Textual Intentionality in al-Jahiz’s Treatises: The Treatises of ‘Al-Tarbi‘ and ‘Al-Tadweer’ as a Model

Abstract

This study examines textual intentionality in al-Jahiz’s Treatise on Al-Tarbi‘ and Al-Tadweer, highlighting the hidden meanings beneath the text’s surface manifestations, which are cloaked by the aesthetic function of narrative. The research emphasizes the speaker’s linguistic competence, enabling the production and interpretation of highly varied linguistic structures across diverse communicative contexts, revealing the author’s intentional and argumentative purposes. It demonstrates how al-Jahiz employed language, argumentation, and satire to achieve his intellectual and communicative aims. The treatise serves as a practical model illustrating how intentionality interacts with textual structure in Arabic literature, linking purpose with rationale, context, and the intended end for which judgments or meanings are derived from the text.