Durus al-Balagha — First Lessons in Arabic Rhetoric (دروس البلاغة) — Page 29

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

الْخَبَرُ إِمَّا أَنْ يَكُونَ جُمْلَةً فِعْلِيَّةً أَوْ اِسْمِيَّةً.

The predicate is either a verbal sentence or a nominal sentence.

فَالْأُولَى مَوْضُوعَةٌ لِإِفَادَةِ الْحُدُوثِ فِي زَمَنٍ مَخْصُوصٍ، وَقَدْ تُفِيدُ الِاسْتِمْرَارَ التَّجَدُّدِيَّ بِالْقَرَائِنِ إِذَا كَانَ الْفِعْلُ مُضَارِعاً كَقَوْلِ طَرِيفٍ: أَوَ كُلَّمَا وَرَدَتْ عُكَاظَ قَبِيلَةٌ بَعَثُوا إِلَيَّ عَرِيفَهُمْ يَتَوَسَّمُ.

The former is intended to convey occurrence in a specific time, and it may convey renewal-based continuity through contextual clues if the verb is in the imperfect tense, as in the saying of Tarif: 'Or whenever a tribe arrives at Ukaz, they send their representative to me to examine [me].'

وَالثَّانِيَةُ مَوْضُوعَةٌ لِمُجَرَّدِ ثُبُوتِ الْمُسْنَدِ لِلْمُسْنَدِ إِلَيْهِ، نَحْوَ الشَّمْسُ مُضِيئَةٌ، وَقَدْ تُفِيدُ الِاسْتِمْرَارَ بِالْقَرَائِنِ إِذَا لَمْ يَكُنْ فِي خَبَرِهَا فِعْلٌ، نَحْوَ: الْعِلْمُ نَافِعٌ.

The latter is intended merely to establish the predicate for the subject, such as 'The sun is luminous,' and it may convey continuity through contextual clues if there is no verb in its predicate, such as: 'Knowledge is beneficial.'

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Vocabulary · المفردات (10 verbs · 33 nouns)

• كَانَ — to be
• أَفَادَ — to convey
• وَرَدَ — to arrive
• خَبَرٌ — news
• جُمْلَةٌ — sentence
• فِعْلِيَّةٌ — verbal