Al-Muṭrib’s Meter between Prosodic Theory and Sufi Experience:

A Reading of the Ijtihād of Muḥammad ben Ab al-Tawati (d. c. 1200 AH / 1786 CE) outside the Khalilian Framework

Abstract

This research paper deals with the roots of a creative experiment in prosody and the extent to which it has been influenced by the Sufi cultural environment, which has given rise to the “Bahar al-Mutarab” (Sea of the Singer), a new model of prosody that breaks with the Khalili system. to become a home for rhythmic lyric poetry and melhoun. This is the experience of the scholar Muhammad bin Ab al-Muzmari al-Tawati, who combines the activations of the Khalili meters to create a new form that combines religious poetry and Sufi singing, as well as demonstrating a spirit of conscious rhythmic innovation, a new style that is an unprecedented Algerian experience.