al-Taajjub min Fil al-Mafool bayn al-Maniin wal-Mujizin
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- Islamic University of Madinah
al-Ta‘ajjub min Fi‘l al-Maf‘ūl bayn al-Māni‘īn wal-Mujīzīna (Exclamation Derived from the Passive Verb between Prohibitors and Permitters) is a grammatical treatise by the Saudi linguist Sulayman al-Ayed, an associate professor and head of graduate Arabic studies at Umm al-Qura University . Published in the journal of the Islamic University of Madinah, the study examines the classical Arabic grammatical controversy over deriving exclamatory verbal forms directly from passive verbs .
Background and Scope
Grammarians treat exclamation (al-ta‘ajjub) primarily under two standard morphological patterns: mā af‘alahu and af‘il bi-hi . To derive these forms directly, grammarians stipulate eight standard conditions for the source verb: that it be a verb, triliteral, fully inflected, gradable, complete (tāmm), affirmative (muthbat), not having its adjectival form on the pattern of af‘al/fa‘lā’, and built in the active voice (mabnī lil-ma‘lūm) .
The eighth condition—the prohibition or allowance of deriving exclamation directly from a passive verb (fi‘l al-maf‘ūl)—forms the subject of al-Ayed's treatise . Al-Ayed notes that scholars historically engaged in sharp debates over this issue, such as the exchange between Abu Ja'far al-Nahhas and Abu al-Abbas ibn Wallad, recorded by Alam al-Din al-Sakhawi in Sifr al-Sa‘ādah and Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati in al-Tadhkirah . The treatise clarifies that there is unanimous agreement on the validity of indirect exclamation using auxiliary verbs with an explicit or interpreted masdar (such as mā ashadda mā duriba Zaydun); the dispute is strictly confined to direct derivation without an intermediary .
Grammatical Positions
The work classifies the views of Arabic grammarians on direct derivation from passive verbs into four main doctrines:
- Absolute prohibition (al-man‘ muṭlaqan): The stance of the majority of grammarians (jumhūr al-nuḥāh), including the Basran school and the apparent view of Sibawayh . Proponents argue that direct derivation creates ambiguity between the agent (fā‘il) and patient (maf‘ūl), and that exclamation verbs originate from intransitive base forms denoting intrinsic traits .
- Absolute permissibility (al-jawāz muṭlaqan): The well-known position of the Kufan school, accepted by several later scholars . They base their stance on the frequent occurrence of such expressions in transmitted Arabic prose and poetry—such as mā ajannahu ("how insane he is!") and mā ashghalahu ("how busy he is!")—arguing that their prevalence precludes dismissing them as anomalous (shādhdh) .
- Conditional permissibility for inherently passive verbs: Permitting direct derivation only when the verb is permanently fixed in the passive voice form (fu‘ila), such as ‘uniya bi-ḥājatika and zuhiya ‘alaynā (yielding mā a‘nāhu and mā azhāhu) .
- Permissibility when ambiguity is averted (amnu al-labs): The view adopted by verifying scholars such as Khattab al-Mardi and Ibn Malik in Sharḥ al-Kāfiyah al-Shāfiyah . Under this view, wherever no confusion between the agent and patient can arise, direct derivation is regular and productive (muṭṭarid) rather than restricted to transmitted anomalies, harmonizing grammatical analogy (qiyās) with attested usage (samā‘) .
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