About Antique Arabic Oratory

Our subject of the day is Arabic Antique Oratory. Actually Oratory is not limited only with Arabs. Arabs were famous with oratory along with Romans.
Aristoteles' book ok oratory was translated to Arabic by İbn-i Nubate and İbn-i Sina. Oratory was very important before Islam. Hence there were organized markets about commerce and literature. The most important one was the Bazaar of Okaz. Okaz is close to Mecca. The Arabs were speaking of their tribes, wars and victories proudly at the Bazaar of Okaz. Besides those, they would need oratory for weddings, social activities and wars.
İbn-u Saidete was one of the orators before Islam. His famous sermon was told by the Prophet. Oratory is very important in Islam. That's why there is an orator in each mosque. Religious oratory is one of the tools to explain the religion. The caliphs are among the famous orators of that time. After the caliphs, there were other famous orators like Haccac İbn-i Yusuf, the governor of Umayyad Dynasty, and Ziyad İbn-i Ebihi, the ex-governor, in Iraq.
There were routines to oratory in the past, some of them are: offering thanks to 'Allah' and saying salawat to his prophet, than making the prelude to the sermon, explaining the subject, and lastly summarizing and recapitulating the subject. The orator should explain the subject in a clear and effective level so it is understandable for the people. And the orator should be highly cultivated so that he can influence the people with his thoughts, knowledge and culture. Arabic antique sermons are collected in a book, which is called CEMHARATU HAUTABIL ARAB. And Al-Jahiz, in his famous book ELBEYAN AND TEBYIN, collected a lot of sermons and told about the features of an orator and the methods of oratory. And Kudametu Ibnu Caafar has given a part to oratory in his book Nakdunnesr.
What we want to say is that oratory was very important in the old times, and it was a very important tool, not only at the mimbars of the Muslims but also in politics, to influence and persuade the people. The best sermons were the ones which were efficient, attention-grabbing and persuasive sermons. It is enough to take a look at the oratory books to see the significant influence of orators.
The tribes were coming to the prophet to support him and to adopt Islam religion and they were having an orator with them. And the prophet would invite Islamic orators to do sermons. When the Benu Temim Tribe arrived and their orator had a speech, the prophet asked Sabit Ibn Kays for a sermon. That's why oratory, as an announcement tool, was a measurement for the prestige of the state. We can not tell enough about the oratory subject, but it is enough for now.