North-African path · level 2 · Ḥāshiyat al-Bājūrī ʿalā al-Sullam · Lesson 7 of 18

Whole and universal, part and particular

Conceptions · al-kull wa-l-kulliyya · p. 59

الكُلُّ وَالكُلِّيَّةُ

Draft · awaiting review

Our own lessons with quotations from the print of Cairo 1324/1906 · translation by The Mantiqi, draft

About this text

Ḥāshiyat al-Bājūrī ʿalā al-Sullam حاشِيَةُ الباجُورِيِّ عَلَى السُّلَّمِ

Ibrāhīm al-Bājūrī (d. 1276/1860)

Text: Arabic: passages quoted in the lessons, transcribed by The Mantiqi from this print (the whole text is not reproduced): Ḥāshiyat al-Bājūrī ʿalā matn al-Sullam, with al-Anbābī's taqrīr in the margin, al-Maṭbaʿa al-Azhariyya al-Miṣriyya (2nd printing), Cairo 1324/1906, pp. 26–112 (passages) View the scan
Lessons follow: The lessons are The Mantiqi's own explanations of the Sullam, verse by verse, following Ibrāhīm al-Bājūrī; his words are quoted where they matter most.
Translation: The Mantiqi's own; a draft.
Review: Draft, awaiting review by Ustadh Muhammad Yusuf.

In Ibrāhīm al-Bājūrī's words

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Quoted from the Arabic of Ḥāshiyat al-Bājūrī ʿalā matn al-Sullam, with al-Anbābī's taqrīr in the margin, Cairo 1324/1906

(قَوْلُهُ عَلَى المَجْمُوعِ) أَيْ عَلَى الأَفْرادِ المُجْتَمِعَةِ جَمِيعِها كَما هُوَ الحَقِيقَةُ فِي إِطْلاقِ المَجْمُوعِ، أَوْ عَلَى بَعْضِ الأَفْرادِ المُجْتَمِعَةِ كَما هُوَ المَجازُ فِيهِ؛ فَالأَوَّلُ كَما فِي قَوْلِهِ تَعالَى: ﴿وَيَحْمِلُ عَرْشَ رَبِّكَ فَوْقَهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ ثَمانِيَةٌ﴾، وَالثّانِي كَما فِي قَوْلِكَ: أَهْلُ الأَزْهَرِ عُلَماءُ، وَقَدْ يَكُونُ الكَلامُ مُحْتَمِلًا لِلأَمْرَيْنِ كَما فِي قَوْلِهِمْ: بَنُو تَمِيمٍ يَحْمِلُونَ الصَّخْرَةَ العَظِيمَةَ.

(His words “on the whole”): that is, on all the individuals taken together, which is the literal use of “whole”; or on some of the individuals taken together, which is its figurative use. The first is as in the words of God Most High, “And above them, on that day, eight will bear the Throne of your Lord”; the second as when you say, “The people of al-Azhar are scholars.” A sentence may allow both, as when they say, “The Banū Tamīm carry the great rock.”

Google Translate ↗p. 59

The lesson

The Sullam distinguishes four things that are easily confused: the whole (kull), a judgement on the group taken together; the judgement (kulliyya), a judgement on each member; the part (juzʾ); and the judgement (juzʾiyya), on some members.

Al-Bājūrī shows the line between them in language. “The whole” is used literally of all the members taken together, as in the verse of the Qurʾān, “And above them, on that day, eight will bear the Throne of your Lord”: the eight together bear it. It is used figuratively of some members taken together, as when one says “the people of al-Azhar are scholars”.

A sentence may allow both readings, as in his example: “the Banū Tamīm carry the great rock” may mean that all of them together carry it, or that some of them together do, since no one of them could carry it alone. What it cannot mean is a judgement on each.

Terms

الكُلُّ al-kull: the whole: a judgement on the group taken together
الكُلِّيَّةُ al-kulliyya: the universal judgement: on each member
الجُزْئِيَّةُ al-juzʾiyya: the particular judgement: on some members

Examples

بَنُو تَمِيمٍ يَحْمِلُونَ الصَّخْرَةَ العَظِيمَةَ
“the Banū Tamīm carry the great rock”: a judgement on the whole, not on each

Test yourself

3 questions on this lesson. With 6 out of 10 or more (two stars) the next lesson opens.

Question 1
“The Banū Tamīm carry the great rock” is a judgement on…
Question 2
Which example does al-Bājūrī give for the literal use of “the whole”, on all the members taken together?
Question 3
Why is “the people of al-Azhar are scholars” a figurative use of the whole?

Next lesson: The definers: two kinds or three?

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