AN ANALYSIS OF LINGUISTIC TAFSIR LITERATURE OF THE FIRST PERIOD -GARIB AL-QUR’AN EXAMPLE-

When linguistic interpretation is mentioned, many concepts come into mind within the framework of the Quranic sciences. Garīb al-Qurān, i？rāb al-Qurān, ma？ān al-Qurān, macāz al-Qurān, vucūh-nazāir and the other concepts are the major ones. In the field of linguistic interpretation, three of the prominent concepts come to the fore. These are garīb al-Qurān, i？rāb al-Qurān and ma？ān al-Qurān. Garīb al-Qurān differs from the other two concepts, with regard to its being an initial compilation and bearing a more specific framework. In order to respond to the need that have emerged as a result of Islamic society’s inclusion of different cultures and languages within itself, linguists have worked intensively since the first period. In this direction, they have focused on explanation of the unknown words in the Quran. In the first three centuries AH, from the Garīb al-Qur'ān by Ibn Abbās up to Garīb al-Qur'ān by Muhammad b. Aziz al-Sicistānī, many works have been compiled in this field. These works constitute the first products of linguistic exegesis. In the works that called garīb al-Qurān, meanings of the unknown words were dealt with and the words were classified in terms of their relation with specific dialects. On the other hand, structures of words, such as names, verbs and infinitive, as well as their types like being singular, dual and plural were pointed out sometimes. However, syntactical topics, hadiths and long narrative chains are not included. In this respect, the works written under the name of garīb al-Qurān were distinguished from the works written under the name of i？rāb al-Qurān and ma？ān al-Qurān. Because the i？rāb al-Qurān studies have dealt with more grammatical issues while ma？ān al-Qurān studies have inhered a wider and more comprehensive nature, as well as unknown words and syntactical issues and recitation style. In addition to these, hadiths and commentary through narrations dating back to companions and the second generation have took place in those works