Al-Balagha al-Wadiha by al-Jarim & Amin (البلاغة الواضحة) — Page 346

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

الإِجَابَةُ عَنْ تَمْرِينِ (٢): (١) كِتَابُ طَاهِرِ بْنِ الْحُسَيْنِ مِنْ أَحْسَنِ الْأَمْثِلَةِ لِإِيجَازِ الْقَصْرِ، فَإِنَّهُ عَلَى اخْتِصَارِهِ وَقِلَّةِ أَلْفَاظِهِ حَوَى جَمِيعَ مَا يُرِيدُ الْمَأْمُونُ أَنْ يَطَّلِعَ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ أَحْوَالِ الْقِتَالِ وَاتِّجَاهِ النَّصْرِ فِيهِ، وَمَا لَهُ فِي وُضُوحِ مَعَانِيهِ وَشِفَائِهِ نُفُوسَ سَامِعِيهِ وَتَرْكِهِ فُضُولَ الْكَلَامِ، وَلِأَنَّ كَاتِبَهُ يَعْلَمُ أَنَّ الْمَأْمُونَ مُتَشَوِّفٌ إِلَى مَعْرِفَةِ نَتِيجَةِ الْقِتَالِ فَأَرَادَ أَنْ يُعَجِّلَ لَهُ فَاخْتَارَ لِذَلِكَ سَبِيلَ الْإِيجَازِ.

Answer to Exercise (2): (1) The letter of Tahir ibn al-Husayn is one of the best examples of 'ijaz al-qasr' (conciseness of brevity), for despite its brevity and few words, it contained everything al-Ma'mun wanted to know regarding the conditions of the battle and the direction of victory in it, as well as its clarity of meaning, its healing of the souls of its listeners, and its avoidance of superfluous speech, and because its writer knew that al-Ma'mun was eager to know the outcome of the battle, so he wanted to hasten it for him and chose the path of conciseness for that.

فِي خُطْبَةِ زِيَادٍ إِيجَازُ قَصْرٍ، فَقَدْ جَمَعَتْ فِي أَلْفَاظِهَا الْقَلِيلَةِ جَمِيعَ مَا يَكْرَهُ النَّاسُ مِنْ أَخْلَاقِ زِيَادٍ مِنْ غَيْرِ تَصْرِيحٍ كَمَا اسْتَوْعَبَتْ جَمِيعَ خِلَالِ الْخَيْرِ الَّتِي تَنْطَوِي تَحْتَ نَصَائِحِهِ الْغَالِيَةِ وَوَصَايَاهُ النَّافِعَةِ، وَجَمَالُ الْإِيجَازِ هُنَا فِي سَلَاسَتِهِ وَحُسْنِ سَبْكِهِ وَدَلَالَتِهِ عَلَى تَمَكُّنِ صَاحِبِهِ مِنَ الْبَلَاغَةِ وَالْبَرَاعَةِ فِي التَّعْبِيرِ.

(2) In Ziyad's sermon, there is 'ijaz al-qasr', for it gathered in its few words everything people dislike about Ziyad's character without explicitly stating it, just as it encompassed all the virtuous qualities that are contained within his precious advice and beneficial commandments, and the beauty of the conciseness here lies in its smoothness, the excellence of its composition, and its indication of its author's mastery of rhetoric and skill in expression.

الإِجَابَةُ عَنْ تَمْرِينِ (٣): وَجْهُ جَمَالِ الْإِيجَازِ فِي هَذِهِ التَّوْقِيعَاتِ جَمِيعِهَا أَنَّ أَلْفَاظَ كُلٍّ مِنْهَا عَلَى قِلَّتِهَا وَقِصَرِ أَطْرَافِهَا تَنْطَوِي عَلَى مَعَانٍ كَثِيرَةٍ مُتَزَاحِمَةٍ وَكُلُّ ذَلِكَ فِي سَلَاسَةٍ وَوُضُوحٍ وَحُسْنِ سَبْكٍ، مِمَّا يَدُلُّ عَلَى تَمَكُّنِ الْقَائِلِ مِنْ فُنُونِ الْبَلَاغَةِ وَبَصَرِهِ بِوُجُوهِ تَصْرِيفِ الْكَلَامِ، وَالْإِيجَازُ فِي أَكْثَرِ هَذِهِ التَّوْقِيعَاتِ إِيجَازُ قَصْرٍ، وَسَنَشْرَحُ لَكَ فِيمَا يَأْتِي كُلَّ تَوْقِيعٍ لِتَعْرِفَ مَا يَنْطَوِي تَحْتَهُ مِنَ الْمَعَانِي.

Answer to Exercise (3): The aspect of the beauty of conciseness in all these 'tawqi'at' (official endorsements/brief notes) is that the words of each of them, despite their scarcity and brevity, contain many crowded meanings, all in smoothness, clarity, and excellent composition, which indicates the speaker's mastery of the arts of rhetoric and his insight into the ways of manipulating speech, and the conciseness in most of these endorsements is 'ijaz al-qasr', and we will explain to you in what follows each endorsement so that you may know the meanings contained within it.

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Vocabulary · المفردات (42 verbs · 88 nouns)

• حَوَى — to contain
• أَرَادَ — to want
• اِطَّلَعَ — to examine
• إِجَابَة — answer
• تَمْرِين — exercise
• كِتَاب — book