Hasr Harf al-Zha
- Author died
- 485 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Basha'ir
Hasr Harf al-Zha (Arabic: حصر حرف الظاء, lit. 'The Enumeration of the Letter Zha') is a specialized Arabic linguistic treatise by the grammarian and Quran reciter al-Haddad al-Mahdawi (d. after 485 AH / 1092 CE), composed as part of the tradition of works distinguishing between the letters ḍād (ض) and ẓāʾ (ظ) .
Background and Content
The treatise belongs to the lexicographical and phonetic genre known as Kutub al-Dad wa-l-Za, which Muslim philologists and Quranic scholars developed to prevent confusion between the phonemes ḍād and ẓāʾ in pronunciation and writing . Because roots containing the letter ẓāʾ are far less numerous in Arabic vocabulary and the Quranic text than those containing ḍād, scholars commonly cataloged all authentic occurrences of ẓāʾ so that any word not listed could be recognized as being spelled with ḍād.
Its author, Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Thabit al-Khawlani al-Mahdawi, known as al-Haddad al-Mahdawi, was a prominent scholar of grammar, literature, poetry, and Quranic recitation in Mahdia . He traveled to al-Andalus, where he studied Quranic recitations under students of Abu Amr al-Dani—including Abu Dawud Sulayman ibn Najah, Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Dush, and Yahya ibn Ibrahim al-Lawati (Ibn al-Bayyar) . In Mahdia, he was held in high regard by the Zirid ruler Tamim ibn al-Mu'izz, who honored him and recognized his scholarly standing . Al-Haddad taught grammar and recitation to students such as Abu al-Tayyib Abd al-Mun'im ibn Yahya ibn al-Khalluf al-Himyari (in 485 AH), Abu al-Qasim Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Raja' al-Balawi, and Abu al-Qasim al-Labli (in 497 AH) .
Editions
The work was edited by Hatim Salih al-Damin and published by Dar al-Basha'ir in Damascus in 1424 AH / 2003 CE as the second volume in a monograph series dedicated to classical treatises on ḍād and ẓāʾ .
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