AL-Majma

journal Al-Majma, vol. 22 information

Author Author — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

المجْمَع: أبحاث في اللغة العربية والأدب والفكر

مجلة دوريّة محكّمة تصدر عن "مجمع القاسمي للغة العربيّة " – أكاديميّة القاسمي

ISSN 2077-3587

ISSN 2078-0028 (Online)

Dystopia in Contemporary Syrian Fiction: A Reading of Khaled Khalifa’s Lā Sakākīn fī Maṭbakh Haḏih al-Madīnah [No Knives in This City’s Kitchens]

Dr. Ahmad Dragma — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This research unpacks depictions of dystopia (the corrupted city) in contemporary Syrian fiction, focusing on Khaled Khalifa’s novel Lā Sakākīn fī Maṭbakh Haḏih al-Madīnah [No Knives in This City’s Kitchens]. The novel serves as a literary model that reflects the tragic Syrian reality under an authoritarian regime amid a devastating war. It offers a critical lens on the harsh realities of life under dictatorship, as the author, writing from his hometown, Aleppo, portrays the suffering of its inhabitants since the Ba’ath Party’s rise to power in 1963. Accordingly, this research seeks to uncover how the novel presents various manifestations of political and social repression, as well as expressions of loss and fear. It also explores the relationship between the ruling party and the people, as the party’s use of all means of torture and violence drove citizens to flee the horrors of war through migration and exile.

By analysing the novel’s events, characters, and political developments, this paper sheds light on the different forms of dystopia in contemporary Syrian fiction. It assesses the extent to which it succeeds in portraying actual scenes of war and fear. In the Syrian context, fiction is not merely a literary work but also serves as a historical document that records the spread of corruption and its transformation into a fully realised dystopian space. Indeed, contemporary Syrian fiction reveals a terrifying image of the corruption of power, its institutions, and the media, as well as its relationship with the people who have been subjected to various forms of intimidation, torture, and imprisonment.

Narrative Time in Sheikhā Ḥilīwā’s Literature

Dr. Ilham Alhaib Foudy — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This research examines the concept of time in the writings and literary narratives of the Arab minority in Israel. It clarifies the relationship between time and the frequency of events within a narrative by arranging events in their different tenses – past, present, and future – across the duration of the story. More specifically, this study explores the types of temporal concepts in Sheikhā Ḥilīwā’s literary works, beginning with the notions of internal, subjective time and ego time, before moving to the notion of psychological time. In Arabic literary narratives, psychological time appears through anticipation or flashback carried out by the narrator, through an internal dialogue or monologue, revealing the character’s secrets and hidden thoughts. Moreover, the study sheds light on other notions of time, including linear chronological time and measured real time, and demonstrates their contributions to meaning generation.

Heritage in the Literature of Mohammad Naffaa: A Practical Semiotic Study of the Collections Al- ʾAṣīlah, Widdiyyah, Reeḥ al-Shamāl, and Kūshān

Dr. Iyad Al-Hajj — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines heritage in general, addressing its significance in the histories and cultures of peoples, as well as its role in preserving local knowledge and transmitting it to future generations. Heritage is an important aspect of the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel, deemed critical for safeguarding their national, cultural, and historical identity, especially amid serious threats of dissolution and assimilation into the culture of the Israeli Jewish majority. More particularly, this study delves into the topic of heritage as presented by the Palestinian minority writer Muhammad Naffaʿ, who extensively employed it in his literature, both longitudinally and laterally.

Recognising the critical importance of heritage in shaping Palestinian collective identity and preserving its foundations, Naffaʿ highlights the customs, traditions, values, and ethics that unite these people, including history, geography, literature, attire, commensality, public events, lifestyle, and folk proverbs and tales. Naffaʿ distinguishes himself from other writers by dedicating a substantial portion of his work to Palestinian heritage, employing this theme from the beginning of his literary career to its end—from the collection Al-ʾAṣīlah [The Original] (1975) to Ghubār al-Thalj [The Snow Dust] (2019)—and keeping it a central theme in his other literary texts. This study focuses on the short story Collections Al- ʾAṣīlah (1976), Widdiyyah (1976), Reeḥ al-Shamāl (1978), and Kūshān (1980), as a model of this conscious and intentional use of heritage, demonstrating that this theme occupies most of the collection’s pages and that this phenomenon, which characterises Naffaʿ’s literature, is not spontaneous but rather a conscious act.

The Image of the Worker and the Peasant in Rashid Hussein’s Poetry Ihab Hussein

Dr. Ihab Hussein — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article examines representations of the worker and the peasant in Rashid Hussein’s poetry collection. Hussein’s poetry offers varied depictions of “the worker” as both a victim of injustice and oppression and an agent of rebellion and revolution. Through these depictions, the poet conveys his understanding of workers’ suffering and his solidarity with them, presenting himself as a brother in hardship. Alongside this, Hussein’s poetry depicts the deprivation experienced by “the peasant” following the dispossession of Palestinian land and rights, with particular focus on the revolutionary consciousness that accompanies this state of injustice. Here, Hussein highlights the simplicity of the Palestinian peasant’s mode of life, which runs parallel to endurance and resistance against oppressive forces. Portraying the suffering of Palestinian workers and peasants is inseparable from the concerns of workers and peasants worldwide, indicating proximity to communist philosophy, as well as the concerns of indigenous people living under settler-colonialism.

From Mary to Fatima, and from Christ to Al-Husayn: The Formation of Redemptive Symbolism in Shiite Tradition

Prof. Khalid Sindawi — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study presents a comparative analysis of the figures of Jesus Christ and Al-Husayn ibn Ali within Shiite tradition, highlighting how the Shiite narrative intersects with Christian hagiography to affirm the sanctity of the Ahl al-Bayt (the Prophet’s Household). More specifically, it traces the concept of the divine election of the Family of Imran as a parallel to the infallibility (Ismah) of the Prophet’s Family. It also compares the Virgin Mary and Fatima al-Zahra to reinforce the latter’s sovereign status. Furthermore, the study addresses the glad tidings and miracles surrounding their births, their celestial naming, and the shared theological dimensions regarding their gestation periods and miraculous biological characteristics.

In other words, this study sheds light on the supernatural abilities and metaphysical knowledge (Ghayb) that characterise these figures, as well as the similarities in earlier prophecies of their tragic fates—specifically linked to themes of thirst and sacrifice. The study concludes that the Shiite collective consciousness reshaped Al-Husayn’s persona with ‘messianic’ traits, transforming his martyrdom into universal redemptive symbolism that transcends historical dimensions and depicts him as the ‘Saviour and Redeemer’. This symbolic utilisation was not merely imitation but a strategy to legitimise Husayni sanctity and elevate it to the rank of a prophet, leveraging the spiritual intersections between Islam and Christianity to construct a shared religious consciousness.

Linguistic Planning and the Language of Commercial Advertising an Analytical Study of Shop Signs in the Jordanian City of Irbid

Dr. Deema Khalil AL Rabadi — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines the use of language in commercial shop signs in Irbid, Jordan, in light of the relationship between language policy, as represented by the Jordanian Arabic Language Protection Law, and actual linguistic practices in the local commercial linguistic landscape. More particularly, the study analyses patterns of language use in shop signs, assesses compliance with official linguistic regulations, and investigates the motivations behind language choices and their relationship to perceptions of linguistic identity among shop owners and consumers. To do so, the study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach, using a questionnaire as the main data collection tool and administering it to a sample of 120 participants, including shop owners and consumers in Irbid. The data were then analysed using SPSS, employing frequencies, percentages, and appropriate statistical tests to examine the relationships between variables. The findings indicate that language use in commercial signage is characterised by multilingualism and linguistic mixing between Arabic, English, and colloquial varieties, with varying levels of compliance with language regulations. These patterns are associated with marketing and social factors that influence language choice and perceptions of linguistic identity.

The Politics of Mimicry and Resistance: A Critical eading of Transformations in Palestinian Children’s Literature in the West Bank (1987–2000)

Dr. Salwa Alinat — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article examines Palestinian children’s literature in the West Bank as both a cultural document and a vital space for postcolonial resistance, exploring transformations in its national narrative across two pivotal periods: the First Intifada (1987–1994) and the Oslo Accords era (1993–2000). Given the absence of a centralised national archive, the study relies on fieldwork to collect rare texts from authors’ private libraries and civil institutions. Through content analysis and the application of theoretical concepts by Frantz Fanon, Homi Bhabha, and Gayatri Spivak, the study argues that Palestinian authors have consciously challenged the notion that the subaltern is unable to speak under colonial hegemony, thereby transforming children’s literature from a marginal educational tool into a central arena for documenting historical narratives.

Furthermore, the study demonstrates a radical shift in resistance narratives. Stories of the First Intifada drew a sharp distinction between “us” and “them”—between the Palestinian Self and the Israeli Other—through the dehumanisation of the occupier and the glorification of collective Palestinian heroism. The Oslo era, however, reveals a more complex and ambivalent reality. In this phase, the focus shifted from direct engagement with the Israeli Other to Palestinian self-criticism and reflection on ideological and organisational divisions within society. Here, the authors employed irony and mimicry to deconstruct power relations while highlighting class differences, the impact of foreign funding, and the gendered constraints that subject women to “double colonisation”. Nonetheless, the corpus of Palestinian children’s literature in the West Bank between 1987 and 2000 forged an alternative space for resistance, enabling Palestinians to reconstruct a national memory threatened with erasure and to engage in a bold critical dialogue about the future state of society, free from direct political censorship.

Derivation Between Language Theory and the Language Instinct

Sanaa Jamal Abu Saleh, Prof. Mohammad Jawad An-Nury — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study explores the relationship between modern linguistic theory and the language instinct, linking these perspectives to the contributions of early Arab linguists such as Al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad al-Farāhīdī and Ibn Jinnī. It shows that Arabic is not merely an arbitrary conventional system but a language with an innate internal structure, reflected in phenomena such as major and greater derivation, root permutation, and letter alternation, revealing a deep linguistic awareness among early Arabs. The work of classical lexicographers in tracing and permuting roots shows that their efforts were grounded in an innate linguistic faculty and a refined phonetic and semantic intuition. Comparing these insights with Chomsky’s Universal Grammar (UG) and the Minimalist Program further demonstrates that Arab scholars anticipated concepts such as linguistic innateness, deep and surface structures, and the contextual shaping of meaning. This study also examines Saussure’s ideas on the signifier, the signified, and arbitrariness, demonstrating that Arabic blends social convention with natural sound. The meaning-relationship is evident in greater derivation and phonetic proximity.

Furthermore, the study emphasises the role of linguistic reasoning among Arab grammarians, grounded in analogy, transmitted usage, and linguistic taste, as an early form of modern linguistic thought. It affirms the principle of language economy, as seen in deletion and assimilation, which aligns with the Minimalist Program. Within this framework, Jenkins Lyle reinforces the biological view of language, arguing that linguistic ability is a natural, biologically rooted phenomenon embedded in the human brain, with generative grammar serving as strong evidence for this innate endowment. As such, Arabic possesses an internal language instinct, a powerful derivational system, and a coherent phonetic and semantic structure, all of which can be traced from Arabic linguistic heritage to modern linguistic theories.

Words of the People of Hell: A Rhetorical Grammatical Approach

Abd el Ouadoude Elboukili — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article seeks to uncover hidden aspects of the Quran, focusing on verses that address the rhetoric of the people of hell. It examines a diverse set of verses, their formulations, and the discourses they contain. More specifically, the study describes and analyses the cognitive and linguistic dualities in Quranic verses that directly tackle issues related to the rhetoric of the people of hell, shedding light on key rhetorical purposes and structural advantages across various discursive contexts. Since this matter is scattered across various chapters of the Quran, the article cannot cover it all. Hence, this paper is limited to verses in which the intended meaning is explicit.

Self-Intertextuality of the Arab Gulf Social Transformation in Abdulrahman Al-Mannai’s Play Rīḥat al-Hail [The Smell of Cardium]

Prof. Kamal Ahmad Ghonem — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study explores the theme of self-intertextuality in relation to the transformations of the Arab Gulf society in the play Rīḥat al-Hail [The Smell of Cardium] by the Qatari playwright Abdulrahman Al-Mannai. Here, self-intertextuality emerges as a re-articulation of personal experience within an artistic framework that intertwines the personal with the collective. This is manifested in Al-Mannai’s evocation of popular memory, the symbolic retrieval of Qatari cultural elements, and their deployment within a critical discourse that interrogates a rapidly shifting present. The study further reveals how the play reshapes Gulf dramaturgy through symbolic compression, orality-infused narrative techniques, folk storytelling, and introspective dialogue. As such, the dramatic text becomes a reflective arena in which the authorial self-negotiates its position vis-à-vis its social environment.

The research concludes that Rīḥat al-Hail [The Smell of Cardium] is a dramatic work that internalises the Arab Gulf’s sociocultural reality, serving as an artistic model that captures the tension between personal memory and collective transformation—particularly within Qatari society. It also shows how Al-Mannai revisits the anxieties addressed in his earlier works, Umm al-Zein and Maqāmāt Ibn Baḥr, specifically the erosion of traditional relations under the pressures of urbanisation and cultural alienation, thereby affirming the continuity of his critical theatrical project.

Phonetic Perspective on the Grammatical Suffixes of Arabic Verbs

Dr. Muhammad Ahmad Abu Eid — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study aims to explore the grammatical suffixes of Arabic verbs from a modern perspective. It challenges the traditional approach to these suffixes, which has focused on the written form rather than the spoken version. Consequently, it establishes a new framework for describing these suffixes, emphasising pronunciation over orthography. The research further highlights the mistakes made by early grammarians in their understanding of Arabic suffixes and how these errors led to a misinterpretation of Arabic morphological characteristics. As a result, classical linguistic analysis became limited by misconceptions stemming from written language. In this examination of grammatical suffixes, the present study incorporates contemporary linguistic insights, including phoneme and morpheme theories, as well as a distinction between written and spoken language.

“Israeli Arabic” as a Manifestation of Linguistic Orientalism in a Context of Settler-Colonial Conflict

Prof. Muhammad Amara — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article examines the status of Arabic among the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel. Through the lens of conflict and colonialism, this study examines the complex dynamics that have shaped Arabic as a language since 1948. In the aftermath of the Nakba, a large population of Palestinian Arabs turned into a marginalised minority within Israel, the newly established state, raising critical questions about the preservation of Arabic, their ancestral language and a key marker of their cultural and national identity. Drawing on Yasir Suleiman’s conceptualisation of language as a site of ideological contestation, this article situates Arabic within the broader framework of linguistic Orientalism, viewing it as an extension of colonial structures that continue to shape Israeli-Palestinian relations. Here, Arabic is not merely a medium of communication but a battleground in the struggle for identity, memory, and historical narrative. The article shows how the marginalisation of Arabic within this context is both a symptom and a tool of the asymmetrical power relations embedded in Israel’s sociopolitical fabric. By analysing this condition and its impact on the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel, this study sheds light on the deeper cultural dimensions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

A Review of Professor Muhammad Amara’s Book "The Word and the Sword: The Role of Language in Building Empires and Its Impact on Humanity"

Prof. Yaseen Kittani — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ينطلق كتاب الكلمة والسّيف من رؤية جذريّة تُعيد التفكير في موقع اللّغة داخل التاريخ الإنسانيّ، إذ يرى المؤلّف أنّ اللّغة ليست مجرّد أداة للتخاطب أو وعاء للثقافة، بل هي قوّة فاعلة شكّلت الحضارات وصاغت الإمبراطوريّات وحدّدت مصائر الشعوب. فالّلغة، كما يذهب الكتاب، ليست نتاج الفكر فحسب، بل هي أيضًا نتاج السّلطة؛ تخلّقت في رحم القوّة، ونمت في ظلّ الصّراع، وامتدّ أثرها مع امتداد السّيوف التي حملتها.

Linguistic Interplay and Convergence Dimensions: A Comparative Analysis of Hebrew Loanwords in Palestinian Arabic

Dr. Duaa Abu Elhija, Dr. Tasnim Swaitti, Dr. Naila Tallas-Mahajna — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study analyses the process and extent of adaptation of Hebrew loanwords in Palestinian Arabic, comparing speakers from Hebron in the West Bank with Israeli Palestinians from the northern Triangle region in Israel. It underscores that, through social and cultural contact, languages can subtly affect one another in phonological, semantic, morphological, and verbal ways. In Hebron, where Hebrew–Arabic contact remains indirect and informal, loanwords undergo various phonological adaptations and may acquire independent or shifted semantic functions. In contrast, Arab speakers in Israel who are bilingual and have formal education in Hebrew acquire such loanwords with greater phonological and semantic adherence. This study analyses loanword evidence to help decipher the processes underlying language change across different multilingual settings, reflecting linguistic ‘borrowing’ and broader socio-cultural transfers and adaptations. Thus, it emphasises the importance of linguistic proximity, conversational frequency, and sociocultural integration in adaptation at the phonetic and semantic levels.

Authors of AL-MAJMA' Journal - volume 22

Author Author — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Authors of AL-MAJMA' Journal - volume 22