LessonsThe Marāghah Maqāmah: A Test of Eloquence and an Unusual ConstraintQuiz

«أَعْطَيْتَ الْقَوْسَ بَارِيهَا»[
You have handed the bow to the person who knows how to make it.

Bārīhā refers to the one who fashions the bow. The proverbial expression means that a specialist has been entrusted with a task within his true expertise. The elder uses it to answer the examiner's provocation confidently.

He then adds «وَأَنْزَلْتَ الدَّارَ بَانِيهَا»[
And you have lodged the builder in the house that he built.

Both expressions claim that the task has reached a worthy expert. Their rhetoric is striking, but its truth still depends on the next action. The passage ends with «ثُمَّ فَكَّرَ»[—then he began to think. The written performance begins in Level 029.

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The bow has reached its maker

The Marāghah Maqāmah: A Test of Eloquence and an Unusual Constraint

«أَعْطَيْتَ الْقَوْسَ بَارِيهَا»[
You have handed the bow to the person who knows how to make it.

Bārīhā refers to the one who fashions the bow. The proverbial expression means that a specialist has been entrusted with a task within his true expertise. The elder uses it to answer the examiner's provocation confidently.

He then adds «وَأَنْزَلْتَ الدَّارَ بَانِيهَا»[
And you have lodged the builder in the house that he built.

Both expressions claim that the task has reached a worthy expert. Their rhetoric is striking, but its truth still depends on the next action. The passage ends with «ثُمَّ فَكَّرَ»[—then he began to think. The written performance begins in Level 029.