Conclusion: Literary Borrowing, Iqtibas, Tadmeen, and the Final Arts of Composition

1. How the conclusion fits into rhetoric

After the study of verbal and semantic embellishments comes a question about literary borrowing: what happens when a writer takes another author's words or idea and incorporates them into a new composition? The classical discussion of sarqat al-kalam classifies these cases.

The conclusion then covers iqtibas, tadmeen, 'aqd and hall, and talmih, before turning to good beginnings, transitions, indirect requests, and endings. In every case, effective expression depends on suitability, clarity, and the relationship between form and meaning.

2. The basic idea of literary appropriation

The classical account of literary borrowing considers prose or verse that takes another writer's expression or meaning. Sometimes wording and order are reproduced; sometimes wording is modified; and sometimes only the underlying idea survives in the new composition.

The distinctions turn on wording, meaning, order, and attribution. Similar ideas alone do not establish a writer's intent or prove unauthorized taking; such judgments require separate evidence about authorship and transmission.

3. Separating idea from wording

A single idea may be expressed through many arrangements. The notion that kindness deserves kindness, for example, can be recast in different language while preserving its central meaning.

Retaining a particular poem's wording, metrical movement, rhyme, and order while claiming it as one's own is different. In that case, both verbal correspondence and attribution matter. The traditional classification therefore distinguishes taking an idea from copying an expression.

4. Taking another’s lines unchanged

A particularly direct form is to take an existing composition without altering its arrangement and present it as one's own. This is not merely an idea shared by writers: the original form of the utterance is preserved.

The source discusses an attribution incident involving borrowed verse. The issue is not whether its message is admirable but whether another person's completed composition is claimed as one's own. Copying and claiming authorship must therefore be considered together.

5. Naskh and intihal

النَّسْخُ وَالِانْتِحَالُ
Copying another’s composition and passing it off as one’s own.

Naskh emphasizes reproduction of an existing expression, whereas intihal adds the element of adopting or claiming another's composition. Together they refer to a serious kind of borrowing in which both the words and their attribution are taken over.

An openly attributed quotation differs because the original author is not concealed.

6. Synonym substitution is not fresh composition

Replacing a few words with synonyms does not automatically produce an original composition if the larger structure remains intact. The meaning, order, and rhetorical design may be almost unchanged.

Assessment should therefore consider more than the number of altered words: has the underlying organization of the expression actually changed? A substituted synonym may even weaken fluency, register, or the force of the original wording.

7. The example of al-ta‘im al-kasi

«دَعِ الْمَكَارِمَ لَا تَرْحَلْ لِبُغْيَتِهَا»
Abandon the pursuit of noble distinctions; do not travel to seek them.

«الطَّاعِمُ الْكَاسِي»
One who has food and clothing.

«الْآكِلُ اللَّابِسُ»
One who eats and wears clothes.

The first expression occurs in the earlier verse; the second occurs in a near-synonymous rephrasing. The core meaning remains close, but diction, sharpness of satire, and rhetorical effect change. The example shows how synonym substitution may preserve an underlying pattern without preserving its elegance.

8. Preserving the design while changing diction

Here nazm is not merely poetic meter. It also concerns the ordered relation of words and meanings. If a later text preserves the earlier contrasts, relations, and sentence pattern, its underlying design may remain recognizable despite changes of vocabulary.

A synonym is not always rhetorically equivalent. A chosen word can carry register, allusion, praise, or disparagement that a seemingly interchangeable word fails to convey.

9. Taking a meaning with different wording

When a poet takes the substance of an earlier passage and expresses it differently, the main issue is the relationship between the borrowed meaning and its new form, not exact verbal identity. The later form may be clearer, weaker, or comparable in effect.

Changing all the words does not necessarily erase literary dependence. The analysis asks whether a particular prior expression supplied the idea and how its verbal realization has been reshaped.

10. Ighara and maskh

الإِغَارَةُ وَالْمَسْخُ
Taking an earlier idea and changing the wording or form in which it is expressed.

The terms suggest seizing and altering an existing form. In literary analysis, the focus is how the later formulation transmits the earlier meaning and whether it improves or weakens expression.

Its merits cannot be decided merely by checking verbal resemblance: clarity, suitability of diction, and rhetorical impact must also be assessed.

11. One theme in two forms of verse

«هَيْهَاتَ لَا يَأْتِي الزَّمَانُ بِمِثْلِهِ»
Far from it—the age will not bring another like him.

«أَعْدَى الزَّمَانَ سَخَاؤُهُ»
His generosity spread even to the age itself.

The first verse depicts time as too miserly to produce an equal. The second imagines the praised man's generosity as spreading even to time. Both convey exceptional generosity, yet one uses the miserliness of the age and the other imagines generosity as contagious. The shift of imagery is central to their rhetorical comparison.

12. Borrowing the idea alone

Sometimes the later composition retains neither distinctive vocabulary nor the original structure, yet it develops an identifiable idea from an earlier work. This places greater emphasis on semantic borrowing than on literal copying.

A sound comparison first identifies the shared thought and then examines the new angle, reasoning, or image. A commonplace idea, however, is not by itself proof of direct borrowing.

13. Ilmam and salkh

الإِلْمَامُ وَالسَّلْخُ
Transferring an earlier thought into a different expression without carrying over its distinctive wording.

Salkh evokes stripping a meaning from its earlier verbal covering; ilmam suggests approaching or drawing upon an existing idea. The focus is on continuity of thought beneath different diction.

The category becomes recognizable where literal copying is absent but a distinctive conceptual relationship remains.

14. The patience example

«وَالصَّبْرُ يُحْمَدُ فِي الْمَوَاطِنِ كُلِّهَا»
Patience is praised in every circumstance.

The example goes on to create an exception connected with a beloved person: here, mere patience is not praised. A later formulation develops the theme through a change in what a patient or distressed person is called: the social evaluation of self-control or agitation shifts with context.

The shared idea can be presented as a direct rule or dramatized through a person's reputation and behavior.

15. Comparison of the borrowing categories

The comparison separates wording, meaning, and claimed attribution. Treating every form as the same kind of borrowing obscures useful literary distinctions.

CategoryPrincipal feature
Naskh and intihalCopying the text and claiming it as one's own
Synonym substitutionMuch of the verbal pattern remains, with selected words changed
Ighara and maskhRecasting an acquired theme in altered expression
Ilmam and salkhBorrowing a meaning without preserving its distinctive wording

16. Definition of iqtibas

الِاقْتِبَاسُ
Embedding a portion of the Qur'an or a hadith within one's own expression rather than introducing it as a separate formal quotation.

Its source is specifically scripture or hadith, which distinguishes it from incorporating another poet's verse. The rhetorical issue is how the adopted words operate in the new setting, without disregarding their original sense or the respect due to sacred language.

17. An example drawn from the Qur’an

«مَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ مِنْ حَمِيمٍ وَلَا شَفِيعٍ يُطَاعُ»
Wrongdoers will have no close friend and no intercessor whose intercession is obeyed.

The wording belongs to Qur'an 40:18. Part of a familiar Qur'anic passage may be embedded in a poem or prose composition in a new setting. Iqtibas is recognized when such scriptural phrasing becomes part of the speaker's own discourse.

The verse's original meaning and context should be understood before interpreting its function in a later composition.

18. Iqtibas versus an explicit citation

Introducing a verse with “Allah says” is an explicit citation: the text is presented together with attribution. In the technical sense of iqtibas, scriptural or hadith wording is incorporated into the writer's discourse without necessarily being separately announced as a quotation.

Thus, the distinction concerns the mode of presentation, not simply the presence of Qur'anic words. In both cases accuracy and appropriate context remain necessary.

19. Definition of poetic tadmeen

التَّضْمِينُ
Incorporating a portion of another poet's verse into one's own poem.

Tadmeen involves another poet's writing, rather than wording taken from scripture or hadith. When the incorporated words are not well known, the source treats an indication of their origin as important so that listeners do not mistake them for the new poet's own invention.

Successful incorporation must also serve the meaning and structure of the new poem; insertion alone is not a sufficient rhetorical achievement.

20. How an incorporated verse functions

«فَبِاللّٰهِ أَبْلُغُ مَا أَرْتَجِي»
By God's help I reach what I hope for.

The phrase appears in a poetic setting where the speaker describes distress and fear of enemies and then calls upon an existing verse suited to his condition. Familiar wording gives the new emotion additional force.

To identify tadmeen, ask which words were taken, whether they belong to an earlier verse, and what function they serve in the new composition.

21. Minor alteration in incorporated verse

A small change to an incorporated line may be made to fit meter or the new context. Such a change does not necessarily eliminate tadmeen if the relationship to the earlier verse remains recognizable and the meaning is not arbitrarily distorted.

A pronoun or verbal form, for instance, may be adjusted to fit a new speaker. One must consider both recognizable source wording and the extent of alteration; not every substantial rewrite counts as a minor adjustment.

22. Iqtibas, tadmeen, and misattribution

All three may involve earlier wording, but they differ in source, attribution, and use.

FormKey diagnostic feature
IqtibasScripture or hadith wording embedded in discourse
TadmeenA portion of another poet's verse incorporated into new poetry
Naskh and intihalAnother's work reproduced and presented as one's own

Incorporating an acknowledged verse and concealing its origin while claiming the entire work are not the same act.

23. ‘Aqd and hall as opposite transformations

العَقْدُ وَالْحَلُّ
In ‘aqd, a prose statement is recast as verse; in hall, a poetic statement is rendered as prose.

‘Aqd literally evokes binding: prose material is organized into the formal constraints of verse. Hall evokes loosening: a poem's sense is unfolded through prose syntax.

Neither procedure is mere word shuffling. Both require attention to meaning, structure, and the expressive conditions of the target form.

24. ‘Aqd: turning a maxim into poetry

«وَالظُّلْمُ مِنْ شِيَمِ النُّفُوسِ»
Injustice is among the habitual tendencies of souls.

The poetic example gives metrical form to an ethical observation about human nature. In ‘aqd, material that could be stated as prose is shaped into verse.

The conversion fails if meter forces the writer to drop an essential qualification or distort the point. Good ‘aqd preserves the insight while giving it a coherent and effective poetic form.

25. Hall: unfolding a poem as prose

In hall, the aim is not to retain meter, rhyme, or the original sequence of poetic words, but to restate the same content in intelligible prose. The resulting sentences may clarify references, unfold compressed constructions, or make an implied relationship explicit.

For example, a verse praising fidelity to a promise can be rendered as prose that states whose promise is meant and why it deserves praise. This is the central operation of hall.

26. How to evaluate conversion quality

Three criteria help evaluate either transformation: accuracy of sense, fluency, and suitability to the new form.

If rhyme dominates meaning in ‘aqd, or the logical and emotional connection of the original is lost in hall, the result is deficient. When the meaning remains clear and the new form contributes its own strength, the transformation succeeds.

27. Definition of talmih

التَّلْمِيحُ
Alluding briefly to a known verse, hadith, poem, story, or event without reproducing its full text or narrative.

Its effect depends on the connection between a concise signal and the audience's prior knowledge. A listener who recognizes the allusion supplies the larger story. Talmih therefore differs from direct quotation: it works by recalling a context through hints.

28. The “seeking refuge” allusion

«كَالْمُسْتَجِيرِ مِنَ الرَّمْضَاءِ بِالنَّارِ»
Like someone who flees the scorching ground only to seek shelter in fire.

The familiar expression illustrates escaping one hardship by falling into something worse. A brief reference to it in a later poem can summon the whole conventional image or its associated story.

Successful talmih requires more than recognizable words: the audience must know enough of the background to recover the intended implication.

29. Allusion versus quotation

Iqtibas embeds actual Qur'anic or hadith words. Talmih can work by merely hinting at a story, idea, or event; its range also includes well-known poetry and history.

Naming a recognizable character or symbol to evoke a whole story is allusion. Incorporating the specific words of a scriptural passage in one's own expression, by contrast, may constitute iqtibas.

30. A strong opening

حُسْنُ الِابْتِدَاءِ
Beginning a composition with pleasing diction, fluent construction, and sound, appropriate meaning.

The opening gives the listener a first sense of the work's tone and direction. If it begins with strained language, clumsy syntax, or an unsuitable claim, later strengths can lose impact. Sweetness of expression, good composition, and sound sense are central qualities of a successful beginning.

31. Bara‘at al-istihlal

When a good beginning also contains a subtle, fitting indication of the coming subject, it is called bara‘at al-istihlal. The beginning does more than sound elegant; it foreshadows the central purpose.

For example, congratulations on recovery might open with an image of renewed health or the departure of sickness. The intended subject is suggested before it is stated directly.

32. Diction, syntax, and sense in an opening

Pleasant diction means wording that is not abrasive or clumsy; good composition means a fluent construction free from needless strain; sound meaning means a coherent, defensible thought appropriate to the occasion.

These are distinct tests. A sentence may be melodious yet contradictory, or accurate yet syntactically awkward. An excellent beginning combines all three.

33. A well-managed transition

حُسْنُ التَّخَلُّصِ
Moving from an introductory subject to the intended main subject while preserving a suitable connection, so the transition does not feel abrupt or arbitrary.

A poet may begin with travel, separation, personal circumstances, or a scene, and then turn to praise or counsel. Good takhallus uses some meaningful feature of the first topic as a bridge to the second.

34. Takhallus and digression are different

Istitrad may involve moving into a related digression and then returning, whereas husn al-takhallus specifically concerns a graceful movement from preliminary material to the principal objective.

For instance, a speaker might move from a description of the season to its harvest and then to the main subject of farmers' work. A visible relation makes the transition natural; an abrupt change of subject does not.

35. The art of an indirect request

بَرَاعَةُ الطَّلَبِ
Expressing a need so gracefully that the addressee understands the request without a blunt or explicit demand.

The device relies on suggestion, situational cues, and the audience's understanding. The object is not to make the request unintelligible but to soften it and respect the relationship between the speaker and the person addressed.

36. When silence itself communicates a need

«وَفِي النَّفْسِ حَاجَاتٌ وَفِيكَ فَطَانَةٌ»
There are needs within my heart, and you possess discernment.

The following thought is that silence itself can speak to a perceptive listener. No request is stated outright, but the speaker's need is paired with the addressee's insight, creating a clear contextual signal of petition.

The device succeeds when the hint is both courteous and sufficiently understandable to communicate the intended request.

37. A satisfying ending

حُسْنُ الِانْتِهَاءِ
Ending a composition with pleasing, correct, appropriate wording that feels complete.

The conclusion should close the thought without leaving the audience waiting for an essential continuation. Pleasant diction, fluent construction, and sound sense still matter, but an ending also needs a sense of completion. Merely stopping a sentence is not the same as concluding well.

38. Bara‘at al-maqta‘ and the closing prayer

A closing phrase that itself signals that the discourse is ending is an instance of bara‘at al-maqta‘. Prayer, farewell, fulfillment, or a comprehensive final thought can provide an appropriate sense of closure.

«بَقِيتَ بَقَاءَ الدَّهْرِ يَا كَهْفَ أَهْلِهِ»
May you remain as long as time endures, shelter of your people.

The prayer brings the praise to a natural culmination and leaves the audience with a complete final impression.

39. Four stages of managing a composition

The four devices concern different functions within discourse. A single work can exhibit several of them, but their purposes are not identical.

DeviceMain function
Husn al-ibtida’Begin with fitting, effective language
Husn al-takhallusMove coherently from preface to main topic
Bara‘at al-talabCommunicate a request through a skillful hint
Husn al-intiha’End with fitting, complete expression

40. Applying the classification to new writing

To classify a new passage, first ask what sort of connection it establishes: earlier poetic wording, Qur'an or hadith, a familiar story, or the organization of the new discourse itself.

Embedded source wording suggests iqtibas or tadmeen; a mere allusive signal suggests talmih; conversion between verse and prose suggests ‘aqd or hall; and a particularly effective opening or conclusion belongs to its own category. Context and knowledge of sources are essential to a defensible classification.

41. Concluding synthesis of the course

Rhetoric is not merely a list of terms. Its purpose is to integrate accuracy of meaning, eloquent wording, fitness to occasion, and effective form. Ma‘ani studies the fit between expression and context; bayan develops different clear and forceful ways of conveying a meaning; and badi‘ examines verbal and semantic embellishment.

The conclusion shows that literary borrowing, allusion, and the organization of one's own discourse belong within the same wider discipline: expression should convey the intended sense accurately and achieve a fitting effect.