Propositional Instances Rejected by Al-Farra: A Grammatical Study

Al-Farra’ was concerned with grammatical examples and adapted them for various purposes. This research discusses hypothetical grammatical examples rejected by Al-Farra’ in his book Ma'ani al-Qur'an, which serves as a source for Kufan grammar. The study focuses on instances which Al-Farra' explicitly rejected as total refusal, deeming them incorrect, or prohibiting their use through expressions such as “La Taqool and La Taqul” ("Do not say" in Arabic) or similar terminologies, such as "Ni`ma Mithloka Zaydun” (Zayd is as excellent as you!) and “Darabtu Illa Akhaka” (I hit but your brother). The researcher adopts both descriptive and analytical methodologies to achieve the research objectives, including analyzing these rejected examples, identifying the reasons for their rejection, and uncovering Al-Farra's intentions behind their use. The research demonstrates the structural, semantic, or contextual reasons for rejection due to the lack of Arabs' regular usage of those examples, however they were proven to be heard in prose as in "lamma" to mean "except” (illa). Al-Farra' focused on real usage and gave explanation to evoke thought and conceptualize the meaning and rejected structure, which demonstrated Al-Farra' teaching ability. The examples represent the utmost efforts to clarify the grammatical rule through their opposite. While they reduce the efforts of learners, they also embody a unique scientific and educational approach, in which Al-Farra' employed argumentation, justification, preventing ambiguity, clarifying distinctions, logical connection, and theorizing to achieve a deep understanding of the grammatical rule.