Durus al-Balagha — First Lessons in Arabic Rhetoric (دروس البلاغة) — Page 42

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

فِي الذِّكْرِ وَالْحَذْفِ.

On Mentioning and Omitting.

إِذَا أُرِيدَ إِفَادَةُ السَّامِعِ حُكْمًا فَأَيُّ لَفْظٍ يَدُلُّ عَلَى مَعْنًى فِيهِ فَالْأَصْلُ ذِكْرُهُ، وَأَيُّ لَفْظٍ عُلِمَ مِنَ الْكَلَامِ لِدَلَالَةِ بَاقِيهِ عَلَيْهِ فَالْأَصْلُ حَذْفُهُ.

If the intention is to inform the listener of a ruling, then for any word that indicates a meaning within it, the default is to mention it, and for any word that is known from the speech due to the indication of the rest of it, the default is to omit it.

وَإِذَا تَعَارَضَ هَذَانِ الْأَصْلَانِ فَلَا يُعْدَلُ عَنْ مُقْتَضَى أَحَدِهِمَا إِلَى مُقْتَضَى الْآخَرِ إِلَّا لِدَاعٍ.

If these two principles conflict, one should not deviate from the requirement of one to the requirement of the other except for a reason.

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Vocabulary · المفردات (11 verbs · 29 nouns)

• أَرَادَ — to want
• دَلَّ — to indicate
• عَلِمَ — to know
• ذِكْرٌ — mention
• حَذْفٌ — omission
• إِفَادَةٌ — benefit