1.
THE PRESERVATION OF CLASSICAL ARABIC TILL THE TIME OF IBN
MANẒŪR, THE ARAB LEXICOGRAPHER
The Qur’ān was revealed to
Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. in the 7th century in an extremely high standard
of classical Arabic language. The Prophet conveyed its message and explained it
also in classical Arabic. As language develops, including Arabic, many words
used in distant past are no longer used nowadays or changed their
meanings. This case is a big challenge
for us Muslims as well as for those who want to comprehensively understand
Islam in general and the Qur’ān in particular.
Some examples of this
issue are as follows:
Allah says in the Qur’ān,
وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا عَسْعَسَ
(التكوير:17)
And by the night as it departs
(Q.
81:17)
According to Ibn ‘Abbās the term ‘as‘asa means adbara which
is the language of the Quraysh meaning “to depart” as translated above. But
according to Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic the term
means “to darken”, “to grow dark.” Al-Rāghib
al-Asfahānī (d. 502/1109) in his Mufradāt Alfāẓ al-Qur’ān says that the
term means “to approach” and “to depart.” The term belongs to al-aḍdād,
namely, words which have opposite meanings, namely, “the beginning” as
well as “the end of the night”, when it is not very dark yet at the beginning
of the night, or when it is no longer very dark at the end of the night.
Allah says in the Qur’ān:
وَأَنْزَلْنَا مِنَ الْمُعْصِرَاتِ مَاءً ثَجَّاجًا ( النبأ:14)
And We have sent
down from the rainy clouds
abundant water (Q. 78:14)
The term mu‘ṣirāt (the plural of mu‘ṣirah)
belongs to the Quraysh language according to Ibn ‘Abbās meaning “clouds,”
which, according to al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, “rainy clouds” (تُعْتَصَرُ
بِالْمَطَر, أَيْ تَصُبُّ), but could
also mean “clouds that bring cyclone” (تَأْتِي
بِالأَعْصار). This term is no longer commonly used. Instead, the term used
for “clouds” is saḥāb, rather than mu‘ṣirāt.
In order to understand such uncommonly used words we have to refer to
classical Arabic literature. The earliest authority of classical Arabic
language was in the 7th century called Gharīb al-Qur'ān fī Shi‘r al-‘Arab,
also known as Masā'il Nāfi‘ ibn al-Azraq by the Prophet’s cousin Abdullah ibn ‘Abbās
(d. 68/687). It contained questions of 250
words in the Qur’ān asked by Nāfi‘ ibn al-Azraq and answered by ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbās
with reference to classical pre-Islamic Arabic poetry.
In the 8th century Kitāb al-‘Ayn, the first dictionary
of Arabic language, was written by al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad al-Farāhīdī (d.
170/786), mostly based on his knowledge of Arabic as his primary source, so
that this book became the foundation texts of Arabic linguistics. He was the
teacher of some greatest scholars of Arabic language, such as: Sībawayh, al-Aṣma‘ī,
al-Kisā’ī, and Hārūn ibn Mūsā al-Naḥwī.
In the 9th century Ishtiqāq al-Asmā’ by ‘Abd al-Malik al-Aṣma‘ī
(d. 216/831) contains rare information, perhaps not found anywhere else, on the
origins of certain Arabic words. He was a student of some of the greatest
scholars of Islamic history, such as: Mālik ibn Anas, Sufyān al-Thawrī, al-Khalīl
ibn Aḥmad al-Farāhīdī, Ibn Idrīs al-Shāfi‘ī, Ibn al-`Alā' and al-Kisā’ī.
In this period Abū
‘Ubayd al-Qāsim ibn Sallām (d. ca. 224/839) spent forty years writing
his book Gharīb al-Ḥadīth dealing with difficult and unusual words used
in the Ḥadīth of the Prophet s.a.w. This book is extremely
important to know the interpretation of the sayings of the Prophet s.a.w.
It is also in this
period the Persian scholar Sahl al-Tustarī (d. 283/896) wrote a dictionary of
genders of Arabic words entitled al-Mudhakkar wa ’l-Mu’annath.
In the 10th
century al-Ṣāḥib ibn ‘Abbād (d. 385/995), a Persian Shī‘ī scholar, a poet and a
grand vizier of the Buwayhid (Buyid) Dynasty wrote his dictionary al-Muḥīṭ fī ‘l-Lughah comprising 1300 pages.
In the 11th
century Ismā‘īl ibn Ḥammād al-Jawharī (d. 393/1003) wrote his dictionary Tāj
al-Lughah wa Ṣiḥāḥ al-‘Arabiyyah. This dictionary and an abridged version
of it called Mukhtaṣar al-Ṣiḥāḥ by Abū Bakr al-Rāzī are still commonly
used to this day.
In this period Ibn
Fāris (d. 395/1004), the great Persian scholar and writer of Arabic
linguistics, poetry, the Qur’ān and other topics wrote, among other things, his
Maqāyīs al-Lughah based on:
Kitab al-‘Ayn by al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad, Gharīb al-Ḥadīth and al-Gharīb
al-Muṣannaf by Abū ‘Ubayd al-Qāsim ibn Sallām, Kitāb al-Mantiq by
Ibn al-Sikkīt (d. 244/858) and Jamharat al-Lughah by Ibn Durayd (d.
321/933).
One of the most
extensive dictionaries of Arabic language in this period was al-Muḥkam wa
’l-Muḥīṭ al-A‘ẓam by Abū
’l-Ḥasan ‘Ali ibn Ismā‘īl, commonly known as Ibn Sīdah al-Mursī al-Andalusī (d.
458/1066). This dictionary made 28 volumes in print.
In the 12th
century al-Zamakhsharī (d. 538/1143) the great scholar of the sciences of Ḥadīth,
the interpretation of the Qur’ān, Arabic linguistics and Arabic literary
expression, besides his Tafsīr al-Qur’ān, wrote Asās al-Balāghah,
a dictionary and phrasebook concerning the art of using Arabic language in the
best manner found in the Qur’ān and in the autstanding Arabic poetry.
In
this period Abū Mūsā al-Madīnī (d. 581/1185) wrote al- al-Majmū‘ al-Mughīth fī Gharīb al-Qur’ān wa ’l-Ḥadīth, a dictionary
dealing with interpreting difficult and ambiguous words and expressions used in
the Qur’ān and the Ḥadīth.
It is also in this
period al-Rāghib al-Asfahānī (d. 502/1109) wrote his dictionary al-Mufradāt
fi Gharīb al-Qur'ān and is still widely used to this day.
In the 13th century Majd al-Dīn ibn
al-Athīr al-Jazarī (d. 606/1210), a judge and a scholar of Ḥadīth and
Arabic linguistics of the city of Mosul, wrote his dictionary al-Nihāyah fī
Gharīb al-Ḥadīthth wa ’l-Athar dealing with rare and unusual words,
expressions and usages in the Ḥadīth, the Qur’ān and Arabic literature. Majd
al-Dīn ibn al-Athīr’s younger brother was ‘Alī Ibn al-Athīr, the famous
historian.
In this period the Andalusian scholar Muḥammad
Ibn Mālik (d. 672/1274) who was best known for his Alfiyyah, a
versification of the rules of Arabic grammar, wrote a small thesaurus al-Alfāẓ
al-Mukhtalifah fī ’l-Ma‘ānī al-Mu'talifah.
In the 14th
century Ibn Manẓūr, a Libyan lexicographer of the Arabic language wrote a large
dictionary called Lisān al-ʿArab (the tongue of the Arabs). His full
name was: Muḥammad ibn Mukarram ibn ‘Alī
ibn Aḥmad al-Ansārī (belonging to al-Anṣār) al-Ifrīqī (the African) al-Misrī
(the Egyptian) al-Khazrajī (belonging to Khazraj tribe in Madinah), also known
as Jamāl al-Dīn Abū ’l-Fadl, better known as Ibn Manẓūr
and Ibn Mukarram (d. 711/1311-2). He was one of the descendants of the
Prophet’s companion Ruwayfi‘ al-Anṣārī. He was born in 630/1233 in Egypt
according to majority of historians, and others say he was born in Algeria,
Tunisia, or Libya. Ibn Hajar reported that he was a judge (qāḍī) in
Tripoli (Libya) after he had become a clerk in the Dīwān al-Inshā’ which
was responsible, among other things, for correspondence, archiving, and copying
in Egypt. He studied philology and works on historical philology. He was said
to have left about 500 volumes of his books. He died in 711/1311-2 approaching his 82 years
of age.
Ibn
Manẓūr studied under many scholars, among them were: Murtaḍā Ḥātim, ‘Abd al-Raḥmān
ibn Ṭufayl, Abū ‘-Ḥasan al-Baghdādī, al-Ṣābūnī, and Yūsuf al-Mukhayyilī. He wrote
about the poet Abū Nuwās entitled Akhbār Abī Nuwas (“The Stories of Abū
Nuwās”) which was considered the most complete source of Abū Nuwās’s biography,
anecdotes, poetry, and shamelessness.
Ibn Manẓūr was known for abridging
books, so that it was said that he had abridged well-known books available in
his time, such as Kitāb al-Aghāni which he called Mukhtār al-Aghāni
fī ‘l-Akhbār wa l-Tahānī, al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī’s Ta’rīkh Baghdād in 10 vols., Ibn ‘Asākir’s Tārīkh
Dimashq, al-Jāḥiẓ’s al-Ḥayawān, Abū Manṣūr al-Tha‘ālibī’s
Yatīmat al-Dahr, Ibn Bassām al-Andalusī’s al-Dhakhīrah fī Maḥāsin Ahl
al-Jazīrah (and called it Laṭā’if al-Dhakhīrah),
al-Ḥuṣarī al-Qayrawānī’s Zahr al-Ādāb wa Thamar al-Albāb, Ibn ‘Abd
Rabbih’s al-‘Iqd al-Farīd, Ibn al-Bayṭār’s Mufradāt, and Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf
al-Tīfāshī’s Faṣl al-Khiṭāb (and called it Surūr al-Nafs bi-Madārik al-Ḥawās
al-Khams).
Ibn Manẓūr had a very high position as a major source in Arabic
literature, a scholar in jurisprudence and language, a historian, encompassing
all sources of Arabic grammar, history and writings. His most comprehensive
work was Lisān al-‘Arab (“the Tongue of the Arabs”). It is one of the
largest and most detailed and comprehensive dictionaries of the Arabic language
and literature, as it contained about eighty thousand subjects, such as:
philology, grammar, Islamic jurisprudence, literature, tafsīr and ḥadīth.
Through its minute examination and study the Arabic vocabulary became
illustrious and one of the riches dictionaries. It contained twenty thousand
subjects more than those found in al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ of al-Fīrūzābādī. It
was very accurate, where contradictory reports were mentioned and the more
acceptable of them. This encyclopedia also mentioned the origins of names of
tribes, people, places, and others.
Lisān al-‘Arab was completed in 689/1290, consisting of fifteen volumes. It was printed
in the 18th century in Istanbul, Turkey. In print it was between fifteen
and twenty volumes depending on the edition. It was edited by a group of
Egyptian scholars supervised by the scholar Muḥammad al-Ḥusaynī, printed in Dār
al-Ṭibā‘ah al-‘Āmirah, Bulaq, Cairo, Egypt, in 1883-1890 in 20 volumes, and in
Beirut, it was printed in 1955-56 in 15 volumes.
The contents of Lisān
al-‘Arab are based on five of the most trusted references of the Arabic
language:
1. Tahdhīb al-Lughah by
Abū Manṣūr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Azharī
(d. 370/980). It was the biggest and the
best book written on Arabic language, and was the greatest contribution to the
dictionary Lisān al-‘Arab
2. al-Muḥkam wa ’l-Muḥīṭ al-A‘ẓam by Abū al Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Ismā‘īl Ibn Sīdah (d. 458/1066),
3. Tāj
al-Lughah wa Ṣiḥāḥ al-‘Arabiyyah by al-Jawharī (d. ca. 393/1003),
4. Abū Muḥammad
ibn Barrī’s commentary of al Jawharī’s Ṣiḥāḥ
(d. 582/1178), and
5. al-Nihāyah fī Gharīb al-Ḥadīth wa ’l-Athar, by ‘Izz al-Dīn Ibn al-Athīr (d. 630/1233).
This indispensable dictionary is available in bookstores
as well as in the internet where it can be downloaded.
(Turner,
24 March, 2017)
المصادر:
المكتبة الشاملة
الراغب الأصفهاني. مُفْرَدَاتُ أَلْفَاظِ الْقُرْآن
عبد الله بن عباس.
كتاب غريب القرآن.
Ibn Manẓūr, Abū al-Fal Jamāl al Dīn Muḥammad, Lisān
al ‘Arab 15 vols. (Beirut: Dār Ṣādir lil Țibā‘ah wa ’l Nashr, [1374-
5]/1955-1956).
Cowan, J.W. (editor). Hans Wehr Dictionary of
Modern Written Arabic.
http://weziwezi.com
/من-هو-مؤلف-كتاب-لسان-العرب
