RHYMED: Rhymed Prose
| RHYMED: Rhymed prose | |
|---|---|
| Category | Linguistic Embellishments (‘ilm al-badī‘) |
| Subcategory | Sound Aesthetics |
| Balaghascore.com | |
| Code | CD-1 |
| BalaghaBase.org | |
| Code | Q125 |
| OpenAlex.org | |
| ID | W4415412567 |
| Cite this page | |
| 🔗 DOI | 10.64393/balagha.Q125 |
| Download PDF | |
| Taxonomy | |
| ARDT | v0.1.0, v0.1.1 |
Definition
Rhymed Prose (al-sajʿ) is an Arabic rhetorical device involving the agreement of two prose fāṣilatayn (phrase-endings) on one and the same final letter.[1][2][3][4] The fāṣila in prose occupies the same structural role as the qāfiya (rhyme) in poetry,[1] and each rhythmic unit of prose is called a fiqra.[3] Rowson (1998) describes sajʿ broadly as “rhymed prose”, distinguishing artistic prose subject to rhythm and rhyme from unadorned prose (mursal).[5] Abdul-Raof (2006) renders the device as “assonance”, defining it as “the agreement in the last letter(s) of two propositions”.[6]
Al-Sakkākī formulated the relationship concisely: al-sajʿ fī al-nathr ka-al-qāfiya fī al-shiʿr (“sajʿ in prose is like rhyme in poetry”).[1]
Mechanism
- Rhymed prose operates through the matching of the final letter of successive prose segments (fiqratayn).[1][3]
- The repeated final letter functions as the point of rhyme agreement, analogous to the qāfiya in poetry.[1][3]
- The minimum structural condition is agreement between the two fāṣilatayn on one final letter.[1][2][3]
In this encyclopedia, rhymed prose is identified structurally by final-letter agreement between prose phrase-endings. Questions of elegance, naturalness, or artistic quality are treated separately from the core detection of the device.
Diagnostic Rhetorical Effects
- Rhymed prose creates an effect of audible closure and rhythmic pairing between adjacent prose segments.[1][3]
- Balanced prose segments strengthen the rhythmic effect and make the paired endings more perceptible to the listener.[1][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:
Recognition
Rhymed prose may be present when:
- Two successive prose segments (fiqratayn) end on the same final letter.[1][3][6]
- The final words (fāṣilas) show terminal rhyme-agreement analogous to poetic rhyme.[1][3]
- The final words may also share the same morphological weight (wazn), indicating a more structured subtype.[1][2][3]
The following diagnostic tests aid identification:
- Locate the final word of each prose segment.
- Compare the final letters of those words.
- If the final letters match, rhymed prose is structurally present.
- If the paired words also match in morphological pattern, determine the subtype.
Types of Rhymed prose
The sources identify the following prose subtypes of rhymed prose.[1][2]
Type 1: al-muṭarraf
The two phrase-endings agree in their final letter but differ in morphological weight.[1][2]
- Source Example
﴿أَلَمْ نَجْعَلِ الْأَرْضَ مِهَادًا وَالْجِبَالَ أَوْتَادًا﴾
Have We not made the earth a resting place, and the mountains as stakes? (Q78:6–7)
- Explanation
- Mihādan and awtādan agree in final rhyme-letter but differ in morphological weight, making this an instance of muṭarraf.[2]
- Constructed Example
«إنَّ العِلمَ نُورٌ، وإنَّ الجَهلَ فُجُورٌ»
Indeed knowledge is a light, and indeed ignorance is a transgression.
- Explanation
- Nūrun and fujūrun agree in final rhyme-letter (ر) but differ in morphological weight (fuʿlun vs. fuʿūlun), making this an instance of muṭarraf.
Type 2: al-mutawāzī
The final word of each prose segment agrees with its counterpart in both morphological weight and final rhyme-letter.[1][2]
- Source Example
﴿فِيهَا سُرُرٌ مَرْفُوعَةٌ وَأَكْوَابٌ مَوْضُوعَةٌ﴾
Within it are couches raised high, and cups put in place. (Q88:13–14)
- Explanation
- Marfūʿa and mawḍūʿa match in both morphological pattern and rhyme.[1][6]
- Source Example
«اللَّهُمَّ أَعْطِ مُنْفِقاً خَلَفاً وَأَعْطِ مُمْسِكاً تَلَفاً»
O God, give the spender replacement, and give the miser ruin.
- Explanation
- Khalafan and talafan match in weight and rhyme.[1][3]
- Constructed Example
«الحَقُّ مَنشُودٌ، والعَدلُ مَقصُودٌ»
Truth is sought after, and justice is aimed for.
- Explanation
- Manshūdun and maqṣūdun agree in both morphological weight (mafʿūlun) and final rhyme-letter (د), making this an instance of mutawāzī.
al-muraṣṣaʿ (al-tarṣīʿ)
Multiple corresponding words across the paired prose segments match in both morphological weight and rhyme.[1][2] ʿAṭīq (2002) defines it as the pairing of every word from a prose segment or hemistich with a word of equal weight and rhyme.[1] Rowson (1998) cites Qudāma ibn Jaʿfar's definition of tarṣīʿ as combining multiple sajʿ rhyme with full morphological parallelism.[5]
- Source Example
﴿إِنَّ الْأَبْرَارَ لَفِي نَعِيمٍ وَإِنَّ الْفُجَّارَ لَفِي جَحِيمٍ﴾
Indeed the righteous are in bliss, and indeed the wicked are in Hellfire. (Q82:13–14)
- Explanation
- Each word of the first segment is paired with a corresponding word of equal morphological weight and matching rhyme-letter in the second segment, making this an instance of muraṣṣaʿ.[1][2]
- Source Example
«يَطْبَعُ الأَسْجَاعَ بِجَوَاهِرِ لَفْظِهِ، وَيَقْرَعُ الأَسْمَاعَ بِزَوَاجِرِ وَعْظِهِ»
He stamps sajʿ with the jewels of his diction, and strikes the ears with the admonitions of his preaching.
- Explanation
- From al-Ḥarīrī. Multiple corresponding lexical pairs match in weight and rhyme.[1]
- Constructed Example
«يُشِيعُ الأَمِينُ الوَفَاءَ بِصِدقِ لِسَانِهِ، ويُذِيعُ الخَوِينُ الجَفَاءَ بِكَذِبِ بَيَانِهِ»
The trustworthy man spreads loyalty through the truth of his tongue, and the treacherous man spreads harshness through the falsehood of his speech.
- Explanation
- Multiple corresponding lexical pairs match in both morphological weight and rhyme: yushīʿu / yudhīʿu; al-amīnu / al-khawīnu; al-wafāʾa / al-jafāʾa; bi-ṣidqi / bi-kadhbi; lisānihi / bayānihi, making this an instance of muraṣṣaʿ.
ʿAkkāwī (1996) also lists al-mutawāzan, where the paired endings agree in weight without sharing the same rhyme-letter.[2] Some rhetoricians do not treat this as full rhymed prose because final-letter agreement is absent.[2]
Different From
- al-mursal (free or unadorned prose): Rowson (1998) explicitly contrasts sajʿ with mursal prose, the latter being prose without the constraints of rhythm and rhyme that define sajʿ.[5]
- al-fawāṣil (Qurʾānic phrase-endings): Some scholars, including al-Rummānī and al-Bāqillānī, argued that the phrase-endings of the Qurʾān should not be called sajʿ but rather fawāṣil. Ibn al-Athīr and others disputed this restriction.[3][1]
- al-tarṣīʿ: Heinrichs (1998) notes that internal rhyme in a line of poetry is sometimes called tarṣīʿ, while ʿAṭīq treats tarṣīʿ or muraṣṣaʿ as a subtype involving broader word-for-word parallelism alongside final-rhyme agreement.[7][1]
Notes
- Translation of sajʿ: Rowson (1998) renders it as “rhymed prose”; Abdul-Raof (2006) renders it as “assonance”. In this encyclopedia, “Rhymed prose” is preferred because it best reflects the classical Arabic definition.[5][6]
- Prose and poetry: The device is fundamentally a prose category in classical balāgha, even though similar internal rhyming structures may occur in poetry under related categories such as tarṣīʿ.[7][1]
- Poetic extension omitted from the main taxonomy: ʿAṭīq (2002) also lists al-mashṭūr as a poetic subtype, where each hemistich has its own internal rhyme pattern.[1] It is not treated as a core subtype on this page because this entry focuses on rhymed prose as a rhetorical device rather than on poetic internal-rhyme taxonomy.
- Structural detection vs. artistic quality: The sources distinguish the presence of rhymed prose from its artistic quality. Rhymed prose may be structurally present even when rhetoricians judge it forced or weak.[1][3]
References
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Atīq, ʿIlm al-Badīʿ (Beirut: Dār al-Nahḍa al-ʿArabiyya lil-Ṭibāʿa wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ, 2002), 215–224.
- ↑ 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), 578.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Faḍl Ḥasan ʿAbbās, Al-Balāgha: Funūnuhā wa-Afnānuhā - ʿIlm al-Bayān wa-al-Badīʿ (Amman: Dār al-Furqān lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ, 2007), 305–309.
- ↑ Ḥafnī Nāṣif, Muḥammad Diyāb, Sultan Muḥammad and Muṣṭafā Ṭammām, [ Durūs al-Balāgha] (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2012), 119–120, ISBN 9786144162798.
- ↑ a b c d E. K. Rowson, ‘Sajʿ’, in Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, ed. Julie Scott Meisami and Paul Starkey (London: Routledge, 1998), 677–678, ISBN 0415068088. DOI: 10.4324/9780203020425
- ↑ a b c d Hussein Abdul-Raof, Arabic Rhetoric: A Pragmatic Analysis (Oxford: Routledge, 2006), 260–261, ISBN 9780415386098. DOI: 10.4324/9780203965399
- ↑ a b W. P. Heinrichs, ‘Rhetorical Figures’, in Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, ed. Julie Scott Meisami and Paul Starkey (London: Routledge, 1998), 661, ISBN 0415068088. DOI: 10.4324/9780203020425
Page history
- 2026-04-26 - Renamed from ASSONAN: Assonance to RHYMED: Rhymed prose to more accurately reflect the rhetorical mechanism.
- 2025-11-20 - Page incorporated into the Arabic Rhetorical Device Taxonomy (v0.1.1).
- 2026-02-11 - Migration to Semantic Device Identifiers: Renamed from CI-1: Assonance to ASSONAN: Assonance.
- 2025-11-20 - Page incorporated into the Arabic Rhetorical Device Taxonomy (v0.1.1).
- 2024-04-22 - Page created: Assonance.
