the arabic literary theorists vis-avis al-sariqah al-shiʻriyyah (plagiarism) in the medieval period : ḍiyāʼ al-dīn ibn al-athīr (d. 637ah) as a locus classicus

this disquisition revolves around the hypothesis of a literary cognoscente ḍiyāʼ al-dīn ibn al-athīr (d. 637ah) on the concept of al-sariqah al-shiʻriyyah (plagiarism), which was one of the burning literary issues among the literati during the third century of hijrah, in his chef- dʼouvre themed al-mathal al-sāʼir fī adab al-kātib wa al-shā ir. though a coterie of connoisseurs in the field of literary praxis before ibn al-athīr, for example, ibn ṭabāṭabā (d.322 ah) in his iyār al-shiʼr ; al-askarī (d. 395ah) in his kitāb al-ṣinā atayn : al-kitābah wa al-shi r and ibn rashīq al-qayrawānī (d. 456 ah) in his al-ʼumdah had delved into the signification and classification of al-sariqah al-shi riyyah, albeit in a less tenuous manner. underscoring ibn al-athīr as a trailblazer in his exceptionally unique and unprecedented venture into the classification of al-sariqah al-shi riyyah, abd al-latīf sayyid al-harīrī avers we have seen that ḍiyāʼ al-dīn ibn al-athīr has treated the topic in an appropriate manner. he made the classification after he had reminisced, regurgitated and digested the patrimonies of his predecessors. due to this, we rely mostly on his classification and terminologies; we used them as a torch in our way… . the only logically intuitive inference from this proclamation by al-harīrī is the reinforcement of the rarity and infrequency of this literary endeavor by ibn al-athīr. in the light of the foregoing this modest paper is set to give an in depth analytical exposition of this unusual classification by ibn al-athīr in a well-defined and distinctly translucent manner.