The application of al-ishtiqāq al-Kabīr to the verses of the Qur'ān: a review within the framework of ب – ح – ر / ba – ḥa – ra and ح – ل – م / ḥa – la – ma

The Arabic phonetic system, which is based on the taqlīb (the variations of words based on the same root letters) that was established in Kitāb al-'Ayn by al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad (d. 175/791) in the second century hijrī, was taken a step further in the fourth century hijrī by Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002). He states that there is a semantic relationship between those words having the same, yet switched around, root letters: al-Ishtiqāq al-Kabīr (The Great Derivation). This thesis, which presents both a background and a field of application for this method called al-Ishtiqāq al-Kabīr, consists of five chapters in total. In the first chapter, which is the introduction of the thesis, a preliminary information about the subject, purpose, scope and importance of the thesis is given, and then, the studies done so far related to al-ishtiqāq in general and al-ishtiqāq al-kabīr in particular is evaluated. In the second chapter, the essential aspects of the nature of al-ishtiqāq (the science of word derivations), of its types, and finally of al-ishtiqāq al-kabīr itself are briefly elaborated. In the third chapter, each of the maddahs (combinations), formed by switching around the letters ب – ح – ر / Ba – Ḥa – Ra and ح – ل – م / Ḥa – La – Ma, is studied in detail through the usage of various dictionaries. In the fourth chapter, the common meaning obtained from the maddahs (muqallab) composed of the letters ب – ح – ر / Ba – Ḥa – Ra is applied to the verses of the Qur'ān. As a conclusion, the extent of the possibility of a common meaning being generated by the usage of al-ishtiqāq al-kabīr amongst lexically varied maddahs; what kind of benefits the aforementioned common meaning agent can provide; whether al-ishtiqāq al-kabīr can be a feasible source to consult in the event of Qur'ānic interpretations are demonstrated in order. Keywords: Al-ishtiqāq al-kabīr, al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad, Ibn Jinnī, Kitāb al-'Ayn, taqlīb, tafsīr.