Lisan al-Arab by Ibn-e-Manzoor

[javairia]

I compiled this back in 2008, hope it'll help the new aspirants.


Ibn-e-manzoor:

His name is Abu al fazal zamal aldin muhammad bin mukaram bin ali bin ahmad al ansari al afriqi and almisri. He is of arab origion having his family roots associated with rufie^ bin thabit alansari.

هو أبو الفضل، جمال الدين، محمد بن مكرم بن علي بن أحمد الأنصاريّ، الافريقي، ثم المصريّ، وهو من أسرة رويفع بن ثابت الأنصاري.


Life history:

He was born in cairo, some say in tarablus(please confirm where does this exists cuz I have no idea),in the holy month of muharram in year 630H, 1232 A.D. he belonged to shia^ school of thought, though its disputed. He saw many seasons of life, many years of struggle and devotion. He was the finest intellectual of his times, who was aware of the universal facts and I feel no hesitation to say that he reserves the right of being called the esteem of Arabic heritage. He was a scholar and mastered in many fields, most notable, law, linguistics, history, grammar and literature. He also showed his extraordinary abilities in writing prose and rhythmic poems. His abilities lead him to the highest designation of ‘judge’ in tarablus. He also worked in diwan-e-insha for a long time. Despite of his legal affairs, he spent a lot of time in reading Arabic literature and research in arabic linguistics. Most of his work is based on translation and summarizing the bulk of arabic literature so as to make it handy for a common reader.
According to al-safdii,“ I don’t know any one except him who had summarized the huge books as his son, qutub al din has narrated that he has left behind him ‏5000 volumes of manuscripts written by himself. He summarized one fourth of tareekh-e-damishk……..”


His other summarized works are as follows:

مختار الأغانيMukhtasir alagani
10 volumes of mukhtasir tareekh bagdad by khateeb al bagdadi. مختصر " تاريخ بغداد " للخطيب البغدادي في عشرة مجلدات.
Mukhtasir tareekh damishk by ibn-e-asakar مختصر " تاريخ دمشق " لابن عساكر
// mufridat ibn al bitar مختصر " مفردات ابن البيطار
// al haiwan by al jahiz مختصر " الحيوان " للجاحظ
// zahr aladab by hasri مختصر " زهر الآداب " للحصري
// yateema al dahar by al thalabi مختصر " يتيمة الدهر " للثعالبي
مختصر " العقد الفريد " لابن عبد ربه .
مختصر " نشوان المحاضرة " للتنوخي


Death:

In the last days of his life, though he lost his sight, he was a man of high wisdom, nobility and origionality.he died in egypt in the month of shaban in 711 H , 1311A.D. thus the islamic throne lost one of its most precious gems.


Lisan Al Arab

(it consists of 80000 letters having 20 volumes originally. Its more likely to be called an encyclopedia of language than just a mere dictionary)
His most celebrated work is lisan al Arab which is considered to be the magnum opus of the time because it not only provides a mature outlook on the Arabic language but also helps a non Arab to admire the beauty of the eloquence and richness of this literature.


Motive behind the tome:

He had the following motives for writing such a voluminous book:

1. In his times there was a massive research going on the arabic literature. Scholars from other parts of the world were coming to arabic regions in order to learn arabic. Many of them translated the A.literature into their own languages but doing so they deprived it of its sanctity and originality. Ibne manzoor foresighted the devaluation of Arabic language. He divided his contemporary writers into two groups namely:

Those who know hoe to put things(yahan matlab hai k tarteeb sahi nahi thi us waqt k ulema ne information ki tarteeb mein bohot galatian kien jo k aam logon ke liyay samajhna mushkill tha.e.g A was discussed after C and T was discussed after B) but lack the skill of compiling them

Those who know the compilation but lack the ability to put the information in its proper place.

According to him, “what is compilation without the art of putting them rightly? and what is the art of adjustment without the skill of compilation?”

2. confirming the importance of Arabic language and that this is the sacred, miraculous language with many attributes within it, he wrote his master piece in order to unveil the grandeur to the world. He wanted to preserve the rich heritage which this language holds in it self, for thousands of years. He says himself in the foreword of his book LISAN AL ARAB, “this language of Arabia has been esteemed with the eloquence over all the other languages and the fact, that it’s the language in which Quraan has been revealed and the language of the people of jannah, preserves its value. As prophet said, “ love the arab for three reasons :1) I am Arab, 2)Quraan is in Arabic 3)it is the language of the people of paradise.”

3. he said in the foreword that he has not intended other than to preserve the origin of this prophetic language.. because he saw it overpowered by other races ,because of racial and language differences. The translations into ajami languages and awful changes in the dialect has forced him to write something that would introduce the readers with the original prophetic language, so as to preserve the language Arabs are proud of.
‏

Method used in the book:

1) this book is actually a compilation of the five famous books of Arabic language before ibne manzoor. He has made an encyclopedia for the ulema of literature, tafseer, hadith and fiqh.He has combined together the following books, taking the most comprehensive ideas and examples to clarify or explain a certain word or letter:

i) Tahzeeb al luga by alazhari
ii) Al mauhkim by ibn said
iii) Al sahah by al jawhari
iv) Hashiah al sahah by ibn bri
v) Al nahaya fi gareeb al hadith by ibn athir
vi) Jmhra tul luga by ibn dareed

2) The sequence or tarteeb of the chapters and subchapters are according to al sahah by aljawhari.

3) All the chapters are being placed in a way to confirm that their placement doesn’t contradicts with the grammatical or other literary rules. Every word and detailed have been compiled with due concentration so as not to lead the reader away from the usul of this language.

4) Every word has an explanation from Quraan alkarim and hadith.

5) Every word has been explained through examples, proverbs, prose and poetic stanzas.

6) The literal meanings of the words are explained in connection to the philosophical use as well.

7) It contains at least two pages of forward and then he starts with the name of Allah.

8) The book starts with the name of Allah and all praise to Allah. Then the writer thanks Allah for His help in the writing of this master piece. Also he explains the importance of Arabic language and praises it, in order to prepare the readers mind to absorb the sacredness of this language.

9) he criticizes the works Tahzeeb al luga by alazhari, Al mauhkim by ibn said, Al sahah by al jawhari, and rewrite their information in a more sequenced manner.

10) Then in-between the dictionary and the forward he has placed two chapters about the explanation of miraculous letters ( haruf al muqattaa, the 1st letter of the surah e.g حم) and traits of the words used in the book.

11) He defines the origin of the word, its characteristics, types, grammatical differences etc.

12) He ends the book in a most beautiful manner that may Allah exalt the value of this book and this language and that may many be benefited by this book and may it help the ulema in increasing their wisdom and may the people of jannah talk in this dialect.

13) The book has been published in Cairo having 20 volumes, each with more than 300 pages.

14) One of the important things to mention is that to find a word we have to see the last letter of the word. So for example if the word ends with ب such as ذهب, we will find the word in 2nd chapter of the book i.e. ب. The book has been written alphabetically.



P.S: all this information has been taken from the Arabic internet sources and the book originally.

[g.m.abro]

mem!
ur provided material is awesome...may Allah bless u for such help...

[javairia]

add ur own creativity in it n the cuisine will be perfecto!!!!!

[naseebg]

Mem can you provide the questions of arabic that are repeated in exams