Semantics of Irony in Nahj al-Balagha (Case Study: the Sermon of al-Qase'a)

Nahj al-Balagha's possession of the most beautiful expressive techniques has given it an extraordinary rhetorical appearance, as it is referred to as the brother of the Qur'an. The abundance of rhetorical devices in Nahj al-Balagha has led to its centrality as the best model of rhetoric among thinkers and speakers in the world. Among the rhetorical advantages of Nahj al-Balagheh is its abundant use of irony, which sometimes acts more directly than plainly and mixes the audience's mind with the words of the speaker. The use of irony is a novel and beautiful way in speech that represents the speaker's literary taste and imagination and challenges the audience's perception and imagination to find out the speaker's main intention. Based on the descriptive-analytical and statistical method, the present research aims to investigate the irony in the sermon of Qase'a and analyze its semantic load according to the context of the text and has reached the conclusion that the use of different types of irony in the Qase'a sermon according to the main purpose of the Imam (a.s.), it has been achieved with the help of intermediaries, and in some of them, due to the lack of means, the audience can easily reach the purpose of the Imam.