Religious School Identity and Socio-Political Criticism of Bahlul Dana in terms of His Humorous Stories

Someone with sense of humour reveals this characteristic of his in stories and narrations. Parables and humorous stories take an important place in terms of expressing thoughts and beliefs, and of showing the negative aspects of imaginations of religion and world, which are objected to. Especially in relation to people's transmitting their own religious school's understanding, stories and parables constitute the most important material in order to maintain continuity of ideas and beliefs in the historical process. The events experienced by remarkable figures in history are transmitted in story form, and belongingness to religious schools has been reconstructed through new stories and parables in time. In this sense, Bahlul Dana, who is a historical personage, is a person that became famous in the memory of Muslims with his jokes and stories. However, the criticism observed in his jokes caused him to be alleged as a member of Shi'a. It is important to analyse some rumours suggested about his being a Shi'ite and to reveal his identity of religious school in terms of understanding sociopolitical criticism and opposition tradition in Islamic thought.