Al-Balagha al-Wadiha by al-Jarim & Amin (البلاغة الواضحة) — Page 20

Arabic text · النص

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

الْبَلَاغَةُ الْوَاضِحَةُ

Clear Rhetoric.

الْمُسْتَقِيمُ، وَأَبْعَدُهَا عَنِ الْخَيَالِ الشِّعْرِيِّ؛ لِأَنَّهُ يُخَاطِبُ الْعَقْلَ، وَيُنَاجِي الْفِكْرَ، وَيَشْرَحُ الْحَقَائِقَ الْعِلْمِيَّةَ الَّتِي لَا تَخْلُو مِنْ غُمُوضٍ وَخَفَاءٍ، وَأَظْهَرُ مِيزَاتِ هَذَا الْأُسْلُوبِ الْوُضُوحُ، وَلَا بُدَّ أَنْ يَبْدُوَ فِيهِ أَثَرُ الْقُوَّةِ وَالْجَمَالِ، وَقُوَّتُهُ فِي سُطُوعِ بَيَانِهِ وَرَصَانَةِ حُجَمِهِ، وَجَمَالُهُ فِي سُهُولَةِ عِبَارَاتِهِ، وَسَلَامَةِ الذَّوْقِ فِي اخْتِيَارِ كَلِمَاتِهِ، وَحُسْنِ تَقْرِيرِهِ الْمَعْنَى فِي الْإِفْهَامِ مِنْ أَقْرَبِ وُجُوهِ الْكَلَامِ.

It is the most straightforward and the furthest from poetic imagination, because it addresses the intellect, communes with thought, and explains scientific truths that are not devoid of ambiguity and obscurity; the most prominent feature of this style is clarity, and the effect of strength and beauty must appear in it, for its strength lies in the brilliance of its exposition and the soundness of its arguments, and its beauty lies in the ease of its phrases, the soundness of taste in the choice of its words, and the excellence of its conveying the meaning to the understanding through the most direct modes of speech.

فَيَجِبُ أَنْ يُعْنَى فِيهِ بِاخْتِيَارِ الْأَلْفَاظِ الْوَاضِحَةِ الصَّرِيحَةِ فِي مَعْنَاهَا الْخَالِيَةِ مِنَ الِاشْتِرَاكِ، وَأَنْ تُؤَلَّفَ هَذِهِ الْأَلْفَاظُ فِي سُهُولَةٍ وَجَلَاءٍ، حَتَّى تَكُونَ ثَوْبًا شَفًّا لِلْمَعْنَى الْمَقْصُودِ، وَحَتَّى لَا تُصْبِحَ مَثَارًا لِلظُّنُونِ، وَمَجَالًا لِلتَّوْجِيهِ وَالتَّأْوِيلِ.

Therefore, one must take care in it to choose words that are clear and explicit in their meaning, free from ambiguity, and these words must be composed with ease and clarity, so that they may be a transparent garment for the intended meaning, and so that they do not become a source of conjecture or a field for interpretation and reinterpretation.

ذَلِكَ وَيَحْسُنُ التَّنَحِّي عَنِ الْمَجَازِ وَمُحَسِّنَاتِ الْبَدِيعِ فِي هَذَا الْأُسْلُوبِ، إِلَّا مَا يَجِيءُ مِنْ عَفْوًا، مِنْ غَيْرِ أَنْ يَمَسَّ أَصْلًا مِنْ أُصُولِهِ أَوْ مِيزَةً مِنْ مِيزَاتِهِ أَمَّا التَّشْبِيهُ الَّذِي يُقْصَدُ بِهِ تَقْرِيبُ الْحَقَائِقِ إِلَى الْإِفْهَامِ وَتَوْضِيحُهَا بِذِكْرِ مُمَاثِلِهَا، فَهُوَ فِي هَذَا الْأُسْلُوبِ حَسَنٌ مَقْبُولٌ.

It is also good to refrain from metaphor and rhetorical embellishments in this style, except for what comes spontaneously, without affecting any of its principles or features; as for the simile intended to bring truths closer to understanding and clarify them by mentioning their counterparts, it is good and acceptable in this style.

وَلَسْنَا فِي حَاجَةٍ إِلَى أَنْ نُلْقِيَ عَلَيْكَ أَمْثِلَةً لِهَذَا النَّوْعِ، فَكُتُبُ الدِّرَاسَةِ الَّتِي بَيْنَ يَدَيْكَ تَجْرِي جَمِيعُهَا عَلَى هَذَا النَّحْوِ مِنَ الْأَسَالِيبِ.

We are not in need of presenting to you examples of this type, for the study books that are in your hands all follow this manner of style.

الْأُسْلُوبُ الْأَدَبِيُّ وَالْجَمَالُ أَبْرَزُ صِفَاتِهِ، وَأَظْهَرُ مُمَيِّزَاتِهِ، وَمَنْشَأُ جَمَالِهِ مَا فِيهِ مِنْ خَيَالٍ رَائِعٍ، وَتَصْوِيرٍ دَقِيقٍ، وَتَلَمُّسٍ لِوُجُوهِ الشَّبَهِ الْبَعِيدَةِ بَيْنَ الْأَشْيَاءِ، وَإِلْبَاسِ الْمَعْنَوِيِّ ثَوْبَ الْمَحْسُوسِ، وَإِظْهَارِ الْمَحْسُوسِ فِي صُورَةِ الْمَعْنَوِيِّ.

2 - The Literary Style: Beauty is its most prominent characteristic and its most apparent feature, and the origin of its beauty lies in what it contains of wonderful imagination, precise depiction, the seeking of distant similarities between things, clothing the abstract in the garment of the tangible, and showing the tangible in the form of the abstract.

فَالْمُتَنَبِّي لَا يَرَى الْحُمَّى الرَّاجِعَةَ كَمَا يَرَاهَا الْأَطِبَّاءُ أَثَرًا لِجَرَاثِيمَ تَدْخُلُ الْجِسْمَ، فَتَرْفَعُ حَرَارَتَهُ، وَتُسَبِّبُ رَعْدَةً وَقُشَعْرِيرَةً، حَتَّى إِذَا فَرَغَتْ نَوْبَتُهَا تَصَبَّبَ الْجِسْمُ عَرَقًا، وَلَكِنَّهُ يُصَوِّرُهَا كَمَا تَرَاهَا فِي الْأَبْيَاتِ الْآتِيَةِ:

Al-Mutanabbi does not see recurring fever as doctors see it—as an effect of germs entering the body, raising its temperature, and causing shivering and chills, until when its bout is over, the body pours with sweat—but rather he depicts it as you see in the following verses:

وَزَائِرَتِي (٧) كَأَنَّ بِهَا حَيَاءً فَلَيْسَ تَزُورُ إِلَّا فِي الظَّلَامِ

My visitor (7) seems to have shyness, for she does not visit except in the darkness.

بَذَلْتُ لَهَا الْمَطَارِفَ (٨) وَالْحَشَايَا (٩) فَعَافَتْهَا وَبَاتَتْ فِي عِظَامِي

I offered her fine garments (8) and cushions (9), but she disdained them and spent the night in my bones.

يَضِيقُ (١٠) الْجِلْدُ عَنْ نَفْسِي وَعَنْهَا فَتُوسِعُهُ بِأَنْوَاعِ السِّقَامِ

My skin (10) becomes too tight for my soul and for her, so she expands it with various kinds of illness.

كَأَنَّ الصُّبْحَ يَطْرُدُهَا فَتَجْرِي مَدَامِعُهَا بِأَرْبُعَةٍ سِجَامِ

It is as if the morning drives her away, so her tears flow in four pouring streams.

وَزَائِرَتِي: "الْوَاوُ وَاوُ رُبَّ أَيْ رُبَّ زَائِرَةٍ لِي يُرِيدُ بِهَذِهِ الزَّائِرَةِ الْحُمَّى، وَكَانَتْ تَأْتِيهِ لَيْلًا. يَقُولُ: كَأَنَّهَا فَتَاةٌ فَهِيَ تَزُورُنِي تَحْتَ سَوَادِ اللَّيْلِ.

(7) My visitor: The 'waw' is the 'waw' of 'rubba' (many a), meaning 'many a visitor to me.' He means by this visitor the fever, and it used to come to him at night. He says: It is as if she is a young woman, so she visits me under the blackness of the night.

الْمَطَارِفُ: جَمْعُ مُطْرَفٍ كَمُكْرَمٍ، وَهُوَ رِدَاءٌ مِنْ خَزٍّ.

(8) Al-Matarif: Plural of mutraf, like mukram, and it is a cloak made of silk.

الْحَشَايَا: جَمْعُ حَشِيَّةٍ وَهِيَ الْفِرَاشُ الْمَحْشُوُّ، وَعَافَتْهَا: أَبَتْهَا. يَقُولُ هَذِهِ الزَّائِرَةُ: أَيِ الْحُمَّى لَا تَبِيتُ الْفِرَاشَ، وَإِنَّمَا تَبِيتُ فِي الْعِظَامِ.

(9) Al-Hashaya: Plural of hashiya, which is a stuffed mattress, and 'afatha' means she refused it. He says this visitor, meaning the fever, does not spend the night on the mattress, but rather spends the night in the bones.

يَضِيقُ إِلَخ: يَقُولُ: جِلْدِي يَضِيقُ عَنْ أَنْ يَسَعَ أَنْفَاسِي وَيَسَعَهَا، فَهِيَ تُذِيبُ جِسْمِي وَتُوَسِّعُ جِلْدِي بِمَا تُصِيبُهُ بِهِ مِنْ أَنْوَاعِ السِّقَامِ

(10) It becomes too tight, etc.: He says: My skin becomes too tight to contain my breath and her, so she melts my body and expands my skin with the various kinds of illness she inflicts upon it.

Vocabulary · المفردات (32 verbs · 99 nouns)

• خَاطَبَ — to address
• نَاجَى — to commune
• شَرَحَ — to explain
• خَلَا — to be free from
• ظَهَرَ — to appear
• بَدَا — to seem
• وَجَبَ — to be necessary
• عَنَى — to care for
• أَلَّفَ — to compose
• كَانَ — to be
• قَصَدَ — to intend
• أَصْبَحَ — to become
• حَسُنَ — to be good
• جَاءَ — to come
• مَسَّ — to touch
• أَلْقَى — to cast
• جَرَى — to flow
• دَخَلَ — to enter
• رَفَعَ — to raise
• سَبَّبَ — to cause
• فَرَغَ — to finish
• تَصَبَّبَ — to sweat
• صَوَّرَ — to depict
• رَأَى — to see
• زَارَ — to visit
• بَذَلَ — to offer
• عَافَ — to loathe
• بَاتَ — to spend the night
• ضَاقَ — to be narrow
• وَسَعَ — to contain
• أَوْسَعَ — to widen
• طَرَدَ — to drive away
• مُسْتَقِيم — straight
• خَيَال — imagination
• شِعْرِيّ — poetic
• عَقْل — mind
• فِكْر — thought
• حَقِيقَة — truth
• عِلْمِيّ — scientific
• غُمُوض — ambiguity
• خَفَاء — hiddenness
• مِيزَة — feature
• أُسْلُوب — style
• وُضُوح — clarity
• أَثَر — effect
• قُوَّة — strength
• جَمَال — beauty
• سُطُوع — brightness
• بَيَان — eloquence
• رَصَانَة — solidity
• حُجْم — argument
• سُهُولَة — ease
• عِبَارَة — phrase
• سَلَامَة — soundness
• ذَوْق — taste
• اخْتِيَار — choice
• كَلِمَة — word
• حُسْن — goodness
• تَقْرِير — report
• مَعْنًى — meaning
• إِفْهَام — understanding
• كَلَام — speech
• لَفْظ — term
• وَاضِح — clear
• صَرِيح — explicit
• خَالِي — empty
• اشْتِرَاك — ambiguity
• جَلَاء — clarity
• ثَوْب — a garment
• شَفّ — transparent
• مَقْصُود — intended
• مَثَار — source
• ظَنّ — suspicion
• مَجَال — scope
• تَوْجِيه — direction
• تَأْوِيل — interpretation
• تَنَحِّي — avoidance
• مَجَاز — metaphor
• مُحَسِّن — enhancement
• بَدِيع — rhetoric
• عَفْو — spontaneity
• أَصْل — foundation
• تَشْبِيه — simile
• مُمَاثِل — equivalent
• مَقْبُول — acceptable
• حَاجَة — need
• أَمْثِلَة — examples
• نَوْع — type
• كِتَاب — book
• دِرَاسَة — study
• نَحْو — manner
• أَدَبِيّ — literary
• صِفَة — quality
• مُمَيِّز — distinguishing
• مَنْشَأ — origin
• رَائِع — wonderful
• تَصْوِير — depiction
• دَقِيق — precise
• تَلَمُّس — seeking
• وَجْه — aspect
• شَبَه — resemblance
• بَعِيد — distant
• شَيْء — thing
• إِلْبَاس — clothing
• مَعْنَوِيّ — abstract
• مَحْسُوس — concrete
• صُورَة — image
• حُمَّى — fever
• رَاجِع — recurring
• طَبِيب — doctor
• جُرْثُومَة — germ
• جِسْم — body
• حَرَارَة — heat
• رَعْدَة — shiver
• قُشَعْرِيرَة — goosebumps
• نَوْبَة — bout
• عَرَق — sweat
• بَيْت — verse
• آتِي — following
• زَائِرَة — visitor
• حَيَاء — shyness
• ظَلَام — darkness
• مِطْرَف — garment
• حَشِيَّة — mattress
• جِلْد — skin
• نَفْس — self
• أَنْوَاع — types
• سِقَام — illness
• صُبْح — morning
• مَدَامِع — tears
• سِجَام — flowing