By The Arabic School
Naḥw asks whether a sentence is correct. Balāghah asks whether it is good: how it moves and persuades the listener, and why it is phrased as it is. That is why Balāghah comes after Naḥw. It is the science that opens the inimitability (iʿjāz) of the Qurʾān.
The three branches
- ʿIlm al-Maʿānī: how sentence structure serves meaning. Why a word comes first, why something is left out, why a sentence is a statement or a command.
- ʿIlm al-Bayān: simile, metaphor, metonymy and figurative speech. How one meaning can be expressed in several ways of differing clarity.
- ʿIlm al-Badīʿ: the ornaments of style, in wording and in meaning.
These three are now treated as one science. ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī (d. 471 AH) first set out its principles in Dalāʾil al-Iʿjāz and Asrār al-Balāghah. Al-Sakkākī (d. 626 AH) first ordered it as a system in Miftāḥ al-ʿUlūm.
When to begin
Begin Balāghah at about B2, once Naḥw is secure to the level of Qaṭr un-Nadā or Hidāyat an-Naḥw. A student who cannot parse a sentence cannot yet ask why it was built that way.
The Balāghah track
- Entry (B2). Taysīr al-Balāghah or Durūs al-Balāghah with Safīnat al-Bulaghāʾ, and al-Balāghah al-Wāḍiḥah. You learn the terms and keys of the science and begin to analyse.
- Module 1 (C1). A course on the keys of Balāghī study, leading into Mukhtaṣar al-Maʿānī of al-Taftāzānī.
- Module 2 (C2). Mukhtaṣar al-Maʿānī, with the works of Shaykh Muḥammad Abū Mūsā: Dalālāt al-Tarākīb, Khaṣāʾiṣ al-Tarākīb and al-Taṣwīr al-Bayānī. The aim is the ability to read any work of Balāghah with its commentaries.
- Module 3 (C2). Balāghī analysis of poetry, prose, the Qurʾān and the Sunnah, preparing the student for the works of al-Jurjānī.
Adab and Naqd belong with it
Adab (literature) and Naqd (criticism) are applied knowledge of Balāghah. Reading literature is where the rules of Balāghah come alive, and studying Balāghah is what lets you see why a line of poetry works.
ʿArūḍ comes last
ʿArūḍ, with the study of rhyme (al-Qawāfī), studies the metres of verse. Al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad founded it. It comes at the end because prose is the normal state of speech and verse is a special case. Begin it once you are reading poetry regularly.
Study with The Arabic School
Our Balāghah courses, including Taysīr al-Balāghah and the ʿIlm al-Bayān Intensive, apply each concept to the Qurʾān, poetry and prose.
For the full map of the sciences, the two classical routes and the texts for every level, download the free guide, Learning Arabic: Skills and Systems. You can also see all our courses and prices or book a one-to-one class.