Words, meanings, and the kinds of request

Conceptions · al-alfāẓ wa-l-ṭalab · p. 59

الأَلْفاظُ وَالطَّلَبُ

Taslak · inceleme bekliyor

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 أَمْرٌ مَعَ اسْتِعْلا) أَيْ مَعَ إِظْهارِ العُلُوِّ، بِناءً عَلَى أَنَّ السِّينَ وَالتّاءَ لِلطَّلَبِ بِمَعْنَى الإِظْهارِ، أَوْ مَعَ العُلُوِّ، بِناءً عَلَى أَنَّهُما زائِدَتانِ.

(His words “a command, with istiʿlāʾ”): that is, with showing oneself to be above, taking the sīn and tāʾ of the word to be those of seeking, in the sense of showing; or with being above, taking them to be added letters.

Google Translate ↗p. 59

The lesson

The Sullam divides speech into a report (khabar), which can be true or false, and a request (ṭalab). A request from above is a command (amr), from below a supplication (duʿāʾ), and between equals a request in the narrow sense (iltimās).

Al-Bājūrī stops at the word the poem uses for the command: “with istiʿlāʾ”. Read with the sīn and tāʾ of seeking, it means “with showing oneself above”, so that a command needs only the manner of a superior; read with the letters as added, it means “with being above”, so that only one who is in fact higher can command. He gives both readings.

He also notes that a request covers asking for an action (“Strike!”) and asking to refrain (“Do not strike!”); and that the threefold division seems meant for both, though a prohibition is not usually called a command — unless one holds that asking to refrain is asking for the opposite action.

Terms

الأَمْرُ al-amr: command: a request with istiʿlāʾ
الدُّعاءُ al-duʿāʾ: supplication: a request from below
الالْتِماسُ al-iltimās: request between equals

Examples

اضْرِبْ / لا تَضْرِبْ
“Strike!” / “Do not strike!”: asking for an action, and asking to refrain

Kendini sına

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

Soru 1
What are the two readings of istiʿlāʾ that al-Bājūrī gives?
Soru 2
A request made to someone of equal rank is called…
Soru 3
Does a request, for al-Bājūrī, cover asking someone not to act?

Sıradaki ders: Whole and universal, part and particular

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