Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

Fall 12-3-2025

Faculty Advisor(s)

Dr. Ian Barnard

Abstract

This poster compares the origins and tenets of Arabic and Islamic rhetorical tradition versus Classical Western, specifically Greek, rhetorical tradition. Evidence is drawn from Aristotle’s, On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse, translated and commented on by George Alexander Kennedy, as well as the section “Arabic & Islamic Traditions 1.1” in, Global Rhetorical Traditions, by Hui Wu and Tarez Samra Graban. Both Arabic Islamic rhetorics and Greek rhetorics are lauded by historians as progenitors of art, language, and argumentation; they agree that the object of rhetoric is to tell the truth and that rhetoric has powerful applications for public use, but they differ dramatically in their inspirations. Born from Muhammad’s divine wisdom realized through a caliph, Arabic Islamic rhetoric is characterized by morality and eloquence. Born from human reason and distributed by secular scholars, Greek rhetoric is characterized by humanism and reasoning, and it played a vital role in forming the seminal democracy of Ancient Greece. While revolutionary, this “rule by the people” remained strikingly exclusionary. Democracy became the quintessential model taught and replicated in the Western world, indeed inspiring the formation of the United States. Analysis of religion, judiciary models, and the inheritance of power reveals the danger in privileging Classical Western traditions over Arabic and Islamic traditions, for this action further perpetuates enmity towards other ideas that are not circumscribed as part of the convention, the canon, or “the best.” Much more important than the differences between traditions are their similarities, proving understanding of diverse perspectives and cultures is an asset, not a weakness to governmental and judicial systems.

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Presented at the Fall 2025 Student Scholar Symposium at Chapman University.

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