Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani
Ikhtisar Kitab Durrat al-Ghawwas - ضمن Athar al-Muallimi
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dar Alam al-Fawa'id lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'
Ikhtisar Kitab Durrat al-Ghawwas is an abridgment by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani (d. 1386 AH / 1966 CE) of Durrat al-Ghawwas fi Awham al-Khawass, the classical work on linguistic errors and standard Arabic usage by Abu Muhammad al-Qasim ibn Ali al-Hariri (446–516 AH / 1054–1122 CE) . It was published as part of al-Muallimi's collected works (Athar al-Muallimi), within the volume devoted to his linguistic and literary treatises .
Background and Context
Al-Hariri composed Durrat al-Ghawwas to identify common linguistic mistakes made by educated elites (al-khawass), prompting numerous scholars over the centuries to write commentaries, glosses, versifications, and epitomes on it . Notable earlier abridgments include those by Abd al-Rahim ibn al-Radi al-Mawsili (d. 671 AH) and Ibn Manzur (d. 711 AH) . Al-Muallimi's epitome was produced within this ongoing tradition of linguistic summarization and critique .
Method and Scope
Al-Muallimi focused primarily on stripping the work down to its core lexical judgments :
- Omission of digressions: He systematically removed al-Hariri's explanatory justifications, grammatical and morphological side-discussions, poetic citations (shawahid), historical anecdotes, and Arabic proverbs .
- Direct contrast: Entries were reduced to presenting the erroneous usage alongside the correct phrasing (such as noting that sa'ir properly denotes "the remainder" rather than "all", and distinguishing mutatabi' from mutawatir) .
- Independent phrasing and rectification: Rather than copying the exact prose of the original, al-Muallimi rephrased entries in his own words, occasionally deleted certain terms, and at times added critical remarks or supplementary corrections (istidrakat) .
- Extreme condensation: The text is characterized by extreme brevity and condensed allusions, which in several instances require reference back to al-Hariri's original text to be fully understood .
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