Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi

Abu Hayyan Ali ibn Muhammad al-Tawhidi, who died in 380 AH, and who is the author of al-Imta' wal-Mu'anasa. ¹

Haji Khalifa mentions him in "Kashf al-Zunun" in discussing his book al-Imta' wal-Mu'anasa, and gives his death as 380 AH. ¹

The conversion to the Gregorian calendar is derived and not from the source. The information about his upbringing, teachers and life needs an additional source.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), signed by S. M. Stern, gives 'Ali b. Muhammad, called al-Tawhidi, as a man of letters and philosopher of the fourth/tenth century. The article places his birth between 310 and 320/922-932, in one of several cities (Nishapur, Shiraz, Wasit or Baghdad). He studied grammar in Baghdad with al-Sirafi and al-Rummani, and Shafi'i law, and earned his living as a professional scribe. In 367/977 he entered the service of the vizier Ibn 'Abbad as a secretary, but his difficult temper led to his dismissal, and he took revenge in a pamphlet caricaturing Ibn 'Abbad and Abu l-Fath Ibn al-'Amid. Between 350 and 365/961-975 he composed the anthology Basa'ir al-Kudama' in ten volumes. The article says that a claim of heretical opinions and persecution by the vizier al-Muhallabi is doubtful. ³