Rhetorical and Ideological Strategies in Hani bin Qabishah’s Khutbah: An Integrative Aristotelian–Faircloughian Approach

Abstract

Although Aristotelian rhetoric and Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) have each been applied to Arabic oratory, prior studies have rarely combined the two frameworks, and none has done so for the pre-Islamic khutbah of Hani bin Qabishah. This article addresses that gap by examining the rhetorical and ideological strategies embedded in the khutbah of Hani bin Qabishah through an integrative framework combining Aristotle’s rhetorical theory (ethos, pathos, and logos) and Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). As one of the most well-known pre-Islamic Arabic orations, the khutbah serves not merely as a pre-battle motivational speech but as a discursive practice that constructs social values and legitimizes tribal authority. Employing a qualitative descriptive method, this study analyzes the data in three interconnected stages following Fairclough’s three-dimensional model—the textual (micro) dimension, discourse practice, and social practice—with each identified rhetorical unit further classified according to Aristotle’s categories of ethos, pathos, and logos. The primary data are derived from the text of Hani bin Qabishah’s khutbah as compiled by Ahmad Zaki Safwat in Jamharatu Khuṭabi al-‘Arab fī ‘Uṣūr al-‘Arabiyyah al-Zāhirah (vol. 1, p. 37). The analysis demonstrates that pathos plays a dominant role in mobilizing collective emotions through moral oppositions, heroic metaphors, and imperative constructions. Ethos is established through the speaker’s moral and military authority as a tribal leader, while logos operates through a form of fatalistic reasoning characteristic of pre-Islamic Arab worldview. From a critical discourse perspective, the khutbah functions as an ideological instrument that reinforces values of courage, honor, and tribal solidarity. This study contributes to Arabic discourse studies by highlighting the analytical potential of integrating classical rhetoric with critical discourse analysis in the study of pre-Islamic Arabic texts. It further underscores the continuity of Arabic oratorical traditions in shaping religious and political discourse in later periods.