al-Lughat fi al-Quran
- Author died
- 386 AH
- Editions
- Maṭbaʿat al-Risālah
al-Lughat fi al-Quran (Dialects in the Quran) is a treatise on Quranic vocabulary attributed to the Companion Ibn Abbas (d. 68 AH / 687–688 CE) and transmitted by the Quranic reciter and philologist Ibn Hasnun (295–386 AH / 908–996 CE) . The work documents words across the chapters of the Quran that derive from various Arabic tribal dialects as well as foreign loanwords adapted into Arabic .
Authorship and Transmission
The text is structured around an isnad running through Abu Ahmad Abd Allah ibn al-Husayn ibn Hasnun al-Samarri al-Baghdadi . Ibn Hasnun was born in Samarra, raised in Baghdad, where he studied under Abu Bakr ibn Mujahid and Abu Bakr ibn Miqsam, and later settled in Egypt where he died in 386 AH (996 CE; another source cites 368 AH) .
In the surviving transmission of the work, Abu Muhammad Ismail ibn Amr ibn Ismail ibn Rashid al-Haddad al-Muqri' transmits it from Ibn Hasnun, through Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Ubayd, from al-Hasan ibn Muhammad, from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Sa'id ibn Aban al-Qurashi, from Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Ayyub al-Muqri', from Ibn Jurayj, from 'Ata', from Ibn Abbas . Fuat Sezgin described the text as a recension or refinement (tahdhib) of Ibn Abbas's lexical explanations . Modern scholars note that some researchers have questioned the historical attribution of the work to Ibn Abbas .
Structure and Scope
The treatise is arranged sequentially according to the surahs of the Quran, identifying specific expressions and assigning their lexical usage to distinct Arabic tribes or non-Arabic languages .
The tribes and linguistic groups covered in the text include:
- Arabic tribes and regions: Quraysh, Hudhayl, Kinana, al-Aws, al-Khazraj, Khath'am, Qays 'Aylan, Sa'd al-'Ashira, Jurhum, Yaman, Azd Shanu'a, Kinda, Tamim, Himyar, Madyan, Lakhm, Hadramawt, Sadus, al-Hijaz, Anmar, Ghassan, Banu Hanifa, Taghlib, Tayy', 'Amir ibn Sa'sa'a, Muzayna, Thaqif, Judham, and Saba' .
- Non-Arabic linguistic groups and foreign tongues: Persians, Nabataeans, Abyssinians, Syriac, Hebrew, Copts, Romans/Byzantines, and the Amalekites .
Examples of dialectal assignments in the text include:
- In Surat al-Baqarah, the word السُّفَهَاءُ ("the foolish") is glossed as "the ignorant" in the dialect of Kinana; رَغَدًا ("abundantly") as "fertility" in the dialect of Tayy'; الصَّاعِقَةُ ("the thunderbolt") as "death" in the dialect of Oman; and تِلْكَ أَمَانِيُّهُمْ ("that is their wishful thinking") as "their falsehoods" in the dialect of Quraysh .
- In Surat Al 'Imran, سَيِّدًا ("noble/leader") is glossed as "forbearing" in the dialect of Himyar, while حَصُورًا ("chaste") is explained as one who has no need for women in the dialect of Kinana .
- In Surat al-Anfal, رِجْزَ الشَّيْطَانِ is explained as the intimidation of Satan in the dialect of Quraysh, and يَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ فُرْقَانًا as "a way out" in the dialect of Hudhayl .
- Certain terms are identified as agreeing with non-Arabic languages, such as رَبَّانِيِّينَ ("scholars") matching Syriac, and إِصْرِي ("my covenant") and كِفْلٌ ("a share") matching Nabataean .
Manuscripts and Editions
A preserved manuscript in the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus (MS 1064) was transcribed on 18 Rabi' al-Akhar 652 AH by Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Murtada al-Shafi'i at Madrasat Ibn Zayn al-Tujjar adjacent to the Old Mosque in Egypt .
The text was printed in Cairo at Matba'at al-Sa'ada in 1320 AH (1902 CE) . It was later edited by Salah al-Din al-Munajjid and published in Cairo in 1946, followed by subsequent editions in Beirut in 1972 and 1978 (1398 AH) .
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