al-Badi fi al-Badi li-Ibn al-Mutazz

Kitab al-Badi' (also known as al-Badi' fi al-badi', "The Novel Style in Rhetoric") is a foundational treatise on Arabic rhetoric and poetic figures composed by the Abbasid prince and poet Ibn al-Mu'tazz (d. 296 AH / 908 CE) Khasa'is al-Ta'bir al-Qur…+1.

Composition and Purpose

Ibn al-Mu'tazz composed the work in 274 AH / 887–888 CE when he was twenty-seven years old, though an alternate report cited by Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari records the composition date as 264 AH al-Badi fi al-Badi li-Ibn…+1. The first person to transcribe the text from him was Ali ibn Yahya ibn Mansur al-Munajjim Masalik al-Absar fi Mamal….

Ibn al-Mu'tazz stated in his introduction that his primary purpose in compiling the book was to demonstrate that the "modern" (muhdathun) Abbasid poets—such as Bashshar ibn Burd, Muslim ibn al-Walid, Abu Nuwas, and their followers—were not the originators of these rhetorical devices Khasa'is al-Ta'bir al-Qur…+1. Rather, such stylistic features had long existed in the Quran, the hadith, the speech of the Companions, Bedouin idioms, and ancient pre-Islamic and early Islamic poetry, but had become so frequent in the verse of later poets that the style was named badi' after them al-Badi fi al-Badi li-Ibn…+1. He remarked that Abu Tammam (Habib ibn Aws al-Ta'i) later became infatuated with these devices, overusing them to the point that he succeeded in some instances and stumbled in others due to excess Khasa'is al-Ta'bir al-Qur…+1.

Structure and Contents

Ibn al-Mu'tazz divided his book into two principal categories, covering a total of eighteen rhetorical figures (counted as seventeen in some analyses) al-Balagha 1 - al-Bayan w…+1:

1. The Five Core Figures of Badi':

   • al-Isti'ara (metaphor / lexical borrowing) Khasa'is al-Ta'bir al-Qur…+1
   • al-Tajnis (paronomasia / punning) Khasa'is al-Ta'bir al-Qur…+1
   • al-Mutabaqa (antithesis / semantic opposition) Khasa'is al-Ta'bir al-Qur…+1
   • Radd a'jaz al-kalam 'ala ma taqaddamaha (reversion of verse endings to their beginnings) al-Badi fi al-Badi li-Ibn…+1
   • al-Madhhab al-kalami (the dialectical or theological manner) Khasa'is al-Ta'bir al-Qur…+1

2. The Thirteen Embellishments of Speech (Mahasin al-Kalam):

   • al-Iltifat (apostrophe or shift in grammatical person), al-I'tirad (parenthesis), al-Ruju' (retraction), Husn al-khuruj (graceful transition), Ta'kid al-madh bi-ma yushbih al-dhamm (confirming praise with what resembles blame), Tajahul al-arif (feigned ignorance), al-Hazl yurad bihi al-jidd (jest intended as earnest), Husn al-tadmin (skillful incorporation of other verses), al-Ta'rid wa-al-kinaya (allusion and metonymy), al-Ifrat fi al-sifa (hyperbole / excess in description), Husn al-tashbih (excellence of simile), Luzum ma la yalzam (supererogatory rhyme constraint), and Husn al-ibtida' (graceful poetic opening) al-Badi fi al-Badi li-Ibn…+1.

Ibn al-Mu'tazz clarified that he did not claim to have produced an exhaustive enumeration of all rhetorical devices or stylistic merits, noting that readers were free to restrict themselves to his selection or append further embellishments to them Khasa'is al-Ta'bir al-Qur…+1.

Method and Sources

The book follows an applied literary methodology characterized by concise explanations and extensive textual citation, avoiding rigid philosophical definitions and logical terminology al-Badi fi al-Badi li-Ibn…+1. Ibn al-Mu'tazz drew upon earlier philologists, such as al-Asma'i, and Mu'tazili authors, particularly al-Jahiz al-Balagha 1 - al-Bayan w…+1.

For each rhetorical figure, he adduced examples from the Quran, prophetic hadiths (stripped of their isnads), sayings of the Companions, Bedouin prose, and classical Arabic poetry across the pre-Islamic, early Islamic, and modern Abbasid periods al-Badi fi al-Badi li-Ibn…+1. In total, the work contains between 312 and 313 poetic citations comprising roughly 425 verses or more al-Badi fi al-Badi li-Ibn…+1. He concluded the discussion of each device by citing flawed, artificial, and overly contrived (mutakallaf) verses to illustrate misapplications of the technique al-Badi fi al-Badi li-Ibn…+1.

Reception, Manuscripts, and Editions

Kitab al-Badi' is widely considered the earliest specialized treatise on Arabic rhetoric and the science of badi' al-Balagha 1 - al-Bayan w…+1. It served as a primary foundation for subsequent rhetoricians: his contemporary Qudama ibn Ja'far expanded on it by identifying twenty figures (sharing seven with Ibn al-Mu'tazz and adding thirteen), while later scholars continued to expand the list, such as Abu Hilal al-Askari who gathered thirty-seven figures in Kitab al-Sina'atayn ("The Book of the Two Crafts") and Ibn Rashiq al-Qayrawani in al-Umda ("The Pillar") Ulum al-Balagha+1.

A single surviving manuscript copy of the work was preserved at the Escorial Library in Madrid (MS 228 / 38 Adab) al-Badi fi al-Badi li-Ibn…+1. The Russian orientalist Ignaty Krachkovsky edited and published the Arabic text from this manuscript in 1935 through Stephen Austin & Sons in Hertford, printed under the auspices of the E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Trust al-Badi fi al-Badi li-Ibn…+1. It was subsequently edited with annotations and commentary by Muhammad Abd al-Mun'im Khafaji and published in Cairo in 1945 by the Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi press al-Idah fi Ulum al-Balagh…+1.