The Epistle of Forgiveness

E311949

The Epistle of Forgiveness is a satirical medieval Arabic work by Al-Ma'arri that imagines a journey through the afterlife, often compared to Dante’s Divine Comedy.

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Label Occurrences
The Epistle of Forgiveness canonical 1

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Statements (43)

Predicate Object
instanceOf literary work
medieval Arabic literature
satirical work
approximateCompositionCentury 11th century
author Al-Ma'arri
comparedTo Divine Comedy
comparedToAuthor Dante Alighieri
countryOfOrigin Abbasid Caliphate
criticizes literalist interpretations of religion
narrow-minded theologians
culturalContext Islamic Golden Age
explores divine justice
fate of poets in the afterlife
salvation
features classical Arabic poets in the afterlife
focusesOn linguistic and poetic excellence
genre prose
satire
hasForm prosimetrum (prose with verse quotations)
influenced modern studies of comparative literature
literaryForm risala (epistle)
literaryPeriod medieval Arabic literature
literarySignificance early example of visionary afterlife narrative in Arabic literature
mainTheme afterlife
forgiveness
poetry and poets
religious hypocrisy
narrativeDevice imaginary journey through the afterlife
notableCharacter Ibn al-Qariḥ
originalLanguage Arabic
philosophicalAspect rationalist critique of tradition
skepticism toward religious dogma
relatedWorkOfAuthor Luzūmiyyāt
setting heaven
hell
structure epistolary form
subjectOf modern translations
scholarly commentary
tone philosophical
satirical
uses humor
irony
literary allusion

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Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Arabic literature hasNotableWork The Epistle of Forgiveness