Tawdih al-Maqasid wa al-Masalik bi Sharh Alfiyyat Ibn Malik
- Author died
- 749 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Fikr al-‘Arabī
Tawdih al-Maqasid wa al-Masalik bi Sharh Alfiyyat Ibn Malik (Clarification of the Objectives and Pathways in Commenting on Ibn Malik’s Alfiyya) is an Arabic grammatical commentary written by Badr al-Din Abu Muhammad Hasan ibn Qasim al-Muradi, commonly known as Ibn Umm Qasim (d. 749 AH / 1348 CE), explaining the renowned grammatical poem al-Alfiyya by Ibn Malik (d. 672 AH / 1274 CE) .
Background and Composition
Ibn Umm Qasim notes in his introduction that he composed the commentary as a concise exposition at the request of students and scholars who had memorized the verses of Ibn Malik's al-Khulasa (or al-Alfiyya) and sought to derive its theoretical grammatical benefits directly from its wording . The author died on the day of Eid al-Fitr in 749 AH .
Methodology and Content
The work adopts a pedagogical and analytical method aimed at unraveling the linguistic and grammatical substance of Ibn Malik's verses . Its primary structural and methodological features include:
- Attribution of Grammatical Doctrines: The author documents various rules and points of syntax while tracing them to early authorities, citing foundational grammarians such as Sibawayh, engaging with the positions of the Basran school, and drawing on his teacher Abu Hayyan .
- Engagement with Ibn Malik’s Corpus: Al-Muradi regularly cross-references Ibn Malik's other writings (such as Sharh al-Tashil), pointing out additional rulings or variations found elsewhere in Ibn Malik’s works, and occasionally evaluating or critiquing Ibn Malik’s phrasing and choices against Ibn Mu'ti’s earlier Alfiyya .
- Textual Evidence and Classification: The commentary places strong emphasis on textual transmission (sama'), quoting the Quran, Arabic poetry (shawahid), and traditional proverbs, while distinguishing between regular (muttarid), rare (nadir), and anomalous (shadhdh) usages .
The commentary sequentially follows the chapter order of the Alfiyya, beginning with speech and its constituent parts (al-kalam wa ma yata'allaf minh), inflection and indeclinability (al-mu'rab wa al-mabni), nouns and pronouns, syntax chapters including subject and predicate (al-mubtada' wa al-khabar), the verbal copulas (kana and its sisters, inna and its sisters), transitive and intransitive verbs, and proceeding through the rest of Arabic syntax and morphology .
Reception, Glosses, and Related Works
Tawdih al-Maqasid became a foundational reference for later commentators on the Alfiyya . Notably, the commentary of al-Ushmuni (d. 929 AH) relies heavily on al-Muradi’s text, incorporating large segments of its material and rulings .
The poetic evidence cited in the work was subsequently analyzed by Badr al-Din al-Ayni (d. 855 AH) in his comprehensive study of poetic citations, al-Maqasid al-Nahwiyya fi Sharh Shawahid Shuruh al-Alfiyya (known as al-Shawahid al-Kubra), alongside the commentaries of Ibn al-Nazim, Ibn Aqil, and Ibn Hisham, as well as in al-Ayni’s abridgment Fara'id al-Qala'id .
Several later scholars composed glosses and supercommentaries on al-Muradi's work:
- Hashiyat Ibn Ghazi by Muhammad ibn Ahmad Ibn Ghazi al-Fasi (d. 919 AH) .
- Marginal notes (Ta'liqat) by Qasim ibn Muhammad Ibn al-Qadi al-Fasi (d. 1021 AH) .
- Hashiyat al-Shawi by Yahya ibn Muhammad al-Shawi al-Jaza'iri (d. 1096 AH) .
- Hashiyat al-Tilimsani by Abd al-Rahman ibn Idris al-Manjari al-Tilimsani (d. 1179 AH) .
Modern Studies and Editions
The text was edited and studied by Abd al-Rahman Ali Sulayman as part of a doctoral dissertation at al-Azhar University, which was later published in multiple volumes by Maktabat al-Kulliyyat al-Azhariyya and in three volumes by Dar al-Fikr al-Arabi . Modern academic studies on the commentary include Ali Abbud al-Sahi's critical monograph al-Muradi wa Kitabuhu Tawdih Maqasid al-Alfiyya and Muhammad Amin Ahmad Nahar al-Rawabidah's thesis Sharh al-Muradi 'ala al-Alfiyya: Dirasa wa Tahlil .
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