Sabab Wad' Ilm al-Arabiya
- Author died
- 911 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Hijrah
Sabab Wad' Ilm al-Arabiya (The Reason for the Establishment of the Science of the Arabic Language) is a short grammatical treatise by al-Jalal al-Suyuti (849–911 AH / 1445–1505 CE) documenting the historical reports concerning the origins of Arabic linguistic sciences . It is also titled in bibliographical traditions and authorial lists as al-Akhbar al-Marwiyya fi Sabab Wad' al-Arabiyya .
Subject Matter and Scope
The treatise gathers traditional narrations addressing the emergence of grammatical errors (laḥn) during the era of the Prophet's Companions and the initial impetus to formulate formal rules for preserving correct speech and Quranic recitation . Al-Suyuti records varying accounts regarding the inception of grammar (naḥw): some traditions trace the initial conceptualization to the fourth caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib, while others ascribe its establishment to Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali or figures from the subsequent generation of his students .
The work concludes with an examination of the origins of Arabic morphology (taṣrīf), attributing its founding to Mu'adh ibn Muslim al-Harra' (d. 187 AH in Baghdad) . Within this discussion, al-Suyuti critiques a misconception recorded by his teacher Muhyi al-Din al-Kafiyaji in the introduction to his Sharḥ al-Qawāʿid, where al-Kafiyaji had attributed the founding of morphology to the Companion Mu'adh ibn Jabal . Al-Suyuti notes that when he questioned al-Kafiyaji regarding the basis for this claim, he received no supporting evidence, concluding that al-Kafiyaji had conflated the two men named Mu'adh .
Method and Later Use
Al-Suyuti follows a report-based, compilatory method (manhaj naqlī), presenting the historical reports alongside their chains of transmission (asānīd) largely without personal interjections, aside from his correction of al-Kafiyaji's attribution . He subsequently reused many of these same transmitted reports and chains in the introductory section of his larger commentary, al-Matali' al-Sa'ida fi Sharh al-Farida .
Publication
The text was published in Constantinople (Istanbul) by Maṭbaʿat al-Jawāʾib (dated 1301–1302 AH) as part of the compilation al-Tuḥfa al-Bahiyya wa-al-Ṭurfa al-Shahiyya (pages 49–53) .
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