THE BIRTH, DEVELOPMENT AND SYSTEMIZATION OF WUJUH AND NAZHAIR LITERATURE: THE FIRST FOUR CENTURIES OF HIJRI

Abstract

This study deals with the birth, development, and systematization of al-wujuh wa al-nazhair until the end of the fourth Hijri century. The origin of al-wujuh wa al-nazhair in the period of the Companions, its birth in the second Hijri century, its development in the third century and its systematization in the fourth century are examined directly through all the written works in this field and reached today. Authors whose books we have examined in the field of al-wujuh wa al-nazhair: Muqatil b. Sulayman (d. 150/767), Harun b. Moses (d. 170/786), Yahya b. Sallam (d. 200/815), Abd al-Malik b. Qurayb al-Asmai (d. 216/831), Yahya al-Yazidi (d. 225/840), Abu Amaysal al-Arabi (d. 240/854), Hakim at-Tirmizi (d. 285/898), al-Mubarrad (d. 286/900), Ibn Faris (d. 395/1004) and Abu Hilal al-Askari (d. 395/1004). The study aims to reveal whether there is a change in the use of these two terms and the birth, development, and systematization of the literature together with its reasons by providing a holistic view of all al-wujuh wa al-nazhair books written and extant until the fourth Hijri century. Although there are studies that deal with some of these studies one by one, the difference of this study from other studies is that it will try to reach a more accurate, more comprehensive, and more holistic conclusion about al-wujuh wa al-nazhair literature by considering the chronology and examining all extant copies. During this study, document analysis, literature review and analysis method, some of the qualitative research methods, were used. During the research, the literature of al-wujuh wa al-nazhair was examined chronologically and by going directly to the sources of the authors. The most general findings and conclusions reached in this study are as follows: This literature also began to appear with the real need for tafsir after the generation of the Companions from the beginning of the second hijri century. The first copy of al-wujuh wa al-nazhair literature that has survived belongs to Muqatil b. Sulayman. For this reason, he was the determinator of the development of al-wujuh wa al-nazhair literature in the following centuries. Firstly, Muqatil, who stated 186 wujuh then Harun b. Mosas 208 wujuh, Yahya b. Salam 115 wujuh followed him and they completely imitated Muqatil with some differences. In the order of words in the copyrights of the works of hijri second century -in the first 60 words- the order of the mushaf in the first ten parts was followed to a large extent. In the first half of the second hijri century, Yazidi and Abu Amaysal wrote a work in the form of a dictionary which directly related to the language, explaining the polysemantic word in the language. al-Asmai, on the other hand, wrote a work directly related to the language, dealing with synonymous words in the language. Although Yazidi's work is partially relevant, these works are more about language than the Qur'an, and the explanation of words mostly gave evidence from ancient Arabic poetry and the use of Arabic. In this respect, although the work of both al-Asmai and Abu Amaysal are evaluated within this literature in the sources, it is not a work that directly deals with al-wujuh wa al-nazhair of the Quran. Considering that at the beginning of this century, commentators such as al-Farra and al-Ahfas, who were also linguists, wrote lexical tafsirs, linguists such as al-Asmai, Yazidi and Abu Amaysal created their al-wujuh wa al-nazhair copyrights based on the Arabic language, it shows that linguistic studies, which started at the end of the second hijri century, intensified in the first half of the third century, and this situation was reflected in both tafsir and wujuh nazhair writings. Hakim at-Tirmizi, who handles his work centred on the Quran, differs from other authors in the literature of al-wujuh wa al-nazhair in terms of using Sufi's terms such as light, nafs (desire), heart, hewa (enthusiasm) and marifah (ingenuity) while explaining many words. al-Mubarrad's work directly refers to wujuh of 26 words in the Quran, has the same style as Muqatil in terms of wujuh but does not give the nazhairs of the word. At the end of the fourth century, the literature of wujuh nazhairs was systematized (begun an alphabetical classification) with the work of Abu Hilal al-Askari. In addition, the contribution of Ibn Faris, who was contemporary with alAskari, should not be overlooked in the transition to alphabetical classification. It is seen that the number of words examined in the next works has increased very rapidly. This case is probably because of the convenience brought by Askari's systematization. In the first four centuries, there was no change in the meaning attributed to the terms al-wujuh wa al-nazhair. Again, it seems that the meaning attributed by Muqatil was accepted as silent consensus, without any definition of existence. When viewed at the wujuh nezhair copyrights in the first four centuries-except for three works directly more related to language- although there is no definition, al-wujuh; is used for same words with different meanings in different verses of the Quran, al-nazhair; for the repetition of a meaning in which the word is used in other verses of the Qur'an with the same meaning.