Buhuth wa Maqalat fi al-Lugha wa al-Adab wa Taqwim al-Nusus (Maqalat Muhammad Ajmal al-Islahi)
- Author died
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- Editions
- Dar al-Gharb al-Islami
Buhuth wa Maqalat fi al-Lugha wa al-Adab wa Taqwim al-Nusus (Researches and Articles on Language, Literature, and Textual Criticism) is a collection of scholarly papers and philological critiques by the Indian scholar Muhammad Ajmal al-Islahi, dedicated to Arabic linguistic studies, literary analysis, and the critical correction of edited classical texts.
Background and Publication
The volume brings together fourteen studies and articles originally delivered at scholarly conferences or published over several decades in academic journals—most notably the journal of the Arab Academy of Damascus—as well as specialized heritage supplements of Saudi newspapers such as al-Madina and al-Bilad. The earliest paper in the collection, an examination of Abu al-Rayhan al-Biruni's Kitab al-Jamahir fi Ma'rifat al-Jawahir, was prepared in 1395 AH (1975 CE) for a centenary conference organized by the Abu al-Kalam Azad Research Institute in Hyderabad, and later titled and submitted to the Damascus Academy journal upon consultation with Shukri Faysal in Medina in 1402 AH.
Other articles were written at the urging of Muhammad Ya'qub Turkistani, who supervised newspaper heritage supplements, and through al-Islahi's association with scholar V. Abdur Rahim. The publisher al-Habib al-Lamsi, founder of Dar al-Gharb al-Islami, proposed assembling these scattered publications into a single volume to preserve them for researchers; al-Islahi finalized the compilation in Riyadh on 18 Safar 1428 AH (2007 CE), and it was subsequently published by Dar al-Gharb al-Islami.
Contents and Structure
The book comprises fourteen distinct studies spanning philology, lexicography, Quranic studies, and textual criticism:
- Jumal al-Ghara'ib by al-Nisaburi and its significance in the genre of Gharib al-Hadith (unusual hadith vocabulary), abridged from a paper presented at the King Fahd Complex for Printing the Holy Quran in Medina in 1425 AH (2004 CE).
- Observations on Kitab al-Mujarrad by Kura' al-Naml.
- The poetry of Ibn Waki' al-Tannisi in Nuzhat al-Absar fi Mahasin al-Ash'ar.
- Remarks on Kitab Khalq al-Insan by Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman.
- The story behind the sale of Ibn Durayd's al-Jamhara, correcting its protagonist to Abu al-Hasan al-Fali rather than Abu 'Ali al-Qali.
- An extensive critical study on the published edition of al-Aswad al-Ghandajani's Islah ma Ghalita fihi Abu 'Abd Allah al-Namari fi Tafsir Ma'ani Abyat al-Hamasa.
- Linguistic observations on Urdu translations of the Quran.
- A critical examination of whether an edition truly represented al-Muwaddih li-'Ilm al-Qur'an by al-Haddadi.
- Remarks on al-Majmu' al-Lafif by al-Qadi Amin al-Dawla al-Aftasi.
- A review of a new edition of al-Jawaliqi's al-Mu'arrab.
- Literary and linguistic aspects in al-Biruni's Kitab al-Jamahir.
- A philological note on the terms al-tisk, al-nask, and al-tak.
- A review titled Sawa' al-Sabil ila ma fi al-'Arabiyya min al-Dakhil regarding loanwords.
- A study on Hamid al-Din al-Farahi's treatise al-Ra'y al-Sahih fiman Huwa al-Dhabih regarding the identity of the sacrificed son.
Methodology and Reception
A significant portion of the work is devoted to comprehensive textual emendation (taqwim al-nusus) of classical works published by contemporary editors. Rather than merely highlighting sample errors, al-Islahi's critiques methodically examine entire texts to resolve corruptions, misreadings, and difficult linguistic passages, guided by the editorial philosophy articulated by Ahmad Saqr that readers of classical works bear a duty to help editors rectify errors.
His critique of the edition of al-Ghandajani's work, originally titled Islah al-Islah and published in three parts in 1410 AH in the journal of the Arab Academy of Damascus, received acclaim from the Syrian scholar Ahmad Ratib al-Naffakh, who insisted that the journal publish the lengthy critique in full when its editorial board initially considered condensing it.
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