The Criteria for Judging Words according to Al-Khalil: A Descriptive Study

This paper aims to delineate the parameters and the criteria of which Al-Khalil bin Ahmad availed himself in his Al-Ayn Lexicon in weighing up the pros and cons to the usage of lexemes, in determining their correctness or faultiness, or in ascertaining to which extent they may adhere to Standard Arabic. In this descriptive study that the researcher has conducted, these parameters have been divided into six parts: Firstly: the lexeme having been passed down from one Arab generation to the next (verbal or written), Secondly: conformance of the entry (lexeme) to the rules of the Arabic language, Thirdly: analogy, Fourthly: endorsement, Fifthly: steady use, and Sixthly: unambiguity. Within these six parts, a number of sub-parts too can be examined.
Besides unravelling these criteria, the researcher deduced a number of results, the most salient of which is that Al-Khalil evidently adopted a scientific method in determining whether to incorporate any given lexical item in his Lexicon or to reject it. It was also found out in the course of the present study that Ibn Jani benefited prodigiously in his book Al-Khasa’is from Al-Khalil, so much so that in sundry topics in his book it was crystal-clear that Ibn Jani was replicating Al-Khalil’s methodology in his Al-Ayn. An example of this is Al-Khalil’s usage of some parameters and terminologies that are current in Fiqh and its jurisprudence, such as analogy and endorsement, which he revamps somehow in order to make them suited to the linguistic arena. This revelation may be regarded as yet one more piece of evidence to be added to the piles of evidence of the sturdy tie between the Shari’a sciences and the linguistic. In other words, the pursuit of delineating the Arabic language ultimately serves the religion of Islam.