Masa'il Khilafiya fi al-Nahw
- Author died
- 616 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Sharq al-ʿArabī
Masa'il Khilafiya fi al-Nahw (Disputed Issues in Grammar) is a work on grammatical disagreements between the Basran and Kufan schools by the Baghdadi scholar Abu al-Baqa al-Ukbari (538–616 AH / 1143–1219 CE) .
Subject and Content
The treatise belongs to the genre of Arabic grammatical khilaf (dialectical disputes), addressing contested points of syntax and morphology between the grammatical traditions of Basra and Kufa . The text surveys debated topics such as the linguistic derivation and definition of the noun, the governance of nominal and verbal regents (‘awamil), the case markings of specific noun categories, and various particles and constructions over which the two schools differed .
Al-Ukbari routinely weighed the arguments of earlier authorities, citing figures such as Ibn al-Sarraj alongside unnamed grammarians . While al-Ukbari frequently followed Basran paradigms across his grammatical corpus, he also adopted and defended Kufan opinions on several disputed questions .
Titles and Editions
In scholarly literature and manuscripts, the work is referenced under different variations of its title, including Masa'il Khilafiya fi al-Nahw, al-Tabyin fi Masa'il al-Khilaf bayna al-Basriyyin wa-al-Kufiyyin, and al-Tabyin ‘an Madhahib al-Nahwiyyin al-Basriyyin wa-al-Kufiyyin .
The treatise has been edited and published in several modern editions:
- Edited by Muhammad Khayr al-Halawani, first published in Aleppo by Maktabat al-Shahba' (1389 AH), with subsequent printings by Dar al-Ma'mun li-al-Turath in Damascus and Dar al-Sharq al-Arabi in Beirut and Aleppo (1412 AH) .
- Edited under the title al-Tabyin ‘an Madhahib al-Nahwiyyin al-Basriyyin wa-al-Kufiyyin by Abd al-Rahman al-Uthaymin, published in Beirut (1406 AH / 1986 CE) .
- Edited by Abd al-Fattah Salim, published by Maktabat al-Adab in Cairo (1425 AH / 2004 CE) .
Answer updated