Facsimile · p. 9
- J -General Class Terms. May God protect him. I am writing to you to inform you that these classes are written in the language of the common people. The author may have written them with a touch of eloquence. Do not change what is in them.
It is stated in the book "Al-Bayan wa Al-Tabyin" by Abu Uthman Amr ibn Bahr Al-Jahiz, page 81, Volume I: "And what you hear and remember, may God protect you, from the speech of the Bedouins. If you narrate it with its original grammar and its exact wording, you will be conveying it accurately. If you change it by making grammatical errors or present it as the speech of the urbanized and local people, you will deviate from that narration and lose its merit. Similarly, if you hear a joke from the common people or a witty remark from them, and you try to use formal grammar when narrating it, or you find a clever way to express it, this will spoil the enjoyment of it and take it out of its original form and purpose, and it will diminish their pleasure and appreciation of it."
The places mentioned in the classes have been explained, and their geographical locations, centers, and directorates currently under the Anglo-Egyptian government have been clarified.
Some useful comments have been added to explain the ambiguous and unclear colloquial terms.
The anecdotes have been left as they are, without deletion, regardless of their level, to demonstrate the state of people at the time of writing and the vast difference from the present. May God guide whom He wills to the straight path.
A brief biography of the author: As received from his grandson in Halfaya Al-Muluk. He is the scholar, the learned, the ocean of knowledge, the profound, Muhammad Dhaif Allah bin Al-Faqih Muhammad Al-Ja'ali Al-Fadli Al-Dhaifallai. He was born in Halfaya Al-Muluk in the year 1139 AH and passed away in the year 1224 AH. He was buried in the mosque of his ancestors, Awlad Dhaif Allah, in Halfaya, and their graves are visible and visited. May God be pleased with them. And may He benefit us with their knowledge. Amen.