Abstract

Rhetoric is one of the most important literary arrays that human beings have adhered to from ancient times to the present day for several purposes like politics, preaching, and encouragement. The rhetoric consists of three parts: verbal communication, convincing, and persuasion. This literary kind requires rational and logical evidences for convincing. To persuade, meaning that the words resonate within the heart of the contact, requires a different writing style or inspiration than the other texts. This effect is applied through the preacher’s or orator’s cognition of the methods of eloquence, the rhetorical sciences and the method of induction and sequence. This research surveys the rhetoric of some famous orators from Syrian and Iranian contemporary literature, namely the Syrian writer Adeeb Ishaq and the Iranian writer Mirza Aqa khan Kermani. These two orators lived at the same era and both of them got familiar with French culture and they also met Sayyed Jamal al-din al-Afghani. In this research, we compared some of their rhetoric, relying on the descriptive-analytical approach and using the approach of the American school of adaptive literature. We achieved some results including: the introduction of the rhetoric of the Adeeb Ishaq has literary value. He writes his introductions using surprising methods, following the traditional Maqama writing methods. But Mirza Aqa khan Kermani’s style in the introduction focused on exemplification. He represents an image of his intended topic as an example and then he addresses the main core of the topic. The two writers also used short sentences and phrases to write about a topic. In the rhetoric of those orators, the emphasis is on a logical method that indicates enlightenment and the removal of incorrect traditions and beliefs and in fact, the structure serves the content in this method. It was also specified that Adeeb Ishaq is a nationalist in his affiliation and Kermani is a chauvinist, that is, inclined to extreme nationalism towards his country.
Keywords: Rhetoric, Adaptive Literature, Two Contemporary Literatures Of Syria And Iran, Adeeb Ishaq, Mirza Aqa Khan Kermani.
Extended Summary

Introduction

Rhetoric in terminology is a type of speech known as a sermon delivered to people with the aim of influencing and persuading. It is a literary art known to man since ancient times. Literature may appear in a new guise when it is linked to opinions and ideas. What links this literature to values such as freedom in its general form and freedom of opinion in its specific form are the social and political conditions prevailing in the country. Under these conditions, some of the elites of society may emerge who undertake to transfer the process of enlightenment and ignite it among human minds to break the shackles and throw away the fanaticism and backwardness within them in order to move forward and advance. According to the status of Adeeb Ishaq’s sermons in Syria and the Arab world and the impact he left on the enlightenment struggle he adopted, as well as the new vision adopted by Mirza Agha Khan Kermani in Iran to free the country from the systematic colonialism that began to spread in the veins of both countries from Iran and Syria, their sermons played a fundamental role in exposing the harm from the country.

Materials & Methods

The contemporaneity of Adib Ishaq and Agha Khan in the events, their vision of the French Revolution and their influence on it, as well as their sitting with Asadabadi and their work to enlighten the people and fight colonialism through speeches and articles, and the difference between the two writers in the type of literary statement, artistically and morally, these are the foundations of this study. This article studies the speeches of these two writers according to the American school of comparative literature and the descriptive analytical method. This is because this school relies on two principles, The moral principle, which reflects the position of a great nation open to the world. It is thus concerned with giving every foreign culture the democratic sympathy it deserves, and at the same time aware of its Western roots that preserve the aesthetic and human values of literature with a kind of jealousy, as it feels what - the values - are like a spiritual opening, pursuing the experimentation of methods and interpretations. This school studies the literary phenomenon in a comprehensive manner, as well as abandoning the approach based on limiting the foreign influences contained in literary works and the impact they exerted.

Research findings

The introduction to the speeches of the writer Ishaq is characterized by literary value, as he writes the introductions using the style of surprise and gives an incomplete picture of the subject according to the style of writing the Maqamat. As for Kermani’s style in the introduction, it is based on representation, often inspired by sensory matters. Likewise, at the end of his speeches, Adeeb resorts to literature again. Both writers use rhyme, but you see it in Adeeb in an intensive way, and this is due to the Arab nature that loves rhyme. The speeches of the writer Ishaq are characterized by rhyme, as you see rhyme in every subject he addresses. Regarding antithesis and contrast, we see Kermani also using antithesis and contrast a lot, as if the two orators are representing the contrast and contradiction that they see in the lives of the people. The influence of Asadabadi and the Enlightenment thought that was taken from French culture, can be seen in both writers’ speeches. Also, through our research into the psychology of the two orators, it became clear that Adib Ishaq is a nationalist in his affiliation and Kermani is a chauvinist, meaning he tends towards extreme nationalism in confronting events and speaking about them.

Discussion of Results & Conclusion

The context for both writers is a literary rhetorical context. Adib used symbolism and rhyme a lot, while Agha Khan was satisfied with some of the appeal and allusion that distinguished him from Adib. Adib Ishaq’s speeches were more literary, but in terms of ideas and the eloquence of the smooth statement to convey the idea to the recipient, they did not reach Kermani’s speeches. This research has reached several new aspects of the ideas and methods that each orator carried individually. The two were distinguished in adopting a new, rhetorical and concise style to deliver enlightening knowledge through oratory. Aqa Khan had the greate in this innovation. He did not mix heritage in his speeches and committed himself to innovation, while Adeeb committed himself to heritage in all the introductions to his speeches because they were closer to the Arabic nature. As for the influence, we may see that Adeeb devoted his efforts to literary influence in awakening Arab thought, while frankness, eloquence and sharpness surged in Aqa Khan. Thus, rhetoric became, for both writers, a weapon of enlightenment that keeps pace with the times and its data and preserves the heritage of the Syrian and Iranian peoples against colonialism.