Al-Zamakhshari: Difference between revisions

| birth_place = [[Izmukshir|Zamakhshar]], [[Khwarazm]]

| death_place = [[Gurganj]], [[Khwarazmian Empire]]

| creed jurisprudence = Mu'tazilaHanafi

'''Abu AlQasimal-Qasim MahmoudMahmud ibn OmarUmar Alal-Zamakhshari''' ({{Lang-ar|الزمخشري}}; 1074 –1143) was a medieval Muslim scholar of [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] descent.<ref>{{EI2|last=Versteegh|first=C.H.M.|title=al-Zamak̲h̲s̲h̲arī|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/al-zamakhshari-SIM_8108?lang=en|volume=11}}</ref> He travelled to [[Mecca|Makkah]] and settled there for five years and has been known since then as 'Jar Allah' ‘God’s(God's Neighbor’Neighbor).<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Arifuddin|first=Arifuddin|date=2018|title="The Contextual Meanings of Grammatical Tense Meaning: Syntactical and semantic study"|journal=Journal of Linguistics and Literary Studies|volume=9|issue=1|pages=24–40|doi=10.31436/jlls.v9i1.607|doi-access=free}}</ref> He was a [[Mu'tazila|Mu'tazilite]] theologian, linguist, poet and interpreter of the Quran.  He is best known for his book [[Al-Kashshaaf|Al-Kashshaf]], which interprets and linguistically analyzes Quranic expressions and the use of figurative speech for conveying meaning. This work is a primary source for all major linguists; however, some of its [[Muʿtazila|Mu’tazila]] philosophical ideas were rejected by [[Ibn Kathir]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Fudge|first=Bruce|date=2006|title=Andrew J. Lane, A Traditional Muctazilite Qurcān Commentary: The Kashshāf of Jār Allāh al-Zamakhsharī (d. 538/1144)|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/jqs.2006.8.2.131|journal=Journal of Qur'anic Studies|volume=8|issue=2|pages=131–134|doi=10.3366/jqs.2006.8.2.131|issn=1465-3591}}</ref>

His full name was Abu Al-Qasim Mahmoud ibn Omar ibn Mohammed ibn Omar Al-Khawarizmi Al-Zamakhshari.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Husam|first=Gassan Ali|date=2021-02-28|title=The effect of recitation Al- A' mash on directing the Qur'anic text of Al- Zamakhshari in Al- kashaf: An analytical study|journal=Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences|volume=5|issue=2|doi=10.26389/ajsrp.m140920|issn=2522-3380|doi-access=free}}</ref> He was also referred to as "Fakhr [[Khwarazm|Khawarizm]]" ‘Khawarizm("The Pride’Pride of Khwarazm") because people travelled to KhawarizmKhwarazm, a large oasis in what is now the southwestern part of [[Turkmenistan]], to learn from him about the Quran and Arabic language.<ref name=":1" /> He was born on Wednesday,18 March 18 of 1074 in [[Izmukshir|Zamakhshar —]], which iswas a large city of [[KhawarizmKhwarazm]] at the time.<ref name=":0" />

Al-Zamakhshari grew up in Zamakhshar and studied there for a while, then he travelled to many places in [[Central Asia]] including the city of [[Bukhara]] in modern [[Uzbekistan]], the Iranian cities of [[Greater Khorasan|Khurasan]] and [[Isfahan]], as well as [[Baghdad]], where he met some political officials and praised them.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Zwemer|first=Samuel M.|date=2009-12-31|title=Moslem Women|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.31826/9781463220358|doi=10.31826/9781463220358|isbn=9781463220358}}</ref> The main reason for his travels was to learn more about poetry, religion and Arabic grammar. He travelled then to Makkah, where he met the prince at the time, Abi AlHasan Ali bin Hamzah bin Wahas Al-Shareef Al-Hasany, who had written extensively about Arabic prose and verse principles.<ref name=":1" /> After two years, Al-Zamakhshari went back to Khawarizim, but he could not resist his nostalgia for Makkah, the holy mosque, and his teachers there. So, he travelled again to Makkah and stayed for three years. Later, he travelled to Baghdad and then to Khawarizim where he died.<ref name=":3" />

Al-Zamakhshari is reputed to have lost one of his legs, a fact that literature on his life explains variously. In one version of the story, Al-Damaghani stated that he asked Al-Zamakhshari about his leg, and he told him that when he was a child, he put a rope on a bird’sbird's leg.<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal|last=Mohammad|first=Z|date=2020|title=Lifting the Illusion of Imam Al-Zamakhshari on Some Grammatical Issues|journal=Journal of Tikrit University for Humanities|volume=27|issue=4|pages=109–126|doi=10.25130/jtuh.27.4.2020.06|s2cid=255220037|doi-access=free}}</ref> So, when the bird attempted to fly, its leg was cut off. Al-Zamakhsari’sZamakhsari's mother saw this and wished him the same, so he could feel the bird’sbird's pain. Later, on his way to Bukhara, he fell off the horse and broke his leg, and it was later amputated. Others like [[Ibn Khallikan|Ibn Khalkan]] argued that his constant travels in the very cold weather of Khawarizm were the reason for his leg loss.<ref name=":2" />

Al-Zamakhshari learned a lot from the well-known teachers at the time. One of his teachers was Abu Mudhar Mahmoud ibn Jarir Al-Dhabi Al-Asfahani who was called by his peers Fareed Asruh: ‘the most brilliant scholar of his time’.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=S.|first=Hodgson, Marshall G.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1158413117|title=The venture of Islam : conscience and history in a world civilization.|date=1977|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-34683-0|oclc=1158413117}}</ref> He taught Al-Zamakhshari [[syntax]] and literature. Al-Zamakhashari highly appreciated this teacher and was distraught when he died in 1113.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Names.|first=Canada. Natural Resources Canada. Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/987160626|title=Aboriginal place names: charting our heritage.|date=2004|publisher=Geographical Names Section, Natural Resources Canada|oclc=987160626}}</ref> Furthermore, Al-Zamakhshari studied literature and [[Prosody (linguistics)|prosody]] from Abu Ali Al-Hasan bin Al-Mudhaffar Al-Nisaburi.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last=Zaidan|first=J|title=Târîkh alAdab al'Arabiyyah 'History of Arabic Language Literature'|publisher=Lebanon: Dâr al-Maârif|year=1999}}</ref> He also drew some of his philosophico-religious ideas from his teachers Abu Mansur Nasr Al-Harthi, Abu Sa’ad Al-Shaga’I, and Abu Al-Khattab bin Al-Batar.<ref name=":2" /> While in Makkah, he learned about rhetoric and morphosyntax from Abu al-Hussain ali ibn Hamzah bin Wahas, who in turn learned from Al-Zamakhshari about Quranic interpretations and the principles governing the use of literary devices used in Quran.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ahmad Khan|first=Israr|date=2014-06-01|title=Identifying Preface in the Quranic Surahs: A New Methodology of Quranic Interpretation|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.22452/quranica.vol6no1.1|journal=International Journal of Quranic Research|volume=6|issue=1|pages=1–16|doi=10.22452/quranica.vol6no1.1|issn=2590-4167|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Al-Zamakhshari was not exclusively committed to either [[Grammarians of Basra|the Basri]] nor [[Grammarians of Kufa|the Kufi]] analytical approach over the other, but took from both what validated his hypotheses. Some attributed this linguistic behaviour to his Mu’tazalah philosophical ideas, which freed his soul and encouraged him to have a comprehensive perspective of life.<ref name=":5" /> Nevertheless, if there was a need to put his name under a specific school, then he would have followed the Baghdad school, whose approaches follow that of Al-Basri school in some cases while following Al-Kufi’sKufi's approaches in others. A teaching of the Basri school is regarding the verb in ((هل زيد قام؟  ‘Did Zayd stand?’ as a subject of an [[Ellipsis (linguistics)|elided]] verb expressed by the verb قام  ‘stand’.<ref name=":3" /> On the other hand, the Kufi school rejects viewing the noun as a subject, and argues that it is a topic. Another example showing where he followed the Kufi school is analyzing the verb حدّث  ‘tell’ as a verb that takes three objects. As in, فمن حدثتموهـ له علينا العلاء ‘the one you told about the priority’, where the 1st object is ‘the one’, the 2nd is the attached pronoun to the verb هـ, and the 3rd is the prepositional phrase. However, the Basri school rejected this view and regarded ‘tell’ as a ditransitive verb.<ref name=":5" />

''Al-Kashshaf'' (a.k.a. 'The Revealer; Quran Interpretation’) was written in the 12th century.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|last=AlZamakhshari|first=A|editor1-first=Javād|editor1-last=ʿabbāsī|title=Tafsir AlKashaf|publisher=Beirut:DarAlKutub AlcIlmiyyah|year=2006|doi=10.1163/9789004402195|isbn=9789004402195}}</ref> It is the best known work of Al-Zamakhshari. Indeed, many linguists throughout history have attributed Al-Zamakhshari’sZamakhshari's fame to this book.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|last=Esposito|first=John L.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50280143|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam|year=2003|isbn=978-0-19-512559-7|location=New York: Oxford University Press|oclc=951429160}}</ref> The name of this book (Al-Kashshaf) is derived from the verb kashaf ‘to uncover’. Thus, this book attempts to uncover the syntactic and semantic ambiguities of Quranic expressions. In the text, Al-Zamakhshari explained his motivation, impetus and goals for constructing it. In fact, he once admitted that he was hesitant to write this book, as he thought he might not have the skills needed to interpret the Quran appropriately. He said that whenever he was teaching his students and mentioning a Quranic verse, his students seemed to learn new meanings they have never come across before. As he continued to do that, students were more interested in Quranic interpretation than in other subject matters.<ref name=":7" /> So, when he told them he would write a book about all those meanings, they could not wait and encouraged him.<ref name=":2" />

This book was a primary source for linguists as well as learners of Arabic and Quran, regardless of its [[Muʿtazila|Mu’tazile]] approach, a rationalist school of Islamic theology in Baghdad and AlBasrah.<ref name=":5" /> In fact, most of the following scholars used Al-Zamakhshari’sZamakhshari's stylistic, semantic and syntactic approaches when composing their works.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /> In this book, Al-Zamakhshari tried to show the beauty and richness of the Arabic language, derive proverbs, explain expressions with multiple meanings, and dive into the science of rhetoric.<ref name=":7" />

Among the features that distinguish this book is its understandable language even for learners of Arabic and its lack of redundancy.<ref name=":7" /> Another feature is that it depends on Arab speakers’ styles of communicating meanings and using their figurative speech.<ref name=":5" /> Moreover, the method of explanation followed the question/answer pattern, starting with ‘if I told you…. What would you say?’ and the answer  would be ‘I say….’. [[Ibn Khaldun]] (1332 –1406) in ''Al-Muqadimah'' ‘The Introduction’ (1377) says that this interrogative style is what made it easier to follow for readers of different educational backgrounds.<ref name=":8" />

Al-Zamakhshari’sZamakhshari's ''Al-Mofassal Fi Sina’at Al-E’rab'' ‘Detailed Analyses of Arabic Parsing’ (1120 – 1122 AD) is considered by Arabic grammarians to be one of the most influential books about Arabic syntax (and morphosyntax).<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal|last=Grodzki|first=Marcin|date=2011|title=The Grammatical Treatise Al-Mufaṣṣal fī ṣan'at al-i'rāb of Abū al-Qāsim az-Zamaḫšarī (Died 1144 A.D.) – a Masterpiece of Arab Grammar|url=https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0080-3545|journal=Arab Scientific Heritage Journal|volume=1|issue=1|pages=43–51|issn=0080-3545}}</ref> Indeed, some grammarians believed that it is the second syntactic book after [[Sibawayh|Sibawayh’sSibawayh's]] books on Arabic grammar because Al-Zamakhshari talked about every syntactic and morphological aspect of the Arabic language.<ref name=":5" /> He started writing this book towards the end of 513 AH and finished it at the beginning of 515 AH (1122 AD), which means that it did not take him more than a year and four months.<ref name=":10" /> This work has been celebrated throughout history by different linguists and was translated in the modern era to different languages, such as German in 1873.<ref name=":1" />

Al-Zamakhshari believed that interpreting the Quran was not an easy task. This seemed only possible for educated linguists whose language is pure Arabic, and who have achieved a deep knowledge of the different syntactic and semantic relations that different structures could bear. Indeed, he believed that trying to interpret the Quran without having linguistic knowledge might result in a false interpretation of God’sGod's intended meanings and cause further problems, as the Quran is the major source upon which all life matters are based. Since the language of the Quran is Arabic, Al-Zamakhshari thought that writing this book would help people better grasp the richness of the Arabic language and better understand its different interpretations.<ref name=":10" />

According to Grodzki (2011), what distinguishes ''Al-Mofassal Fi Sina’at Al-E’rab'' from other Arabic syntactic books is Al-Zamakhshari’sZamakhshari's attempt to avoid digression to allow his readers to follow smoothly, which is the result of giving each topic its deserved time and space. He considered Al-Zamakhshari’sZamakhshari's style to be clear, simple, and succinct. He also believed that Al-Zamakhshari did not attempt to extensively explain his ideas unless they addressed grammatical issues raised in the Quran or poetry, in which case he provided his readers with detailed explanations.<ref name=":11">{{Cite journal|last=AlZamakhshari|first=A|url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/19606028_026_02-53|title=Sharh AlMufassal|journal=Oriens|publisher=Oriens. Beirut: Dar Ul Kutub Il Ilmiya|year=1959|volume=12|issue=1|pages=278–279|doi=10.1163/19606028_026_02-53}}</ref>

This linguistic work enjoyed attention since the time it saw the light.<ref name=":10" /> Many linguists and scientists wrote books explaining, comparing, or commenting on this work. [[Jurji Zaydan]] once wrote in his 1943 book ''Tarikh Adab Al-Lughah Al-Arabiyyah'' ‘History of Arabic Language Literature’ that the reason Al-Zamakhshari’sZamakhshari's ''Al-Muffassal'' was accepted by people is that King Issa Ibn Ayyob — who was a syntactician — admired this book and assigned 100 [[Dinar]] and a house to whoever memorized it. Moreover, this book was one of the (few and) most influential books taught in Al-Sham (Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine), Egypt, Iraq, Al-Hijaz (the Western part of Saudi Arabia) and Yemen throughout the 7th and 8th centuries AH (1204 – 1301 AD). Indeed, its influence went further to reach Al-Andalus (the Iberian Peninsula) where people were also interested in the Arabic language.<ref name=":11" />

''Asas Al-Balaghah'' ‘The Foundation of Eloquence’ (first published in 1998) is a thesaurus and dictionary of Arabic words.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book|last=AlZamakhshari|first=A|title=AlKalim AlNawābigh|publisher=Egypt: AlTaba‘ Mahfuza|year=1935}}</ref> For each word, Al-Zamakhshari provided its meaning, some of its uses in the Quran, Muhammad’sMuhammad's sayings, poetry, or proverbs. Furthermore, he represented and analyzed some uses of this word in figurative speech and provided contexts where it can be found in everyday language. The content of this text was organized alphabetically. This work was best known as the earliest fully alphabetical lexicography that combines literal definitions and metaphorical material.<ref name=":5" /> He excluded rare or borrowed words. His goal was to highlight that word choice can play a significant role in enhancing the rhetoric of a text or speech.<ref name=":12" />

''Maqamat Al-Zamakhshari'' ‘Al-Zamakhshari’sZamakhshari's Principles’ (first published in 1982) is a literary work. It began with an introduction praising God for all his blessings and asking readers to carefully read this book and understand the purpose behind the use of each word. Al-Zamakhshari then provided a religious sermon followed by his fifty principles. Those principles talked about different topics. Some of them were about generosity, seriousness, bravery, thanking, advice-giving, death, syntax, prosody, and the life of Arabs in the past.<ref name=":5" />

Some of the 7th and 8th centuries scholars have attributed different points of view to Al-Zamakhshari on different topics. However, some books and other historical pieces of evidence from the 7th century showed that some of these views attributed to him were not based on sound ground and that most judgments lacked supporting evidence. One of the competing claims about Al-Zamakhshari is his analysis of the co-occurrence of the interrogative prefix /Ɂʔ-/ with the conjunction words in Arabic, especially in Quranic verses.<ref name=":13">{{Cite journal|last=Ashnani|first=A|date=2018|title=A Comparative Study of Views of AlZamakhshari and Allama Tabataba'i on Comprehension of Qur'anic Interrogatives|journal=Andisheh Allameh|volume=4|issue=7|pages=119–138}}</ref>

=== Interrogative particle ''al-hamza'' /Ɂʔ-/ ===

In Arabic, the [[interrogative]] prefix /Ɂʔ-/ attaches to nominal and verbal sentences to form a yes/no question. Thus, it is used to check information and ask for confirmation or verification. Most of the time, it is prioritized in a sentence, so it may precede [[Conjunction (grammar)|conjunction]] particles, [[Preposition and postposition|prepositions]], the [[complementizer]] [Ɂnnaʔnna] and direct objects (in case of verbal sentences). Indeed, this prefix is viewed as the default interrogative in Arabic.<ref name=":13" /> However, other interrogative particles (which are used to ask yes/no questions or those similar to English wh-question words) usually follow [[Conjunction (grammar)|conjunctions]], namely [wa], [fa] and [θumma], as in:

Fa        hal                yahliku              yuhlaku illa       Ɂal ʔal-qawm-u      Ɂal ʔal-fasiqu:n

CONJ.  INTROG.   destroy-PRES   exept   except DEF-people-NOM DEF-immoral

When using the interrogative [[Bound and free morphemes#:~:text=In linguistics, a bound morpheme,a type of free form.|bound morpheme]] /Ɂʔ-/, most of the time that it precedes any conjunctions, as in:

(أو كلَما عاهدوا عهداً)                                

Ɂʔ-wa                      kull-ma      ʕahad-u                      ʕahd-an

INTROG-CONJ   every-time  promise(V)-3rd Pl       promise-Acc

        “Has it not always been so that every time they made a covenant?” (The Quran, 2:100) <ref name=":14" />

In light of this, [[Ibn Hisham al-Ansari|Ibn Hisham]] an 8th-century Egyptian grammarian argued that Al-Zamakhshari was the first one to make this analysis, arguing for an elliptical structure between the interrogative prefix and the conjunction particle.<ref name=":5" /> On the other hand, [[Abū Hayyān al-Tawhīdī|Abu Hayyan]] a 10th-century linguist and philosopher agreed with Sibawahi and strongly rejected Al-Zamakhsahri’sZamakhsahri's analysis, and indeed called it the “Zamakhshariyyan trend”.<ref name=":13" />

Still, another linguist known as [[Muhammad Arafa al-Desouki|Al-Dosugi]] disagreed with Ibn Hisham’sHisham's view that Al-Zamakhshari was the first one to come up with this analysis; rather, he was convinced that Al-Zamakhshari’sZamakhshari's analysis is a follow -up of what other earlier linguists had already discussed, but Al-Dosugi was not sure who first came up with this analysis.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":15">{{Cite journal|last=Naz, F., & Bashir, H. M.|date=2019|title=The Semantics Links by Conjunctions in the Selected Quranic Chapters As Discussed by Al-Zamakhshari and Abu Hayyan From the First Chapter "Al-Fatiha" to the End of Surah "Al-Anas"|journal=Ma'arif-e-Islami (Islamic Knowledge)|volume=18|issue=2}}</ref> This view seemed to have a supporting piece of evidence because Ibn Hayyan said that Mohammad bin Masoud Al-Ghazni argued for an elided verbal phrase between the interrogative prefix and the conjunction particle, but the literature about this linguist and his analytical approaches seem to be very limited.<ref name=":5" /> Nevertheless, historical references showed that he (i.e., Mohammad bin Masoud Al-Ghazni) died in 1029 AD, whereas Al-Zamakhshari was born in 1074 AD.<ref name=":13" /> This verifies what Al-Dosugi argued for and proves that Al-Zamakhshari was a follower, not an initiator, of this analytical approach.<ref name=":15" />

Zamakhsharyyan ''Lan'' ‘Al-Zamakhshari’sZamakhshari's [[Negation]]’ was another topic that divided scholars to agree or disagree with him. In his view, Al-Zamakhshari defined the [[Negation in Arabic#:~:text=Negation in Arabic (Arabic: ٱلنَّفْي,English like no and not.|negation]] particle ''lan'' as a particle that negates present tense verbs with present and future references.<ref name=":16">{{Cite book|last=Ullah|first=K|title=AlKashshaf: AlZamakhshari's Mu'tazilite Exegesis of the Qur'an|publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG|year=2017}}</ref> To him, it is like ‘never’ in English where it has a sense of continuous negation, i.e., where negation extends beyond the present to negate any possible chances for a particular event or state to take place in the future (cf. He is not married. He will never get married). Al-Zamakhshari gave various examples to validate his analysis, such as:<ref name=":16" />

lan      t-aran-i

NEG    3rd Sg.PRES-see-OBJ.PRO

lan      ya-khlouq-ou               thobab-an

NEG    PRES-create-3rd PL    fly-ACC

وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَاضِرَةٌ * إِلَىإِلَى رَبِّهَارَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ ﴾ [القيامة: 22، 23]﴿

Lan      ya-tamana-au-hu                     abad-an

NEG    PRES-wish-3rd PL-OBJ.PRO never-ACC

In this example, Ibn Hisham argued against Al-Zamakhshari’sZamakhshari's view because he believed that if ''lan'' had a continuous negation sense, then it would be redundant to say ''abadanan'' ‘never’ in the same verse, which is never the case. So, this proves that ''lan'' acts as a normal negative particle, like ‘not’ in English.

f-lan                 u-kalim                       al-yaoum insiy-an

then-NEG       1st SG.PRES-speak     DEF-day human-ACC

In this example, Ibn Hisham also refuted Al-Zamakhshari’sZamakhshari's view because if ''lan'' meant ‘never’, then why its meaning would be constricted by the time adverbial word ‘today’ in the same verse? <ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> This again proved that Al-Zamkhsahri’sZamkhsahri's analysis of ''lan'' as a continuous negator is not applicable and is mainly affected by his theological ideas.<ref name=":6" />

[[Category:IranianGrammarians grammariansfrom Iran]]

[[Category:Scholars offrom the Khwarazmian Empire]]