and the most distinguished among them? Were we to enumerate such instances, the discussion would become lengthy.

Do not forget his statement in the chapter on adjectives resembling active participles: “I passed a man with a handsome face” (marartu bi-rajulin hasani wajhihi), placing hasan in a genitive construction with wajh, and wajh with the pronoun. All the Basran and Kufan grammarians disagree with him on this. Sībawayh—may Allah have mercy on him—is thus someone whose statements may be accepted or rejected. But to believe that everything he says is correct—certainly not!

Allah willing, we shall devote a separate book to adjudicating the disagreements between the Basran and Kufan schools and explaining which positions are stronger. From Allah come success and support.

If you say, “Allah Most High’s words suffice to refute the Kufan position you have adopted regarding tāmith, hā’id, and tāliq:

‘On the Day you see it, every nursing mother will be distracted from the child she is nursing.’ (22:2)

This description applies exclusively to females, yet it appears with the feminine ending tā’,” I reply: Praise be to Allah, this neither refutes nor invalidates that position. The addition of tā’ here conveys a meaning that could not otherwise be expressed, making its inclusion necessary. Murdiʿa denotes a woman actually engaged in nursing: the act is intended, not merely the description. Had the intention been merely to describe her as one capable of nursing, the word would have been murdiʿ, like hā’id and tāmith. Consider the Prophet’s words, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Allah does not accept the prayer of a woman of menstruating age without a head covering.”

What is meant is a woman characterized by being of menstruating age, not one whose menstrual blood is flowing. Thus, hā’id and murdiʿ are general descriptions applicable to a woman for whom menstruation or nursing is a characteristic, even when it is not occurring, as well as to one in whom it is actually occurring. The tā’ is added here to indicate that the woman intended is actually nursing: she is distracted from the child she is nursing by the overwhelming terror of the Hour’s earthquake.

He further emphasizes this meaning with His words, “from the child she is nursing.” It is therefore clear that the woman intended is one who is actually nursing, not merely one with the capacity and readiness to do so. The fuller argument for preferring this position belongs elsewhere.

Section

The fifth approach: This is an instance in which the first term of a genitive construction acquires the grammatical status of the second, provided that the first can be omitted and the second can stand in its place. As the poet says: