The most scholarly dictionary of the Arabic language available. This work is the product of over thirty years of unrelenting labour. It is a work of such unique greatness that, since its first appearance almost 150 years ago, it has remained to this day supreme in the field of Arabic lexicography. No scholar or group of scholars has produced anything to supplant it.
As it originally appeared and was later reproduced, the Lexicon consisted of eight large, cumbersome volumes, which made it difficult to use. Now, for the first time, the Islamic Texts Society has, with no loss whatsoever of clarity or legibility, brought together the eight large volumes into two compact volumes; it is now possible to keep the Lexicon on the work desk and refer to it with ease.
‘It is a work of such fundamental importance and of such matchless excellence that praise for it is quite superfluous. Every Arabist has had good cause to bless him for his superhuman labour … It is certainly true to say that eery work produced in this century relating in any way to Arabic studies has drawn heavily upon the Lexicon.’
A. J. Arberry