al-Mathal al-Sair fi Adab al-Katib wa al-Shaer
- Author died
- 637 AH
- Editions
- t al-Hufi · t Muhyi al-Din Abd al-Hamid
al-Mathal al-Sa'ir fi Adab al-Katib wa-al-Sha'ir (The Flowing Proverb on the Craft of the Scribe and the Poet) is a comprehensive treatise on Arabic rhetoric, literary criticism, and the craft of prose and poetic composition by Diya' al-Din Ibn al-Athir (558–637 AH / 1163–1239 CE) .
Purpose and Scope
Ibn al-Athir designed the work to establish the principles and techniques necessary for mastery in literary writing and poetry, comparing the role of rhetoric ('ilm al-bayan) in composition to the role of legal theory (usul al-fiqh) in deriving legal rulings . In his preface, the author noted that while many predecessors had written on the subject, he found substantial utility only in al-Muwazanah by al-Amidi and Sirr al-Fasahah by Ibn Sinan al-Khafaji . He considered al-Muwazanah richer in theoretical foundation and practical benefit, while criticizing Sirr al-Fasahah for spending excessive attention on isolated phonetics, individual letters, and single words . Ibn al-Athir claimed that he had uncovered rhetorical principles in the Quran overlooked by earlier scholars and that he had attained the rank of independent reasoning (ijtihad) in the field .
Structure and Method
The book is arranged into an introduction and two major discourses (maqalatayn) :
- Introduction (al-Muqaddimah): Divided into ten chapters detailing the foundations of rhetoric . It addresses the subject matter of 'ilm al-bayan, the essential knowledge base of the writer—including grammar, morphology, lexicography, Arab proverbs and battle-days (ayyam al-'Arab), prose and poetry models, governance and public administrative law (al-ahkam al-sultaniyyah), memorization of the Quran and hadith, and prosody—as well as the assessment and weighing of meanings, concise speech (jawami' al-kalim), literal and figurative language (al-haqiqah wa-al-majaz), eloquence and rhetoric (al-fasahah wa-al-balaghah), the pillars of epistolary craft, and methods for acquiring writing proficiency .
- First Discourse (al-Maqalah al-Ula): Dedicated to the verbal craft (al-sina'ah al-lafziyyah), divided into single words and compound speech . It systematically analyzes eight categories of verbal composition: rhymed prose (al-saj'), paronomasia (al-tajnis), parallelism (al-tarsi'), additional rhyme constraint (luzum ma la yalzam), balanced rhythm (al-muwazanah), morphological form variation and concordance, verbal entanglement (al-mu'adhalah al-lafziyyah), and stylistic dissonance (al-munafarah bayn al-alfaz) .
- Second Discourse (al-Maqalah al-Thaniyah): Dedicated to the conceptual craft (al-sina'ah al-ma'nawiyyah), covering figures and techniques including metaphor (al-isti'arah), simile (al-tashbih), abstraction (al-tajrid), metonymy (al-kinayah), and indirect allusion (al-ta'rid) .
In his theoretical approach, Ibn al-Athir did not isolate rhetorical figures (badi') into an independent discipline as later formalists like Siraj al-Din al-Sakkaki did; instead, he treated 'ilm al-bayan as an overarching designation encompassing all rhetorical, semantic, and stylistic devices, following the tradition of al-Jahiz . Ibn al-Athir later composed al-Washy al-Marqum fi Hall al-Manzum as a supplementary manual focusing specifically on techniques for extracting and weaving Quranic verses, hadiths, and poetic verses into prose compositions .
Reception and Responses
al-Mathal al-Sa'ir circulated widely following its completion and provoked significant debate among scholars . When a copy reached Baghdad, the scholar Izz al-Din Ibn Abi al-Hadid (d. 656 AH) wrote a critical rebuttal titled al-Falak al-Da'ir 'ala al-Mathal al-Sa'ir . In it, Ibn Abi al-Hadid censured Ibn al-Athir's perceived self-praise and pride, corrected several of his literary judgments, and defended earlier figures whom Ibn al-Athir had criticized, including al-Zamakhshari, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Abu 'Ali al-Farisi, Ibn Sina, and al-Farabi .
In defense of Ibn al-Athir, Rukn al-Din Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn al-Husayn al-Sinjari (d. 650 AH) composed Nashr al-Mathal al-Sa'ir wa-Tayy al-Da'ir . Salah al-Din al-Safadi (d. 764 AH) subsequently authored Nusrat al-Tha'ir 'ala al-Mathal al-Sa'ir . An anonymous appreciation of the work was also written under the title al-Rawd al-Zahir fi Mahasin al-Mathal al-Sa'ir .
Editions
The work has been published in multiple critical editions, including:
- An edition edited by Muhammad Muhyi al-Din Abd al-Hamid (first published in Cairo by Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi in 1358 AH / 1939 CE; later reissued in Beirut by al-Maktabah al-Asriyyah in 1420 AH / 1999 CE) .
- An edition edited by Ahmad al-Hufi and Badawi Tabbanah in four volumes (Cairo: Dar Nahdat Misr; republished in Riyadh by Dar al-Rifa'i in 1404 AH / 1984 CE), with the fourth volume containing the remainder of the text alongside Ibn Abi al-Hadid's al-Falak al-Da'ir .
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