al-Tadhyil wa al-Takmil fi Sharh Kitab al-Tashil

al-Tadhyil wa al-Takmil fi Sharh Kitab al-Tashil (The Supplement and Completion in Commenting on the Book of the Facilitation) is an extensive Arabic grammatical commentary written by Abu Hayyan al-Andalusi (d. 745 AH / 1344–1345 CE) on Ibn Malik's grammatical compendium Tashil al-Fawa'id wa-Takmil al-Maqasid al-Tadhyil wa al-Takmil f…+1.

Background and Composition

Ibn Malik had commenced writing a commentary on his own al-Tashil, but he died before finishing it, having reached only the chapter on non-triliteral verbal nouns (masadir ghayr al-thulathi), which left more than half of the text uncompleted al-Tadhyil wa al-Takmil f…. Because of the extreme conciseness and difficult terminology of al-Tashil, students and scholars struggled to study it on their own al-Tadhyil wa al-Takmil f…. Consequently, scholars in Hama wrote to Abu Hayyan asking him to complete the missing commentary al-Tadhyil wa al-Takmil f….

Abu Hayyan initially complied by composing a commentary solely on the uncompleted sections of Ibn Malik's work, titled al-Takmil li-Sharh al-Tashil al-Tadhyil wa al-Takmil f…. Scholars then requested that he write a unified, comprehensive commentary from the beginning of al-Tashil to the end, arguing that an independent commentator scrutinizes and critiques a text more effectively than an author commenting on his own words al-Tadhyil wa al-Takmil f…. Abu Hayyan then wrote the full commentary under the patronage of the Mamluk viceroy Amir Sayf al-Din Arghun, giving the work its full title, al-Tadhyil wa al-Takmil fi Sharh Kitab al-Tashil al-Tadhyil wa al-Takmil f…+1.

Methodology and Structure

The work is an expansive multi-volume commentary that explains each section of al-Tashil in detail, presenting variant opinions, grammatical definitions, and extensive poetic citations (shawahid) and examples Kashf al-Zunun an Asami a…+1. Abu Hayyan aimed to fulfill eight scholarly purposes of composition: inventing new insights, gathering dispersed material, completing the missing parts, detailing the concise, refining verbose treatments, reorganizing disordered discussions, clarifying ambiguities, and correcting errors al-Tadhyil wa al-Takmil f….

A prominent feature of the commentary is Abu Hayyan's critical stance toward Ibn Malik Kashf al-Zunun an Asami a…+1. In particular, he criticized Ibn Malik's practice of relying heavily on Hadith texts to establish universal grammatical rules of Arabic, arguing that early and later grammarians had refrained from doing so because hadiths were frequently transmitted by meaning (al-naql bi-al-ma'na) and linguistic solecisms occurred due to non-Arab narrators Kashf al-Zunun an Asami a….

Reception and Influence

al-Tadhyil wa al-Takmil was recognized as one of the most comprehensive commentaries on al-Tashil Tamhid al-Qawaid bi Sharh…+1. Abu Hayyan later drew upon its grammatical rulings to compose his independent linguistic work, Irtishaf al-Darab min Lisan al-'Arab, and also abridged his commentary under the title al-Takhyil al-Mulakhkhas min Sharh al-Tashil Kashf al-Zunun an Asami a….

Later scholars frequently cited and interacted with the work. In his commentary on al-Tashil, titled Tamhid al-Qawa'id, Nazir al-Jaysh acknowledged Abu Hayyan's immense erudition in resolving the difficulties of al-Tashil, but argued that his extensive criticisms of Ibn Malik were overly severe, which motivated Nazir al-Jaysh to defend Ibn Malik against Abu Hayyan's objections Tamhid al-Qawaid bi Sharh….

Publication

The work has been edited by Hasan Hindawi and published by Dar al-Qalam in Damascus al-Tadhyil wa al-Takmil f…+1.