This paper tries to examine the relationship between analogy and the grammatical
rule. Analogy is one of the basic principles and bases of Arabic grammar during times of
rule formation and judging it. Linguists were divided in their attitude to ana
logy, with
some supporting it and others against it. Grammarians were more inclined toward analogy
than compilers, because grammarians’ research was based on the existing similarity
between words, phrases, and style used in speech reported by tellers of what had been said
by the Arabs. They based their rules and origins of analogy on that similarity. Analogists
transliterated some foreign terms, Arabized, and derived new words out of them in a
manner similar to that done with Arabic terms. However, some grammarians went very far
in their excessive use of analogy to the extent that it becomes far removed from linguistic
reality to be a form riddle and guessing, leading to reaction against analogy then against
grammar. Analogy became an end in itself; it overlooked its original purpose; was then
manifested in rule formation of words said spontaneously.
Grammatical rules are deduced from Arabic spoken by ideally intuitive Arabic
speakers, and illustration is the spirit of the rule, endowing it with life, pleasure, and
originality. The Arabic used in illustration is that of the holy Quran, sayings
of the Prophet
as well as renowned poetic and prosaic statements by Arabs from the Jahileah period up to
150 Hizra,i.e, the end of the period of providing arguments. The term illustration is an
original Arabic term that came out of Arab concern over mistakes in Arabic. The holy
Quran is the source of illustrations, as it is the pillar upon which all other illustrations
depend.
This paper tries to study the relationship between the grammatical rule and
illustrations as well as to demonstrate the motives for illustration, its mechanism,
principles, and sources. It also tries to address some equivalents such as provision of
argument and evidence as well as analogy.