By The Arabic School
Arabic is not one subject but a family of sciences. Each studies one part of the language: its sounds, its words, its sentences or its beauty. Knowing the map helps a student see where each text fits and why the curriculum runs in the order it does.
Three names for one field
The sciences of Arabic go by three names: ʿUlūm al-ʿArabiyyah; ʿUlūm al-Adab, used by Abū al-Barakāt al-Anbārī (d. 577 AH) in Nuzhat al-Alibbāʾ; and ʿUlūm al-Lisān, used by Ibn Khaldūn (d. 808 AH) in the Muqaddimah.
The classical twelve
The best-known count is the twelve of al-Zamakhsharī (d. 538 AH). Scholars put them into verse. One well-composed pair of lines, cited by Muḥammad al-Basyūnī al-Bībānī, runs:
نَحْوٌ وَصَرْفٌ عَرُوضٌ ثُمَّ قَافِيَةٌ ... وَبَعْدَهَا لُغَةٌ قَرْضٌ وَإِنْشَاءُ
خَطٌّ بَيَانٌ مَعَانٍ مَعْ مُحَاضَرَةٍ ... وَالِاشْتِقَاقُ لَهَا الْآدَابُ أَسْمَاءُ
Science, knowledge and art
In his study ʿUlūm al-Lughah al-ʿArabiyyah, Dr Fayṣal al-Manṣūr sorts these subjects into three kinds:
- A science (ʿilm) rests on universal rules that you learn and then apply. It is studied from a matn with a teacher.
- Knowledge (maʿrifah) is a body of scattered facts with no governing rules. It is gathered by wide reading and memory.
- An art (fann) is a craft governed by taste. It is acquired by imitation and practice, once the sciences are in place.
On this basis he keeps six of the twelve, sets six aside, and adds three. Composing poetry and prose, for example, are arts, not sciences. Ishtiqāq belongs inside Ṣarf. Al-Bayān belongs inside Balāghah.
The nine sciences, in order of study
- Fiqh al-Lughah: the nature, origin and features of Arabic. Its classic works are al-Ṣāḥibī of Ibn Fāris and al-Khaṣāʾiṣ of Ibn Jinnī.
- al-Aṣwāt: the single sounds, letters and vowels.
- Matn al-Lughah: words and their meanings, as found in the dictionaries.
- Ṣarf: the single word, its form, pattern and changes.
- al-Imlāʾ: the rules of spelling and writing.
- Naḥw: the word inside the sentence: iʿrāb, order and ellipsis.
- Uṣūl al-Naḥw: the evidence and method behind the rules of Naḥw.
- Balāghah: al-Maʿānī, al-Bayān and al-Badīʿ, how speech moves the listener.
- ʿArūḍ: the metres of poetry, founded by al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad.
The logic of the order
Fiqh al-Lughah comes first as the language's own biography. Then the order moves from small to large: the single sound, then the word, its meaning, form and spelling, then the sentence, the proofs behind its rules, its effect on the listener, and finally the special rhythm of verse.
In practice most students meet Fiqh al-Lughah best after a year of study, when they have enough Arabic to see what it describes. We teach it as a single course: Fiqh al-Lughah, Arabic linguistics and philology.
Where the skills sit
None of the nine is a skill. Reading, listening, speaking and writing are where the sciences are used. A sound curriculum pairs every science with the skill work it feeds.
Study with The Arabic School
The Arabic School teaches the core sciences of Naḥw, Ṣarf, Balāghah and Adab, with the four skills alongside.
For the full map of the sciences, the two classical routes and the texts for every level, download the free guide, Learning Arabic: Skills and Systems. You can also see all our courses and prices or book a one-to-one class.