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The composite utterance
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Indian path · level 2 · al-Mirqāt · Lesson 5 of 25
Utterances and signification
الأَلْفَاظ وَالدَّلَالَة
Arabic text after the print of Deoband after 1336/1917 · translation by The Mantiqi, draft
About this text
al-Mirqāt المِرْقاة
Faḍl-i Imām Khayrābādī (d. 1243 or 1244/1828–29)
فَصْلٌ
المُرَكَّبُ قِسْمانِ: أَحَدُهُما المُرَكَّبُ التّامُّ، وَهُوَ ما يَصِحُّ السُّكُوتُ عَلَيْهِ، كَـ«زَيْدٌ قائِمٌ»؛ وَثانِيهِما المُرَكَّبُ النّاقِصُ، وَهُوَ ما لَيْسَ كَذٰلِكَ.
The is of two kinds. One is the complete composite (murakkab tāmm), after which one may rightly fall silent, like “Zayd is standing”; the other is the incomplete composite (murakkab nāqiṣ), which is not so.
al-Mirqāt · p. 13
فَصْلٌ
المُرَكَّبُ التّامُّ ضَرْبانِ: يُقالُ لِأَحَدِهِما الخَبَرُ وَالقَضِيَّةُ، وَهُوَ ما قُصِدَ بِهِ الحِكايَةُ، وَيَحْتَمِلُ الصِّدْقَ وَالكَذِبَ، فَيُقالُ لِقائِلِهِ: إِنَّهُ صادِقٌ أَوْ كاذِبٌ، نَحْوُ: «السَّماءُ فَوْقَنا» وَ«العالَمُ حادِثٌ». فَإِنْ قِيلَ: قَوْلُنا «لا إِلٰهَ إِلّا اللهُ» قَضِيَّةٌ وَخَبَرٌ مَعَ أَنَّهُ لا يَحْتَمِلُ الكَذِبَ، قُلْتُ: مُجَرَّدُ اللَّفْظِ مُحْتَمِلٌ، وَإِنْ كانَ إِلَى خُصُوصِيَّةِ الحاشِيَتَيْنِ غَيْرَ مُحْتَمِلٍ لِلْكَذِبِ. وَيُقالُ لِثانِي القِسْمَيْنِ الإِنْشاءُ، وَلِلْإِنْشاءِ أَقْسامٌ: أَمْرٌ وَنَهْيٌ وَتَمَنٍّ وَتَرَجٍّ وَاسْتِفْهامٌ وَنِداءٌ.
The complete composite is of two kinds. One of them is called a report (khabar) and a (qaḍiyya): it is what is meant as an account [of how things are], and it admits of truth and falsity, so that it may be said of the one who says it that he speaks truly or falsely, as in “The sky is above us” and “The world has come into being.” If it is said: our statement “There is no god but God” is a proposition and a report, yet it does not admit of falsity; I reply: the taken by itself admits [of falsity], even if, in view of the specific nature of its two sides, it does not admit of falsity. The second of the two kinds is called non-declarative (inshāʾ), and the non-declarative has several kinds: command, prohibition, wish, hope, question and calling [someone].
al-Mirqāt · p. 14
فَصْلٌ
المُرَكَّبُ النّاقِصُ عَلَى أَنْحاءٍ: مِنْها المُرَكَّبُ الإِضافِيُّ، كَـ«غُلامِ زَيْدٍ»؛ وَمِنْها المُرَكَّبُ التَّوْصِيفِيُّ، كَـ«الرَّجُلِ العالِمِ»؛ وَمِنْها المُرَكَّبُ التَّقْيِيدِيُّ، كَـ«فِي الدّارِ». وَهٰهُنا قَدْ تَمَّ بَحْثُ الأَلْفاظِ، وَالآنَ نَشْرَعُ فِي بَحْثِ المَعانِي.
The incomplete composite is of several kinds. Among them are the possessive composite (murakkab iḍāfī), like “Zayd's servant” (ghulām Zayd); the descriptive composite (murakkab tawṣīfī), like “the learned man”; and the restrictive composite (murakkab taqyīdī), like “in the house”. Here the discussion of is complete, and now we begin the discussion of meanings.
al-Mirqāt · p. 14
3 questions on what the commentary explains. With 6 out of 10 or more (two stars) the next lesson opens.
Question 1
What makes a composite utterance complete (tāmm), according to al-Mirqāt?
Al-Mirqāt defines the complete composite as the one after which one may rightly fall silent; admitting truth and falsity is what marks only one of its two kinds, the report.
Question 2
“There is no god but God” is a proposition, yet it cannot be false. How does al-Mirqāt explain this?
Al-Mirqāt replies that the concerns the taken by itself, which admits of falsity; that this statement cannot be false comes from the specific nature of its two sides.
Question 3
“In the house” is, for al-Mirqāt, which kind of composite utterance?
Among the incomplete composites al-Mirqāt names the possessive (“Zayd's servant”), the descriptive (“the learned man”) and the restrictive, with the example “in the house”.
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