 For more than eight centuries, Al-Hariri's best known work, his "Maqmat" has been regarded as the greatest treasure in Arabic literature after the Koran.As a genre, the maqamat was originally developed by Badi' al-Zaman al-Hamadani (969–1008), but Al-Hariri elevated it into major literary form.Al-Hariri's "Maqamat" consists of 50 anecdotes, related by Abu Zayd to Al-Harith who is understood to be the work's narrator.