Sharh al-Muallaqat al-Tisa
- Author died
- 206 AH
- Editions
- Muʾassasat al-Aʿlamī lil-Maṭbūʿāt
Sharh al-Muallaqat al-Tisa (Commentary on the Nine Mu'allaqat) is a commentary on pre-Islamic Arabic odes attributed to the Kufan philologist and lexicographer Abu Amr al-Shaybani (d. 206 AH / 821–822 CE).
Attribution and Authenticity
The attribution of the commentary to Abu Amr al-Shaybani is considered spurious by bibliographers and researchers. The text contains material, citations, and scholarly references dating long after Abu Amr's lifetime, and its prose style is markedly distinct from early third-century AH scholarship.
Content and Method
The work provides a verse-by-verse analysis of nine major pre-Islamic odes (Mu'allaqat), including the poems of al-A'sha and Imru' al-Qays. For each poem, the text supplies biographical notes on the poet, explanations of obscure vocabulary (gharib), grammatical analysis (i'rab), poetic meter, and variant transmissions from early authorities such as Abu Ubaydah and al-Asma'i.
In its critical discussions, the work addresses debates surrounding the canon of the Mu'allaqat. For instance, it notes that critics such as Abu Amr al-Shaybani did not count the poem of al-Harith ibn Hilliza among the Mu'allaqat and thus refrained from commenting upon it.
Publication
The work was edited and annotated by Abd al-Majid Hammu and published in a single volume by Mu'assasat al-A'lami lil-Matbu'at in Beirut (1422 AH / 2001 CE).
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