Majalis al-Ulama lil-Zajjaji
- Author died
- 337 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Khānjī
Majalis al-Ulama (The Assemblies of Scholars) is a classical compilation of grammatical and philological debates by the grammarian Abu al-Qasim al-Zajjaji (d. 337 AH / 949 CE; other reports give 339 or 340 AH) . The book documents historical disputations, theoretical inquiries, and dialogues that took place among leading Arabic linguists, grammarians, and literary figures, frequently convened in the courts of caliphs, viziers, and governors across Iraqi intellectual centers .
Contents and Structure
The work comprises 156 scholarly sessions (majalis) . It opens with an encounter between Isa ibn Umar al-Thaqafi and Abu Amr ibn al-Ala concerning dialectal variance and the syntactic licensing of nominative versus accusative cases in specific constructions .
Across its sessions, the text preserves notable historical debates between contrasting grammatical schools and authorities. These include the famed "wasp question" (al-mas'ala al-zanburiyya) contested between Sibawayh and al-Kisa'i in the assembly of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid . It also records lesser-known regional exchanges, such as three grammatical debates between the Medinese scholar Marwan ibn Sa'id al-Muhallabi and al-Akhfash al-Awsat concerning syntactic parsing and implied pronouns in Quranic passages .
Sources and Transmission
The book serves as an important source for early linguistic history. It contains approximately twenty distinct transmissions attributed to Abu al-Abbas Tha'lab, about half of which narrate events between Tha'lab and his teachers or contemporaries . In several instances, al-Zajjaji explicitly notes that he transcribed his material directly from manuscripts in Tha'lab's own handwriting . Significant portions of al-Zajjaji's quotations from Tha'lab closely mirror accounts preserved by Ibn al-Nadim in al-Fihrist .
Editions
Majalis al-Ulama was critically edited by Abd al-Salam Harun and published in Kuwait in 1962, followed by subsequent editions published by Maktabat al-Khanji in Cairo and Dar al-Rifa'i in Riyadh .
Answer updated