Risala fi Tahqiq Mana al-Nazm wa al-Siyagha
- Author died
- 940 AH
- Editions
- Islamic University of Madinah
Risala fi Tahqiq Mana al-Nazm wa al-Siyagha (Treatise on Verifying the Meaning of Syntactic Composition and Crafting) is a concise Arabic rhetorical treatise authored by the Ottoman scholar and Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Kamal Pasha (873–940 AH / 1468–1534 CE) . The work examines the theoretical foundation of syntactic composition (nazm) and rhetorical phrasing (siyagha), examining their role in literary expression and eloquence .
Subject and Arguments
The treatise was written during an era in which rhetorical studies were heavily shaped by the scholastic and logical divisions associated with the school of Abu Ya'qub al-Sakkaki (d. 626 AH) and his commentators . In the work, Ibn Kamal Pasha seeks to revive and clarify the foundational theory of nazm formulated by Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani (d. 471 AH) .
Ibn Kamal Pasha defines the foundation of rhetoric (balagha) and the basis of eloquence (fasaha) as the deliberate structuring of speech in direct accordance with the ordering of meanings in the mind, rather than an arbitrary assembly of words . He compares this interdependent compositional process among rhetoricians to crafts such as weaving, embroidery, and metalsmithing (al-nasj wa al-washi wa al-siyagha), in which every part is positioned for a specific rationale, such that changing the place of an element would undermine the entire structure .
Following al-Jurjani, Ibn Kamal Pasha rejects the artificial separation between wording (lafz) and meaning (mana), maintaining that artistic composition arises from the holistic interplay of context, meaning, and syntactic arrangement rather than superficial verbal embellishment . The treatise also highlights the structural unity of linguistic sciences, treating the science of meanings (ilm al-ma'ani) as an intrinsic extension and perfection of grammar (nahw), evaluating constructions in terms of aesthetic excellence and clarity rather than mere grammatical correctness or corruption .
Manuscripts and Publication
The work is preserved in manuscript copies in several international libraries, including the British Library in London, the Uppsala University Library in Sweden, the Awqaf Library in Mosul, the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, and collections in Istanbul such as the Ayasofya, Sulaymaniyya, and Qilij Ali libraries .
In manuscript copies, the treatise appears under minor title variations, such as Risala sharifa fi tahqiq mana al-nazm wa al-siyagha and Risala fi tahqiq mana al-nazm wa al-siyagha 'ind arbab al-balagha wa ashab al-bara'a . The text was edited and studied by Dr. Hamid Sadiq Qunaybi and published in the journal of the Islamic University of Madinah in 1406 AH (1986 CE) .
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