AL-SHAKWĀ IN MUHAMMAD THAOBĀN ĀDAM ʿABDULLĀH AL-ILORY‟S DĪWĀN AL-SHUKRĀN: QUR‟ANIC INTERTEXTUALITY, ETHICAL DISCOURSE, AND RHETORICAL STRATEGY

Abstract

This study examines the poetry of complaint (shakwā) in the works of Muhammad Thaobān Ādam ʿAbdullāh Al-Ilory with particular attention to Qur‟anic intertextuality in Dīwān al- Shukrān. Although the collection is rhetorically framed around gratitude (shukr), many of its verses function as subtle expressions of ethical complaint against betrayal, envy, hypocrisy, and social injustice. Drawing upon theories of intertextuality developed by Julia Kristeva and Gerard Genette alongside classical Arabic rhetorical concepts such as iqtibās, talmīḥ, and taḍmīn, the study argues that Muhammad Thaobān transforms complaint into a spiritually disciplined discourse grounded in Qur‟anic ethics. Through close textual reading informed by Islamic literary criticism, the paper identifies three dominant modes of Qur‟anic intertextuality: ethical authorization through divine justice, prophetic allusion as moral exemplarity, and rhetorical imitation of Qur‟anic discourse patterns. The study concludes that Qur‟anic intertextuality in Muhammad Thaobān‟s poetry functions simultaneously as rhetoric, theology, and ethical critique, thereby contributing significantly to contemporary Nigerian Arabic literature and African Arabic poetics.