Makki al-Masirjisi

Abu'l-Haram Makki ibn Rayyan ibn Shubba ibn Salih al-Masirjisi of Mosul — blind muqri' and grammarian, surnamed Sa'im al-Din; his father made saddle-cloths at Masirjis and died poor; the boy went blind at eight or nine and followed his father's path in verse; he worked at Mosul on Qur'an and adab, then travelled to Baghdad and met the imams of adab, reading on Abu Muhammad Ibn al-Khashshab, Ibn al-'Assar, Ibn al-Anbari and Abu Muhammad Sa'id ibn al-Dahan; returning to Mosul he rose to teach and the people took from him; Ibn al-Mustawfi said: he gathered all the arts of adab, the authority on the Arabs' speech, agreed upon for his religion, intellect, knowledge and merit — of wide transmission, having set himself up for others to profit from him in the Noble Qur'an. ¹