al-Tanbih ala al-Alfaz fi al-Gharibayn
- Author died
- 550 AH
- Editions
- Kunūz Ishbīlyā lil-Nashr wal-Tawzī‘
al-Tanbih ala al-Alfaz fi al-Gharibayn (Arabic: التنبيه على الألفاظ في الغريبين, lit. 'Drawing Attention to the Wording in the Two Gharibs') is a philological treatise by the Baghdadi traditionist and philologist Ibn Nasir al-Sallami (467–550 AH / 1075–1155 CE) dedicated to correcting textual distortions, misreadings, and semantic inaccuracies in Abu Ubayd al-Harawi's (d. 401 AH) lexicographical dictionary Kitab al-Gharibayn .
Title and Background
The full title recorded on manuscript copies and classical bibliographic notices is al-Tanbih ala al-alfaz al-lati waqa'a fi naqliha wa-dabtika tashif wa-khata' fi tafsiriha wa-ma'aniha wa-tahrif fi Kitab al-Gharibayn an Abi Ubayd Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Mu'addib al-Harawi ("Drawing Attention to the Wording in Which Misreading Occurred in Its Transmission and Vocalization, and Error in Its Interpretation and Meanings, and Distortion, in the Book of the Two Gharibs by Abu Ubayd Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Mu'addib al-Harawi") . It is also cited under shorter titles, including al-Tanbih ala Alfaz al-Gharibayn, al-Tanbih ala Khata al-Gharibayn, and al-Ma'akhidh ala Abi Ubayd al-Harawi fi Kitab al-Gharibayn .
In the opening of the treatise, Ibn Nasir explains his transmission chain for al-Harawi's underlying text: the traditionist Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Ahmad al-Samarqandi sent him a written general certificate of transmission (ijazah) via the hafiz Abu Nasr Ibn Makula in 468 AH, which encompassed all of al-Samarqandi's transmissions, including Kitab al-Gharibayn .
Subject and Content
The treatise belongs to the genres of gharib al-hadith (rare and obscure hadith vocabulary) and scholarly rectification (istidrak and kashf al-aghalit) . Ibn Nasir systematically examines entries across al-Harawi's lexicon to address four types of flaws: errors in transmission (naql), erroneous vocalization (dabt), misreadings (tashif) and alterations (tahrif), and flawed lexical or contextual explanations (tafsir and ma'ani) .
Among the entries scrutinized by Ibn Nasir is the narration concerning Sa'd ibn Mu'adh . Ibn Nasir corrected al-Harawi's reading of the Prophet's instruction as قوموا لسيدكم ("Stand up for your leader") and his inference that sayyid meant the most virtuous among them; Ibn Nasir demonstrated that the established transmission is قوموا إلى سيدكم ("Stand up towards your leader"), where the command directed the Ansar to assist Sa'd off his mount because he was wounded, rather than an order to stand out of veneration . Later jurists and hadith commentators, such as Taqi al-Din al-Subki, also cited Ibn Nasir's textual analyses from the book regarding obscure legal phrases and transmission variants .
Later scholars of hadith terminology, such as al-Sakhawi in Fath al-Mughith, recognized Ibn Nasir's book as an independent critical compilation that gathered the slips and oversights (awham) occurring in al-Harawi's lexicon .
Manuscripts and Publication
Manuscripts of the text are preserved in multiple collections, including:
- An 80-folio manuscript in the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus (MS Lughah 51 / 1589) .
- An 80-folio copy preserved at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah (MS 554) .
The book was edited by Husayn ibn Abd al-Aziz Banajah and published in Riyadh by Dar Kunuz Ishbiliya in 1429 AH (2008 CE) in a single volume of approximately 441 pages .
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