The Grammatical Treatise Al-Mufassal fī san‘at al-i‘rāb of Abū al-Qāsim az-Zamašarī (died 1144 A.D.) – a Masterpiece of Arab Grammar

Abstract

Abū al-Qāsim az-Zamahšarī’s (1075–1144) grammatical treatise Al-Mufassal fī san‘at al-i‘rāb is one of the main and most acknowledged philological masterpieces of the classical Arabic. The aim of this article is to shed some light on its origin, cultural and philological background, main goals and assumptions of the author, its position in the history of studies on Arabic grammar, hitherto prevailing research output of European orientalist dealing with Al-Mufassal. It also comprises a short presentation of the figureof Az-Zamahšarī himself. The article quotes references to Arabic, English, German,Russian and Polish source literature.