Ilm al-Badiʿ: The First Nine Semantic Rhetorical Devices

1. Ilm al-badiʿ and embellishments of meaning

Ilm al-badiʿ examines rhetorical devices that refine an expression, reinforce its effect, or add artistic force. This section concerns semantic embellishments (muhassinat maʿnawiyyah), whose principal appeal comes from meaning and relationships rather than merely the sound of words.

Examples include allowing two senses to be heard in one word, pairing opposites with an intelligible purpose, or arranging related concepts into a coherent pattern. A device is most effective when it also strengthens what the speaker intends to convey.

2. Semantic beauty versus sound-based beauty

A semantic device depends primarily on the ideas expressed and their relationship; changing a word to a suitable synonym may preserve that relationship. A verbal device depends more directly on letters, rhythm, or sound pattern, and may disappear when the wording changes.

This does not mean that meaning and form never overlap. A fine passage can possess both forms of beauty. The appropriate classification depends on what makes the specific device recognizable.

3. Definition of tawriyah

«التورية: أن يُذْكَرَ لفظٌ له معنيان»
Tawriyah occurs when a word bearing two senses is mentioned.

The near sense readily comes to mind because of familiar usage or an immediate clue. The remote sense is the one actually intended. The nearer meaning draws the listener toward one reading, while context and reflection disclose the concealed intention.

A word with two dictionary senses does not automatically create tawriyah: the contrast between an apparent near meaning and an intended remote meaning must be operative.

4. The Qur’anic use of jarh

«وَيَعْلَمُ مَا جَرَحْتُمْ بِالنَّهَارِ»
And He knows what you earn or do during the day.

The familiar near association of jaraha is wounding, while the intended sense in this context is earning or committing deeds. The example highlights the difference between an immediately suggested sense and the meaning selected by the sentence as a whole.

Rendering the expression simply as physical wounding would distort the verse. Context must guide the rhetorical and semantic analysis.

5. The role of indication in tawriyah

A prominent association may first suggest the near sense; a more delicate contextual indication then identifies the remote intended sense. In the expression «ما جرحتم بالنهار», the setting directs attention to human acts rather than bodily injury.

Tawriyah should not be confused with kinayah, which points toward an associated implication, or majaz, which involves a nonliteral use excluding the literal intention. Tawriyah is specifically structured around two senses of a word and the listener’s movement from the apparent to the intended one.

6. Tawriyah through the name Yazid

«أَنْتَ الْحُسْنُ وَلَكِنْ جَفَاكَ فِينَا يَزِيدُ»
You embody beauty, yet your coldness toward us increases.

Yazid / yazidu first evokes the personal name Yazid (the near sense), while the intended remote sense is the present-tense verb “increases.” The interplay depends on the hearer distinguishing the immediately suggested name from the predicate actually meant.

This is more than a dictionary ambiguity: the interplay of a familiar verb form and a proper name gives the wording its effect.

7. Bare and reinforced tawriyah

In unreinforced tawriyah (mujarradah), no special accompanying expression strengthens the immediately apparent sense. In reinforced tawriyah (murashshahah), another word fits the near meaning and makes it seem still more likely, although the intended sense remains remote.

The device depends on controlled misdirection: the surface wording supports an easy reading while a subtler contextual interpretation remains intended. In either form, the remote meaning must be more than an accidental possibility.

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

The word aydin is associated by an immediate reading with hands, but the intended sense is power and might. The nearby verb “built” reinforces the apparent association; this is reinforcement (tarshih).

8. Iham: a formulation open to opposing readings

«الإيهام: إيراد الكلام محتملاً لوجهين متضادَّين»
Iham presents wording capable of two opposed interpretations.

Depending on its setting, an utterance might be understood as praise or blame, blessing or imprecation. Tawriyah focuses on a word’s near and remote senses, whereas iham stresses the competing overall evaluations licensed by a phrase.

Both exploit interpretive possibility, but the source of ambiguity differs.

9. Iham between praise and censure

«بِنْتَ مِنْ»
You have separated from …

This short excerpt from the poetic expression depends on its surrounding context, which can permit opposed evaluations. Its rhetorical value lies in how words that initially sound complimentary may permit a less favorable reading.

Iham is therefore diagnosed through the possible interpretation of the whole utterance, not by looking at an isolated dictionary entry.

10. Tawjih: directing an expression to two readings

«التوجيه: إفادة معنى بألفاظ موضوعة له، ولكنها أسماء لأناسٍ أو غيرهم»
Tawjih expresses a meaning through ordinary words that also function as personal names or names of other things.

The sentence makes sense in its ordinary reading while the names embedded in its wording offer an additional pattern. In tawriyah the concealed remote sense is fundamental; in tawjih the coordination of common meanings and names is the distinctive feature.

11. How names operate in tawjih

Arabic poetry can arrange words such as al-fadl, al-rabiʿ, yahya, and jaʿfar. Each can convey an ordinary lexical sense while also being recognized as a name.

al-fadl — merit or bounty, also a name.
al-rabiʿ — spring, also a name.
yahya — he lives, also a name.
jaʿfar — a small stream, also a name.

The artistry lies in producing coherent discourse out of words that simultaneously carry a recognizable naming pattern.

12. Distinguishing three ambiguity devices

DeviceCore featureDiagnostic question
TawriyahNear and remote sensesIs the remote sense intended behind an apparent near sense?
IhamOpposed readingsCould the utterance be taken as praise and blame, or similar opposites?
TawjihOrdinary words that are also namesDo the lexical meanings form a sentence while also naming people or things?

All three can introduce a second level of interpretation, but they must be classified by what produces that effect.

13. Tibaq: placing opposite senses together

«الطباق: هو الجمع بين معنيين متقابلين»
Tibaq brings together two opposite or contrasting meanings.

The opposition can be lexical, affirmative versus negative, or another valid contrast. The contrasting terms need not always be adjacent; what matters is that their relationship makes one intended point sharper.

A random pair of contradictions is not automatically elegant tibaq: both sides should work toward a coherent rhetorical purpose.

14. Tibaq between waking and sleeping

«وَتَحْسَبُهُمْ أَيْقَاظًا وَهُمْ رُقُودٌ»
You would think them awake, although they are asleep.

ayqazan (awake) and ruqud (asleep) supply an immediate contrast. The wording highlights the gap between appearance and actuality, making the unusual condition especially vivid.

It exemplifies affirmative tibaq because the two opposed expressions are positively stated, not an affirmative and negative form of the same action.

15. Negative or polarity-based tibaq

Negative tibaq juxtaposes affirmation and negation of one action or proposition. This differs from simply pairing two different opposite words; it places a single predication in opposed polarities.

«وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ۝ يَعْلَمُونَ ظَاهِرًا مِنَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا»
But most people do not know; they know only the outward aspect of worldly life.

The contrast distinguishes a deeper form of understanding, denied here, from limited knowledge of outward worldly matters. The affirmative and negative expressions produce the rhetorical force.

16. Ordered paired oppositions

«فَلْيَضْحَكُوا قَلِيلًا وَلْيَبْكُوا كَثِيرًا»
Let them laugh a little and weep much.

The expression contains two ordered pairs:
laugh ↔ weep.
little ↔ much.

The coordinated opposites strengthen the reversal in emotional state and degree. When several meanings are presented and their counterparts follow in matching order, the pattern is treated as ordered counterposition.

17. Tadbīj: contrast through color words

Tadbīj employs color terms in a meaningful contrast, often allowing them to suggest qualities or states beyond literal color. Merely saying “red” and “green” is not sufficient; the arrangement and contextual import of the colors matter.

«تَرَدَّى ثِيَابَ الْمَوْتِ حُمْرًا فَمَا أَتَى لَهَا اللَّيْلُ إِلَّا وَهِيَ مِنْ سُنْدُسٍ خُضْرِ»
He donned death’s red garments; before night had passed, they were green silk.

The red suggests a bloodstained garment of death; the green silk suggests the attire of Paradise. This color contrast gives visible form to martyrdom and heavenly recompense.

Some uses retain literal colors; others develop figurative implications. The surrounding verse decides how those levels operate.

18. Idmaj: embedding one purpose in another

«الإدماج: أن يتضمّن كلامٌ سيق لمعنى معنىً آخر»
Idmaj occurs when discourse introduced for one purpose contains another purpose within it.

The effect is not simply two disconnected statements placed side by side. Rather, a single line develops its main intention while simultaneously communicating an additional, related one.

Analysis should identify the primary purpose and the embedded secondary purpose. Their natural integration is what makes the device effective.

19. A poetic example of idmaj

«أُقَلِّبُ فِيهِ أَجْفَانِي كَأَنِّي أَعُدُّ بِهَا عَلَى الدَّهْرِ الذُّنُوبَا»
I turn my eyelids through it as though counting time’s offenses with them.

The immediate subject is the length of the night and the speaker’s sleeplessness. Yet the image of counting the “sins of time” quietly introduces reproach against fate or the age.

The complaint is not a separate explanatory claim; it is embedded within the image of wakefulness, which is the hallmark of idmaj.

20. Istitibaʿ: praise that entails another praise

«سَمْحُ الْبَدِيهَةِ لَيْسَ يُمْسِكُ لَفْظَهُ فَكَأَنَّمَا أَلْفَاظُهُ مِنْ مَالِهِ»
He speaks freely and holds back no words, as though his words were part of his wealth.

The overt praise concerns ready, fluent expression; comparing words to wealth simultaneously suggests generosity. This is called istitibaʿ, in which one commendation brings a second commendation along with it.

It is a special type of semantic embedding: not every instance of idmaj is praise, whereas istitibaʿ is specifically tied to an additional favorable quality.

21. Muraʿat al-nazir: arranging semantically related items

«مراعاة النظير: جمع أمرٍ وما يناسبه لا بالتضاد»
Muraʿat al-nazir brings together an item and what is appropriately related to it, but not through opposition.

Pen, book, and writing belong to one conceptual field; arranging them purposefully can create coherence of association. The art lies in the semantic fit, not the mere number of nouns.

In tibaq, meanings oppose one another. In muraʿat al-nazir, they support or suit one another.

22. Jadd, ʿamm, and khal: layered affinity

«إِذَا صَدَقَ الْجَدُّ افْتَرَى الْعَمُّ لِلْفَتَى مَكَارِمَ لَا تَخْفَى وَإِنْ كَذَبَ الْخَالُ»
When good fortune favors a young man, people may ascribe evident virtues to him despite contrary opinion.

The words jadd, ʿamm, and khal convey fortune, people in general, and supposition respectively; they also evoke the familiar kinship set of grandfather, paternal uncle, and maternal uncle.

The shared family field creates a second layer of fittingness. The semantic grouping illustrates muraʿat al-nazir, rather than opposition such as tibaq.

23. How to diagnose semantic affinity

A shared topic is only a starting point. For the rhetorical device, the affinity should be conspicuous and purposeful. Rain, cloud, and lightning form a coherent weather field, whereas day and night may be organized chiefly around opposition.

Classification therefore requires more than spotting several related nouns. One must explain the shared semantic field, its effect within the passage, and whether contrast rather than affinity is the principal device.

24. Istikhdam: shifting the reference of a repeated word

«الاستخدام: ذكر اللفظ بمعنى وإعادة ضميرٍ عليه بمعنى آخر»
Istikhdam mentions a word in one sense and subsequently refers to it by a pronoun intended in another sense.

Another form employs two pronouns referring back to the same expression but requiring different senses. The formal antecedent stays the same, whereas the intended semantic value changes.

This shift is what distinguishes istikhdam from ordinary anaphora and simple tawriyah.

25. Istikhdam in al-shahr

«فَمَنْ شَهِدَ مِنْكُمُ الشَّهْرَ فَلْيَصُمْهُ»
Whoever among you witnesses the month should fast it.

The expression al-shahr may be understood with reference to the sighting or commencement of the month, while the pronoun -hu concerns the fasting period as a whole. The textbook treats this difference between an expression’s immediate sense and the sense carried forward by its pronoun as istikhdam.

Grammatically, -hu is the object of the command to fast. The rhetorical point is the semantic shift within the antecedent relation.

26. Istikhdam involving two pronouns

Some examples place two pronouns after a polysemous term. The first relates to one sense, the second to another, although both remain formally linked to the same antecedent word.

Method of analysis: identify the shared expression and its possible meanings, locate each pronoun grammatically, and determine the sense required at each point. Identical pronoun forms alone do not establish the device; the semantic change does.

27. Istīṭrād: purposeful digression and return

«الاستطراد: هو أن يخرج المتكلم من الغرض الذي هو فيه إلى آخر لمناسبة ثم يرجع إلى الغرض الأول»
Istīṭrād is a deliberate move from an original purpose to a second, related topic, followed by a return to the first.

It contains three stages:
1. an established initial theme;
2. a connected digression;
3. a return to the original purpose.

An arbitrary tangent lacks the device’s structure. Both the transition and return must serve a recognizable rhetorical intention.

28. Istīṭrād compared with idmaj

Idmaj folds a second purpose into the wording already serving the first; a distinct thematic departure is not necessary. Istīṭrād actually departs from the main line to a related topic and later returns.

For example, introducing a historical incident while praising generosity and then resuming that praise is a digression-and-return pattern. Describing generosity in a way that also implies eloquence inside the same expression is closer to idmaj.

29. Iftinān: combining contrasting poetic modes

«الافتنان: الجمع بين فنّين مختلفين»
Iftinān combines two distinct poetic or rhetorical modes within one discourse.

Examples include love poetry and martial celebration, praise and satire, or condolence and congratulation. The difference concerns modes or thematic genres, not merely two unrelated sentences.

The transition should serve artistic control and a coherent purpose. Unlike istīṭrād, an obligatory return to the first theme is not part of its defining structure.

30. A comparison of transition and association devices

DeviceDefining conditionRhetorical effect
Muraʿat al-nazirRelated, nonopposed meaningsSemantic coherence
IdmajOne purpose embeds anotherTwo effects in concise wording
IstīṭrādA related departure followed by returnStructured digression
IftinānTwo distinct modes or genresVersatility of expression

The mere fact that two things occur together does not determine the category. Their relationship and arrangement do.

31. Summary of the first nine semantic devices

Tawriyah: an apparent near sense with a remote intended sense.
Iham: opposed possible readings, such as praise or censure.
Tawjih: ordinary words also functioning as names.
Tibaq: meaningful opposition.
Idmaj: a second purpose embedded in the first.
Muraʿat al-nazir: related but nonopposed concepts.
Istikhdam: differing senses across a word–pronoun relationship.
Istīṭrād: a related digression followed by return.
Iftinān: distinct rhetorical or poetic modes combined.

The central question is always which semantic relationship creates the particular rhetorical effect.