8vo. 266 pp., Arabic lithographed text within borders, contemporary cloth backed marbled hard boards with a flap, rubbed & faded with damp stain on spine, occasional spotting, copy inside in good condition, printed at the Castillian Press, Cairo, no date [circa 1860s].

Synopsis

This work is a commentary by Ibn ʻAqīl on the famous 1,000-line poem on the principles of Arabic grammar, al-Alfīya by Ibn Malik. Ibn ‘Aqil (1040-1119) was a leading grammarian of the Arabic language and wrote prolifically, but not much is known about his life. In addition to his commentary on al-Alfiya, his works include Taysīr al-istiʻdād li rutbat al-ijtihād (The facility of preparedness for the capacity of independent reasoning) and al-Jāmiʻ al-nafīs ʻalā madhhab al-imām Muḥammad ibn idrīs (The precious encyclopaedia on the method of the Imam Muḥammad ibn Idrīs, in six volumes).
Both al-Alfiya and the commentary are standard texts in the traditional Islamic curriculum. Muhammad ibn ʻAbd Allāh ibn Malik (died 1274) was an Arab grammarian born in Jaén in Andalusia. After leaving Andalusia he settled in Syria. He is best known for his al-Khulāsa al-alfīya (or al-Alfiya for short), a versification of Arabic grammar that was to become one of the principal texts for education in the Arabic language across much of the Islamic world. At least 43 commentaries have been written on this work, which is so important because scholars had previously searched for dependable authentication of the grammar and lexicon of Arabic. Ibn Malik intended his poem as a teaching tool rather than a work of research. However, students were required to memorize it, which became controversial in modern times.