Mukhtasar al-Ma'ani by al-Taftazani, Vol. 2 (مختصر المعاني) — Page 69

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

التَّشْبِيهُ لَمَّا سَأَلَهُ عَنْهُمْ، وَذَكَرَ جَارُ اللَّهِ أَنَّهُ قَوْلُ الْأَنْمَارِيَّةِ فَاطِمَةَ بِنْتِ الْخُرْشُبِ، وَذَلِكَ أَنَّهَا نِسْبَةٌ إِلَى أَنْمَارٍ قَبِيلَةٍ، بَدَلٌ مِنَ الْأَنْمَارِيَّةِ، سَبَبُ ذَلِكَ الْقَوْلِ سُئِلَتْ عَنْ بَنِيهَا: أَيُّهُمْ أَفْضَلُ؟

Regarding the simile, when he asked her about them, Jar Allah mentioned that it is the statement of the Anmari woman, Fatima bint al-Khurshub—and that is an attribution to Anmar, a tribe, as a substitute for 'the Anmari woman'—the reason for that statement is that she was asked about her sons: 'Which of them is the best?'

فَقَالَتْ: عُمَارَةُ، لَا بَلْ فُلَانٌ، لَا بَلْ فُلَانٌ، ثُمَّ قَالَتْ: ثَكِلَتْهُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُ أَعْلَمُ أَيُّهُمْ أَفْضَلُهُمْ، هُمْ كَالْحَلْقَةِ الْمُفْرَغَةِ لَا يُدْرَى أَيْنَ طَرَفَاهَا، أَيْ هُمْ مُتَنَاسِبُونَ فِي الشَّرَفِ يَمْتَنِعُ تَعْيِينُ بَعْضِهِمْ فَاضِلًا وَبَعْضِهِمْ أَفْضَلَ مِنْهُ، كَمَا أَنَّهَا أَيِ الْحَلْقَةَ الْمُفْرَغَةَ مُتَنَاسِبَةُ الْأَجْزَاءِ فِي الصُّورَةِ يَمْتَنِعُ تَعْيِينُ بَعْضِهَا طَرَفًا وَبَعْضِهَا وَسَطًا؛ لِكَوْنِهَا مُفْرَغَةً مُصْمَتَةَ الْجَوَانِبِ كَالدَّائِرَةِ، وَأَيْضًا مِنْهُ أَيْ مِنَ الْمُجْمَلِ، وَقَوْلُهُ: "مِنْهُ" دُونَ أَنْ يَقُولَ: "وَأَيْضًا إِمَّا كَذَا وَإِمَّا كَذَا" إِشْعَارٌ بِأَنَّ هَذَا مِنْ تَقْسِيمَاتِ الْمُجْمَلِ لَا مِنْ تَقْسِيمَاتِ مُطْلَقِ التَّشْبِيهِ، أَيْ وَمِنَ الْمُجْمَلِ مَا لَمْ يُذْكَرْ فِيهِ وَصْفُ أَحَدِ الطَّرَفَيْنِ، الْمُشَبَّهِ وَالْمُشَبَّهِ بِهِ، وَذَكَرَ جَارُ اللَّهِ: لَا تَنَافِيَ بَيْنَ مَا ذَكَرَهُ وَمَا ذَكَرَهُ الشَّيْخُ، بَلْ هُمَا يَجْتَمِعَانِ عَلَى الصِّدْقِ تَوَارَدَا أَوْ بِطَرِيقِ أَخْذِ الْمُتَأَخِّرِ عَنِ الْمُتَقَدِّمِ.

She said: 'Umara, no, rather so-and-so, no, rather so-and-so.' Then she said: 'May I be bereaved of them if I know which of them is the best; they are like a cast ring, one does not know where its ends are.' That is, they are equal in nobility, such that it is impossible to designate some of them as virtuous and others as more virtuous than them, just as it—the cast ring—is uniform in its parts in form, such that it is impossible to designate some of it as an end and some of it as a middle, because it is cast and solid-sided like a circle. And also 'from it,' meaning from the mujmal (ambiguous/summarized), and his saying 'from it' without saying 'and also either such or such' is an indication that this is one of the divisions of the mujmal, not one of the divisions of the absolute simile; that is, among the mujmal is that in which the description of one of the two sides, the musabbah (likened) and the musabbah bihi (likened-to), is not mentioned. Jar Allah mentioned: There is no contradiction between what he mentioned and what the Sheikh mentioned; rather, they both converge on the truth, either by having arrived at it independently or by way of the later scholar taking from the earlier one.

عَنْ بَنِيهَا: أَيِ الْأَرْبَعَةِ الَّذِينَ رُزِقَتْ بِهِمْ مِنْ زَوْجِهَا زِيَادٍ الْعَبْسِيِّ: وَهُمْ رَبِيعٌ الْكَامِلُ، وَعُمَارَةُ الْوَهَّابُ وَقَيْسٌ الْحَفَّاظُ وَأَنَسٌ الْفَوَارِسُ.

Regarding her sons: meaning the four whom she was blessed with from her husband Ziyad al-Absi: they are Rabi' al-Kamil, Umara al-Wahhab, Qays al-Haffaz, and Anas al-Fawaris.

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Vocabulary · المفردات (30 verbs · 81 nouns)

• سَأَلَ — to ask
• ذَكَرَ — to mention
• قَالَ — to say
• تَشْبِيه — simile
• أَنْمَارِيَّة — (female) Anmari
• بِنْت — daughter