Mukhtasar Matn al-Kafi fi al-Arud wa al-Qawafi - dimn Athar al-Muallimi
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dar Alam al-Fawa'id lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'
Mukhtasar Matn al-Kafi fi al-Arud wa al-Qawafi (The Abridgment of the Text of al-Kafi in Prosody and Rhyme) is a treatise on Arabic poetic meters and rhyme by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Mu'allimi (d. 1386 AH / 1966 CE) .
Composition and Method
The work is an abridgment of al-Kafi fi Ilmay al-Arud wa al-Qawafi, a classical pedagogical text on Arabic metrics by Ahmad ibn Abbad ibn Shu'ayb al-Qina'i, known as al-Khawwas (d. 858 AH) . Al-Mu'allimi compiled the text by combining the core primer with selected explanations and assessments drawn from al-Mukhtasar al-Shafi, a shorter commentary by Muhammad al-Damanhuri (d. 1288 AH) .
In his preface to the manuscript, al-Mu'allimi noted that he excised most of the poetic proof-texts (shawahid) present in the original text in order to facilitate memorization and encourage students to focus on the technical subtleties of the discipline . He also supplemented the text with verses by Safi al-Din al-Hilli that provide mnemonic keys for the poetic meters, along with versified rules for the letters of rhyme (huruf al-qafiyah), the vowels of rhyme (harakat al-qafiyah), and its five structural divisions . Al-Mu'allimi adjusted certain definitions and titles in the text based on al-Damanhuri's marginal corrections, such as modifying the title of the second chapter and defining al-ridf as a soft letter (harf lin) preceding the rhyme letter (rawiyy) rather than limiting it to a long vowel (harf madd) .
Structure
The treatise is arranged methodically to cover both metric science (arud) and rhyme (qawafi):
- Introduction on Prosody: Outlines the ten letters used in scansion (ahruf al-taqti'), the structural elements of feet (asbab, awtad, and fawasil), and the ten standard metrical feet (tafa'il) divided into basic forms (usul) and their derivations (furu') .
- Chapter One: Defines metrical variations (zihaf)—both single (mufrad) and compound (muzdawaj)—and metrical defects and modifications (ilal) .
- Chapter Two: Details the individual poetic meters (al-buhur), their mnemonic verses, scales, standard variants, and allowed endings for both hemistichs .
- Epilogue to Prosody: Defines the technical designations applied to complete, truncated, or modified lines of poetry (alqab al-abyat) .
- The Science of Rhyme: Covers the definition of rhyme, its six letters (al-rawiyy, al-wasl, al-khuruj, al-ridf, al-ta'sis, and al-dakhil), and its six corresponding vowels .
Manuscript and Publication
The work survived in an autograph manuscript penned by al-Mu'allimi in clear Naskh script, utilizing red and black ink . It was published as the twelfth treatise within Volume 20 of his collected works (Athar Abd al-Rahman ibn Yahya al-Mu'allimi al-Yamani) .
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