Al-Anbari, Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad

Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi al-Wafa Muhammad ibn Ubayd Allah al-Anbari, a scholar from Anbar on the Euphrates, titled Kamal al-Din. ¹

The encyclopaedia says he was born in 513 AH (1119 CE) and died in 577 AH (1181 CE). ¹

Both dates rest on tradition and need an additional source.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), in its entry AL-ANBARI, ABU 'L-BARAKAT (by C. Brockelmann), describes 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad, Kamal al-Din, as an Arabic philologist born in Rabi' II 513 (July 1119). He studied philology at the Nizamiyya in Baghdad under al-Jawaliqi and Ibn al-Shajari, and taught the subject there himself. He later gave up public life to devote himself to study and to pious practice, and died on 9 Sha'ban 577 (19 December 1181). ²

His works include Nuzhat al-Alibba' fi Tabaqat al-Udaba', a biographical history of philology from its beginnings to his own time; the grammar Asrar al-'Arabiyya, edited by Seybold (Leiden 1886); al-Insaf fi masa'il al-khilaf bayn al-nahwiyyin al-basriyyin wa 'l-kufiyyin, the great collection of disputes between the schools of Basra and Kufa, edited by Weil (Leiden 1913); al-Zahir, a dictionary quoted by 'Abd al-Qadir al-Baghdadi; and al-Waqf wa 'l-Ibtida', cited by al-Suyuti. ²