Al-Zanjani's (d. 655 AH) Grammatical Views on Dual Meaning Particles in His Book "Al-Kafi fi Sharh Al-Hadi": A Descriptive Analytical Study

Abstract

    The research shed light on a grammar scholar in the seventh century AH, who had an educational grammatical system that he wanted to explain to students of knowledge. He found that it was difficult for them to do so, so he changed it and wrote his explanation (Al-Kafi fi Sharh Al-Hadi). In his explanation, Al-Zanjani was not merely transmitting the opinions of the grammarians who preceded him or imitating them; He explained many of the meanings of the binary letters, argued for them, and detailed them in an easy and accessible way, far from difficulty, complexity, and stagnation. However, in some places he fell into contradiction, contrary to his purpose, which he promised that his explanation would be educational and easy, as during his presentation of the meanings of the binary letters, he referred some of them to the circle of disagreement. The grammarian between the Basrans and the Kufans, and there is no doubt that diving into the circle of grammatical disagreement distances him from the educational approach that he planned for his book, in addition to his tendency to mention the multiplicity of opinions on one grammatical issue.