The Linguistic Structure in the Book “Al-Mubhij” by Al-Tha’alibi (d. 429 AH)

The Linguistic Structure in the Book “Al-Mubhij” by Al-Tha’alibi (d. 429 AH): A Morphological and Syntactic Study This thesis presents a comprehensive morphological and syntactic study of the book Al-Mubhij by Abu Mansur Abd al-Malik ibn Muhammad al-Tha’alibi al-Naysaburi (d. 429 AH/1038 AD), one of the most prominent literary figures and linguists of the fourth and fifth centuries of the Hijra. Al-Mubhij is a collection of approximately one thousand prose passages distributed across seventy-one chapters that encompass a wide range of subjects, including theology, ethics, politics, literature, friendship, nature, and wisdom. Despite its evident linguistic richness and the diversity of its morphological structures and syntactic patterns, the book had not been subjected to an independent morphological and syntactic study prior to this research ، to the best of the researcher’s knowledge ، which constitutes the primary justification for undertaking this study. The thesis adopts the descriptive-analytical method based on comprehensive induction, classification, statistical analysis, and comparison. The researcher examined the text of Al-Mubhij passage by passage, extracting morphological and syntactic phenomena and classifying them according to a predetermined plan covering both the morphological and syntactic levels. Each phenomenon was then analyzed in detail with reference to the views of classical Arabic grammarians and morphologists ، particularly Sibawayhi, al-Mubarrid, Ibn al-Sarraj, Ibn Jinni, Ibn Ya’ish, Ibn Hisham, and al-Suyuti ، as well as modern linguistic studies where relevant. The thesis comprises an introduction, a preamble, two main chapters, and a conclusion, preceded by technical indices and followed by a bibliography. The Preamble introduced the book Al-Mubhij in terms of its concept, content, nature, and the foundations upon which it was built. It also provided a detailed biography of al-Tha’alibi, covering his life, era, scholarly standing, travels, connections with princes and viziers, teachers, students, and major works. The preamble further examined the nature of the book’s material, its methodological and epistemological foundations, its originality within al-Tha’alibi’s corpus, its editing and publication history, and concluded with two analytical sections on sentence structure and word structure in the book. Chapter One (Word Structure in Al-Mubhij) was divided into two sections: Section One examined verb patterns and their semantic implications across six topics: the triliteral bare verb in its three patterns (fa’ala, fa’ila, fa’ula); the triliteral verb augmented by one letter (af’ala, fa’'ala, fā’ala); the triliteral verb augmented by two letters (tafā’ala, tafa’'ala, infa’ala, ifta’ala); the triliteral verb augmented by three letters (istaf’ala, if’aw’ala, if’ālla, if’awwala); the quadriliteral bare verb (fa’lala); and the augmented quadriliteral verb (tafa’lala, if’anlala, if’alalla). The study revealed that the triliteral bare verb dominates the text overwhelmingly, with the fa’ala pattern being the most frequent, followed by fa’ila and then fa’ula. Among augmented forms, verbs augmented by one letter were the most common, followed by those augmented by two letters, while verbs augmented by three letters were rare and limited almost exclusively to the istaf’ala pattern. The quadriliteral verb appeared in only two instances (zalzala and balbala), and all three augmented quadriliteral patterns were entirely absent. This distribution reflects a fundamental stylistic feature of al-Tha’alibi’s prose: a preference for lighter, more common verbal patterns that serve the rhythmic requirements of his rhymed prose (saj’). Section Two examined noun patterns and their semantic implications across five topics: bare and augmented noun patterns; derivative forms (active participle, passive participle, intensive forms, qualitative adjective, elative, instrument noun, and nouns of time and place); broken plural patterns (paucity and abundance plurals); verbal noun patterns (triliteral, augmented, mīmī, single-occurrence, and manner verbal nouns); and the phenomena of attribution (nasab) and diminutive (taṣghīr). The analysis showed that al-Tha’alibi favored triliteral bare noun patterns, particularly fa’l, fi’l, and fa’al, and augmented patterns such as fa’īl, fi’āl, fa’āl, and fu’ūl. The active participle was the most frequently occurring derivative, followed by the elative, while instrument nouns and nouns of time and place were rare. Attribution followed standard grammatical rules in all attested instances, while the diminutive was virtually absent due to the book’s tendency toward amplification and grandeur rather than minimization. Chapter Two (Sentence Structure in Al-Mubhij) was divided into three sections: Section One examined the declarative sentence across five topics: the affirmative nominal and verbal sentence; emphatic devices (including inna, the pronoun of separation, qad, restriction by negation and exception, and structural repetition); negation devices (lā, mā, lam, laysa, lan); and the phenomena of fronting, postposing, and ellipsis. The study found that declarative sentences constitute more than three-quarters of the book’s material, with the nominal sentence pattern “definite noun + man (relative) + verbal clause” being the most prevalent. Among emphatic devices, restriction through negation and exception (mā…illā) and the confirmatory fa-qad in conditional responses were the most common. Among negation particles, lā with the imperfect verb and lam were the most frequent, while laysa and lan were rare. Fronting of the predicate ، particularly in the pattern min + genitive + delayed subject ، emerged as a distinctive stylistic feature. Section Two examined the request sentence across four topics: vocative sentences, interrogative sentences, imperative sentences, and other request forms (prohibition, exhortation, urging, wishing, and hoping). The study revealed that imperative and prohibitive sentences dominate the request category, with the direct imperative verb being the most common form. Vocative usage was concentrated in the formula Allāhumma in supplication chapters, while other vocative particles were absent. Interrogative usage was exclusively rhetorical ، serving denial, wonder, and improbability rather than genuine inquiry ، with the exclamatory mā af’alahu being the most frequent interrogative-related structure. The tools of exhortation ('arḍ), urging (taḥḍīḍ), wishing (tamannī), and hoping (tarajjī) were completely absent, which was attributed to the decisive and direct nature of proverbial wisdom that leaves no room for hesitation or wishful expression. Section Three examined the conditional sentence across two topics: the first surveyed seven structural patterns of the conditional sentence based on the types of protasis and apodosis clauses; the second analyzed internal syntactic issues including jussive mood, conjunction with fa-, fronting and postposing, ellipsis, and the convergence of condition and oath. The study found that the pattern “man + past tense verb + past tense verb” overwhelmingly dominates conditional sentences in Al-Mubhij, with man being the most frequent conditional particle, followed by idhā and then law. This dominance was attributed to the nature of proverbial discourse, which links an action to its consequence in universal terms. The conjunction fa- appeared in approximately one-third of conditional responses, most commonly in the fa-qad pattern. No instances of apodosis fronting or convergence of condition and oath were found. Key Findings: The research arrived at several significant conclusions, the most prominent of which are: First, the linguistic structure of Al-Mubhij is characterized by a pronounced preference for light, common morphological patterns and concise syntactic structures, reflecting al-Tha’alibi’s commitment to brevity and rhythmic balance in his rhymed prose. Second, the choice of morphological pattern in Al-Mubhij is not arbitrary but is governed by the semantic requirements of each context: fa’ula for permanent qualities, fa’ila for transient states, and fa’ala for general actions and events. Third, the conditional sentence pattern “man + past verb + past verb” constitutes the structural backbone of the book’s wisdom discourse, functioning as a universal law that links human action to its inevitable consequence. Fourth, al-Tha’alibi employs structural repetition as a primary rhetorical device, building his chapters on recurring syntactic templates filled with varying content, thereby achieving semantic variety within formal consistency. Fifth, the rhymed prose (saj’) serves as a driving force that shapes many of al-Tha’alibi’s linguistic choices at both the morphological and syntactic levels, from the selection of word patterns to the ordering of sentence elements and the determination of what is mentioned and what is elided. Sixth, al-Tha’alibi ، despite being primarily known as a literary figure ، demonstrates a profound linguistic awareness of the relationship between morphological form and meaning, employing Arabic morphological and syntactic resources with precision and deliberation in the service of his literary and didactic purposes. The thesis concludes by affirming that Al-Mubhij, despite its modest size, represents a rich linguistic corpus that merits further study from other perspectives, including rhetorical, lexical, and comparative stylistic analyses. The researcher expresses hope that this study has opened a new avenue for the linguistic investigation of al-Tha’alibi’s lesser-known works and has contributed to bridging a gap in Arabic linguistic studies.