Al-Zamakhshari

Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Umar al-Zamakhshari (; 1074 –1143) was a medieval Muslim scholar of Iranian descent. He travelled to Mecca and settled there for five years and has been known since then as 'Jar Allah' (God's Neighbor). He was a Mu'tazilite theologian, linguist, poet and interpreter of the Quran. He is best known for his book Al-Kashshaf, which interprets and linguistically analyzes Quranic expressions and the use of figurative speech for conveying meaning. This work is a primary source for all major linguists.

Biography His full name was Abu Al-Qasim Mahmoud ibn Omar ibn Mohammed ibn Omar Al-Khawarizmi Al-Zamakhshari. He was also referred to as "Fakhr Khawarizm" ("The Pride of Khwarazm") because people travelled to Khwarazm, a large oasis, to learn from him about the Quran and Arabic language. The main reason for his travels was to learn more about poetry, religion and Arabic grammar. He travelled then to Makkah, where he met the prince at the time, Abi AlHasan Ali bin Hamzah bin Wahas Al-Shareef Al-Hasany, who had written extensively about Arabic prose and verse principles. So, when the bird attempted to fly, its leg was cut off. Al-Zamakhsari's mother saw this and wished him the same, so he could feel the bird's pain. Later, on his way to Bukhara, he fell off the horse and broke his leg, and it was later amputated. Others like Ibn Khalkan argued that his constant travels in the very cold weather of Khawarizm were the reason for his leg loss. He taught Al-Zamakhshari syntax and literature. Al-Zamakhashari highly appreciated this teacher and was distraught when he died in 1113. Furthermore, Al-Zamakhshari studied literature and prosody from Abu Ali Al-Hasan bin Al-Mudhaffar Al-Nisaburi. He also drew some of his philosophico-religious ideas from his teachers Abu Mansur Nasr Al-Harthi, Abu Sa’ad Al-Shaga’I, and Abu Al-Khattab bin Al-Batar.

Students Al-Qafti (1172–1248) wrote in his book Akhbar Al-Olama ‘Scholars’ Biographies’ that students followed Al-Zamakhsahri wherever he traveled in order to learn from him. They would travel for months just to find him. Among his students in Zamakhshar were Abu Omar and Amer bin Hasan Al-Simsar. It is the best known work of Al-Zamakhshari. Indeed, many linguists throughout history have attributed Al-Zamakhshari's fame to this book. The name of this book (Al-Kashshaf) is derived from the verb kashaf ‘to uncover’. Thus, this book attempts to uncover the syntactic and semantic ambiguities of Quranic expressions. In the text, Al-Zamakhshari explained his motivation, impetus and goals for constructing it. In fact, he once admitted that he was hesitant to write this book, as he thought he might not have the skills needed to interpret the Quran appropriately. He said that whenever he was teaching his students and mentioning a Quranic verse, his students seemed to learn new meanings they have never come across before. As he continued to do that, students were more interested in Quranic interpretation than in other subject matters. Indeed, some grammarians believed that it is the second syntactic book after Sibawayh's books on Arabic grammar because Al-Zamakhshari talked about every syntactic and morphological aspect of the Arabic language.

This linguistic work enjoyed attention since the time it saw the light. For each word, Al-Zamakhshari provided its meaning, some of its uses in the Quran, Muhammad's sayings, poetry, or proverbs. Furthermore, he represented and analyzed some uses of this word in figurative speech and provided contexts where it can be found in everyday language. The content of this text was organized alphabetically. This work was best known as the earliest fully alphabetical lexicography that combines literal definitions and metaphorical material.

Interrogative particle al-hamza /ʔ-/ In Arabic, the interrogative prefix /ʔ-/ attaches to nominal and verbal sentences to form a yes/no question. Thus, it is used to check information and ask for confirmation or verification. Most of the time, it is prioritized in a sentence, so it may precede conjunction particles, prepositions, the complementizer [ʔnna] and direct objects (in case of verbal sentences). Indeed, this prefix is viewed as the default interrogative in Arabic.

When using the interrogative bound morpheme /ʔ-/, most of the time that it precedes any conjunctions, as in:

(أو كلَما عاهدوا عهداً)

ʔ-wa kull-ma ʕahad-u ʕahd-an

INTROG-CONJ every-time promise(V)-3rd Pl promise-Acc

“Has it not always been so that every time they made a covenant?” (The Quran, 2:100) This view seemed to have a supporting piece of evidence because Ibn Hayyan said that Mohammad bin Masoud Al-Ghazni argued for an elided verbal phrase between the interrogative prefix and the conjunction particle, but the literature about this linguist and his analytical approaches seem to be very limited. To him, it is like ‘never’ in English where it has a sense of continuous negation, i.e., where negation extends beyond the present to negate any possible chances for a particular event or state to take place in the future (cf. He is not married. He will never get married). Al-Zamakhshari gave various examples to validate his analysis, such as:

1). When Prophet Mousa asked God if he could see Him, God replied:

(لن تراني)

lan t-aran-i

NEG 3rd Sg.PRES-see-OBJ.PRO

“You will never see me” (The Quran, 7:143)

2). When God said that those whom people invoke besides Him will never be able to create a fly even if they gathered together for that purpose:

(لن يخلقوا ذباباً)

lan ya-khlouq-ou thobab-an

NEG PRES-create-3rd PL fly-ACC

“They can never create a fly” (The Quran, 22:73)

However, some 8th century scholars such as Ibn Hisham believed that Al-Zamakhsari regarded lan as a continuous negation particle because he was deeply influenced by the philosophical ideas of his Mu’tazile approach. That is because this is the way the Mu’tazile people interpret the Quran, which is not the way all other Muslims do. For instance, example (1) above shows how Mu’tazile people believe that they will never be able to see God in the afterlife, and this is the approach Al-Zamakhshari followed in his semantic and syntactic analysis of the Quran. However, all Muslims (who do not follow the Mu'tazile approach), believe the opposite, as it is actually stated in the Quran that believers will, indeed, be able to see God:

وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَاضِرَةٌ * إِلَى رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ ﴾ [القيامة: 22، 23]﴿

"Some faces, that Day, will beam (in brightness and beauty) * Looking towards their Lord" (The Quran, 75: 22,23)

As for lan, Ibn Hisham also had a different opinion, as he regarded it as a normal negative particle that does not bear a continuous negation sense. He defended his view by some examples from the Quran, as follows:

3). When God said about the disbelievers that they will never wish to die:

(لن يتمنوه أبداً)

Lan ya-tamana-au-hu abad-an

NEG PRES-wish-3rd PL-OBJ.PRO never-ACC

“They will never long for it” (The Quran, 2:95) In this example, Ibn Hisham argued against Al-Zamakhshari's view because he believed that if lan had a continuous negation sense, then it would be redundant to say abadanan ‘never’ in the same verse, which is never the case. So, this proves that lan acts as a normal negative particle, like ‘not’ in English.

4). When God asked Mary to tell people that she vowed a fast unto the Most Gracious (Allah), so she shall not speak to any human being:

(فلن أكلم اليوم إنسياً)

f-lan u-kalim al-yaoum insiy-an

then-NEG 1st SG.PRES-speak DEF-day human-ACC

“So, I shall not speak to any human being today” (The Quran, 19:26)

In this example, Ibn Hisham also refuted Al-Zamakhshari's view because if lan meant ‘never’, then why its meaning would be constricted by the time adverbial word ‘today’ in the same verse? This again proved that Al-Zamkhsahri's analysis of lan as a continuous negator is not applicable and is mainly affected by his theological ideas.