Al-Balagha al-Wadiha by al-Jarim & Amin (البلاغة الواضحة) — Page 14

Arabic text · النص

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

الْبَلَاغَةُ الْوَاضِحَةُ

The Clear Rhetoric.

رَفْعُ

Raising.

الرَّحْمَنِ التَّجْرِي

The Merciful, the flowing.

دِيَّةُ الْفُرُوقِ

The blood money of distinctions.

مُقَدِّمَةٌ

Introduction.

الْفَصَاحَةُ - الْبَلَاغَةُ - الْأُسْلُوبُ

Eloquence - Rhetoric - Style.

الْفَصَاحَةُ الظُّهُورُ وَالْبَيَانُ تَقُولُ: أَفْصَحَ الصُّبْحُ إِذَا ظَهَرَ، وَالْكَلَامُ الْفَصِيحُ مَا كَانَ وَاضِحَ الْمَعْنَى، سَهْلَ اللَّفْظِ جَيِّدَ السَّبْكِ، وَلِهَذَا وَجَبَ أَنْ تَكُونَ كُلُّ كَلِمَةٍ فِيهِ جَارِيَةً عَلَى الْقِيَاسِ الصَّرْفِيِّ (١)، بَيِّنَةً فِي مَعْنَاهَا، مَفْهُومَةً عَذْبَةً سَلِسَةً، وَإِنَّمَا تَكُونُ الْكَلِمَةُ كَذَلِكَ إِذَا كَانَتْ مَأْلُوفَةَ الِاسْتِعْمَالِ بَيْنَ النَّابِهِينَ مِنَ الْكُتَّابِ وَالشُّعَرَاءِ؛ لِأَنَّهَا لَمْ تَتَدَاوَلْهَا أَلْسِنَتُهُمْ، وَلَمْ تَجْرِ بِهَا أَقْلَامُهُمْ إِلَّا لِمَكَانِهَا مِنَ الْحُسْنِ بِاسْتِكْمَالِهَا جَمِيعَ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ نُعُوتِ الْجَوْدَةِ وَصِفَاتِ الْجَمَالِ.

Eloquence is clarity and manifestation; you say: 'The morning became eloquent' when it appears. Eloquent speech is that which is clear in meaning, easy in wording, and well-constructed. For this reason, every word in it must conform to morphological analogy (1), be clear in its meaning, understandable, sweet, and smooth. A word is only like that if it is familiar in usage among the intelligent writers and poets, because their tongues would not have circulated it, nor their pens run with it, except for its place of beauty by fulfilling all the aforementioned attributes of quality and characteristics of beauty.

وَالذَّوْقُ السَّلِيمُ هُوَ الْعُمْدَةُ فِي مَعْرِفَةِ حُسْنِ الْكَلِمَاتِ وَسَلَاسَتِهَا، وَتَمْيِيزِ مَا فِيهَا مِنْ وُجُوهِ الْبَشَاعَةِ وَمَظَاهِرِ الِاسْتِكْرَاهِ؛ لِأَنَّ الْأَلْفَاظَ أَصْوَاتٌ، فَالَّذِي يَطْرَبُ لِصَوْتِ الْبُلْبُلِ، وَيَنْفِرُ مِنْ أَصْوَاتِ الْبُومِ وَالْغِرْبَانِ، يَنْبُو سَمْعُهُ عَنِ الْكَلِمَةِ إِذَا كَانَتْ غَرِيبَةً مُتَنَافِرَةَ الْحُرُوفِ(٣)، أَلَا تَرَى أَنَّ كَلِمَتَيِ «الْمُزْنَةِ» وَ«الدِّيمَةِ» لِلسَّحَابَةِ الْمُمْطِرَةِ، كِلْتَاهُمَا سَهْلَةٌ عَذْبَةٌ يَسْكُنُ إِلَيْهَا السَّمْعُ، بِخِلَافِ كَلِمَةِ «الْبُعَاقِ» الَّتِي فِي مَعْنَاهُمَا؛ فَإِنَّهَا قَبِيحَةٌ تَصُكُّ الْآذَانَ، وَأَمْثَالُ ذَلِكَ كَثِيرٌ فِي مُفْرَدَاتِ اللُّغَةِ تَسْتَطِيعُ أَنْ تُدْرِكَهُ بِذَوْقِكَ.

Sound taste is the foundation for knowing the beauty and smoothness of words, and for distinguishing the aspects of ugliness and manifestations of aversion within them; for words are sounds. So, he who is delighted by the sound of the nightingale and repulsed by the sounds of owls and crows, his hearing will recoil from a word if it is strange or has discordant letters (3). Do you not see that the two words 'al-muzna' and 'al-dima' for a rain cloud are both easy and sweet, to which the ear finds comfort, unlike the word 'al-bu'aq' which has the same meaning? For it is ugly and strikes the ears, and examples of this are many in the vocabulary of the language which you can perceive with your own taste.

وَيُشْتَرَطُ فِي فَصَاحَةِ التَّرْكِيبِ فَوْقَ جَرَيَانِ كَلِمَاتِهِ عَلَى الْقِيَاسِ الصَّحِيحِ وَسُهُولَتِهَا أَنْ يَسْلَمَ مِنْ ضَعْفِ التَّأْلِيفِ، وَهُوَ خُرُوجُ الْكَلَامِ عَنْ قَوَاعِدِ اللُّغَةِ الْمُطَّرِدَةِ كَرُجُوعِ الضَّمِيرِ عَلَى مُتَأَخِّرٍ لَفْظًا وَرُتْبَةً فِي قَوْلِ سَيِّدِنَا حَسَّانَ (٣) (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ):

1 - It is required for the eloquence of a composition, beyond the conformity of its words to correct analogy and their ease, that it be free from weakness of construction, which is the departure of speech from the consistent rules of the language, such as the pronoun referring to something that is later in wording and rank, as in the saying of our master Hassan (3) (may Allah be pleased with him):

وَلَوْ أَنَّ نَجْدًا أَخْلَدَ الدَّهْرَ وَاحِدًا مِنَ النَّاسِ أَبْقَى يَجِدُهُ الدَّهْرُ مُطْعِمُ

And if Najd were to make one of the people immortal forever, the one who would remain is Mut'im (4).

الْقِيَاسُ الصَّرْفِيُّ: فَقَوْلُ الْمُتَنَبِّي: فَلَا يُبْرِمُ الْأَمْرَ الَّذِي هُوَ حَالِلٌ وَلَا يُحْلِلُ الْأَمْرَ الَّذِي هُوَ يُبْرِمُ غَيْرُ فَصِيحٍ؛ لِأَنَّهُ اشْتَمَلَ عَلَى كَلِمَتَيْنِ غَيْرِ جَارِيَتَيْنِ عَلَى الْقِيَاسِ الصَّرْفِيِّ، وَهُمَا حَالِلٌ وَيُحْلِلُ، فَإِنَّ الْقِيَاسَ حَالٌّ وَيُحِلُّ بِالْإِدْغَامِ.

(1) Morphological analogy: The saying of al-Mutanabbi: 'He does not finalize the matter which he is unraveling, and he does not unravel the matter which he is finalizing,' is not eloquent; because it includes two words that do not conform to morphological analogy, which are 'halil' and 'yuhlilu', for the correct analogy is 'hall' and 'yuhillu' with assimilation.

تَنَافُرُ الْحُرُوفِ وَصْفٌ فِي الْكَلِمَةِ يُوجِبُ ثِقَلَهَا عَلَى السَّمْعِ وَصُعُوبَةَ أَدَائِهَا بِاللِّسَانِ، وَلَا ضَابِطَ لِمَعْرِفَةِ الثِّقَلِ وَالصُّعُوبَةِ سِوَى الذَّوْقِ السَّلِيمِ الْمُكْتَسَبِ بِالنَّظَرِ فِي كَلَامِ الْبُلَغَاءِ وَمُمَارَسَةِ أَسَالِيبِهِمْ.

(2) Discordance of letters is a description of a word that causes it to be heavy on the ear and difficult to articulate with the tongue, and there is no standard for knowing this heaviness and difficulty other than sound taste, which is acquired by looking at the speech of the eloquent and practicing their styles.

حَسَّانٌ (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ): هُوَ شَاعِرُ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ)، أَجْمَعَتِ الْعَرَبُ عَلَى أَنَّهُ أَشْعَرُ أَهْلِ الْمَدَرِ، قِيلَ: إِنَّهُ عَاشَ ١٢٠ سَنَةً، ٦٠ فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ وَ٦٠ فِي الْإِسْلَامِ، وَتُوُفِّيَ سَنَةَ ٥٤هـ.

(3) Hassan (may Allah be pleased with him): He is the poet of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The Arabs agreed that he was the most poetic of the city-dwellers. It is said that he lived 120 years, 60 in the pre-Islamic era and 60 in Islam, and he died in the year 54 AH.

مُطْعِمٌ هُوَ مُطْعِمُ بْنُ عَدِيٍّ أَحَدُ رُؤَسَاءِ الْمُشْرِكِينَ، وَكَانَ يَذُبُّ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ).

(4) Mut'im is Mut'im ibn 'Adi, one of the leaders of the polytheists, and he used to defend the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).

Vocabulary · المفردات (19 verbs · 78 nouns)

• أَفْصَحَ — to clarify
• ظَهَرَ — to appear
• كَانَ — to be
• وَجَبَ — to be necessary
• جَرَى — to conform
• تَدَاوَلَ — to circulate
• تَقَدَّمَ — to precede
• طَرِبَ — to be delighted
• نَفَرَ — to flee
• نَبَا — to recoil
• رَأَى — to see
• سَكَنَ — to find comfort
• صَكَّ — to strike
• اِسْتَطَاعَ — to be able
• أَدْرَكَ — to perceive
• اِشْتَرَطَ — to stipulate
• سَلِمَ — to be safe
• أَخْلَدَ — to remain forever
• أَبْقَى — to remain
• مُقَدِّمَة — introduction
• فَصَاحَة — eloquence
• بَلَاغَة — rhetoric
• أُسْلُوب — style
• ظُهُور — appearance
• بَيَان — clarity
• صُبْح — morning
• كَلَام — speech
• فَصِيح — eloquent
• مَعْنًى — meaning
• لَفْظ — word
• سَبْك — composition
• كَلِمَة — word
• قِيَاس — measure
• صَرْفِيّ — morphological
• بَيِّن — clear
• مَفْهُوم — understood
• عَذْب — sweet
• سَلِس — smooth
• اسْتِعْمَال — usage
• نَابِه — intelligent
• كِتَاب — writer
• شَاعِر — poet
• لِسَان — tongue
• قَلَم — pen
• مَكَان — place
• حُسْن — beauty
• اسْتِكْمَال — completion
• جَمِيع — all
• نَعْت — attribute
• جَوْدَة — quality
• صِفَة — characteristic
• جَمَال — beauty
• ذَوْق — taste
• سَلِيم — sound
• عُمْدَة — pillar
• مَعْرِفَة — knowledge
• سَلَاسَة — smoothness
• تَمْيِيز — distinction
• وَجْه — aspect
• بَشَاعَة — ugliness
• مَظْهَر — manifestation
• اسْتِكْرَاه — aversion
• صَوْت — (sound)
• بُلْبُل — nightingale
• بُوم — owl
• غُرَاب — crow
• غَرِيب — strange
• مُتَنَافِر — discordant
• حَرْف — letter
• مُزْنَة — cloud
• دِيمَة — steady rain
• سَحَابَة — cloud
• مُمْطِر — rainy
• بُعَاق — heavy rain
• قَبِيح — ugly
• أُذُن — ear
• مِثْل — example
• كَثِير — much
• مُفْرَدَة — vocabulary
• لُغَة — language
• تَرْكِيب — structure
• صَحِيح — correct
• سُهُولَة — ease
• ضَعْف — weakness
• تَأْلِيف — composition
• خُرُوج — departure
• قَاعِدَة — rule
• مُطَّرِد — consistent
• رُجُوع — return
• ضَمِير — pronoun
• مُتَأَخِّر — delayed
• رُتْبَة — rank
• قَوْل — saying
• سَيِّد — master
• دَهْر — time
• وَاحِد — one
• نَاس — people