‘Ilm Al-Bayan and Its Suitability in Analyzing Malay Poetry Texts

Abstract The beauty of poetry is influenced by the choice of words expressed in the style of any languages. There are influences of Arabic language and literature in the Malay world. In addition, most of studies on Malay literature text are using western theories. Therefore, this study attempts to examine the appropriateness of the use of ‘Ilm al-Bayan which is a form of Arabic Rhetoric in analyzing Malay poetry texts. The library approach is used in this study. The choice of this approach is to gather information related to ‘Ilm al-Bayan. Descriptive analysis approach is used to analyze the information gathered to see suitability of the Arabic style that used in assessing the Malay literature texts. The study found that there are similarities between the functions ‘Ilm al-Bayan with Malay rhetoric, although the terms of each of these languages are different. It is certainly based on the expression of the original speakers of the language, whether in Arabic or Malay literatures.