Riddles are historically a significant genre of Arabic literature. The QurâÂÂan does not contain riddles as such, though it does contain conundra. But riddles are attested in early Arabic literary culture, 'scattered in old stories attributed to the pre-Islamic bedouins, in the ḥadëth and elsewhere; and collected in chapters'. Since the nineteenth century, extensive scholarly collections have also been made of riddles in oral circulation.
Although in 1996 the Syrian proverbs scholar Khayr al-Dën Shamsë BÃÂshàpublished a survey of Arabic riddling, analysis of this literary form has been neglected by modern scholars, including its emergence in Arabic writing; there is also a lack of editions of important collections. A major study of grammatical and semantic riddles was, however, published in 2012, and since 2017 both legal riddles and verse riddles have enjoyed growing attention.
Riddles are known in Arabic principally as lughz () (pl. alghÃÂz ãÃÂúçò), but other terms include uḥjiyya (pl. aḥÃÂjë), and ta'miya.
Lughz is a capacious term. As al-Nuwayrë (1272âÂÂ1332) puts it in the chapter on alghÃÂz and aḥÃÂjë in his NihÃÂyat al-Arab fë funà «n al-adab: <blockquote>Lughz is thought to derive from the phrase alghaza âÂÂl-yarbà «âÂÂu wa-laghaza, which described the action of a field rat when it burrows its way first straight ahead but then veers off to the left or right in order to more successfully elude its enemies (li-yuwÃÂriya bi-dhÃÂlika) so that it becomes, as it were, almost invisible (wa-yuâÂÂammiya âÂÂalàá¹ÂÃÂlibihë). But in fact our language also has many other names of lughz such as muâÂÂÃÂyÃÂh, âÂÂawëṣ, ramz, muḥÃÂgÃÂh, abyÃÂt al-maâÂÂÃÂnë, malÃÂḥin, marmà «s, taâÂÂwël, kinÃÂyah, taâÂÂrëd, ishÃÂrah, tawgëh, muâÂÂammÃÂ, mumaththal. Although each of these terms is used more or less interchangeably for lughz, the very fact that there are so many of them is indicative of the varied explanations which the concept of lughz can apparently support.</blockquote> This array of terms goes beyond those covered by riddle in English, into metaphor, ambiguity, and punning, indicating the fuzzy boundaries of the concept of the riddle in literary Arabic culture.
Since early Arabic poetry often features rich, metaphorical description, and ekphrasis, there is a natural overlap in style and approach between poetry generally and riddles specifically; literary riddles are therefore often a subset of the descriptive poetic form known as waá¹£f. Indeed, some of the riddles included by Abà « al-MaÿÃÂlë Saÿd ibn ÿAlë al-ḤaáºÂërë in his seminal, twelfth-century CE collection of riddles are verses selected from longer poems, in whose original context they are indeed metaphorical descriptions rather than riddles; likewise Abà « Naá¹£r Aḥmad b. ḤÃÂtim al-BÃÂhilë's KitÃÂb AbyÃÂt al-maÿÃÂnë, while focusing on verses rendered enigmatic by the removal of their context, also included purposeful riddles.
To illustrate how some epigrams (maqÃÂá¹Âëÿ) are riddles Adam Talib contrasts the following poems. The first, from an anonymous seventeenth-century anthology, runs:
The second is from the fifteenth-century RawḠal-ÃÂdÃÂb by ShihÃÂb ad-Dën al-ḤijÃÂzë al-Khazrajë:
In the first case, the subject of the epigram is clearly stated within the epigram itself, such that the epigram cannot be considered a riddle. In the second, however, the resolution 'depends on the reader deducing the point after the poem has been read'.
The term muÿammà(literally 'blinded' or 'obscured') is sometimes used as a synonym for lughz (or to denote cryptography or codes more generally), but it can be used specifically to denote a riddle which is solved 'by combining the constituent letters of the word or name to be found'.
The muÿammàis in verse, does not include an interrogatory element, and involves clues as to the letters or sounds of the word. One example of the form is a riddle on the name Aḥmad:
Another example, cited by Ibn DÃÂwà «d al-Iá¹£fahÃÂnë, has the answer 'S<sup>a</sup>ÿëd'. Here, and in the transliteration that follows, short vowels are transliterated in superscript, as they are not included in the Arabic spelling:
The first known exponent of the muÿammàform seems to have been the major classical poet Abu Nuwas, though other poets are also credited with inventing the form: Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (noted for his cryptography) and Ali ibn Abi Talib.
It appears that the muÿammàform became popular from perhaps the thirteenth century.
Muÿammàriddles also include puzzles using the numerical values of letters.
A subset of the muâÂÂammàis the chronogram (, taþrëkh), a puzzle in which the reader must add up the numerical values of the letters of a hemistich to arrive as a figure; this figure is the year of the event described in the poem. The form seems to have begun in Arabic in the thirteenth century and gained popularity from the fifteenth; as with examples of the same form in Latin, it was borrowed from Hebrew and Aramaic texts using the same device, possibly via Persian. The following poem is by the pre-eminent composer in the form, MÃÂmayah al-Rà «më (d. 1577):
The letters of the last hemistich have the following values:
These add up to 974 AH (1566 CE), the year of the drought which al-Rà «më was describing.
AbyÃÂt al-maÿÃÂnë ('verses of [ambiguous or obscure] meanings') is a technical term related to the genre of alghÃÂz. Ordinarily, abyÃÂt al-maÿÃÂnë are verses quoted from longer compositions in anthologies called kutub abyÃÂt al-maÿÃÂnë ('books of abyÃÂt al-maÿÃÂnë<nowiki>'</nowiki>), which in their original context were not especially obscure, but which are hard to interpret when taken out of context. However, kutub abyÃÂt al-maÿÃÂnë could also include purposefully enigmatic verses. In a chapter on alghÃÂz, Al-Suyuti defines the genre as follows: Kutub abyÃÂt al-maÿÃÂnë include the KitÃÂb al-MaÿÃÂnë al-kabër by Ibn Qutayba (d. 276/889), KitÃÂb MaÿÃÂnë al-shiÿr by al-UshnÃÂndÃÂnë (d. 288/901), and a KitÃÂb AbyÃÂt al-maÿÃÂnë by al-BÃÂhilë known now only through quotations by later scholars.
There is a significant tradition of literary riddles on legal matters in Arabic. According to Matthew Keegan, 'the legal riddle operates as a fatwàin reverse. It presents an apparently counterintuitive legal ruling or legal outcome, one that might even be shocking. The solution is derived by reverse-engineering the situation in which such a fatwàor legal outcome would be correct'. He gives as an example the following riddle by Ibn Fará¸¥à «n (d. 1397): <blockquote>If you said: A man who is fit to be a prayer leader but who is not fit to be a congregant?<br>Then I would say: He is the blind man who became deaf after learning what was necessary for him to lead prayer. It is not permissible for him to be led by a prayer leader because he would not be aware of the imÃÂm's actions unless someone alerted him to them.</blockquote> Legal riddles appear to have become a major literary genre in the fourteenth century. Elias G. Saba has attributed this development to the spread of intellectual literary salons (majÃÂlis) in the Mamlà «k period, which demanded the oral performance of arcane knowledge, and in turn influenced written texts. By the fourteenth century, scholars were starting to gather existing legal riddles into chapters of jurisprudential works, among them TÃÂj al-Dën al-Subkë (d. 1370) in an eclectic chapter of his KitÃÂb al-AshbÃÂh wa-l-NaáºÂÃÂþir.
The earliest anthologies specifically of legal riddles seem to have been composed in the fourteenth century, and the earliest known today are:
These show three of the four main schools of legal thought producing riddle-collections; the Ḥanbalë school, however, seems not to have participated much in legal riddling. The overlap between legal riddles and literature on distinctions seems to have been at its greatest in Mamlà «k Cairo. A particularly influential example of a collection of legal riddles was ÿAbd al-Barr Ibn al-Shiḥna (d. 1515), who wrote al-DhakhÃÂþir al-ashrafiyya fë alghÃÂz al-ḥanafiyya.
The origins of the form stretch back earlier, however. According to some ḥadëth, the use of riddles to encourage thought about religious constraints in Islam goes back to the Prophet himself. The genre of legal riddling seems to have arisen partly from an interest in other intellectually challenging jurisprudential matters: ḥiyal (strategems for avoiding breaking the letter of the law) and furà «q (subtle distinctions). It seems also to have drawn inspiration from literary texts: the FutyàFaqëh al-ÿArab ('The FatwÃÂs of the Jurist of the Arabs') by Ibn FÃÂris (d. 1004) includes 'a series of fatwÃÂs that initially appear to be absurd and incorrect' but which can be rendered logical by invoking non-obvious meanings of the words used in the fatwÃÂs. This form was deployed soon after in the highly influential MaqÃÂmÃÂt of al-Ḥarërë of Basra (d. 1122).
The eleventh-century Andalusi poet Ibn Zaydà «n is associated with another riddle form, of which at least five Arabic examples survive in his work, along with a pair of Andalusi Hebrew-language poems in the same form exchanged between Abà « ÿUmar ibn MÃÂthiqa and Yehuda HaLevi (though only Yehuda's side of the exchange survives in full). In this form of riddle, the poet composes a short poem. Each letter of the alphabet is then assigned the name of a species of bird, and the poem is encoded as a list of bird-names. The poet then composes a new poem, mentioning all these bird-names in the correct order, and sends that to its recipient, frequently claiming that it is being sent by pigeon post. The name mutayyar () given to such riddles, usually used of cloth, means 'ornamented with designs representing birds'.
One riddle attributed to the Prophet is found in the BÃÂb al-ḥayàof the KitÃÂb al-ÿIlm of the á¹¢aḥëḥ al-BuckÃÂrë by al-BukhÃÂrë (d. 870) and the Muwaá¹Âá¹Âaâ þ by MÃÂlik ibn Anas (d. 796). Muḥammad says: ("there is a kind of tree that does not lose its leaves and is like a Muslim. Tell me what it is"). The hadith tradition records the answer: the date palm (nakhla). But it does not explain in what way the date palm is like a Muslim, which led to extensive debate among medieval Muslim scholars. The hadith is important, however, as it legitimated the use of riddles in theological and legal education in Islam.
According to al-Subkë, the earliest known example of post-prophetic riddles concerns the Prophet's companion Ibn ÿAbbÃÂs (d. c. 687), who is asked a series of exegetical conundra such as âÂÂTell me of a man who enters Paradise but God forbade Muḥammad to act as he actedâÂÂ. (Ibn ÿAbbÃÂs answers that this is Jonah, since the Koran tells Muḥammad "be not like the Companion of the fish, when he cried while he was in distress" in sura 68:48.)
There is little evidence for Arabic riddling in the pre-Islamic period. A riddle contest, supposedly between the sixth-century CE Imruþ al-Qays and ÿAbëd ibn al-Abraá¹£, exists, but is not thought actually to have been composed by these poets. One of the earliest reliably attested composers of riddles was Dhu al-Rummah (c. 696âÂÂ735), whose verse riddles 'undoubtedly contributed' to the 'rooting and spread' of Arabic literary riddles, though his exact contribution to this process is 'yet to be assessed'. His Uḥjiyyat al-ÿArab ('the riddle-poem of the Arabs') is particularly striking, comprising a nasëb (stanzas 1âÂÂ14), travel faḥr (15-26) and then twenty-six enigmatic statements (28-72). Odes 27, 64, 82 and 83 also contain riddles. 64 writes of the earth as though it were a camel, while 82 runs:
The solution to this riddle is that the narrator is drawing water from a well. The 'shy maid' is a bucket. The bucket has a ring on it, into which the narrator inserts a pin which is attached to the rope which he uses the draw up the water. As the bucket is drawn up, it makes noise, but once at the top it is still and therefore quiet. Once the bucket is still, the narrator can pour out the water, and the bucket desires to be filled again.
According to Pieter Smoor, discussing a range of ninth- to eleventh-century poets,<blockquote>There is a slow but discernable development which can be traced in the Arabic riddle poem through the course of time. The earlier poets, like Ibn al-Rà «mi, al-Sarë al-RaffÃÂâ and Mutanabbë composed riddle poems of the 'narrow' kind, i.e. without the use of helpful homonyms ... Abu âÂÂl-âÂÂAlÃÂâÂÂ's practise, however, tended toward the reverse: in his work 'narrow' riddles have become comparatively rare ... while homonymous riddles are quite common.</blockquote>Riddles are discussed by literary and grammatical commentators â allegedly beginning with the eighth-century grammarian al-Khalël ibn Ahmad (d. 786), (who was later even to be credited with the invention of the (rhymed) riddle). What may have been the first Arabic book of riddles, KitÃÂb al-ArmÃÂz fë l-aláÃÂz, was composed by Abà « al-ÿAbbÃÂs al-á¸Âabbë (fl. c. 1000), but it is now lost save for a small number of quotations. Prominent discussions include the tenth-century IbrÃÂhëm ibn Wahb al-KÃÂtib in his KitÃÂb naqd al-nathr, and al-Mathal al-sÃÂþir (chapter 21, fë al-aḥÃÂjë) by á¸ÂiyÃÂþ al-Dën Abu âÂÂl-Fatḥ Naá¹£r AllÃÂh Ibn al-Athër (d. 1239). Such texts are also important repositories of riddles.
Collections of riddles appear, alongside other poetry, in Abbasid anthologies. They include chapter 89 of al-Zahra () by Ibn DÃÂâÂÂà «d al-Iá¹£bahÃÂni (868-909 CE); part of book 25 of al-ÿIqd al-Farëd (specifically the section entitled BÃÂb al-lughz) by Ibn âÂÂAbd Rabbih (860âÂÂ940); Ḥilyat al-muḥÃÂá¸Âara by al-ḤÃÂtimë (d. 998); and the chapter entitled in Abà « HilÃÂl al-ÿAskarë's DëwÃÂn al-maÿÃÂnë (d. after 1009).
Among the diverse subjects covered by riddles in this period, the pen was particularly popular: the Dhakhërah of Ibn BassÃÂm (1058-1147), for example, presents examples by Ibn KhafÃÂjah, Ibn al-MuâÂÂtazz, Abu TammÃÂm and Ibn al-Rà «më and al-MaâÂÂarrë. Musical instruments are another popular topic, along with lamps and candles.
Among the extensive body of ekphrastic poems by Ibn al-Rà «më (d. 896), Pieter Smoor identified only one as a riddle:
The solution to this riddle is the burning wick of an oil lamp. The diwÃÂn of Ibn al-MuâÂÂtazz (861-908) contains riddles on the penis, water-wheel, reed-pipe, palm-trees, and two on ships. The dëwÃÂn of Al-Sarë al-RaffÃÂâ (d. 973) contains several riddles on mundane objects, including a fishing net, candle, fan, fleas, a drum, and a fire-pot. al-Maþmà «në (d. 993) is noted for a large corpus of epigrammatic descriptions which shade into the genre of the riddle. Carl Brockelmann noted Abà « AbdallÃÂh al-Ḥusayn ibn Aḥmad al-Mughallis, associated with the court of Baha al-Dawla (r. 988âÂÂ1012), as a key composer of riddles. Abà « al-ÿAlÃÂâ al-Marÿarrë (973-1057) is also noted as an exponent of riddles; his lost work GÃÂmiÿ al-awzÃÂn is said by Ibn al-âÂÂAdëm to have contained 9,000 poetic lines of riddles, some of which are preserved by later scholars, principally Yà «suf al-BadëâÂÂë. Al-Marÿarrë's riddles are characterised by wordplay and religious themes. Ibn al-Tilmëdh (1074âÂÂ1165) composed some verse riddles. UsÃÂma ibn Munqidh (1095âÂÂ1188) developed the riddle-form as a vehicle metaphorically to convey personal feelings. Al-ShÃÂkir al-Baá¹£rë (fl. second half of the eleventh century) composed KitÃÂb al-Marmà «s, containing riddles by himself and at least ten others, known now from quotations by al-ḤaáºÂërë; 74 verse and ten prose riddles by al-ShÃÂkir al-Baá¹£rë survive in this way. The dëwÃÂn of Ibn al-Farid (1181-1234) contains fifty-four riddles, of the mu'amma type.
A vast collection of epigrammatic riddles on slave-girls, Alf jÃÂriyah wa-jÃÂriyah, was composed by Ibn al-Sharëf DartarkhwÃÂn al-âÂÂÃÂdhilë (d. 1257). Zaynaddën Ibn al-ÿAjamë (1195âÂÂ1276) composed the first surviving Arabic riddle-collection by a single author.
Riddles also came to be integrated into the episodic anthologies known as maqamat ('assemblies'). An early example was the Maqamat by Badi' az-Zaman al-Hamadhani (969âÂÂ1007 CE), for example in assemblies 3, 29, 31, 35. This example of one of al-HamadhÃÂnë's riddles comes from elsewhere in his diwÃÂn, and was composed for Sahib ibn Abbad:
The brothers are millstones, driven by a waterwheel made of wood.
Al-Hamadhani's Maqamat were an inspiration for the MaqÃÂmÃÂt of Al-Hariri of Basra (1054âÂÂ1122 CE), which contain several different kinds of enigmas (assemblies 3, 8, 15, 24, 29, 32, 35, 36, 42 and 44) and establish him as one of the pre-eminent riddle-writers of the medieval Arab world. One of his riddles runs as follows: <blockquote>Then he said 'now here is another for you, O lords of intellect, fraught with obscurity:
After we could not guess who this might be, he told us he was riddling upon a reed-pen.</blockquote> Meanwhile, an example of legal riddling in the collection is this moment when the protagonist, Abà « Zayd al-Sarà «jë, is asked "is it permitted to circumambulate (al-taá¹Âawwuf) in the spring (al-rabëÿ)" â that is, the question seems to ask whether the important custom of walking around the Kaÿba is permitted in spring. Unexpectedly, Abà « Zayd replies 'that is reprehensible due to the occurrence of a repugnant thing' â and the text explains that he says this because the word al-taá¹Âawwuf can also mean 'relieve one's bowels' and al-rabëÿ can also mean 'a source of water'.
The only medieval manuscript of the One Thousand and One Nights, the Galland Manuscript, contains no riddles. Night 49 does, however, contain two verses portrayed as descriptions written on objects, which are similar in form to verse riddles. The first is written on a goblet:
The second is written on a chessboard:
However, several stories in later manuscripts of the Nights do involve riddles. For example, a perhaps tenth-century CE story about the legendary poet Imru' al-Qais features him insisting that he will marry only the woman who can say which eight, four, and two are. Rather than 'fourteen', the answer is the number of teats on, respectively, a dog, a camel, and a woman. In the face of other challenges, successful prosecution of al-Qais's marriage continues to depend on the wit of his new fiancée.
Riddles have been collected by scholars throughout the Arabic-speaking world, and we can arguably 'speak of the Arabic riddle as a discrete phenomenon'. Examples of modern riddles, as categorised and selected by Chyet, are:
Arabic riddle-traditions also influenced medieval Hebrew poetry. One prominent Hebrew exponent of the form is the medieval Andalusian poet Judah Halevi, who for example wrote
(The answer is 'a pen'.)