al-Qirt ala al-Kamil

al-Qirt ala al-Kamil (The Earring upon al-Kamil) is an Andalusian philological commentary compiled by Ibn Sa'd al-Khayr (c. 510–571 AH / 1116–1175 CE), synthesizing earlier commentaries and marginalia on the major literary and grammatical compendium al-Kamil by al-Mubarrad (d. 285 AH) al-Qirt ala al-Kamil+1.

Composition and Structure

The book brings together the marginal glosses (turar) and critical commentaries composed on al-Kamil by two prominent Andalusian scholars: Abu al-Walid al-Waqqashi (d. 489 AH), whose work was titled Nukat al-Kamil, and Ibn al-Sid al-Batalyawsi (d. 521 AH) al-Qirt ala al-Kamil+1. Ibn Sa'd al-Khayr combined these two texts while incorporating brief supplemental additions (ziyadat) of his own al-Qirt ala al-Kamil+1.

To organize the combined material, the author established a system of sigla throughout the work:

• The letter Tāʾ (ط) introduces comments by Ibn al-Sid al-Batalyawsi al-Taliq ala al-Muwatta f….
• The letter Shīn (ش) introduces comments by Abu al-Walid al-Waqqashi al-Taliq ala al-Muwatta f….

The exact date of its compilation is unrecorded in biographical sources, but it is estimated to have been assembled in the first half of the sixth century AH, following the death of Ibn Sa'd al-Khayr's teacher, Ibn al-Sid al-Batalyawsi al-Qirt ala al-Kamil. In biographical literature, the work is referred to as Kitab al-Qirt, al-Qirt ala al-Kamil, or al-Qirt al-Mudhayyal ala Kitab al-Kamil li-al-Mubarrad al-Qirt ala al-Kamil+1.

Significance and Reception

Because the independent commentaries of al-Waqqashi and Ibn al-Sid did not survive separately, al-Qirt ala al-Kamil served as the primary vehicle preserving their notes, readings, and grammatical critiques on al-Kamil al-Qirt ala al-Kamil+1. It constitutes an important early witness to Andalusian scholarship on al-Mubarrad's text, aiding in resolving textual corruptions and clarifying obscure linguistic passages al-Qirt ala al-Kamil.

The work was utilized by later scholars, including Mughultay in al-Rawd al-Basim and Abd al-Qadir al-Baghdadi in Khizanat al-Adab al-Taliq ala al-Muwatta f…. Al-Baghdadi cited extensive verbatim passages from al-Waqqashi and Ibn al-Sid via a manuscript of al-Qirt, though he did not explicitly name Ibn Sa'd al-Khayr, likely because the copy lacked an authorial attribution on its title page al-Qirt ala al-Kamil+1. The book is also recorded by Andalusian bibliographers and biographers such as Ibn al-Abbar and Ibn Abd al-Malik al-Marrakushi al-Qirt ala al-Kamil.

Manuscripts and Editions

Two manuscript copies of the work are known:

• An Andalusian-script copy preserved in the Ismail Saib Efendi collection in Ankara, Turkey (MS 1173 lugha), dated to 658 AH (1260 CE) Maqalat al-Tanahi Safahat…+1.
• A copy originally kept at the Hamzawiyya Lodge in Tamegroute, Morocco, and later moved to the National Library (al-Khizana al-Amma) in Rabat (MS 189); it is undated due to a truncation at the end Maqalat al-Tanahi Safahat…+1.

The text was edited by Zahoor Ahmad Azhar based on the Ankara manuscript as a doctoral dissertation at the University of the Punjab in 1969, and subsequently published by Punjab University Press in Lahore in 1401 AH / 1980 CE Maqalat al-Tanahi Safahat…+1. Selected glosses from al-Qirt were also appended by Muhammad Ahmad al-Dali to his edition of al-Mubarrad's al-Kamil published in Beirut in 1406 AH al-Dalil ila al-Mutun al-….