Context and Its Terminological Apparatus

A Reading of the Concept of Context in Arab Criticism

Abstract

Although classical Arab scholars did not formulate a theory of context in the same way it was later conceptualized in modern critical discourse—particularly with the emergence of a self-standing contextual theory in the work of English linguist J. R. Firth—the absence of a fully articulated contextual theory in its modern sense does not mean that early Arab thinkers were unconcerned with context. A close examination of various branches of Arab intellectual discourse—such as the sciences of ḥadīth, linguistics, rhetoric, and literary criticism—reveals that the notion of context (siyāq) was a fundamental concern that helped shape these fields into fully developed disciplines within the Arab-Islamic intellectual tradition.
What matters most for the purpose of this study is the discourse of literary criticism, which is rich with references to context and clearly demonstrates that this concept played a key role in shaping critical discourse—both in terms of determining critical judgments and in organizing the associated terminological framework. This suggests that context is deeply rooted in Arab critical heritage. Despite the varying ways Arab critics approached this concept, they shared an underlying concern with all the elements that define context as a critical category. Otherwise, how could we explain their detailed interest in the communicative process and the conveyance of meaning? And how can we account for the evaluative criteria and critical judgments they developed—criteria that preoccupied both classical and modern critics?
Moreover, their concern with context led to the development of a terminological apparatus that reveals their capacity to establish a critical discourse grounded in systematic and scientific inquiry. On this basis, the axes of this research are defined as follows: first, we will explore the concept of context from the perspective of contemporary Western theory; within this framework, we will then examine how Arab rhetoricians and classical critics conceptualized context; finally, we will conclude by outlining the key terminological components that formed around this notion.