Testi arabi di Sicilia. Un esempio di disputa linguistica

My contribution aims to illustrate an exemplar text of cultural relations between Sicily and the Islamic civilization. The text is entitled Taṯqīf al-lisān wa talqīḥ al-ǧanān by Abū Ḥafṣ ῾Umar Ibn Ḫalaf Ibn Makkī al-Ḥamīrī al-Māzirī al-Ṣiqillī, grammarian and linguist and it’s an example of the Arabic language spoken in Siciliy in the 10th century, when the island was an Emirate under Islamic rule. The Taṯqīf al-lisān, comprising of fifty chapters, the treaty lists grammatical errors made by Sicilians whether common people (al-‘amma) or learned speakers (al-muḫaṣṣiṣūn). Each listed error is followed by its correct form. The grammarian classifies errors according to some categories: paradigms and word structures, conjugation and ethimology, the specialists’ errors in reciting the Qu’ran, errors made by the ahl al-ḥadīṯ. This choice has the purpose of analyzing the error as the element that is inserted in the language; it is in fact a grammatical error concerning the sacred language and the Sunna, a linguistic error which can lead to misunderstanding or misinterpretation of Islamic foundations.