Masa'il Manthura fi al-Tafsir wa al-Arabiya wa al-Ma'ani
- Author died
- 582 AH
- Editions
- Offprint from Journal of the Iraqi Academy of Sciences - Part 1, Volume 41
Masa'il Manthura fi al-Tafsir wa al-Arabiya wa al-Ma'ani (Scattered Inquiries on Exegesis, Arabic Grammar, and Meanings) is a short treatise on Quranic interpretation, grammar, and semantics by the Egyptian philologist Ibn Barri (499–582 AH / 1106–1187 CE).
Content and Method
The work comprises thirty-eight distinct inquiries (mas'ala) addressing grammatical analysis (i'rab), exegesis (tafsir), and variant readings (qira'at) of selected Quranic verses, resolving difficult points encountered by students. In expounding these verses, Ibn Barri relies on earlier authorities, citing figures such as Muqatil ibn Sulayman, Sibawayh, al-Kisa'i, Abu Ishaq al-Zajjaj, and al-Zamakhshari. Across the entire treatise, he adduces only one poetic citation, a single verse by the poet al-Kumayt ibn Zayd.
Manuscript and Publication
The treatise survived in a unique manuscript preserved in Turkey in the Şehid Ali Pasha collection (MS 2740). It forms part of a collective volume (majmu') of 56 folios copied in 700 AH, occupying folios 1b to 12a, with fifteen lines per page. The text was edited by Hatim Salih al-Damin and published in Baghdad in 1990.
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