Sharh Shafiyat Ibn al-Hajib - al-Radi al-Astarabadi
- Author died
- 686 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmīyah
Sharh Shafiyat Ibn al-Hajib is an extensive commentary on Arabic morphology (tasrif) and orthography, written by al-Radi al-Astarabadi (d. c. 686 AH / 1287 CE) on the morphological primer al-Shafiya by Ibn al-Hajib (d. 646 AH / 1249 CE) .
Background and Composition
Ibn al-Hajib authored al-Shafiya as a concise, foundational summary of Arabic morphological rules and script, complementing his famous grammatical treatise al-Kafiya . Al-Radi composed commentaries on both treatises, establishing them as comprehensive references for syntax and morphology . A manuscript colophon indicates that al-Radi completed the composition of his commentary on al-Shafiya in Rabi' al-Awwal (or Rabi' al-Thani) 688 AH at the shrine in Najaf (al-Hadra al-Gharawiyya), shortly around the time of his death .
Content and Method
The commentary covers the full range of morphological structures, phonetic alterations, paradigms, and orthographic principles presented in Ibn al-Hajib's text . Al-Radi is distinguished by his analytical depth, rational argumentation, and systematic grammatical justification (ta'lil) . Rather than merely paraphrasing the base text, he frequently discusses dialectal differences among Arab tribes, explores scholarly disputes across grammatical schools, and articulates his own independent grammatical preferences (ikhtiyarat) .
Throughout the commentary, al-Radi draws upon and synthesizes arguments and examples from earlier classical authorities, integrating the morphological insights of Sibawayh, Abu Uthman al-Mazini, Ibn Jinni, and Ibn al-Anbari .
Supercommentaries and Evidential Poems
Owing to the dense linguistic material and rare poetic citations in the work, subsequent scholars produced dedicated works explaining its poetic evidences (shawahid) . The most prominent of these is by Abd al-Qadir al-Baghdadi (d. 1093 AH / 1682 CE), who commenced writing his commentary on its verses on 24 Jumada al-Akhira 1079 AH . In it, al-Baghdadi systematically analyzed 196 poetic lines cited by al-Radi, supplementing them with 52 verses found exclusively in the commentary of Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Jarabardi (d. 746 AH / 1346 CE) .
Print Editions
The work was printed in early editions in Istanbul and Lucknow . A widely circulated four-volume edition was edited by Muhammad Nur al-Hasan, Muhammad al-Zafzaf, and Muhammad Muhyi al-Din Abd al-Hamid, which incorporates al-Baghdadi's commentary on the poetic shawahid .
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