The Seventh Matter
The source of vitality in rhetoric, or to put in another way, the philosophy of figurative speech or the purpose (hikmet) of poetry is their representing the laws and measures of the outside world. Like this:
the source of their vitality and art is their situating the laws of external truths in notional situations by means of parabolic analogies and juxtapositioning and fanciful depictions. They show like a mirror the rays of reality reflected from outside, as though imitating creation and nature with their own imaginative art and literary embellishments.
Yes, even if speech cannot be reality, it can at least seek assistance from its similitudes and order, and can sprout from its seed. But all seeds produce their own seedlings; a wheat‑grain cannot grow into a tree. If the science of figurative speech is disregarded, rhetoric yields no benefits other than arousing wonder in the listener, like tales about fantastic monsters.
Indication Like the science of figurative speech, grammar has a philosophy, and that philosophy makes known the wisdom and purpose of the one who instituted it. It is founded on the famous rules (münâsebat) mentioned in the grammar books. For instance, a word cannot be governed by two other different words. The interrogative particle ‘hal’ will not wait patiently on seeing the verb, but desires to join with it. Also, the doer (fā‘il) is powerful; it seizes for itself the nominative vowel point ‘u’(ḍamma), which is strong. Each is a reflection and similitude of the laws in force in the universe and external world.
Note The manifest wisdom in these rules of grammar and syntax has great value, even if it is less than that of the science of figurative speech. In short: the rules transform the transmitted sciences (ulûm‑u nakliye), established through induction, into rational sciences (ulûm‑u akliye).