al-Balagha al-Arabiya
- Author died
- 1425 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Qalam
al-Balagha al-Arabiya (Arabic Rhetoric, full title: al-Balāgha al-‘Arabiyya: Usūluhā wa-‘Ulūmuhā wa-Funūnuhā) is a comprehensive modern treatise on Arabic rhetoric and stylistics by the Syrian Islamic scholar Abd al-Rahman Habannakah al-Maydani (1345–1425 AH / 1927–2004 CE) . The work synthesizes classical rhetorical principles across the three foundational disciplines of Arabic rhetoric—semantics (‘ilm al-ma‘ānī), figurative language (‘ilm al-bayān), and rhetorical embellishment (‘ilm al-badī‘)—while adapting them for contemporary readers through literary analysis and textual applications .
Composition and Purpose
Habannakah al-Maydani concluded writing the text in Mecca on 9 Rabi‘ al-Thani 1414 AH (25 September 1993 CE) . In the introduction, he states that the primary motivation behind the work was to serve the Qur'an and uncover the dimensions of its inimitability (i‘jāz) and aesthetic beauty, which Muslim scholars throughout history investigated through rhetorical categorization .
The author identified two major pedagogical goals:
- Distilling classical rhetorical heritage by omitting the hyper-technical scholastic classifications, philosophical disputations, and abstract logical terminology that had accumulated over centuries and obscured aesthetic appreciation .
- Nurturing an innate artistic taste and intuitive mastery of expression, enabling students to appreciate literary beauty and emulate high eloquence rather than treating rhetoric as rigid formal molds .
Methodology and Scope
The work approaches Arabic rhetoric by filtering classical material through practical literary analysis . Habannakah al-Maydani explicitly rejects pedantic subdivisions—such as over-complicated procedural classifications of metaphors in particles and verbs—which he likens to chemical laboratory experiments that strip literary texts of their aesthetic resonance .
To illustrate rhetorical concepts, the author relies primarily on citations from the Qur'an, prophetic traditions, and classical Arabic prose and poetry . He emphasizes that studying rhetorical sciences serves to discover the components of literary beauty and train the faculty of expression without departing from the foundational rules of the Arabic language and principles of clarity .
Publication
The work was issued as part of the author's series on Islamic da'wa literature (Silsilat min Adab al-Da‘wa al-Islāmiyya) . Its first edition was published jointly by Dar al-Qalam in Damascus and al-Dar al-Shamiya in Beirut in 1416 AH (1996 CE) . A second edition was later published by Dar al-Qalam in 1428 AH (2007 CE) .
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