A professor of Arabic literary theory at Lagos State University, LASU, Prof. Maruf Suraqat Animashaun, has called on the Lagos State Government to increase investment in Arabic education, research and cultural preservation to strengthen the discipline’s relevance to the state’s development.
Animashaun made the call while delivering the 128th LASU Inaugural Lecture, titled “Gleanings of Curiosities from the Harvest-Fields of Arabic Literary Theory: The Journey, the Agony, and the Milestone.”
The lecture, delivered by the Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Arts, Ojo, was also the fourth inaugural lecture from the Arabic Unit of the department.
The don urged the state government to provide greater funding for Arabic teaching and research across tertiary institutions, as well as modern language resource centres, digital libraries, research laboratories and other instructional facilities.
He also recommended the introduction of scholarship and fellowship programmes for students and academic staff in Arabic Studies, alongside exchange programmes and academic partnerships with institutions in Arabic-speaking countries.
Animashaun said graduates of Arabic Studies should be provided with greater employment opportunities in fields including education, diplomacy, public administration, tourism, security, translation, media, international business and cultural affairs.
He further called for government support for the identification, preservation, digitisation, translation and publication of Arabic manuscripts and historical documents considered important to the intellectual and cultural heritage of Lagos State and Nigeria.
The professor also advocated stronger collaboration between government, private organisations, philanthropic foundations and international development agencies to support the sustainable development of Arabic education and research.
In the lecture, Animashaun traced the development of Arabic literary criticism from the pre-Islamic period through subsequent stages of classical Arabic scholarship, examining how early critics assessed poetry and literary expression.
He focused particularly on the concept of ma‘nā, or meaning, and how early Arabic critics evaluated poetry through imagery, description, eloquence and the ability of poets to convey idealised representations.
Using accounts involving prominent pre-Islamic poets, including Imru’ al-Qays, ‘Alqama ibn ‘Abada and al-Nābigha al-Dhubyani, Animashaun examined the role of imagery and critical judgement in the development of Arabic literary thought.
He explained that the title of the lecture was metaphorical, with “gleanings” representing the extraction of insights from different sources, while the “harvest-fields” referred to the broad areas of Arabic literary theory and scholarship.
According to him, the fields include rhetoric, literary criticism, style, narrative theory and the study of the linguistic and rhetorical features of the Qur’an.
Animashaun said the study of Arabic literary theory offered an avenue for intellectual inquiry, reflection and deeper appreciation of language, while also contributing to the preservation of historical and cultural knowledge.
The inaugural lecture highlighted the evolution of literary criticism from an oral tradition in which poetry was evaluated through public recitation and critical judgement to more systematic forms of written literary scholarship.
The professor said understanding the foundations of early Arabic criticism remained important to appreciating the development of later classical literary theory and the intellectual traditions that shaped Arabic scholarship.
The proceedings featured the formal citation of the inaugural lecturer, which was read by the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Distinguished Professor Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, mni, NPOM.
The Registrar, Mr Emmanuel A. Fanu, was represented at the occasion by the Senior Deputy Registrar, Mr Samuel Otesanya, who took charge of the proceedings.