Arabic Literature

Abstract The science of naḥw or Arabic grammar discusses the relationship between the words of a sentence, with the aim of teaching Arabic speakers how to speak, read and write correctly, so that there is no problem in understanding and being understood. Muslim grammarians, from the late 1st century AH until now, have produced valuable works on the Arabic language and its grammar that perhaps have no equal in any other language, although they may have gone to extremes in this regard. Undoubtedly, when an experienced researcher carefully examines works such as "I'rab Al-Alfiyah of Ibn Malik", they will observe that the authors of these books have made mistakes in the analysis of some of the manṣūbāt (accusative nouns/objects); because identifying the role of marfū'āt (nominative nouns), majrūrāt (genitive nouns) and majzūmāt (jussive verbs) is relatively easy, but determining the role of some manṣūbāt is sometimes difficult. The authors of the article attempt to critique and analyze these errors by relying on the fifth chapter of the book "Mughnī al-Labīb". This article aims, through a critical analytical descriptive method and relying on Ibn Hisham's ten critiques of the mu'ribūn in chapter five of Mughnī al-Labīb, to identify the mistakes of the mu'ribūn and work towards correcting them.

Abstract Mohammad Momen Jazayeri Shirazi Hindi (1074-1130 AH) was a prolific writer of the late Safavid period. His literary works amount to 39 books and treatises, most of which are in the form of manuscripts which have been neglected by researches. Few sources can be found on his biography and life except for those gathered and written by Ayatollah Marashi Najafi or some scattered notes written by himself in his works. The book Khazanet al-Khial (Treasure of Imagination) is one of his valuable works. It touches on various subjects such as literature, wisdom, sermons, debates, proverbs, history, and biographies. In this article, we examine the type of prose and writing style along with other literary features of this work according to the common literature of the Safavid era. The style of the book is rhymed prose, and it is replete with figures of speech, both verbal and abstract, which has made it look like the technical prose of maqama. However, despite the multiplicity of literary devices, it has fluent and understandable prose, and owing to the variety of subjects, it is not boring but fascinates the reader. One of its differences with maqama written by authors like Hamedani and Hariri is that each chapter has main and minor titles. Haj Mohammad Momen has derived a part of the contents of his book from the Quran, the hadiths, and writings of the early and late men of letters. Hence, we can find many instances of borrowing, adaptation, reiteration, and allusion to verses, hadiths, poems, and sayings everywhere in his book. Complete and sometimes calligraphic manuscripts of the book are available in Iran, along with two incomplete copies.

Abstract Because of its unique stylistic features, many scholars have written commentaries on al-Zamakhshari’s book al-Mufassal. One of the most famous ones is a manuscript commentary by Izz al-Din Kashi, who was an Iranian poet, author, and sculptor of the late seventh and early eighth centuries AH. In addition to numerous works in the field of Persian and Arabic poetry and prose, Izz al-Din Kashi has written Sharh al-Mufassal, which is an extensive commentary on the book al-Mufssal. The present article tries to examine the syntax of Sharh al-Mufassal in order to underline Izz al-Din Kashi’s role as a prominent Iranian figure. The use of plain language unlike the literary language used in Ibn al-Yaish’s commentary and the rational and logical language of Ibn al-Hajib’s commentary, his attention to lexical issues and causation, the explanation of the scope of syntactic terms, and the use of dialects in expressing syntactic discussions are among the features of this book. In his commentary, he is mostly from the followers of the visual school, but apparently, he does not want to play the role of a narrator who merely follows syntacticians, but in some cases, he criticizes the ideas of some of them, in particular, Zamakhshari and Ibn al-Hajib, and this reveals his independent scientific character. Moreover, this shows his mastery over Arabic language, as well as his deep understanding of Arabic grammar and linguistics. Kashi looks at terms with an open and deep view, and expands syntactic issues, without blindly following a person or a syntactic school. His works reflect the characteristics of his scientific personality. He is an example of a prominent Iranian author who has written a successful commentary. However, unfortunately, his name and scientific character have not been known to researchers so far and his works are in need of much research.