Durus al-Balagha — First Lessons in Arabic Rhetoric (دروس البلاغة) — Page 128

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

الْعَقْدُ وَالْحَلُّ: الْأَوَّلُ: نَظْمُ الْمَنْثُورِ، وَالثَّانِي: نَثْرُ الْمَنْظُومِ.

Binding and Unbinding: The first is versifying prose, while the second is turning verse into prose.

وَالظُّلْمُ مِنْ شِيَمِ النُّفُوسِ فَإِنْ تَجِدْ ذَا عِفَّةٍ فَلِعِلَّةٍ لَا يَظْلِمُ.

Oppression is a natural human trait; if you find someone who remains chaste, it is only for a specific reason that they refrain from it.

الظُّلْمُ مِنْ طِبَاعِ النَّفْسِ، وَإِنَّمَا يَصُدُّهَا عَنْهُ إِحْدَى عِلَّتَيْنِ: دِينِيَّةٌ وَهِيَ: خَوْفُ الْمَعَادِ، وَدُنْيَوِيَّةٌ، وَهِيَ خَوْفُ الْعِقَابِ الدُّنْيَوِيِّ.

Oppression is ingrained in the soul, deterred only by one of two things: a religious motive, such as the fear of the afterlife, or a worldly one, such as the fear of earthly punishment.

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Vocabulary · المفردات (15 verbs · 44 nouns)

• نَظَمَ — to arrange
• نَثَرَ — to prose
• وَجَدَ — to find
• عَقْد — knot
• حَلّ — untying
• أَوَّل — first