Arabic Grammar and Qur'anic Exegesis in Early Islam

In this text, the author examines the origins of Arabic linguistics on the basis of the earliest Qur'anic commentaries (1st half of the 8th century AD). The material used includes both edited texts and manuscript commentaries. Various chapters analyze the exegetical methods of the early commentators, such as Muqatil and Muhammad al-Kalbi, and their use of grammatical terminology. These data are compared to the earliest grammatical treatises, such as Sibawayhi and Farra. The material presented here constitutes an important source of evidence for the development of linguistic thinking in Islam and the origin of the grammatical schools of Basra and Kufa.