علوم البلاغة
ʿUlūm al-Balāgha
The Sciences of Eloquence
Speech that fits its situation. The three sciences in their order: maʿānī — what the structure of a sentence does; bayān — how one meaning is said many ways; badīʿ — what adorns it once it is sound.
6 lessons
The set text
- البلاغة الواضحةAl-Balāgha al-Wāḍiḥa
The teaching book: every rule is preceded by the examples it was drawn from, and followed by exercises.
- تلخيص المفتاحTalkhīṣ al-MiftāḥRead alongside it
The summary of al-Sakkākī's Miftāḥ al-ʿUlūm, and the matn on which the science has been taught ever since.
By the end of it
- Distinguish faṣāḥa from balāgha, and say of whom each is predicated.
- Analyse a verse of the Qurʾān for its taqdīm, its qaṣr and its ījāz.
- Tell a tashbīh from an istiʿāra, and name the qarīna that decides between them.
Lessons
الفصاحة والبلاغةFaṣāḥa and Balāgha
Faṣāḥa is a property of the word — clear of harshness, of oddity, of what the tongue trips on. Balāgha is a property of the speech and of the speaker: that it match its situation. A faṣīḥ sentence may still be bad speech.
Recording to followعلم المعاني: الخبر والإنشاءMaʿānī: statement and its counterpart
Speech either can be called true or false — that is khabar — or it cannot: the command, the question, the wish, the oath. And khabar is pitched at three strengths, according to whether the listener is empty, doubting, or denying.
Recording to followEntries this lesson definesعِلْم المَعانيThe science of meanings
القصر والفصل والوصل والإيجازQaṣr, faṣl and waṣl, ījāz and iṭnāb
Where a word is placed is itself a claim: fronting restricts, deletion implies, and the choice to join two sentences or to leave them apart is the hardest chapter in the science — “the knowledge of faṣl and waṣl is balāgha itself”.
Recording to followEntries this lesson definesعِلْم المَعانيThe science of meanings
علم البيان: التشبيهBayān: the simile
Four pillars: the likened, the likened-to, the shared quality, and the particle. Drop the particle and the quality, and the simile tightens into a metaphor — which is the next lesson.
Recording to followEntries this lesson definesالتَّشْبيهSimile
الاستعارة والكنايةMetaphor and metonymy
The istiʿāra is a simile with one of its two sides taken away and a qarīna left to prevent the literal reading. The kināya says a thing by way of its concomitant — “long of baldric” for a tall man — and means both at once.
Recording to followEntries this lesson definesالاسْتِعارَةMetaphorالتَّشْبيهSimile
علم البديعBadīʿ: what adorns sound speech
Only after the speech is true and clear may it be adorned: ṭibāq (the pairing of opposites), muqābala, jinās (the pun of two like words), and sajʿ. Ornament that precedes clarity is a fault, not an art.
Recording to followEntries this lesson definesعِلْم المَعانيThe science of meanings