Textological-Philological Study on Arabic Language
Sciences in Minangkabau Manuscripts

Akhyar Hanif, Septika Rudiamon
Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) Batusangkar, Indoneisa

Correspondence: akhyarhanif@iainbatusangkar.ac.id

Abstract. This paper investigated the types of Arabic linguistics (or Ulûm al-
Lughah al-Arabiya) contained in Minangkabau manuscripts and analyzed them
according to the context in which the manuscript was found. In addition, this
paper also presented text transliteration as a form of Philology work.
Furthermore, the research method used was the philology research method by
conducting an inventory of manuscripts, description, transliteration, and
translation of manuscripts, and finally, analyzing the content of the manuscript
and relating it to the social context of the community. This study found one
manuscript related to the science of Arabic, namely ‘Ilm al-Nahw which was
found in Minangkabau, precisely in the Lunang village, Pesisir Selatan. The
manuscript was coded (08/LNG.II/nhw/2019), while the form of text editing
was in the form of transliteration and translation. The reason why the
manuscript of ‘Ilm al-Nahw was in Lunang Pesisir Selatan and was a collection
of the Mande Rubiah museum, was because it was closely related to the main
purpose of learning 'Ilm al-Nahw itself in the past in Nusantara, especially in
Minangkabau. That was as a tool for teaching and learning, such as to help
learning the religious sciences, such as the science of Fiqh, Tawhid, Tafsir,
Hadith, and so on, which are indeed mostly written in Arabic. Therefore, to
understand them properly requires the science of tools, namely 'ilm al-Nahw.

Keywords: Textology-Philology; Arabic language sciences; Minangkabau
Manuscripts

Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) Curup, Indonesia
ISSN 2580-3174, (p); 2580-3190 (e)

volume 7, number 1, 2022 | page: 75-92
DOI: http://doi.org/10.29240/ajis.v7i1.4322

Academic

Journal of

Islamic Studies

76 | AJIS : Academic Journal of Islamic Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, 2022

Introduct io n

Religious texts or religious manuscripts are intellectual property

heritage left by the scholars of the past. They are actually very valuable

assets. The manuscript is one of the most authentic primary sources that

can close the distance between the past (zaman al-mâdhiy) and the

present (zaman al-hâdhir). The manuscript promises, of course, for

those who understand how to read and interpret it, privileged shortcut

access to know the intellectual treasures and social history of past

societies1.

This paper actually answers some important questions related to

the sciences of the Arabic language (in Arabic it is called 'Ulûm al-

Lughah al-Arabiya, in English, it is known as Arabic Linguistics) which

was contained in the ancient texts (manuscripts) that exist and was

found in Minangkabau. Over the past few years, especially in several

studies related to these ancient texts, many questions have appeared in

the minds of researchers regarding this issue, for example, what the

Arabic language sciences existed and contained in the ancient texts/

manuscripts that exist in the Minangkabau? Who were the authors and

copyists of those manuscripts? Why are these manuscripts in the tarekat

surau in Minangkabau? What were the texts used for? Do this surau also

function as a 'school' that teaches that Arabic knowledge there or not?

And so on.

Ilmu al-Nahw and Ilmu al-Sharf are two of the Arabic language

sciences that are often found in ancient manuscripts in addition to other

sciences, such as ilmu al-ma’âni, ilmu al-Bayân dan ilmu al-Badî’ or

known as ilmu al-Balâghah (Arabic stylistics). A collection of Pariangan

manuscripts stored in the Pariangan surau scriptorium2, after being re-

examined, also contained a collection of Arabic language sciences as

above.

Of course, it is interesting to discuss why only these two sciences

are popular and can be found in ancient manuscripts in Minangkabau.

1 Oman Fathurahman, Filologi Dan Islam Indonesia (Jakarta: Puslitbang Lektur
Keagamaan, 2010), 3–4.

2 Zuriati, “The Digitisation of Minangkabau’s Manuscript Collections in Suraus,”
Research Report (London: Programme Endangered, British Library, 2008).

Hanif & Rudiamon: Textological-Philological Study on Arabic Language Sciences | 77

Although it must be admitted that it is also not easy to answer this

question, apart from that, the task of Philology is actually to bridge the

communication gap between past authors and today's readers3.

Therefore, one of the objectives of manuscript research is "making a text

available", i.e. trying in various ways so that an old text (read: ancient)

can be accessed and enjoyed by more modern readers4.

In philological research that has been carried out by various

experts in the Minangkabau, there were found a lot of religious texts

whose content contained not only about religion such as Fiqh, Tasawuf,

Tauhîd, Tafsîr, al-Qur’an, and others but also about sciences and

knowledge of Arabic, such as ‘ilmu al-Nahw, ilmu al-Sharf, ‘ilmu al-

Balâghah and so on. Yusri Akhimuddin, for example, explained in a bit

more detail in his research findings, stating that out of 36 manuscripts

from a private collection in Padang Pariaman, there were 7 manuscripts

on Arabic language sciences5.

In fact, if we re-read the so-called religious texts more carefully, it

will be found that these texts do not only contain religious matters, such

as Fiqh, Tasawuf, Tauhîd, Tafsîr, al-Qur’an, and others, as mentioned

above but also includes Arabic language sciences (Ulûm al-Lughah al-

Arabiya or Arabic Linguistics). For example, in our last research in 2018,

we found no less than 5 manuscripts in Bukik Gombak, Sijunjung

district, 4 of which were ancient manuscripts related to 'ilm al-Nahw and

one was about Fiqh6.

No
Manuscript

Location
Manuscript

Title

Manuscript
Content

Manuscript
Condition

Manuscript
Code

1
Sijunjung

district none Fiqh Not so good
07/BG.III/fq

h/2018

3 S Robson O, Principles of Indonesian Philology (Leiden: Foris Publication,

1988), 11.
4 Oman Fathurahman, Filologi Indonesia: Teori Dan Metode (Jakarta:

Prenadamedia Group, 2015), 18.
5 Yusri Akhimuddin, “Pemetaan Naskah-Naskah Keagamaan Di Padang

Pariaman,” Research Report (Batusangkar: STAIN Batusangkar, 2007).
6 Akhyar Hanif, “Menelisik Naskah Minangkabau Yang Tercecer: Studi Filologi

Terhadap Naskah-Naskah Keagamaan Di Sumatera Barat,” Research Report
(Batusangkar: IAIN Batusangkar, 2018).

78 | AJIS : Academic Journal of Islamic Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, 2022

2
Sijunjung

district none
‘ilmu al-

Nahw
Not so good

08/BG.III/n
hw/2018

3
Sijunjung

district none
‘ilmu al-

Nahw
Not so good

09/BG.III/n
hw/2018

4
Sijunjung

district none
‘ilmu al-

Nahw
Not so good

10/BG.III/n
hw/2018

5
Sijunjung

district none
‘ilmu al-

Nahw
Not so good

11/BG.III/n
hw/2018

Table 1. Manuscript data in Bukit Gombak, Sijunjung District

Figure 1. Digitization of ‘ilmu al-Nahw Manuscripts of Sijunjung District

The photos above are actually the result of a simple digitization

process that researchers have done on five manuscripts in Bukit

Gombak, Sijunjung District, West Sumatra. From the photos above, it is

clear that the condition of the manuscripts is still in very good condition,

without significant physical damage, and can be read with the naked eye.

From the photos above, it can be "read" at a glance that the 4

Hanif & Rudiamon: Textological-Philological Study on Arabic Language Sciences | 79

manuscripts contain texts about the ‘ilmu al-Nahw which are written in

Arabic script and in Arabic.

From several research results by philologists, it was found that

the content of the Minangkabau manuscripts did not only contain

religious knowledge, such as Fiqh, Tasawuf, Tauhîd, Tafsîr, al-Qur’an, and

others, but also contained Arabic language sciences, such as ‘ilm al-

Nahw, ‘ilm al-Sharf, ‘ilm al-Mantiq, and so on. For example, of the 250

Minangkabau manuscripts found in surau by Akhimuddin, contained the

religion of Islam, customs, medicine, divination, amulets, and others.

This includes religious texts such as the Qur'anic text, commentary,

hadith, ushul al-fiqh, fiqh, nahwu-sharaf, tasawuf, balaghah, dan mantiq7.

Although Akhimuddin explicitly grouped the manuscripts whose

content was about nahwu-sharaf, balaghah, and mantiq into a group of

religious texts, these manuscripts were included in the Minangkabau

manuscript group whose content contained Arabic knowledge (Ulûm al-

Lughah al-Arabiya or Arabic Linguistics). So, why are these ‘ ilm al-Nahw,

‘ilmu al-Sharf, ‘ilm al-balaghah, and ‘ilm al-mantiq found in many

manuscripts in Minangkabau? in the form of research? This is what is

interesting and has not been widely studied and disclosed by skilled

hands in the form of research.

There are several popular work steps in carrying out Philological

research, i.e. inventory, description, transliteration and translation, and

text and context analysis of manuscripts. First, this research took an

inventory of all manuscripts that were still stored in community

scriptoriums or in public-private collections. In this study, as an initial

stage, the researcher took an inventory of the manuscripts at Mandeh

Rubiah's house, in Lunang, Pesisir Selatan.

After taking an inventory of all the manuscripts found, the next

step was to carry out the codicological process. What is meant by this

codicological process is to describe the texts. Next, the researcher

sorted, digitized, and coded each of the manuscripts according to their

respective contents.

7 Akhimuddin, “Pemetaan Naskah-Naskah Keagamaan Di Padang Pariaman,”

22–23.

80 | AJIS : Academic Journal of Islamic Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, 2022

The next step was to carry out the transliteration process, which

was to transliterate the scripts. It was important to note here, of course,

that not all texts related to the Arabic language sciences (Ulûm al-

Lughah al-Arabiya or Arabic Linguistics) were transliterated, but one of

each branch of knowledge was chosen from the existing knowledge of as

many as the thirteen. This step was certainly very important to present

new texts that could not only be accessed or “read” by expert

researchers, but could also be read by today's society in general.

Finally, the analysis of the text and the context of the text, namely

"reading" the texts with their context or contextualizing the text, or in

other words, using other scientific glasses to explain the meaning of the

text to make it feel more alive8. This study used all Minangkabau

manuscripts found in the West Sumatra region as primary data.

Meanwhile, other additional data were everything related to this

research, whether it was directly related to the object of this research or

not, like the published works of Philology, the results of previous

Philological research and also included theories about social-intellectual

society in addition to historical theory.

Findings and Discu ssio n

Arabic and Arabic Studies

a. Arabic as the language of the Qur'an

Regarding the discussion of Arabic as the language of the Qur'an,

the basic question is perhaps what is the relationship between Arabic

and the Qur'an? Or why was the Qur'an revealed in Arabic and not in any

other language? It is not easy to explain this either. However, placing the

correlation between Arabic and the Qur'an is actually an important thing

because between the two there is a very close relationship. Like two

sides of a coin, one cannot be separated from the other but can be

distinguished. The al-Qur`an is called al-Qur`an (kalâmullâh/God's word)

if it is in Arabic. Al-Qur`an which is translated into other languages,

other than Arabic, is not called the Qur`an, but The translation of the

Qur`an, not the Qur`an. There is Yusuf Ali's translation of the Qur`an in

8 Fathurahman, Filologi Dan Islam Indonesia, 18.

Hanif & Rudiamon: Textological-Philological Study on Arabic Language Sciences | 81

English, the translation of the Qur`an by H.B. Yasin, a translation of the

Ministry of Religion in Indonesian, and even a translation of the Qur'an

in Minangkabau by Yulizar Yunus et al. All of that once again is not the

Qur`an but the translation of the Qur`an. Therefore, there may be

differences between one translation with another, and they may even

seem 'contradictory'. That's why we don't know the term "version" of

the Qur'an. We only know the term "translation" of the Qur'an.

Unlike the Bible, this holy book is either written in its original

language, namely the Aramaic language (a language that is also cognate

with Arabic, which can be seen in the book of Fiqh al-Lughah by

Ramadhân 'Abd al-Tawwâb), or written in English, Arabic or even

Indonesian, and it is still called the Holy Bible. In Christology (as

explained very clearly by Sheikh Ahmad Deedat in his dialogue with

Pastor Jimmy Swaggart on the youtube channel), we see that there are

various versions of the Bible. There is a Roman Catholic version, a King

James Version, and an RSV (Revised Standard Version) of the Bible. Each

version of the scriptures has undergone changes either in the form of

subtraction or addition. So, we must be able to distinguish between the

Translation and the Version.

In addition, Arabic is considered a "sacred" language as sacred as

the holy book of the Qur'an itself. Therefore, this language was not only

deliberately chosen by God as the language of His book but also must be

used when carrying out religious rituals, especially in the

implementation of ta’abbudi rites, such as prayer, pilgrimage, and

others. There is unanimous agreement (al-ijma') among Muslims, that

the Qur'an is not called the Qur'an when the language is replaced with a

language other than Arabic, even though it is a synonym for the words.

Therefore, the translation cannot replace the position of this book in the

original language. This concept does not apply to other holy books, as

mentioned above.

Meanwhile, empirical experience shows that the use of Arabic in

formal religious acts, such as in the aforementioned rites, gives a sense

of universal unity. Although there is controversy regarding this; such as

the Turkish experience in the past which replaced the pronunciation of

âzân and iqâmat with Turkish. The same thing happened in a city on the

82 | AJIS : Academic Journal of Islamic Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, 2022

island of Java, where a group of people reads the translation of al-fâtihah

during the prayer ritual into Indonesian. According to them, not

everyone understands Arabic; translating the prayers into Indonesian

makes their prayers even more special instead of reading them in the

original language. This incident also shocked the Indonesian Muslim

community9.

b. Arabic Sciences

Arabic is often claimed to be a complete and perfect language

when compared to other languages in the world. Even the only language

that is considered to be guaranteed "divine protection" (al-himâyah al-

Ilâhiyyah)10. Its specialty is the field of grammar or known as 'ilm al-

Nahw wa al-Sharf, in addition to its other features, makes many people

think that Arabic is complicated, complex, difficult, and so on, especially

among students.

The main motive of the early generations of Muslims to study

Arabic or to spark Arabic knowledge (read Nahwu) was to understand

the Qur'an and to guard it against reading errors (hifzhan li al-Qur`an

min al-khatha'). They studied and discussed every meaning of the words

contained in the verses of the Qur'an. After Islam spread widely to

various areas of the former Persian political and intellectual hegemony

in the east of the Arabian Peninsula and Roman hegemony in the west,

many non-Arabs were forced to adapt and learn Arabic. All of that in

turn triggered and spurred the birth of various disciplines in Islam,

including the Arabic language itself.

This in turn gave birth to the disciplines of Arabic language

sciences ('Ulûm al-Lughah al-Arabiya) which are popular to date, and

have 13 branches of knowledge, including the following; al-Sharf, al-

I’râb, (the two were later combined as al-Nahw), al-Rasm (the science of

the origin of writing words), al-Ma'âni, al-Bayân, al-Badî ', al-'Arûdh, al-

9 Akhyar Hanif, “Studi Terhadap Kosakata Bahasa Arab Dalam Bahasa

Minangkabau,” Arabiyatuna : Jurnal Bahasa Arab 1, no. 2 (2017): 119–38,
doi:10.29240/jba.v1i2.174.

10 Muhbib Abdul Wahab, “Peran Bahasa Arab Dalam Pengembangan Ilmu Dan
Peradaban Islam,” Arabiyat : Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa Arab Dan Kebahasaaraban 1, no.
1 (June 30, 2014): 1–20, doi:10.15408/a.v1i1.1127.

Hanif & Rudiamon: Textological-Philological Study on Arabic Language Sciences | 83

Qawâfî, Qardh al-Syi'ri, al-Insyâ', al-Khithâbah, Târîkh al-Adab, Matn al-

Lughah11. In other sources it is called so;

On the other hand, theological developments and debates

coupled with differences in the schools of jurisprudence at the beginning

of the 2nd to 4th centuries Hijri also encouraged many people to study

Arabic with the aim of understanding the main sources of Islamic

teachings, namely al-Qur`an and al-Sunnah. The mixing and

acculturation of culture and language (al-mushâra'ah al-tsâqafiyah wa

al-Lughawiyah) between Arabs and non-Arabs who were motivated by a

commitment and strong desire to understand Islam also made Arabic a

language that was widely studied, so that the encouragement to

discipline Arabic into a linguistic discipline, especially after the many

cases of lahn (Arabic errors) among non-Arabs when reading the Qur'an,

emerged very strongly. Ibn Jinni (d. 392 H.), Ibn Faris (d. 395 H.), and al-

Tsa'alibi (d. 430 H.) were among the Arab linguists who were present in

the 4th century Hijra12.

Science of al-Nahw in Minangkabau Manuscripts

From the inventory process, we actually found other texts in the

religious field, but that was not the focus of this paper. In connection

with this paper, we found a manuscript whose content is about the

Science of Arabic or more precisely about Ilmu al-Nahw. This manuscript

was coded 08/LNG.II/nhw/2019. This manuscript was a collection of

the Mande Rubiah museum house, in Lunang, Pesisir Selatan.

Lunang is a sub-district at the southern tip of the province of

West Sumatra, which borders the province of Bengkulu. It can be

reached by land by spending no less than 8-10 hours from downtown

Padang. Nagari Lunang has the potential to become a historical and

cultural tourist destination in West Sumatra, especially by making the

Mande Rubiah Gadang house as a museum by the Pesisir Selatan

Regional Government.

11 Musthafâ Al-Ghalâyaini, Jâmi’u al-Durûs al-‘Arabiyah (Beirut: Maktabah al-

‘Ashriyah, 1994), 8.
12 Akhyar Hanif, Fiqh Al-Lughah: Refleksi Pemikiran Kebahasaan Jalaluddin al-

Suyuthi (Batusangkar: STAIN Batusangkar Press, 2010).

84 | AJIS : Academic Journal of Islamic Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, 2022

Mande Rubiah's family is believed to be descended from Bundo

Kanduang, a Minangkabau female king who saved herself from her

enemy who attacked Pagaruyung from the East. She fled with his son

and daughter-in-law to this area. Until now, the tomb of the Pagaruyung

royal family is still found in the Lunang village and also a Gadang house

which is none other than the palace of Bundo Kanduang.

The majority of Lunang's population consists of members of the

Malay tribe who historically were immigrants descended from the Pagu

River and also other areas around Lunang. In addition, there are also

Caniago tribes in this nagari (village) and other tribes, such as; Malay,

Gadang Rantau Kataka Malay, Gadang Kumbuang Malay, Durian/Rajo

Malay, Kecik Malay, Tangah Malay, Caniago Patih and Caniago Mangkuto.

This was where the authors found a manuscript whose text

content contained Arabic Language Science or more precisely about

'Ilmu al-Nahw. In addition to this manuscript, as we have mentioned

before, we actually also found three other manuscripts, namely three

manuscripts of the Qur'an, but later we learned that these three

manuscripts had been well recorded by M. Yusuf and his team around

the year 2006 and the catalog has been published, namely the

Minangkabau Manuscript Catalog and Scriptorium13. That was why we

did not include the three Quranic texts in the findings of this study.

The following is a description or codicology of the manuscript:

Before doing a description of this manuscript, the author needs to

explain that this manuscript is coded as follows; 08/LNG.II/nhw/2019.

This manuscript has no title, the condition is not very good and almost

unreadable, many of the pages have been eaten by termites and many of

the last pages are scattered and torn.

1. Manuscript size:

a. Length : 24 cm

b. Width : 17,5 cm

c. Thickness : 1,5 cm

13 M Yusuf, Katalogus Tokyo Manuskrip: Centre Dan for Skriptorium

Minangkabau, Documentation and Area-Transcultural Studies (Tokyo: University of
Foreign Studies, 2006).

Hanif & Rudiamon: Textological-Philological Study on Arabic Language Sciences | 85

2. Number of the pages : 174 pages with 87 sheets

3. Nmber of lines of eache page : There are 15 lines in each page

4. Type of writing : Arabic script, Arabic

5. Margins : Left : 7,5 cm,

Right : 1,8 cm

Top : 4,1 cm

Bottom : 4,1 cm

6. Illumination : None

7. Illustration : None

8. Colophone : None

9. Paper/Paper stamp : European paper, because the paper

is thick and lined, has black and red

writing colors.

10. Title of the manuscript : None

11. Cover of the manuscript : None

Furthermore, it is also necessary to present here a transliteration

to strengthen the argument that this Lunang manuscript is the only

manuscript that contains content about 'Ilm al-Nahw, one of the

branches of Arabic language sciences which are very important found in

this research.

86 | AJIS : Academic Journal of Islamic Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, 2022

Here is the transliteration form:

Figure 2. Manuscript ‘Ilmu Al-Naẖwi

Transliteration:
wa ba’du huwa min al-zhurûfi al-mabniyati ‘alâ al-dhammi li

qath’ihi min al-idhâfati ai wa ba’du mâ dzukira min al-hamdi wa

al-shalâti wa al-salâmi fa hâdzihi isyârah ilâ mahsûs in tâkharat

al-khuthbah ‘an ifrâgh al-muqaddimah wa ilâ ma’qûl in taqadat

a’laihi wa al-ityâni bi al-fâ i ‘alâ taqdîr immâ idz al-ashlu ammâ

ba’du wa li kauni ashlihâ dzalika lazimathâ al-fâ`fî hîzihâ

ghâliban li tudhaminahâ ma’nâ al-syarthi muqaddimatun bi

kasri al-dâli ismun fâ’ilun min qaddama al-lâzim bi ma’nâ

taqaddama wa bi fathihâ ‘alâ qillatin fî lughatin min qaddama

al-mu’tadî wa yahtamilu an yakûna hunâ bi kasri al-dâl min

qaddama al-mu’tadî li anna ma’rifatahâ taj’alu al-syâri’ fî ‘ilm al-

nahwi ‘alâ bashîrah fa hiya taqaddumihi ‘alâ iqtirânihi fî ‘ilm al-

‘arabiyati ai ‘ilm al-nahwi wa huwa al-lughah al-qashdu wa

ishthilâhan ‘ilmun bi ushûlin yu’rafu bi hâ ahwâli awâkhiri al-

kalimi i’râban wa binâ an wa maudhû’uhu al-kalimât li annahu

yubhatsu fî hi ‘an ‘awâridhihâ al-lâhiqah lahâ min haitsu al-

i’râbu... (page. 5)

Hanif & Rudiamon: Textological-Philological Study on Arabic Language Sciences | 87

Translation:
And then, the lafaz "ba'du" includes zharaf which is mabni on

dhammah because it is cut off from idhafah, meaning and then

what is mentioned from all praise, blessings and greetings. This is

a hint for (...) if you end the sermon on emptying the

muqaddimah, and for (...) if you put it first, using the letter "fa" is

(...) as for when it comes from and after, and because of its origin

"dzalika" then it is customary to use the letter "fa" in (...) which

usually because it contains the meaning of Syarthiah, the

introduction, is read with harkat kasrah of the letter "dal", the

word "Muqaddimah" is the Isim Fa'il form of "qaddama" which

usually means "taqaddama", read with the letter "dal" fathah

according to a slightly linguistic opinion of prioritizing the

Muta'addi, there is a reading with the character of the letter "dal"

from prioritizing the Muta'addi, that knowing the introduction is

a directive in 'Nahwu science to Basrah scholars, namely

prioritizing it from (...) in Arabic science it means ilmu Nahwu,

‘ilmu Nahwu literally means "al-Qashdu" and in terms is a science

that discusses all origins of circumstances. The word and the end

of the word according to I'rab, bina, and the positions of the word,

because that ‘ilmu Nahwu discusses related changes in terms of

I'rab... (page 5)

From the transliteration process, the following phrases are read;

Wa ba’du fa hâdza ta’lîqun lathîfun wadha’tuhu ‘alâ al-muqaddamati al-

maudhû’ati fî al-Arabiya ta’lîfu saidinâ wa shâhibinâ al-‘âlim al-wara’ al-

zâhidi Syamsu al-Dîn Muhammad Ibn al-Syaikh Muhammad al-Ra’îsinî

al-Syahîr bi al-khithâb al-Makkî al-Mâlikî, which means; wa ba’du, then

this (book) is a light commentary (ta’lîq lathîf) which I made to

comment on the themes that have been written in the Arabic language

by our teacher, our friend, who was knowledgeable, (al-‘âlim), who lived

simply (al-wara’), who was zealous to the world, Syamsuddin

Muhammad Ibn Al-Syaikh Muhammad al-Ra’îsinî who was popularly

known as al-Makkiy (Meccans), al-Maliki (al-Maliki school).

The phrase above actually explained that the text was a work of

ta'liq (comments) on other books in the (science) of al-Arabiya. Even

though he mentioned the name of the author, it was a pity that the

commentator did not mention the title of the book he was commenting

88 | AJIS : Academic Journal of Islamic Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, 2022

on. However, even so, it was almost certain that what he commented on

must be the book of 'Ilmu al-Nahw, because this clause fî al-Arabiya

contains the meaning of 'ilm al-nahw. The earlier scholars distinguished

between what they called the term "al-lughah" and the term "al-

Arabiya". So if they said, for example: كان فالن متقدما فى العربية، متبحرا فى اللغة، أو

الخ واللغة.كان العربية فى إماما ليل (in fact the Fulan was foremost in al-'arabiyah

and an expert in al-lughah, or indeed al-Khalîl is an expert in al-

'arabiyah and al-lughah), then what they mean by the term al-‘arabiyah

was al-nahw ang by the term al-lughah means fiqh al-lughah14.

The terminology 'Ilm al-Arabiya means 'Ilmu al-Nahw as read in

the phrase in the following text ;

Figure 3. Manuscript ‘Ilmu al-Naẖwi

Notice the phrases in the text above that are in red:
...Muqaddimah bi kasri al-dâl ismun fâ’ilun min qaddama al-lâzim

bi ma’nâ taqaddama wa bi fathihâ ‘alâ qillatin fî lughatin min

qaddama al-mu’tadî wa yahtamilu an yakûna hunâ bi kasri al-dâl

14 Hanif, Fiqh Al-Lughah: Refleksi Pemikiran Kebahasaan Jalaluddin al-Suyuthi,

76.

Hanif & Rudiamon: Textological-Philological Study on Arabic Language Sciences | 89

min qaddama al-mu’tadî li anna ma’rifatahâ taj’alu al-syâri’ fî

‘ilm al-nahwi ‘alâ bashîrah fa hiya taqaddumihi ‘alâ iqtirânihi fî

‘ilm al-‘arabiyah artinya‘ilm al-nahw wa huwa al-lughah al-

qashdu wa ishthilâhan ‘ilmun bi ushûlin yu’rafu bi hâ ahwâli

awâkhiri al-kalimi i’râban wa binâ an wa maudhû’uhu al-kalimât

li annahu yubhatsu fî hi ‘an ‘awâridhihâ al-lâhiqah lahâ min

haitsu al-i’râbu... (page 5)

Translation:
Muqaddimah (introduction), is read with the character of the

letter “dal”, the pronunciation of “Muqaddimah” is the Isim Fa'il

form of “qaddama” which usually means “taqaddama”, which was

read with the letter “dal” fathah according to a few linguistic

opinions from prioritizing the Muta'addi, there is a reading with

the character of the letter "dal" from prioritizing the Muta'addi,

that knowing the introduction is a guide in Nahwu science

towards Basrah scholars, namely prioritizing it from (...) in Arabic

science meaning Nahwu science, Nahwu science literally means

"al-Qashdu" and in terms of it is a science that discusses all the

origins of the word state and the end of the word according to

I'rab, Bina, and the positions of the word, because that Nahwu

science discusses regarding the related changes in terms of I'rab...

(p. 5)

Furthermore, the word ta'lîq in Arabic is usually translated with

comments and can even be translated by editing. This word is in line

with other words, namely syarh and hasyiyah (explanation or

translation). In the Arab world (read: Islam) these terms are popular.

The most popular example in this regard is the book of hadith Shahîh

Bukhârîy which was written by Imam Bukhari and later shared by Ibn

Hajar al-'Asqalânîy with the title; Kitâb Fath al-Bârîy fi Syarh al-

Bukhârîy.

'Ilmu al-Nahw can simply be analogized with the science of

grammar in Indonesian. Although not identical, to facilitate

understanding we call it 'ilm al-nahw with the science of syntax in our

language. 'Ilm al-Nahw (Arabic grammar) from the beginning until now

has always been a dynamic study material by Arabic linguistic experts.

As a branch of linguistics ('ilm al-lughah), this science is studied for at

least two purposes; first, it is studied as a prerequisite or a means to

90 | AJIS : Academic Journal of Islamic Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, 2022

explore other fields of science in Islam that are indeed written in Arabic,

for example, 'ilm al-tafsir, ‘ilmu al-hadîts, and ‘ilm al-fiqh and so on.

Second, this science is studied as a scientific goal itself in order to

become a specialist (expert) in Arabic linguistics. The two forms of

learning of 'Ilm al-Nahw have become a tradition that has developed

continuously in our society from the past until now15.

For the first purpose, namely, to make 'Ilm al-Nahw a tool for

further study of other religious sciences such as Fiqh, Tawhid, Tafsir,

Hadith, and so on, that is perhaps the right argument to answer the

question of why this 'Ilm al-Nahw text stored and become a collection in

the Mande Rubiah museum.

Conclusion

From the description above, several conclusions can be drawn,

i.e. the authors found a manuscript about Arabic language science or to

be precise about 'Ilmu al-Nahw with the code: 08/LNG.II/nhw/2019 in

the Lunang Pesisir Selatan village, and the author named this

manuscript under the name of the Lunang Manuscript. As for the form of

text editing (new manuscripts) on manuscripts whose content was

about Arabic language sciences ('Ulûm al-Lughah al-Arabiya or Arabic

Linguistics) or more precisely the text of 'Ilm al-Nahw found in Lunang

Pesisir Selatan, it was in the form of transliteration and translation, even

though it was only in limited quantities, as a sample to strengthen the

argument about proving that this manuscript was a text whose text

contained 'ilm al-Nahw.

As for the reason why the manuscript on Arabic language science

or precisely the 'Ilm al-Nahw manuscript is in Lunang Pesisir Selatan

and is in the collection of the Mande Rubiah Museum, It's not easy to

answer this question either, but the following arguments might help.

The first and main purpose of learning 'Ilm al-Nahw in the archipelago

in the past was as a tool for further study of other religious sciences,

such as Fiqh, Tawhid, Tafsir, Hadith, and so on, which were mostly

written in Arabic, so to understand it well we needed the science of

15 Anwar Abd Rahman, “Sejarah Ilmu Nahwu Dan Perkembangannya,” Jurnal

Adabiyah 10, no. 1 (2010): 98–109.

Hanif & Rudiamon: Textological-Philological Study on Arabic Language Sciences | 91

tools, namely 'ilm al-Nahw. Well, that was perhaps the right argument to

answer the question of why the 'Ilm al-Nahw' manuscript was stored

and became a collection in the Mande Rubiah museum.

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