Renewing rhetoric

Abstract

In its early stages, rhetoric consisted of general observations that served to clarify an idea or comment on a phrase. These observations appeared in books of exegesis, language, and literature, such as "Meanings of the Qur'an" by Al-Farra (207 AH), "Metaphors of the Qur'an" by Abu Ubaida (208 AH), and "The Oratory and Clarification" and "The Animal" by Al-Jahiz (255 AH). When Ibn Qutaybah (276 AH) wrote "Interpretation of the Problematic Qur'an," chapters began to be dedicated to the arts of rhetoric. Then Ibn al-Mu'tazz (296 AH) authored "The Badi'" after his teacher Thalab (291 AH) wrote "The Rules of Poetry." Ibn al-Mu'tazz aimed in his book to compile the arts of rhetoric and to prove that Badi' (novelty in literature) was not an innovation of the Abbasid era, but rather an ancient art found in pre-Islamic poetry, the Holy Qur'an, and the words of the predecessors. He divided it into two sections:

The first he called "Badi'," which encompasses five arts: metaphor, paronomasia, antithesis, returning the ends of speech to what precedes them, and the rhetorical approach.

The second he named "Beauties of Speech," which includes thirteen arts: apostrophe, parenthesis, return, graceful exit, emphatic praise, feigned ignorance, jest with a serious intent, good incorporation, insinuation and euphemism, hyperbole in description, good simile, necessary compliance, and good beginning.

This division served as a starting point for rhetoricians who followed Ibn al-Mu'tazz. The books "Proofs of Miracles" and "Secrets of Rhetoric" by Abdul Qahir al-Jurjani represent the pinnacle of al-Jurjani's genius. Rhetoric subsequently came to a halt at the hands of Siraj al-Din ibn Abi Bakr al-Sakkaki (626 AH), who dedicated the third section of his book "The Key to Sciences" to rhetoric, defining it as: "The speaker reaching a level of proficiency in conveying meanings that is characterized by fulfilling the specific qualities of constructions, and presenting various types of similes, metaphors, and euphemisms in their proper forms."