The Concept of al-Ṣifah “Adjective” in the "Meanings of al-Qurʼān" by al-Farrāʼ

Abstract

Terminology is the key to science. Because it is so, it should be precise, consistent, and non-variable. Follow-up and extrapolation have shown that most of al-Farrāʼs terms in his book ‘Meanings of the Qur’an’ are unstable. He uses the same term for many concepts (i.e., terminological commonality), and he gives several terms to one concept (i.e., terminological synonymy). Among those ambiguous terms is the term “al-Ṣifah”. The study shows that its concept is confusing and that it lacks stability, which leads the reader into confusion and ambiguity.

Therefore, this research, using a descriptive-inductive approach, contributes to uncovering the nuanced concepts of the term “al-Ṣifah” in al-Farrāʼs esteemed book. It aims to reveal the various terms associated with these concepts, facilitating the reader's understanding of the book and preventing confusion or misunderstanding.

The research concluded that al-Farrāʼ used the term "al-Ṣifah" to refer to various concepts, including the preposition, the adjective, and the adverb. Different terms were applied to these concepts; for the preposition, terms like "al-ṣifah", "Ḥarf al-Jarr", "al-Khāfiḍ", "al-Maḥall", "al-ẓarf" and "Ḥarf al-khafḍ" were used. For the concept of the adjective, two terms were used: "al-Naʻt" and "al-Ṣifah". The concept of the adverb was associated with three terms: "al-Ṣifah", "al-ẓarf", and "al-Maḥall".