Al-Balaghah: 'Ilm al-Bayan - Comparison, Figuration, Allusion
What this domain tests
'Ilm al-Bayan explains how meaning is conveyed through comparison and figuration: tashbih, majaz, isti'ara, and kinaya. The exam tests accurate labelling plus an explanation of how the figure produces meaning in its sentence.
Core rules and concepts
- Tashbih has four pillars: mushabbah, mushabbah bih, adat al-tashbih, and wajh al-shabah. It is mursal when the adat is stated and mu'akkad when omitted; mujmal when the wajh is omitted and mufassal when stated. Tashbih baligh drops both adat and wajh, claiming near-identity.
- Isti'ara is a tashbih with one side deleted. In isti'ara tasrihiyya, the word of the mushabbah bih is used for the mushabbah; in makniyya, the mushabbah is kept and something belonging to the mushabbah bih is attributed to it.
- Majaz mursal uses a word outside its literal sense with a stated relation (cause, effect, whole, part, place, time), not comparison.
- Kinaya states something and intends its consequence or attribute, without the literal meaning being impossible.
Worked example
رأيتُ بحرًا يخطبُ الناس. This is isti'ara tasrihiyya: the mushabbah (an eloquent generous man) is omitted, and the word بحر (the mushabbah bih) is used for him. The qarina يخطب prevents a literal sea, because seas do not preach. The image gives the man the sea's breadth and depth, so generosity and eloquence are felt together. It is not tashbih mursal, because the adat and the mushabbah are absent.
Traps that cost marks
Do not call every metaphor isti'ara; check whether comparison is intended. Do not confuse kinaya with isti'ara: kinaya keeps the literal meaning possible. Do not invent a wajh al-shabah that the text does not support. Name the figure, then explain its effect in the sentence.