Yaqutat al-Sirat fi Tafsir Gharib al-Quran
- Author died
- 345 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-ʿUlūm wa-al-Ḥikam
Yaqutat al-Sirat fi Tafsir Gharib al-Quran (The Ruby of the Path in Explaining Rare Quranic Vocabulary) is a specialized lexicon of obscure and rare Quranic vocabulary (gharib al-Quran) composed by the Baghdadi philologist Abu Umar al-Zahid, commonly known as Ghulam Thalab (d. 345 AH / 957 CE) .
Structure and Content
The work is organized sequentially according to the order of the surahs as they appear in the Quranic mus-haf . In expounding the difficult lexical items, the author draws predominantly on the philological transmissions of his teacher Thalab from Ibn al-A'rabi .
Transmission and Reception
The book was preserved and circulated through several transmission paths from Abu Umar al-Zahid. Transmitters included Abu al-Husayn ibn Bushran, through whom Abu Bakr al-Bayhaqi cited the work in his writings . In the Islamic West, multiple chains of transmission were documented by Ibn Khayr al-Ishbili in his Fahrasa, including chains through Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi and through Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Muqri' al-Jalla' via Abu al-Qasim al-Saqati al-Baghdadi . A copy was also owned by al-Khatib al-Baghdadi .
Later scholars of Quranic sciences recognized Yaqutat al-Sirat among the major early reference works on Quranic lexicography; Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi in al-Burhan fi Ulum al-Quran and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti in al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Quran listed it alongside prominent classical treatises such as Abu Ubayda's Majaz al-Quran and Ibn Uzayr al-Sijistani's Nuzhat al-Qulub .
Manuscripts and Publication
Manuscript witnesses and portions of the text survived in various collections, including manuscripts preserved in the Laleli and Resid Efendi libraries in Turkey . Although earlier scholars had presumed the text to be lost, it was recovered and edited by Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Turkistani and published by Maktabat al-Ulum wa-l-Hikam in Medina in 1423 AH / 2002 CE .
Answer updated