al-Tatbiq al-Nahwi
- Author died
- 1431 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat Al-Ma'arif lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'
al-Tatbiq al-Nahwi (Applied Grammar) is a textbook on Arabic syntax and sentence analysis by Abduh al-Rajihi (d. 1431 AH / 2010 CE), designed to provide a practical, applied approach to Arabic grammar and parsing (i'rab) .
Background and Purpose
In his introduction, al-Rajihi notes that many students struggle with the study and mastery of Arabic grammar despite the discipline's early maturity and structural clarity, citing the German orientalist Johann Fück on the thoroughness achieved by classical Arab grammarians . Al-Rajihi advocates combining classical grammatical treatises with practical, textual applications (al-dars al-tatbiqi), pointing out that early scholars frequently engaged in applied grammatical analysis through works on the parsing of the Quran (i'rab al-Qur'an) and Quranic variant readings—such as Abu Ali al-Farisi in al-Hujja fi al-Qira'at al-Sab', Ibn Jinni in al-Muhtasab and his grammatical commentary on the poetry of al-Mutanabbi, al-Zajjaj, Ibn Khalawayh, and Abu al-Baqa' al-'Ukbari .
Rather than offering an exhaustive exposition of all grammatical subfields in the manner of comprehensive reference manuals, the work is intended to train university students in understanding the structure and functional system of the Arabic sentence through practical analysis .
Structure and Content
The book is organized into two primary divisions, followed by an appendix section and parsing models :
- Part One: The Word (al-Kalimah): Focuses on identifying parts of speech (nouns, verbs, and particles) and their grammatical status as either inflected (mu'rab) or uninflected (mabni) . It details the four foundational elements of parsing—the governing agent (al-'amil), the governed word (al-ma'mul), grammatical position (al-mawqi'), and the inflectional marker (al-'alamah)—alongside overt and non-overt inflection (al-i'rab al-zahir and al-muqaddar), uninflected categories, conditional particles, and compound nouns .
- Part Two: The Sentence and the Semi-Sentence (al-Jumla wa Shibhu al-Jumla): Explores Arabic syntax, defining the sentence as the primary domain of grammatical analysis and classifying it into nominal and verbal types based on predication (al-isnad) . It treats the subject and predicate (al-mubtada' wa-l-khabar), sentence abrogators (al-nawasikh such as kana, inna, and their sisters), verbal complements (al-mafa'il), specification (al-tamyiz), stylistic sentence types such as exception (al-istithna') and the vocative (al-nida'), and the governing relations and attachment of prepositional phrases and adverbs (shibh al-jumla) .
- Appendices (al-Malahiq): Cover grammatical dependents (al-tawabi'), including the adjective (al-na't), corroboration (al-tawkid), substitution (al-badal), and coordination (al-'atf) .
Method
Al-Rajihi adheres to classical grammatical terminology while clarifying each concept through illustrative examples and full parsing demonstrations . Each section concludes with practical exercises drawn directly from Quranic verses to train students in applied textual analysis .
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