al-Taliq ala al-Muwatta fi Tafsir Lughatihi wa Ghawamid Irabihi wa Maanihi
- Author died
- 489 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-‘Ubaykān
al-Taʿlīq ʿalā al-Muwaṭṭaʾ fī Tafsīr Lughātihī wa-Ghawāmiḍ Iʿrābihī wa-Maʿānīh (Arabic: التعليق على الموطأ في تفسير لغاته وغوامض إعرابه ومعانيه, "Commentary on the Muwaṭṭaʾ Explaining its Lexicon, Obscurities of Grammar, and Meanings") is a philological and textual commentary on Mālik ibn Anas’s al-Muwatta, authored by the Andalusian scholar Abu al-Walid Hisham ibn Ahmad al-Waqshi (408–489 AH / 1017–1096 CE) .
Scope and Methodology
The work focuses on textual precision (ḍabṭ), linguistic elucidation, and syntactic parsing of difficult or obscure phrases across al-Muwaṭṭaʾ . Rather than offering an exhaustive legal commentary, al-Waqshī structured the book as concise glosses, annotations, and focused pointers (taqrīrāt wa-ishārāt) on problematic passages .
His method entails:
- Explaining rare vocabulary (gharīb), establishing the precise vocalization of proper names, and resolving ambiguities in sentence construction .
- Analyzing problematic grammatical syntax (iʿrāb) and weighing differing linguistic opinions, occasionally endorsing or refuting specific interpretations .
- Comparing textual variants across various transmissions of al-Muwaṭṭaʾ, while relying primarily on the prevalent Andalusian transmission of Yahya ibn Yahya al-Laythi .
- Substantiating grammatical and lexical rulings using Quranic verses, prophetic hadiths, classical Arabic poetry (shawāhid), and proverbs .
Structure and Titles
The commentary is organized into two parts (juzʾān) corresponding to the thematic order of al-Muwaṭṭaʾ:
- Part One: Opens with the beginning of the text and concludes at the end of the Book of Pilgrimage (Kitāb al-Ḥajj) .
- Part Two: Begins with the Book of Marriage (Kitāb al-Nikāḥ) and concludes at the end of the Book of the Prophet's Names (Kitāb Asmāʾ al-Nabī), marking the conclusion of al-Muwaṭṭaʾ .
The colophon of surviving copies notes that al-Waqshī left blank spaces in certain entries of his autograph draft, intending to revisit and complete them .
In classical citations and cataloging, the book is cited under different descriptive titles:
- In al-Iqtiḍāb, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq al-Yifranī cited it under the name Tanbīhāt al-Waqshī ("al-Waqshī's Notices") .
- In al-Īmāʾ, Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Dānī referenced it as Ṭurrat al-Muwaṭṭaʾ ("Marginalia on al-Muwaṭṭaʾ") .
- A Moroccan manuscript designates it as al-Jāmiʿ al-Gharīb .
Transmission and Manuscripts
Among the known manuscripts of the work:
- Escorial Library (Madrid), MS 1067: Comprises 135 folios in clear Andalusian script . A scribal colophon at the midpoint (folio 76b) indicates that Part One was transcribed directly from al-Waqshī’s autograph fair copy and collated against it on 21 Dhu al-Qaʿda 714 AH . It lacks the opening folio containing the author's preface .
- Zawiya Hamzawiyya (Errachidia, Morocco), MS 91: Titled al-Jāmiʿ al-Gharīb, dated Thursday, 5 Rabīʿ 698 AH (with a microfilm copy preserved under No. 151 Ḥam at the General Library in Rabat) .
The text was widely used by later Andalusian and North African scholars; al-Yifranī cited extensive passages from it in al-Iqtiḍāb fī Gharīb al-Muwaṭṭaʾ, and its material parallels Mushkilāt al-Muwaṭṭaʾ, attributed to Ibn al-Sid al-Batalyawsi .
Printed Editions
The book was edited by Abd al-Rahman ibn Sulayman al-Uthaymin and published by Maktabat al-Obeikan in Riyadh in 1421 AH (2001 CE) in two volumes, prepared primarily from the Escorial manuscript .
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