al-Takhmir Sharh al-Mufassal fi Sanat al-Irab
- Author died
- 617 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Gharb al-Islami
al-Takhmir Sharh al-Mufassal fi Sanat al-Irab (The Leavening: Commentary on "The Detailed Work on the Craft of Syntax") is an extensive Arabic grammatical commentary written by Sadr al-Afadil al-Khwarizmi (d. 617 AH / 1220 CE) on the grammatical treatise al-Mufassal fi Sanat al-Irab by al-Zamakhshari .
Composition and Purpose
Al-Khwarizmi composed three distinct commentaries on al-Mufassal: a small commentary entitled al-Mujammarah, an intermediate one entitled al-Sabikah, and al-Takhmir, which was his large commentary and the final one he authored . In his preface, the author noted that he had engaged with and held study circles around al-Mufassal for nearly thirty years, aiming in this work to resolve all lexical and conceptual difficulties found within it . According to the colophon preserved in its manuscripts, al-Khwarizmi completed the composition of al-Takhmir on the morning of Sunday, 17 Sha'ban 611 AH .
Structure and Method
The work follows the structural arrangement of al-Mufassal, which is organized into four primary divisions: nouns (al-asma'), verbs (al-af'al), particles (al-huruf), and shared categories (al-mushtarak), each divided into chapters (abwab) and sub-sections (fusul) .
Al-Khwarizmi preserved the full text of al-Mufassal, introducing al-Zamakhshari's passages with the formula qala Jar Allah ("Jar Allah said") and following them with his own remarks introduced by qala al-musharrih ("the commentator said") . His method combines close structural and lexical analysis of the text with tracing and attributing opinions that al-Zamakhshari had cited without naming their authorities . To establish the readings of the base text, al-Khwarizmi collated multiple reliable manuscripts of al-Mufassal, examined copies in al-Zamakhshari's own hand, and transmitted corrections received through students of al-Zamakhshari .
Although al-Khwarizmi held al-Zamakhshari in high esteem and referred to him as his teacher (shaykhuna), he contested him in more than thirty instances across the work . These objections fall broadly into three categories: correcting textual errors found in copies of al-Mufassal, providing supplementary observations (istidrakat), and disputing specific grammatical analyses (i'rab) offered by al-Zamakhshari .
Reception and Editions
al-Takhmir served as an important reference for subsequent grammarians. Later scholars of al-Mufassal, such as Ibn Ya'ish (d. 643 AH), consulted the work and incorporated passages from it into their own commentaries .
The commentary was edited by Abd al-Rahman ibn Sulayman al-Uthaymin and published by Dar al-Gharb al-Islami in Beirut in 1990 .
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