[al-muʾtalif wa’l-mukhtalif]
When names are identical in their written form but differ in pronunciation (1)—whether the difference is caused by the placement of the dots (2) or by the vowel-pointing (3)—this is called al-muʾtalif wa’l-mukhtalif (4).
Mastering this category is one of the crucial tasks of this discipline. ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī said, “The gravest misreading is the one that occurs in names.” (5) Some explained this by saying that a name admits of no analogical reasoning: nothing before it indicates it, and nothing after it does either (6).
Abū Aḥmad al-ʿAskarī wrote on the topic, but he only attached it as an appendix to his book al-Taṣḥīf (7)(8).
ʿAbd al-Ghanī ibn Saʿīd later authored an independent work, combining within it two treatises: one on “Ambiguous Names” (9)(10)(11), and another on “Ambiguous….” (12)
(1) Manuscript W reads “nuqtan” (dotting), while another copy has in its margin “nutqan” (pronunciation).
(2) Manuscript D has “marjiʿa” in the accusative; the accepted reading follows K and L.
(3) Manuscript D reads “al-nuqtu am al-shaklu” (the dots or the vowel-points) with nominative endings; the adopted reading is that of L.
(4) Manuscript B has “wa-l-mukhtalaf”; the adopted reading follows H.
(5) Tashifat al-Muhaddithin, 1:12.
(6) The scholar is Abu Ishaq Ibrahim b. ʿAbd Allah al-Najirami, who said: “The items most in need of precise notation are people’s names, because analogy does not apply to them; nothing before them points to them, and nothing after them points to them.” See al-Muʾtalif wa-l-Mukhtalif by al-Azdi, 1:49, and al-Jamiʿ li-Akhlaq al-Rawi by al-Khatib, 1:269.
(7) Manuscripts D and Y read “lakin” (but).
(8) He cites it at the end of his Sharh ma yaqaʿu fihi al-tashif wa-l-tahrif and likewise in his Tashifat al-Muhaddithin; both works are in print.
(9) Manuscripts B, C, W, Z, T, Y, L, and M have the uninflected word “kitab”; a copy in the margin of L adds “lahu” (of his). Manuscript D reads “kitabin” in the genitive with tanwin. The vocalization adopted follows A, E, H, and K.
(10) Manuscript D reads “fihi” (in it).
(11) He entitled it al-Muʾtalif wa-l-Mukhtalif; it is in print.
(12) Manuscript D has “wa-kitabin” in the genitive with tanwin, whereas B, C, W, Z, T, Y, L, and M read the uninflected “kitab”; the adopted reading follows A, E, H, and K.