al-Misbah lima A'tama min Shawahid al-Idah

Al-Misbah lima A'tama min Shawahid al-Idah (The Lantern Illuminating What Is Obscure among the Evidential Verses of al-Idah) is a grammatical commentary by the Andalusian scholar Ibn Yas'un (d. after 542 AH / 1147 CE), dedicated to explaining the poetic evidential verses cited in Abu Ali al-Farisi's foundational grammar treatise al-Idah al-Misbah lima A'tama min…+1.

Scope and Title

The work provides a detailed commentary on the poetic verses (shawahid) employed by Abu Ali al-Farisi in al-Idah al-Misbah lima A'tama min…. In the convention followed by Ibn Yas'un and other commentators of the text, al-Idah encompasses both al-Idah al-Adudi and its continuation, al-Takmila, treated as a unified work al-Misbah lima A'tama min….

The author stated the title in his introduction and in the colophon of the primary manuscript as al-Misbah lima A'tama min Shawahid Kitab al-Idah al-Misbah lima A'tama min…+1. Across biographical and bibliographical literature, the book is recorded under several variant titles al-Misbah lima A'tama min…+1:

• Al-Misbah fi Sharh Abyat al-Idah, the title appearing on manuscript covers and cited by Ibn al-Abbar, al-Yamani, al-Firuzabadi, and al-Suyuti al-Misbah lima A'tama min….
• Al-Misbah fi Sharh ma Inbahama min Shawahid al-Idah, as named by Ibn al-Zubayr al-Misbah lima A'tama min….
• Al-Misbah fi Sharh ma A'tama min Shawahid al-Idah, used by al-Suyuti in Bughyat al-Wu'ah al-Misbah lima A'tama min…+1.
• Al-Misbah fi Sharh Shawahid al-Idah, as recorded by Hajji Khalifa al-Misbah lima A'tama min….
• Sharh Shawahid al-Idah or Sharh Abyat al-Idah, as cited by Abd al-Qadir al-Baghdadi al-Misbah lima A'tama min….

Method and Contents

In his exposition, Ibn Yas'un relies extensively on the grammatical transmissions and analyses of Abu Ali al-Farisi and his student Ibn Jinni al-Misbah lima A'tama min…. For each poetic witness, he addresses:

• Grammatical parsing (i'rab) and the syntactic implications of different attested recensions (riwayat) al-Misbah lima A'tama min….
• Disputed grammatical questions, engaging critically with the divergent views of grammarians al-Misbah lima A'tama min….
• Morphological analysis, including word patterns (awzan), derivation, plurals, and etymologies al-Misbah lima A'tama min….
• Evidential support drawn from hadith, pre-Islamic and early Arabic poetry, and proverbial sayings of the Arabs al-Misbah lima A'tama min….

The text also preserves poetic lines and textual quotations from earlier lost and extant sources, including recensions of Sibawayh's al-Kitab containing verses not found in standard printed editions al-Misbah lima A'tama min….

Reception and Abridgment

Al-Misbah was widely praised by biographical authorities al-Misbah lima A'tama min…. Ibn al-Abbar stated that the book demonstrates Ibn Yas'un's mastery of grammar and serves as clear evidence of his deep command of the Arabic language al-Misbah lima A'tama min…. Ibn al-Zubayr described it as a beneficial work despite its length, while Abd al-Baqi noted its immense scholarly utility al-Misbah lima A'tama min…. Later grammarians, such as Ibn Hisham al-Ansari in Takhlis al-Shawahid, cited and engaged with Ibn Yas'un's interpretations and readings al-Misbah lima A'tama min….

The work was abridged during the author's era by his student Ubayd Allah ibn Umar al-Hadrami (d. 550 AH / 1155 CE) under the title al-Ifsah fi Ikhtisar al-Misbah al-Misbah lima A'tama min…. A modern edition of al-Misbah was edited by Muhammad ibn Hammud al-Da'jani Isfar al-Fasih.