ABSTRCT: Abstraction

التجريد

ABSTRCT: Abstraction
Category	Linguistic Embellishments (‘ilm al-badī‘)
Subcategory	Argumentation & Illustrative Persuasion
Balaghascore.com
Code	CE-4
BalaghaBase.org
Code	Q108
OpenAlex.org
ID	W4415376771
Cite this page
🔗 DOI	10.64393/balagha.Q108
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ARDT	v0.1.0, v0.1.1

Definition

Abstraction (al-tajrīd) is an Arabic rhetorical device in which a speaker abstracts from something possessing a quality another thing like it in that quality, as an exaggeration of the perfection of that quality in the original. The canonical illustration is: "In [so-and-so] I have a true friend" (lī min fulānin ṣadīqun ḥamīm), meaning that the person has reached such a degree of friendship that a second instance of that quality may be extracted from him.

Encyclopedia Interpretation

In this encyclopedia, the device may be understood as follows: whereas an ordinary description attributes a quality to a subject, Abstraction implies that the quality has become so concentrated in the subject that a second, fully-formed bearer of it can be notionally extracted from them. The quality has become so concentrated in them that it has taken on a life of its own as a separate entity.

The subtypes vary only in the means by which this extraction is signalled — by the preposition min, by bāʾ, without any marker, by indirect implication (kināya), or by the speaker addressing his own extracted self. The unifying thread across all the subtypes is always the same move: a quality becomes so extreme that it spawns a second entity.

Mechanism

From the sources

• The speaker treats the subject as so completely possessed of a quality that a second entity bearing that same quality can notionally be extracted from it — this is the core abstraction operation.
• The abstraction may be mediated by the preposition min (min), which introduces the abstracted entity as if drawn out of the source.
• The abstraction may alternatively be mediated by the preposition bāʾ (bāʾ), which attaches to the source entity.
• The abstraction may occur without any prepositional marker.
• The abstraction may be effected by way of kināya (metonymy / indirect expression).
• The abstraction may be effected by addressing oneself (mukhāṭabat al-nafs), in which the speaker directs speech at himself as if at another person.

Recognition

From the sources

Abstraction al-tajrīd may be present when:

• A prepositional phrase of the form lī min fulānin X ("In [person], I have [quality X]") appears, implying that a second bearer of that quality is being extracted from the first.
• A prepositional phrase of the form lasʾalta fulānan latasʾalanna bihī al-baḥr ("If you ask so-and-so, you will be asking the sea") is used, attaching the abstracted entity via bāʾ to the source.
• A subject is addressed by the speaker as if a separate person, enabling the speaker to predicate qualities of himself in the second person.
• A quality is predicated of a subject without any prepositional marker in a way that implies a second, extracted entity possessing that quality to a superlative degree.

Encyclopedia Interpretation

The following diagnostic tests aid identification:

• Ask whether the sentence implies that the subject is so completely characterised by a quality that a notional second bearer of it can be conceived as extracted from them. If yes, tajrīd is likely operative.
• Ask whether the speaker appears to address himself in the second person as a rhetorical strategy. If so, this may indicate the self-address subtype of tajrīd.

Diagnostic Rhetorical Effects

From the sources

• Intensification through hyperbole (mubālagha) in the perfection of a quality attributed to the source entity.
• Expansion and breadth in speech (al-tawassuʿ fī al-kalām).
• When the device takes the form of self-address, the speaker is able to carry out intended attributes — whether praising himself or another — via the abstraction, being thereby excused and absolved from what it would otherwise be impermissible to say directly. This is described as one of the chief rhetorical benefits of the device.

Encyclopedia Interpretation

• Substantiation of a quality. By treating a quality as so concentrated in a person that a second bearer of it may be extracted, tajrīd gives the quality an independent rhetorical presence. The quality is no longer merely attributed to the subject but presented as though it has become a thing in its own right — substantial enough to be separated out and named.
• Indirect intensification. The device allows the speaker to communicate superlative praise or blame without stating it directly. Instead of asserting the extremity of a quality outright, the speaker implies it by extracting a second bearer, leaving the audience to infer the degree of perfection for themselves.
• Heightened imaginative participation. Because the abstracted entity is implied rather than stated, the audience must complete the rhetorical movement in their own minds. This draws the listener into active engagement with the quality being emphasised, rather than simply receiving an assertion about it.
• Affective distancing in self-address. In the self-address subtype (mukhāṭabat al-nafs), the speaker addresses himself as though he were another person. This creates emotional distance from his own condition, allowing him to counsel, console, or praise himself from an apparently external vantage point — and, crucially, to attribute praiseworthy qualities to himself while remaining formally absolved from the impropriety of direct self-praise.
• Implication of surplus. The extraction implies that the source retains the quality in full even after a second bearer has been drawn from it. The quality is presented as so abundant that it can generate a copy of itself without any loss, which intensifies the original attribution more effectively than any explicit superlative could.

Applying the Recognition Framework

The information on this page can be used to evaluate whether this device is present in a candidate lexical item using the Specific Device Recognition part of the Universal Framework for Identifying Arabic Rhetorical Devices:

• Use the Definition, Mechanism, and Recognition sections of this page in Step 1.
• Apply the substitution test in Step 2.
• Consider contextual indicators in Step 3.
• Use the Diagnostic Rhetorical Effects section of this page in Step 4.

Types of Abstraction

The sources identify the following subtypes based on the means by which the abstraction is expressed.

Type 1: With min

From the sources

The abstracted entity is introduced by the preposition min (min), indicating that it is drawn out of the source.

Source Example

تَرى مِنهمُ الأسدَ الغضابَ إذا سطوا وتنظرُ منهم في اللقاءِ بدوراً

You see in them wrathful lions when they attack, and you behold in them full moons at the encounter.

Explanation

The preposition min introduces the abstracted entities — lions and full moons — as if extracted from the persons described, intensifying the praise of their ferocity and brilliance.

Constructed Example

لي من هذا الطبيبِ طبيبٌ حاذقٌ

In this doctor, I have a skilful physician.

Explanation

The speaker implies that the doctor has attained such a degree of medical excellence that a second, ideally skilful physician can be notionally abstracted from him, using the source-attested min construction.

Type 2: With bāʾ

From the sources

The preposition bāʾ (bāʾ) attaches to the source entity, and the abstracted quality is predicated of it as an equivalent. The paradigm example is: laʾin saʾalta fulānan latasʾalanna bihī al-baḥr ("If you ask so-and-so, you will be asking the sea").

Constructed Example

لئن سألتَ هذا المعلمَ لتسألنَّ به بحراً من العلم

If you consult this teacher, you will be consulting a sea of knowledge.

Explanation

The bāʾ attaches to the source entity (the teacher), and a sea of knowledge is abstracted from him as an equivalent, following the paradigm sentence attested in al-Hāshimī (2019) and Ḥafnī Nāṣif et al. (2012).

Type 3: With bāʾ al-maʿiyya

From the sources

In this subtype the bāʾ attaches to the abstracted entity rather than to the source, indicating accompaniment. ʿAtīq (2002) cites the following verse as an example, in which the speaker abstracts from himself a second person fully prepared for war.

Source Example

وشوهاءَ تعدو بي إلى صارخِ الوغى — بمستلئمٍ مثلِ الفنيقِ المرحَّلِ

A swift mare runs with me to the cry of battle — alongside a fully armoured man like a laden noble camel.

Explanation

The speaker abstracts from himself a second person — a fully armoured warrior — who accompanies him into battle. The bāʾ here attaches to the abstracted entity (the armoured man), distinguishing this from the bāʾ al-tajrīdiyya subtype in which the bāʾ attaches to the source.

Type 4: With fī

From the sources

The abstraction is mediated by the preposition fī. ʿAtīq (2002) cites the Quranic verse lahum fīhā dāru al-khuld (Q. 41:28) as an example: Hell is itself the abode of eternity, yet another like it has been abstracted from it and made ready for the disbelievers, as an intensification of its severity.

Type 5: Without a prepositional marker

From the sources

The abstraction is performed without any mediating preposition. Al-Hāshimī (2019) cites the Quranic verse fa-qātilū aʾimmat al-kufr (Q. 9:12) as an example of this type.

Constructed Example

إنَّ هؤلاء الجنودِ أسودَ الحربِ

These soldiers are the lions of war.

Explanation

No prepositional marker mediates the abstraction. The lions of war are predicated directly of the soldiers, as an intensification of their ferocity, following the mechanism attested for this subtype in al-Hāshimī (2019).

ʿAtīq (2002) also assigns the verse falʾin baqītu laʾarḥalanna lighazwatin to this subtype, reading karīm as referring to the speaker himself; ʿAkkāwī (1996) assigns the same verse to the self-address subtype.

Type 6: By way of kināya

From the sources

The abstraction is effected indirectly, via implication rather than explicit statement. Al-Hāshimī (2019) cites a verse by al-Aʿshā as an example: the phrase "he does not drink a cup by the hand of one who is miserly" implies that he drinks only by his own hand, from which a generous person (karīm) is thereby abstracted — since drinking by the hand of a non-miser entails drinking by the hand of a generous one.

Source Example

يا خيرَ من ركبَ المطيَّ ولا يشربُ كأساً بكفِّ من بخلا

O best of those who rode camels — one who does not drink a cup by the hand of a miser.

Explanation

The generosity of the subject is not stated directly but abstracted by implication: since he drinks only by his own hand, and drinking by a non-miser's hand implies drinking by a generous person's hand, a generous person is extracted from him indirectly. Al-Hāshimī (2019) classifies this as the kināya subtype of tajrīd.

Constructed Example

هو لا يمشي إلى بابِ من يذلُّه

He does not walk to the door of one who humiliates him.

Explanation

The speaker's dignity is not stated directly but abstracted by implication: since he walks only to doors that do not humiliate him, a person of dignity and self-respect is extracted from him indirectly. The abstraction operates via implication rather than explicit statement, following the kināya mechanism as described by al-Hāshimī (2019).

Type 7: By self-address (mukhāṭabat al-nafs)

From the sources

The speaker abstracts from himself a second person and directs speech towards it. ʿAkkāwī (1996) and ʿAtīq (2002) both divide this into two sub-categories.

al-tajrīd al-maḥḍ (pure tajrīd): the speech is formally directed to another while the speaker intends himself. This is described as the more eloquent of the two forms, since the speaker directs his address outwardly while intending himself, enabling him to mention praiseworthy qualities while appearing to address another, and thereby remaining absolved from what it would otherwise be impermissible to say.

al-tajrīd ghayr al-maḥḍ (non-pure tajrīd): the speech is formally directed to oneself. The speaker is both speaker and addressee, with nothing external to him; ʿAtīq (2002) notes that Ibn al-Athīr observes that between the self and the body there is no difference except that each bears a relation to the other.

Source Example

وَدَّعَ هُـرَّيـرَةَ إنَّ الـرَّكْبَ مُـرْتَجِـلُ وَهَـلْ تُـطِيقُ وَدَاعـاً أيُّهـا الـرَّجُـلُ

Bid farewell to Hurraya, for the riders are departing — but are you even capable of farewell, O man?

Explanation

The speaker addresses himself ("O man") as if addressing another person, abstracting from himself a separate entity and directing speech at it.

Source Example

أقـولُ لـلنفسِ تـأسّاءَ وتعـزيـةً — إحـدى يـدَيَّ أصـابتني ولم تـرد

I say to myself, in consolation and comfort: one of my own hands has struck me, without intending to.

Explanation

The speaker addresses himself in the second person, abstracting from himself a separate person to whom consolation is directed. ʿAtīq (2002) cites this verse, attributed to an anonymous poet, as an instance of the non-pure self-address form of tajrīd'.

Source Example

أقـولُ لها كـلَّما جشَّأت وَجَاشَت — مَكَـانَـكِ تُحْمَـدي أَوْ تَسْتَـريحي

I say to it, whenever it heaves and surges: hold your place — you will be praised, or you will find rest.

Explanation

The speaker addresses his own soul directly, abstracting from himself a separate entity to which counsel is directed. ʿAtīq (2002) cites this verse, attributed to ʿUmar ibn al-Aṭnāba, as an instance of the non-pure self-address form of tajrīd.

Source Example

لا خيلَ عندكَ تهديها ولا مالُ — فليسعدِ النطقُ إن لم تسعدِ الحالُ

You have neither horses to give as gifts nor wealth — so let eloquence prosper, if circumstance does not.

Explanation

Al-Mutanabbī addresses himself in the second person, abstracting from himself a separate person to whom he directs speech. Al-Hāshimī (2019) cites this as an instance of the self-address form of tajrīd, noting that the rhetorical function of this subtype is to allow a person to affirm for himself what it would be unseemly to state explicitly.

Source Example

فَلَئِنْ بَقِيتَ لَأَرْحَلَنَّ لِغَزْوَةٍ تَحْوِي الغَنَائِمَ أَوْ يَمُوتُ كَرِيمُ

Should I stay alive, I will embark on a raid which will bring together much booty — unless a noble man should die.

Explanation

The speaker addresses himself and abstracts from himself “a noble man” (karīm) as though it were another entity sharing the same noble quality. This illustrates the self-address form of tajrīd following ʿAkkāwī (1996). Heinrichs (1998) cites this verse as an instance of tajrīd without subtype assignment.

Constructed Example

لا مالَ عندكَ ولا جاهَ — فليكن صبرُكَ تاجَكَ

You have neither wealth nor status — so let your patience be your crown.

Explanation

The speaker addresses himself in the second person as if addressing another person, abstracting from himself a separate entity to whom counsel is directed. This follows the self-address mechanism attested in Ḥafnī Nāṣif et al. (2012) and ʿAkkāwī (1996), and is modelled structurally on the al-Mutanabbī verse cited by al-Hāshimī (2019).

Notes

• The lexical root of the term conveys stripping or peeling away (tajrīd al-shayʾ ʿan ghayrihi), which al-Hāshimī (2019) gives as the literal meaning before providing the technical definition.
• ʿAkkāwī (1996) surveys multiple scholarly definitions across the tradition, noting broad agreement on the core mechanism of extracting a like entity as an intensification of the quality, with minor terminological variation.
• The term al-tajrīd al-maḥḍ and al-tajrīd ghayr al-maḥḍ are the terms used by ʿAkkāwī (1996) for the self-address subclassification.
• The English rendering "tajrīd" is retained in transliteration following Heinrichs (1998), who glosses it as "abstracting a general attribute from an individual."
• ʿAtīq (2002) expands the subtype taxonomy beyond the shorter pedagogical lists found in al-Hāshimī (2019) and Ḥafnī Nāṣif et al. (2012), adding additional prepositional forms such as fī and bāʾ al-maʿiyya.

Page history

• 2026-02-11 - Migration to Semantic Device Identifiers: Renamed from CG-9: Abstraction to ABSTRCT: Abstraction.
• 2025-11-20 - Page incorporated into the Arabic Rhetorical Device Taxonomy (v0.1.1).
• 2024-04-22 - Page created: Abstraction.

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