The Concept of the Factor and Definition of Grammatical Factors in Al-Radhi's Commentary on Al-Kafiya

Abstract

This study examines the concept of grammatical factors and their definition as presented by Al-Radhi, a renowned scholar of Arabic grammar, in his commentary on Al-Kafiya. The research highlights the significance of Al-Radhi’s work, which offers a renewed vision emphasizing in-depth grammatical analysis and balanced methodologies. The study is structured into an introduction, a preface, and three main sections. The first section explores the essence of parsing, the second delves into the formulation of grammatical factors in Al-Radhi's thought, and the third discusses the structural impact of these factors as analyzed by Al-Radhi. The findings reveal that Al-Radhi viewed the factor as the essential cause establishing the required meaning in an inflected word. These factors could include the verb, the verb and agent together, verb-like entities (e.g., active participles, passive participles, adjectives, and infinitives), meanings derived from certain letters, complete nouns, or sentence meanings. This perspective distinguishes Al-Radhi from other grammarians, who typically classify factors into two categories: verbal (e.g., verbs and particles) and semantic (e.g., subjecthood, agency, objecthood, and possession).