Khasais al-Tarakib Dirasah Tahliliyyah li-Masail Ilm al-Maani
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- Editions
- Maktabat Wahbah
Khasais al-Tarakib: Dirasah Tahliliyyah li-Masail Ilm al-Maani (Characteristics of Syntactic Structures: An Analytical Study of the Issues of the Science of Meanings) is a modern treatise on Arabic rhetoric (balaghah) by the Egyptian scholar Muhammad Muhammad Abu Musa, dedicated to an analytical exposition of ilm al-maani (the rhetoric of syntactic structures and sentence semantics) .
Method and Conception
In the introduction, Abu Musa defends classical Arabic rhetoric against contemporary proposals seeking to supplant it with modern Western stylistics (ilm al-uslub) . He maintains that Arabic rhetoric is grounded in the thorough induction of authentic Arabic speech and its innate expressive methods, rather than imported linguistic constructs . He emphasizes the indispensable role of ilm al-maani in Quranic exegesis (tafsir), jurisprudence (fiqh), legal theory, and theology (usul al-din), noting that traditional scholars regarded mastery of rhetoric as a prerequisite for interpreting sacred texts and deriving legal rulings .
Abu Musa distinguishes the rhetorical study of syntax from grammar (nahw): while grammar examines structural phenomena—such as definiteness, ellipsis, and word order—in terms of grammatical correctness, permissibility (jawaz), prohibition (imtina'), and obligation (wujub), rhetoric examines them as communicative devices designed to conform precisely to situational contexts and psychological states (muqtada al-hal) .
Contents and Structure
The book is organized around the core definition of ilm al-maani formulated by classical rhetoricians as the science by which one knows the states of Arabic phrasing through which speech accords with situational demands . It investigates these structural states—such as definiteness (ta'rif), indefiniteness (tankir), explicit mention (dhikr), ellipsis (hadhf), overt phrasing (izhar), and pronominalization (idmar)—as functional characteristics (khasa'is) that convey subtle layers of meaning .
Abu Musa structures the work around the eight standard divisions of ilm al-maani established in the rhetorical tradition :
- States of the predicate-subject nexus (ahwal al-isnad al-khabari)
- States of the subject/inchoative (ahwal al-musnad ilayh)
- States of the predicate (ahwal al-musnad)
- States of verbal complements (ahwal muta'allaqat al-fi'l)
- Restriction and focus (al-qasr)
- Performative and non-declarative discourse (al-insha')
- Conjunction and disjunction (al-fasl wa-l-wasl)
- Brevity and prolixity (al-ijaz wa-l-itnab)
Sources and Publication
The study draws heavily upon the foundational works of classical Arabic linguistics and rhetoric, chief among them Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani's Dala'il al-I'jaz and Asrar al-Balaghah, Ibn Jinni's al-Khasa'is, Sibawayh's al-Kitab, al-Zamakhshari's Quranic commentary al-Kashshaf, al-Khatib al-Qazwini's al-Idah, and Sa'd al-Din al-Taftazani's al-Mutawwal, along with classical collections of Arabic poetry and commentaries on Quranic inimitability .
The book has seen multiple printings in Cairo, including a second edition published in 1980 by Dar al-Tadamun and later editions issued by Maktabat Wahba, including a second edition and a fourth edition published in 1416 AH .
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