PROPORT: Proportioning

    From The Encyclopedia of Arabic Rhetoric

    الازدواج
    PROPORT: Proportioning
    CategoryLinguistic Embellishments
    (‘ilm al-badī‘)
    SubcategoryRepetition & Reinforcement
    Synonymsالتفويف
      
    Balaghascore.com
    CodeCD-6
      
    BalaghaBase.org
    CodeQ132
      
    OpenAlex.org
    IDW4415412456
      
    Cite this page
    🔗 DOI10.64393/balagha.Q132
     Download PDF
      
    Taxonomy
    ARDTv0.1.0, v0.1.1

    Definition

    Proportioning (al-izdiwāj) is an Arabic rhetorical device involving the formal resemblance of two adjacent expressions (tajānus al-lafẓayn al-mujāwarayn).[1] Al-Ghānī (2011) describes this resemblance as occurring through the division of a passage into clauses (jumal) that are equal or nearly equal in length, brevity, and rhythmic weight (al-ṭūl wa-al-qaṣr wa-al-wazn).[2] The clause-endings may be rhymed (masjūʿa) or unrhymed.[2] The device is also referred to as al-muzāwaja.[2]

    Mechanism

    • A passage (al-fiqra) is divided into clauses (jumal) that are equal or nearly equal in length, brevity, and rhythmic weight.[2]
    • The equality is described in terms of al-ṭūl wa-al-qaṣr wa-al-wazn; al-Ghānī repeatedly analyses the clauses as mutasāwiyatān fī al-wazn.[2]
    • Rhyme at the clause-endings may be present or absent; it is not a defining condition.[2]
    • Some examples include opposition (muqābala), though this is not stated as a necessary condition.[2]
    • The device occurs in both poetry and prose.[2]

    Recognition

    Proportioning may be present when:

    • A passage is divided into two or more clauses of approximately equal length and rhythmic weight.[2]
    • The clauses are perceived as matched in kind and weight.[2][1]

    The following diagnostic tests aid identification:

    • Divide the passage into its natural sense-units. If two or more units are equal in length and weight but do not share a rhyme letter, al-izdiwāj is the more likely identification over sajʿ.
    • If the units share end-rhyme and the rhetorical force depends primarily on terminal rhyme correspondence, sajʿ may be the more precise identification.
    • Structural or grammatical parallelism often accompanies al-izdiwāj and may help produce rhythmic equality, but the classical criterion remains equality of weight.

    Diagnostic Rhetorical Effects

    • It delights the soul (yusʿidu al-nafs).[2]
    • It pleases the ear (yuṭribu al-udhun).[2]
    • It fills the soul with joy and pleasure (yamlaʾu al-nafs bahja wa-mutʿa).[2]
    • It gives a musical resonance that captures both hearing and understanding (yaʿṭī jarsan mūsīqiyyan yaʾkhudhū bi-al-asmāʿ wa-al-afhām).[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

    Source Example

    مَنْ جَدَّ وَجَدَ، وَمَنْ لَجَّ وَلَجَ

    "Whoever strives, finds; and whoever persists, enters."

    Explanation
    The two adjacent expressions are of the same kind and weight, illustrating al-Hāshimī's formulation of al-izdiwāj as the formal resemblance of two adjacent expressions.[1]
    Source Example

    يَتَقَارَبُ الزَّمَانُ، وَيَنْقُصُ الْعَمَلُ، وَيُلْقَى الشُّحُّ، وَيَكْثُرُ الْهَرْجُ

    "Time draws near, deeds diminish, miserliness is cast [into hearts], and killing increases."

    — The Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, as reported by Abū Hurayra (al-Bukhārī)

    Explanation
    Al-Ghānī analyses the four clauses as equal in rhythmic weight (mutasāwiyatān fī al-wazn), producing balance that delights the ear and elevates the soul.[2]

    Source Example

    ﴿ إِنَّ الْأَبْرَارَ لَفِي نَعِيمٍ ۝ وَإِنَّ الْفُجَّارَ لَفِي جَحِيمٍ ﴾

    "Indeed the righteous will be in bliss, and indeed the wicked will be in Hellfire."

    — Qurʾān 82:13–14

    Explanation
    Al-Ghānī analyses the two verses as equal in rhythmic weight, with the additional effect of opposition (muqābala) between الأبرار and الفجار enhancing the rhetorical effect.[2] The opposition is incidental to the device rather than constitutive of it.

    Source Example

    إِذَا حَدَّثَ كَذَبَ، وَإِذَا وَعَدَ أَخْلَفَ، وَإِذَا اؤْتُمِنَ خَانَ

    "When he speaks, he lies; when he promises, he breaks his word; when he is trusted, he betrays."

    — The Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, as reported by Abū Hurayra (al-Bukhārī)

    Explanation
    Three clauses of equal rhythmic weight, each built on an إِذَا + verb condition followed by a verb response. Al-Ghānī analyses them as mutually equal in weight.[2]
    Source Example

    الدُّنْيَا إِمَّا نِقْمَةٌ نَازِلَةٌ، وَإِمَّا نِعْمَةٌ زَائِلَةٌ

    "The world is either an affliction descending, or a blessing passing away."

    Explanation
    A saying attributed to some of the sages.[2] Two clauses of equal weight with oppositional pairing (muqābala); the rhyming clause-endings (نَازِلَةٌ / زَائِلَةٌ) are present but incidental to the identification as al-izdiwāj.

    Constructed Example

    الْعِلْمُ يَرْفَعُ الْأَقْدَارَ، وَالْجَهْلُ يَضَعُ الْأَحْرَارَ

    "Knowledge raises the standing of men, and ignorance lowers the free."

    Explanation
    Two clauses of equal rhythmic weight (mutasāwiyatān fī al-wazn), each consisting of a subject, verb, and object of equivalent measure. The clause-endings rhyme on ـدَار / ـحْرَار, and the pairing of al-ʿilm against al-jahl and yarfaʿu against yaḍaʿu introduces opposition (muqābala), though this is incidental to the device rather than definitive of it.

    Different From

    • RHYMED: Rhymed prose: Al-Ghānī explicitly states that Proportioning may occur with rhymed or unrhymed clauses, whereas Rhymed prose is defined through rhyme correspondence at the clause endings.[2][3]
    • Where clause-endings happen to rhyme in an instance of al-izdiwāj, both devices may be identified simultaneously.

    Notes

    • The term al-izdiwāj is also referred to as al-muzāwaja in al-Ghānī.[2]
    • Lexically, the term denotes pairing two things together (zāwaja bayna al-shayʾayn idhā qarana baynahumā).[2]
    • Al-Ghānī's consistent analytical phrase across all examples is mutasāwiyatān fī al-wazn, indicating that perceived rhythmic weight equality is the central diagnostic feature rather than grammatical structure.[2]
    • Abdul-Raof (2006) describes the device in broader structural terms through repeated grammatical constructions and parallelistic framing.[4]

    References

    1. ↑ a b c Aḥmad al-Hāshimī, Jawāhir al-Balāgha fī al-Maʿānī wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Badīʿ (Windsor: Hindāwī Foundation, 2019), 409, ISBN 9781527316386.
    2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Ayman Amin Abd Al-Ghani, Al-Kāfī fī al-Balāgha: Al-Bayān, wa al-Badiʿ wa al-Maʿānī (Cairo: Dār al-Tawfīqiyya lil-Turāth, 2011), 213–217.
    3. ↑ Muḥammad Aḥmad Qāsim, Muḥyī al-Dīn Dīb, ʿUlūm al-balāgha (al-badīʿ wa-al-bayān wa-al-maʿānī) (Tripoli: al-Muʾassasa al-ḥadītha lil-kitāb, 2003), 106-112.
    4. ↑ Hussein Abdul-Raof, Arabic Rhetoric: A Pragmatic Analysis (Oxford: Routledge, 2006), 268, ISBN 9780415386098. DOI: 10.4324/9780203965399



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