Mukhtasar al-Ma'ani by al-Taftazani, Vol. 2 (مختصر المعاني) — Page 39

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

التَّشْبِيهُ: أَوْ عَقْلِيَّانِ أَوِ الْمُشَبَّهُ حِسِّيٌّ وَالْمُشَبَّهُ بِهِ عَقْلِيٌّ أَوْ بِالْعَكْسِ صَارَ سِتَّةَ عَشَرَ قِسْمًا، الْوَاحِدُ الْحِسِّيُّ كَالْحُمْرَةِ مِنَ الْمُبْصَرَاتِ وَالْخَفَاءِ يَعْنِي خَفَاءَ الصَّوْتِ مِنَ الْمَسْمُوعَاتِ، وَطِيبِ الرَّائِحَةِ مِنَ الْمَشْمُومَاتِ وَلَذَّةِ الطَّعْمِ مِنَ الْمَذُوقَاتِ وَلِينِ الْمَلْمَسِ مِنَ الْمَلْمُوسَاتِ فِيمَا مَرَّ أَيْ فِي تَشْبِيهِ الْخَدِّ بِالْوَرْدِ وَالصَّوْتِ الضَّعِيفِ بِالْهَمْسِ وَالنَّكْهَةِ بِالْعَنْبَرِ، وَالرِّيقِ بِالْخَمْرِ، وَالْجِلْدِ النَّاعِمِ بِالْحَرِيرِ، وَفِي كَوْنِ الْخَفَاءِ مِنَ الْمَسْمُوعَاتِ، وَالطِّيبِ مِنَ الْمَشْمُومَاتِ، وَاللَّذَّةِ مِنَ الْمَذُوقَاتِ تَسَامُحٌ.

Simile: Or if both are intellectual, or the likened is sensory and the likeness is intellectual, or vice versa, it becomes sixteen categories; the sensory singular is like redness among visible things, and concealment—meaning the concealment of sound—among audible things, and the pleasantness of scent among smellable things, and the deliciousness of taste among tastable things, and the softness of touch among tangible things in what has passed, that is, in the simile of the cheek to the rose, the weak sound to a whisper, the flavor to ambergris, the saliva to wine, and the soft skin to silk; and there is a looseness in considering concealment as among the audible, pleasantness as among the smellable, and deliciousness as among the tastable.

وَالْوَاحِدُ الْعَقْلِيُّ كَالْعَرَاءِ عَنِ الْفَائِدَةِ وَالْجُرْأَةِ أَيِ الشَّجَاعَةِ، وَقَدْ يُقَالُ جَرُؤَ الرَّجُلُ جَرَاءَةً بِالْمَدِّ وَالْهِدَايَةِ أَيِ الدَّلَالَةِ عَلَى طَرِيقٍ يُوصِلُ إِلَى الْمَطْلُوبِ، وَاسْتِطَابَةِ النَّفْسِ فِي تَشْبِيهِ وُجُودِ الشَّيْءِ الْعَدِيمِ النَّفْعِ بِعَدَمِهِ فِيمَا طَرَفَاهُ عَقْلِيَّانِ؛ إِذِ الْوُجُودُ وَالْعَدَمُ مِنَ الْأُمُورِ الْعَقْلِيَّةِ، وَتَشْبِيهِ الرَّجُلِ الشُّجَاعِ بِالْأَسَدِ طَرَفَاهُ حِسِّيَّانِ وَتَشْبِيهِ الْعِلْمِ بِالنُّورِ فِيمَا الْمُشَبَّهُ عَقْلِيٌّ وَالْمُشَبَّهُ بِهِ حِسِّيٌّ، فَبِالْعِلْمِ يُوصَلُ إِلَى الْمَطْلُوبِ وَيُفَرَّقُ بَيْنَ الْحَقِّ وَالْبَاطِلِ كَمَا أَنَّ بِالنُّورِ يُدْرَكُ الْمَطْلُوبُ وَيُفْصَلُ بَيْنَ الْأَشْيَاءِ.

The intellectual singular is like being devoid of benefit, and boldness—that is, courage, and it is said 'the man was bold' (jaru'a) with a long vowel (jara'ah), and guidance—that is, pointing to a path that leads to the desired object, and the soul's finding something pleasant, in the simile of the existence of a useless thing to its non-existence, in cases where both sides are intellectual; for existence and non-existence are intellectual matters, and the simile of the brave man to a lion where both sides are sensory, and the simile of knowledge to light where the likened is intellectual and the likeness is sensory, for through knowledge one reaches the desired object and distinguishes between truth and falsehood, just as through light the desired object is perceived and things are separated.

الْوَاحِدُ الْحِسِّيُّ: أَيْ وَجْهُ الشَّبَهِ الْوَاحِدُ الْحِسِّيُّ، وَهَذَا شُرُوعٌ فِي تَمْثِيلِ الْأَقْسَامِ الْمَذْكُورَةِ، وَقَدْ عَلِمْتَ أَنَّ الْوَاحِدَ الْحِسِّيَّ لَا يَكُونُ طَرَفَاهُ إِلَّا مُفْرَدَيْنِ وَحِينَئِذٍ فَمُقْتَضَاهُ أَنْ يَقْتَصِرَ فِي التَّمْثِيلِ لَهُ عَلَى مِثَالٍ وَاحِدٍ، لَكِنَّ الْمُصَنِّفَ مَثَّلَ لَهُ بِأَمْثِلَةٍ خَمْسَةٍ نَظَرًا لِتَعَدُّدِ الْحَوَاسِّ وَكَوْنِهَا خَمْسَةً.

The sensory singular: meaning the sensory singular aspect of resemblance, and this is the beginning of providing examples for the mentioned categories; you have already learned that the sensory singular cannot have sides that are anything but singular, and thus the requirement would be to limit the example for it to one instance, but the author provided five examples for it in view of the multiplicity of the senses and the fact that they are five.

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Vocabulary · المفردات (20 verbs · 77 nouns)

• صَارَ — to become
• عَنَى — to mean
• مَرَّ — to pass
• تَشْبِيه — analogy
• قِسْم — section
• وَاحِد — one