Mukhtasar al-Ma'ani by al-Taftazani, Vol. 2 (مختصر المعاني) — Page 225

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

وُجُوهُ تَحْسِينِ الْكَلَامِ نَحْوَ وَلَا هُنَّ حِلٌّ لَهُمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحِلُّونَ لَهُنَّ قَدَّمَ أَوَّلًا هُنَّ عَلَى هُمْ وَثَانِيًا هُمْ عَلَى هُنَّ، وَهُمَا لَفْظَانِ وَقَعَ أَحَدُهُمَا فِي جَانِبِ الْمُسْنَدِ إِلَيْهِ وَالْآخَرُ فِي جَانِبِ الْمُسْنَدِ.

Aspects of beautifying speech include, for example, 'And they are not lawful for them, nor are they lawful for them,' where he first placed 'hunna' (they, feminine) before 'hum' (they, masculine), and secondly 'hum' before 'hunna,' and these are two terms, one of which occurred on the side of the subject (musnad ilayhi) and the other on the side of the predicate (musnad).

وَمِنْهُ أَيْ مِنَ الْمَعْنَوِيِّ الرُّجُوعُ وَهُوَ الْعَوْدُ إِلَى الْكَلَامِ السَّابِقِ بِالنَّقْضِ أَيْ بِنَقْضِهِ وَإِبْطَالِهِ لِنُكْتَةٍ كَقَوْلِهِ: قِفْ بِالدِّيَارِ الَّتِي لَمْ يَعْفُهَا الْقِدَمُ أَيْ لَمْ يُبْلِهَا تَطَاوُلُ الزَّمَانِ وَتَقَادُمُ الْعَهْدِ، ثُمَّ عَادَ إِلَى ذَلِكَ الْكَلَامِ وَنَقَضَهُ بِقَوْلِهِ: بَلَى وَغَيَّرَهَا الْأَرْوَاحُ وَالدِّيمُ أَيْ الرِّيَاحُ وَالْأَمْطَارُ وَالنُّكْتَةُ إِظْهَارُ التَّحَيُّرِ وَالتَّدَلُّهِ كَأَنَّهُ أَخْبَرَ أَوَّلًا بِمَا لَا تَحَقُّقَ لَهُ، ثُمَّ أَفَاقَ بَعْضُ الْإِفَاقَةِ فَنَقَضَ الْكَلَامَ السَّابِقَ قَائِلًا: بَلَى عَفَاهَا الْقِدَمُ وَغَيَّرَهَا الْأَرْوَاحُ وَالدِّيمُ.

Among them—that is, among the semantic [figures of speech]—is 'al-ruju'' (retraction), which is returning to the previous statement by way of negation, meaning by negating and invalidating it for a subtle point, such as his saying: 'Stop at the abodes that time has not effaced,' meaning the passage of time and the antiquity of the era have not worn them out; then he returned to that statement and negated it with his saying: 'Yes, and the winds and the rains have changed them,' meaning the winds and the rains. The subtle point is the manifestation of bewilderment and distraction, as if he first reported something that had no reality, then recovered somewhat and negated the previous statement, saying: 'Yes, time has effaced them, and the winds and the rains have changed them.'

لَا هُنَّ حِلٌّ لَهُمْ إِلَخْ أَيْ فَهَاتَانِ جُمْلَتَانِ فِي كُلٍّ مِنْهُمَا لَفْظَانِ هُمَا الضَّمِيرَانِ أَحَدُهُمَا ضَمِيرُ جَمْعِ الذُّكُورِ وَهُوَ هُمْ، وَالْآخَرُ ضَمِيرُ الْإِنَاثِ وَهُوَ هُنَّ، فَفِي الْجُمْلَةِ الْأُولَى وُجِدَ مَا لِلْإِنَاثِ فِي الطَّرَفِ الْأَوَّلِ الَّذِي هُوَ الْمُسْنَدُ إِلَيْهِ، وَوُجِدَ مَا لِلذُّكُورِ فِي الطَّرَفِ الثَّانِي الَّذِي هُوَ الْمُسْنَدُ، وَعَكَسَ ذَلِكَ فِي الْجُمْلَةِ الثَّانِيَةِ.

'They are not lawful for them, etc.' means these are two sentences, in each of which there are two terms, which are the two pronouns: one of them is the pronoun for the plural masculine, which is 'hum,' and the other is the pronoun for the feminine, which is 'hunna.' In the first sentence, what belongs to the feminine was found in the first part, which is the subject, and what belongs to the masculine was found in the second part, which is the predicate, and he reversed that in the second sentence.

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Vocabulary · المفردات (21 verbs · 55 nouns)

• حَسَّنَ — to improve
• قَدَّمَ — to present
• وَقَعَ — to fall
• وَجْهٌ — aspect
• كَلَامٌ — speech
• حِلٌّ — permissible