Ijaz al-Tarif fi Ilm al-Tasrif
- Author died
- 672 AH
- Editions
- Deanship of Scientific Research at the Islamic University
Ijaz al-Tarif fi Ilm al-Tasrif (Concise Explanation in the Science of Morphology) is a treatise on Arabic morphology composed by the Andalusian grammarian Ibn Malik (d. 672 AH / 1274 CE) .
Composition and Title
Ibn Malik explicitly named the book in his introduction as Ijaz al-Tarif fi Ilm al-Tasrif . In Kashf al-Zunun, Hajji Khalifa recorded the work under the variant title Ijaz al-Tarif li-Daruri al-Tasrif . Some later biographers and editors conflated the treatise with another work by the author titled al-Tarif fi Daruri al-Tasrif, or considered Ijaz al-Tarif to be a commentary upon it; however, they are two separate independent works, with al-Tarif fi Daruri al-Tasrif being even more concise .
Ibn Malik composed and dedicated the treatise to the Ayyubid ruler Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir Salah al-Din Yusuf, who reigned between 634 AH and 659 AH, placing its composition within this period . In the introduction, the author praised morphology as a fundamental discipline upon which the clarity of Arabic wisdom depends and which unlocks what is closed in grammar .
Structure and Method
The book is structured into sixty chapters (fusul) . Ibn Malik opens the work by defining morphology as the science concerning the structure of words and the status of their constituent letters in terms of radicalness, augmentation, soundness, weak vowel alternation (i'lal), and similar phenomena . The chapters proceed sequentially through the major questions of morphology, concluding with the rules of assimilation (idgham) .
In handling morphological issues, Ibn Malik cited earlier philologists and authorities—such as Sibawayh, Abu Zayd, Ya'qub, and Ibn al-Qatta'—and explicitly referred to Tasrif al-Akhfash .
Reception and Editions
The treatise was cited by later grammarians and commentators, including Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati in Irtishaf al-Darab and Nazir al-Jaysh in Tamhid al-Qawa'id bi-Sharh Tashil al-Fawa'id .
Modern critical editions of the text include those edited by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Hayy Ammar Salim (Islamic University of Madinah, 1422 AH), Hasan ibn Ahmad al-Uthman (al-Maktaba al-Makkiyya and Mu'assasat al-Rayan, 1425 AH), and Muhammad Uthman (Maktabat al-Thaqafa al-Diniyya, 1430 AH) .
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