al-Mufradat fi Gharib al-Quran
- Author died
- 502 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Qalam, al-Dār al-Shāmiyyah
al-Mufradat fi Gharib al-Quran (The Vocabulary in the Rare Words of the Quran), also commonly titled Mufradat Alfaz al-Quran, is a classical dictionary of Quranic terms by al-Raghib al-Asfahani (d. approx. 502 AH / 1108 CE; another report gives c. 412 AH).
Purpose and Scope
In his introduction, al-Raghib al-Asfahani states that mastering the verbal sciences—specifically investigating individual words (tahqiq al-alfaz al-mufradah)—is the primary requisite among the Quranic sciences and serves as a foundational aid for all disciplines of the Islamic law. He framed the dictionary as an exhaustive reference to elucidate the semantic relationships between literal, derived, and metaphorical terms. He refers readers for further principles to his treatise al-Risalah al-Munabbihah 'ala Fawa'id al-Quran, and notes his intention to follow the dictionary with a separate work detailing synonymous terms and their subtle differences, such as the distinctions between qalb, fu'ad, and sadr.
Structure and Method
The work is organized alphabetically according to root consonants, beginning with entries whose first letter is alif, followed by ba', and so on, considering original root letters while disregarding grammatical prefixes and additions. Although organized primarily by the first root letter, the internal order of the second and third consonants was not always consistently maintained; entries with defective or doubled consonants and shortened biliterals were placed according to varying organizational choices, and roots containing a hamzah were often combined with weak roots without differentiating between roots ending in waw or ya'.
For each entry, al-Raghib first establishes the primary literal meaning of the root, traces the derivations branching from it, and then explains its metaphorical usages, demonstrating their conceptual link to the root definition. He corroborates these meanings by citing Quranic verses, variant readings, and prophetic traditions, followed by Arab poetry, statements of the Companions and Successors, and aphorisms of wise figures that accord with the Sharia. He frequently interprets the Quran through the Quran and deduces contextual qualifiers for words that go beyond standard lexical listings.
Sources
In compiling the dictionary, al-Raghib drew on major earlier linguistic and exegetical works, including:
- al-Mujmal fi al-Lughah by Ibn Faris, which heavily influenced the phrasing and arrangement of multiple entries.
- al-Shamil fi al-Lughah by Abu Mansur al-Jabban, cited explicitly under the root d-l-y.
- Tahdhib al-Alfaz by Ibn al-Sikkit, cited under the root b-q-l.
- al-Masa'il al-Halabiyyat by Abu Ali al-Farisi, cited across several roots.
- Ma'ani al-Quran by al-Farra', utilized in entries such as t-t-r.
Reception and Later Works
Scholars regarded the work as one of the finest and most beneficial lexicons of Quranic vocabulary. Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi deemed it among the best compositions on rare Quranic words, praising al-Raghib for deriving contextual meanings from usage. al-Fayruzabadi described it as peerless in its genre, and Hajji Khalifah highlighted its utility across all branches of religious learning.
Later scholars noted minor omissions and inaccuracies, pointing out that al-Raghib omitted some Quranic terms—such as zabana, kalaha, hala'a, and suradiq—and occasionally included non-Quranic entries like za'aqa. Consequently, al-Samin al-Halabi (d. 756 AH) based his own lexicon, 'Umdat al-Huffaz fi Tafsir Ashraf al-Alfaz, upon al-Raghib's work, refining its alphabetical arrangement, supplying omitted words, and adding further textual citations and scholarly opinions.
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