Sharh Miat al-Maani wal-Bayan
- Author died
- -
- Editions
- Sharh Miat al-Maani wal-Bayan
Sharh Miat al-Maani wal-Bayan (Explanation of the Hundred [Verses] on Meanings and Rhetoric) is a transcribed commentary by Ahmad ibn Umar al-Hazimi on the didactic poem on Arabic rhetoric (balaghah) composed by the Hanafi jurist Ibn al-Shihna (749–815 AH) .
Origin and Scope
The commentary originated as a series of fifteen recorded audio lectures delivered by al-Hazimi in Mecca, which were subsequently transcribed and published online via his personal website . The base text of the commentary is Miat al-Maani wal-Bayan—referred to in some manuscript commentaries under the expanded title Miat al-Maani wal-Bayan wal-Badi'—a concise hundred-verse didactic poem (urjuzah) authored by Abu al-Walid Muhibb al-Din Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Shihna al-Halabi . In introducing the commentary, al-Hazimi underscores the study of rhetoric alongside grammar (nahw) and morphology (sarf) as an essential linguistic prerequisite for understanding Islamic legal texts and fulfilling the scholarly criteria of independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) .
Structure and Content
The commentary systematically examines the hundred verses of the original poem across the three classical disciplines of Arabic rhetoric :
- Introductions (10 verses): Four verses form the general introduction of the work (muqaddimat al-kitab), followed by six verses introducing the discipline (muqaddimat al-ilm), which define eloquence (fasahah), rhetoric (balaghah), and the distinction between the two terms .
- Ilm al-Maani (64 verses): The largest portion of the poem and commentary, covering the rules governing sentence construction and semantic meaning .
- Ilm al-Bayan (15 verses): A brief treatment of figures of speech, including metaphor (majaz), simile (tashbih), and metonymy (kinayah) .
- Ilm al-Badi' (6 verses): A concise overview of rhetorical embellishments and stylistic devices .
- Conclusion (5 verses): The closing five verses rounding out the total count of one hundred .
Critical Remarks
In his pedagogical evaluation of the text, al-Hazimi observes that while Ibn al-Shihna successfully compressed the three rhetorical disciplines into exactly one hundred lines, this extreme concision resulted in notable structural imbalances and omissions . Comparing it to al-Jawhar al-Maknun—a 291-verse rhetorical poem—al-Hazimi notes that Ibn al-Shihna dedicated only fifteen lines to ilm al-bayan and six to ilm al-badi', thereby leaving out numerous foundational rhetorical topics that the commentary expands upon in prose .
Answer updated