TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
All Praise belongs to Allah, Who has sent down the Qur’an to His Beloved Messenger as an Arabic Qur’an in order that we may understand. Peace and Blessings on our Master, Muhammad, the most eloquent articulator of the letter ض, his family, his companions and those who succeeded them until the Day of Reckoning.
It is with great pleasure th.at I offer this annotated translation of the famousĀjurrūmiyyah
to my Muslim brothers and sisters with the hope that it will contribute to a better understanding of the Arabic language and hence a better understanding of the Holy Qur’an and the PropheticSunnah
as well as the vast Islamic heritage that the best minds of the Muslim world have left behind.
About the Ājurrūmiyyah and its author
Of all the short texts and treatises that have been written on Arabic Grammar there is none that has enjoyed as much popularity around the world than theĀjurrūmiyyah
. It has been recorded from the author, Abū Abdillāh, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd al-Ṣanhājī, who wrote this text in Makkah whilst facing the Holy Ka‘bah that after he had written thisMuqaddimah
he threw it into the ocean and said: “If thisMuqaddimah
was written sincerely and purely for Allah’s sake then it should not get soaked with water” and the result was that when he recovered it from the sea it was still dry.
This most probably explains why this booklet has continued to enjoy widespread popularity since the day it first appeared up to this present day and that being so despite the existence of thousands of other Arabic Grammar works. Numerous commentaries of various sizes have been written on theĀjurrūmiyyah
and it has even been committed to verse. Even up to this very day students are still engaged in memorising it because of its brevity and easy style. Such is the bounty that Allah, All-Mighty has bestowed on the author of theĀjurrūmiyyah
and what a bounty - to have a book so small in size bring so much reward for its author. Surely such blessing and goodwill can only be the returns and proceeds of a Sincere and Pure Intention. May Allah reward the author richly and abundantly for not only presenting us with this excellent treatise on ArabicNaḥw
but also for teaching us the importance of a sincere and pure intention.
What the Ājurrūmiyyah does and does not do
When students begin to learn Arabic they are often not aware of what such learning really entails. Even well into their learning they might still not be aware of how wide a field Arabic study is and what is needed to become proficient in all the main areas. Often they are told to study this or that book without knowing precisely what its main focus or concentration is. Consequently, they spend a long time studying a particular work while they could have studied another work that is more suited to their specific needs. We will now take theĀjurrūmiyyah
and see exactly what it is that it does and does not do.
TheĀjurrūmiyyah
aims at doing the following:
Providing the student with a general framework within which to understand, think and communicate about ArabicNaḥw
rules in a clear and coherent fashion
Acquainting the student with the relevantNaḥw
terms, concepts and basic rules
Enabling students to perform simple and small-scale syntactic analysis (i‘rāb
)
Serving as an introduction to Arabic grammatical texts of much wider scope and much greater detail
Enabling the student to cover all the basicNaḥw
rules within a very short period of time
Equipping the student with the requisite grammatical knowledge needed (amongst other things) for performing basic communication tasks such as the production and reception of grammatically well-formed sentences
Providing the student with a working knowledge ofNaḥw
to enable him to tackle basic Islamic texts
On the other hand, theĀjurrūmiyyah
is essentially a basicNaḥw
text and not a full Arabic language course and as such it does not:
Develop the student’s productive and receptive skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing)
Build the student’s vocabulary except in the field ofNaḥw
Provide the student with an in-depth knowledge ofNaḥw
Give a comprehensive treatment ofṢarf
Cover any of the other Arabic linguistic sciences such as‘Ilm al-Balāghah
(rhetoric or stylistics),‘Ilm al-Lughah
(lexicology),‘Ilm al-‘Arūd
(prosody), etc.
Provide the students with exercises and drills i.e. it focuses only on theoreticalNaḥw
and not appliedNaḥw
The student, who, therefore, wishes to learn Arabic holistically, is advised to augment his Arabic studies with other Arabic language material. A comprehensive Arabic course will have to cover:
Arabic grammar, theoretical and applied in the form of exercises and drills
The four language skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening (i.e. Arabic production and comprehension)
Vocabulary building in the relevant fields and situational contexts (i.e. developing the student’s Arabic lexicon)
The textbooks that normally cover these areas of Arabic language study are of two kinds:
Textbooks that are general and comprehensive in their coverage in that they attempt to cover all the areas of Arabic language study in a single book or set of books, e.g.al-‘Arabiyyah li al-Nāshi’īn
,al-Kitāb al-Asāsiyy
, etc.
Textbooks that are more narrow and specific in their coverage in that each textbook is intended to cover at least one area of Arabic language study
Furthermore, a student may want to learn Arabic for its own sake or as a means to access the vast Arabic Islamic legacy or as a tool for Islamicda‘wah
or for commercial purposes or for numerous other reasons.
Accordingly, he will have to include Arabic material that deals with his particular area of interest. For example, if his goal is to understand Islam and all of its disciplines in Arabic then he is required to study various Islamic components each with its own textbooks, etc.
Ten reasons why Muslims should learn Arabic:
1- Allah, the Almighty and Wise, chose and singled out Arabic from amongst all the languages of the world - past, present and future - to be the vehicle for His final Revelation to the whole of humanity. This fact alone should constitute sufficient reason for Muslims to learn Arabic. Certainly, if Allah so wished He could have revealed the Qur’an not only in any language but in every language but as He Himself states in the Holy Qur’an: “Verily, We sent It down as an Arabic Qur’an in order that you may understand”. This verse implies that Arabic has certain unique features which make it superior to all the languages of the world and which enable it to convey the subtleties and mysteries of Allah’s Speech in a manner that no other language can. Furthermore, it is Allah who endowed Arabic with these features and made it superior to all other languages.
2- If Allah is who He is - the Creator of the worlds - and His Messenger (Peace and Blessings be upon him) is who he is - the Best of Allah’s creation - should not every Muslim in this world attempt to learn Arabic to understand Allah’s Words and those of His Messenger? The Qur’an - even though it is in this world - is not from this world but rather from the Lord of the worlds. Allah, Most High says: “Verily It (i.e. the Qur’an) is a Revelation from One, All Wise and All Knowing”. How can any Muslim live in this world finding time to do so many things and yet not find time to study the language of Allah’s Holy Book and theSunnah
of His Holy Messenger (Peace and Blessings be upon him). How many of us spend so much time, effort and money on learning the sciences of this world but in comparison spend absolutely zero on learning the sciences of the Next world. If we really know who Allah is and who His Messenger is, we would not hesitate one second to learn the language of Allah’s Book and theSunnah
of His Messenger. The Qur’an andSunnah
contain so much wealth - Real Wealth - but most of us prefer to remain poor and deprived forever.
3- A great number of scholars believe the Qur’anic inimitability to resideinter alia
in its language. The science ofal-Balāghah
(eloquence/stylistics) was especially developed to deal with this particular dimension of the Qur’an. This science demonstrates in no uncertain terms that the Qur’an represents the Absolute Pinnacle of Eloquence and that it stands unrivalled and unchallenged in its stylistic output. However, to appreciate the stylistic aspects of the Qur’an presupposes having learnt Arabic. Thus, those who are not schooled in Arabic will forever be deprived of the Stylistic Beauty of the Qur’an and fail to see and comprehend the subtle mysteries that are enclosed in the depths of is language.
4- Apart from the Qur’an andSunnah
that are in Arabic there is also the vast and rich Islamic Legacy. This is the legacy left behind by the world’s greatest minds. Without Arabic we would deprive ourselves of the fruits of almost fourteen centuries of Islamic scholarship. All of this scholarship was directed at serving Islam and the MuslimUmmah
. Numerous sciences sprung up after the advent of Islam with the principal aim of preserving and explaining the Primary Islamic Sources. These sciences are still being studied and taught up to today in Islamic institutions and circles around the world - the result is an ever-expanding heritage. Had it not been for the past Muslim scholars then we would not have known Islam as we know it to today. May Allah reward them abundantly for the great service they have rendered to Islam and the Muslim Community.
5- A number of Islamic sciences derive explicitly from the Arabic linguistic sciences in that a number of the issues discussed therein are linguistic issues. To understand these issues requires a thorough grounding in the Arabic linguistic sciences on which they are based. These sciences includeinter alia
:al-Tafsīr
(Qur’anic exegesis),‘Ulūm al-Qur’ān
(Sciences of the Qur’an),‘Ilm al-ḥadīth
(Science ofḥadīth
),al-Fiqh
(Islamic Jurisprudence),al-‘Aqīdah
(Islamic Theology). The reason for this being the case is the fact that the two primary sources of Islam, viz. the Qur’an andSunnah
, are in Arabic and in order to understand their message, unlock their hidden mysteries and treasures and appreciate the linguistic subtleties with which especially the Qur’an has been characterised one needs to be familiar with the Arabic sciences that will make such a task possible. Thus,al-Tafsīr
is no more than an interpretation of the Qur’an,‘Ilm al-ḥadīth
no more than an interpretation of the Prophetic Traditions,al-Fiqh
no more than an extrapolation of legal rules from the Qur’an and the Sunnah,al-‘Aqīdah
no more than an extrapolation of a set of beliefs from the Qur’an and authenticSunnah
, etc. It is clear from the aforementioned that each of these Islamic sciences involves a detailed analysis and close investigation of the Arabic in which the Qur’an andSunnah
are couched. It is not uncommon to find that many a difference amongst scholars on a particular Islamic matter has its source in the manner in which they interpreted or read a particular Qur’anic verse or Prophetic tradition.
‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Learn theSunnah
and learn Arabic; learn the Qur’an in Arabic for it is in Arabic”.
He also said: “Learn Arabic for it is part of your Religion and learn how the estate of the deceased should be divided (al-Farā’id
) for these are part of your Religion”.
Imam al-Shafi‘iyy is reported to have said that he studied Arabic for twenty years (from its pure sources) in order to understand the Qur’an
Some scholars also maintain that learning Arabic is compulsory on every Muslim. The reason for this ruling is that learning the Qur’an andSunnah
is compulsory on every Muslim and since the Qur’an andSunnah
cannot be learnt without Arabic it follows that Arabic is also compulsory.
Al-Aṣmu‘iyy is reported to have said: ‘What I fear most for a student of knowledge - if he does not knowNaḥw
- that he may fall in the category of those mentioned in thehadīth
: “Whosoever intentionally contrives a lie in my name, then let him prepare or reserve for himself a seat in the Fire”, because the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings be upon him) never used to make grammatical errors in his speech so anything that you report from him and you make grammatically errors in it then you would have contrived a lie in his name’.
6- Knowledge of Arabic makes one’s devotion and worship much more meaningful. This is especially the case when performingṣalāh
, reciting and listening to the Qur’an, listening tokhutbah
s, makingdu‘ā
s, etc. In short, knowing Arabic obviates the need for a mediator or interpreter between Allah and us. In other words, Arabic enables us to listen to the Qur’an and Prophetic statements first hand.
7- Moreover, what constitutes the Qur’an is not its mere meaning but rather its meaning together with the specific wording in which it is couched. This means that no matter how close a particular translation is to the actual meaning of the Qur’an it still does not constitute the Qur’an which is the Divine and Uncreated Speech of Allah. At best, a translation is no more than a human approximation of what the Qur’an means and as such is finite and can never replace the infinite Speech of Allah. Consider the following Qur’anic verses: “Say (O Muhammad): If the sea were ink for (writing) the Words of my Lord, surely the sea would be exhausted before the Words of my Lord would be finished, even if We brought another (sea) like it as backup” and “And if all the trees on the earth were pens and the sea (were ink wherewith to write), with seven seas behind it to add to its (supply), yet the Words of Allah would not be exhausted. Verily, Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise”. In addition, reliance on a translation (which in itself is deficient because it is only a human approximation of Allah’s Divine Speech) means one will always be deprived of the effect of the actual wording which adds to the richness and inimitable eloquence of the Qur’an. It is not the translation that brings tears to the eyes of men but rather the Qur’an in the full splendour of its stirring words and moving meanings.
8- The problematic nature of translations is another reason why Muslims should learn Arabic. Much of our Islamic heritage is still inaccessible to the non-Arabic speaking Muslim population and so it will continue to be for a very long time. Translations also have their own deficiencies and shortcomings. These range from gross misinterpretation to poor quality and sub-standard translation.
9- Language being a conduit of culture has an indelible influence on its speakers. Arabic being the conduit of Islamic culture likewise has a positive Islamic influence on its speakers. No doubt, the Qur’an and PropheticSunnah
have left a permanent mark on the Arabic language and are - to a large extent - also responsible for Arabic remaining fundamentally unchanged over the past fourteen centuries.
10- If certain non-Muslims ( Orientalists ) - spurned on by their hatred for Islam and the Muslims - studied Arabic for the purpose of destroying Islam and gaining control over the Muslims then why should Muslims - spurned on by theirīmān
and love for Islam and the MuslimUmmah
- not study Arabic for the purpose of defending Islam against anti-Islamic forces and Islamophobia.
How to study the Ājurrūmiyyah
There is no single way of studying theĀjurrūmiyyah
. Of the many ways of studying theĀjurrūmiyyah
some might be effective and some not and that also differs from student to student. Nevertheless, the following are some guidelines for making the best of studying theĀjurrūmiyyah
:
Makingdu‘ā’
and asking Allah to grant you mastery over Arabic as well as sincerity in your quest
Having studied some Arabic before even if it is not considerable
Finding a competent teacher especially someone who has been through theĀjurrūmiyyah
himself and has taught it before
Working through the original Arabic text and only referring to the translation when necessary
Understanding not only the words, phrases and sentences in the text but also the grammatical structure underlying the words, phrases and sentences as far as possible
Organising the information into tables and charts to see how apparently disparate parts are systematically related to each other and to facilitate their understanding
Consolidating the information as one goes along through continuous revision and by doing exercises and even attempting to memorise it
Consciously applying the rules when reading, writing, speaking and listening to Arabic
Filling in examples in the text where such examples are required
Conducting simple syntactic analysis (i‘rāb
) of the examples
Advice to students who wish to master Arabic grammar:
Arabic grammar is a fairly exact science almost like mathematics and physics and as such the student needs to take care that he or she has a proper grasp of the technical terms that are employed.
The student is required to see Arabic grammar as a unified and coherent system within which everything is interrelated and performs a function within that system. The student might find it difficult to perceive it at first but through patience and practice (and Allah’s Permission) he will eventually see a holistic system emerging from the seemingly disparate parts.
Arabic grammar is intellectually very demanding and as such the student needs to be vigilant and in a continuous state of thinking. Under no circumstances should he lower his guard for otherwise he will falter. Thus, a great deal is dependent on the student himself in terms of making sense of the information, integrating and assimilating it and then applying it in the comprehension and production of sentences.
About the Translation:
The current work is not intended to serve as a mere translation of theĀjurrūmiyyah
. In addition, it serves to do the following:
provide examples where the author did not provide any
explain the reason and rationale behind particular rules and points in the text
provide additional information and elaborate on some of the rules
rectify some misconceptions
put the material in perspective
I have also tried to give as literal a translation possible to facilitate a close reading and word-for-word analysis of the source text. It is not sufficient that the student merely understands the general drift of what is said but should rather try to understand every word and if possible the underlying grammatical structure i.e. how the words are syntactically related to each other. Of course it is impossible to translate every aspect of the source text but where it was possible to translate a particular aspect even at the expense of a better sounding translation I have done so.
It is said that the best way to learn Arabic is through Arabic, so why the current translation of theĀjurrūmiyyah
. There is no doubt about the truth of this statement but considering that a lot of Arabic beginners do not know Arabic to start off with let alone being taught Arabic grammar - a highly intellectually demanding subject - in the medium of Arabic. There is no harm in trying to understand highly complex grammatical concepts in one’s mother tongue especially during the initial stages but one should always aspire to understand them in the original language. At most one’s mother tongue should serve as a stepping stone and not as a permanent replacement for Arabic as a medium of instruction for not only does it severely slow down the Arabic learning process but also defeats the whole purpose of learning Arabic in the first place - which is to become proficient in its use. Unless one’s intention is merely to understand Arabic theoretically and not communicate it practically it would suffice learning it in one’s mother tongue.
Thus, this present translation was never intended to replace Arabic as the medium of instruction but only to facilitate Arabic beginners getting a handle on Arabic grammar since too often have I witnessed how many of them struggle to come to grips with basic grammatical concepts with the result that a number of them develop a dislike for Arabic grammar and even drop out eventually. Furthermore, even though this work constitutes a translation it is only so in part for I try throughout to use the Arabic grammatical terms instead of their English counterparts only using the English equivalent when the term is introduced for the first time and even here I place the English term between brackets after the Arabic term indicating thereby the primacy of the Arabic term. Moreover, I have written all the Arabic terms in bold once again emphasising thereby their importance. Also, as I have mentioned before that the translation does not constitute an autonomous and self-contained text but should be used in conjunction with the Arabic. In fact, the Arabic text should form the primary text of study and the translation only serve to clarify and explain its difficult parts.
I have also purposely tried to avoid the use of highly technical linguistic terms - the kind used by Wright and Howell - since the aim is to clarify and simplify the Arabic text and not to obscure and complicate it further by using language just as intelligible to the Arabic beginner as the Arabic itself if not more. In cases where it was necessary to use such terms I have always endeavoured to explain their import.
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Author: IBN AJURRUM
