Matn Shudhur al-Dhahab
- Author died
- 761 AH
- Editions
- Maṭbaʻat Muṣṭafá al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī
Matn Shudhur al-Dhahab (full title: Shudhur al-Dhahab fi Ma'rifat Kalam al-'Arab) is a concise Arabic grammar treatise composed by the Egyptian grammarian Ibn Hisham al-Nahwi (708–761 AH / 1309–1360 CE) .
Scope and Structure
The text was designed as an abridged primer summarizing the broad scope of Arabic grammar through condensed phrasing suitable for memorization . In modern printings, it spans approximately thirty-four small pages . The author restricted the divisions within grammatical chapters to provide a clear, streamlined presentation for students .
The work is organized into an introduction followed by fourteen chapters:
- Introduction: defines the single word (al-kalimah) and its division into noun (ism), verb (fi'l), and particle (harf), detailing the distinctive markers of each, as well as the definition of speech (al-kalam) and its categories .
- Grammatical chapters: begins with the chapter on grammatical inflection (i'rab), covering primary, secondary, and estimated inflectional markers, followed by the chapter on indeclinability (bina'), in which the author introduced an original classification of indeclinable forms, and subsequent chapters addressing the remaining topics of grammar .
To substantiate grammatical rules within the core text, Ibn Hisham cited verses from the Quran alongside seventeen evidentiary lines of classical Arabic poetry (shawahid) .
Educational Role and Commentaries
The treatise became a standard textbook in the traditional pedagogical sequence of Arabic grammar, typically studied after Ibn Hisham al-Nahwi's Qatr al-Nada wa-Ball al-Sada and before advanced works such as Awdah al-Masalik and Mughni al-Labib . Due to its dense phrasing, it attracted numerous commentaries, glosses, and specialized pedagogical analyses :
- Ibn Hisham's own commentary: titled Sharh Shudhur al-Dhahab, in which the author parsed every evidentiary poetic line, clarified obscure vocabulary, and appended relevant Quranic verses with their grammatical analysis and interpretation at the end of each topic .
- Bulugh al-Irab bi-Sharh Shudhur al-Dhahab: composed by Zakariyya al-Ansari (d. 926 AH) .
- Shifa' al-Sudur fi Hall Alfaz al-Shudhur: written by Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Abd al-Mun'im al-Jawjari (d. 889 AH) .
- Sharh al-Sudur bi-Sharh Zawa'id al-Shudhur: an explanatory work addressing sentences and phrasing found in the base text that were left unaddressed in Ibn Hisham's commentary; it was composed by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Da'im al-Birmawi (d. 831 AH) and is also attributed to Badr al-Din Hasan ibn Abi Bakr al-Qudsi (d. 836 AH) .
- Nathr al-Zuhur 'ala Sharh al-Shudhur: a supercommentary on Ibn Hisham's commentary composed by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH) .
The text was first printed in Istanbul in 1253 AH / 1837 CE .
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