al-Sahibi fi Fiqh al-Lugha al-Arabiyya wa Masa'iliha wa Sunan al-Arab fi Kalamiha
- Author died
- 395 AH
- Editions
- Muḥammad ʻAlī Bayḍūn
al-Sahibi fi Fiqh al-Lugha al-Arabiyya wa Masa'iliha wa Sunan al-Arab fi Kalamiha (The Companionate Treatise on the Philology of Arabic, Its Problems, and the Norms of the Arabs in Their Speech) is a foundational treatise on Arabic linguistics, philological principles, and stylistic conventions written by the philologist and lexicographer Ibn Faris (d. 395 AH / 1004 CE) .
Composition and Title
Ibn Faris composed the book and dedicated it to the library of the Buyid vizier al-Sahib Ibn Abbad (d. 385 AH / 995 CE), naming it al-Sahibi in his honor and acknowledging that much of its finest material drew upon discussions with him . Scholars such as Ibn al-Anbari and al-Suyuti referred to the work directly by the short title Fiqh al-Lugha (Jurisprudence / Philology of the Language), while others referred to it as Fiqh al-Arabiyya . Ibn Faris is regarded as the first author to apply the designation fiqh al-lugha specifically to these broad philological and conceptual linguistic studies .
Method and Scope
In his introduction, Ibn Faris divides the study of Arabic into fundamentals (asl) and branches (far'). The branch consists of memorizing individual vocabulary items and their descriptive attributes (such as the specific names for men, horses, tallness, and shortness), which serves as the beginning stage of instruction . The fundamental encompasses the origin and genesis of language, the conventional discourse patterns of the Arabs, and their expressive techniques across literal (haqiqa) and metaphorical (majaz) speech .
Ibn Faris links linguistic proficiency directly to religious jurisprudence, arguing that knowledge of Arabic is an obligation for anyone engaged with the Quran, the Sunna, and legal rulings (fatwa) . However, he clarifies that scholars are not required to master obscure vocabulary—such as exhaustive descriptions of wild animals or rare morphological anomalies—but must master the foundational rules and stylistic norms through which divine revelation was communicated . He notes that the material he gathered was dispersed across the works of earlier scholars, and that his own contribution consisted of summarizing lengthy treatments, expanding concise ones, explaining difficult concepts, and compiling what was scattered .
Structure and Contents
The work covers general philological principles before moving to grammatical, morphological, and rhetorical categories:
- Linguistic Origins and Dialects: Explores whether the Arabic language originated by divine revelation (tawqif) or human convention (istilah), the origin of Arabic script, the superiority of Arabic over other tongues, whether any person other than a prophet can fully encompass the language, dialectal variations among Arab tribes, the most eloquent dialects, and dialects characterized by censured features .
- Hermeneutical and Juristic Foundations: Examines the dialect in which the Quran was revealed, sources of linguistic authority, the rules of linguistic citation (ihtijaj), analogy (qiyas), and the extent to which the full corpus of the language survived .
- Semantic Evolution under Islam (al-Asbab al-Islamiyya): Details how the advent of Islam altered linguistic usage, introducing technical religious meanings and shifting pre-Islamic terms from their original connotations to specify newly ordained Islamic practices, beliefs, and legal obligations .
- Grammatical, Morphological, and Rhetorical Categories: Discusses the nature and parts of speech (nouns, verbs, and particles), noun derivations, personal names, the function of the definite article (al-), particle meanings, and the distinct stylistic patterns (sunan) of Arab speech and rhetoric .
Reception and Print History
al-Sahibi exercised significant influence on later Arabic philology. Abu Mansur al-Tha'alibi borrowed its title phrase for his own work Fiqh al-Lugha and adapted several of its concluding chapters in his Sirr al-Arabiyya . Al-Suyuti also cited it extensively across his linguistic encyclopedia al-Muzhir .
The text was published in Cairo in 1328 AH (1910 CE) at Matba'at al-Mu'ayyad by Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib, based on a manuscript copied by al-Shinqiti housed at Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya . It was later edited by Ahmad Saqr and published in Cairo (1397 AH / 1977 CE), with subsequent critical printings including an edition edited by Ahmad Hasan Basaj in Beirut .
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