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Imam Ali (A.S.) set up the Principles of Arabic Grammar
By: Allamah Sayyid Hasan al-Sadr
The people are divided on both issues. Concerning the first, a number of views were put forward. The first is cited by Ibn al–Anbari in the preface of the commentary on Sibawaihi’s book. It reads: “One day the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and his Household, heard someone reciting the Qur’anic verse ‘…Allah and His Messenger are free from liability to the idolators…’ (Chapter 9 verse 3) and read the word rasul (messenger) with the kasrah i.e. /i/ vowel.
The Prophet was angerd by this blasphemy so he directed the Commander of the Faithful Ali (‘a) to set up the grammar (nahw) and prepare its rules to prevent this type of solecism”. [Rasul (messenger), as a grammatical conjoint with the word ‘Allah’ in the above verse is also a subject of the verb ‘bari’ and its last letter must therefore have dammah i.e./u/ vowel. A kasrah at the end of the word rasul (messenger) makes it the object of that verb and this is blasphemous because it will then mean that Allah denounces His messenger.]
So the Commander of the Faithful summoned Abu al–Aswad al–Du’ali and taught him the awamil (expressions that govern the condition of other words in the same sentence) and the conjuctions. He also compiled aspects of the Arabic language and enumerated the marks of declinable (i’rabiyyah) and indeclinable (bina’iyyah) words.
The intelligent Abu al–Aswad promptly noted everything down and whenever he encountered a problem he consulted the Commander of the Faithful (‘a). Hence, after organizing and putting together some constructions, he brought them before Ali (‘a) who gave his approval saying “The way you have taken (nahaw) is excellent, indeed’. Abu al–Aswad considered this comment a good omen and named this discipline nahw”.
From the above account it is clear that the first to use the word nahw was the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his Household, not Ali (‘a), as stated by Ibn al–Anbari. What the scholars consider to be the reason why Arabic grammar is called nahw is what Ibn al–Anbari held, not what is contained in this story that sounds like the tales of story–tellers, for those conversant with the annals deny that what it purports really took place during the time of the Prophet. As far as I know, Ibn al–Anbari was the only narrator of this report because I have not come across anyone who preceded him, although some later scholars whom I mentioned in the original version of this book relate it from him.
The second view is what Ibn Shahrashub mentions in Kitab al–Manaqib and that is, the reason why the Commander of the Faithful (‘a) founded the grammar is that the Quraysh were marrying from among the Nabateans and having children whose tongues become corrupted. For instance, a daughter of Khuwailid al–Asadi who was married to a Nabatean once said: “Inna abuya mata wa taraka alayya malan kathira (my father died and left behind much wealth for me) [The solecism is evident in abuya and the wrong preposition alayya].
When Ali (‘a) saw how corrupt her language was, he decided to found the grammar. Another account reported in Kitab al–Rukni a work written by Ruknuddin Ali ibn Abu Bakr al–Hadithi says that the reason is that a lady went to Mu’awiyah during the time of Uthman and said: “Abuya mata wa taraka malan”. Mu’awiyah considered her speech repugnant. When Ali (‘a) heard her story he wrote for Abu al–Aswad a piece of paper in which he outlined the principles of grammar. These two reports do not seem to contradict each other.
The third view is that one day a Bedouin heard someone among the common people reciting the verse: ‘Allah and His Messenger are free of liability to the idolaters…’ (with repugnant solecism) so he hit him on the head. The assailant then sued his victim before the Commander of the Faithful for committing blasphemy while recitating the Qur’an. Ali (‘a) replied that it was an inadvertent slip. Then he wrote down the principles of grammar on a piece of paper and gave it to Abu al–Aswad. This report has been recorded by Rashid al–Din.
In his Al–Rashad, a commentary on Allamah al–Taftazani’s Al–Irshad Shamsuddin Muhammad ibn Sharif al–Jurjani writes about the reason why grammar was called nahw, and states that Abu al–Aswad al–Du’ali heard someone reciting the verse”: ‘Allah and His Messenger are free of liability to the idolators’ and read the letter at the end of rasul (messenger) with kasrah i.e./i/ vowel instead of dammah, i.e. /u/ vowel. Al–Du’ali reported the matter to the Commander of the Faithful Ali (‘a) who ascribed what had happened to their intermingling with the non–Arabs and pointed out that Arabic words are of three classes: noun (ism) verb (fi’l) and particle (harf).
Imam Maytham al–Bahrani wrote in Bidayat al–Amr that Abu al–Aswad heard a man reciting: ‘Allah and His Messenger are free of liability to the idolaters’ and pronounced the letter at the end of the word rasul with the vowel /i/. So he disapproved of that and said ‘we seek refuge with Allah from reverting to a state of weak faith’. Then he consulted Ali (‘a) on it. The Imam declared ‘I am preparing a standard for the people to enable them to speak correctly’. Then our master (‘a) dictated to him: ‘Words are of three classes: noun, verb and particle. The noun is…’ and went on explaining the details. After that he directed Abu al–Aswad to follow this outline and taught him how to do it.
There is no contradiction between these reports except for the difference as regards the one who heard the recitation of the Qur’anic verse in question.
The fourth view is: Ibrahim ibn Ali al–Kaf’ami al–Shami said that it has been narrated that the reason behind Imam Ali’s decision to write down the grammar is that he heard a man reciting the verse: ‘None shall partake of it except the wrongdoers (Qur’an: Ch 69: v 37). Instead of saying khati’un, the reciter said khati’in, which is grammatically wrong here.
The fifth view is: Rashid al–Din states that the cause is that one day Abu al–Aswad was walking behind a bier when a man asked him: “who is the dead person?” [The questioner said mutawaffi i.e the one who causes people to die instead of mutawaffa i.e the one who died]. Abu al–Aswad replied: “Allah”, and later informed Imam Ali about this incident. So Imam Ali drew up the rules of grammar and passed them in a paper to Abu al–Aswad saying, ‘How excellent this way (nahw) is! Fill in the relevant issues (in their sections)’. So it was called nahw.
The sixth view is: In Fusul al–Mukhtarah, al–Sayyid al–Murtada who relates from Kitab al–Uyun wa al–Mahasin by Sheikh al–Mufid also known as Ibn al–Mu’allim, says: Sheikh Abu Abdullah, may Allah perpetuate his honour, informed me on the authority of Muhammad ibn Salam al–Jamahi, that Abu al–Aswad al–Du’ali went one day to the Commander of the Faithful, Ali ibn Abi Talib (‘a) and the latter tossed a sheet of paper to him.
In it, was written: ‘In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. The parts of speech are three: noun, verb and particle which carries some meaning. A noun is that which denotes something or someone, a verb denotes the motion or action of somebody or something and a particle is that which give meaning to other than itself’. ‘This speech is beautiful’ observed Abu al–Aswad, ‘what do you command me to do about it. I have learnt a great deal by acquiring it’.
The Commander of the Faithful replied, ‘I have heard awful solecism being committed in your city and I decided to write a book so that whoever reads it will be able to distinguish between the speech of the Arabs and that of these people. So follow this example, that is, the speech of the Arabs’. Abu al–Aswad remarked, ‘May Allah give us success to achieve what is proper through your guidance, O Commander of the Faithful’.
Relating from Ibn Salam al–Jamahi, Rashid al–Din says: ‘Ali (‘a) wrote: It is written by Ali ibn Abu Talib’ (‘a) [with Abu ending with /u/ instead of /i/] a construction which the people did not understand. Some said that Abu Talib was both the name as well as the surname of his father. Others explained that (Abu Talib) was a compound name like Darahinna and Hadramaut. Al–Zamakhshari states in Al–Fa’iq that the normative form (raf’) is maintained even in the genetive case (jarr) of the word (Abu ) because it is so well-known in this way that it is treated like a phrase which does not change.
Abu al–Qasim al–Zajjaj writes in his Al–Amali: On the authority of Abu Ja’far al–Tabari from Abu Hatim al–Sajistani from Yaqub ibn Ishaq al–Hadrami from Sa’id ibn Muslim al–Bahili from his father from his grandfather from Abu al–Aswad al–Du’ali who said: I went to Ali ibn Abi Talib (‘a) and saw him looking down thoughtfully. I asked: ‘Oh Commander of the Faithful what are you thinking about?’ ‘I heard grammatical errors in the speech of the people of this city of yours and I intend to compile a book on the principles of Arabic’, was his answer.
So we said: ‘If you do that you will revive us and this language will remain safe and sound with us’. Then I went to him three days later and he gave me a pamphlet in which these words were written: ‘In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Language can be classified into noun, verb and particle. A noun is what speaks of a thing that has a name, a verb denotes the motion of the noun while a particle is that which carries a meaning and it is neither a noun nor a verb’.
Then he instructed me saying: ‘Follow this way and add to this outline whatever comes to your mind. Oh Abu al–Aswad know that things are of three classes; apparent (zahir), implied (mudmar) and a third which is neither this nor that’. Abu al–Aswad said, ‘So I compiled and presented to him some material among which were the particles that govern the accusative and subjective forms (nasb) mentioned anna, an, laita, la’alla, ka’anna, but I did not include lakinna. The Imam asked me why I left it out, to which I replied that I did not consider it among the particles. He said that it was, so I added it to the others.
Now on studying the aforementioned viewpoints concerning the reason why nahw was initiated, we will reach the conclusion that the solecisms observed among those whose tongues had been corrupted as a result of intermingling with the non–Arabs was the reason which prompted the Commander of the Faithful to invent this branch of knowledge and direct Abu al–Aswad to take up this task. All these views render Ibn Faris’ claim untenable, as we stated previously.
As for the narrations on the reason why Abu al–Aswad drew up the rules of Arabic grammar, we observe that there is no contradiction between them to that effect. Abu Sa’id has related that once Sa’ad, a Persian from Zandkhan came to Basrah with some members of his family. They approached Qudamah ibn Maz’un and claimed that they accepted Islam at his hand and therefore they considered themselves his clients (mawali). One day while Sa’ad was leading his horse he passed by Abu al–Aswad. The latter asked him: Oh Sa’ad, why do you not ride?’ Sa’ad answered ‘Inna farasi dhali’an’ [instead of dhali’un] ‘My horse is balky’. Some of those who heard him laughed. Abu al–Aswad said ‘These clients have in fact embraced Islam willingly; therefore, they are our brothers. We better help them acquire the language.’ So he wrote a chapter about subject and object.
Another story says that one day a lady called on Mu’awiyah during the time of Uthman and said to him: “Abuya mata wa taraka malan”, meaning: (My father died and left some assets). Mu’awiyah considered it repugnant [because she should have said ‘abi’ not ‘abuya’]. When Imam Ali heard this story he set up the rules of grammar and had Abu al–Aswad compile them. The latter first wrote a chapter on the letter (ya) and the genitive case (al–idafah). Abu al–Aswad also heard a man reciting ‘Allah and His Messenger are free from liability to the idolaters’ and read the letter at the end of the word rasul with /i/ vowel. So he wrote the chapters about conjoints (atf) and adjectives (na’t). According to another story his daughter one day said: “Father, what is the most beautiful thing in the sky?”(Ma ahsanu al–sama?) with /u/ vowel at the end of ahsanu. Abu al–Aswad answered: ‘Its stars’. She said ‘I only meant to express my wonder at its beauty’. So her father remarked: ‘You should say: ma ahsana al–sama, with the vowel /a/ at the end of ahsana’. Then he wrote the chapters on ta’ajjub and istifham, the forms for expressing wonder and the interrogative, respectively. The reader is aware that there is no contradiction between these narrations because each of them expresses the reason for writing a particular chapter on grammar.
As for Ibn al–Nadim’s view in Al–Fihrist and Sheikh Abu al–Hasan Salamah ibn Iyan (who was a Syrian grammarian) in the beginning of Al–Misbah fi al–Nahw, it refers to a different question altogether. Ibn al–Nadim says: “The people differ as to what prompted Abu al–Aswad to draw up the rules of grammar. Abu Ubaydah says: ‘Abu al–Aswad learnt grammar from Ali ibn Abi Talib (‘a) and at the beginning he would not reveal anything from what he learnt until Ziyad sent him a directive asking him to prepare a work that would help the people understand the Book of Allah. Abu al–Aswad requested that he should be relieved of this task. But when he heard someone recite ‘Allah and His Messenger are free from liability to the idolators’ with the vowel /i/ at the end of rasul, he said: ‘I have never imagined the situation to be as terrible as this’. So he went back to Ziyad and said: ‘I will discharge what the Prince commanded, and I want a clever scribe who will do what I say’. So a scribe from the tribe of Abd al–Qays was brought to Abu al–Aswad but he was not satisfied with him and another one was brought to him. Abu al–Abbas al–Mubarrad thinks he was also from the same tribe. Abu al–Aswad said to the new secretary: ‘Whenever you see me open my mouth while pronouncing a letter, put a dot on top of it, whenever you see me protrude my mouth, put a dot after the letter and when you see me pronounce a letter with a ‘flagging tone’ (kasartu), put a dot below it’. This is the principle according to which Abu al–Aswad arranged the dots.’ ”
This story has no bearing on the issue in question because the subject of discussion is the reason for starting grammar not the writing of the Qur’an. What is amazing is that these two scholars mention this story to show the reason why nahw was drawn up. Is this point not worth pondering over?
To sum up, the literal meaning of al–nahw and al–Arabiyyah is expressed by the Imam’s saying: inha nahwah or usluk tariqah that is, act according to it. Al–Baihaqi says: “Al–nahw means uprightness (al–istiqamah). Al–nahw used to denote the way by which the Arabic language is put right. Some say that al–nahw means the direction. Abu Uthman al–Mazini says al–nahw is a certain direction (nahiyah) of language. Al–nahw also means pattern (al–mithal) and if we say ‘this follows a certain nahw’ it means ‘this follows a certain mithal (pattern)’.
Al–Khalil says: “Al–nahw means direction because when Ali (‘a) heard a man committing grammatical errors in his speech he said to Abu al–Aswad al–Du’ali: ‘Set up standards for the Arabic language because the number of the Nabateans and the arabicised people is increasing’. When al–Du’ali wrote it the Commander of the Faithful commended him by saying ‘How excellent is the nahw you produced’ By nahw he meant the direction and the way. He then said to the arabicised people: (inhu nahwah) i.e. follow its direction (qasdah) and take its way”.
Al–nahw denotes the direction which one seeks. Naha nahwah means he sought a certain direction. What the Commander of the Faithful meant by inhu…is follow the rules, patterns and marks (al–i’rab) of Arabic.
Al–Arabiyyah is the name given to the language. It is said, ‘it is the Arabic language’ meaning that is the excellent, eloquent and perspicuous one. And an Arab is thus called because he makes himself clear in speech (a’rab). Al–Asma'i says: ‘A man once said to his sons: My sons! Let your speech be correct because when a difficult situation befalls a man in which he needs to adorn himself, he can simply borrow garments from his brothers or his father, but nobody can lend him his speech’.
Section Four: The First Person to Learn the Grammar from Abu al–Aswad
As recorded by Abu Hatim al–Sajistani and Abu Tayyib, the philologist, in his Maratib al–Nahwiyyin, the first student whom Abu al–Aswad taught grammar was his son Ata ibn Abi al–Aswad followed by Yahya ibn Ya’mar al–Udwani. These two were masters of grammar after Abu al–Aswad. Ibn Qutaybah states in Al–Ma’arif that Abu al–Aswad had two sons ‘Ata’ and Abu Harb. After Abu al–Aswad, ‘Ata’ and Yahya ibn Ya’mur developed the study of Arabic.
‘Ata’ did not have any offspring. Abu Harb, the other son of Abu al–Aswad, was a wise man and a poet”. This acount is recorded in Al–Ma’arif, but it is doubtful if ‘Ata’ and Abu Harb were two different persons. In Fihrist Musannifi al–Shi’ah by al–Najashi who was an authority on geneology, we read: ‘Abu Harb, Ata ibn Abu al–Aswad al–Du’ali was the teacher of al–Asma’i and Abu ‘Ubaydah’. In Al–Taqrib Ibn Hajar says: ‘Abu Harb ibn Abi al–Aswad al–Du’ali al–Basri was a reliable narrator. Some say that his name is Mahjan and others say ‘Ata’. He died in the year 108 A.H. Ruknuddin Ali ibn Abu Bakr writes in his book Al–Rukni fi al–Nahw that five people had learnt grammar from Abu al–Aswad: his two sons ‘Ata’ and Abu al–Harith…’
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