ابن سيده المرسي علي بن إسماعيل

Abu'l-Hasan Ibn Sida 'Ali ibn Isma'il al-Mursi, the polymath author of the Muhkam on language; blind son of a blind father, head of Arabic scholarship and authority in its transmission, whose compilations include the great comprehensive Muhkam on the kinds of language, the Mukhassas, and the Aniq commentary on the Hamasa in six volumes; he studied first under his blind father, master of philology, then under Abu'l-'Ala' Sa'id al-Baghdadi, and read on Abu 'Umar al-Talamanki. ¹

He died near Danya on Sunday eve, 16 Jumada II 458, about sixty years old; it is told that the Friday before he had been well, entered the ablution place and came out with his tongue fallen and speech cut off — he remained so until Sunday afternoon, then died. ¹