The distinction between the general and the specific in sharḤ al-kĀfiya by raḌĪ al-dĪn al-astarĀbĀdhĪ¹

This article studies the terms ʿāmm (“general”) and khāṣṣ (“specific”) and their derivatives in Sharḥ al-Kāfiya by Raḍī al-Dīn al-Astarābādhī (d. ca. 1289). Their use is part of a major methodological tendency of distinguishing between the general and the specific, which likely formed in the grammatical literature under influences from other Islamic disciplines. The article surveys various contexts in which the notions are used in Sharḥ al-Kāfiya (namely, discussions on terminology, discussions on elements that can fill a given position, semantic analyses, and discussions on semantic shifts), and compares takhṣīṣ “specification/specificity” with two other, seemingly close, terms that actually have different meanings, viz. tawḍīḥ “clarification” and taʿrīf “definiteness.”.