al-Maajim al-Mufahrasa li-Alfaz al-Quran al-Karim
- Author died
- -
- Editions
- King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Quran in Medina
al-Maajim al-Mufahrasa li-Alfaz al-Quran al-Karim (The Indexed Lexicons of the Vocabulary of the Noble Quran) is a bibliographic and analytical study of Quranic concordances and dictionaries by the contemporary Saudi scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Hujaili . Originally prepared for a scholarly symposium organized by the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Da'wah, and Guidance, the work traces the historical evolution of Quranic lexicography from early gharib al-Qur'an (unusual vocabulary) literature to modern exhaustive concordances, critically evaluating their methodologies and structural designs .
Background and Structure
The book is structured into a preamble (tawti'ah), three core chapters (mabahith), and a conclusion (khatimah) :
- Preamble: Examines the linguistic and technical definitions of mu'jam (dictionary) and fihris (index), clarifies their interrelation, and documents the emergence of the compound term al-mu'jam al-mufahras (concordance) in modern Arabic, noting that it was initially applied to A. J. Wensinck's concordance of Prophetic hadith before Muhammad Fu'ad Abd al-Baqi adopted it for his Quranic concordance .
- Chapter One: Surveys the beginnings of Quranic lexicographical writing through gharib al-Qur'an compositions, classifying historical methodologies into two main approaches: sequential arrangement according to the order of surahs and verses in the Quranic text, and alphabetical arrangement based on Arabic lexicographical models .
- Chapter Two: Traces the emergence of comprehensive Quranic concordances in the modern era and offers detailed profiles and critiques of three prominent works .
- Chapter Three: Evaluates root-based indexing versus surface-form phonetic indexing, using a modern surface-form concordance as an extended case study .
- Conclusion: Summarizes the findings and proposes specific criteria and recommendations for compiling a comprehensive modern Quranic concordance .
Methodologies of Early Quranic Lexicons
In his survey of gharib al-Qur'an literature, al-Hujaili identifies two distinct organizing frameworks used by classical scholars :
- Surah-by-Surah Order: The earliest method, followed by scholars such as Abu Ubaydah, Ibn Qutaybah, Makki ibn Abi Talib, and Ibn al-Jawzi .
- Alphabetical Order: Influenced by general Arabic dictionaries, which developed along three sub-methods :
- Surface Word-Form: Arranging words alphabetically by their explicit initial letter without stripping prefixes or augmentative letters, pioneered by Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Aziz al-Sijistani in Nuzhat al-Qulub .
- Standard Root Order (First Letter to Last): Stripping words to their triliteral or quadrilateral roots and listing them from first to last root letter, exemplified by Abu Ubayd al-Harawi's al-Gharibayn .
- Rhyme/Final-Letter Order: Arranging roots according to their final letter (bab) and then their first letter (fasl), as done by Zayn al-Din al-Razi in Tafsir Gharib al-Qur'an al-Azim and Fakhr al-Din al-Turayhi in Majma' al-Bahrayn .
Analysis of Modern Concordances
Al-Hujaili notes that early Muslim scholars did not require exhaustive concordances because widespread memorization made locating verses straightforward; exhaustive indexing arose in the nineteenth century, initiated by Orientalists such as Gustav Flügel in his Nujum al-Furqan fi Atraf al-Qur'an (1842) . Early Arabic attempts to provide a comprehensive key followed, such as Fayd Allah al-Hasani al-Maqdisi's Fath al-Rahman li-Talib Ayat al-Qur'an .
The author dedicates detailed appraisals to three major twentieth-century works :
- al-Mu'jam al-Mufahras li-Alfaz al-Qur'an al-Karim by Muhammad Fu'ad Abd al-Baqi: Completed in 1358 AH (revised in 1364 AH) and published by Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyyah . Al-Hujaili praises its precision, systematic listing of verbal and nominal derivations, and correction of Flügel's verse numbering errors . However, he critiques its misplacement of certain roots (such as placing al-taraqi under r-q-y instead of r-q-w), its forced morphological derivation of non-Arabic proper nouns (such as placing Ishaq under s-h-q and Ilyasa' under y-s-a'), its near-total exclusion of particles and pronouns, and its absence of complete voweling and Uthmanic orthography .
- Mu'jam Alfaz al-Qur'an al-Karim by the Arabic Language Academy in Cairo: Prepared by an academy committee and published in six parts between 1953 and 1970 (later reissued in revised single- and two-volume editions) . Al-Hujaili commends it for combining concordance indexing with concise semantic definitions, handling non-Arabic loanwords as independent whole entries without forced morphological analysis, and dedicating specific entries to grammatical particles and relative pronouns .
- Mu'jam al-Alfaz wa-al-A'lam al-Qur'aniyyah by Muhammad Isma'il Ibrahim: First published in 1961 . Al-Hujaili notes that despite its aim of integrating vocabulary indexing with geographic and biographical entries, it suffered from inconsistent execution, incomplete verse citations, internal disorder within entries, and reliance on unverified historical narratives .
Root versus Phonetic Indexing
The study addresses the debate between root-based indexing (al-tartib al-jadhri) and phonetic surface-form indexing (al-tartib al-nutqi), analyzing Ruhi al-Ba'labakki's al-Mawrid al-Mufahras li-Alfaz al-Qur'an al-Karim (1999) . Al-Ba'labakki arranged all Quranic words by their spoken letters without requiring readers to identify roots, while employing full Uthmanic vocalization and frequency counts .
While reporting modern criticisms that purely alphabetical indexing fractures Arabic morphological word families and severs students from classical lexicography, al-Hujaili concludes that specialized reference tools and concordances legitimately serve practical lookup needs, making phonetic arrangement acceptable for facilitating quick reference for general readers and non-specialists .
Answer updated