Al-Muqtadab by Al-Mubarrid: A Reading in an verification by Muhammad Abdul-Khaliq Udaimah

Abstract

Al-MuqtaDab by Al-Mubarrid is considered one of the early important books on Arabic. This paper attempts an evaluative reading of Muhammad Abdul-Khaliq Udaimah edition of Al-MuqtaDab compared to  the parallel manuscript, focusing on two questions: first the organization of the Book, and second its authenticity and correctness.

Upon investigation, I have arrived at the following conclusion. The organization of the first and fourth volumes of the book is faulty, and the book, as in print, is not an accurate edition of the manuscript due to the editorial errors in it. The drawbacks include additions and omissions, alterations, forwarding and backgrounding, change in the Quranic and poetry citation, change of morphological forms, change of inflectional affixes and their function, and change of lexical items. All the above have entailed a strong influence on understanding the text.