A Study of the Syntax of Izz al-Din Kashi’s Sharh al-Mufassal

Because of its unique stylistic features, many scholars have written commentaries on al-Zamakhshari’s book al-Mufassal. One of the most famous ones is a manuscript commentary by Izz al-Din Kashi, who was an Iranian poet, author, and sculptor of the late seventh and early eighth centuries AH. In addition to numerous works in the field of Persian and Arabic poetry and prose, Izz al-Din Kashi has written Sharh al-Mufassal, which is an extensive commentary on the book al-Mufssal. The present article tries to examine the syntax of Sharh al-Mufassal in order to underline Izz al-Din Kashi’s role as a prominent Iranian figure. The use of plain language unlike the literary language used in Ibn al-Yaish’s commentary and the rational and logical language of Ibn al-Hajib’s commentary, his attention to lexical issues and causation, the explanation of the scope of syntactic terms, and the use of dialects in expressing syntactic discussions are among the features of this book. In his commentary, he is mostly from the followers of the visual school, but apparently, he does not want to play the role of a narrator who merely follows syntacticians, but in some cases, he criticizes the ideas of some of them, in particular, Zamakhshari and Ibn al-Hajib, and this reveals his independent scientific character. Moreover, this shows his mastery over Arabic language, as well as his deep understanding of Arabic grammar and linguistics. Kashi looks at terms with an open and deep view, and expands syntactic issues, without blindly following a person or a syntactic school. His works reflect the characteristics of his scientific personality. He is an example of a prominent Iranian author who has written a successful commentary. However, unfortunately, his name and scientific character have not been known to researchers so far and his works are in need of much research.