The semantics of al-imarah : a comparative epistemology approach of the semitic root ʼmr from pre-Islamic to Islamic Arabia

Abstract

This study examines the worldview of al-imarah through the semantics of its root ʼmr that was shared between two periods of history in Peninsular Arabia: pre-Islamic and Islamic Arabia. The rationale behind such an attempt originates from the need to expand the scope of al- imarah beyond the normative Islamic political-epistemic discourse, which had often restricted this concept within a specific Islamic political system. Secondly, it is remarkable to see that there has never been a comprehensive study on semantical aspects of this concept, despite many assertions have rendered the possibility of the existence of some form of al- imarah before the Islamic period through other derivations of the root ʼmr, such as primarily suggested by Ibn Khaldun. By conceptualising the framework through a comparative epistemology approach, this study provides another sphere of examination upon that very concept apart from the standard political epistemic, which is attainable through semantics. In doing so, this study employs three different methodologies of analysis: conceptual, thematic, and content analysis. Philosophically, the conceptual analysis serves as the main methodology guiding this study in abstracting the worldview of al- imarah through the root ʼmr. The thematic analysis helps this study in gathering the attestations of the root ʼmr within two semantical sources relative to those two periods above, which comprise the primary sources of the pre-Islamic Arabia and Islamic-Arabic lexicography. On the other hand, the content analysis functions as the main methodology for analysing the data throughout this study. The constructed worldview comprises of two parts, the particular and the general worldview. The former serves as the respective worldview peculiar to each of the sources that had attested to the root, which consists of the different connotations of the root ʼmr from sacred-divination, secular-shepherding, and sacred-secular. Meanwhile, the latter is the abstract worldview shared by all three connotations before, which forms the synthesis and the most cardinal component for the whole finding of this study. It includes the abstract meaning of ẓuhur (visibility), the abstract function of al-riʻayah (shepherding), and the abstract mode of epistemic authority. The distinctive element of this study lies mostly in how it helps provide new perspective, trajectory, or even approach in assessing and understanding al- imarah, which seems to have withered and restricted institutionally within several Gulf countries. In particular, the construed abstraction may serve its importance in rejuvenating the discourse of al- imarah in certain fields, at least through bypassing the normative political-epistemic takes.