Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani
Mana Aghna Anhu - Dimin Athar al-Muallimi
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dar Alam al-Fawa'id lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'
Maʿnā ﴿Aghnā ʿAnhu﴾ (The Meaning of "Availed Him / Averted from Him") is a concise treatise on Quranic linguistics and exegesis by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani (1313–1386 AH / 1895–1966 CE), dedicated to analyzing the precise semantic foundation and syntactic usage of the expression aghnā ʿanhu in the Quran.
Content and Exegetical Thesis
The expression aghnā ʿanhu occupied al-Mu'allimi's attention extensively, prompting him to discuss it across several of his writings and to dedicate a specific tract to its verification. He substantiated his argument by surveying the numerous contexts in which the phrase occurs across more than thirty passages in the Quran, reconciling conflicting exegetical opinions to a single systematic rule.
According to al-Mu'allimi, the core meaning of ighnāʾ (إغناء) is the elimination or negation of need (iʿdām al-ḥājah). He divided the objects of human need into two main categories:
- Things needed for attainment, such as wealth or sustenance. Here, the human stands in relation to the desired object as a seeker to what is sought; grammatically, the person serves as the direct object in the accusative case (manṣūb), while the acquired item is governed by the preposition ʿan (e.g., aghnānī Allāhu ʿan mālika, "God has made me free of need of your wealth").
- Things needed to be repelled or averted, such as impending harm or punishment. In this category, the human is pursued by the harm rather than seeking it; grammatically, the affliction (actual or expected) functions as the direct object, while the person is governed by the preposition ʿan, as in the verse: فَهَلْ أَنْتُمْ مُغْنُونَ عَنَّا نَصِيبًا مِنَ النَّارِ ("So will you avert from us a portion of the Fire?").
Al-Mu'allimi observed that because human need most frequently involves repelling harm—since securing benefits is itself a means of preventing corresponding harms—this second construction is widely used throughout the Quran, where the verb carries the implied meaning of averting or defending (dafʿ).
Manuscript History and Publication
Al-Mu'allimi revised and rewritten the treatise several times in draft form before producing fair copies. The completed work comprises ten pages and remained in manuscript form in the Library of the Grand Mosque in Mecca until it was edited and published as the fifteenth treatise in the Quranic exegesis section of the multi-volume collection Āthār al-Shaykh al-ʿAllāmah ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Muʿallimī al-Yamānī.
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