The Linguistic and Sociological Dimensions of the Concept of Jam􀞏: A Deleuzian Approach

Abstract

In this article, I explore the Arabic concept of jam', and relate it to the Deleuzian concept of assemblage. I argue that jam' is central in the formation of Arabic language, Islamic theology, Islamic law, Sufism, a number of modern Islamic discourses, such as wasafiyyah, and several social, economic, and political formations in Arab modern states. I will limit my scope in this article to establishing the theoretical foundations of jam' and studying its effect on the formation of language. After defining jam' etymologically, I will present a brief discussion of assemblage, as presented in Deleuze and Guattari, and then will divide the rest of the article into three parts, where I will discuss, first, the concept of naщm as a type of jam' that aims to articulate meaning, second, the eVect of jam' on the formation of the metaphor, and, third, the theological and philosophical foundations of jam' in the Deleuzian understanding of virtuality, and the Bergsonian understanding of time.