بَلْ

is a particle of digression: (Mughnee, K:) or, according to Mbr, it denotes emendation, wherever it occurs, in the case of a negation or an affirmation: (T, TA:) or it is a word of emendation, and denoting digression from that which precedes; as also بَنْ, in which the ن is a substitute for the ل, because بل is of frequent occurrence, and بن is rare; or, as IJ says, the latter may be an independent dialect var. (M.) When it is followed by a proposition, the meaning of the digression is either the cancelling of what precedes, as in وَقَالُوا اتَّخَذَ الرَّحْمٰنُ وَلَدًا سُبْحَانَهُ بَلْ عِبَادٌ مُكْرَمُونَ [And they said, “ The Compassionate hath gotten offspring: ” extolled be his freedom from that which is derogatory from his glory! nay, or nay rather, or nay but, they are honoured servants (Qur'an, 21:26)], or transition from one object of discourse to another, as in قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَنْ تَزَكَّى وَ ذَكَرَ اسْمَ رَبِّهِ فَصَلَّى بَلْ تُوءْثِرُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا [He hath attained felicity who hath purified himself, and celebrated the name of his Lord, and prayed: but ye prefer the present life (Qur'an, 87:14-16)]: (Mughnee, K: *) and in all such cases it is an inceptive particle; not a conjunctive. (Mughnee.) When it is followed by a single word, it is a conjunction, (S, * Msb, * Mughnee, K,) and requires that word to be in the same case as the word before it: (S:) and if preceded by a command or an affirmation, (Mughnee, K,) as in اِضْرَبْ زَيْدًا بَلْ عَمْرًا [Beat thou Zeyd: no, 'Amr], (Msb, Mughnee, K,) and قَامَ زَيْدٌ بَلْ عَمْرٌو [Zeyd stood: no, 'Amr], (M, Mughnee, K,) or جَاءَنِى أَخُوكَ بَلْ أَبُوكَ [Thy brother came to me: no, thy father], (S,) it makes what precedes it to be as though nothing were said respecting it, (S, * Msb, * Mughnee, K,) making the command or affirmation to relate to what follows it: (S, * Msb, * Mughnee:) [and similar to these cases is the case in which it is preceded by an interrogation: see أَمْ as synonym with this particle:] but when it is preceded by a negation or a prohibition, it is used to confirm the meaning of what precedes it and to assign the contrary of that meaning to what follows it, (Mughnee, K,) as in مَا قَامَ زَيْدٌ عَمْرٌو [Zeyd stood not, but 'Amr stood], (Mughnee,) or مَا رَأَيْتُ زَيْدًا بَلْ عَمْرًا, [I saw not Zeyd, but I saw 'Amr], (S,) and لَا يَقُمْ زَيْدٌ بَلْ عَمْرٌو [Let not Zeyd stand, but let 'Amr stand]. (Mughnee.) Mbr and 'Abd-El-Wárith allow its being used to transfer the meaning of the negation and the prohibition to what follows it; so that, according to them, one may say, مَازَيْدٌ قَايءِمًا بَلْ قَاعِدًا [as meaning Zeyd is not standing: no, is not sitting], and بَلْ قَاعِدٌ [but is sitting]; the meaning being different [in the two cases]. (Mughnee, K. *) The Koofees disallow its being used as a conjunction after anything but a negation [so in the Mughnee, but in the K a prohibition,] or the like thereof; so that one should not say, ضَرَبْتُ زَيْدًا بَلْ إِيَّاكَ [I beat Zeyd: no, thee]. (Mughnee, K.) Sometimes لَا is added before it, to corroborate the meaning of digression, after an affirmation, as in the saying,

وَجْهُكَ البَدْرُ لَا بَلِ الشَّمْسُ لَوْ لَمْ

يُقْضَ لِلشَّمْسِ كَسْفَةٌ وَ أُفُولُ

[Thy face is the full moon: no, but it would be the sun, were it not that eclipse and setting are appointed to happen to the sun]: and to corroborate what precedes it, after a negation, as in

وَ مَا هَجَرْتُكَ لَا بَلْ زَادَنِى شَغَفًا

هَجْرٌ وَ بَعْدٌ تَرَاخَى لَا إِلَى أَجَلِ

[And I did not abandon thee, or have not abandoned thee: no, but abandonment and distance, protracted, not to an appointed period, increased, or have increased, my heart-felt love]. (Mughnee, K. *)

Sometimes it is used to denote the passing from one subject to another without cancelling [what precedes it], and is synonym with وَ, as in the saying in the Qur'an, 85:20 and 21], وَاللّٰهُ مِنْ, وَ رَايءِهِمْ مُحِيطٌ بَلْ هُوَ قُرْانٌ مَجِيدٌ [And God from behind them is encompassing: and it is a glorious Qur'an: or here it may mean إِنَّ, as in an example below]: and to this meaning it is made to accord in the saying, لَهُ عَلَىَّ دِينَارٌ بَلْ دِرْهَمٌ [I owe him a deenár and a dirhem]. (Msb.)

In the fol- lowing saying in the Qur'an, 38:1,وَالْقُرْانِ ذِى الذِّكْرِبَلِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فِى عِزَّةٍ وَشِقَاقٍ, it is said to signify إِنَّ; [so that the meaning is, By the Qur'an possessed of eminence, verily they who have disbelieved are in a state of pride and opposition;] therefore the oath applies to it. (Akh, S.)

Sometimes the Arabs use it in breaking off a saying and commencing another; and thus a man commences with it a citation, or recitation, of verse; in which case, it does not form any part of the first verse, but is a sign of the breaking off, or ending, of what precedes. (Akh, S.)

Sometimes it is put in the place of رُبَّ, (S, Mughnee,) as in the saying of the rájiz,

بَلْ مَهْمَهٍ قَطَعْتُ بَعْدَ مَهْمَهٍ

[Many a far-extending desert have I traversed, after a far-extending desert]. (S: [and a similar example is given in the Mughnee.])

What is deficient in this word [supposing it to be originally of three letters] is unknown; and so in the cases of هَلْ and قَدْ: it may be a final و or ى or they may be originally بَلّ and هَلّ and قَدّ. (Akh, S.)