Al-Jurjani's grammatical principles in his commentary on Al-Kafiyah Al-Hijabiyyah

Abstract

This study examines al-Jurjani’s methodology in his commentary on al-Kafiyah al-Hajibiyyah through three fundamental grammatical principles: transmission, analogy, and consensus. In the area of transmission, al-Jurjani relied on the Qur’an and its variant readings, Prophetic traditions, Arabic poetry, proverbs, and prose, using them to establish grammatical rules and clarify linguistic meanings, often supporting one piece of evidence with another. In terms of analogy, he demonstrated methodological flexibility by presenting and evaluating the views of grammarians, applying consistent analogy, and rejecting analogy based on irregular or anomalous usage, thereby reflecting a critical and precise stance. Regarding consensus, al-Jurjani followed the agreement of grammarians in several issues, such as restricting lamentation (nidbah) to definite nouns, prohibiting the particle fa from entering the predicate of layta and la‘alla, and allowing the predicate of kana to precede its subject. However, he also rejected certain cases claimed as consensus, such as the truncation of triliteral nouns with a medial consonant, arguing that this contradicted authentic usage. Overall, the study shows that al-Jurjani combined textual evidence, analogical reasoning, and consensus with a critical perspective, making him a pivotal figure in the development of Arabic grammatical thought.