The Role and Contribution of Al-Jahiz in The Development of Arabic Balaghah Knowledge: A Study of Al-Bayan Wa Al-Tabyin and Al-Hayawan

This article discusses works on the classification of Arabic rethoric at early stage of its development focusing on the role contributed by al-Jahiz through his two famous books, namely al-Bayan wa al-Tabyin and al-Hawayan which had trigged some movements among Arab scholars after him to engage actively in the classification of Arabic rethoric. Through his observations and studies on Arabic poems and prose, he managed to introduce particular terms and categories in rethoric that brought to the emergence of al-Macani, al-Bayan dan al-Badic classification as what we find in the modern Arabic rethoric books today.