Lughat al-Qabail al-Warida fi al-Quran al-Karim
- Author died
- 224 AH
- Editions
- Lughat al-Qabail al-Warida fi al-Quran al-Karim
Lughat al-Qabail al-Warida fi al-Quran al-Karim (The Dialects of the Tribes Found in the Noble Quran) is an early Arabic linguistic treatise attributed to the scholar Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam (d. 224 AH / 838 CE) and transmitted on the authority of Abdullah ibn Abbas, documenting the dialectal origins and loanwords occurring in the text of the Quran .
Subject and Content
The treatise belongs to early Islamic scholarship dedicated to mapping Quranic vocabulary back to specific linguistic groups . It identifies Quranic expressions and assigns them to the dialects (lughat) of various Arab tribes, including Quraysh, Hudhayl, Kinanah, Tamim, Himyar, Jurhum, Tayy, Ghassan, Muzaynah, Thaqif, Kindah, Lakhm, Khath'am, Hadramawt, Hamdan, the Ash'aris, and others . In addition to tribal dialects, the work notes words whose usage aligns with neighboring foreign languages, such as Persian, Byzantine Greek (al-Rum), Nabataean, Syriac, Hebrew, Coptic, and Ethiopic (al-Habasha) .
Structure
The treatise is organized sequentially following the order of the chapters (surahs) of the Quran . Under each surah heading, the text cites particular terms, provides brief definitions, and specifies the tribe or language associated with each usage . The catalog of verses continues through the later short chapters, concluding around Surat al-Adiyat .
Transmission and Editions
The text is also circulated under related variants such as Al-Lughat fi al-Quran and Risalah fima warada fi al-Quran min lughat al-qabail, with a prominent transmission narrated through the Quran reciter Abdullah ibn al-Husayn ibn Hasnun (d. 368 AH) tracing back to Ibn Abbas . While classical scholars cited much of its material in broader compendiums of Quranic sciences—most notably Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti in Al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Quran—some scholars and modern researchers have raised critical questions regarding the precise attribution of its transmission line to Ibn Abbas .
Early printings of the treatise appeared in Cairo alongside other works, including an edition published with al-Dayrini's Al-Taysir fi Ilm al-Tafsir (1910 CE) and an edition printed alongside Tafsir al-Jalalayn (1356 AH) . A scholarly edition edited by Abd al-Hamid al-Sayyid Talab was published by Kuwait University in 1985 .
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