Min Tarikh al-Nahw al-Arabi
- Author died
- 1417 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Falāḥ
Min Tarikh al-Nahw al-Arabi (From the History of Arabic Grammar) is an academic work on the origins, schools, and landmark texts of Arabic grammar by the Syrian grammarian Said al-Afghani (1327–1417 AH / 1909–1997 CE).
Background and Purpose
Al-Afghani authored the book to serve the curriculum of students pursuing a degree in Arabic philology (fiqh al-lughah al-Arabiyyah) at the Faculty of Arts of the Lebanese University in Beirut. The historical and theoretical portion regarding solecism, the emergence of grammar, and grammatical disagreement was adapted from his earlier work Fi Usul al-Nahw (On the Fundamentals of Grammar).
Structure and Contents
The work spans 215 pages and is divided into two principal sections:
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Historical Study: Opens with a historical prologue detailing the initial signs of grammatical corruption (lahn) and the early crystallization of grammar. It covers the foundational schools of Basra and Kufa, outlining the first two generations of Basran grammarians alongside the Kufan school, followed by the emergence of friction and scholarly disputes between them. It analyzes the methodological divergence between the Basran and Kufan traditions concerning reliance on transmitted speech (sama') and grammatical analogy (qiyas), presenting a sample case study on the particle sawfa, the impact of regional or school bias (asabiyyah) on disagreements, and literature devoted to cross-school disputes. The section concludes with surveys of the Baghdad school and the grammatical movement in al-Andalus.
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Books and Texts: An annotated anthology featuring selected treatises and textual analyses from six classical authorities:
- Sibawayh and his al-Kitab, supplemented by a biographical entry.
- Ibn Jinni and his treatises al-Tasrif al-Muluki and al-Munsif (his commentary on Abu Uthman al-Mazini's al-Tasrif).
- Al-Zamakhshari and his al-Mufassal, along with the commentary by Ibn Ya'ish.
- Kamal al-Din Ibn al-Anbari and his two works al-Insaf fi Masa'il al-Khilaf and Luma' al-Adillah.
- Ibn Malik, his Alfiyyah with its commentary, and his Shawahid al-Tawdih wal-Tashih li-Mushkilat al-Jami' al-Sahih.
- Ibn Hisham al-Ansari and his works Mughni al-Labib and Sharh Shudhur al-Dhahab.
The text concludes with an index of subjects and studies.
Publication History
The work was published by Dar al-Fikr in 1968 and reissued in 1978. It was also published by Maktabat al-Falah in Kuwait in 1980.
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