Mukhtasar al-Ma'ani by al-Taftazani, Vol. 1 (مختصر المعاني) — Page 531

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

الْإِيجَازُ وَالْإِطْنَابُ وَالْمُسَاوَاةُ بِالِاقْتِصَاصِ وَاطِّرَادِهِ أَيْ وَلِكَوْنِ قَوْلِهِ: "وَلَكُمْ فِي الْقِصَاصِ حَيَاةٌ" مُطَّرِدًا؛ إِذِ الِاقْتِصَاصُ عُمُومُهُ مُطْلَقًا عَامٌّ لِكُلِّ فَرْدٍ فِي كُلِّ وَقْتٍ وَفَرْدٍ سَبَبٌ لِلْحَيَاةِ بِخِلَافِ الْقَتْلِ؛ فَإِنَّهُ قَدْ يَكُونُ أَنْفَى لِلْقَتْلِ كَالَّذِي عَلَى وَجْهِ الْقِصَاصِ، وَقَدْ يَكُونُ أَدْعَى لَهُ كَالْقَتْلِ ظُلْمًا وَخُلُوِّهِ عَنِ التَّكْرَارِ بِخِلَافِ قَوْلِهِمْ، فَإِنَّهُ أَيْ خُلُوَّ قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى يَشْتَمِلُ عَلَى تَكْرَارِ الْقَتْلِ وَلَا يَخْفَى أَنَّ الْخَالِيَ عَنِ التَّكْرَارِ أَفْضَلُ مِنَ الْمُشْتَمِلِ عَلَيْهِ وَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ مُخِلًّا بِالْفَصَاحَةِ وَاسْتِغْنَائِهِ عَنْ تَقْدِيرِ مَحْذُوفٍ بِخِلَافِ قَوْلِهِمْ، فَإِنَّ تَقْدِيرَهُ الْقَتْلُ أَنْفَى لِلْقَتْلِ مِنْ تَرْكِهِ وَالْمُطَابَقَةُ أَيْ وَبِاشْتِمَالِهِ عَلَى صَنْعَةِ الْمُطَابَقَةِ.

Brevity, prolixity, and equivalence regarding the law of retaliation and its consistency, meaning that because His saying: 'And in the law of retaliation there is life for you' is consistent; for the law of retaliation is absolutely general for every individual at every time, and every individual is a cause for life, unlike killing; for it may be a deterrent to killing, such as that which is by way of retaliation, and it may be an incitement to it, such as killing unjustly, and its freedom from repetition, unlike their saying, for it—meaning the freedom of His saying, the Exalted—contains the repetition of the word 'killing,' and it is not hidden that that which is free from repetition is better than that which contains it, even if it does not impair eloquence, and its independence from the assumption of an omitted word, unlike their saying, for its assumption is 'killing is more of a deterrent to killing than leaving it,' and antithesis, meaning its inclusion of the art of antithesis.

بِخِلَافِ الْقَتْلِ [أَيْ فِي قَوْلِهِمُ: الْقَتْلُ أَنْفَى لِلْقَتْلِ] فَإِنَّهُ لَا اطِّرَادَ فِيهِ؛ إِذْ لَيْسَ كُلُّ قَتْلٍ أَنْفَى لِلْقَتْلِ، بَلْ تَارَةً يَكُونُ أَنْفَى لَهُ، وَتَارَةً يَكُونُ أَدْعَى لَهُ، وَجَعْلُ كَلَامِهِمْ هَذَا غَيْرَ مُطَّرِدٍ بِالنَّظَرِ لِظَاهِرِ اللَّفْظِ وَإِنْ كَانَ الْمُرَادُ مِنَ الْقَتْلِ فِي قَوْلِهِمْ هُوَ الْقِصَاصُ الْمُسَاوِي لِلْآيَةِ فِي الِاطِّرَادِ، فَتَرْجِيحُ الْآيَةِ عَلَى كَلَامِهِمْ بِالِاطِّرَادِ بِالنَّظَرِ إِلَى ظَاهِرِ كَلَامِهِمْ، وَهُوَ كَافٍ فِي التَّرْجِيحِ.

Unlike 'killing' [meaning in their saying: 'Killing is more of a deterrent to killing'], for there is no consistency in it; since not every killing is a deterrent to killing, but rather sometimes it is a deterrent to it, and sometimes it is an incitement to it, and considering this statement of theirs as inconsistent is in view of the apparent wording, even if the intended meaning of 'killing' in their saying is the law of retaliation, which is equal to the verse in consistency, so the preference of the verse over their statement is based on consistency in view of the apparent meaning of their statement, and that is sufficient for preference.

وَخُلُوُّهُ أَيْ عُورِضَ بِأَنَّ فِيهِ نَوْعًا مِنَ الْمُحَسِّنَاتِ، وَهُوَ رَدُّ الْعَجُزِ عَلَى الصَّدْرِ، وَأُجِيبَ بِأَنَّ الْحُسْنَ مِنْ جِهَةٍ لَا يُنَافِي الْقُبْحَ مِنْ جِهَةٍ أُخْرَى، فَكَلَامُهُمُ اشْتَمَلَ عَلَى التَّكْرَارِ وَعَلَى رَدِّ الْعَجُزِ عَلَى الصَّدْرِ، فَبِالنَّظَرِ إِلَى الْجِهَةِ الْأُولَى مَعِيبٌ، وَبِالنَّظَرِ إِلَى الثَّانِيَةِ حَسَنٌ، فَحُسْنُهُ لَيْسَ مِنْ جِهَةِ التَّكْرَارِ بَلْ مِنْ جِهَةِ رَدِّ الْعَجُزِ عَلَى الصَّدْرِ؛ وَلِهَذَا قَالُوا: الْأَحْسَنُ فِي رَدِّ الْعَجُزِ عَلَى الصَّدْرِ أَنْ لَا يُؤَدِّيَ إِلَى التَّكْرَارِ بِأَنْ لَا يَكُونَ كُلٌّ مِنَ اللَّفْظَيْنِ بِمَعْنَى الْآخَرِ.

And its freedom—meaning it was countered by the fact that it contains a type of embellishment, which is the return of the end to the beginning, and it was answered that beauty from one aspect does not negate ugliness from another aspect, so their statement included repetition and the return of the end to the beginning; thus, in view of the first aspect, it is flawed, and in view of the second, it is beautiful, so its beauty is not from the aspect of repetition but from the aspect of the return of the end to the beginning; and for this reason they said: The best in the return of the end to the beginning is that it does not lead to repetition, in that each of the two words should not have the same meaning as the other.

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Vocabulary · المفردات (21 verbs · 55 nouns)

• اِطَّرَدَ — to be consistent
• اِشْتَمَلَ — to contain
• خَفِيَ — to be hidden
• إِيجَاز — conciseness
• إِطْنَاب — prolixity
• مُسَاوَاة — equality