The Methodology of Abd al-Fattah al-Hamouz in the Study of Qur’anic Verbs through his Book “A Dictionary of Verbs whose Non-Explicit Objects are Omitted in the Holy Qur’an”

Abstract

Given the distinguished role of the verb in the Arabic language—both in early scholarship and in modern linguistic studies as a fundamental element in the structure and fabric of sentence construction, Arab scholars have devoted significant attention to its study, engaging in deep and extensive analysis. This is clearly evidenced by the large number of works composed on the subject. Indeed, some of these works resemble linguistic dictionaries, such as Kitāb al-Afʿāl by Ibn al-Qūṭiyya, which demonstrates the extent of early scholars’ interest in the verb, its forms, and its meanings. Later, Ibn al-Qaṭṭāʿ, one of the scholars of the sixth century AH, reorganized this book and classified it according to a specific system after making numerous modifications. Meanwhile, other scholars expanded this subject to such an extent that they began deriving verbs from inert roots that do not inherently convey the meaning of an action. Since the verb has a connection that links and strengthens it with both its subject and its object, it is distinguished by its relationship with the subject, indicating that the action occurs through the subject rather than existing within it. Its connection with the object, on the other hand, indicates that the action occurs upon it. Due to the difference in the type of relationship, the grammatical treatment differs: it is marked by nominative case with the subject and accusative case with the object. Thus, we observe that some verbs have their objects omitted, a phenomenon that occurs frequently and can be classified into several types. In some cases, the object is omitted verbally but imthe case with intransitive verbs. Sometimes, the omission serves a rhetorical purpose, reflecting the speaker’s intent, while in other instances it is dictated by the context, situational requirements, or the semantic meaning. At times, it corresponds to Qur’anic pauses. Additionally, some omissions occur for reasons of conciseness and stylistic elegance. This type of linguistic analysis and composition continued into the modern era, eventually becoming widespread across Arabic linguistic literature . Therefore, this study addressed the methodology of the dictionary, which used Qur’anic evidence as a means to highlight the aesthetic qualities of its verbs, totaling 9,038. The work is organized into a preface and an introduction titled “Its Methodology in Qur’anic Evidence”, followed by eight sections. Finally, The study concludes with a conclusion, in which the most significant findings deemed relevant are presented, followed by footnotes and a bibliography