Ibn al-Jazari and His Works on the Arabic Language
Adem Yerinde, Büşra ÖzdemirIbn al-Jazari (d. 833/1429) was one of the prominent scholars of the 15th century, who came to the fore in the field of qira’at (the science of Quranic recitation) and specialized in many fields such as hadith, Islamic jurisprudence, and Arabic. He was a distinguished and prolific scholar in the field of the qira’at of the Qur’an; hence, he was regarded as the ultimate authority on these matters. A compulsory relationship exists between the qira’at and the Arabic language because the Quran is in Arabic. İbn al-Jazari also had competency in the Arabic language and literature. The fact that some of his 100 works and treatises on qira’at, hadith, prophetic biography, history, and hagiography are directly related to the Arabic language and literature can be seen as a natural result of this inevitable relationship between Arabic and gira’at. In this study, after a brief introduction on the qira’at–Arabic grammar relationship, the works on the Arabic language and literature attributed to Ibn al-Jazari are considered and evaluated, especially, the attribution of Kâşifü’l-hasâsa an elfâzi’l-Hülâsa and the Alfiyyah commentary to Ibn al-Jazari. Second, en-Neşr fi'l-kââti'l-asr (ed. Ali Muhammed ed-Dabbâ’, Beirut ts.), one of Ibn al-Jazari's most famous works in the field of qira’at, is studied to determine the relationship between recitation and language and thus the importance of Ibn al-Jazari in the Arabic language and literature.
İbnu’l-Cezerî ve Dilciliği
Adem Yerinde, Büşra ÖzdemirXV. asrın önemli ilim adamlarından biri kabul edilen İbnu’l-Cezerî (ö. 833/1429) kıraat alanında temayüz etmekle beraber hadis, fıkıh ve Arap dili gibi pek çok alanda kendini yetiştiren ve kazanımlarını eserlerine yansıtan çok yönlü bir âlimdir. Kıraat alanında otorite sayılan İbnu’l-Cezerî’nin bu alanda yetkin olmasının en temel sebeplerinden biri hiç kuşkusuz Arap dili ve edebiyatına olan vukûfiyetidir. Dolayısıyla kıraat ilmi ile Arap dili arasında zorunlu bir ilişki söz konusudur. İbnu’l-Cezerî’ye ait kıraat, hadis, siyer, tarih ve tabakâta dair 100’e yakın eser ve risalelerin birkaçının doğrudan Arap dili ve edebiyatıyla ilgili olması bu zorunlu ilişkinin doğal bir sonucu olarak görülebilir. Bu çalışmada, İbnu’l-Cezerî’nin dilciliği kıraat-nahiv ilişkisine dair kısa bir girişten sonra öncelikle İbnu’l-Cezerî’ye nispet edilen Arap dili ve edebiyatına dair eserlerin durumu değerlendirilecek, akabinde Kâşifü’l-hasâsa an elfâzi’l-Hülâsa isimli Elfiye şerhinin İbnu’l-Cezerî’ye nispeti tetkik edilerek ele alınacaktır. İkinci olarak ise İbnu’l-Cezerî’nin en meşhur kıraat eserlerinden biri olan en-Neşr fi’l-kırââti’l-aşr adlı eseri kıraat-dil ilişkisi dikkate alınarak incelenecek, böylelikle İbnu’l-Cezerî’nin Arap dili ve edebiyatındaki yeri ve önemi tespit edilmeye çalışılacaktır.
Ibn al-Jazari (d. 833/1429) was an Islamic scholar who specialized in the qira’at, the art of Qur’anic recitation and hadith sciences. A strong relationship exists between qira’at and Arabic. On the one hand, the suitability to the Arabic language is considered a condition for the authenticity of the qira’at; on the other hand, authentic qira’ahs are accepted as concrete examples for setting the rules of the Arabic language. The close relationship between the Arabic language and the qira’at necessitates every qira’at scholar to be a competent linguist.
Because the Qur’an is Arabic, a compulsory correlation exists between the qira’at and the Arabic language. In fact, qira’at’s compliance with the rules of the Arabic language was considered by scholars as one of its conditions. Thus, we see a significant number of first linguists, such as Abu’l-Aswad (d. 69/689), Abu Amr b. Alaa (d. 154/771), and Kisaî (d. 189/805), who were also transmitter scholars of qira’at aspects of the Qur’an. Therefore, the relationship between the science of gira’at and the Arabic language is inevitable. Thus, some of the nearly 100 works and treatises attributed to Ibn al-Jazari are directly related to the Arabic language and literature.
In this study, the relationship between the Arabic language and the science of gira’at was analyzed. Accordingly, the subject was explained in detail in subheadings such as the role of gira’ in the emergence of Arabic grammar. In fact, gira’at aspects played a decisive role in the determination of grammar rules. Hence, Islamic scholars of gira’at considered compliance with the Arabic language rules as a compulsory requisite for the authenticity of gira’at. Therefore, a considerable number of scholars of gira’at were also writers of Arabic grammar. As a qira’ah authority, Ibn al-Jazari possessed certain competence in the Arabic language and qira’ah. He revealed this in both his works on Arabic grammar and his linguistic explanations for the reading differences in the Qur’an in his book titled an-Neshr fi qiraati’l-ashr.
As a qira’ah authority, Ibn al-Jazari’s competency in Arabic linguistics is accepted and undisputed. He authored several works on the Arabic language and literature. Among them, his work on Arabic grammar, titled al-Jawhere fi’n-nahv, is especially important. Incidentally, in recent biography studies, a study on Ibn Malik's Elfiye titled Kaashefu'l-hasaasa an elfaazi'lHulaasa was inadvertently attributed to Ibn al-Jazari. However, the work belongs to Mohammed b. Yusuf al-Jazari (d. 71/1311).
Ibn al-Jezerî showed that he was a competent scholar of the Arabic language and literature not only through his works on the language but also through his explanations of language issues in al-Neşr. He acted as an independent linguist, while basing some of his qira’at aspects in terms of language. Although, he relied on Sebeveyhi’s linguistic views, when it comes to basing a reading, he did not hesitate to object, even to the most authoritative linguists like Sebeveyhi.
Although Ibn al-Jazari sometimes used his own terms when discussing language and eloquence, he used the common terminology of Arabic grammar. While basing his views on the language, he applied the basic sources and methods of the Arabic language, especially sema (narrative), ijma (consensus), and qiyas (analogy). However, he was tolerant in using these resources, and used the principles of sema and qiyas more flexibly, without a strict limitation, to show its suitability to the Arabic language if the qira’at was valid in terms of the narrative chain.
Undoubtedly, the examination and revelation of Ibn al-Jazari's linguism require a comprehensive study of all his works that have survived to this day. Such a review exceeds the limits of the present study.
