Editing Sibawayh (section)

====Format====
Al-Kitāb, comprising 5 volumes, is a long and highly analytic and comprehensive treatment of grammar and remains largely untranslated into English. Due to its great unwieldiness and complexity the later grammarians produced concise grammars in a simple descriptive format suitable for general readership and educational purposes.<ref name=ver58/> Al-Kitāb categorizes grammar under subheadings, from [[syntax]] to [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphology]], and includes an appendix on [[phonetics]].<ref>Kees Versteegh, ''The Arabic Language'' (1997), pg. 74.</ref> Each chapter introduces a concept with its definition.<ref>Kees Versteegh, ''The Arabic Language'' (1997), pg. 77.</ref> [[Arabic verbs]] may indicate three tenses (past, present, future) but take just two forms, defined as "past" (past tense) and "resembling" (present and future tenses).<ref>Kees Versteegh, ''The Arabic Language'' (1997), pg. 84.</ref>

Sibawayh generally illustrates his statements and rules by quoting verses of [[Arabic poetry|poetry]], grabbing material from a very wide range of sources, both old and contemporary, both urban and from the desert: his sources range from [[pre-Islamic Arabia]]n poets, to later [[Bedouin]] poets, urban [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad]]-era poets, and even the less prestigious and more innovative [[Rajaz (prosody)|rajaz]] poets of his time.<ref>Kees Versteegh, ''The Arabic Language'', page 65 in first ed. (1997), page 73 in second ed (2014).</ref>

Although a grammar book, Sibawayh extends his theme into [[Arabic phonology|phonology]], standardised pronunciation of the [[Arabic alphabet|alphabet]] and prohibited deviations.<ref name=ver55/> He dispenses with the letter-groups classification of al-Farahidi's dictionary.<ref>Kees Versteegh, ''The Arabic Language'' (1997), pg. 88.</ref> He introduces a discussion on the nature of morality of speech; that speech as a form of human behavior is governed by ethics, right and wrong, correct and incorrect.<ref>Yasir Suleiman, "Ideology, grammar-making and standardization." Taken from ''In the Shadow or Arabic'', pg. 10.</ref>

Many linguists and scholars highly esteem ''Al-Kitāb'' as the most comprehensive and oldest extant Arabic grammar. [[Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati]], the most eminent grammarian of his era, memorized the entire ''Al-Kitāb'', and equated its value to grammar as that of [[hadith]]s to [[Fiqh|Islamic law]].<ref name="encyclopediaislam">Encyclopedia of Islam, vol. I, A-B, pg. 126. Eds. [[Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb]], J.H. Kramers, [[Évariste Lévi-Provençal]] and [[Joseph Schacht]]. Assisted by [[Bernard Lewis]] and [[Charles Pellat]]. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1979. Print edition.</ref>