PRBLAME: Praise-Blame Dichotomy
| PRBLAME Praise-Blame Dichotomy | |
|---|---|
| Category | Linguistic Embellishments (‘ilm al-badī‘) |
| Subcategory | Persuasive Tricks |
| Balaghascore.com | |
| Code | CE-19 |
| BalaghaBase.org | |
| Code | Q116 |
| OpenAlex.org | |
| ID | W4415405334 |
| Cite this page | |
| 🔗 DOI | 10.64393/balagha.Q116 |
| Download PDF | |
| Taxonomy | |
| ARDT | v0.1.0, v0.1.1 |
Definition
Praise-Blame Dichotomy (al-Mughāyara) is an Arabic rhetorical device in which a subject is praised after having been blamed, or blamed after having been praised.[1][2]
Mechanism
- The device operates across two distinct moments or statements concerning the same subject: one expressing blame (dhamm) and one expressing praise (madḥ), in either order.[1][2]
- The two movements — praise and blame — are directed at the same subject.[1][2]
In this encyclopedia, the mechanism is described as follows:
- The order may run in either direction: blame → praise, or praise → blame, both being explicitly attested in the sources.
Recognition
Praise-Blame Dichotomy may be present when:
- The same subject is the object of both praise and blame, whether in the same text or in closely related passages.[1][2]
Diagnostic Rhetorical Effects
- Evaluative reversal: The movement from praise to blame, or blame to praise, creates a reversal in judgment that disrupts the audience's initial expectation and forces a reassessment of the subject.
- Heightened emphasis through contrast: Because praise and blame are opposing evaluative poles, each sharpens the force of the other. Commendation appears stronger when emerging from censure, and censure appears harsher when following commendation.
- Rhetorical surprise: When the second evaluative movement overturns the first, the device can create an effect of surprise or dramatic turn, sustaining attention and increasing the memorability of the statement.
- Exposure of contrastive aspects: By subjecting the same referent to opposing judgments, the device can foreground the subject’s competing or contrasting aspects, making its complexity more rhetorically vivid.
- Concentrated tension: Because both evaluative poles are anchored to the same referent, the opposition is concentrated rather than distributed across different subjects. This intensifies the force of the contrast and the impact of the reversal.
- Impression of balanced judgment: When neither evaluative movement is strongly dominant, the device can produce an impression of fairness or completeness, as though the speaker has weighed both sides of the subject. This effect depends on the relative weight given to each pole and is not a necessary outcome of the device.
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:
Examples
- Source Example
تَبًّا لَهُ مِنْ خَادِعٍ مُمَاذِقِ
[blame] Perdition to it — a deceiving, dissembling [coin].
أَكْرِمْ بِهِ أَصْفَرَ رَاقَتْ صُفْرَتُهْ
[praise] How noble is this yellow one whose yellowness delights!
- Explanation
- Al-Ḥarīrī first censures the dinar, characterising it as a deceiver, then immediately praises the same coin for the beauty of its golden colour. The two evaluative moves — blame then praise of the same subject — constitute al-Mughāyara.[1][2] The final word of the blame hemistich varies across sources. Nāṣif et al. (2012) give mumādhiq in the main text, with a footnote recording the manuscript variant mumāziq. Hāshimī (2019) gives mumāriq.
- Example (constructed — blame then praise of the same subject)
- Constructed Example
كَمْ أَفْسَدَ الذَّكَاءُ مِنْ عَقْلٍ رَزِينٍ، وَكَمْ قَادَ صَاحِبَهُ إِلَى الهَلَاكِ!
ثُمَّ كَمْ أَنْقَذَ الذَّكَاءُ مِنْ هَالِكٍ، وَكَمْ رَفَعَ صَاحِبَهُ إِلَى أَعْلَى المَرَاتِبِ!How often has intelligence corrupted a sound mind, and led its possessor to ruin! Yet how often has intelligence saved one on the brink of destruction, and raised its possessor to the highest ranks!
- Explanation
- The same subject — intelligence (al-dhakāʾ) — is first blamed, then praised, within a single passage. The juxtaposition of the two evaluative moves directed at the same subject constitutes al-Mughāyara.
References
- ↑ a b c d e Ḥafnī Nāṣif, Muḥammad Diyāb, Sultan Muḥammad and Muṣṭafā Ṭammām, Durūs al-Balāgha (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2012), 113, ISBN 9786144162798.
- ↑ a b c d e Aḥmad al-Hāshimī, Jawāhir al-Balāgha fī al-Maʿānī wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Badīʿ (Windsor: Hindāwī Foundation, 2019), 377, ISBN 9781527316386.
Page history
- 2026-02-11 - Migration to Semantic Device Identifiers: Renamed from CH-7: Praise-Blame Dichotomy to PRBLAME Praise-Blame Dichotomy.
- 2025-11-20 - Page incorporated into the Arabic Rhetorical Device Taxonomy (v0.1.1).
- 2025-04-15 - Page created: Praise-Blame Dichotomy.
