The Notion ‘illa in Arabic Linguistic Thinking

The notion ?illa, which is often translated as 'cause' into English is, regardless of its validity or otherwise, an important notion in Arabic linguistic thinking, particularly in the fourth century of the Islamic era and onwards. Tlue converse of this is to sever the connection between Arabic linguistic thinking and the philosophically inspired scholastic theology. The second consideration relates to Ibn Mada''s acceptance of illa ta rfmiyya as a legitimate notion in linguistic practice. Arabic grammatical tradition derived much of its inspiration. Hassan ascribes much of the methodological armoury of the Arabic grammatical tradition to what might be called 'natural' or 'naive' logic, which is culture non-specific. Ibn Jinni establishes the distinction between optional and obligatory illa in order to exclude the former from the scope of illa proper. An obligatory illa seeks to explain the presence of a salient feature in all the data which fall within the scope of a set of one or more grammatical rules.