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Abu al-Abbas Ahmad bin Abd al-Rahman bin Muhammad bin Sa'id bin Harith bin Asim al-Lakhmi al-Qurtubi, better known as Ibn Maḍāʾ ( ar, ابن مضاء; 1116–1196) was an
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
Muslim
polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
from Córdoba in Islamic Spain. Kees Versteegh, ''The Arabic Linguistic Tradition'', pg. 142. Part of Landmarks in Linguistic Thought series, vol. 3.
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * ...
:
Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, ...
, 1997.
Ibn Mada was notable for having challenged the traditional formation of Arabic grammar and of the common understanding of linguistic governance among Arab grammarians, performing an overhaul first suggested by
Al-Jahiz Abū ʿUthman ʿAmr ibn Baḥr al-Kinānī al-Baṣrī ( ar, أبو عثمان عمرو بن بحر الكناني البصري), commonly known as al-Jāḥiẓ ( ar, links=no, الجاحظ, ''The Bug Eyed'', born 776 – died December 868/Jan ...
200 years prior. He is considered the first
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Ling ...
in history to address the subject of dependency in the
grammatical In linguistics, grammaticality is determined by the conformity to language usage as derived by the grammar of a particular speech variety. The notion of grammaticality rose alongside the theory of generative grammar, the goal of which is to fo ...
sense in which it is understood today, and was instrumental during the
Almohad reforms Almohad doctrine () or Almohadism was the ideology underpinning the Almohad movement, founded by Ibn Tumart, which created the Almohad Empire during the 12th to 13th centuries. Fundamental to Almohadism was Ibn Tumart's radical interpretation of ...
as chief judge of the
Almohad Caliphate The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire f ...
.


Biography


Education

Ibn Mada's exact date of birth is a matter of dispute, having been listed as both 1116 and 1119Granja, F. de la
Ibn Maḍāʾ
Encyclopaedia of Islam The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is an encyclopaedia of the academic discipline of Islamic studies published by Brill. It is considered to be the standard reference work in the field of Islamic studies. The first edition was published ...
, Second Edition. Brill Online, 2012. Reference. 23 December 2012
Kojiro Nakamura is a Japanese scholar of Islam. He is professor emeritus of Islamic studies at both Tokyo University and Oberlin University. Tokyo University's Department of Islamic Studies was the first such department in Japan, established in 1982 with Nakamura ...
, "Ibn Mada's Criticism of Arab Grammarians." ''Orient'', v. 10, pgs. 89-113. 1974
according to the
Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years diff ...
. His family was famous within their local community.Encyclopedia of Islam, vol. III, H-IRAM, pg. 747 Eds.
Bernard Lewis Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near E ...
, Charles Pellat and
Joseph Schacht Joseph Franz Schacht (, 15 March 1902 – 1 August 1969) was a British-German professor of Arabic and Islam at Columbia University in New York. He was the leading Western scholar on Islamic law, whose ''Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence'' (195 ...
. Assist. J. Burton-Page, C. Dumont and V.L. Menage. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1971. Photomechanical print.
Ibn Mada was not known to have traveled outside of Cordoba prior to his academic study. He grew up in a family of noble origin, and as a youth he seemed to concern himself only with pursuing his education. In addition to religion, he was also well-versed in
geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...
and
medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care p ...
. He moved from Cordoba to
Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
where he studied Arabic
grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...
and
syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituenc ...
from the works of
Sibawayh Sibawayh ( ar, سِيبَوَيْهِ ' or ; fa, سِیبُویه‎ ' ; c. 760–796), whose full name is Abu Bishr Amr ibn Uthman ibn Qanbar al-Basri (, '), was a Persian leading grammarian of Basra and author of the earliest book on Arabic ...
. Later, he left the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
for
Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territo ...
in North Africa in order to study
historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians h ...
and
prophetic In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or pr ...
tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holiday ...
with Muslim academic
Qadi Ayyad ʿIyāḍ ibn Mūsā (1083–1149) ( ar, القاضي عياض بن موسى, formally Abū al-Faḍl ʿIyāḍ ibn Mūsā ibn ʿIyāḍ ibn ʿAmr ibn Mūsā ibn ʿIyāḍ ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mūsā ibn ʿIyāḍ al-Yaḥṣubī ...
. Ibn Mada was most affected by his linguistic study, excelling so far as to develop his own independent opinions in regard to disputes among grammarians.


Career

Ibn Mada initially served as a judge in
Fes Fez or Fes (; ar, فاس, fās; zgh, ⴼⵉⵣⴰⵣ, fizaz; french: Fès) is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fès-Meknès administrative region. It is the second largest city in Morocco, with a population of 1.11 m ...
in present-day
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
and later at
Béjaïa Béjaïa (; ; ar, بجاية‎, Latn, ar, Bijāya, ; kab, Bgayet, Vgayet), formerly Bougie and Bugia, is a Mediterranean port city and commune on the Gulf of Béjaïa in Algeria; it is the capital of Béjaïa Province, Kabylia. Béjaïa is ...
in present-day Algeria. It was during his initial judgeship that he was a teacher of fellow Andalusian theologian and litterateur,
Ibn Dihya al-Kalby Umar bin al-Hasan bin Ali bin Muhammad bin al-Jamil bin Farah bin Khalaf bin Qumis bin Mazlal bin Malal bin Badr bin Dihyah bin Farwah, better known as Ibn Dihya al-Kalbi ( ar, ابن دحية الكلبي) was a Moorish scholar of both the Arab ...
. Later on,
Almohad The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire fou ...
Caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
Abu Yaqub Yusuf Abu Ya`qub Yusuf or Yusuf I ( ''Abū Ya‘qūb Yūsuf''; 1135 – 14 October 1184) was the second Almohad ''Amir'' or caliph. He reigned from 1163 until 1184 in Marrakesh. He was responsible for the construction of the Giralda in Seville, which ...
chose him to serve as the
chief judge A chief judge (also known as presiding judge, president judge or principal judge) is the highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. According to the Federal judiciary of the United States, th ...
for the caliphate. He served in Fes,
Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...
and
Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
, outliving Abu Yaqub to serve under the caliph's son Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur and remaining as the empire's chief judge for the remainder of his life. Katip Çelebi, ''Kashf az-zunun'', vol. 3, pg. 355. Ed.
Gustav Leberecht Flügel Gustav Leberecht Flügel (February 18, 1802 – July 5, 1870) was a German orientalist. Life After attending high school in his native city Flügel studied theology and philosophy in Leipzig. He soon discovered his passion for oriental langu ...
.
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
: 1835-1858.
During the
Almohad reforms Almohad doctrine () or Almohadism was the ideology underpinning the Almohad movement, founded by Ibn Tumart, which created the Almohad Empire during the 12th to 13th centuries. Fundamental to Almohadism was Ibn Tumart's radical interpretation of ...
, he assisted the Almohad authorities in banning any and all religious books written by non-Zahirites during the reign of
Abu Yaqub Yusuf Abu Ya`qub Yusuf or Yusuf I ( ''Abū Ya‘qūb Yūsuf''; 1135 – 14 October 1184) was the second Almohad ''Amir'' or caliph. He reigned from 1163 until 1184 in Marrakesh. He was responsible for the construction of the Giralda in Seville, which ...
, and oversaw the outright burning of such books under Yusuf's son Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur. Ibn Maḍāʾs adherence to Zahirism has been described by Dutch
arabist An Arabist is someone, often but not always from outside the Arab world, who specialises in the study of the Arabic language and culture (usually including Arabic literature). Origins Arabists began in medieval Muslim Spain, which lay on the ...
Kees Versteegh as "fanatical." He died in
Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
the
Islamic calendar The Hijri calendar ( ar, ٱلتَّقْوِيم ٱلْهِجْرِيّ, translit=al-taqwīm al-hijrī), also known in English as the Muslim calendar and Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or ...
month of
Jumada al-awwal Jumada al-Awwal ( ar, جُمَادَىٰ ٱلْأَوَّل, Jumādā al-ʾAwwal, lit=The initial Jumada), also known as Jumada al-Ula ( ar, جُمَادَىٰ ٱلْأُولَىٰ, Jumādā al-ʾŪlā, lit=The first Jumada), or Jumada I, is the ...
during the Hijri year of 592, corresponding to 1196 in the
Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years diff ...
,"The Emergency of Modern Standard Arabic,"
by Kees Versteegh. Taken from ''The Arabic Language'' by permission of the
Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. History Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh ...
. 1997.
just as he was approaching eighty years of age.


Views

Ibn Mada rose to fame as one of the first to launch attack on
Arabic grammar Arabic grammar or Arabic language sciences ( ar, النحو العربي ' or ar, عُلُوم اللغَة العَرَبِيَّة ') is the grammar of the Arabic language. Arabic is a Semitic language and its grammar has many similarities wit ...
theory and called for its reformation. Although he was concerned with attacking all major schools of Arabic grammar, he was focused on the grammar of the
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Ling ...
s of
Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
, as it was the most popular school around him. His attack on eastern Arabic grammar was violent yet reasoned and eloquent, defending his view that grammar as it was understood in that region was complicated, casuistic, obscure and artificial; Ibn Mada instead called for building simple and clear grammar based on true facts of the language. Among his ideas which were considered revolutionary both during his life and with renewed interest in his work during the 1950s was the abolition of
governance Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, norms, power or language of an organized society over a social system (family, tribe, formal or informal organization, a territory or across territories). It is done by the govern ...
and linguistic
analogy Analogy (from Greek ''analogia'', "proportion", from ''ana-'' "upon, according to" lso "against", "anew"+ ''logos'' "ratio" lso "word, speech, reckoning" is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject ( ...
. Ibn Mada felt that scholarly work on the Arabic language was intentionally convoluted and inaccessible to both non-native speakers and laymen
Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, N ...
, and that an overall simplification of language and grammar would enhance overall comprehension of Arabic. Ibn Mada held great respect for the language as the native speakers understood it, and while he emphasized a simplification of grammar he did not advocate a complete overhaul of the entire language. His
Zahiri The Ẓāhirī ( ar, ظاهري, otherwise transliterated as ''Dhāhirī'') ''madhhab'' or al-Ẓāhirīyyah ( ar, الظاهرية) is a Sunnī school of Islamic jurisprudence founded by Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī in the 9th century CE. It is chara ...
te views in Muslim jurisprudence influenced his views in linguistics. He explicitly denied the ability of human beings to willfully choose what they say and how they say it, since
speech Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they ar ...
– like all other things – is predetermined by
God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typicall ...
. Because Arabic grammarians during Ibn Mada's time often linked the spoken language to grammatical
causes Causes, or causality, is the relationship between one event and another. It may also refer to: * Causes (band), an indie band based in the Netherlands * Causes (company) Causes.com is a civic-technology app and website that enables users to orga ...
, they earned both his linguistic and theological ire. In his view, the Zahirite denial of legal causality in regard to
Islamic law Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
carried over into a denial of linguistic causality in regard to Arabic grammar.Michael G. Carter, ''Andalusian Grammarians'', pg. 34. Ibn Mada's reaction toward Arabic grammar and grammarians wasn't without provocation. Both earlier Zahirite jurists such as
Ibn Hazm Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm ( ar, أبو محمد علي بن احمد بن سعيد بن حزم; also sometimes known as al-Andalusī aẓ-Ẓāhirī; 7 November 994 – 15 August 1064Ibn Hazm. ' (Preface). Tr ...
and al-Ballūṭī and some
Shafi'i The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...
tes sparred with
Hanafi The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named a ...
te jurists who sought to justify practices such as
Istihsan ' (Arabic: ) is an Arabic term for juristic discretion. In its literal sense it means "to consider something good". Muslim scholars may use it to express their preference for particular judgements in Islamic law over other possibilities. It is on ...
, on the basis of grammatical and linguistic arguments. Thus suspicion and antagonism toward grammarians in the east, where the Hanafite rite predominated, had already been started before Ibn Mada began his whole-scale vehemence.


Legacy


Influence

Ibn Mada's mastery of the Arabic language and its subfields was so great that, at the time, he was said to have been isolated from the general body of scholarship in terms of sheer knowledge. His refutation was written toward the end of his life and demonstrated his clarity of thought and independent judgment, causing his student
Ibn Dihya al-Kalby Umar bin al-Hasan bin Ali bin Muhammad bin al-Jamil bin Farah bin Khalaf bin Qumis bin Mazlal bin Malal bin Badr bin Dihyah bin Farwah, better known as Ibn Dihya al-Kalbi ( ar, ابن دحية الكلبي) was a Moorish scholar of both the Arab ...
to brand him as the leader of all grammarians. His critical views of Arabic grammar as it was taught in the eastern
Muslim world The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...
found an audience with other linguistic and religious scholars of the western half, Abu Hayyan Al Gharnati being one example. Gharnati also criticized so-called "eastern grammarians" and, after his treatise on the non-existence of grammatic causality, cited Ibn Mada as his inspiration.Michael G. Carter, ''Andalusian Grammarians'', pg. 39. Although Ibn Dihya, Abu Hayyan and Ibn Mada shared their Zahirite and Andalusian backgrounds, not all of Ibn Mada's intellectual descendants shared these traits. Thus, while Ibn Mada opened the discussion regarding the competence of grammarians, suspicion surrounding them and the religious implications of their work continued even after his death. In the mid-20th century, the rediscovery of Ibn Mada's ''Refutation'' by Egyptian linguist
Shawqi Daif Shawki (also spelled Shawky, Shawqi, Shawqi, Shoghi) ar, شوقي, french: Chaouqui or tr, Şevki), is a masculine Arabic given name and surname. It may refer to: Given name * Shawqi Aboud, Iraqi football manager * Shawki Awad Balzuhair (born 19 ...
caused minor shockwaves. Convinced that Ibn Mada's abolition of linguistic analogy and governance were the solutions to the failure of Arabic language education, Daif used this foundation for his later advocacy of modernizing language arts education in the Middle East. So strong was Ibn Mada's refutation of grammarians that
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
Laudian Professor of Arabic The position of Laudian Professor of Arabic, now known as the Abdulaziz Saud AlBabtain Laudian Professor, at the University of Oxford was established in 1636 by William Laud, who at the time was Chancellor of the University of Oxford and Archbis ...
Geert Jan van Gelder referred to Ibn Mada as the
Sextus Empiricus Sextus Empiricus ( grc-gre, Σέξτος Ἐμπειρικός, ; ) was a Greek Pyrrhonist philosopher and Empiric school physician. His philosophical works are the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and Roman Pyrrhonism, and b ...
of the
Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western As ...
. Geert Jan van Gelder, "Against the Arabic Grammarians: Some Poems." Taken from in the Shadow of Arabic: The Centrality of Language to Arab Culture, pg. 249. Ed. Bilal Orfali. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2011. Print.


Works

* () * () * ()


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibn Mada Al-Qurtubi 1116 births 1196 deaths 12th-century Arabs 12th-century Muslim scholars of Islam Arab grammarians Medieval grammarians of Arabic Zahiris 12th-century jurists Scholars of Al-Andalus Almohad scholars