Inayat al-Muslimin bil-lugha al-Arabiya khidma lil-Quran al-Karim - Sulayman bin Ibrahim bin Muhammad al-Ayid
- Author died
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- Editions
- King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Quran in Medina
Ināyat al-Muslimīn bi-al-Lughah al-ʿArabiyyah Khidmah lil-Qurʾān al-Karīm (Muslims' Care for the Arabic Language in Service of the Holy Qur'an) is a scholarly treatise by the Saudi linguist and academic Sulayman bin Ibrahim bin Muhammad al-Ayid examining the historical and methodological devotion of Muslim scholars to the Arabic language as an instrument for understanding and preserving the Quran.
Background and Occasion
The work originated as a research contribution prepared upon invitation for a scholarly symposium dedicated to the divine revelation and the various sciences that developed around it. Al-Ayid notes that the specific topic of the research was designated by the symposium organizers rather than chosen independently, prompting him to explore how the servicing of the Quran served as the fundamental catalyst for Arabic linguistic scholarship.
Purpose and Approach
The author states that the objective of the study is not to compile an exhaustive bibliographic catalog of titles, articles, or manuscripts, nor to provide a full chronological history of every linguistic science from its inception. Instead, the work focuses on demonstrating the intrinsic interrelation and mutual interdependence (talāzum) between the disciplines of Qur'anic studies and the sciences of the Arabic language, arguing that their historical development, motivations, and subject matters are inextricably linked.
Key Themes
Al-Ayid addresses several foundational themes regarding the relationship between the Qur'anic text and Arabic scholarship:
- Impact of Islam on the Arabic Language: Prior to Islam, Arabic was largely confined to nomadic life and tribal oral culture, concerning matters such as desert navigation, ancestral genealogies, poetry, and proverbs. The revelation of the Quran elevated Arabic to a global medium of civilization, intellectual study, and religious devotion across newly established Muslim lands.
- Genesis of Linguistic Disciplines: The need to read, understand, and preserve the Qur'anic text prompted the systematic formulation and codification of various linguistic sciences, including grammar (naḥw), morphology (ṣarf), lexicography (muʿjam), and rhetoric (balāghah).
- Contributions of Non-Arab Scholars: The author highlights how non-Arab converts to Islam dedicated themselves entirely to mastering, recording, and defending Arabic linguistics at all levels—phonetic, morphological, syntactic, and semantic. Prominent scholars of non-Arab descent cited as examples include al-Jahiz (d. 255 AH), Abu Hatim al-Razi (d. 322 AH), Abu Ali al-Farisi (d. 377 AH), Ibn Faris (d. 395 AH), and Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi (d. 414 AH).
- Rhetoric and Exegesis: General Qur'anic studies, including transmission-based and thematic exegesis (tafsīr), consistently relied on linguistic analysis; similarly, the field of Arabic rhetoric originated fundamentally to explain the inimitability (iʿjāz) and stylistic eloquence of the Quran.
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