Tahsil Ayn al-Dhahab min Madin Jawhar al-Adab fi Ilm Majazat al-Arab
- Author died
- 476 AH
- Editions
- Mu’assasat al-Risālah
Tahsil Ayn al-Dhahab min Madin Jawhar al-Adab fi Ilm Majazat al-Arab (Acquiring the Pure Gold from the Mine of Literary Substance in the Knowledge of Arab Metaphor) is an Andalusian Arabic grammatical and philological work by al-A'lam al-Shantamari (410–476 AH / 1019–1084 CE) dedicated to explaining the poetic evidentiary verses (shawahid) cited in Sibawayh's foundational grammatical work, al-Kitab.
Title and Authorship
The full title given by the author is Tahsil 'Ayn al-Dhahab min Ma'din Jawhar al-Adab fi 'Ilm Majazat al-'Arab, though it is widely referred to simply as Sharh Shawahid Sibawayh or Sharh Abyat Kitab Sibawayh. Ibn Khayr al-Ishbili listed it under the corrupted and abbreviated title 'Uyun al-Zuhd fi Sharh Abyat Kitab Sibawayh. The attribution of the work to al-A'lam is corroborated by citations across Arabic scholarly literature and by internal evidence, including eighteen explicit references by the author to his other commentary on Sibawayh, al-Nukat fi Tafsir Kitab Sibawayh.
Content and Methodology
Tahsil 'Ayn al-Dhahab is the most exhaustive surviving classical commentary on the poetic citations in Sibawayh's al-Kitab. Al-A'lam comments on a total of 1,027 poetic witnesses, surpassing earlier specialized commentaries such as that of Abu Ja'far al-Nahhas (d. 338 AH), which covers 743 verses, and Ibn al-Sirafi (d. 385 AH), whose work covers 715 verses in the edition of Muhammad 'Ali al-Rih Hashim and 627 in that of Muhammad 'Ali Sultani. In his explanations, al-A'lam successfully identified and attributed 57 verses whose authors were left unidentified in Sibawayh's text.
In constructing his commentaries, al-A'lam adduces supporting evidence drawn primarily from Arabic poetry, followed by Quranic verses, proverbs, and hadith reports. He employs Quranic citations to resolve grammatical questions, explain morphological derivations, clarify semantic contexts, and illustrate lexical meanings.
Publication History
The work was first printed on the margins of Sibawayh's al-Kitab at the al-Matba'a al-Amiriyya in Bulaq in 1316 AH (1898 CE); however, this early edition contained numerous textual corruptions, omissions—including the complete dropping of one poetic citation and its commentary—and conflations between al-A'lam's prose and marginal glosses by later scribes. A critical edition based on manuscript witnesses was prepared by Zuhayr 'Abd al-Muhsin Sultan and published in Baghdad in 1992.
Answer updated