al-Fawaid al-Ajiba fi Irab al-Kalimat al-Ghariba
- Author died
- 1252 AH
- Editions
- t Hatem al-Damin
Al-Fawaid al-Ajiba fi Irab al-Kalimat al-Ghariba (Remarkable Benefits Regarding the Grammatical Analysis of Unusual Words) is a grammatical and lexical treatise by the Damascene Hanafi jurist Ibn Abidin (d. 1252 AH / 1836 CE) devoted to resolving the syntax and semantics of difficult expressions widely used among scholars.
Purpose and Contents
Ibn Abidin composed the work to examine common scholarly idiomatic turns of phrase whose grammatical analysis (i‘rab) or intended meaning presented difficulty, ambiguity, or obscurity, aiming to untie their knots and clarify their usage.
The treatise investigates several widespread phrases, analyzing their linguistic derivations, rhetorical nuances, and syntactic positions, while engaging earlier lexicographical and grammatical authorities such as Ibn Hisham al-Ansari, al-Jawhari's al-Sihah, and al-Firuzabadi's al-Qamus al-Muhit. Among the expressions examined are:
- Halumma jarran (هلم جرا)
- Min thamm (من ثم)
- Allahumma illa an yakuna kadha (اللهم إلا أن يكون كذا)
- La budda min kadha (لا بد من كذا)
- Comparative constructions such as huwa aktharu min an yuhsa and Zaydun aqalu min an yakdhib (هو أكثر من أن يحصى وزيد أعقل من أن يكذب)
- Sawa'un kana kadha am kadha (سواء كان كذا أم كذا)
- Ka'inan ma kana (كائنا ما كان)
- Ba'da al-lati wa-l-lutayya (بعد التي واللتيا)
- Hadha al-shay'u la mahala kadha (هذا الشيء لا محالة كذا)
- La af'aluhu al-battata (لا أفعله البتة)
- Nahika bi-kadha (ناهيك بكذا)
Ibn Abidin also refers readers of his major legal work Radd al-Muhtar ala al-Durr al-Mukhtar to this treatise for the full breakdown and potential objections regarding the grammatical cases of technical qualifiers such as lughatan (lexically), shar‘an (legally), and istilahatan (by convention).
Reception and Editions
Ali al-Tantawi characterized the treatise as overflowing with grammatical and lexical insights and valuable textual transmissions, while observing that it exhibits a notable amount of forced parsing and strained interpretations of meanings.
The work has been published in several forms:
- An early independent edition was printed in Damascus in 1301 AH across twenty-three pages under the editorial correction of Abu al-Khayr Abidin.
- It was printed in Mecca at the Government Press in 1301 AH on the margins of Abu Mansur al-Tha'alibi's al-Nihaya fi al-Ta'rid wa-l-Kinaya.
- It is included within the collected editions of Ibn Abidin's short treatises (Majmu'at Rasa'il Ibn Abidin).
- A modern critical edition edited by Hatim Salih al-Damin was published in Beirut by Dar al-Ra'id al-Arabi in 1410 AH / 1990 CE.
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