Durus al-Balagha — First Lessons in Arabic Rhetoric (دروس البلاغة) — Page 75

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

وَإِمَّا أَنْ يَكُونَ غَيْرَ جَارٍ مَجْرَى الْمَثَلِ؛ لِعَدَمِ اسْتِغْنَائِهِ عَمَّا قَبْلَهُ،

It may also fail to function as a proverb, as it cannot stand independently of what precedes it.

كَقَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى: ﴿ذَلِكَ جَزَيْنَاهُمْ بِمَا كَفَرُوا وَهَلْ نُجَازِي إِلَّا الْكَفُورَ﴾

[By] that We repaid them because they disbelieved. And do We [thus] repay except the ungrateful?

وَمِنْهَا الِاحْتِرَاسُ وَهُوَ أَنْ يُؤْتَى فِي كَلَامٍ يُوهِمُ خِلَافَ الْمَقْصُودِ بِمَا يَدْفَعُهُ

Another technique is precaution, where one adds a qualifying phrase to prevent a misunderstanding that might otherwise arise from the initial statement.

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Vocabulary · المفردات (14 verbs · 21 nouns)

• كَانَ — to be
• جَرَى — to flow
• اسْتَغْنَى — to be independent
• مَثَلٌ — proverb
• عَدَمٌ — lack
• اسْتِغْنَاءٌ — independence