FOREWRN: Forewarning

    From The Encyclopedia of Arabic Rhetoric

    الإرصاد / التسهيم
    FOREWRN: Forewarning
    CategoryLinguistic Embellishments
    (‘ilm al-badī‘)
    SubcategoryParagraph Structure & Flow
      
    Balagha-Corpus.com
    Corpus dataSee examples
      
    Balaghascore.com
    CodeCE-12
      
    BalaghaBase.org
    CodeQ96
      
    OpenAlex
    IDW4415386649
      
    Cite this page
    🔗 DOI10.64393/balagha.Q96
     Download PDF
      
    Taxonomy
    ARDTv0.1.0, v0.1.1
      
    Provenance
    Sources3

    Definition

    Forewarning (al-irṣād), also called al-tashīm, is an Arabic rhetorical device in which language occurring before the closing part of an utterance indicates that forthcoming completion strongly enough for the addressee to anticipate it before it is expressed.[1][2][3]

    In its traditional formulation, the anticipated element may be the closing unit of a prose passage (fāṣila) or the rhyme of a verse (qāfiya). Knowledge of the rhyme letter (rawī) may assist the anticipation, but is not required in every instance.[1][2]

    ʿAkkāwī reports that the indication may operate through meaning or through wording, while Abdul-Raof (2006) describes the corresponding mechanism as contextual and linguistic clues in the earlier part of a speech act that enable the addressee to predict what follows.[1][3]

    Linguistic Operations

    • Earlier material in the utterance provides indications from which the addressee can anticipate forthcoming material before it is expressed.[1][2][3]
    • The indication may arise through meaning or through wording.[1]
    • In poetry, knowledge of the rawī may help the addressee anticipate the rhyme word; however, the device may also operate without such knowledge when the preceding context sufficiently constrains the completion.[1][2]

    In this encyclopedia, the mechanism is described as follows:

    • The device operates in two phases: (1) preceding material constrains or signals a forthcoming completion, and (2) the anticipated material subsequently appears.
    • The defining feature is predictability generated by the preceding utterance, rather than merely the semantic appropriateness of the eventual conclusion.

    Recognition

    Forewarning may be present when:

    • Material occurring before the end of an utterance enables the listener or reader to anticipate what will follow before the utterance is complete.[1][2][3]
    • The anticipation may result from semantic or verbal indications in the preceding material.[1]
    • In verse, knowledge of the rhyme consonant may narrow the possible completion, although some examples remain predictable without knowledge of the rawī.[1][2]

    The following diagnostic tests aid identification:

    • Cover the anticipated final word, phrase, or clausula and ask whether the preceding material makes that particular continuation reasonably predictable.
    • Check whether the predicted conclusion has been prepared by the earlier wording rather than occurring unexpectedly.

    Diagnostic Pragmatic Effects

    • The device is classified among the muḥassināt maʿnawiyya (semantic embellishments).[3][2]

    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.

    Examples

    Constructed Example

    إِذَا أَشْرَقَتِ الشَّمْسُ بَدَّدَتِ الظَّلَامَ، وَإِذَا غَابَتْ عَادَ الْقِتَامُ

    "When the sun rises it disperses the darkness, and when it sets the gloom returns."

    Explanation
    The mention of the sun's rising and its dispersal of darkness prepares and predicts the closing rhyme word al-qitām (gloom/murk). Once the rawī (here, mīm) is known, a competent reader can anticipate the closing unit before it arrives.

    Quranic prose examples

    Source Example

    وَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ قَبْلَ طُلُوعِ الشَّمْسِ وَقَبْلَ الْغُرُوبِ

    "And exalt [God] with praise of your Lord before the rising of the sun and before its setting." (Q50:39)

    Explanation
    The mention of ṭulūʿ al-shams prepares and predicts the closing unit al-ghurūb.[2]
    Source Example

    وَمَا كَانَ اللهُ لِيَظْلِمَهُمْ وَلَكِنْ كَانُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ

    "And God would not have wronged them, but it was they who were wronging themselves." (Q29:40)

    Explanation
    The statement prepares the audience to predict the concluding verb yaẓlimūn. Abdul-Raof (2006) uses this verse to illustrate how the listener can predict the conclusion before the communicator has finished the statement.[3]
    Source Example

    وَلِكُلِّ أُمَّةٍ أَجَلٌ فَإِذَا جَاءَ أَجَلُهُمْ لَا يَسْتَأْخِرُونَ سَاعَةً وَلَا يَسْتَقْدِمُونَ

    "And for every community there is a term. So when their term comes, they will not be delayed an hour, nor will they be advanced." (Q7:34)

    Explanation
    Cited by al-Hāshimī (2019) as an example in which al-Irṣād operates without requiring knowledge of the rawī.[2]

    Verse examples

    Source Example

    أَحَلَّتْ دَمِي مِنْ غَيْرِ جُرْمٍ وَحَرَّمَتْ - بِلَا سَبَبٍ عِنْدَ اللِّقَاءِ كَلَامِي
    فَلَيْسَ الَّذِي حَلَّلْتَهُ بِمُحَلَّلٍ - وَلَيْسَ الَّذِي حَرَّمْتَهُ بِمُحَرَّمِ

    "She made my blood lawful without any crime, and forbade without cause my words at our meeting..."

    Explanation
    The first hemistich prepares the reader to predict the rhyme words of the second hemistich once the rawī is known.[2]
    Source Example

    إِذَا لَمْ تَسْتَطِعْ شَيْئًا فَدَعْهُ وَجَاوِزْهُ إِلَى مَا تَسْتَطِيعُ

    "If you cannot do something, leave it and pass on to what you are able to do."

    Explanation
    The first hemistich directly anticipates the rhyme word at the close of the second hemistich.[2]

    Notes

    • al-tashīm is an alternative name for al-irṣād; ʿAkkāwī explicitly states that al-irṣād is also called al-tashīm.[1]
    • The terminology overlaps historically with al-tawshīḥ. ʿAkkāwī records both authors who use tawshīḥ for the anticipatory phenomenon and others who distinguish tashīm from tawshīḥ; Ibn al-Athīr is reported as preferring the name irṣād for this mechanism.[1][4]
    • Abdul-Raof (2006) translates the device as "Observation", reflecting the addressee's role in anticipating the forthcoming completion.[3]

    References

    1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k 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), 60-62.
    2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Aḥmad al-Hāshimī, Jawāhir al-Balāgha fī al-Maʿānī wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Badīʿ (Windsor: Hindāwī Foundation, 2019), 367–368, ISBN 9781527316386.
    3. ↑ a b c d e f g Hussein Abdul-Raof, Arabic Rhetoric: A Pragmatic Analysis (Oxford: Routledge, 2006), 253–254, ISBN 9780415386098. DOI: 10.4324/9780203965399
    4. ↑ 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), 318-319.



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