Sharh Kifayat al-Mutahaffiz Tahrir al-Riwaya fi Taqrir al-Kifaya
- Author died
- 1170 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-‘Ulūm lil-Ṭibā‘ah wal-Nashr
Sharh Kifayat al-Mutahaffiz: Tahrir al-Riwaya fi Taqrir al-Kifaya (Arabic: شرح كفاية المتحفظ تحرير الرواية في تقرير الكفاية, The Editing of Transmission in Establishing the Sufficiency) is an extensive Arabic lexical commentary by the Moroccan-born grammarian and lexicographer Ibn al-Tayyib (d. 1170 AH / 1756–1757 CE; also reported as 1173 AH) on Ibn al-Ajdabi's thematic vocabulary primer Kifayat al-mutahaffiz wa-nihayat al-mutalaffiz .
Background and Composition
The base text, Kifayat al-mutahaffiz, was written by the North African philologist Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ismail al-Tarabulsi, known as Ibn al-Ajdabi, as an abridged guide to Arabic vocabulary, obscure terms (gharib), and descriptive designations . Ibn al-Tayyib states in his introduction that he composed Tahrir al-riwaya at the request of a circle of close students and senior teachers who had repeatedly studied the text under his direction in linguistic sciences . In the prologue, he dedicated the work to Celebi Zadeh Efendi Ismail Asim .
Method and Contents
The commentary follows the thematic chapters of the base text, systematically clarifying its vocabulary, providing exact vocalizations (dabt), and explaining rare and difficult linguistic usages . Ibn al-Tayyib contextualizes each term by citing grammatical authorities such as Ibn Malik and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, as well as major lexical sources, including al-Fairuzabadi's al-Qamus al-muhit and al-Jawhari's al-Sihah . He also highlights later reference works that drew heavily upon Ibn al-Ajdabi's treatise, such as Ahmad al-Fayyumi's al-Misbah al-munir and al-Damiri's Hayat al-hayawan .
Reception and Publication
The commentary was widely consulted by Ibn al-Tayyib's students, notably Murtada al-Zabidi, who cited it directly under the title Tahrir al-riwaya fi taqrir al-kifaya in his lexicon Taj al-arus .
A manuscript of the work is preserved at the Egyptian National Library (Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya, MS 14 Lughah Sh. 1) . The text was edited by Ali Husayn al-Bawwab as part of a doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of Dar al-Ulum at Cairo University in 1978, and subsequently published by Dar al-Ulum in Riyadh in 1403 AH / 1983 CE .
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