Critical opinions and reaction on h&'ii) are determined to some extent by one's interpretation of the term h&"ii). It is an old word which has been variously understood. A number of critics take it in its broadest sense, as the opposite of madb, 'praise'; thus it includes mild criticism, reproach and various other edifying modes. In this study I shall concentrate on a narrower interpretation of hijii' as invective a type wherebt one intends to humiliate riclicul and in ult rather I.ban reform