Satirist Criticism of Society in Ṭayf al-K̲h̲ayāl by Ibn Daniyal Mosuli

Literature is a significant part of culture in each society and could illustrate a whole gamut of events and phenomena that have been unfolded before the eyes of a nation over various historical eras. These events have been a force to guide nations through the turns and twists of history. The solid bond between literature and society is a bridge by which the dominant atmosphere of a society in different ages could be illustrated and redesigned from the critical viewpoint of devoted scholars. Therefore, literature could be considered as the cultural identity of each nation. Each line of literature reveals untold secrets of the fate of those who lived and passed away years ago. Thus, literature is not only a part of culture, but it is also the dynamic and revealing component with a number of lessons to offer and learn from.
Theoretical Framework: Satire has always been a powerful means to criticize social conditions in certain periods. It concerns injustice, social, and political extremism, and crookedness of a society in general. It is one of the most important literary characteristics of Mamluk period, which together with Ottoman era has been overlooked by literary researchers. Literary innovations and creativities have been ignored for the great part, and even sometimes it has been known as the period of collapse. Although, this era is not parallel to the golden ages of Islam, it witnessed the emergence of a number of literary books, which all demand the precise attention of the researchers to this time period.
Based on a descriptive and analytical approach, this study focuses on a shadow play, Ṭayf al-K̲ h̲ayāl (The Phantom of Shadow), written by Ibn Daniyal Mosuli.Through getting familiar with Mosuli, this study takes a step in knowing the forgotten atmosphere of Mamluk period more precisely.
The satires in this book address different social and political issues. Through a perfect vision, they are capable of observing the crookedness and ugliness of the time. After introducing such problems to the audience by getting assistance from the principles of hyperbole, the satires tended to eradicate them in society.
Ṭayf al-K̲ h̲ayāl is a satirical book written in Mamluk period. By illustrating the bitter truths of society, the book showed the ugly truth of life and environment to its contemporaries. The goal of such an illustration was to question the thoughts and beliefs of people and society. The satires worked as a means for magnifying the crookedness and making the people smile while at the same time implicitly criticizing them. It might be assumed at first that Ibn Danyal only intended to entertain the people and make them laugh, yet more focus on the narrated stories of the book reveals that satire and caricature were the only available tools to the author to criticize the truth of his society. Satire took hold of the people’s focus and made them aware of their mistakes by entertaining them. Thus, Ibn Danyal could be compared with Ubayd Zakani in Iran. Despite his bare use of political satire, Ibn Danyal made use of social satire on topics such as poverty, complaining about his time, fraud, and deception in different life affair, beliefs, and ideas within society, misuse of religious power, and corruption. All these satirical images are reflections upon the dominant social situation of his time.