The Translation of al-Ajirromiyyah
by The Mufti of Makkah
Zayni Ahmad Dahlan P 1-9

بسـم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Chapter One: The Speech: الكلام

1. Definition:

It was said:

The grammarians defined speech as the compounded utterance which is completely meaningful in its syntactical sequence, as per the Arabic usage according to some,
or so long it is intentionally uttered according to others.

The utterance is the sound that is comprised of some of the alphabet, such as (زَيْدٌ),
which is a sound comprised of the letters (زاى) and (ياء) and (دال). Hence, the sound of
a drum or a bird is excluded. Likewise is excluded, even where meaningful, the signals, gestures, writing, sign language and marks.

Compounded means composed of two or more words, such as ( زيدٌ) (قَامَ ) and
( زَيدٌ قَائمٌ). Hence, the single words such as ( زيدٌ) are excluded.

Completely meaningful in its syntactical sequence means the meaning is complete for
both the one who utters and the listener such as (قامَ زيدٌ) which informs about the standing
up of (زَيْد).

As per the Arabic usage means the non-Arabic speech is excluded such as the speech
of the Turks and the Barbar. However, according to some, it means it must be intentionally uttered, hence, the speech of the sleeping person and the absent minded is excluded. An example of what satisfies the four conditions is (قامَ زيدٌ) and (زيدٌ قائمٌ), for both are
compounded utterances and are completely meaningful in their syntactical sequence as per
the Arabic usage for both the one who utters and the listener. (Table 1)

Table 1

1. Parts of the Speech:

The speech consists of three parts: the noun (اسمٌ), the verb (فعلٌ) and the particle which has signification (حرف جاء لمعنى). (Table 2)

The noun (اسم) is a self-meaningful word detached of a time element such as (زيد)
it indicates a self called Zayd irrespective of the past, present or future.

The verb (فعل) is a self-meaningful word attached to a time element; if the word attaches to a past time item it is a perfect tense (فعل ماض), and if it attaches to a time that accepts the present or the future then it is an imperfect tense (فعل مضارع), and if it attaches
to demanding a matter in the future then it is an imperative tense (فعل امر). An example of
the perfect tense is (ضَرَبَ) , the imperfect tense (يضربُ), the imperative tense (اضربْ).

1. The Parts and Signs of the Noun, Verb and Particle

The particle which has signification (حرف جاء لمعنى) is the particle that has a meaning such
as (هل) it means inquiring and (لم) it means negating. Hence the letters of construction of the words are excluded such as the (زاي) and (ياء ) and (دال) that comprise the word (زيد).

Table 2

Hence, the speech does not go beyond there three parts, however it does not have to
be composed of al three, for it may be composed of two nouns such as (زيدٌ قائمٌ).

The parts of the noun (الاسم) are three: explicit (مظهر) such as (زيد), inexplicit (مضمر)
such as (هو), and ­­ambiguous ( ) such as ( ).

Table 3

The noun (الاسمُ) is known by (khaf­d: خفض), by (tanwin: تنوين), by the addition
of (the article of definition: أل) and by (the particles of khafd: حروف الخفض)

Table 4

The particles of khafd are:

(مِنْ): among its meanings is stating: (سافرت من البصرة الى الكوفةِ)

(الَى): among its meanings is ending: (سافرت من البصرة الى الكوفةِ)

(عن ): among its meanings is to go beyond: (رميتُ السهمَ عن القوسِ)

(على): among its meanings is above ness: (ركبتُ على الفرسِ)

(فى): among its meanings is time or space qualifier: (الماء فى الكوز)

(رب): among its meanings is decreasing: (ربَّ رجُلٍ كريمٍ لقيتَه)

(الباء): among its meanings is passing by: (مررتُ بزيدٍ)

(الكاف ): among its meanings is resemblance: (زيدٌ كالبدرِ)

(اللام): among its meanings is ownership: (المالُ ازيدٍ)

Add to those the particles of adjuration: (حروف القسم)

(الواو): (واللهِ)

(الباء ): requires the verb of adjuration: (اقسِمُ بالله)

(التاء): (تاللهِ)

The tanwin (التنوين)

Linguistically, ( the tanwin  التنوين ) is the sounding; the sounding of the bird is called
Tanwin. Technically it is the act of articulating a quiescent (nun: ن) at the end of a noun without writing it, but it is expressed by doubling the fathah, kasrah or dammah, such
as (جاء زيدٌ , رأيت زيداً , مررتُ بزيدٍ). Hence, excluded are the inflected (nun: ن) such as
(رَعْشَنَ), the (nun: ن) at the beginning such as (انكسرَ), the (nun: ن) in the middle such
as (منكسر), and the light (nun: ن) of confirmation such as (لنسفعن).

The tanwin (التنوين) has four cases:

1. The tanwin of foundation: ( تنوين التمكين): it attaches to the inflected nouns. Those
   nouns that are acted upon by tanwin are said to be strong rooted in the nominative
   case and more founded in it than others such as ( زيدٌ) and ( رجلٌ). The nouns that are
   not acted upon by tanwin are strong rooted in the nominative case but not more
   founded such as ( ابراهيم) and ( احمد).
2. The tanwin of equivalence (تنوين المقابلة): it attaches to the sound feminine plural
   (جمع المؤنث السالم) such as (جاءت مسلماتٌ), and the tanwin in it is equivalent to the
   (nun: ن) in the sound masculine plural (جاء المسلمونَ).
3. The tanwin of replacement (تنوين العوض): it attaches to (إذ) in (يومئذٍ) and (حيتئذٍ). It is a replacement for a statement; Allah said (وأنتم حينئذٍ تنظرون), and the origin of the
   statement is (وأنتم حين إذ بلغتِ الروحُ الحلقومَ تنظرون), so the statement (بلغتِ الروحُ الحلقومَ)
   was eliminated and a tanwin was attached in its place and it became (حينئذٍ).
4. The tanwin of indefiniteness (تنوين التنكير): it attaches to the non-inflected nouns to distinguish between what is definite (معرفة) and what is indefinite (نكرة). The nouns
   that are acted upon by tanwin are indefinite (نكرة) such as (جَاءَ سيبويهٍ), and those that
   are not acted upon by tanwin are definite (معرفة) such as (جاءَ سيبويهِ).

The causes that prohibit the tanwin (موانع التنوين):

There are nine cases that finder the tanwin from attaching. Each case consists of two
cases except for one where one cause acts for two.

1. Nominal and non-Arabic ( العلمية والعُجمى): such as ( مررتُ بابراهيمَ). (ابراهيم) is a noun
   and non-Arabic, therefore tanwin does not attach.
2. Nominal and compounded acronym (العلمية والُتركيب المزجى): such as (محمد يكرب, بعل بك),
   it is a noun and compounded from other words, hence tanwin does not attach.
3. Nominal and conversion (العلمية والعدول): such as (عُمَر), it is a noun and it is said to be converted from (عَامِر), hence tanwin does not attach.
4. Nominal and addition of alif and nun (العلمية و زيادة الف و نون) such as (مررتُ بعثمانَ) (عثمان) is a noun and it has an (alif: الف) and (nun: ن) added to it.
5. Nominal and the feminine case (العلمية والتأنيث ): such as مررت بفاطمةَ وطَلْحَة وهَجَرَ).فاطمة) (طلحة) and (هجر) are nouns in the feminine case, hence tanwin does not attach to them.
6. Nominal and verb form (العلمية ووزن الفعل): such as (مررت باحمدَ ويشكر ويزيدَ). All these
   (احمد, يشكر, يزيد) are nouns that bear the grammatical forms of verbs (افعل, يفعل, فعيل), hence tanwin does not attach to them.
7. Adjective and addition of alif and nun (الوصفية و زيادة الف و نون): such as (مررت بسكرانَ). The word (سكران) is an adjective and has alif and nun added to it, hence tanwin does
   not attach to it.
8. Adjective and conversion (الوضعية و العدل): such as (مررت بأُخَرَ). The word (أُخرَ ) the
   plural of (أُخرى ) describes a meaning contained in others and it is said to be converted from (أُخْرَى ) the feminine case of (أَخَر ), hence tanwin does not attach.
9. One cause acting for two ( علة تقوم مقام علتين): such as (حبلَى ) and (حمراءَ) that have the mamdud form of ending in a long alif followed by a hamzah (ا ء) or the maqsur for ending in a long vowel alif, and such as (مساجد) and (مصابيحَ) that have the form of
   (مفاعل ) or (مفاعيل ). These latter two forms are called the form reflecting ultimate
   plurality (صيغة منتهى الجموع).

The element of prohibition of tanwin is applicable if the word does not fall as an annexation
(اضافة) or after (أل). If the word is annexed such as (مررت بأفضلِكم) then it is inflected, or after
(أل) such as (والافضلِ).

The verb is of three tenses only: (the perfect: الماضى) such as (ضَرَبَ) (the imperfect المضارع) such as (يَضْرِبُ) and the (imperative: الامرُ) such as (اضربْ).

Table 5

The verb is known by (قد), (السين), (سوف) and the quiescent (ت) of the feminine gender.

(قد) is used with the perfect tense to denote an incident assumingly done and over with such as (قد قامَ زيدٌ), or to denote the incident has just happened such as (قد قامتِ الصلاةُ); also
it is used with the imperfect tense to denote little in occurrence such as (قد يجودُ البحيلُ), or to denote frequent in occurrence such as (قد يجودُ الكريمُ).

(السين) is used with the imperfect tense to denote the incident will happen shortly after
such as (سيقومُ زيدٌ).

(سوف ) is used with the imperative tense to denote the incident will happen later in the future such as (سوفَ يقومُ زيدٌ) . The quiescent (ت) of the feminine gender is used with the perfect tense to denote the feminine gender such as (قامَتْ هندٌ).

Table 6

The particle is also of three parts, one part is common to the nouns and the verbs such
as (هل قامَ زيدٌ) and (هل زيدٌ قائمٌ), and a part specific to the nouns such as (مررت بزيدٍ), and a part specific to the verbs such as (لم يضربْ زيدٌ). Moreover, neither the signs of the noun nor the signs of the verb apply to the particle. Hence the sign of the particle is a no sign: (عدمية) as Al-Hariri indicated in (مُلحة الإعراب):

و الحرف ما ليست له علامة   فقس على قولى تكن علَّامة