• 1 More accurately—the time of the so-called ʿāmil al-ḥāl, that is, the operator assigning it the acc (...)
• 2 Levin, “What is Meant by al-ḥāl al-muqaddara?”, p. 169.
• 3 In this article all short vowels are transcribed, including declension markers.
• 4 Levin, “What is Meant by al-ḥāl al-muqaddara?”.
• 5 On the term taqdīr and the concept of underlying levels in Arabic grammatical tradition, see esp. (...)

1As is well known, one of the subcategories of ḥāl in Arabic grammatical tradition designates a state whose time is subsequent to the time of the main verb,1 rather than simultaneous with it; this type of ḥāl is commonly termed ḥāl muqaddara. As stated by Levin,2 the grammarians’ standard example for this type of ḥāl is the sentence marartu bi-raǧulin3 maʿahu ṣaqrun (“I passed by a man with a hawk”) ṣāʾidan bihi ġadan; the ḥāl here is not simultaneous with the passing, but rather means: “… intending to hunt with [the hawk] tomorrow”. Recently, Levin dedicated an article to the meaning of the term ḥāl muqaddara in Arabic grammatical tradition.4 He correctly shows that the grammarians posit an underlying (taqdīr)5 structure for this type of ḥāl, since they understand ḥāl as basically designating a state that is simultaneous with the time of the main verb. Thus, for the sentence above, the grammarians posit the underlying structure: muqaddiran‑al-ṣayda bihi ġadan “intending to hunt with [the hawk] tomorrow”.

• 9 Several occurrences of the term in that book will be discussed below. The commentary should not be (...)
• 10 See below. See also al-Naḥḥās, Maʿānī, VI, p. 498‒499.
• 11 Al-Naḥḥās, Šarḥ, II, p. 76.
• 12 Some of the term’s occurrences in such works will be discussed below.

5My aim in this article is twofold. The minor aim is to show that the term ḥāl muqaddara appears much earlier than the 10th/14th century. It occurs already in al-Zaǧǧāǧ’s (d. 311/923) Quranic commentary Maʿānī al-Qurʾān wa-iʿrābuhu.9 It also features in the Quranic commentaries composed by one of al-Zaǧǧāǧ’s students, al-Naḥḥās (d. 338/950),10 and in the latter’s commentary on the Muʿallaqāt.11 Later, it appears mainly in Quranic commentaries, as well as in some commentaries on poetry and hadith.12 Although the early provenance of this term is of a marginal importance, the fact that, as far as I could determine (see below), until a rather late period it was mainly used in commentaries of the Quran (and of other texts), rather than in grammars, has methodological implications on the study of the history of Arabic grammatical terminology.

• 13 Modern Western studies tend to follow Wright (see Levin “What is Meant by al-ḥāl al-muqaddara?”, p (...)
• 14 Perrson, “Circumstantial Clause”. See also e.g. Fleischer, Kleinere Schriften, I, p. 573‒574; Reck (...)

6The second, and more important, aim of this article pertains to Levin’s interpretation of the term, which (although this is not stated in his article) differs significantly from the way it is understood and translated by other modern scholars. It is not our intention here to survey the various translations suggested for this term; suffice it to say that they reflect an apprehension of the adjectival attribute muqaddar as describing the situation designated by the ḥāl. For instance, Persson translates ḥāl muqaddar13 as “implied ḥāl”, and explains that it applies “where the circumstance is ‘implied’ to hold at the completion of the event”.14 Most such translations are incidental, with no reference to any medieval texts. As far as I know, no scholar who suggested such a translation ever tried to back it up by adducing a medieval source.

• 15 See esp. Mosel, Die syntaktische Terminologie bei Sibawaih, p. 9‒10, 258‒260 (on ḥāl); Versteegh, (...)
• 16 See esp. Peled, “Aspects of the Use of Grammatical Terminology”.
• 17 See ibid.

8It has long been recognized that many expressions used by Arab grammarians display an ambiguity between their technical sense and the extralinguistic concept from which they originate.15 It has also been shown in previous research that Arab grammarians themselves fully appreciated this distinction.16 Thus, ḥāl may be used as a purely technical term, referring to a certain sentential constituent (commonly translated as a “circumstantial qualifier”), or in its everyday meaning, in the sense of “state, situation, circumstance, etc.”; it may also be used—and this seems to be the rule, rather than the exception—as what Peled calls a “metagrammatical intuitive term”, that is, as an expression whose semantic scope covers both its meaning as a technical term and the everyday concept underlying it.17

• 18 Needless to say, the very same problem also pertains to predicates.
• 19 In fact, they can also modify the terms themselves, which is the case with al-mafʿūl al-muṭlaq. Se (...)
• 20 In e.g. yā ʿabda Llāhi but also in e.g. yā Zaydu, whose final -u­ vowel is, according to the gramm (...)
• 21 Ibn al-Anbārī, Asrār, p. 226‒227. On the problems of this type of underlying structure raises, see (...)

9The problem the term ḥāl muqaddara presents pertains to the status of adjectival attributes in metalanguage:18 these can either modify the technical meaning or the everyday meaning of their heads.19 This rather trivial point can be illustrated with the following two expressions, which are of direct relevance to our problem. Regarding the operator assigning the accusative to the vocative,20 Ibn al-Anbārī (d. 577/1181) states: fa-ḏahaba baʿḍuhum ilā anna al-ʿāmila fīhi al-naṣba fiʿlun muqaddarun, that is, according to a certain opinion, the operator is an underlying verb, the underlying structure being adʿū/unādī Zaydan.21 The adjective muqaddar has nothing to do with the everyday meaning of fiʿl, viz. “action”, rather, it modifies its technical sense, viz. “verb”, as it is the constituent which is said to be muqaddar. On the other hand, in the term ḥāl muqārina, the antonym of ḥāl muqaddara, the adjective muqārina modifies the everyday meaning of ḥāl, viz. “state”, designating that state as one which is simultaneous with the event denoted by the main verb. To the best of my knowledge, the first grammarian to use the expression ḥāl muqārina is al-ʿUkbarī (d. 616/1219); in his Quranic commentary al-Tibyān fī iʿrāb al-Qurʾān, he remarks that ṣaʿiqan, in the verse:

• 23 Al-ʿUkbarī, al-Tibyān, I, p. 594.
• 24 The reason why al-ʿUkbarī felt the need to put forward this remark is probably the existence of Qu (...)

10is ḥāl muqārina,23 that is, the state of being thunderstruck took place simultaneously with the action of falling down.24

• 25 For these meanings of qaddara, see Lane, An Arabic‑English Lexicon, VII, p. 2495. See also the exc (...)

11Levin interprets the adjectival attribute muqaddara as meaning that the sentential constituent parsed as ḥāl is posited in the underlying structure. That is, for him, muqaddara modifies the technical sense of ḥāl. According to the analysis suggested here (and reflected by most translations of the term), the word muqaddara describes the state in question, rather than the constituent. This passive participle corresponds to the active participle muqaddir, which we have seen above as posited in the underlying structure. Therefore, ḥāl muqaddara means “intended (or: decreed) state” or “supposed (i.e. expected, anticipated) state”.25 In the abovementioned sentence, ṣāʾidan is analyzed as ḥāl muqaddara since it designates an intended state.

• 26 On the possibility to apply the passive participle of a transitive verb (or the corresponding acti (...)

12Differently put, in the underlying structure of ṣāʾidan, viz. muqaddiran-i al-ṣayda, the constituent al-ṣayd—which refers to the state of hunting—is the direct object of the active participle muqaddiran, from which it ensues that the corresponding passive participle muqaddar “intended” can be applied to it.26

• 27 See Carter, Arab Linguistics, p. 99.

13It should be stressed that this interpretation by no means implies that the expression ḥāl muqaddara cannot be used as a technical term. That is, when applied to a certain constituent, it is not merely used in order to indicate that the state it designates is intended, expected, etc.; rather, ḥāl muqaddara also constitutes a subcategory of the ḥāl. In this respect, it can be analogized to the term al-fiʿl al-māḍī, in which the adjectival attribute al-māḍī “having elapsed”27 modifies the everyday meaning of the term fiʿl, to wit, “action”; yet, al-fiʿl al-māḍī is also a subcategory of fiʿl “verb”. Thus, the term ḥāl muqaddara is occasionally used as a label of a syntactic function, which dictates that the noun assuming it take the accusative. For instance, al-Naḥḥās (d. 338/950), commenting on the verse:

• 29 Al-Naḥḥās, Iʿrāb, V, p. 31.

14says: “wa-nuṣibat halūʿan ʿalā al-ḥāli al-muqaddarati.”29 That is, ḥāl muqaddara, as a subcategory of ḥāl, is a label of a syntactic function dictating the noun’s case.

• 31 Al-Zaǧǧāǧ, Maʿānī, V, p. 21.
• 32 This verse is interpreted twice, the interpretation presented here being the second thereof. Addit (...)

16After stating that šāhidan is ḥāl muqaddara, as it pertains to the Day of Resurrection, al-Zaǧǧāǧ asserts that the bearing of good tidings (bišāra) and the warning (inḏār) are a state, ḥāl, in which Muḥammad is involved (mulābis) in this world, with respect to those who met him, while they are ḥāl muqaddara with respect to those who would live after him.31 The use of ḥāl in this text is striking, as it is designed to contrast two states, one of which is described as muqaddara.32

• 34 Al-Zaǧǧāǧ does not sanction this reading. Cf., nevertheless, the reading talaqqafu (← tatalaqqafu, (...)

19al-Zaǧǧāǧ discusses a hypothetical34 possibility for the verb talqaf to take the indicative mood, in the sense of ḥāl, thus meaning: alqihā mutalaqqifatan. His explanation here is significant: “ʿalā ḥālin mutawaqqaʿatin”; “as an expected state”. That this expression is synonymous with ḥāl muqaddara is made clear by al-Zaǧǧāǧ himself, in his commentary on the next verse:

• 36 Al-Zaǧǧāǧ, Maʿānī, III, p. 367.

20On suǧǧadan al-Zaǧǧāǧ states that it is also a ḥāl muqaddara, explaining that when the sorcerers fell down they were not yet prostrate; rather, they fell down intending to prostrate themselves (ḫarrū muqaddirīna al-suǧūda).36 This explanation is virtually identical to the one furnished for a previous verse:

• 38 Al-Zaǧǧāǧ, Maʿānī, III, p. 335.

21For al-Zaǧǧāǧ, suǧǧadan is ḥāl muqaddara: they fell down intending to prostrate themselves (ḫarrū muqaddirīna al-suǧūda), since at a time of falling down, one is not (yet) prostrate.38

• 40 Al-Zaǧǧāǧ, Maʿānī, V, p. 245‒246. The expression ḥāl mutawaqqaʿa is also used by later scholars, s (...)

23Al-Zaǧǧāǧ explains: “ay lā tuʿṭi šayʾan muqaddiran an taʾḫuḏa badalahu mā huwa akṯaru minhu”; “that is, do not give something in the expectation of receiving more in exchange for it”. Here tastakṯiru is analyzed as ḥāl mutawaqqaʿa.40

• 42 It is unclear what is, in Makkī’s mind, the antecedent of the pronoun in ukuluhu. Although it is p (...)
• 43 For another text where muntaẓar is used as a (near) synonym of muqaddar, see below.
• 44 The word muqaddara is missing in one of the manuscripts.
• 45 See in what follows.
• 46 One manuscript reads taqdīruhu, and one—muqaddarun. In these cases, the doer of the taqdīr is not (...)
• 47 Makkī b. Abī Ṭālib, Muškil, I, p. 274.

25Makkī explains that muḫtalifan is ḥāl muqaddara, since there is no ukul in it42 when it grows out of the ground. “Difference in produce” can only be said of a later stage, after the crops ripened. In contrast with ḥāl wāqiʿa ġayr muntaẓara43 (i.e. a state which occurs [simultaneously with the occurrence of the main verb], not one that is anticipated to occur at a subsequent time), in e.g. raʾaytu Zaydan qāʾiman “I saw Zayd standing”, the ḥāl in e.g. ḫalaqa Allāhu al-naḫla muḫtalifan ukuluhu (cf. the abovementioned verse) is ḥāl muntaẓara muqaddara.44 Similarly, Makkī continues, in raʾaytu Zaydan musāfiran ġadan “I saw Zayd, expected/intending45 to travel tomorrow”, the speaker does not see Zayd in the state of traveling (fī ḥāli al-safari); rather, innamā huwa amrun tuqaddiruhu46 an yakūna ġadan, that is, it is assumed that the state will take place tomorrow. The verb (+ subject and object) tuqaddiruhu is most probably used here in order to explain the meaning of the element muqaddara in the term ḥāl muqaddara. Makkī wraps up his discussion by mentioning (according to the version of half of the manuscripts) the contrast between al-ḥāl al-wāqiʿa and al-ḥāl al-muqaddara al-muntaẓara.47 Here muqaddara and muntaẓara are used as (near‑)synonyms.

• 48 See above.
• 49 See above.
• 50 Al-ʿUkbarī, al-Lubāb, I, p. 293.
• 51 Ibid., I, p. 294‒295
• 52 cf. e.g. the contrast al-māḍī vs. al-muḍāriʿ.

26After first making a distinction between two types of ḥāl, muqārina48 and muntaẓara49 (he calls the latter al-ḥāl al-muqaddara),50 al-ʿUkbarī (d. 616/1219) further divides ḥāl into four types, based on, inter alia, whether or not it is muqārina. A ḥāl that is not muqārina is, again, termed muntaẓara, exemplified with the sentence marartu bi-raǧulin maʿahu ṣaqrun ṣāʾidan bihi ġadan. Al-ʿUkbarī explains that in this sentence the hunting (ṣayd) does not occur simultaneously (muqārin) with the passing, but is muqaddar,51 a word which here cannot be interpreted as pertaining to the underlying structure. Note that it is not the contrast itself between muqaddara and muqārina that proves that these two terms modify the term ḥāl from the very same aspect;52 rather, it is al-ʿUkbarī’s use of the term muqaddar as describing the action designated by the ḥāl, in contradistinction to muqārin, that constitutes evidence for our argument.

• 53 Al-Tilimsānī does not quote the text itself. See Mālik b. Anas, al-Muwaṭṭaʾ, I, p. 155‒156.
• 54 Al-Tilimsānī, al-Iqtiḍāb, I, p. 182.

27A direct explanation of the term ḥāl muqaddara is found in this commentary on Mālik b. Anas’ (d. 179/795) al-Muwaṭṭaʾ. On the sentence “fa-arsaltu al-atāna tartaʿu”53 “and I let the she-ass loose to pasture”, al-Tilimsānī (d. 625/1228) remarks that the ḥāl(-clause) is named ḥāl muqaddara here li-annahu lā yursiluhā fī ḥāli rutūʿihā innamā arsalahā qablahu, that is, because the action of letting loose did not take place in a state (ḥāl) of the she-ass’ pasturing, but rather prior to it.54 The term ḥāl muqaddara is here explained by referring to the time of the ḥāl in the sense of “state”, not in the technical sense. Needless to say, the explanation does not contain any mention of an underlying structure.

• 55 Al-Fākihī, Šarḥ, p. 228. See also ibid., p. 230.
• 56 For another case where mustaqbala is used as an explanation for ḥāl muqaddara, see Ibn Hišām (d. 7 (...)
• 57 On ʿāmil al-ḥāl see above.

28In a similar vein, al-Fākihī (d. 972/1564) defines the term ḥāl muqaddara as follows: ay mustaqbalatun fa-wuǧūduhā mutaʾaḫḫirun ʿan wuǧūdi ʿāmilihā.55 That is, al-Fākihī explains muqaddara as meaning mustaqbala,56 elucidating that its (i.e. the ḥāl in the sense of “state”) occurrence is posterior to the occurrence designated by its operator.57

• 58 See Carter, Arab Linguistics, p. 373.
• 59 Note that in contrast with other grammarians, for Ibn Bābašāḏ muntaqil implies simultaneity. Cf. e (...)
• 60 Ibn Bābašāḏ, Šarḥ, p. 311.
• 61 Ibid., p. 310; Ibn Bābašāḏ, al-Muqaddima, 358. I am grateful to Dr Avigail Noy for sending me this (...)

29One grammarian who uses the term muqaddar in reference to the sentential constituent labelled ḥāl (that is, to the circumstantial qualifier), rather than to the state it designates, is Ibn Bābašāḏ (d. 469/1077), although in a way that differs from the one suggested by Levin. First, Ibn Bābašāḏ explains the distinction between ṣifa (here in the sense of adjectival attribute) in e.g. ǧāʾa Zaydun al-ḍāḥiku “Zayd the laugher (or: who laughs, the laughing [one]) arrived”, and ḥāl, in e.g. ǧāʾa Zaydun ḍāḥikan “Zayd arrived laughing”, by indicating that the latter, in contrast with the former, is muntaqila “mobile”, i.e. transient,58 in the sense that the occurrence of the laughter is simultaneous with the occurrence of the arrival.59 Ibn Bābašāḏ states that ḥāl can also be muqaddaratan bi-l-muntaqili, e.g. hāḏā Zaydun ṣāʾidan ġadan “this/here is Zayd, intending to hunt tomorrow”; underlying this type of ḥāl is a muntaqil (waǧaba an yuqaddara bi-mā yantaqilu), such as muqaddiran (or nāwiyan or muʿtaqidan), thus hāḏā zaydun muqaddiran‑i al-ṣayda ġadan, this being the true ḥāl.60 This text is a commentary on the matn of the same grammarian’s al-Muqaddima, in which this type of ḥāl is termed muqaddaran according to one version, muqaddaran bi-l-muntaqili according to another.61 Even if one adopts the latter version, it is highly plausible that, since the term ḥāl muqaddara was already in circulation in Ibn Bābašāḏ’s time, muqaddaran bi-l-muntaqili is this grammarian’s interpretation of the meaning of this term. At any rate, this expression needs some elucidation.

• 62 Ibn Bābašāḏ, Šarḥ, p. 312. See ibid., p. 313‒314 for Ibn Bābašāḏ’s Commentary.

30When the verb qaddara (as a technical term), or one of its derivatives, takes the preposition bi‑, the latter’s object designates the underlying constituent. An example for such a usage is found later in the same text, when Ibn Bābašāḏ says (in the matn of his al-Muqaddima) that the ḥāl should be muqaddaratan bi-fī,62 that is, it takes the preposition fī in the underlying structure. In other words, whereas “X is muqaddar” means that X is what is posited in the underlying structure, “X is muqaddar bi-Y” means that Y is what is posited in the underlying structure (for X). Therefore, the adjective muqaddara in the expression muqaddaratan bi-l-muntaqili does not mean that the ḥāl in question belongs to the underlying structure, but rather that in the underlying structure it is provided with an expression, which is characterized as muntaqil.

• 63 One may even draw an argumentum ex silentio from the fact that no known grammarian regards the com (...)

32According to the explanation given by the majority of the scholars discussed here, the adjectival attribute muqaddara in the term ḥāl muqaddara modifies the everyday meaning of the term ḥāl, describing it as intended, expected etc. This explanation spares us the need to take recourse to the idea that the grammarians’ application of the term ḥāl muqaddara to the surface ḥāl was inaccurate, being a case of taqrīb.63 The term muqaddara is a (near-)synonym of e.g. muntaẓara and mutawaqqaʿa, and an antonym of e.g. muqārina and wāqiʿa.

• 64 Levin, “What is Meant by al-ḥāl al-muqaddara?”, p. 169‒172.
• 65 Carter, “Writing the History of Arabic Grammar”, p. 389.

34This article stresses the importance of sources outside grammars per se for our understanding of medieval grammatical terminology. Regarding its near absence in almost all early extant grammars, it should be kept in mind that, as Levin shows, some early grammarians who discuss this distinction do not mention the term ḥāl muqaddara (or any similar term).64 Since we have at our disposal “only a fraction of the number of known titles”65 of grammatical texts, it is, unfortunately, impossible to assess the extent of interest in naḥw, generally and diachronically, in the semantic distinction between ḥāl muqaddara and ḥāl muqārina.

• 67 Al-Maḥallī (d. 864/1459) & al-Suyūṭī (d. 911/1505), Tafsīr al-Ǧalālayn, p. 411.
• 68 This structure is termed ḥāl sababiyya. See e.g. al-Suyūṭī, Hamʿ al-hawāmiʿ, III, p. 240, where th (...)

37The Tafsīr reads: ḥālun muqaddaratun ay muqaddaran ḫulūduhum fīhā iḏā daḫalūhā,67 that is, when they enter the gardens, their staying in them forever is decreed.68 Note that the term ḥāl muqaddara in such cases is more transparent than it is in cases where the active participle is posited in the underlying structure: here the ḥāl, viz. state, which is the staying forever (ḫulūd), is said to be muqaddar.

• 71 Ibn Hišām, Muġnī, II, p. 85‒86.
• 72 Ibid., V, p. 43‒45.

39Ibn Hišām raises the question of whether or not it is possible to parse yassammaʿūna as ḥāl muqaddara, in the sense of wa-ḥifẓan min kulli šayṭānin māridin muqaddaran ʿadamu samāʿihi, ay baʿda al-ḥifẓi, namely, in a state in which the lack of hearing by every rebellious devil is muqaddar, i.e. subsequent to the occurrence of the protection. Ibn Hišām rejects this possibility, on the ground that the muqaddir is identical with the referent of the ḥāl’s antecedent (allaḏī yuqaddiru wuǧūda maʿnā al-ḥāli huwa ṣāḥibuhā). Whereas in marartu bi-raǧulin maʿahu ṣaqrun ṣāʾidan bihi ġadan the man is said to be muqaddiran (elsewhere71 Ibn Hišām expresses his preference that murīdan “willing” be posited in the underlying structure), the devils are not so: wa-l-šayāṭīnu lā yuqaddirūna ʿadama al-samāʿi wa-lā yurīdūnahu.72

• 73 The text reads muqaddaran ʿadamu al-ṣaydi bihi; al-Šumunnī (d. 872/1468) (al-Munṣif, II, p. 120) r (...)
• 74 Q XVI, 29 reads: fa-dḫulū …
• 75 Jones, The Qurʾān, p. 427. Or: “Enter the gates of Jahannam, in which you will remain for everˮ, i (...)
• 76 Al-Damāmīnī, Tuḥfa, I/1, p. 84. See al-Šumunnī, al-Munṣif, II, p. 120 for a defence of Ibn Hišām’s (...)

40This argument was criticized by al-Damāmīnī (d. 827/1424), in his commentary on Muġnī al-labīb. First, he maintains that identity between the muqaddir and the referent of the antecedent of the ḥāl is not necessary, allowing one to posit the underlying muqaddaran in marartu bi-raǧulin maʿahu ṣaqrun ṣāʾidan bihi ġadan, i.e. muqaddaran-i al-ṣaydu bihi,73 whether or not the muqaddir is the man. However, even if one adopts Ibn Hišām’s view that the muqaddir is identical with the referent of the antecedent of the ḥāl, the devils can nevertheless be regarded as the muqaddirūn, because it is possible that they anticipate (yuqaddirūna) not hearing, subsequently to the action of the protection. This, however, does not tally with Ibn Hišām’s identification between muqaddir and murīd, which is rejected by al-Damāmīnī, by adducing the sentence: udḫul‑i al-siǧna ḫālidan fī ʿaḏābihi “enter jail, expecting to remain in its torment for ever” (for which it makes no sense to posit an underlying murīdan). Interestingly, al-Damāmīnī explains that he did not adduce the Quranic udḫulū abwāba ǧahannama ḫālidīna fīhā (Q XXXIX, 72; XL, 76)74 “Enter the gates of Jahannam, to dwell in it for ever”,75 as one may argue that by dint of their sin of kufr, they were counted as muridūn.76