Definition of al-Nahw

In the Arabic language it carries a number of meanings:

  1. Direction

ذَهَبْتُ نَحْوَ فُلَانٍ

“I went in the direction of so and so”

  1. Similarity and likeness

مُحَمَّدٌ نَحْوَ عَلِيٍّ

“Muhammad is similar to/is like ‘Ali.”

Technically it is defined as:

“…the knowledge of the principles by which the rulings of the endings of Arabic words are known on the occasion of its composition in terms of: i’rab (a change in the ending of the word to express a grammatical function for instance), and bina’ (resistance to change in the ending of words) and what follows that.”

Muhammad Muhyi al-Din ‘Abd al-Hamid, al-Tuhfah al-Saniyyah bi Sharh al-Muqaddimah al-Ajurrumiyyah, (Qatar: Wizarat al-Awqaf wa al-Shu’un al-Islamiyyah, 1428/2007), 6.