The Concept of Conciseness (iʾjāz) in Niʿam al-Wajīz by ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Farhārawī: A Rhetorical-Analytical Study in the Light of Modern Approaches

Abstract

This article investigates the rhetorical phenomenon of conciseness (iʾjāz) as conceptualised in ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Firhārawī’s early 19th-century treatise Niʿam al-Wajīz fī Iʿjāz al-Qurʾān al-ʿAzīz. Focusing on chapter nine, the study identifies how Farhārawī classifies Qurʾānic brevity into iʾjāz al-qaṣr (compression without deletion) and iʾjāz al-ḥadhf (ellipsis), and how he illustrates each type through canonical verses. Deploying a descriptive-analytical method, the article first situates Farhārawī’s taxonomy within the classical Arabic rhetorical tradition forged by al-Jurjānī, al-Sakkākī and Ibn al-Athīr, then evaluates the explanatory value of his examples against their original exegetical contexts. The second part of the study re-reads Farhārawī’s insights through contemporary linguistic frameworks—discourse analysis, linguistic economy and reception theory—to demonstrate the continued relevance of classical Arabic poetics to modern critical inquiry. The analysis reveals that Farhārawī faithfully preserves classical definitions while offering pedagogically streamlined applications that anticipate modern notions of textual economy and reader engagement. Moreover, the Qurʾānic cases he foregrounds—such as “For you in retribution is life” (2:179) and the ellipsis in “Ask the town” (12:82)—exemplify how minimal lexical form can encode expansive legal, ethical and narrative meanings, thereby achieving cognitive economy and affective resonance. The study concludes that Niʿam al-Wajīz functions as a bridge between pre-modern rhetoric and modern stylistics, and that a trans-historical dialogue on conciseness enriches both Qurʾānic studies and the broader discipline of textual criticism