ʿIlm al-Badīʿ: Semantic Embellishments, Part I

1. Definition and place of ʿilm al-badīʿ

«وَهُوَ عِلْمٌ يُعْرَفُ بِهِ وُجُوهُ تَحْسِينِ الْكَلَامِ بَعْدَ رِعَايَةِ الْمُطَابَقَةِ وَوُضُوحِ الدَّلَالَةِ»
“It is the science through which ways of beautifying speech are known, after observing contextual appropriateness and clarity of indication.”

Appropriateness to the situation belongs principally to maʿānī; clarity of meaning is a concern of bayān. Badīʿ examines additional patterns that can make sound expression more effective and memorable.

The mere insertion of opposing terms or similar-sounding words does not guarantee eloquence. The meaning, context, and rhetorical purpose must first be sound.

2. Two kinds of rhetorical embellishments

The embellishments of badīʿ are traditionally divided into semantic and verbal varieties.

Semantic figures primarily enhance a statement through relations among meanings: contrast, correspondence, arrangement, or indirect suggestion. The conceptual relation can often survive a rewording.

Verbal figures rely more directly on the sounds, forms, or patterned recurrence of particular words. Changing those words may remove the figure. This lesson begins the semantic category.

3. Ṭibāq: joining opposing meanings

«وَهِيَ الْجَمْعُ بَيْنَ الْمُتَضَادَّيْنِ»
“Correspondence, also called ṭibāq or opposition, joins two contrary meanings.”

The principal condition is semantic opposition, not merely the presence of two words labelled antonyms in a dictionary. Some contrasts are established by polarity or by context.

The rhetorical effect arises when each side illuminates the other. The contrast should serve the intended statement rather than being inserted only for ornament.

4. Opposition between two nouns

«وَتَحْسَبُهُمْ أَيْقَاظًا وَهُمْ رُقُودٌ»
“You would think them awake, while they were asleep.”

A-yqāẓan (“awake”) and ruqūd (“asleep”) are two nominal expressions referring to opposite states. Their juxtaposition sharpens the distinction between appearance and reality.

This is ṭibāq between nouns. The grammatical category and the passage’s meaning should both be identified.

5. Opposition between two verbs

«يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ»
“He gives life and causes death.”

The verbs yuḥyī and yumīt express contrary acts. Their pairing brings the two opposite outcomes into a single frame.

This is opposition between verbs. Their being in the same tense is not the figure; what matters is the opposition between the actions signified.

6. Opposition involving particles and mixed forms

«لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا اكْتَسَبَتْ»
“To its credit is what it has earned, and against it is what it has earned.”

The contrasted uses of lahā and ʿalayhā convey benefit versus liability. Ṭibāq therefore need not be limited to two nouns or two verbs.

«أَوَمَنْ كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَاهُ»
“Is one who was dead and whom We gave life...?”

Here maytan is nominal and aḥyaynāhu verbal, but the opposition between death and life remains clear.

7. Affirmative ṭibāq

In affirmative ṭibāq, the opposed ideas appear as distinct positive meanings. “Giving life” and “causing death” are opposing acts; one is not simply the grammatical negation of the other.

The mere presence or absence of the particle lā is not a sufficient test. The key is whether the contrast is between two independently asserted contrary concepts or between a proposition and its negated counterpart.

The latter pattern characterizes negative or polarity-based ṭibāq.

8. Negative ṭibāq: affirmation and denial

«فَلَا تَخْشَوُا النَّاسَ وَاخْشَوْنِ»
“So do not fear people; fear Me.”

The common root of fear appears first under prohibition and then as a command. This contrast of denial and affirmation forms negative ṭibāq.

It also directs the reader’s attention from one object of fear to another. The polarity is tied to a change in the proper orientation of the action, not a decorative repetition alone.

9. Direct and contextual opposition

«أَشِدَّاءُ عَلَى الْكُفَّارِ رُحَمَاءُ بَيْنَهُمْ»
“Firm against disbelievers, compassionate among themselves.”

Ashiddāʾ and ruḥamāʾ contrast severity and mercy under different relations. The rhetorical effect is not merely a mechanically paired dictionary antonym, but opposed conduct in context.

Not every pair of qualities constitutes ṭibāq. There must be a relevant contrast that contributes to the meaning.

10. Tadbīj: contrast through colors

«تَرَدَّى ثِيَابَ الْمَوْتِ حُمْرًا فَمَا أَتَى لَهَا اللَّيْلُ إِلَّا وَهِيَ مِنْ سُنْدُسٍ خُضْرٍ»
“He donned the red garments of death; night came and they seemed garments of green silk.”

This poetic illustration sets red against green within a developing image. Color is used to express more than visual appearance; it helps convey the contrast in the scene.

The effect called tadbīj depends on the poetic significance of the colors, not merely on naming two colors.

11. Muqābalah: ordered sets of opposites

«أَنْ يُؤْتَى بِمَعْنَيَيْنِ مُتَوَافِقَيْنِ أَوْ أَكْثَرَ، ثُمَّ بِمَا يُقَابِلُ ذَلِكَ عَلَى التَّرْتِيبِ»
“To bring two or more corresponding meanings, then the meanings opposed to them in the same order.”

Muqābalah is not just one pair of contrary terms. It establishes two related sequences, with each element of the first matched to an opposing element in the second.

Because the relation is ordered, the audience can follow the paired structure systematically. A change in matching order may obscure the intended rhetorical arrangement.

12. A two-pair muqābalah

«فَلْيَضْحَكُوا قَلِيلًا وَلْيَبْكُوا كَثِيرًا»
“So let them laugh a little and weep much.”

There are two sets of correspondences:
«يضحكوا» ↔ «يبكوا» — laughing ↔ weeping
«قليلًا» ↔ «كثيرًا» — little ↔ much

The contrasts appear in ordered pairs. The first half combines laughing with small quantity; the second combines weeping with great quantity. This exceeds a single pair of antonyms.

13. Muqābalah with multiple pairs

«فَأَمَّا مَنْ أَعْطَى وَاتَّقَى وَصَدَّقَ بِالْحُسْنَى ... وَأَمَّا مَنْ بَخِلَ وَاسْتَغْنَى وَكَذَّبَ بِالْحُسْنَى»
“As for the one who gives, is mindful, and believes in the good ... and as for the one who withholds, claims self-sufficiency, and denies the good.”

Aʿṭā ↔ bakhila — giving versus withholding
Ittaqā ↔ istaghnā — piety versus self-sufficiency
Ṣaddaqa ↔ kadhdhaba — affirmation versus denial

The multiple ordered correspondences develop two contrasting moral patterns. The later outcomes, ease versus hardship, complete the broader parallel.

14. How ṭibāq differs from muqābalah

Ṭibāq is fundamentally an opposed pair of meanings, whether expressed through nouns, verbs, or another construction.

Muqābalah presents a sequence of two or more meanings and then an ordered corresponding sequence of contrasts. Its figure depends on a broader structure.

ṬibāqMuqābalah
One opposed semantic pairTwo or more coordinated pairs
Opposition is centralOpposition plus ordered correspondence

A passage can contain multiple contrasts without automatically forming an organized muqābalah.

15. Murāʿāt al-naẓīr: thematic affinity rather than opposition

Murāʿāt al-naẓīr, also called tanāsub or tawfīq, places together related ideas whose link is not one of opposition.

«الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ»
“The sun and the moon move by precise reckoning.”

Sun and moon belong to the same thematic field of celestial bodies. Their relationship is affinity rather than the opposition characteristic of ṭibāq.

Recognizing the shared subject matter explains why their juxtaposition is fitting and rhetorically effective.

16. Affiliation versus contradiction

Two words being placed together is not enough to classify the figure. Determine whether the relation is affinity or opposition.

“Sun and moon” groups related celestial bodies, so it illustrates murāʿāt al-naẓīr. “Gives life and causes death” places opposed acts together and illustrates ṭibāq.

The entities in an affinity-based figure can differ in many respects, but their rhetorical grouping depends on their shared field, not on obligatory opposition.

17. Correspondence between beginning and end

Tashābuh al-aṭrāf creates a relationship between the opening and ending of a passage: its conclusion uses an expression suited to the subject introduced at the beginning.

«لَا تُدْرِكُهُ الْأَبْصَارُ وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ الْأَبْصَارَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ»
“Vision does not encompass Him, while He encompasses vision; He is the Subtle, the All-Aware.”

The final attributes al-laṭīf al-khabīr aptly complete the opening discussion of perception and awareness. The end is semantically responsive to the beginning.

18. Irṣād: anticipating the ending

Irṣād is a figure in which an earlier part of speech prepares the hearer to anticipate the ending. A semantic clue, a verse pattern, or rhyme may contribute to this expectation.

«وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيَظْلِمَهُمْ وَلَكِنْ كَانُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ»
“God did not wrong them; rather, they wronged themselves.”

The earlier use of li-yaẓlimahum and the parallel contrast prepare the concluding yaẓlimūn. The prediction comes from meaningful contextual organization, not merely repeated sounds.

19. Mushākalah: wording by association

Mushākalah occurs when an expression is chosen for a meaning other than its ordinary one because of the presence—actual or implied—of a corresponding expression nearby.

The repeated or related wording may refer to two different acts. Its distinctive effect is verbal harmony despite a shift in meaning.

It should not be confused with jinās, which foregrounds a resemblance between word forms. Mushākalah is caused by an associative use of a neighboring expression.

20. A poetic example of mushākalah

«قَالُوا اقْتَرِحْ شَيْئًا نَجِدْ لَكَ طَبْخَهُ فَقُلْتُ اطْبُخُوا لِي جُبَّةً وَقَمِيصَا»
“They said, ‘Name something and we will cook it for you.’ I said, ‘Cook me a cloak and a shirt.’”

A cloak and shirt are not literally cooked; they are made or sewn. The second use of uṭbukhū (“cook”) is selected to correspond to ṭabkhahu in the first line.

The intended sense is preparation, expressed through the word for cooking to produce a witty harmony between the two lines.

21. A Qurʾānic example of mushākalah

«تَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِي وَلَا أَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِكَ»
“You know what is within me, while I do not know what is with You.”

The first use of nafsī refers to the speaker’s inner state. The second use nafsika is understood with regard to the appropriate meaning in its divine attribution, not as human psychology.

The rhetorical explanation observes a relationship of wording between the two clauses while maintaining the distinction between their intended senses.

22. Mushākalah with an implied companion

«صِبْغَةَ اللَّهِ»
“The coloring of God,” meaning an identity or religious character bestowed by God.

Ṣibghah belongs to the vocabulary of dyeing and coloring. The expression becomes rhetorically meaningful through an associated background of coloring, with a distinct intended religious significance.

In this form of mushākalah the companion expression may be understood from an implied or contextual setting, rather than explicitly repeated in the same sentence.

23. Muzāwajah: pairing condition and consequence

Muzāwajah coordinates expressions occurring in a conditional construction and its consequence, or in two related clauses, so that their wording and results correspond.

«إِذَا مَا نَهَى النَّاهِي فَلَجَّ بِيَ الْهَوَى أَصَاخَتْ إِلَى الْوَاشِي فَلَجَّ بِهَا الْهَجْرُ»
“When the restrainer forbade me, passion became stubborn in me; she listened to the slanderer, and separation intensified for her.”

The parallel use of lajja and the paired outcomes makes the conditional relation memorable. The figure coordinates the two movements of the poetic situation.

24. Al-ʿaks: reversing the order of parts

Al-ʿaks reverses the order of parts of an expression in a later clause. The reversal produces a new relation or emphasizes an existing contrast.

«عَادَاتُ السَّادَاتِ سَادَاتُ الْعَادَاتِ»
“The habits of eminent people are the noblest of habits.”

In the first clause, ʿādāt is the first member and al-sādāt the second; in the second clause their positions are inverted. The reversal does more than repeat words: it intensifies praise of the habits described.

25. Qurʾānic forms of reversal

«يُخْرِجُ الْحَيَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَيُخْرِجُ الْمَيِّتَ مِنَ الْحَيِّ»
“He brings the living out of the dead and the dead out of the living.”

The positions of “living” and “dead” are reversed across the two clauses, bringing both relationships into view.

«لَا هُنَّ حِلٌّ لَهُمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحِلُّونَ لَهُنَّ»
“Those women are not lawful for them, nor are those men lawful for the women.”

Here the reversal in the relations expressed by the pronouns specifies the judgment from both sides.

26. Rujūʿ: a deliberate rhetorical revision

Rujūʿ is a purposeful retraction or reversal of an earlier statement for rhetorical effect. It is not merely an accidental contradiction.

«قِفْ بِالدِّيَارِ الَّتِي لَمْ يَعْفُهَا الْقِدَمُ بَلَى وَغَيَّرَهَا الْأَرْوَاحُ وَالدِّيَمُ»
“Stop at the dwellings which time has not effaced—rather, winds and prolonged rains have transformed them.”

The initial impression of preservation is deliberately overturned by balā, making the sense of decay more forceful.

27. Tawriyah: a near and a remote meaning

Tawriyah, also called īhām, employs a word with two possible senses: a near or obvious sense and a more remote sense intended by the speaker.

The audience initially inclines toward the near meaning, but the context leads to the remote meaning. The mere existence of polysemy is not sufficient: the evident meaning must differ from the intended one.

If the setting allows only one plausible meaning, there is no effective tawriyah.

28. Context and ambiguity in tawriyah

Knowing that a word has two lexical or customary meanings does not make every occurrence tawriyah. The setting must permit an initial near reading and support the speaker’s intended remote reading.

Some religious expressions are discussed as possible rhetorical examples in classical treatments, but matters of divine attributes or doctrine are not settled merely by assigning a badīʿ label. The present analysis concerns lexical possibilities and contextual clues.

Literal or figurative usage, mushākalah, and tawriyah are distinct questions; multiple possible readings do not by themselves establish all three.

29. Scriptural expressions and interpretive care in tawriyah

«الرَّحْمَٰنُ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَى»
“The Most Merciful is established over the Throne.”

«وَالسَّمَاءَ بَنَيْنَاهَا بِأَيْدٍ»
“We built the heaven with strength.”

Expressions such as istawā and bi-aydin can appear in lexical and rhetorical discussions of possible senses and their contextual constraints. But assigning the label tawriyah does not by itself settle theological interpretation.

Lexical range, immediate context, and the principles governing scriptural interpretation must remain distinct. In the latter passage, strength is an established Arabic sense, not automatically a pun by mere visual resemblance.

30. Istikhdām: different senses through a pronoun

Istikhdām uses a word with more than one related sense and then employs a pronoun referring to it in another sense, or otherwise shifts the intended sense across connected references.

«إِذَا نَزَلَ السَّمَاءُ بِأَرْضِ قَوْمٍ رَعَيْنَاهُ وَإِنْ كَانُوا غِضَابًا»
“If the sky descends upon a people’s land, we graze on what it brings forth even if they are angry.”

Al-samāʾ refers to rain; the pronoun in raʿaynāhu is understood with reference to its resulting vegetation. This shift in the related sense is the rhetorical point.

31. A second construction of istikhdām

«فَسَقَى الْغَضَا وَالسَّاكِنِيهِ وَإِنْ هُمْ شَبُّوهُ بَيْنَ جَوَانِحِي وَضُلُوعِي»
“May the ghaḍā trees and those dwelling there be watered, though they have kindled it between my ribs.”

Al-ghaḍā can denote the tree and, by association, the fire made from its wood. The earlier phrase concerns the tree or its place; shabbūhu turns the pronoun toward the sense of fire.

In istikhdām the reader must identify the two connected referents. A pronoun by itself is not enough to constitute the figure.

32. Laff wa-nashr: distribute what was first gathered

In laff wa-nashr, several items are first gathered in an expression, then their attributes, actions, or judgments are supplied without repeatedly identifying each item’s corresponding element.

The initial enumeration is the laff (“gathering”); the later distribution of associated elements is the nashr (“spreading”). The listener reconstructs the pairings from their natural relationships.

The later correspondences may be in the original order or a different order. Proper analysis requires mapping each later element to its referent.

33. Ordered laff wa-nashr

«وَمِنْ رَحْمَتِهِ جَعَلَ لَكُمُ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ لِتَسْكُنُوا فِيهِ وَلِتَبْتَغُوا مِنْ فَضْلِهِ»
“Of His mercy He made night and day for you, that you may rest in it and seek His bounty.”

The first sequence is night, day. The later purposes correspond:
Night → rest in it
Day → seek sustenance and bounty

Since the distributed elements follow the original sequence, this is ordered laff wa-nashr.

34. Unordered laff wa-nashr

«كَيْفَ أَسْلُو وَأَنْتِ حِقْفٌ وَغُصْنٌ وَغَزَالٌ لَحْظًا وَقَدًّا وَرِدْفًا»
“How could I forget you, whose glance, stature, and form call to mind a gazelle, a branch, and a dune?”

The first set is dune, branch, gazelle, while the second is glance, stature, hips. The semantic pairings are:
Dune → hips
Branch → stature
Gazelle → glance

The later elements are not presented in the same order as the initial list. This is unordered laff wa-nashr.

35. Why the omitted pairing can remain clear

Laff wa-nashr omits a repeated statement of who belongs with which attribute, but the omission works only when contextual association makes the correct matches sufficiently clear.

In the night-and-day example, the common relations of rest to night and livelihood to day allow the listener to pair the later purposes without restating the times.

Where several pairings remain equally plausible and no clue decides between them, the result is ambiguity rather than effective economy. The figure depends on confidence in the listener’s understanding.

36. Comparative review of semantic figures

These figures should be recognized by their characteristic semantic operation, not by memorized names alone.

FigureCharacteristic operation
ṬibāqOne contrast of meanings
MuqābalahMultiple ordered contrasts
Murāʿāt al-naẓīrAffinity without opposition
MushākalahWording selected by a neighbor
ʿAksInversion of constituent order
TawriyahApparent near sense, intended remote sense
IstikhdāmShift of sense across a word and pronoun
Laff wa-nashrItems followed by their mapped attributes

More than one figure may occur in a passage. Classification should follow the specific feature being analyzed.