peace All,
Review of Concordance of Quran by H. E. Kassis, as some of you asked.
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0520043278/ref=ase_dealtime-da/103-2199997-0930243Its primary aim is to list all the roots used in al quran and occurrences of the root within al quran. At that, it seems very good. I dont know how accurate it is however (i.e. if it lists every root occurrence all the time). I bring that up because brother Mohamed (Irhazi) gave me one example which suggests an omission.
The concordance is split in two sections, 1st section is about roots associated with The God and the 2nd section is general roots. Annoyingly the 2nd section is not numbered like a contents page, e.g.
1st section = pages 1-101
2nd section = pages 101-1351
So it does not tell you what page the roots begining with the letter 'Ba' start, or any other letter, for example.
There is a good introduction, discussing briefly about grammar aspects, which I found helpful. Its quite concise though.
The layout of it is as follows: The roots are arranged in alphabetical order, matching the English alphabet. For example, if I want to look up a root beginning with 'Miim' its going to be in the middle somewhere... 'Alif' is at the start... 'Zay' will be near the end etc. so its quite simple to use. For a root it lists the possible meanings, taken from Arberry's translation (because the author regards it as the best English translation). For other possible meanings, it lists the words used by Pickthall, Yusuf Ali and R. Bell, but only if they differ from Arberry's. It also gives valuable information on the grammar of the word, i.e. if its male/female/noun/verb/singular/plural/active/passive/collective etc.
one example of an entry:
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*H D TH
HADITH n.m. (pl. ahadith) ~ tiding, talk, discourse, tale, story
4:42 they will not conceal from God one tiding
4:78 they scarcely understand one tiding
4:87
4:140
.
.
.
etc. (continues to list the occurrences and the context like above)
HADDATHA vb. (II) ~ to speak to, to tell, to declare
b) impf. act. (yuhaddithu)
2:76 do you speak to them of what God has revealed
99:4 (gives context)
c) impv. (haddith)
93:11 (gives context)
AHDATHA vb. (IV) ~ to cause to occur, bring something new to pass, introduce, arouse. (pcple. pass.) that which is lately remembered or renewed
b) impf. act. (yuhdithu)
18:70 (gives context for each occurrence)
20:113
65:1
h) pcple. pass. (muhdath)
21:2 (gives context for each occurrence)
26:5
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Alternatively, to take a look inside the book, click on the above link.
In what it sets out to do it is very good. Quite simple to use and understand too. However, its main and quite significant weakness is that the possible meanings it gives for a root are few. It is not comprehensive like a lexicon/dictionary, such as Lane (as thats the only one I have to compare it too). In fact, it is nowhere near it. So, I would advise getting a good Classical Arabic lexicon/dictionary as a supplement to it.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.
Wakas
ps - an online version of this root look-up function can be found online, however, I believe its partially complete:
http://burhan.freewebsitehosting.com/data/m.htm