Utilizating Proverbs in Rules Forming: Al-Mubarred’s Al-Muqtadab as a Model

The present study investigates  Al-Mubarred’s use of proverbs as linguistic evidence in his book Al-Muqtadab. Emphasis on proverbs as evidence was initiated by Syabawih who   stressed  for their  distinctive features.
The study revealed that proverbs were  among  of the various sources Al-Mubarred relied on as evidence. Though he relied on evidence from the Quran and poetry more frequently, there were some cases in which proverbs were used as the major source of evidence in deriving a rule or solving a linguistic debate.
What distinguishes Al-Mubarred’s use of proverbs as evidence is his courage in altering the proverb text to serve the rule he was tackling .He did not depend on the narration presented in proverbs books and did not follow one methodology .He used the proverbs as a base for rule , as a supporting evidence, evidence for more than one issue or equating it with the contextual evidence.  Other methods followed by Al-Mubbrad were presented in the paper.
Key words: Proverb, Deriving rule from proverbs, Supporting evidence, Quoting evidence , Agreement with established rules, oral discourse