Irab Thalathin Sura
- Author died
- 370 AH
- Editions
- Maṭbaʿat Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣriyyah
Irab Thalathin Sura (Grammatical Analysis of Thirty Surahs) is a grammatical treatise on the Quran composed by the philologist and grammarian Ibn Khalawayh (d. 370 AH / 980 CE) . The book provides an accessible syntactic parsing (iʿrāb) and linguistic explanation of selected short chapters from the Quran, serving as an educational aid for students of grammar and scripture .
Structure and Scope
Unlike comprehensive grammatical treatises that parse the entire Quran, Ibn Khalawayh restricted this work to thirty surahs from the Mufassal section of the Quran . The book opens with the grammatical analysis of the formula for seeking refuge (al-Istiʿādha), the Basmala, and Surat al-Fatiha . It then proceeds to parse thirty consecutive short surahs, beginning with Surat al-Tariq and concluding with Surat al-Nas at the end of the Quranic text .
Modern commentators observe that Ibn Khalawayh's selection of these short surahs was pedagogical, aimed at instructing youth and beginners in grammar and morphology through passages they frequently recite and memorize from early childhood .
Method and Content
In his introduction, Ibn Khalawayh states that his objective was to clarify the fundamental grammatical rules (uṣūl) governing each particle and word and summarize their subsidiary applications (furūʿ) . Beyond syntactic parsing, he addresses obscure and difficult vocabulary (gharīb), points out verbal nouns (maṣādir), and explains dual and plural forms, intending the treatise to serve as an indispensable guide for resolving parsing questions across the rest of the Quran .
Titles and Printed Editions
The work is also known under the alternative titles al-Ṭāriqiyyāt and al-Ṭāriqiyya, named after Surat al-Tariq, which begins the main sequence of parsed chapters . Despite its concise length, scholars have regarded it as one of Ibn Khalawayh's most beneficial and enduring compositions .
The text survived in numerous verified manuscript copies . It was edited by the German Orientalist Fritz Krenkow (Muḥammad Sālim al-Krenkowī) with the assistance of the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Mu'allimi . It was published under the auspices of Da'irat al-Ma'arif al-Uthmaniyya in Hyderabad, India, and printed at the Dār al-Kutub press in Egypt in 1360 AH / 1941 CE .
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