Masa'il (Idhn)
- Author died
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- Editions
- Majallat al-Jami'ah al-Islamiyyah bi-al-Madinah al-Munawwarah
Masa'il (Idhn) (مسائل إِذَنْ, "The Issues of the Particle Idhan") is a specialized Arabic grammatical monograph by Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Qurashi that examines the syntactic and morphological rules, semantic nuances, and orthography of the particle idhan .
Background and Purpose
The author was prompted to write the treatise while reading the section on idhan in al-Muqtadab by al-Mubarrad, where al-Mubarrad remarked that he would dedicate a separate chapter to its specific problems in full, an intention that was never executed in that work as noted by Muhammad 'Abd al-Khaliq 'Udaymah . Seeking to fill this gap, al-Qurashi compiled and synthesized the issues surrounding idhan from classical grammatical treatises, works on functional particles (adawat al-ma'ani), lexicons, Quranic commentaries, and studies on Quranic variants (qira'at) . The work was published in the Journal of the Islamic University of Madinah in 1423 AH (2002 CE) .
Structure and Contents
The monograph begins with an introduction outlining its scope and methodology, followed by thirteen structured issues (masa'il), a conclusion, a bibliography, and an index of topics :
- The Origin of Idhan (Asl Idhan): Its linguistic derivation and etymological roots .
- Its Syntactic Operation ('Amaluha): Its role as a governing agent causing the subjunctive mood in imperfect verbs .
- Conditions of Operation (Shurut 'Amal Idhan): The requirements for its government, including initial sentence position, futurity of the verb, and adjacency to the verb .
- Its Meaning (Ma'naha): Its semantic function as a particle indicating answer and consequence (jawab wa-jaza') .
- Placement Between Inseparable Sentence Elements (Hukm Idhan in Waqa'at Bayna Shay'ayn Mutalazimayn): Rulings when idhan occurs medially between elements such as a condition and its apodosis, an oath and its response, or a subject and predicate .
- Separation from the Verb (Hukm Idhan Idha Fusila Baynaha wa-Bayna al-Fi'l bi-Fasil): The syntactic effect of separating idhan from its verb by an oath, negative la, a vocative, a supplication, or an adverbial modifier .
- Occurrence Following Conjunctions (Hukm Idhan al-Waqi'ah Bayna Harf al-'Atf wa-al-Fi'l al-Mustaqbal): The operational validity of idhan when preceded by coordinating conjunctions such as the waw or fa' .
- Cancellation of Operation Despite Met Conditions (Hukm Ilgha' 'Amal Idhan ma'a Istifa' Shurut al-'Amal): The permissibility and views on nullifying its governance even when all conditions for operation are satisfied .
- Preceding Past-Tense Verbs with the Particle Lam (Hukm Idhan Idha Waqa'a Ba'daha al-Madi Mas-huban bi-al-Lam): Syntactic rules when followed by a past-tense verb prefixed with the emphatic or corroborating lam .
- Analysis of the Subjunctive Verb (I'rab al-Fi'l al-Mansub Ba'da Idhan): The underlying syntactic parsing of the subjunctive verb following idhan .
- Analogy with Zanna (Tashbih Idhan fi 'Awamal al-Af'al bi-Zanna fi 'Awamal al-Asma'): Comparing the operational suspension and cancellation of idhan in verbal syntax to that of zanna in nominal syntax .
- Pausing on the Particle (al-Waqf 'ala Idhan): Phonological and recitation rules governing pauses on idhan with either an alif or a nun .
- Orthography (Kitabatuha): Debates among grammarians and scribes on whether to write idhan with an explicit letter nun (إذن) or with an alif bearing nunation (إذاً) .
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