Bahlul: an Arab-Islamic clown archetype, a ‘wise fool’, mystic philosophe and a state-bug

Abstract

Each culture is specific with its clown archetype. In Arab-Islamic culture, the clown archetype is Bahlul. He is a character that has evolved from a real person and has become an archetype of clowning. Bahlul was originally a real person, Abou Wahab Bahlul Ibn Amr, who was an Arab-Islamic mystic philosopher, poet, and lecturer who lived in Iraq and Kabul. He often appeared in the disguise of Bahlul during the time of the Islamic Abbasid Caliphate in order to escape the wrath of rulers and freely criticise society and politics. Abou Wahab Bahlul Ibn Amr transformed himself from a serious character to a social fool, and many would notice that he melts in one pot with the archetype of Darvishe/Darwishe. However, I argue, and through Nietzsche’s philosophy of time, that the Darwishe/Darvish is not a Bahlul, despite their similarities. I insist that a Bahlul can be a Darwish, but a Darwish cannot be a Bahlul. Furthermore, a detailed section will be dedicated to Bahlul, where his banters, religious poems, anecdotes, and political activities in defiance of men in power such as Harun Al-Rachid and his son Al-Ma’mun will be discussed. These men even appreciated Bahlul and sought his advice occasionally.

Keywords:

• Bahlul
• Arab-Islamic
• clown

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Houda Belkhiri

Houda Belkhiri is a PhD student and researcher at the Department of English, University of Algiers-2, Algeria. She participated in many international conferences, mainly in the UK and Algeria. Her research interests intersect with Western Philosophy and Clown Studies. She recently published Hdidouane: an Algerian Clown and a Marginalized Comic Icon and The Dionysian Clown in Movies: the Homicidal Joker in the Dark Knight (2008), Batman the Killing Joke (2016) and Joker (2019).