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Abu al-Qasim al-Zajjaji

al-Lamat

Author died
337 AH
Editions
Dār al-Fikr

al-Lamat (The Particles Lām) is an Arabic grammatical treatise composed by Abu al-Qasim al-Zajjaji (d. 337 AH / 949 CE) that classifies, defines, and analyzes the various syntactic forms and semantic functions of the letter and particle lām in the Arabic language and the Quran.

Scope and Classification

In his introduction, al-Zajjaji describes the work as a concise handbook examining the occurrences of lām in Arabic speech and scripture, their meanings, inflectional behaviors, textual attestations (iḥtijāj), and the points of theoretical disagreement among early grammarians. He divides the letter into thirty-one categories:

  1. The radical lām (al-lām al-aṣliyya) occurring in root nouns, verbs, and particles
  2. The lām of definition (lām al-taʿrīf) in the definite article
  3. The lām of possession (lām al-milk)
  4. The lām of entitlement (lām al-istiḥqāq)
  5. The causal lām equivalent to kay (lām kay)
  6. The lām of denial (lām al-juḥūd) following negative verbs
  7. The corroborative lām attached to the predicate of inna (lām inna)
  8. The inchoative lām (lām al-ibtidāʾ)
  9. The lām of exclamation or astonishment (lām al-taʿajjub)
  10. The lām prefixed to the object of an oath (al-muqsam bih)
  11. The lām introducing the apodosis of an oath (jawāb al-qasam)
  12. The lām prefixed to an appealed party in distress (al-mustaghāth bih)
  13. The lām prefixed to the cause of distress (al-mustaghāth min ajlih)
  14. The imperative lām governing the jussive (lām al-amr)
  15. The lām prefixed to pronominal suffixes (lām al-muḍmar)
  16. The lām separating an annexed noun and its genitive complement in negative constructions
  17. The lām separating an annexed noun and its genitive complement in vocative constructions
  18. The obligatory oath lām prefixed to imperfect verbs
  19. The lām required when inna is lightened (in al-mukhaffafa)
  20. The lām of consequence (lām al-ʿāqiba), designated by Kufan grammarians as lām al-ṣayrūra
  21. The clarifying lām (lām al-tabyīn)
  22. The lām introducing the apodosis of law
  23. The lām introducing the apodosis of lawlā
  24. The augmentative intensifying lām (lām al-takthīr)
  25. The redundant lām suffixed to certain nouns (such as ʿabdal)
  26. The augmentative lām in laʿalla
  27. The lām clarifying causal objects (īḍāḥ al-mafʿūl min ajlih)
  28. The lām that alternates with other prepositions (taʿāqub)
  29. The lām carrying the directional meaning of ilā
  30. The conditional lām (lām al-sharṭ)
  31. The lām linking verbs to direct objects (al-mafʿūlayn)

Methodology and Content

Al-Zajjaji supports his grammatical analyses by quoting Quranic verses, classical pre-Islamic and early Islamic poetry (such as al-Shammakh and Dhu al-Rumma), and well-known canonical readings (qirāʾāt). Throughout the text, he discusses conflicting opinions between the grammatical schools of Basra and Kufa, citing leading figures such as Sibawayh, al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi, and al-Farra'. For example, in the chapter on the definite article, he details al-Khalil's view that the alif and lām together form a single, inherently two-letter particle, contrasting it with the majority Basran and Kufan stance that the lām alone is the functional particle while the alif is an epenthetic connective prefix added to avoid initial vowellessness.

Transmission and Modern Publication

Manuscript copies of al-Lamat are preserved in historical collections, including the Şehid Ali Pasha collection in Istanbul and the Institute of Arabic Manuscripts in Cairo. The treatise was edited and published by Mazen al-Mubarak at the Arab Academy of Damascus in 1969, with a second edition issued by Dar al-Fikr in 1405 AH / 1985 CE.

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