al-Tibyan fi Irab al-Quran
- Author died
- 616 AH
- Editions
- ʿĪsā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī wa-Shurakāh
al-Tibyan fi Irab al-Quran (The Clarification of the Grammatical Analysis of the Quran) is a classical manual on the grammatical analysis (iʿrāb) of the Quran by the Baghdad-born grammarian Abu al-Baqa al-Ukbari (538–616 AH / 1143–1219 CE) . Also known and printed under the title Imlāʾ mā Manna bihi al-Raḥmān, the work offers a comprehensive analysis covering all the surahs of the Quran .
Purpose and Scope
Al-Ukbari dictated the work to address what he viewed as shortfalls in earlier literature on Quranic syntax . He observed that existing books in the field were either too brief in both volume and content, or excessively lengthy because they analyzed obvious grammatical constructions and blended grammatical parsing with general Quranic exegesis (tafsīr) . His stated goal was to dictate a concise work rich in content, strictly limited to clarifying difficult grammatical structures and variant Quranic readings (qirāʾāt) .
Method and Contents
The work follows the standard order of the Quran, starting with Surah al-Fatiha and concluding with Surah al-Nas . It focuses on resolving complex syntactic ambiguities rather than parsing obvious vocabulary . The book incorporates variant readings and examines grammatical disagreements between the Basran and Kufan grammatical schools, presenting multiple analytical possibilities for individual verses . Designed with practical and educational aims, it does not consistently attribute every grammatical view to its original proponent, and it cites sixty-one poetic evidentiary lines (shawāhid) throughout the text .
Reception and Influence
Al-Tibyān achieved wide circulation and became one of the most prominent works in the genre of Quranic iʿrāb . When Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Safaqusi (d. 742 AH) authored al-Majīd fī Iʿrāb al-Qurʾān al-Majīd, he abridged the grammatical material in Abu Hayyan al-Andalusi's al-Baḥr al-Muḥīṭ and integrated the remaining syntactic points from al-Ukbari's al-Tibyān, noting that scholars and students had dedicated themselves extensively to al-Ukbari's book; al-Safaqusi designated material drawn from al-Ukbari with the letter mīm .
Publication History
The work has been published in modern editions in two volumes, notably edited by Ali Muhammad al-Bajawi (printed in Egypt by Isa al-Babi al-Halabi in 1396 AH / 1976 CE and 1399 AH / 1979 CE), and annotated by Muhammad Husayn Shams al-Din (published in Beirut, 1419 AH / 1998 CE) .
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