Abū l-Faraj Hārūn (Jerusalem, 11th c.) on majāz, between uṣūl al-naḥw, uṣūl al-fiqh and iʿjāz al-Qurʾān

The medieval Karaite grammarian and exegete Abū l-Faraj Hārūn b. al-Faraj (Jerusalem, 5th/11th century) was a broad reader of the literature available in Arabic, in a variety of genres. Earlier studies have demonstrated that in his grammatical works on the Hebrew language, Hārūn adapted discussions from well-known compositions focused on Arabic and the Qur'ān. The following examination of Hārūn's treatment of the subject of biblical majāz, non-literal language, aims to show that in constructing his sophisticated and innovative discussion of the topic, the Karaite scholar read widely - and adapted creatively - incorporating the methods of a variety of genres in Arabic, including uá£ūl al-naá̧¥w, uá£ūl al-fiqh and even iÊ¿jāz al-Qur'ān and combining them together with earlier Jewish and Karaite scholarly tradition to produce what seems to be the first comprehensive discussion of non-literal language in Judeo-Arabic.