A Critical Edition of the Risāla fī ta？qīq ma？nā al-？arf by Sayyid Sharīf al-Jurjānī

This article is composed of a critical edition and an analysis of the treatise titled Risāla fī ta？qīq ma？nā al-？arf, written by the scholar Sayyid Sharīf al-Jurjānī (d. 816/1143), who authored many works on the rational and religious sciences. The article includes two parts: a study and a critical edition. The study part, based on Jurjānī’s life, briefly details Sayyid Sharīf, who devoted himself to scholarly activity from very early on and produced a book on syntax during his twenties. Traveling for scholarly inquiries, he attended courses with the famous scholars of his age, such as Mubārak Shah (d. 871/1400) and Akmal al-Dīn al-Bābartī (d. 786/1384). He is considered among the most influential scholars of his time, along with al-Taftazānī (d. 792/1390). Having a fruitful life in respect to scholarly activity, the author wrote many books in various fields, including Arabic and Persian rhetoric, theology, philosophy, logic, exegesis and the Prophetic tradition. Following the short biography of the author, the study describes the major characteristics of the treatise. Firstly, it identifies the title as Risāla fī ta？qīq ma？nā al-？arf. Then it provides proofs of the relation between the author and the treatise. It also examines the treatise’s subject, the author’s methodology, the points that made the treatise important, its intellectual background and its influence on later works. Lastly, the study introduces the various copies that were used and explains the method that was applied. The second part of the article is a critical edition of the author’s work which is, on average, three folios in each copy. Sayyid Sharīf put forward important arguments on the relationship between meaning and case endings in the science of syntax. Starting with a mirror metaphor, Sayyid Sharīf examines the relations and differences between substantive/independent meaning and indirect/dependent meaning. He mentions that one can possibly have two different perceptions of a mirror. Firstly, if our aim is to see the thing’s reflection in the mirror, then the reflection as a component of perception becomes the substantive part of our mental perception. As for the mirror, it becomes an indirect part contributing to the substantive part of our mental perception. Secondly, if our aim is to see not the thing’s reflection but the mirror itself, then the mirror as an element of perception becomes the substantive part of our mental perception. The reflection then becomes an indirect part contribution to the substantive part of our mental perception. Sayyid Sharīf applies the form of