PRE- PUBLICATION FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND CENSORSHIP IN MEDIEVAL ARABIC LITERATURE

This article explores the restraints placed upon literary production in me-dieval Arabic literature (particularly poetry) and the ways in which such control was effected. After surveying the various ways of controlling the production of texts, which ranged from mild self-censorship to the actual execution of authors by state authorities, we will try to find general patterns in the data, with a special emphasis on the different treatment of lèse-religion and lèse-majesté respectively. This study must begin with some observations on the problems raised by the title that precedes it.1 Certainly, having to justify the choice of title may alert the reader to the inherently problematic nature of the terms used. Indeed, some of them that I employ above and below are used only for want of better alternatives. ‘Freedom of expression ’ and ‘censorship’ are two brief terms, familiar enough to a modern readership, but their inadequacy for describing the medieval Arabic situation is all too appar-ent. My intention is thus to apply them in as abstract a sense as possible