Arabic Grammar: Problems and Reform Efforts

Arabic grammar has traditionally presented considerable difficulties for both learners and teachers. Such difficulties may be attributed to the excessive amount of rules, and details and the highly complex, abstract and philosophical method in which the grammar was originally presented and in which it continues to be presented. To date, except for a limited number of attempts, Arabic grammar textbooks continue to present the grammar in more or less the same framework and with the same terminology and arguments that the earliest grammarians employed some thirteen centuries ago. Added to this is the fact that traditional presentations of Arabic grammar are not written in brief and simple language, nor are the rules presented in a clear and precise form.

Attempts at reforming and eliminating unnecessary and complicated details from Arabic grammar are by no means the product of the revival movement of the nineteenth century alone. Indeed, such efforts began in the early years of the eighth century. The article focuses on the views of those scholars who presented an integrated and full-fledged proposal for the reform of Arabic grammar. This will include Ibn Maḍāʾ al-Qurṭubī of the 12th century, and two reformers of the 20th century, Ibrāhīm Muṣṭafā and Fuʾād Tarzī. This is understood to be a representative number of scholars and by no means a comprehensive or exhaustive one.