Argumentations of Satire in Khwarizmi’s Letters Based on Perelman and Titikah's Theory

‘Argument’ is one of the topics that has attracted the attention of writers despite its age among researchers. What shows the importance of this topic is the persuasive goals that the argument pursues; in this way, the speaker should plan his speech by identifying the horizon of his audience's expectations to convince them, and finally present a speech that fits the audience’s conditions and needs. With the passage of time, this topic has gone beyond rhetoric and controversy and entered many literary, linguistic, and rhetorical topics.The present research is based on the theory of Shayim Birelman and Titikah to investigate the means of argument and how they are used in Khwarizmi’s satirical letter to Ibn Badihi. It seeks to answer the following two research questions:1) What argument tools did Khwarizmi use in this letter and how did it appear?2) How is his success or failure in this pilgrimage process evaluated?He has used all kinds of arguments in his satirical letters. The pseudo-logical arguments which are expressed in conditional, comparative, preferential, and comparative styles have been used the most. In the meantime, he has made the most use of people's personalities and ridiculed their moral flaws. Sometimes he has turned to excess in them, in such a way that in his reprimanding speech, which is similar to praise and praise, he attributes all the flaws and ugly behaviors to his audience.He has also relied on arguments based on the structure of reality, including the argument of the cause, the argument of person, and the argument of authority. Many historical, cultural, mythological, and religious figures have dominated his letters to humiliate his audience through the style of comparison and blame similar to praise. It is worth mentioning that Khwarizmi tries to highlight the difference between the words and actions of his audience by choosing negative or positive mood adjectives and external characteristics. Khwarizmi has used the argument of the person and his actions to achieve this purpose. Of course, the effectiveness of this argument is weak because it changes in different conditions and positions. Among the various arguments used by Khwarizmi, reference to pseudo-logical arguments is more effective compared to other arguments, but Khwarizmi did not rely on them much.He enjoys more freedom in his satirical letters. That is why he has used the arguments created for the structure of reality, especially similes, to show the contradiction of his audience's behavior in speech and action. In describing his faults with nasty descriptions and disgusting images, he has exaggerated to take any chance of reflection and defense from his opponent and not give him a chance to hear his answer. Since his goal is to arouse the emotions and feelings of the audience; therefore, his reasoning is based on excitement and tends to fallacy. Relying on social, cultural, literary values, and commonalities in the Arab society is also another argument used by Khwarizmi.