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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, )71:سِ(التكوير َِ عسْ َع َِ َِواللَّيْلِِإ َذا 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: ِ )71:نِ ْالمُعْ ص َراتِِ َماءِِ َثجَّ اجاِ(ِالنبأ َِ َوأَ ْن َز ْل َناِم 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” ِ ص ُر َ ( ُتعْ َِت ) ُِّأَيْ ِ َتصُب,ب ْال َم َطر, but could also mean “clouds that bring cyclone”
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)( َتأْتي ِباألَعْ صار. 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 alAzraq by the Prophet’s cousin Abdullah ibn ‘Abbās (d. 68/687). It containedِ 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, alKisā’ī, and Hārūn ibn Mūsā al-Naḥwī. In the 9th century Ishtiqāq al-Asmā’ by ‘Abd al-Malik alAṣma‘ī (d. 276/837) 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
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(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. 395/7001), 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 alLughah 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 ’lḤasan ‘Ali ibn Ismā‘īl, commonly known as Ibn Sīdah al-Mursī al-Andalusī (d. 158/7066). 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. 587/7785) wrote alal-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.
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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. 612/7211) 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 alʿArab (the tongue of the Arabs). His full name was: Muḥammad ibn Mukarram ibn ‘Alī ibn Aḥmad al-Ansārī (belonging to alAnṣār) al-Ifrīqī (the African) al-Misrī (the Egyptian) al-Khazrajī (belonging to Khazraj tribe in Madinah), also known as Jamāl alDīn 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
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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 alAghāni 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 alḤayawān, 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 alFarīd, Ibn al-Bayṭār’s Mufradāt, and Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf alTīfāshī’s Faṣl al-Khiṭāb (and called it Surūr al-Nafs bi-Madārik alḤawās 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
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1883-1890 in 20 volumes, and in Beirut, it was printed in 195556 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 المكتبةِالشاملة ُ ِ ُم ْف َرد.الراغبِاألصفهاني َات َِأ ْل َفاظِا ْل ُقرْ آن ِ .ِكتابِغريبِالقرآن.عبدِهللاِبنِعباس Ibn Manẓūr, Abū al-Fal Jamāl al Dīn Muḥammad, Lisān al ‘Arab 75 vols. (Beirut: Dār Ṣādir lil Țibā‘ah wa ’l Nashr, [73115]/1955-1956). Cowan, J.W. (editor). Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Manzur https://www.amazon.com/Lisan-al-Arab-Ibn-Manzur/dp/ 9953131953 http://weziwezi.com /العرب-لسان-كتاب-مؤلف-هو-من http://lisaan.net/