LessonsSpeaker Balagha, the Foundations of Discourse Eloquence and the Three ArtsQuiz

وكثير من الناس يسمي الجميع علم البيان
And many people call the whole collection ʿilm al-bayan.

The source also notes varying naming conventions: some reserve maʿani for the first art and use bayan for the others, while broader labels may cover multiple arts. These differences need not indicate disagreement about the underlying subject matter; sometimes they concern how a discipline is named or delimited.

For the present curriculum, the three arts will be distinguished as maʿani, bayan and badiʿ. When reading earlier authorities, however, terminological scope must be determined from the context.

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Different naming conventions for the sciences

Speaker Balagha, the Foundations of Discourse Eloquence and the Three Arts

وكثير من الناس يسمي الجميع علم البيان
And many people call the whole collection ʿilm al-bayan.

The source also notes varying naming conventions: some reserve maʿani for the first art and use bayan for the others, while broader labels may cover multiple arts. These differences need not indicate disagreement about the underlying subject matter; sometimes they concern how a discipline is named or delimited.

For the present curriculum, the three arts will be distinguished as maʿani, bayan and badiʿ. When reading earlier authorities, however, terminological scope must be determined from the context.