At a glance
- Roles
- Scholar
- Counted among
- Sunni
- Era
- The Early Abbasid Caliphate
- Region
- Levant & Iraq
- Review
- Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
Life in time
Place in the story
- ScholarTradition
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Overview
Abu al-Hasan Sa'id ibn Mas'ada, a grammarian of Basra of Khwarazmian origin, and a pupil of Sibawayh. 1
His title
He is called al-Awsat to distinguish him from the other Akhfashes. 1
His death
The encyclopaedia gives his death as 215 AH (830 CE). 1 The date rests on tradition and needs an additional source.
Encyclopaedia of Islam account
The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.) calls Abu l-Hasan Sa'id b. Mas'ada the most famous of the Akhfashes. He was a mawla of the Tamimite clan of Mujashi b. Darim and was born at Balkh. He was a pupil of the Mu'tazili Abu Shamir, but more especially of Sibawayh, whom he outlived although he was the older of the two. He gave instruction on the Book (the Qur'an) and made it widely known. He died between 210 and 221/825–835. Nothing of his own works is preserved, although the Fihrist mentions them; al-Tha'alibi (d. 427/1035) used his Kitab gharib al-Qur'an, and his Kitab al-ma'ani is often quoted in al-Baghdadi's Khizana. 2
People and things also explored
God teaches Adam the names· Amharic· Arabic· Bengali· Bosnian· Hausa· Indonesian· Kurdish
Sources
- Mawsu'at A'lam al-Ulama' wa-l-Adaba' al-Arab wa-l-Muslimin — Dar al-Jil / ALECSO
- Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes , vol. 1 p. 343
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Al-Akhfash al-Awsat, Sa'id ibn Mas'ada”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/al-akhfash-al-awsat-said/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-25.