Three Treatises in Grammar, Language and Rhetoric

Abstract

This study examines three treatises that contain a collection of scholarly questions directed to Ahmad ibn Qasim al-Abbadi (d. 994 AH) and his answers to them. The editor’s intention was to revive an important scholarly contribution by a distinguished figure of the Islamic intellectual heritage.  This work highlights the scholarly status of al-Abbadi among his contemporaries and underscores the need to preserve and study his writings.

 The first treatise includes answers to grammatical questions: covering conjunction, conditional sentences, and present tense topics. The second treatise delves into the meaning and etymology of the term al-futya (legal opinion), with a presentation of various scholars’ opinions in addition to the author’s own viewpoint. The treatise answers four varied questions address four diverse questions including the type of ellipses in the phrase la ilaha illa Allah, resolving discrepancies in scholars’ definitions of metaphor, discussing scholars’ evidence in the case of a major sinner, and last providing his opinion in the Al-Taftazani’s definition of the term al-rasool (messenger).