statement and eloquence!

And since the expansion of life and the "exploration of urbanization" - in the Khaldounian expression - often mean multiple paths of imbalance and deviation, and this means that great doors are opened for humor and broader horizons are open to sarcasm;

Hence, we often find humor transformed from just a spontaneous societal culture into an industry and a craft with conditions and origins, generating abundant income for a number of clowns and satirists who used to make the general public laugh.

The atmosphere of these laughing "artifacts" was filled with generous clouds of tolerance and open dealings.

In many cases, the authorities turned a blind eye to these satirical arts due to the sharp political humor in them, and perhaps that condonance was in order to relieve distress and crowded repression in people’s chests, and perhaps because it carried indicators read by the authority to monitor the extent of societal objection to some of its policies or Her men.

With the expansion of wealth, the councils full of comic makers multiplied, and poets and writers mastered this art, and thus its activities spread to all classes of society in practice and study.

Therefore, it was remarkable that funny was considered one of the colors of literature and culture.

So, blogs of classifications were singled out for her, such as Al-Jahiz’s book in “The Book of Al-Mahhak”, which unfortunately did not reach us, and his contemporary Al-Zubayr bin Bakkar Al-Qurashi (d. 380 AH / 991 CE) - in his book 'The Index' - the names of nine books that dealt with the phenomenon of laughter in the era of the Abbasids under the title "Anecdotes", saying that "it is not known who wrote it"!!

And if we are ignorant of the authors of those laughing and funny works;

Its titles indicate the entrenchment of what we might call “humor literature” in the early centuries of Islam, which is what this article intends to stop at to see how Muslims expressed their “natures” of laughter and humor until they became specialized societal “artifacts”?

And how did their heritage diversify in the jokes to the extent that can be described as amazing and amazing?

And how did the historians of societal culture see this phenomenon, write down its stories and the hadiths of its councils, document its origins, and translate for its owners, as they did with all the sciences and arts?

A veteran phenomenon of


laughter and humor in the Arab heritage has a rich history since before Islam.

That is because laughter and crying are two synonyms that have been instilled in the depths of man, as indicated by the aforementioned verse of Surat Al-Najm, as many philosophers referred to this fact when some of them defined man as “an animal that laughs and laughs together.”

Arabic dictionaries abound with abundant material on humor and laughter, with terms that refer their meanings to good spirits and banter.

Al-Jahiz also cites evidence that the Arabs, in their ignorance, celebrated laughter until they made it one of the moral optimism in their names. Divorced” and “Flaiq”!!

Therefore, the heritage of the Arabs in pre-Islamic times exuded scenes of humor and laughter, including what was mentioned by Al-Din Al-Damiri (d. 808 AH / 1406 CE) - in his book “The Life of the Great Animal” - that the Mazina tribe captured Thabit, the father of the companion Hassan bin Thabit Al-Ansari (d. 54 AH / 675 CE). And they said, "We will not take his ransom except a goat!"

And if the meanings of laughter, ridicule, and humor in the pre-Islamic era revolved around its dominant cognitive and cultural context at the time, which was famous for degrading the violator;

The era of Islam came to correct these concepts, and put laughter, humor and banter in a disciplined moral framework.

It has been proven that the Prophet, peace be upon him, was joking with his companions, so that some of them were surprised by that, asking: O Messenger of God, you are joking with us!

He said: “I only say the truth.” (Sunan Al-Tirmidhi).

The Companions relied on this prophetic example.

So the attitudes of laughter, laughter, and humor were known from them, so that Al-Bukhari (d. 256 AH / 870 CE) - in “singular literature” - narrates on the authority of the follower Bakr bin Abdullah Al-Muzani (d. 108 AH / 727 CE) that “the companions of the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, were exchanging (= throwing each other) with watermelons; If the facts (= seriousness and responsibility) were the men.”

Some of the Companions were famous for their humor, such as Al-Nuayman bin Amr Al-Ansari, who was translated by Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani (d. To the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, and he says: This is what I gave to you, so if its owner comes asking for the price of Al-Naiman, he brings it to the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, and says: Give this the price of his belongings, and he says: Did you not give it to me? And he commands its owner for its price!!

Then a new era was formed during the time of the Umayyads, in which adherence to the gifts and morals of religion eased, and manifestations of civilization spread until manifestations of humor were evident in all classes of society: from politicians and ruling men to tribes and individuals;

In their era, it is narrated - as Ibn Abd Rabbo (d. 328 AH / 940 CE) recounted in the 'unique contract' - that he disputed with the governor of Iraq Ziyad bin Abih (d. 53 AH / 674 CE) Banu Rasib and Banu Tafawa in a boy they called him, "and they all established evidence with Ziyad; So I was confused about Ziyad.

Sa`d al-Rabiyyah, from Bani Amr ibn Yarbu`, said: May God set the ruler straight. I have seen the judiciary in this boy.

And I witnessed the evidence of Bani Rasib and Al-Tafawa, so give me the judgment between them.

He said: And what do you have in that?

He said: I see that it should be thrown into the river.

So Ziyad took his shoes and got up, overcome with laughter. Then he sent to him: I forbid you to joke in my gathering.

He said: God fixed the prince, something came to me that I was afraid to forget.

Ziyad laughed," despite the intensity and prestige he was characterized by. "Ziyad was more lethal than the pilgrims for those who contradicted his whims," ​​according to what al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi (d. 748 AH / 1347 CE) narrated in "Biography of the Flags of the Nobles."

In the books of heritage there are many stories, poetry and prose, in which manifestations of humor are evident in the Umayyad society, and it included all layers of this society, including judges, scholars, poets, and others, and we convey to you a sample of them from what Ibn Abd Rabbo narrated in the “unique contract.”

In this era, the circumstance of the imam, the jurist, the popular hadeeth (d. 109 AH / 728 CE) appeared to us, who used the humorous method of negligence, and he was known to joke about him, so he was a lot of mockery of fools.

One day, a foolish man entered Al-Sha’bi while he was sitting with his wife in his house, and said: “Which of you is Al-Sha’bi?” Al-Sha’bi said: This is it! He pointed to his wife, and said: What do you say - may God set you right - about a man who cursed me on the first day of Ramadan, will he be rewarded? He said: If he says You fool, I hope for him!!

And another man said to him: “How can you be called the woman of Satan? He said: That is the kind of marriage we witnessed!!”

Civilized elegance


As for Ash’ab bin Jubair (d. 154 AH / 772 CE) - who is the mawla of Abdullah bin Al-Zubayr (d. 73 AH / 790 CE) - he was famous for greed and his very cynical and laughable stances, and he was a man affiliated with the generation of followers, except that he was reprimanded for that due to the scarcity of what he took from Talking about the generation of companions;

He said, defending himself: He memorizes one hadith, so they said: Speak to us!

He said: Nafeh told me (the mawla of Abdullah bin Umar bin Al-Khattab, who died in 117 AH / 736 CE) on the authority of Ibn Umar (d. 73 AH / 693 CE) on the authority of the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, who said: Whoever has two traits is written with God pure and sincere. They said: This is a good hadith. So what are these two traits? He said: Nafeh forgot one, and I forgot the other!!

Among the funny situations of Ash’ab’s greed is that he “stopped a woman making a wicker dish, and he said: To make it bigger, and she said: Why? (d. 291 AH / 904 CE) - in his book 'Al-Fakhir in Proverbs' - that the people of the city met with him one day to harm him, "and he said to them: There is a wedding in the house of Bani So-and-so, so go to it, for it is more beneficial for you.

So the boys went off and left him.

When they left, he said: Perhaps what I told them about that is true, so he followed them towards the place he described to the boys, but he did not find anything, and the boys nailed him there, so they hurt him!

The news of Bedouins coming from the depths of the desert abounds with non-artificial situations that tell us that humor was ingrained in Arab souls and societies close to Islam at the time.

Imam Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597 AH / 1200 CE) narrates - in his book 'Akhbar al-Zarfa' wa al-Majminin' - that a Bedouin was blessed by God to memorize the Qur'an, but he was able to employ it for another purpose. The fig with the clothes it was on, and the bedouin noticed it.. So he sat in front of him, and the man said to him: Have you improved anything from the Qur’an? your clothes!!

And Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi (d. after 400 AH / 1010 CE) narrates - in 'Al-Basir wal-Dhakhayr' - that he was presented to a Bedouin as a muzzle, and he said: What does this do?! They said: From milk and wheat! !

And it came in “Explanation of Maqamat al-Hariri” by Abi al-Abbas Ahmad bin Abd al-Mu’min al-Qaisi al-Sharishi (d. 619 AH / 1222 CE) that “a Bedouin was presented as a muzzle, but he did not like it, and he ate something from it and went out and entered the mosque while the imam was reciting: Surah Al-Ma’idah / Verse: 3), and the Bedouin said: And the retarder, do not forget it, may God fix you!!

And Ibn al-Jawzi tells - in 'Akhbar al-Zarfa' - that an Arab was the ruler of Bahrain - and at that time it meant most of the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula - so he gathered its Jews and said to them: “What do you say about Jesus bin Maryam? They said: We killed him and crucified him! He said: By God, you will not go out until you pay blood money, so he took it from them.”

Al-Tawhidi (d. after 400 AH / 1010 CE) - in 'enjoyment and sociability' - tells that some sane Arabs asked: "Do you want to be crucified in the interest of the nation? He said: No, but I would like the nation to be crucified in my interest!"

With the advent of the Abbasid era (132-656 AH / 750-1258 AD);

The integration between Muslims of their different races deepened, new social, religious and moral phenomena emerged, and economic methods of life differed.

This led to writers, poets, and the general public daring to enter the field of humor and laughter, so humor became an "entertainment industry" based on origins and literature, until the Hanbali Judge Najm al-Din al-Maqdisi (d. "Playing and joking... with what makes people laugh," and he said, "Some people make money from this."

Early observation


and it seems that the Abbasid society has accepted these jokes with open arms, so that Al-Tawhidi calls for him, saying in 'Insights and Repercussions': “Beware of hearing these things that are considered comical, that are being ridiculous, because if you strike at them as a sentence, your understanding will be lacking, and your temper will become dull. As long as you do not make yourself taste the joy of joking, its anguish is the grief of seriousness, and it was printed in its original composition on weighting between the disparate matters.

Then he presents us with a philosophical point of view that falls within what is called today political sociology, and the various uses of the joke and the political rumor that fall into it.

He says that people "must have - in the good age, moderate time ... and continuous goodness - humor and kindness ... If the king turns a blind eye to this oath, he will live loved, and if he denies them, he will make them enemies!"

Al-Jahiz comes as the pinnacle of satirical literature and writers in the Abbasid era, and the researcher Ahmed Abd al-Ghaffar Ubaid notes - in 'The Literature of Humor at Al-Jahiz' - that he "was using the humorous framework to direct his targeted criticisms and his bitter sarcasm at social ills and moral deficiencies that he saw as fascism in people from around it.”

Al-Jahiz criticized - in his style mixed with sarcasm and his sweet, sweet language - social ills such as lying, miserliness, and the wonders of social phenomena that he saw in peoples.

For example, he dealt with the phenomenon of storytellers and preachers who did not acquire real knowledge and deluded the public in his time that they were scholars who did not make dust difficult for them, and actions and sayings were issued from them with a great deal of strangeness and humor.

Among them is Abu Ka'b al-Qas, who was a contemporary of al-Jahiz, and he mentioned one of his anecdotes - in his book 'The Animal' - that he used to tell what was in his quiver in the Atab Mosque in Old Baghdad every Wednesday, "so he locked them up on some days and they waited for him for a long time. So while they were like that when his messenger came, he said: Abu Ka'b says to you: Go away, for I have become drunk today!"

And Ibn al-Jawzi narrates - in 'Akhbar al-Jawzi and Fools' - that this Abu Ka'b once said in his stories: "The name of the wolf that ate Joseph was such-and-such; they said to him: Joseph was not eaten by the wolf! He said: It is the name of the wolf who did not eat Joseph!" .

Al-Jahiz reveals to us - in his book 'The Animal' - that his inclusion of laughter and humor is intended in his writings to energize and delight the reader.

Al-Jahiz made "The Message of Squareness and Rotation" a unique example of humor based on sarcasm and ridicule.

When he threw arrows of his criticism towards a man who was contemporary with him and was called Ahmed bin Abd al-Wahhab;

He ridiculed his appearance and manners, his shallow culture and his ignorance.

Then he mocks the ignorance of some of the Arabs of his time in grammar.

It was reported - in 'The Statement and the Demonstration' - that Al-Rabee bin Abd al-Rahman al-Salmi al-Basri - perhaps the preacher of the Mu'tazilites, a student of al-Hasan al-Basri (d. 110 AH / 729 CE) - asked a Bedouin: “Do I mock Israel? He said: So am I a bad man? I said: Do you trade in Palestine? So, I am strong!!

Al-Jahiz - with his intelligence and brilliance - stands with the laughter of the miserly sect in Abbasid society, and begins with the most miserly people of his time - as people saw them - and they are the people of the city of Meru in particular and the region of Khorasan in general.

He says in his book 'Al-Bakhla': Our companions said: Al-Marwazi says to the visitor if he comes to him and to the sitter if he sits for a long time: Did you have lunch today? So it does not become in his hand on both sides, little or much!!

New templates


While these writers and some jurists and historians were given the ability to write down and collect news of laughter and humor, others were given the ability to draw comic scenes in a uniquely diagnostic way, which brought together a number of heroes in one situation, like those we see in theaters and movies these days.

So if the Persian writer Abdullah bin Al-Muqaffa (d. 142 AH / 760 CE) was the first pioneer - in the language of Dhad - for this literary color by translating the book “Kalila wa Dimna”, whose collector, through the words of the heroes of his animal stories, mentioned types of wisdom and literature;

The peak of the diagnostic comedy was born with the birth of the art of maqamat at the hands of Badi’ al-Zaman al-Hamdhani (d. 398 AH / 1009 CE), then after him al-Hariri al-Basri (d. 516 AH / 1122 CE).

The majority of these maqamat are characterized by humor and wit, such as the 'Hamdanian maqama', in which al-Hamdhani depicts a debate held by Saif al-Dawla al-Hamdani (d. 356 AH / 967 CE) to describe a horse;

Likewise, the “Maqama al-Maristaniyya” in which he portrayed a mad man who unleashed his wrath on the Mu’tazila sect;

And the “Al-Maqama Al-Halwaniya” in which the hero of his imaginary shrines, Issa bin Hisham, went to a bath to wash and invoke, so if he was facing very funny situations between two men who competed for him or to wash his head and stop him rather, and the hero tells his story concluding with the two men’s appeal to the owner of the bath, in a scene of great laughter and irony !

On the level of "marginal people";

We see countless situations of humor that spread throughout that era, and it is a funny humor that was built by its prevailing environment, time and culture.

Ibn al-Jawzi narrated - in 'Akhbar al-Gharaf wa al-Tamajini' - that a man went to the Kufa market to buy a donkey;

He said to the donkey seller: “Ask for a donkey for me, not with the little one who is despised, nor with the old one who is well-known. God transformed the judge into a donkey, I bought it for you!

The circle widened until it reached the teacher of the boys in the book.

Abu Al-Anbes (Al-Saymari, who died in 275 AH / 888 CE) said: There was a teacher in Baghdad who insulted boys, so I entered him and a sheikh with me, and we said: It is not permissible for you. On it are harsh, severe angels who disobey God as He commands them and do not do what they are commanded, so he said: These are not angels, nor Arabs, nor Kurds, so we laughed until one of us urinated in his pants!!

Comic personalities Comic figures


were famous in that era, such as Juha and al-Jammaz Muhammad bin Amr al-Basri (d. 250 AH / 864 CE) and Abu al-Ayna (d. 283 AH / 896 CE).

Between the middle of the first and second centuries AH / the seventh and eighth centuries AD, Juha lived, or “Juha: Noah Abu al-Ghusun,” according to what was stated in the book “Al-Wafi al-Wafiyat” by the writer-historian Ibn Aybak al-Safadi (d. over a hundred.” Juha was one of the most famous people with anecdotes and popular humor in that era and what followed.

Al-Damiry narrated - in 'Hayat Al-Animal' - that the governor of Kufa, Musa bin Isa Al-Hashemi (d. 168 AH / 784 CE), passed by Juha one day while he was digging in a desert area, and he said to him: “What do you think, Aba Al-Ghusn, for what do you dig? He said: I buried There are dirhams in this desert, and I am not guided to its place. Musa said to him: You should have put a sign on it. He said: I did. He said: What? He said: A cloud in the sky was shading it, and I do not know where the sign is now!

The sense of humor and satirical blogging did not stop at the borders of Iraq, but rather extended it to other nations, peoples and countries.

In Damascus, its men wrote down many of these satirical positions, including what was reported by the tribe of Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 654 AH / 1256 CE) - in "Mirror of Time" - that the judges' pride, Nasrallah Ibn Buqat al-Ghifari al-Masri al-Hanafi (d. 650 AH / 1252 CE), was asked by the writer Al-Taj Othman Al-Dimashqi (d. after 624 AH / 1227 AD) - to give him a gift to whomever he associates with, so he bought a donkey for him!

He wrote to him, thanking him for this favor, saying:

"Fakhr al-Qudat" bought me a donkey ** of beauty, joy and freshness, with which he preserved


my honor and built my house ** May God bless his house with donkeys!!


Fakhr al-Qudat regretted his deed with the crown Othman, "and he used to say if he saw him - and the two houses became famous - if God had willed, I would not have issued a fatwa or bought."

According to the narration of the writer historian Ibn Saeed al-Maghribi al-Andalusi (d. 685 AH / 1286 CE) in his book 'Al-Muqtaf from Azhar al-Tarf'.

In Egypt, a man called Abu Hurairah al-Masry (d. 250 AH / 864 CE) was famous for his quick wit, and he used to work as a copywriter and a lover of drink and wine.

And the historian Al-Raqiq Al-Qairwani (d. 417 AH / 1027 CE) tells us - in his book 'Qutb Al-Surour in Descriptions of Wines' - that while he was returning one day to his home from a picnic near the "Pond of Al-Habash" - outside the city of Fustat at the time - when a knight met him on his horse "it is not clear He changed his eyes from him, so he greeted and said: Where do the sheikhs come from? So I said to myself: Is the man going crazy! And who is seeing with me?

And I turned around, and if a herd (= a herd) of goats was driven by a shepherd, I said: We attended the marriage of the mother, may God protect her!

He laughed until he almost fell out of his saddle, so when it was after a few days, Prince Bukair met me in his convoy, and he said to one of his servants: Follow me with the man, so I was terrified of that, so when I entered on him, I saw a bag in his hands containing three thousand dirhams (= today approximately 4000 US dollars). He said to me: This is the right to attend that marriage.

I knew that he was the one who found me!!

It is remarkable that we see some personalities in heritage books described as "funny", and they are a category of people who seem to have taken laughter as their profession, including in Iraq Abu Alqama al-Numeiri (d. before 225 AH / 840 CE), who was funny to people with his stances and words that tended to be strange to the language. It is not used, as al-Hafiz Ibn Asaker (d. 571 AH / 1175 CE) narrated about him - in the 'Tarkh of Damascus' - that he asked his boy one day in al-Bakour: “Oh boy, did you sound the definitions?! And the boy said to him: Zaqfilm! He [the boy] said: What are the atifs?! He said: The roosters. He said none of them shouted!!

And the scholars have a share


, and we have known that there are other laughers for the general public in other parts, people used to gather on them in the streets, as Al-Abshihi (d. To the side of the Tigris, and I found the people gathered, and I stood up and saw a man standing, making people laugh, and he was called Ibn Al-Maghazili.

Just as the laughers used to deceive the councils of the senior people, and they would meet with them "in a room ... painted with regrets";

As Al-Tanukhi (d. 384 AH / 973 CE) says in “Nashwar Al-Muhadara”.

Rather, they even frequent the homes of the submerged.

Like the joker of Medina, whom the sources mistreat us to mention his name, and he was summoned by a Hashemite man to fall into his trap and laugh at him at night;

So he gave him a drink that agitated his intestines, and Al-Hashemi kept laughing at his funny friend who had to relieve himself in front of him.

As the owner of the "unique contract" narrates.

As for "Adham the Funny", he was a quick-witted black man who disassembled, and Abu Saad al-Abi al-Razi (d. 421 AH / 1031 CE) tells us - in his book 'Nathr al-Durr in the Lectures' - that this Adham was told one day that the Abbasid governor of Medina ordered that people not come to mosques and chapels Except in black clothes, and the color of black was a slogan for the Abbasids.

He said intuitively: "I come out naked!"

He indicates that the blackness of his skin is enough for him to wear black clothes!!

Rather, the phenomenon of fruit with anecdotes and salt became famous among the general jurists, hadith scholars, and men of knowledge, and they called that “acidification”;

The jurist or the hadeeth used to deviate from the scope of his lesson, which is characterized by sobriety, to mention anecdotes and jokes in order to ward off the boredom of his students. In that, Imam Al-Sakhawi (d. 902 AH / 1498 CE) narrates - in "Fath Al-Mughith Bi Sharh Alfiya Al-Hadith" - on the authority of "Ibn Abbas (d. 69 AH / 689 CE) that he If he elaborated on the Qur’an and the Sunnahs, he would say to those who had it: Acidify us, i.e. delve into poetry and news.

Among the scholars were those who were descriptive in nature, such as Suleiman bin Mahran, known as “Al-A’mash” (d. 148 AH / 766 CE), whom Al-Dhahabi described in “Al-Sir” as “the Sheikh of Islam, the Sheikh of reciters and speakers”;

He said - according to al-Dhahabi - to his students one day: "I was informed that if a man slept until morning - meaning he did not pray [the morning] - the devil left him, so he urinated in his ear, and I see that he had armed himself in my throat tonight! That was because he was coughing."

Rather, Qadi Ibn Khalkan (d. 681 AH / 1282 CE) - in "Deaths of Notables" - narrates that he came to his class and his students eagerly await him.

He said to them intuitively: “Had it not been for someone in my house who is more hated to me than you, I would not have gone out to you”, meaning his wife!

Al-Dhahabi tells - in "Biography of the Nobles" - that Al-Amash came to him one day, "so he took out two loaves to them, and they ate them, so he entered and brought them half a rope of cuttlefish (= a type of grass), so he put it on the cupboard (= the eating table), and he said: You ate the sustenance of my children, This is the food of my sheep, so eat it!!

Al-Dhahabi also mentioned - in "Biography of the Flags of the Nobles" - that the sheikh of Islam, the hadith scholar Yazid bin Harun al-Salami (d. 206 AH / 821 CE) "was a joke", although he was the one who was the safe caliph who feared his masses so that he did not dare to announce the saying of the creation of the Qur'an until Yazid died!!

Clowns and


caliphs The councils of caliphs and sultans were not devoid of humorous and funny personalities, so that many caliphs, sultans and kings took the "funny" among their close associates.

With these laughers, the caliph or the sultan would forget the concerns of politics and the burdens of the subjects.

And it seems that the caliphs and sultans who laughed were part of a larger entourage, the "regrets" whose conditions were clarified in the book "The Crown in the Ethics of Kings" - attributed to Al-Jahiz, and he mentioned among them that "Nadim al-Malik should be moderate in nature ... healthy in limbs and morals ... good fruit and conversation taking from the good and the bad a share.

The truth is that the phenomenon of laughing at kings existed before the advent of Islam and was known to Arabs and non-Arabs.

Alexander the Macedonian (d. 323 BC) was funny, and the Sasanian Persian kings were funny as well.

And the historian Al-Masoudi (d. 346 AH / 955 CE) told us - in 'Meadows of Gold' - that the Persian king Sapur (d. 379 CE) had a joker named "Marziban".

In the Arabian Peninsula before Islam, we found this phenomenon.

Al-Dhabi said in “Proverbs”: “Al-Nu’man [Ibn Al-Mundhir, King of Al-Hirah (d. 609 AD)] had a breast-feeding brother from the people of Hajar, who was called Saad Al-Qarqara, and he was one of the people who laughed ... and he used to make Al-Nu’man laugh and admire him.”

And it was said to the gurgling, and he saw the effect of wealth on him from his association with Al-Nu’man: “We only saw you adding fat and dripping blood?

Al-Dhabi also mentioned a personality named: Al-Ayyar bin Abdullah Al-Dhabi (d. 609 AD), and he said: "Al-Ayyar was a heroic man who used to say poetry and make kings laugh."

And it seems that these laughers were always among the people of favor and closeness and benefited from the bids of kings and caliphs.

Some of them even left huge sums of money from their babysitting and making them laugh after their death, such as Mahmoud bin al-Dabbagh (d. 614 AH / 1217 CE), the funny sultan Abi Bakr bin Ayyub (d. 615 AH / 1218 CE), who "left a lot of money";

As Al-Maqrizi (d. 845 AH / 1441 CE) mentions in “Behavior to Know the Countries of Kings.”

Many of these clowns were famous for the laughing stock of the caliphs.

Such as “Ataa” (d. after 65 AH / 684 CE), the laughter of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik bin Marwan (d. 86 AH / 706 CE), and Abu Kamel (d. after 86 AH / 706 CE), the laughter of his son al-Walid bin Abd al-Malik (d. 96 AH / 716 CE), and al-Ghadiri al-Madani ( D. 161 AH / 779 CE) Funny Yazid bin Al-Walid bin Abd al-Malik (d. 126 AH / 744 CE).

And Imam Al-Shafi’i (d. 204 AH / 819 CE) narrated to us - according to what Al-Hafiz Ibn Asaker attributed to him in the “History of Damascus” - that this Al-Ghadiri ate at Yazid’s, so Al-Wadha (= a kind of dessert), “And Yazid said to him: Do not overdo it, for he will kill you!” My house - by God, O Commander of the Faithful - is at the funeral alley. I have not seen the funeral of anyone who was killed by the model!

And in the time of the Abbasids;

At the head of the caliphs’ laughers is Abu Dalama Zand bin Al-Jun Al-Asadi Al-Kufi (d. 161 AH / 777 CE), who was approached by the Abbasid caliph Abu Jaafar Al-Mansur (d. 158 AH / 772 CE) and his son Caliph Al-Mahdi (d. 169 AH / 785 CE).

Abu Dalama was very witty and famous for his cowardice and bad manners. He often mocked himself, his black wife, and his children in his poems that made the caliphs and their entourage laugh.

Al-Mubarrad (d. 285 AH / 898 CE) mentioned - in his book 'Al-Kamil' - that the cousin of Abu Jaafar al-Mansur died, "so he attended her funeral and sat down to bury her, and Abu Dalama the poet approached, and al-Mansur said to him: Woe to you, what have you prepared for this day? He said: O Commander of the Faithful, your cousin This is what I showed you a while ago. He said: Al-Mansur laughed until he was amazed, that is, until laughter seized him.

Transgression and limits


The caliph Harun al-Rashid (d. 193 AH / 809 CE) had a funny name called Ibn Abi Maryam al-Madani (d. after 173 AH / 789 CE), and he was a man of "a news jaw, so Al-Rashid was impatient with him, and he did not get tired of him because of his good anecdotes and indecency."

As al-Dhahabi mentions in the 'History of Islam'.

Imam Ibn Katheer (d. 774 AH / 1372 CE) - in “The Beginning and the End” - said that this son of Abi Maryam was living in the caliph’s palace, so “one day Al-Rasheed alerted him to the morning prayer, so he got up and performed ablution, then caught up with Al-Rasheed, while he was reading (And what is mine that I do not worship who broke me (Surat Ya-Seen / verse: 22); Ibn Abi Maryam said: I do not know, by God? Al-Rasheed laughed and interrupted the prayer, then turned to him and said: Woe to you!

Just as Al-Rasheed had another funny man named Al-Murtami (d. After 173 AH / 789 CE), Imam Ibn Al-Jawzi says - in “Al-Zaraf and Al-Matajnin” - that he was famous for eating before sunrise, “and he was told: If you wait until the sun rises! Beyond Samarkand (a city located today in Uzbekistan), I do not know what happens on the way.”

He sees that the sun may be late in rising or may not rise!

As for the Caliph al-Ma’mun (d. 218 AH / 833 CE), he loved these joking personalities who were not caring about life and people. Among them was a Baghdadi man named Thumamah al-Mudhaf (d. after 206 AH / 821 CE), who was famous for his orgies and humor.

And Imam Al-Mu’afi bin Zakariya Al-Jariri (d. 390 AH / 1001 CE) tells us - in “The Righteous Babysitter” - that this Thumamah went out one day near Morocco drunk, and if he was with the safe caliph in a group of his entourage, “When Thumamah saw him, he turned his way, and Al-Ma’mun saw him So he hit the flank of his mount and followed him, and Thumama stood up, and Al-Ma’mun said to him: Thumamah?! So Al-Ma’mun laughed until he praised him for his mount, then he said: May God’s curse be upon you! He said: You see, O Commander of the Faithful!

واتخذ الخليفة العباسي المتوكل (ت 247هـ/861م) –الذي عُرف بـ"إيثاره الهزل والمضاحك" كما يقول المسعودي في ‘التنبيه والإشراف‘-مُضحكًا اسمه "عُبادة المخنَّث" (ت بعد 232هـ/847م)، كان يصاحبه في رحلاته ولا يقدرُ على الاستغناء عنه. ويحكي صاحب ‘العقد الفريد‘ أن المتوكل "أمرَ به فأُلقيَ في بعض البرك في الشتاء فابتلَّ وكاد يموت بردًا؛ قال: اخرُج من البركة وكُسي، وجُعل في ناحيةٍ في المجلس؛ فقال له: يا عبادة، كيف أنتَ؟ وما حالك؟ قال: يا أمير المؤمنين، جئتُ من الآخرة! فقال له: كيف تركتَ أخي [الخليفة] الواثق؟ قال: لم أجُز بجهنم! فضحك المتوكل وأمر له بِصِلة".

وقد امتدَّت هذه الظاهرة إلى الأندلس؛ حيث اتَّخذ الخلفاءُ وأمراء الطوائف عددًا من هؤلاء المهرّجين الذين ربما استوردوهم من المشرق كما كانوا يستوردون المغنين والمغنيات، بل وحتى كبار الأدباء والشعراء الذين استقطبوهم بالإكرام وجزالة الجوائز ورواتب المناصب.

ومن هؤلاء المهرجين أبو الحسن البغدادي الملقب "الفُكَيْك" (ت بعد 484هـ/1091م)، كان مُضحكاً لأمير إشبيلية المعتمد بن عبّاد (ت 488هـ/1095م)، وقد رآه المؤرخ الأندلسي ابن بسّام الشَّنْتَرِيني (ت 542هـ/1147م) فوصفه –في كتابه ‘الذخيرة‘- بأنه "حلو الجواب مليح التندر، يُضحك من حضر…، وكان الفكيك قصيرا دميما، ورأيته يوماً وقد لبس طاقاً أحمر على بياض، وفي رأسه طرطور (= قُبَّعة طويلة) أخضر، عمَّم عليه عِمّة لازَوَردْية، وهو بين يديْ المعتمد بن عباد يُنشد شعراً قال فيه:
وأنتَ سُليمان في مُلْكِه ** وبين يديك أنا الهُدْهُدُ! فأضحك مَن حضر"!!

ويبدو أن بعض هؤلاء الندماء المضحكين للخلفاء والسلاطين مَن قد زاد على القرب من السلاطين، وأضافوا إلى الأموال التي كانت تُغدق عليهم توليهم مناصبَ عاليةً شريفة؛ فقد عيّن السلطانُ المملوكي الأشرف بَرْسِبَاي (ت 841هـ/1437م) وليّ الدين محمد بن هاشم الشِّشِيني/الشِّيشِيني الشافعي (ت بعد 839هـ/1435م) ناظرًا للحرم المدني الشريف في سنة 839هـ/1435م وكان "مُضْحِك السلطان وأحد خواص ندمائه"؛ فاعتبر المؤرخ ابن شاهين الظاهري الحنفي (ت 920هـ/1515م) –في كتابه ‘نيل الأمل في ذيل الدول‘- هذا التعيين سابقة غريبة تعدّ "من النوادر" في أعراف التعيين المتبعة في هذا المنصب منذ زمن السلطان صلاح الدين الأيوبي (ت 589هـ/1193م).

تدوين مستوْعِب
يمكن القول إن ظاهرة الفكاهة والضحك قد تمكنت من المجتمعات الإسلامية، وتجلت في التراث العربي شعرًا ونثرًا وتأريخًا، بل وتدوينًا مستقلاً؛ لأنها استحكمت أولا في النفوس والمجتمع، ثم صارت صنعة لعدد من المهرّجين وأصحاب المساخر ممن دأبوا على إضحاك عامة الناس، فضلاً عن الخلفاء والسلاطين الذين اختصّوا ببعض هؤلاء كما رأينا.

وكان من اللافت إفراغ الوسع المعرفي للتأليف في هذا اللون من ألوان الثقافة؛ فقد أفرده الجاحظ بالتأليف في ‘كتاب المضاحك‘ الذي ذكره عبد القاهر البغدادي (ت 429هـ/1039م) عرَضا ضمن كتابه ‘الفَرْق بين الفِرَق‘، ويبدو أنه لم يصل إلينا؛ وصنّف معاصره الزبير بن بكار القرشي (ت 256هـ/870م) المسمى: ‘كتاب الفكاهة والمزاح‘، وهو أقدم كتاب يصلنا في هذا الموضوع.

وذكر محمد بن إسحق النديم أو ابن النديم (ت 384هـ/995م) -في كتابه ‘الفِهْرِسْتْ‘- أسماء تسعة كتب تناولت ظاهرة الضحك في عصر العباسيين تحت عنوان "النوادر" -بينها كتاب ‘نوادر جحا‘- وقال إنه "لا يُعلم مَن ألفها"، لكنها تُنبئ عن ترسخ ما يمكن أن نسميه "أدب الفكاهة" آنذاك.

كما أورد النديمُ كتابَ أحمد بن محمد بن عَلُوجَة السِّجْزِي محمد بن عَلُوجَة – وقيل: عَلُّويه السِّجِسْتاني- الملقب "جِرَاب الدولة" (توفي في القرن الرابع) وعنوانُه ‘ترويح الأرواح ومفتاح السرور والأفراح‘، ووصفه بأنه "لم يصنَّف في فنه مثله اشتمالا على فنون الهزل والمضاحك"؛ وكتابا آخر لرجل يُسمى "البَرْمَكي" -شهد بداية الفترة البويهية- عنْوَنه أيضًا بـ‘النوادر والمضاحك‘.

ويبدو أن شخصية جحا أصبحت نموذجًا لتراث الأدب الشعبي الفكِه الذي كانت تطاله يد الزيادة عبر العصور، حتى خصَّص له العلامة جلال الدين السيوطي (ت 911هـ/1505م) كتابًا أسماه ‘إرشاد من نحا إلى نوادر جُحا‘؛ وكتاب السيوطي لا يزال مخطوطًا للآن.

وفي شأن جحا؛ يحسن هنا التنبيه على أمرين: أولهما أن الذهبي ميزه -في ‘السِّيَر’- عن أبي الغصن ثابت بن قيس الغفاري (ت 168هـ/784م)، وقال: "أخطأ مَن زعم أنه جحا صاحب تيك النوادر"! وثانيهما أن المؤرخ الزِّرِكْلي (ت 1396هـ/1976م) نبه -في كتابه ‘الأعلام‘- إلى أن جحا هذا غير "جحا التركي": خوجه نصر الدين (ت 683هـ/1284م) الذي طُبع له كتاب بنفس العنوان: ‘نوادر جحا‘.

وبالعودة إلى تراث الفكاهة العربي؛ يبدو أن جدلاً دار حول المزاح والضحك في فترة متأخرة نسبيًا، مما اضطرّ الفقيه والمحدث بدر الدين الغزّي الشافعي (ت 984هـ/1576م) لأن يُفرد لهذه المسألة كتابه "المراح في المزاح"، وقال في مقدمته: "أجبتُ بأنه (= المزاح) مندوب إليه بين الإخوان والأصدقاء والخلان؛ لما فيه من ترويح القلوب، والاستئناس المطلوب، بشرط ألا يكون فيه قذف ولا غيبة، ولا يُحرّك الحقود الكمينة".

وعلى درب ابن الجوزي الذي تحدث عن دافعه لتأليف كتابه ‘أخبار الظراف والمتماجنين‘؛ ألَّف قاضي غرناطة ووزيرها أبو بكر ابن عاصم المالكي (ت 829هـ/1426م) كتابه "حدائق الأزاهر في مُستحسن الأجوبة والمضحكات والحكم والأمثال والحكايات والنوادر"، وحرص فيه على جمع أخبار الضحك والفكاهة لتكون "فيه تسلية للنفوس، وترويح للأرواح، واستجلاب للمسرات والأفراح، وراحة الخاطر، وأنُس المجالس والمسامر".

وفي مقابل هذا الفريق؛ نجد اتجاها آخر يعارض هذه الظاهرة، وكان على رأسه جموع من علماء الزهد والأخلاق والتصوف؛ ممن حضّوا على "قلة الضحك" و"ترك المزاح"، كالذي صنعه الإمام الزاهد وكيع بن الجرّاح (ت 197هـ/813م) في كتابه ‘الزهد‘.

بل إن بعضهم كان سببا في "اعتزال" بعض المُضحكين لمهنة الإضحاك؛ فقد روى ابن عساكر -في ‘تاريخ دمشق‘- أنه "قَدِمَ سفيان الثوري (ت 161هـ/778م) المدينة فمرّ بالغاضري وهو يتكلم ويُضحك الناس، فقال له سفيان: أما علمت أن لله عز وجل يوما يخسر فيه المبطلون؟ قال: فما زالت تُرى في الشيخ (= الغاضري) حتى فارق الدنيا"!

This is a tour of the Arab heritage related to the culture of humor and laughter.

It is a glimpse that we could not keep up with all its news and works.

We have seen the rootedness of this phenomenon in people of all social classes over the centuries since ancient times.

Let us realize with him that fun and laughter are an integral component of the Arab and non-Arab personality.

And it is history - given our amazing heritage - that has not yet been written right to be written!!