Jawahir al-Balagha by Ahmad al-Hashimi (جواهر البلاغة) — Page 11

Arabic text · النص

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

فَصَاحَةُ الْكَلِمَةِ

Eloquence of the Word

فَصَاحَةُ الْكَلِمَةِ سَلَامَتُهَا مِنْ أَرْبَعَةِ عُيُوبٍ:

The eloquence of a word is its freedom from four defects:

تَنَافُرِ الْحُرُوفِ

1 - Incompatibility of letters.

غَرَابَةِ الِاسْتِعْمَالِ

2 - Strangeness of usage.

مُقَدِّمَةٌ فِي مَعْرِفَةِ الْفَصَاحَةِ وَالْبَلَاغَةِ

Introduction to the Knowledge of Eloquence and Rhetoric

مُخَالَفَةِ الْقِيَاسِ

3 - Violation of analogy.

الْكَرَاهَةِ فِي السَّمْعِ

4 - Disagreeableness to the ear.

الْأَوَّلُ : تَنَافُرُ الْحُرُوفِ هُوَ وَصْفٌ فِي الْكَلِمَةِ يُوجِبُ ثِقَلَهَا عَلَى السَّمْعِ وَصُعُوبَةَ أَدَائِهَا بِاللِّسَانِ بِسَبَبِ كَوْنِ حُرُوفِ الْكَلِمَةِ مُتَقَارِبَةَ الْمَخَارِجِ وَهُوَ نَوْعَانِ

The first: Incompatibility of letters is a quality in a word that causes it to be heavy on the ear and difficult to articulate with the tongue because the letters of the word have close points of articulation, and it is of two types:

شَدِيدٌ فِي الثِّقْلِ كَالظَّشِّ (لِلْمَوْضِعِ الْخَشِنِ) وَنَحْوِ هُعْخَع «لِنَبْتٍ تَرْعَاهُ الْإِبِلُ» مِنْ قَوْلِ أَعْرَابِيٍّ : تَرَكْتُ نَاقَتِي تَرْعَى الْهُعْخُعَ

1 - Severely heavy, such as 'al-zash' (for a rough place) and similar to 'hu'kha'' (a plant grazed by camels), from the saying of a Bedouin: 'I left my she-camel grazing on the hu'kha''.

وَخَفِيفٌ كَالنَّقْنَقَةِ (صَوْتِ الضَّفَادِعِ) وَالنُّقَاخِ لِلْمَاءِ الْعَذْبِ الصَّافِي وَنَحْوِ: مُسْتَشْزِرَاتٍ بِمَعْنَى (مُرْتَفِعَاتٍ) مِنْ قَوْلِ امْرِئِ الْقَيْسِ يَصِفُ شَعْرَ ابْنَةِ عَمِّهِ

2 - And lightly heavy, such as 'naqnaqah' (the sound of frogs), 'nuqakh' (for fresh, clear water), and similar to 'mustashzirat', meaning 'raised', from the saying of Imru' al-Qais describing his cousin's hair:

[الطَّوِيلُ] غَدَائِرُهُ مُسْتَشْزِرَاتٌ إِلَى الْعُلَا تَضِلُّ الْعِقَاصُ فِي مُثَنًّى وَمُرْسَلِ

[Al-Tawil meter] Her braids are raised towards the top; the hair-ties are lost among the twisted and the loose.

وَلَا ضَابِطَ لِمَعْرِفَةِ الثِّقْلِ وَالصُّعُوبَةِ سِوَى الذَّوْقِ السَّلِيمِ وَالْحِسِّ الصَّادِقِ النَّاجِمَيْنِ عَنِ النَّظَرِ فِي كَلَامِ الْبُلَغَاءِ وَمُمَارَسَةِ أَسَالِيبِهِمْ

There is no standard for knowing heaviness and difficulty other than sound taste and true perception, which arise from examining the speech of the eloquent and practicing their styles.

كَلِمَةٌ

A note:

وَبِذَلِكَ تَسْلَمُ مَادَّتُهَا وَصِيغَتُهَا وَمَعْنَاهَا مِنَ الْخَلَلِ - وَاعْلَمْ أَنَّهُ لَيْسَ تَنَافُرُ الْحُرُوفِ يَكُونُ مُوجِبُهُ دَائِمًا قُرْبَ مَخَارِجِ الْحُرُوفِ إِذْ قُرْبُهَا لَا يُوجِبُهُ دَائِمًا - كَمَا أَنَّ تَبَاعُدَهَا لَا يُوجِبُ خِفَّتَهَا - فَهَا هِيَ بِفَمِي حَسَنَةٌ وَحُرُوفُهَا مِنْ مَخْرَجٍ وَاحِدٍ وَهُوَ الشَّفَةُ، وَكَلِمَةُ (مُلْعٍ) مُتَنَافِرَةٌ ثَقِيلَةٌ وَحُرُوفُهَا مُتَبَاعِدَةُ الْمَخَارِجِ، وَأَيْضًا لَيْسَ مُوجِبُ التَّنَافُرِ طُولَ الْكَلِمَةِ وَكَثْرَةَ حُرُوفِهَا

(1) By that, its substance, form, and meaning are safe from defect. Know that the cause of letter incompatibility is not always the proximity of the letters' points of articulation, for their proximity does not always cause it, just as their distance does not guarantee lightness. For example, 'faha hiya bifami' (here it is in my mouth) is pleasant, yet its letters are from one point of articulation, which is the lip. The word 'mul'' (a type of bird) is incompatible and heavy, yet its letters have distant points of articulation. Also, the cause of incompatibility is not the length of the word or the number of its letters.

«الْغَدَائِرُ» الضَّفَائِرُ وَالضَّمِيرُ يَرْجِعُ إِلَى (فَرْعٍ) قَبْلَهُ وَالِاسْتِشْزَارُ الِارْتِفَاعُ (وَالْعِقَاصُ) جَمْعُ عَقِيصَةٍ الْخُصْلَةُ مِنَ الشَّعْرِ (وَالْمُثَنَّى) الشَّعْرُ الْمَفْتُولُ (وَالْمُرْسَلُ) ضِدُّهُ - أَيْ ابْنَةُ عَمِّهِ لِكَثْرَةِ شَعْرِهَا وَهِيَ بَعْضُهُ مَرْفُوعٌ وَبَعْضُهُ مُثَنًّى وَبَعْضُهُ مُرْسَلٌ وَبَعْضُهُ مُعْقُوصٌ مَلْوِيٌّ.

(2) 'Al-ghada'ir' are braids. The pronoun refers to 'far'' (hair) mentioned before it. 'Al-istishzar' is rising. 'Al-'iqas' is the plural of 'aqisah', which is a lock of hair. 'Al-muthanna' is twisted hair, and 'al-mursal' is its opposite. That is, his cousin, due to the abundance of her hair, has some of it raised, some twisted, some loose, and some tied and coiled.

الْأَلْفَاظُ تَنْقَسِمُ إِلَى ثَلَاثَةِ أَقْسَامٍ قِسْمَانِ حَسَنَانِ وَقِسْمٌ قَبِيحٌ، فَالْقِسْمَانِ الْحَسَنَانِ أَحَدُهُمَا مَا تَدَاوَلَ اسْتِعْمَالَهُ السَّلَفُ وَالْخَلَفُ مِنَ الزَّمَنِ الْقَدِيمِ إِلَى زَمَانِنَا هَذَا وَلَا يُطْلَقُ عَلَيْهِ أَنَّهُ وَحْشِيٌّ، وَالْآخَرُ مَا تَدَاوَلَ اسْتِعْمَالَهُ السَّلَفُ دُونَ الْخَلَفِ، وَيَخْتَلِفُ فِي اسْتِعْمَالِهِ بِالنِّسْبَةِ إِلَى الزَّمَنِ وَأَهْلِهِ - وَهَذَا هُوَ الَّذِي يُعَابُ اسْتِعْمَالُهُ عِنْدَ الْعَرَبِ لِأَنَّهُ لَمْ يَكُنْ عِنْدَهُمْ وَحْشِيًّا وَهُوَ عِنْدَنَا وَحْشِيٌّ.

(3) Words are divided into three categories: two good categories and one ugly category. The two good categories are: one, what the predecessors and successors have used from ancient times to our present day, and it is not called 'barbaric' (wahshi); and two, what the predecessors used but not the successors, and its usage varies according to time and its people. This is what is criticized when used by the Arabs, because it was not barbaric to them, but it is barbaric to us.

وَلَا يَسْبِقُ وَهْمَكَ إِلَى قَوْلِ قُصَارَى النَّظَرِ بِأَنَّ الْعَرَبَ كَانَتْ تَسْتَعْمِلُ مِنَ الْأَلْفَاظِ كَذَا وَكَذَا فَهَذَا دَلِيلٌ عَلَى أَنَّهُ حَسَنٌ، بَلْ يَنْبَغِي أَنْ تَعْلَمَ أَنَّ الَّذِي نَسْتَحْسِنُهُ نَحْنُ فِي زَمَانِنَا هَذَا هُوَ الَّذِي كَانَ عِنْدَ الْعَرَبِ مُسْتَحْسَنًا، وَالَّذِي نَسْتَقْبِحُهُ هُوَ الَّذِي كَانَ عِنْدَهُمْ مُسْتَقْبَحًا وَالِاسْتِعْمَالُ لَيْسَ بِدَلِيلٍ عَلَى

Do not let your imagination jump to the conclusion of the short-sighted that because the Arabs used such-and-such words, this is proof that they are good. Rather, you should know that what we consider good in our time is what was considered good by the Arabs, and what we consider ugly is what was considered ugly by them, and usage is not proof of...

Vocabulary · المفردات (9 verbs · 58 nouns)

• أَوْجَبَ — to necessitate
• أَدَّى — to perform
• رَعَى — to graze
• تَرَكَ — to leave
• وَصَفَ — to describe
• ضَلَّ — to be lost
• نَجَمَ — to emerge
• نَظَرَ — to look
• مَارَسَ — to practice
• فَصَاحَة — eloquence
• كَلِمَة — word
• سَلَامَة — soundness
• عَيْب — defect
• تَنَافُر — incompatibility
• حَرْف — letter
• غَرَابَة — strangeness
• اسْتِعْمَال — usage
• مُخَالَفَة — violation
• قِيَاس — analogy
• كَرَاهَة — aversion
• سَمْع — hearing
• وَصْف — description
• ثِقَل — heaviness
• صُعُوبَة — difficulty
• أَدَاء — performance
• لِسَان — tongue
• سَبَب — reason
• كَوْن — being
• مَخْرَج — articulation point
• نَوْع — type
• ظَشّ — rough place
• مَوْضِع — place
• خَشِن — rough
• نَحْو — such as, e.g. (نَحْوَ); direction, manner; grammar (النَّحْو)
• نَبْت — plant
• إِبِل — camel
• قَوْل — saying
• أَعْرَابِيّ — bedouin
• نَاقَة — she-camel
• نَقْنَقَة — croaking
• صَوْت — (sound)
• ضِفْدَع — frog
• نُقَاخ — fresh water
• مَاء — water
• عَذْب — sweet
• صَافِي — clear
• مَعْنَى — meaning
• مُرْتَفِع — high
• شِعْر — hair
• ابْنَة — daughter
• عَمّ — paternal uncle
• غَدَائِر — braids
• عُلَا — heights
• عِقَاص — hair knot
• مُثَنَّى — twisted
• مُرْسَل — loose
• ضَابِط — standard
• مَعْرِفَة — knowledge
• ذَوْق — taste
• سَلِيم — sound
• حِسّ — sense
• صَادِق — truthful
• نَظَر — viewing
• كَلَام — speech
• بَلِيغ — eloquent person
• مُمَارَسَة — practice
• أُسْلُوب — style