Al-Jurjani's (d. c. 730 AH) corrections to Ibn al-Hajib in his commentary on al-Kafiya al-Hajibiya

Abstract

Since the book Al-Mufassal fi Ilm al-Arabiyya by Al-Zamakhshari (d. 538 AH) appeared, scholars have been engaged with it, and have written explanations, marginal notes, and commentaries for it. Then Ibn al-Hajib (d. 646 AH), the famous grammarian, became preoccupied with it and quoted extensively from it in his abridgment “Al-Kafiya fi al-Nahw.” This abridgment received acceptance and attention from students and scholars, so they devoted themselves to it, memorizing it, studying it, and taking care of it with memorization, explanations, and marginal notes, and striving to enrich it with evidence, comments, and corrections.

Among those who contributed to explaining and enriching it was Muhammad ibn Ali al-Jurjani (d. around 730 AH) in his book “The Arabic Studies in Explaining the Hajibiya Introduction.” He explained its limits, issues, and words, and delved into the meaning of its expressions and indications. He also included in the explanation what specialists in his time were transmitting in terms of opinions, guidance, and grammatical evidence, and what they were based on in terms of proofs and reasoning. His position on Ibn al-Hajib was varied, as he was mostly in agreement with him, but sometimes he would object to him and correct him. Moreover, he recorded valuable corrections to his abridgment “Al-Kafiya fi al-Nahw.”

This research deals with Al-Jurjani’s corrections to Ibn Al-Hajib, examining them and presenting them in three sections. The first section is dedicated to corrections related to nouns, the second to corrections related to verbs, and the third to those related to letters.

This research seeks to determine the importance of the corrections, their scientific value, the extent of the need for them, and to judge them in terms of originality or transmission, and to identify the scientific and logical considerations that Al-Jurjani relied on in recording the corrections and explaining them.