DELIBAM: Deliberate Ambiguity

    From The Encyclopedia of Arabic Rhetoric

    الإبهام
    DELIBAM: Deliberate Ambiguity
    CategoryLinguistic Embellishments
    (‘ilm al-badī‘)
    SubcategoryIndirectness & Ambiguity
    Built upon3 sources
      
    Annotation Unit
    ARDT CodeDELIBAM
    Level1
      
    Included in Taxonomy
    ARDTv0.1.1
    v0.1.0
      
    External Identifiers
    BALAGHAScoreCA-3
    BalaghaBaseQ76
    OpenAlexW4415372171
      
    Applications
    BalaghaCorpusSee examples
     
    Cite this page
    🔗 Live DOI10.64393/balagha.Q76
     
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    Definition

    Deliberate Ambiguity (al-ibhām) is an Arabic rhetorical device in which the communicator deliberately produces speech that admits two contradictory or opposing meanings, with neither meaning distinguishable as the intended one.[1][2]

    Nāṣif et al. (2012) define al-ibhām as presenting speech so that it admits two contradictory interpretations (wajhayn mutaḍādayn).[2] ʿAkkāwī (1996), presenting Ibn Abī al-Iṣbaʿ, further specifies that the two meanings are contradictory, that neither can be distinguished from the other, and that the communicator deliberately intends to leave the matter ambiguous between them (yaqṣudu ibhām al-amr fīhimā qaṣdan).[1]

    The same linguistic operation is also historically attested under the name al-tawjīh. Al-Hāshimī (2019) presents it as one form of al-tawjīh, defining it as speech equally admitting two contradictory meanings, such as praise and blame or a blessing and a curse, with neither meaning dominating.[3] ʿAkkāwī (1996), in his separate entry on al-tawjīh, records comparable definitions in which speech admits two different or opposing interpretations without either preponderating.[4]

    The terminology is not consistent across the sources. Nāṣif et al. (2012) treat al-ibhām and al-tawjīh as distinct devices, applying al-tawjīh to the exploitation of mutually related proper names,[2] whereas al-Hāshimī (2019) uses al-tawjīh for both operations as two separate forms.[3] ʿAkkāwī (1996) also records al-tawjīh for the contradictory-interpretation operation while separately presenting Ibn Abī al-Iṣbaʿ's term al-ibhām for the same operation.[1][4] The Encyclopedia therefore distinguishes devices according to their linguistic operations rather than assuming that the term al-tawjīh denotes a single operation across the rhetorical tradition.

    ʿAkkāwī (1996), following Ibn Abī al-Iṣbaʿ, specifies that Deliberate Ambiguity occurs in useful compound sentences (al-jumal al-muʾtalifa al-mufīda), rather than in single words.[1]

    Linguistic Operations

    • The communicator produces speech that admits two contradictory or opposing meanings and deliberately leaves the intended direction ambiguous.[1][2]
    • Neither of the two meanings is distinguishable or preponderates as the intended interpretation.[1][2][3][4]

    Recognition

    Deliberate Ambiguity may be present when:

    • Speech admits two meanings that cannot be distinguished from one another by the addressee.[1]
    • The ambiguity is deliberate on the part of the communicator, not accidental.[1]
    • The ambiguity operates across a compound construction rather than a single ambiguous word.[1]
    • The two readings are contradictory or opposing and neither preponderates — for example, the same construction may admit both praise and blame, or both a blessing and a curse.[2][1][3][4]

    Diagnostic Communicative Enhancements

    • When the intended meaning is recoverable from within the speech, the device produces wonder and magnificence in the listener.[1]
    • It produces fluency (al-riqqa), naturalness (al-suhūla), and cohesion (al-insijām) in well-executed instances.[1]
    • It captivates the hearts of the audience (ʿaṭf al-qulūb).[1]
    • According to al-ʿAlawī (as cited in ʿAkkāwī, 1996), when the intended meaning appears within the speech, the device adds wonder (iʿjāban) and magnificence (fakhāma) to the listener.[1]
    • The ambiguity can allow the communicator to achieve their purpose without being held accountable for either interpretation.[3]

    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 Communicative Enhancements section of this page in Step 4.

    Examples

    بَارَكَ اللهُ لِلْحَسَنْ — وَلِبُورَانَ فِي الخَتَنْ — يَا إِمَامَ الهُدَى ظَفِرْتَ — وَلَكِنْ بِبِنْتِ مَنْ؟

    May God bless al-Ḥasan — and Būrān in the marriage — O Imam of Guidance, you have prevailed — but the daughter of whom?

    Explanation
    This poem was composed by Muḥammad ibn Ḥāzim al-Bāhilī on the occasion of the Caliph al-Maʾmūn's marriage to his daughter Būrān. The phrase bint man (“the daughter of whom?”) admits two contradictory interpretations: it may express greatness, high standing, and elevated rank, or alternatively baseness and low standing, with neither interpretation preponderating. Al-Hāshimī (2019) cites the example under the first form of al-tawjīh.[5] The same example is also cited by Nāṣif et al. (2012) and ʿAkkāwī (1996) for this ambiguous construction.[2][6]

    فَمَا لَكَ تُغْنِي بِالأَسِنَّةِ وَالقَنَا — وَجَدُّكَ طَعَّانٌ بِسَغْبَيْرِ سِنَانِ

    What makes you sing of spears and lances — when your grandfather was a stabber with a blunt spear-tip?

    Explanation
    Ibn al-Athīr, as cited by ʿAkkāwī (1996), interprets the apparent praise as masking censure.[7]

    لَيْتَ المَنِيَّةَ حَالَتْ دُونَ نَصْحِكَ لِي — فَيَسْتَرِيحَ كِلَانَا مِنْ أَذَى التُّهَمِ

    Would that death had stood between me and your counsel — so that both of us might rest from the harm of accusation.

    Explanation
    This verse by Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Ḥillī was cited in ʿAkkāwī (1996). The ambiguity lies in the phrase yastarīḥa kilānā (“both of us might rest”).[7]

    سَأَذْكُرُكَ دَائِمًا بِخَيْرٍ — فَكَيفَ يَنْسَى المَرْءُ مَن أَذَاقَهُ مَا أَذَاقَهُ؟

    I shall always remember you well — for how could one forget someone who made him taste what he made him taste?

    Explanation
    The ambiguity resides in the phrase adhāqahu mā adhāqahu}}. The opening declaration of fond remembrance (saʾadhkuruka dāʾiman bi-khayr) sits in unresolvable tension with the rhetorical question that follows: "making someone taste something" may denote either profound blessing or bitter harm. The listener cannot determine whether the speaker intends gratitude or reproach, and the speaker's intent is withheld by design.

    No one who has worked with him ever forgets what he brings to the team.

    Explanation
    The statement deliberately admits two opposing interpretations. It may be praise: he contributes something so valuable or distinctive that colleagues remember it. Equally, it may be blame: what he brings to the team is so troublesome or damaging that it cannot be forgotten. Nothing in the construction determines which evaluation is intended, so neither interpretation preponderates.

    Different From

    • Pun (al-tawriya) - in Pun, a single expression admits a near and a remote meaning, with one meaning intended. In Deliberate Ambiguity, the construction admits two contradictory or opposing meanings and neither preponderates as the intended interpretation. ʿAkkāwī (1996), in his discussion of al-tawjīh, explicitly distinguishes the two on this basis: where one meaning is apparent and another hidden and intended, the device is Pun; where neither of the two interpretations predominates, it is Deliberate Ambiguity in the sense represented here.[3][4]
    • Meaningful Proper Nouns (al-tawjīh) - al-Hāshimī (2019) applies the term al-tawjīh to both devices, but presents them as two distinct forms. In Deliberate Ambiguity, a construction admits two contradictory meanings with neither meaning preponderating. In the forms represented by Types 1 and 2 of Meaningful Proper Nouns, the communicator instead exploits a group of mutually related proper names or technical terms whose ordinary lexical meanings contribute coherently to the discourse.[3]

    See Also

    Notes

    • ʿAkkāwī (1996) attributes the formal articulation of the device to Ibn Abī al-Iṣbaʿ.[1]
    • The term al-ibhām derives from the verb abhama, meaning to render obscure or to make a matter unclear.[1]
    • ʿAkkāwī (1996) describes this as one of the finest rhetorical moulds (aḥsan al-qawālib).[1]
    • The same linguistic operation is also attested under the term al-tawjīh. Al-Hāshimī (2019) presents this as the first of two forms bearing that name,[3] while ʿAkkāwī (1996) records al-ibhām among the terms used in the historical discussion of this form.[4]

    References

    1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Inʿām Fawwāl ʿAkkāwī, Al-Muʿjam al-Mufaṣṣal fī ʿUlūm al-Balāgha: Al-Badīʿ wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Maʿānī (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 21-23.
    2. ↑ a b c d e f g Ḥafnī Nāṣif, Muḥammad Diyāb, Sultan Muḥammad and Muṣṭafā Ṭammām, Durūs al-Balāgha (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2012), 106, ISBN 9786144162798.
    3. ↑ a b c d e f g h Aḥmad al-Hāshimī, Jawāhir al-Balāgha fī al-Maʿānī wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Badīʿ (Windsor: Hindāwī Foundation, 2019), 379-380, ISBN 9781527316386.
    4. ↑ a b c d e f Inʿām Fawwāl ʿAkkāwī, Al-Muʿjam al-Mufaṣṣal fī ʿUlūm al-Balāgha: Al-Badīʿ wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Maʿānī (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 444-445.
    5. ↑ Aḥmad al-Hāshimī, Jawāhir al-Balāgha fī al-Maʿānī wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Badīʿ (Windsor: Hindāwī Foundation, 2019), 379, ISBN 9781527316386.
    6. ↑ Inʿām Fawwāl ʿAkkāwī, Al-Muʿjam al-Mufaṣṣal fī ʿUlūm al-Balāgha: Al-Badīʿ wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Maʿānī (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 23.
    7. ↑ a b Inʿām Fawwāl ʿAkkāwī, Al-Muʿjam al-Mufaṣṣal fī ʿUlūm al-Balāgha: Al-Badīʿ wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Maʿānī (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 22.



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