STACKED: Stacked-Up Descriptions

    From The Encyclopedia of Arabic Rhetoric

    الاستتباع
    STACKED: Stacked-Up Descriptions
    CategoryLinguistic Embellishments
    (ʿilm al-badīʿ)
    SubcategoryIndirectness & Ambiguity
    Built upon7 sources
      
    Annotation Unit
    ARDT CodeSTACKED
    Level1 (Rhetorical device)
      
    Included in Taxonomy
    ARDTv0.1.1
    v0.1.0
      
    External Identifiers
    BALAGHAScoreCE-2
    BalaghaBaseQ107
    OpenAlexW4415376799
      
    Cite this page
    🔗 Live DOI10.64393/balagha.Q107
     
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    Definition

    Stacked-Up Descriptions (al-istitbāʿ) is an Arabic rhetorical device in which praise of something is expressed in a way that entails a further praise.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

    Background Information

    The Arabic name al-istitbāʿ means “causing something to follow”: the device is so called because one meaning is expressed in a way that brings after it, or entails, a further meaning.[7]

    Linguistic Operations

    • Lexically, al-istitbāʿ denotes bringing forth one aspect in a way that entails another aspect following it (istatbaʿahu: to ask something to follow it).[7]
    • Abū Hilāl al-ʿAskarī describes the mechanism as an utterance containing two meanings: one explicitly stated, and one as if merely alluded to.[7]
    • Ibn Abī al-Iṣbaʿ describes the mechanism as the communicator coming with a meaning from among the purposes of poetry, then attaching to it another meaning of the same purpose that necessitates an increase in the meanings of that art — for example attaching generosity to a mention of courage, such that the two cannot be prised apart.[8]
    • Cachia frames the mechanism as one notion, in the service of a panegyric, satirical, or other poetic motif, implying another notion of the same kind, furthering the same motif.[9][10]
    • A broader formulation is also attested, in which the first meaning may concern praise, blame, or another poetic purpose, and entails a further meaning of the same genus.[9][10][2]
    • Al-Qazwīnī and al-Taftāzānī explain the operation through al-Mutanabbī's example: praise of the addressee's extreme courage entails a further praise of him as a cause of the world's welfare and order.[5][6]

    In this encyclopedia, the mechanism is described as:

    • A first description establishes one evaluative or rhetorical meaning.
    • That meaning entails or brings with it a further meaning of the same kind.
    • The second meaning is not merely added alongside the first; it follows from it.

    Recognition

    The following diagnostic tests aid identification:

    • Does one description give rise to a further meaning of the same kind, rather than merely adding another independent description?
    • Could the second meaning be removed without leaving the first meaning incomplete? If so, this favours Stacked-up Descriptions over al-Takmīl (Supplementation), where the added material completes what was said first.[10][11]

    Communicative Enhancements

    • An increase or furthering in the description of the rhetorical or poetic purpose being pursued.[9][10]
    • Ibn Abī al-Iṣbaʿ likewise describes the effect as an increase in the meanings belonging to that purpose.[8]

    Examples

    نَهَبْتَ مِنَ الأَعمارِ ما لو حَوَيْتَهُ لَهُنِّئَتِ الدُّنيا بِأَنَّكَ خَالِدُ

    You have plundered so many lifespans that, had they been granted to you instead, the world would be congratulated on your being everlasting.

    Explanation
    Praise of the addressee's extreme courage entails a further praise: that his continued life is a cause of the world's welfare and order. This interpretation is explicitly given by al-Qazwīnī, al-Taftāzānī, and Ṭabbāna, while the verse is also cited as an example of the device by Cachia and 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)..[5][6][4][9][8]

    سَمْحُ البديهةِ ليس يُمْسِكُ لفظَهُ فكأنَّ ألفاظَه من ماله

    Generous of impromptu speech, he does not withhold his words — as though his very words were part of his wealth [that he freely gives away].

    Explanation
    Praise of the addressee's eloquence entails a further praise of his generosity: his freely given words are likened to wealth that he gives away freely. This verse is attributed to al-Khwārazmī.[12][3]

    أَتَرَى القاضِيَ أعمى أم تراهُ يَتعامى سَرَقَ العيدَ كأنَّ أموالَ اليتامى

    Do you see the judge as blind, or do you see him feigning blindness? He has stolen the [ʿĪd] festival, as if [stealing] orphans' wealth.

    Explanation
    An anonymous poet satirises a judge who refused to accept testimony that the new moon marking the end of Ramaḍān had been sighted. Blame of the judge for depriving the community of its festival entails a further blame concerning the wealth of orphans.[13][3] This usage is additionally termed al-muḍāʿaf.[13] This example illustrates the broader blame usage recorded as a minority extension in al-Hāshimī ("wa qīla") and independently in Akkawi (termed al-muḍāʿaf), rather than the narrow praise-only core definition above.

    وكتابي إليك، وكتابي قلبي عندك، والشطر الآخر غير خلوٍ من تذكرك وعلى عهدك، فأعطاك الله بركة وجهك

    This letter of mine to you — my heart, too, is a letter with you, and the other half is not without remembering you and keeping to your covenant. May God grant you the blessing of your countenance.

    Explanation
    This prose example from al-Ḥasan ibn Wahb is cited by Abū Hilāl al-ʿAskarī to illustrate an utterance containing two meanings: one stated explicitly and another conveyed by implication. The prayer for blessing also conveys the further meaning associated with the addressee's countenance.[7]

    يُعطي قبل أن يُسأل، فكأنَّ حاجاتِ الناسِ معروفةٌ عنده قبل أن ينطقوا بها

    He gives before he is asked, as though people's needs are known to him before they speak of them.

    Explanation
    Praise of the addressee's generosity in giving before being asked entails a further praise of his attentiveness to the needs of others.

    He returned the lost wallet untouched, so even strangers trusted him with their money.

    Explanation
    In this example, praise of the man's honesty in returning the wallet entails a further praise of his trustworthiness. The second description follows from the first rather than being added as an independent quality.

    Different From

    • al-Takmīl (Supplementation): Cachia states that al-Takmīl adds to a notion already expressed, whereas Stacked-up Descriptions is not so restricted.[10] Ibn Abī al-Iṣbaʿ, per 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)., frames the same distinction: al-Takmīl completes what was first described, whereas Stacked-up Descriptions does not necessarily require this.[11]

    Notes

    Historical

    • The tradition attests several alternative names for this device or closely related phenomena, transmitted in 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).: Abū Hilāl al-ʿAskarī names it al-istitbāʿ or "al-muḍāʿafa" (duplication);[7] Usāma ibn Munqidh, followed by Ibn Abī al-Iṣbaʿ al-Miṣrī, names it "al-taʿlīq";[8] a group including Ibn Mālik, al-ʿAlawī, al-Ḥalabī, al-Nuwayrī, and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya name it "al-Muwajjah" — a naming credited to al-Thaʿālibī;[8] separately, Ibn Jinnī termed the al-Mutanabbī "nahabta" verse specifically "al-madḥ al-muwajjah," a naming later adopted by al-Waṭwāṭ;[8] and the blame usage illustrated by the qāḍī/ʿĪd example is additionally termed "al-muḍāʿaf" (al-muḍāʿaf).[13] The precise relationship between the "al-Muwajjah" naming used by the first group and Ibn Jinnī/al-Waṭwāṭ's usage is not fully disentangled in 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).; readers should consult that source directly (pp.69–70) for the fuller chain.
    • Yaḥyā ibn Ḥamza al-ʿAlawī separately names the phenomenon "al-taʿlīq" and gives it a two-part subtype division, distinct from any subtype division of al-istitbāʿ itself.[11]
    • Ḥafnī Nāṣif, Muḥammad Diyāb, Sultan Muḥammad and Muṣṭafā Ṭammām, Durūs al-Balāgha (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2012), ISBN 9786144162798. alone, among the sources reviewed, classifies al-istitbāʿ as a subtype of al-Idmāj ("ومن الإدماج ما يسمى بالاستتباع" — "among al-Idmāj is what is called al-istitbāʿ").[1] This classification is not corroborated by the other sources reviewed, which treat al-istitbāʿ independently; it is recorded here as a single-source data point relevant to the al-Idmāj entry.
    • Ibn Abī al-Ḥajja al-Ḥamawī's badīʿiyya is cited in 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). as a further shawāhid (evidentiary) example, and the source there also notes that al-Ḥamawī's definition parallels one given by the modern grammarian Germanus Farḥāt.[11]

    Technical

    • The English name "Stacked-up Descriptions" is an encyclopedia label intended to describe the observable mechanism: one description entails or brings with it a further description of the same kind.
    • The sources differ in definitional scope. The majority of the sources reviewed define the device narrowly as praise that entails further praise, while a broader formulation also extends it to blame and other poetic purposes. The narrower formulation is therefore used in the core definition, with the broader formulation recorded separately.

    References

    1. ↑ a b Ḥafnī Nāṣif, Muḥammad Diyāb, Sultan Muḥammad and Muṣṭafā Ṭammām, Durūs al-Balāgha (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2012), 107-108, ISBN 9786144162798.
    2. ↑ a b 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), 68-71.
    3. ↑ a b c Aḥmad al-Hāshimī, Jawāhir al-Balāgha fī al-Maʿānī wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Badīʿ (Windsor: Hindāwī Foundation, 2019), 382, ISBN 9781527316386.
    4. ↑ a b Badawī Ṭabāna, Muʿjam al-Balāgha al-ʿArabiyya, 3rd rev. and expanded ed. (Jeddah: Dār al-Manāra; Riyadh: Dār al-Rifāʿī, 1988), 107.
    5. ↑ a b c 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), 282-283, ISBN 9782745139078.
    6. ↑ a b c 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), 676-677, ISBN 9782745131768.
    7. ↑ a b c d e 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), 68.
    8. ↑ a b c d e f 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), 69.
    9. ↑ a b c d 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); §179, ISBN 9783447040327.
    10. ↑ a b c d e 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), p. 131-132, ISBN 9783447040327.
    11. ↑ a b c d 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), 70.
    12. ↑ Ḥafnī Nāṣif, Muḥammad Diyāb, Sultan Muḥammad and Muṣṭafā Ṭammām, Durūs al-Balāgha (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2012), 108, ISBN 9786144162798.
    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), 71.



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