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

This article investigates the rhetorical phenomenon of conciseness (ijz) as conceptualised in Abd al-Azz al-Firhraw's early 19th-century treatise Niam al-Wajz f Ijz al-Qurn al-Azz.Focusing on chapter nine, the study identifies how Farhraw classifies Qurnic brevity into ijz al-qar (compression without deletion) and ijz al-adhf (ellipsis), and how he illustrates each type through canonical verses.Deploying a descriptive-analytical method, the article first situates Farhraw's taxonomy within the classical Arabic rhetorical tradition forged by al-Jurjn, al-Sakkk and Ibn al-Athr, then evaluates the explanatory value of his examples against their original exegetical contexts.The second part of the study re-reads Farhraw'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 Farhraw faithfully preserves classical definitions while offering pedagogically streamlined applications that anticipate modern notions of textual economy and reader engagement.Moreover, the Qurnic 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 Niam al-Wajz functions as a bridge between pre-modern rhetoric and modern stylistics, and that a trans-historical dialogue on conciseness enriches both Qurnic studies and the broader discipline of textual criticism.