The book represented medieval Arab literature, written by al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, who was both a preacher and a scholar at the time. The book portrays the ancient Arab Muslim culture, and the author employed humor, profanity, and comedy in relaying the information (Goitein 40). The following are some of the social and cultural values arising from the book, as translated by Emily Selove.
Partying
Through the translated selections, the book takes about partying and marrying. Gatecrashers were often uninvited guest from around and away. People like to eat and drink, a culture that al-Baghdadi expresses in the conveying value of being happy. Gatecrashers represented strangers while the host symbolized the rich or the ruling class (William 45). Gatecrashers often argued their way out until they tasted the foods. Gatecrashers employed humor to discuss their cases in an entertaining manner.
Generosity
Al-Baghdadi, through the stories of famous gatecrashers, demonstrated the extent of generosity that did exist at the time. He used the stories to castigate the Muslims for turning away the hungry people who showed up uninvited into the parties. Therefore, he felt it was unwise to turn away these since hungry people, whether invited or uninvited. The rich also confined themselves to their friends and to eat and drink at the expense of the rest and al-Baghdadi thought this was cruel and anti-Islam.
Good manners
The way in which people were eating was an indication of the level of mannerism, especially on the table. Al-Baghdadi writes of how various gatecrashers never observed the table manners at the time, and the disparity that existed with their hosts. The host seemed to love formality, as dictated by the medieval Islam customs and cultures that governed eating manners (Hosseinzadeh & Marjan 23). The gatecrashers are advised to take a reasonable amount of food and chew well without engaging people in conversations. Table mannerism was a core teaching of Islam at that time.
Trickery
Trickery dominates the book where various gatecrashers and hosts argued their comic stories in what Emily Selove described as the genre of banquet literature (34). Gatecrashers used different methods to convince their host to allow them to eat. Parties were strictly for the invited, although some people tricked their way to survive in the harsh time when food was scarce in medieval Arab Muslim society. The gatecrashers gave elusive answers to the questions (al- Baghdadi 80). Lies of all sorts were prominent, with visitors deceitful of their home place, for example, Insfahari, and Baghdad.
Relation to Other Readings
This work concurs with the other attached readings which have also explored values in the medieval Arab-Islamic society. Just like with al-Baghdadi, the conflicts that confronted the society also existed among the Altabari. The revolution survived due to conflicts between the rulers and the commoners. In meadows of gold, conflict arises as the author Masudi where leadership and conflicts did exist (Masudi 24).
The Abbasids had a sense of Islamic culture in almost all their activities. The wealthy and hosts used Islamic cultures to put themselves above the commoners. In the book, The Mediterranean Society by S. D. Goiten, the society seems to drink with using the religion to benefit self-interests. Foreigners, especially the Jewish community in the Arab world were not welcome. Al-Baghdad’s book also confirmed this where the gatecrasher, mainly strangers, and foreigners, were treated harshly and with cruelty.
Works Cited
Goitein, Shelomo Dov. A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the World as
Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1988. Print.
Hosseinzadeh, Hossein, and Marjan Nassiri‐Asl. "Avicenna's (Ibn Sina) The canon of Medicine
and Saffron (Crocus sativus): A review." Phytotherapy Research 27.4 (2013): 475-483. Print.
Masudi. The Meadows of Gold: The Abbasids. London: Kegan Paul International. Translated
and edited by Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone. 1989.
Selove, Emily Jane. The Hikaya of Abu al-Qasim al-Baghdadi: The Comic Banquet in Greek,
Latin, and Arabic. 2012. Print.
William. History of al-Tabari: The Abbasid Revolution. University of Texas at Austin State
