REVERSL: Structural Reversal

    From The Encyclopedia of Arabic Rhetoric

    العكس والتبديل
    REVERSL: Structural Reversal
    CategoryLinguistic Embellishments (ʿilm al-badīʿ)
    SubcategoryContrasts & Inversions
    Built upon9 sources
      
    Annotation Unit
    ARDT CodeREVERSL
    Level1 (Rhetorical device)
       ↳ Has 3 subtypes
      
    Included in Taxonomy
    ARDTv0.1.1
    v0.1.0
      
    External Identifiers
    BALAGHAScoreCC-2
    BalaghaBaseQ73
    OpenAlexW4415372270
      
    Cite this page
    🔗 Live DOI10.64393/balagha.Q73
     
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    Definition

    Structural Reversal (al-ʿaks or al-tabdīl) is an Arabic rhetorical device in which linguistic material is arranged so that its letters, the letters within its constituent words, or its words or corresponding units can be read or reproduced in reversed order while yielding a formally valid and semantically interpretable expression.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

    Background Information

    The Arabic designation al-ʿaks wa-l-tabdīl combines two closely related terms. 'al-ʿaks' denotes reversal or inversion, while 'al-tabdīl' denotes alteration, substitution, or exchange. Together, they express the idea of changing the arrangement of linguistic material by reversing or exchanging the positions of its constituent elements.

    The compound designation al-ʿaks wa-l-tabdīl is explicitly attested in the classical rhetorical tradition. Al-Qazwīnī describes the operation as advancing one part of an expression and subsequently placing it later, while al-Taftāzānī discusses the corresponding configurations. Ṭabāna records al-ʿaks and reports al-tabdīl as an alternative designation.[4][5][6]

    Linguistic Operations

    The Arabic sources describe several forms of reversal using overlapping terminology and classifications. These include reversal of a complete sequence of letters, reversal of letters within individual words, and reversal involving the ordering of words or corresponding linguistic units.[7][8][9][1][2]

    • Structural Reversal operates by reversing the sequential order of linguistic material. The reversal may operate on a complete sequence of letters, on the letters within individual words, or on the ordering of words or corresponding linguistic units.[1][2]
    • In letter-based forms, reversal proceeds through the letters of the relevant expression or word; in word-order reversal, the words or corresponding linguistic units themselves occupy reversed positions.[7][8][9][1][2]
    • The resulting arrangement constitutes a formally valid and semantically interpretable expression rather than an arbitrary reversal of linguistic material.[9][1]

    The three Annotation Units are distinguished by the unit and scope of reversal:

    • Exact Letter Reversal: the complete letter sequence is reversed and reproduces the same sequence.
    • Within-Word Letter Reversal: reversal operates on the letters within individual words.
    • Word-Order Reversal: reversal operates on the ordering of words or corresponding linguistic units.

    Recognition

    Structural Reversal may be present when:

    • linguistic material exhibits a recoverable reversal of its sequential order;[1][2]
    • the reversal operates systematically on an identifiable linguistic unit, such as a sequence of letters, letters within individual words, or words and corresponding linguistic units;[1][2]
    • the resulting arrangement forms a valid and semantically interpretable expression rather than an arbitrary permutation of linguistic material.[9][1]


    To identify the appropriate subtype, determine what has been reversed:

    • If reversing the complete letter sequence reproduces that same sequence, annotate Exact Letter Reversal.
    • If reversal occurs separately among the letters within individual words, annotate Within-Word Letter Reversal.
    • If words or corresponding linguistic units occur in reversed positions, annotate Word-Order Reversal.

    Communicative Enhancements

    The rhetorical effects of Structural Reversal vary according to the type of reversal and the context in which it appears:

    • Formal closure and boundedness: In Exact Letter Reversal, the expression may acquire a heightened sense of structural completeness because the sequence folds back upon itself, creating an impression of formal enclosure and self-sufficiency.
    • Formal astonishment: Recognition that an expression remains valid under reversal can produce surprise and admiration as an underlying structural symmetry becomes apparent.
    • Wit and ingenuity: Where reversal operates within words or through word order, the device can foreground compositional virtuosity. The rhetorical pleasure lies in recognising the craftsmanship by which linguistic material sustains coherence under inversion.
    • Semantic reconfiguration: Where reversal produces a different coherent meaning, the existing verbal material is reorganised into a new semantic configuration.
    • Mnemonic salience: Highly patterned reversible expressions may be especially striking and memorable, aiding retention.

    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.

    Subtypes of Structural Reversal

    The encyclopedia therefore treats these source traditions together under Structural Reversal, distinguishing three Annotation Units according to the linguistic material upon which reversal operates:

    • Exact Letter Reversal: the letter sequence of an expression reads identically in both directions.
    • Within-Word Letter Reversal: the letters within individual words are reversed.
    • Word-Order Reversal: words or corresponding linguistic units occur in reversed order.

    The first of these corresponds to Palindrome in established English terminology. The English term is not used for Structural Reversal as a whole because the other forms do not require an expression to read identically forwards and backwards.

    REVERSL-ELR: Exact Letter Reversal (al-qalb)

    Annotation Unit
    ARDTREVERSL-ELR
    Level2 (Subtype)
    BalaghaBaseQ373
    Official Arabic nameal-qalb[7]

    A form of Structural Reversal in which the complete letter sequence of an expression, when read in reverse order, reproduces the same sequence, so that the expression reads identically forwards and backwards.[1][10][11]

    This form of reversal is referred to in the sources as al-qalb and mā lā yastaḥīlu bi-l-inʿikās.[7][8][9] ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī defines it as speech which, when reversed beginning from its final letter and proceeding to its first, yields the same speech again.[10] Al-Qazwīnī similarly defines it as speech such that when its letters are reversed the reading does not change (idhā qulibat ḥurūfuhu lam tataghayyar qirāʾatuhu), with the further condition that the composition be well-formed and the meanings coherent.[9]

    Cachia names this form Palindrome and attests it in both prose and poetry. In poetry, the reversible sequence may extend across an entire verse or be confined to a single hemistich; he additionally records examples in which individual words or successive pairs of words constitute palindromic units.[10]

    وَرَبَّكَ فَكَبِّرْ

    Quran 74:3
    "And your Lord, do magnify"

    Explanation
    This Qurʾānic phrase is cited by Ḥātim (2010) and al-Nābulusī (as translated by Cachia) as an instance of an expression whose letters can be read forwards and backwards without the expression changing.[8][10]

    كُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ

    Quran 36:40
    "Each in an orbit"

    Explanation
    This Qurʾānic phrase is cited by Nāṣif (2012), ʿAkkāwī (1996), and al-Nābulusī (as translated by Cachia) as an example of an expression whose letters form the same sequence when read forwards and backwards.[7][9][10]

    كَنْ كَمَا أَمْكَنَك

    "Be as you are able"

    Explanation
    Ḥātim (2010) cites this prose example to illustrate a phrase constructed so that its letters can be taken in both directions while still yielding a valid expression.[8]

    مَوَدَّتُهُ تَدُومُ بِكُلِّ مَوْلٍ وَهَلْ كُلُّ مَوَدَّتُهُ تَدُومُ

    "His affection endures with every patron — but does every patron's affection endure?"

    Explanation
    ʿAkkāwī (1996) cites this verse by al-Arjānī under the heading of al-qalb as an extended poetic instance of reversal operating within a well-formed, coherent composition.[9]

    وَلَمَّا تَبَدَّى لَنَا وَجْهُهُ
    أَرَانَا إِلَّا لَهُ هِلَالًا أَنَارَا

    When his face appeared to us,
    he showed us nothing but an illuminating crescent.

    Explanation
    Al-Nābulusī cites this poetic example as an instance in which one hemistich forms an exact palindrome. The second hemistich, arānā illā lahu hilālan anārā, yields the same sequence of letters when read forwards and backwards, disregarding vocalisation and spacing.[10]

    دَامَ مَاد

    "Flowing water endured"

    Explanation
    A constructed Modern Standard Arabic phrase in which the full consonantal sequence, read in reverse, yields the same string. dāma māda ("it endured, it flowed") reads identically whether its letters are taken forwards or backwards, illustrating exact letter reversal within a grammatically valid expression.

    Never odd or even.

    Explanation
    Ignoring spaces, punctuation, and letter case, the complete sequence of letters reads identically forwards and backwards. The reversal reproduces exactly the same expression, illustrating Exact Letter Reversal.

    REVERSL-WWR: Within-Word Letter Reversal (ʿaks kull kalima ʿalā ḥidatihā)

    Annotation Unit
    ARDTREVERSL-WWR
    Level2 (Subtype)
    BalaghaBaseQ374
    Official Arabic nameʿaks kull kalima ʿalā ḥidatihā[12]

    A form of Structural Reversal in which the letters within each word are reversed individually, yielding another coherent and meaningful reading even where the resulting meaning differs from the original.[1]

    كَبُرَ رَجَا أَجُرَّ رَبَّك

    "Magnify the hope of your Lord's reward"

    Explanation
    ʿAkkāwī (1996), following al-Ḥarīrī, cites this construction to illustrate reversal within individual words: each word, when its letters are reversed, yields another coherent Arabic word.[1]

    رَمَى بَحْر

    "The sea hurled"

    Explanation
    A constructed Modern Standard Arabic phrase illustrating reversal within individual words. Reversing the letters of ramā yields āmar ("he commanded"), and reversing baḥr yields raḥb ("spacious" / "vast"), producing a coherent, if semantically distinct, Arabic reading in each case.

    Live on time.

    Explanation
    Reversing the letters within each word separately produces "evil no emit". The words remain individually recognisable English words, demonstrating the letter-level reversal operation within separate lexical units. The resulting sequence is not a natural English sentence, illustrating the difficulty of reproducing this Arabic rhetorical construction in English.

    REVERSL-WOR: Word-Order Reversal (al-ʿaks)

    Annotation Unit
    ARDTREVERSL-WOR
    Level2 (Subtype)
    BalaghaBaseQ375
    Official Arabic nameal-ʿaks[13]

    A form of Structural Reversal in which words or other corresponding linguistic units occur in one arrangement and are subsequently reproduced or related in reversed order.[2][13][1][14][7][3][4][5][6]

    The sources distinguish several configurations of Word-Order Reversal. These are retained below as descriptive groupings of the examples rather than as separate Annotation Units. ʿAkkāwī distinguishes configurations according to the structural environment in which reversal occurs, while Nābulusī additionally distinguishes cases according to whether reversal preserves or changes the meaning.[2][3][4][5]

    Full-Sequence Reversal

    In some examples, reversal applies to the sequence of words as a whole rather than to corresponding elements distributed across clauses.[1]

    عُجْ ثُمَّ قَرِّبْ دَغَلًا آمِنًا إِنَّمَا دَغَلَ كَبْرُقٍ مُنْتَجَعٍ

    "Turn aside, then draw near to a safe thicket — for only the thicket of a lightning-flash is a good pasture."

    Explanation
    ʿAkkāwī (1996) reports this hemistich as an instance in which the words are read in reverse order while continuing to form valid Arabic expression.[1]

    يَنبُعُ النُّورُ مِنَ العَقْلِ

    "Light springs from reason"

    Explanation
    Explanation
    A constructed Modern Standard Arabic phrase illustrating reversal at the level of word order. Reading the lexical words in reverse sequence, with vocalisation adjusted to the resulting grammatical structure, yields al-ʿaqlu mina l-nūri yanbuʿu ("Reason springs from light"). The reversal preserves the lexical material while changing its order and the resulting meaning.

    Reversal within a Sentence

    ʿAkkāwī records reversal in which corresponding elements exchange their positions within the same sentence.[2]

    عادات السادات سادات العادات

    The habits of the masters are the masters of the habits.

    Explanation
    The words ʿādāt (habits) and sādāt (masters) occur in one order and then in the reverse order within the same sentence, illustrating the configuration that ʿAkkāwī describes as inversion between parts of a sentence.[2][15]<[4]

    قَوْلُ الْإِمَامِ إِمَامُ الْقَوْلِ

    The speech of the imam is the imam of speech.

    Explanation
    The terms qawl (speech) and al-imām (the imam) occur in one order and then in the reverse order within the same sentence.[7]

    حُرُّ الْكَلَامِ كَلَامُ الْحُرِّ

    Free speech is the speech of the free man.

    Explanation
    The terms ḥurr (free) and al-kalām (speech) occur in one order and then in the reverse order within the same sentence.[7]

    حِكْمَةُ الْعُقَلَاءِ عُقَلَاءُ الْحِكْمَةِ

    The wisdom of the sages is the sages of wisdom.

    Explanation
    The terms ḥikma (wisdom) and ʿuqalāʾ (sages) reverse their syntactic positions between the two halves of the sentence.

    Reversal across Nominal Clauses

    ʿAkkāwī also records reversal in which corresponding elements exchange positions across nominal constructions.[2]

    لا مجدَ في الدنيا لمن قلّ مالُهُ، ولا مالَ في الدنيا لمن قلّ مجدُهُ

    There is no glory in this world for him whose wealth is little,
    and no wealth in this world for him whose glory is little.

    — Al-Mutanabbī

    Explanation
    The two terms majd (glory) and māl (wealth) appear in one order in the first nominal clause and are switched in the second, illustrating ʿAkkāwī's nominal-sentence configuration.[14]

    لَا هُنَّ حِلٌّ لَّهُمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحِلُّونَ لَهُنَّ

    Quran 60:10
    They (women) are not lawful for them (men), nor are they (men) lawful for them (women).

    Explanation
    In the first clause, the feminine pronoun hunna precedes the masculine lahum; in the second clause, the masculine hum precedes the feminine lahunna, giving the corresponding elements reversed positions.[2][15]

    لَا نَجَاحَ لِمَنْ يَفْقِدُ الصَّبْرَ، وَلَا صَبْرَ لِمَنْ يَفْقِدُ النَّجَاحَ

    There is no success for one who lacks patience, and no patience for one who lacks success.

    Explanation
    The terms najāḥ (success) and ṣabr (patience) appear in one order in the first clause and are switched in the second, illustrating word-order reversal across corresponding nominal clauses.

    Reversal across Verbal Clauses

    Another configuration places corresponding elements in reversed positions across verbal constructions.[2]

    وَلاَ تَخْشَ النَّاسَ وَاللَّهُ أَحَقُّ أَن تَخْشَاهُ

    Do not fear the people, while God has more right that you should fear Him. Quran 33:37.

    Explanation
    ʿAkkāwī (1996), citing Ibn Ḥujja al-Ḥamawī, gives this as an example where what is advanced in the speech is later delayed, and what is delayed is later advanced, illustrating reversal across verbal constructions.[13]

    يُخْرِجُ ٱلْحَىَّ مِنَ ٱلْمَيِّتِ وَيُخْرِجُ ٱلْمَيِّتَ مِنَ ٱلْحَىِّ

    Quran 30:19
    He brings the living out of the dead and brings the dead out of the living.

    Explanation
    The terms al-ḥayy (the living) and al-mayyit (the dead) appear in one order in the first verbal clause and in the reverse order in the second, illustrating ʿAkkāwī's verbal-sentence configuration.[2][15]

    يَصْنَعُ الْعِلْمُ الرِّجَالَ، وَيَصْنَعُ الرِّجَالُ الْعِلْمَ

    Knowledge makes men, and men make knowledge.

    Explanation
    The terms al-ʿilm (knowledge) and al-rijāl (men) occupy reversed syntactic positions in the two verbal clauses, with their roles as agent and object inverted.

    Reversal involving Related Nouns

    ʿAkkāwī additionally records a configuration in which reversal operates through related nouns occurring across sentences.[2]

    أَصْبِرْ عَلَى خُلُقٍ مَنْ تُعَاشِرُهُ، وَاصْحَبْ صَبُورًا عَلَى مَنْ خَالَفَهُ

    Be patient with the character of the one you associate with, and accompany one who is patient with whoever differs from him.

    Explanation
    ʿAkkāwī (1996) cites this as an example of the configuration in which reversal occurs between related nouns in two sentences.[2]

    أَكْرِمِ الْكَرِيمَ تَنَلْ كَرَامَتَهُ، وَاحْذَرِ اللَّئِيمَ تَسْلَمْ مِنْ لُؤْمِهِ

    Honour the generous man and you will receive his generosity; beware the base man and you will be safe from his baseness.

    Explanation
    The two related nouns al-karīm (the generous man) and al-laʾīm (the base man) anchor parallel imperative clauses; the second noun and its attendant quality invert the moral and relational stance established by the first, illustrating the related-noun configuration recorded by ʿAkkāwī.

    Reversal with Meaning Preserved

    Nābulusī distinguishes instances in which the ordering of the linguistic material is reversed while the underlying meaning is retained.[3]

    يَا بَدَنِي بِالْفِرَاقِ مِتَّ كَمَدًا ۝ مِتَّ كَمَدًا بِالْفِرَاقِ يَا بَدَنِي

    O body of mine, now we are parted, die of grief!
    Die of grief now we are parted, O body of mine!

    Explanation
    Nābulusī gives this as an example of word-order reversal in which the wording of the first hemistich is recast in reversed order in the second while the meaning is retained.[3]

    بِالْعِلْمِ يَرْتَفِعُ الْإِنْسَانُ ۝ يَرْتَفِعُ الْإِنْسَانُ بِالْعِلْمِ

    Through knowledge a person rises;
    A person rises through knowledge.

    Explanation
    The same elements, bi-l-ʿilm (through knowledge) and yartafiʿu al-insān (a person rises), occur in reversed order in the second part while expressing the same proposition, illustrating Nābulusī's meaning-preserving form of reversal.

    Reversal with Meaning Changed

    Nābulusī also distinguishes instances in which reversal of the linguistic material produces a corresponding change in meaning.[3]

    أَحْدَاقُهُ مُلِئَتْ مِنَ الْأَقْدَاحِ ۝ أَمْ أَقْدَاحُهُ مُلِئَتْ مِنَ الْأَحْدَاقِ

    Have his eyes been filled from the wine-cups,
    or have the wine-cups been filled from his eyes?

    — Al-Tilimsānī

    Explanation
    Nābulusī gives this as an example of word-order reversal in which rearranging the terms produces a change in meaning.[3]

    يَخْدُمُ الْمُعَلِّمُ الطَّالِبَ ۝ يَخْدُمُ الطَّالِبُ الْمُعَلِّمَ

    The teacher serves the student;
    the student serves the teacher.

    Explanation
    The same principal terms, al-muʿallim (the teacher) and al-ṭālib (the student), occur in reversed syntactic positions. The reversal changes who performs the action and who receives it, illustrating Nābulusī's meaning-changing form of word-order reversal.

    We shape our tools, and our tools shape us.

    Explanation
    The corresponding terms "we/us" and "our tools" exchange their syntactic positions across the two clauses. The first clause presents people as shaping tools; the second reverses the relationship, presenting tools as shaping people. The linguistic operation is the reversal of corresponding constituents, with a resulting change in meaning.

    Notes

    • The letter-reversal phenomenon is referred to in the sources variously as al-qalb, mā lā yastaḥīlu bi-l-inʿikās, and al-maqlūb al-mustawī.[7][9][1][8][10]
    • ʿAkkāwī (1996) notes that ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī referred to this device as al-ʿaks wa-l-tabdīl in his Nafaḥāt al-Azhār.[9]
    • The encyclopedia's distinction between Exact Letter Reversal and the paronomastic jinās al-qalb is an editorial systematisation based on the linguistic operation and distribution of examples in the sources. The sources themselves do not explicitly establish this boundary using the criterion of continuity.
    • Palindrome is retained as the established English description of Exact Letter Reversal rather than as the English name of Structural Reversal as a whole.
    • The encyclopedia uses Structural Reversal as an English umbrella designation for three related operations: reversal of a complete letter sequence, reversal of letters within individual words, and reversal of the order of words or corresponding linguistic units. The Arabic compound name reflects the general principle of inversion and rearrangement, although the sources do not uniformly group all three operations under that single designation.

    References

    1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Inʿam Fawwal ʿAkkawi, al-Muʿjam al-Mufassal fi ʿUlum al-Balagha: al-Badiʿ wa-l-Bayan wa-l-Maʿani (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 491-492.
    2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Inʿam Fawwal ʿAkkawi, al-Muʿjam al-Mufassal fi ʿUlum al-Balagha: al-Badiʿ wa-l-Bayan wa-l-Maʿani (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 278–280.
    3. ↑ a b c d e f g Pierre Cachia, The Arch Rhetorician: Or The Schemer’s Skimmer: A Handbook of Late Arabic Badīʻ Drawn from ʻAbd al-Ghanī an-Nābulsī’s Nafaḥāt al-Azhār ʻala Nasamāt al-Asḥār, Studies in Arabic Language and Literature 3 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1998), pp. 34-35; §55, ISBN 9783447040327.
    4. ↑ a b c d e Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Qazwīnī, known as al-Khaṭīb al-Qazwīnī, al-Īḍāḥ fī ʿUlūm al-Balāgha: al-Maʿānī wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Badīʿ, ed. and comm. Ibrāhīm Shams al-Dīn (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 2003), 265-266, ISBN 9782745139078.
    5. ↑ a b c d Saʿd al-Dīn al-Taftāzānī, al-Muṭawwal: Sharḥ Talkhīṣ Miftāḥ al-ʿUlūm, ed. ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd Hindāwī, Shurūḥ al-Talkhīṣ 3, 3rd ed. (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 2013), 650-651, ISBN 9782745131768.
    6. ↑ a b c Badawī Ṭabāna, Muʿjam al-Balāgha al-ʿArabiyya, 3rd rev. and expanded ed. (Jeddah: Dār al-Manāra; Riyadh: Dār al-Rifāʿī, 1988), 442-443.
    7. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Ḥafnī Nāṣif, Muḥammad Diyāb, Sultan Muḥammad and Muṣṭafā Ṭammām, Durūs al-Balāgha (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2012), 120, ISBN 9786144162798.
    8. ↑ a b c d e f Basil Hatim, Arabic Rhetoric: The Pragmatics of Deviation from Linguistic Norms, LINCOM Studies in Communication 04 (Munich: Lincom Europa, 2010), 61, ISBN 9783929075731.
    9. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Inʿam Fawwal ʿAkkawi, al-Muʿjam al-Mufassal fi ʿUlum al-Balagha: al-Badiʿ wa-l-Bayan wa-l-Maʿani (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 623.
    10. ↑ a b c d e f g Pierre Cachia, The Arch Rhetorician: Or The Schemer’s Skimmer: A Handbook of Late Arabic Badīʻ Drawn from ʻAbd al-Ghanī an-Nābulsī’s Nafaḥāt al-Azhār ʻala Nasamāt al-Asḥār, Studies in Arabic Language and Literature 3 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1998), pp. 38-39; §59, ISBN 9783447040327.
    11. ↑ Saʿd al-Dīn al-Taftāzānī, al-Muṭawwal: Sharḥ Talkhīṣ Miftāḥ al-ʿUlūm, ed. ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd Hindāwī, Shurūḥ al-Talkhīṣ 3, 3rd ed. (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 2013), 702, ISBN 9782745131768.
    12. ↑ Inʿam Fawwal ʿAkkawi, al-Muʿjam al-Mufassal fi ʿUlum al-Balagha: al-Badiʿ wa-l-Bayan wa-l-Maʿani (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 491.
    13. ↑ a b c Inʿam Fawwal ʿAkkawi, al-Muʿjam al-Mufassal fi ʿUlum al-Balagha: al-Badiʿ wa-l-Bayan wa-l-Maʿani (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 604-606.
    14. ↑ a b W. P. Heinrichs, ‘Rhetorical Figures’, in Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, ed. Julie Scott Meisami and Paul Starkey (London: Routledge, 1998), 657, ISBN 0415068088. DOI: 10.4324/9780203020425
    15. ↑ a b c Hussein Abdul-Raof, Arabic Rhetoric: A Pragmatic Analysis (Oxford: Routledge, 2006), 247-248, ISBN 9780415386098. DOI: 10.4324/9780203965399



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