al-Qazzaz al-Qayrawani

القزاز القيرواني

Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Tamimi, the grammarian known as al-Qazzaz al-Qayrawani. He lived in comfort in the service of al-Aziz ibn al-Mu'izz, ruler of Egypt, from 390 onward; grammar and philology were his chief study, and he excelled in varied composition. Al-Aziz ibn al-Mu'izz al-Ubaydi, ruler of Egypt, commissioned him to write a book on all the particles that carry meaning, arranged in alphabetical order; he gathered scattered precious books until the work reached a thousand folios. He also wrote al-Ma'arid and composed natural, flowing poetry. Ibn Rashiq, in al-Unmudhaj, said of him that he put the earlier writers to shame and silenced the later ones ¹.