Mujam al-Masail al-Nahwiyya wa al-Sarfiyya al-Warida fi al-Quran al-Karim
- Author died
- 1445 AH
- Editions
- King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Quran in Medina
Mu'jam al-Masa'il al-Nahwiyya wa al-Sarfiyya al-Warida fi al-Qur'an al-Karim (A Dictionary of Grammatical and Morphological Issues Occurring in the Noble Qur'an) is a scholarly treatise by F. Abd al-Rahim (d. 1445 AH / 2023 CE) examining the development of Qur'anic linguistic lexicons and presenting a proposal for a comprehensive digital dictionary of Qur'anic grammar and morphology .
Context and Purpose
The treatise was composed as a research paper for the symposium "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Care for the Noble Qur'an and Its Sciences," organized by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Da'wah, and Guidance through the King Fahd Glorious Quran Printing Complex in Medina . It was submitted under the symposium's theme of "Lexicons in the Service of the Qur'an," addressing the feasibility of compiling new auxiliary lexicons to fill existing scholarly gaps in Qur'anic studies .
Review of Prior Reference Works
The author surveys the modern movement of comprehensive indexing (istiqsa) of the Qur'an, analyzing four major twentieth-century reference works to assess their scope and limitations regarding grammar and morphology :
- al-Mu'jam al-Mufahras li-Alfaz al-Qur'an al-Karim by Muhammad Fu'ad Abd al-Baqi (presented in 1939 CE): While serving as a foundational concordance for lexical roots, it omits pronouns and operative particles (huruf al-ma'ani), limiting its usefulness for grammatical queries .
- Mu'jam al-Adawat wa al-Dama'ir fi al-Qur'an al-Karim by Isma'il Ahmad 'Amayira and Abd al-Hamid Mustafa al-Sayyid (1407 AH / 1986 CE): A dictionary of 108 particles and pronouns, which the author critiques for indexing items according to orthographic shape rather than syntactic function, and for treating connected pronominal forms inconsistently .
- Mu'jam Huruf al-Ma'ani fi al-Qur'an al-Karim by Muhammad Hasan al-Sharif (1417 AH / 1996 CE): An index of 112 particles divided into five categories, which Abd al-Rahim critiques for merging homographic words with distinct syntactic identities under single entries and omitting certain attached nominative pronouns .
- Dirasat li-Uslub al-Qur'an al-Karim by Muhammad Abd al-Khaliq Udayma (1392 AH / 1972 CE): An eleven-volume work in three sections—particles, morphology, and syntax—spanning twenty-five years of research . Abd al-Rahim notes that while it forms the essential nucleus of a grammatical and morphological dictionary, its structure remains an analytical study rather than a quick-reference lexicon .
Proposal and Model Classifications
Abd al-Rahim concludes that no comprehensive lexicon of Qur'anic grammatical and morphological issues has yet been compiled . He proposes designing a computer database capable of dynamic, multi-layered sub-classifications of verses for any grammatical topic—illustrating this with the cognate accusative (al-maf'ul al-mutlaq), which can be categorized by the semantic function of the verbal noun or by the elements substituting for it .
To demonstrate how particles should be systematized for researchers, the work concludes with two practical classification models accompanied by exhaustive Qur'anic citations :
- The shifted particle lam (al-lam al-muzahlaqa): Classified by the syntactic structures it introduces, including singular predicates, verbal and nominal clause predicates, semi-clause predicates (shibh jumla), the separating pronoun (damir al-fasl), and the corroborative pronoun .
- The oath-preparatory lam (al-lam al-muwatti'a li-l-qasam): Classified by the structure of the apodosic clause (jawab), such as affirmed or negated nominal sentences and past or future imperfect verbal clauses .
Answer updated