Grammarians Of Basra
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The first Grammarians of Baṣra lived during the seventh century in Al-Baṣrah. The town, which developed out of a military encampment, with buildings being constructed circa 638 AD, became the intellectual hub for grammarians, linguists, poets, philologists, genealogists, traditionists, zoologists, meteorologists, and above all exegetes of Qur’ānic
tafsir Tafsir ( ; ) refers to an exegesis, or commentary, of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' (; plural: ). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding ...
and Ḥadīth, from across the Islamic world. These scholars of the
Islamic Golden Age The Islamic Golden Age was a period of scientific, economic, and cultural flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 13th century. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign o ...
were pioneers of literary style and the sciences of Arabic grammar in the broadest sense. Their teachings and writings became the canon of the
Arabic language Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
. Shortly after the Basran school's foundation, a rival school was established at al-Kūfah circa 670, by philologists known as the Grammarians of Kūfah. Intense competition arose between the two schools, and public disputations and adjudications between scholars were often held at the behest of the
caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...
al courts. Later many scholars moved to the court at
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
, where a third school developed which blended many ideological and theological characteristics of the two. Many language scholars carried great influence and political power as court companions, tutors, etc., to the caliphs, and many were retained on substantial pensions. Ishāq al-Nadīm—the 10th century author of '' Kitab al-Fihrist''—provides a trove of biographical accounts of the leading figures of the two schools and would seem to be the earliest source. However greatly augmented biographical detail can be found in a number of later encyclopedic dictionaries, by authors such as
Ibn Khallikan Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ibrāhīm bin Abū Bakr ibn Khallikān (; 22 September 1211 – 30 October 1282), better known as Ibn Khallikān, was a renowned Islamic historian of Kurdish origin who compiled the celebrated biographical encyclopedi ...
,
Suyuti Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (; 1445–1505), or al-Suyuti, was an Egyptian Sunni Muslim polymath of Persian descent. Considered the mujtahid and mujaddid of the Islamic 10th century, he was a leading muhaddith (hadith master), mufassir (Qu'ran e ...
, and others. Basra, Kufa, and subsequently Baghdad, represent the main schools of innovation and development of Arabic grammar and punctuation, linguistics,
philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...
, Quranic exegesis and recital,
Hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
, poetry and literature.


Major Philologists

* 'Amr (Abū) ibn al-'Alā (ca. 689–770), or Zabbān, born at
Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...
and died at Kūfah; an eminent scholar and one of the seven readers of the Qur’ān. He burned his collections of old poetry, &c., to devote himself to religion. * Aṣma’ī (al-) ‘Abd al-Mālik ibn Qurayb (c. 739-833) great humanist who flourished under Hārūn al-Rashid * Du’alī (al-), Abū al-Aswad Ẓālim ibn Amr ibn Sufyān (ca. 605-688) originator of Arabic grammar and founder of Baṣrah school. * Durayd (Ibn), Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan (837-934), a distinguished philologist, genealogist, and poet, awarded a pension by caliph
Al-Muqtadir Abū’l-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Al-Mu'tadid, Aḥmad ibn Al-Muwaffaq, Ṭalḥa ibn Al-Mutawakkil, Jaʿfar ibn al-Mu'tasim, Muḥammad ibn Harun al-Rashid, Hārūn Al-Muqtadir bi'Llāh () (895 – 31 October 932 AD), better known by his regnal name a ...
for his contribution to science; principal works, his famous ode “The Maqṣūra,” a voluminous lexicon (al-'Jamhara fi ‘l-Lugha) and a treatise on the genealogies of the Arab tribes (Kitābu ‘l-Ishtiqāq). * Fārisī (al-), Abū ‘Alī al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Ghaffār (901-987) He went to Baghdād and served at the
Hamdanid The Hamdanid dynasty () was a Shia Muslim Arab dynasty that ruled modern day Northern Mesopotamia and Syria (890–1004). They descended from the ancient Banu Taghlib tribe of Mesopotamia and Arabia. History Origin The Hamdanids hailed ...
court of
Sayf al-Dawla ʿAlī ibn ʾAbū'l-Hayjāʾ ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥamdān ibn Ḥamdūn ibn al-Ḥārith al-Taghlibī (, 22 June 916 – 8 February 967), more commonly known simply by his honorific of Sayf al-Dawla (, ), was the founder of the Emirate of Aleppo, ...
and
Buyid The Buyid dynasty or Buyid Empire was a Zaydi and later Twelver Shi'a dynasty of Daylamite origin. Founded by Imad al-Dawla, they mainly ruled over central and southern Iran and Iraq from 934 to 1062. Coupled with the rise of other Iranian dyna ...
court of
'Adud al-Dawla Fannā (Panāh) Khusraw (), better known by his laqab of ʿAḍud al-Dawla (; 24 September 936 – 26 March 983) was an emir of the Buyid dynasty, ruling from 949 to 983. At the height of his power, he ruled an empire stretching from Makran ...
. * Jarmī (al-), Abū ‘Umar Ṣāliḥ ibn Isḥāq (d. 840) grammarian, student of al-Akhfash al-Awsat, Abū Zayd, Al-Aṣma’ī and others, who taught
Al-Kitāb Sibawayh ( (also pronounced in many modern dialects) ; ' ; ), whose full name is Abu Bishr Amr ibn Uthman ibn Qanbar al-Basri (, '), was a Persian people, Persian leading Grammarians of Basrah, grammarian of Basra and author of the Third boo ...
to al-Tawwazi and debated in Baghdād. * Khalīl (al-) ibn Aḥmad, ‘Abd al-Raḥmān (ca. 718-786) inventor of the
Arabic prosody (, ) or () is the study of poetic meters, which identifies the meter of a poem and determines whether the meter is sound or broken in lines of the poem. It is often called the ''Science of Poetry'' (, ). Its laws were laid down by Al-Khalīl i ...
who wrote the first Arabic dictionary ''
Kitab al-Ayn ''Kitāb al-ʿAyn'' () is the first Arabic language dictionary and one of the earliest known dictionaries of any language. It was compiled in the eighth century by al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi. The letter '' ayn'' () of the dictionary's title ...
''; (uncompleted) * Mubarrad (al-), Abū al-‘Abbās Muḥammad ibn Yazīd (d. 899 CE), philologist author of the book Al-Kāmil * Quṭrub the Grammarian (d. 821), a Baṣrah native, leading philologist of his age,
muhaddith A muhaddith () is a scholar specialized in the study, collection, and interpretation of hadiths, which are the recorded sayings, actions, and approvals of the Prophet Muhammad. The role of a muhaddith is central to the science of hadith (ʻilm a ...
and natural scientist. * Sībawayh Abū Bishr ‘Amr ibn ‘Uthman (d. 793/796 CE), the Persian whose voluminous and seminal book of grammar, ‘‘Al-Kitab'’, is universally celebrated. * Sukkarī (al-), Abū Sa’īd al-Ḥasan ibn al-Husayn (d. 889), a collector and critic of old Arabian poetry and ancient tradition. * Thaqafī (al-), 'Īsā ibn 'Umar (d. 766/67) a noted early grammarian who taught Sībawayh and Al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad. He was a Qur’ān reciter and was blind. His two known books ''The Compilation'' and ''The Perfected'' (Completed) were lost at an early period. * 'Ubayda (Abū) Ma’mar ibn al-Muthannā (ca. 728–824) * Yūnus ibn Ḥabīb, Abū ‘Abd al-Raḥmān (d. 798) Persian, expert on grammar inflection, lived to be 88 years old; - ''Meaning of the Quran''; ''Languages'' (Vernaculars); ''The Large Book of Rare Forms'' n the Qur'an ''Similes'' (Proverbs); ''The Small Book of Rare Forms'' * Zajjāj (al-), Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Sarī (or Surrī) (d. 922) a philologist, theologian and a court favourite to the
Abbasid caliph The Abbasid caliphs were the holders of the Islamic title of caliph who were members of the Abbasid dynasty, a branch of the Quraysh tribe descended from the uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. The family came ...
al-Mu'tadid Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Ṭalḥa ibn Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn Hārūn (), 853/4 or 860/1 – 5 April 902, better known by his regnal name al-Muʿtaḍid bi-llāh (), was the caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate from 892 until his death ...
.


Minor scholars

*Affar ibn Laqit *Abu al-Bayda' al-Rabahi, tribesman, poet and language scholar *Abu Malik 'Amr ibn Kirkirah, Arabian, ' warraq' and noted expert in vernacular, memorised corpus: - ''The Disposition of Man''; ''Horses''.Hajj Khalifa, III. p.173 *Abu 'Irar, Arab of Banu 'Ijl, poet, literary stylist and linguist *Abu Ziyad al-Sumuwi al-Kilabi, Arabian nomad, of Banu 'Amir ibn Kilab: - ''Rare Forms''
n the Quran N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...
Differentiation; Camels; The Disposition of Man *Abu Sawwar al-Ghanawi, (fl. C9th) authority for Arabic words


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * * * Four volumes vol I & II 1843, vol III 1868, vol IV 1873 * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grammarians of Basra Scholars from the Abbasid Caliphate Arabic language History of Basra Medieval grammarians of Arabic Islamic Golden Age Lexicographers of Arabic Linguists Philologists of Arabic