Linguistics
Family: Knowledge: science, medicine, astronomy and the rest · 77 entries
Entries on this theme
Person
Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali, Zalim ibn Amr
A philologist and transmitter credited with the vowel-pointing of the Qur'an and the founding of Arabic grammar. His lineage goes back to al-Du'al ibn Bakr ibn Kinana.Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi
c. 718 CE · 100 AHOne of the greatest scholars of Arabic, of the Azd of Oman, raised in Basra. He is likely the originator of many of the scientific concepts and methods of Arabic grammar and linguistic analysis.Khalaf al-Ahmar
733 CE · 115 AHPhilologist and transmitter of Basra, known for memorising and transmitting Arabic poetry.Said ibn Aws Abu Zayd al-Ansari
740 CE · 122 AHThe philologist, grammarian and transmitter Abu Zayd Said ibn Aws ibn Thabit al-Ansari, who studied language, grammar, recitation and hadith with the scholars of his age and wrote works on language.Ibn al-A'rabi, Muhammad ibn Ziyad
767 CE · 150 AHA Kufan philologist. His father Ziyad was a Sindhi slave of Sulayman ibn Mujalid.Tha'lab, Ahmad ibn Yahya
815 CE · 200 AHA Kufan philologist and grammarian, a client of the Banu Shayban. Many sayings on grammar are transmitted from him.Al-Akhfash al-Awsat, Sa'id ibn Mas'ada
A Basran grammarian of Khwarazmian origin and a pupil of Sibawayh. He is known as al-Awsat to distinguish him from other grammarians named al-Akhfash.Al-Jarmi, Salih ibn Ishaq
A Basran philologist and grammarian, a client of the Jurm clan, and one of the leading grammarians of Basra.al-Tawzi Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Harun
Philologist whose biographical works record several writings, most of them lost; died 230 AH (844 CE).Al-Akhfash al-Asghar, Ali ibn Sulayman
849 CE · 235 AHA Baghdadi grammarian known as al-Akhfash al-Asghar, to distinguish him from other grammarians who bore the name.Muhammad ibn Abi al-Qasim Ibn al-Anbari
884 CE · 271 AHThe philologist, grammarian and transmitter of poetry Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Abi al-Qasim ibn Bashshar al-Anbari, raised in a household of learning in al-Anbar, who studied with his father the sciences of hadith, reports and language.al-Bazzar Abu al-Tahir Abd al-Wahid ibn Umar
891 CE · 278 AHBaghdadi reader and grammarian of the late fourth century AH, who died in 349 AH (961 CE); the sources differ on his birth year.Al-Jurayri, al-Mu'afa ibn Zakariyya
917 CE · 305 AHA scholar from Nahrawan, known as al-Jurayri and Ibn Tarar, who wrote on language and hadith.Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Jurbadhaqani
933 CE · 321 AHA philologist, man of letters and Shafi'i jurist, born in Jurbadhaqan.Al-Azhari, Muhammad ibn Ahmad
A lexicographer and man of letters from Herat, a Shafi'i. He studied jurisprudence first, then became known for the Arabic language; his best-known work is Tahdhib al-Lugha.al-Basri Abu al-Qasim Ali ibn Hamza
Lexicographer, man of letters and critic of Basra who stayed for a time in Baghdad, where al-Mutanabbi lodged at his house; died 375 AH (985 CE).al-Jawhari Abu Nasr Isma'il ibn Hammad
Philologist from Farab in Turkestan, whose nisba al-Jawhari has no known explanation; died about 398 AH (1008 CE).al-Azdi, Abu Usama
Philologist and grammarian of Herat, who died around 399 AH.al-Baghdadi Abu al-Ala Sa'id ibn al-Hasan
Baghdadi lexicographer of Rabi'a origin from Mosul, who transmitted in the East from al-Sirafi and al-Farisi; died 417 AH (1026 CE).Tamam ibn Ghalib
An Andalusian philologist from Cordoba and Murcia. His nisba al-Tayyani may suggest a seller of tayyani cloth.al-Thamanini Abu al-Qasim Umar ibn Thabit
Blind grammarian and man of letters from Thamanin, a small town in the Jazirat Ibn Umar area near Mosul; died 442 AH (1051 CE).Al-Ansari al-Saraqusti, Isma'il ibn Khalaf
A reciter, grammarian and man of letters from Zaragoza in al-Andalus, who moved to Egypt and settled there.Ibn Babshadh
Grammarian who taught grammar at the Amr ibn al-As mosque in Cairo and wrote a grammar commentary known to later grammarians.al-Jawaliqi Abu Mansur Mawhub ibn Ahmad
1073 CE · 465 AHBaghdadi philologist and man of letters, born and raised in Baghdad, named after the Persian word jawaliq meaning justice; died 540 AH (1145 CE).al-Baghdadi Malik al-Nuhat al-Hasan ibn Safi
1096 CE · 489 AHGrammarian, jurist and man of letters of Baghdad, known as the King of Grammarians; born to a freedman father; lived 489–568 AH (1096–1173 CE).al-Jalis al-Nahwi al-Husayn ibn Musa
Grammarian and philologist of Dinawar known as al-Jalis; died 490 AH (1097 CE).Ibn al-Khashshab, Abd Allah ibn Ahmad
1099 CE · 492 AHA Baghdad grammarian, about whom the sources record little.al-Hulwani al-Nahrawani Sulayman ibn Abd Allah
Came to Baghdad as a boy, studied grammar with al-Thamanini and philology with Ibn al-Dahhan, and heard hadith; died 493 AH (1100 CE).Ibn al-Khurasani Abu al-Izz Muhammad ibn Muhammad
1100 CE · 494 AHGrammarian, prosodist, poet and writer; born 494 AH (1100 CE) and died 576 AH (1180 CE); sources record only some of his teachers.Ibn Barri Abd Allah ibn Abi al-Wahsh
1106 CE · 499 AHEgyptian lexicographer and grammarian, born and died in Egypt; his father was a scribe.Al-Anbari, Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad
1119 CE · 513 AHA scholar from al-Anbar on the Euphrates, known as Kamal al-Din. He died in 577 AH.Nashwan al-Himyari
A Yemeni scholar of Dhu Marath, descended from a king of Yemen, and a writer on language in his time.Ibn Abi al-Ahwas, al-Husayn ibn Abd al-Aziz
1206 CE · 603 AHA reciter, Qur'an commentator, hadith scholar and Arabic grammarian. Born in Jaen and settled in Granada; known as Ibn al-Nazir.Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-A'lam al-Batalyusi
The Andalusi littérateur, philologist and Qur'an reciter Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-A'lam al-Batalyusi, born at Badajoz and settled at Seville, known for philology, grammar and commentaries on poetry.Ibn Barri Ali ibn Muhammad
c. 1261 CE · 660 AHMaghrebi reader, jurist, grammarian and writer from Taza who headed the chancery at Fez under the Marinid sultan Abu Sa'id, taught readings at the Qarawiyyin, and influenced the science of recitation through his poem al-Durar al-Lawami.Ibn Ajrum
1273 CE · 672 AHSanhaji jurist and grammarian of Fez, known for Arabic grammar and a reputation for asceticism.Ibrahim ibn Yahya al-Ansari al-Mursi
1278 CE · 677 AHThe grammarian, reciter and physician Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Yahya al-Ansari al-Mursi, from Murcia and active at Granada under the Nasrid state; the sources on him are few.Ibn Iyaz Jamal al-Din
The Baghdad grammarian Jamal al-Din Abu Muhammad al-Husayn ibn Badr ibn Iyaz, who taught at the Mustansiriya madrasa and wrote on grammar and morphology, including 'al-Mahsul fi Sharh al-Fusul' and 'Qawa'id al-Mutarahah'.Ibn Jabir al-Andalusi, Muhammad ibn Ahmad
1298 CE · 698 AHAn Andalusian poet and scholar of Arabic from Almeria.Ibrahim al-Ghafiqi al-Ishbili
A Qur'an reader and grammarian from Seville who memorized the Qur'an with its readings in Ceuta, after his family moved there, and studied Arabic grammar under Ibn Abi al-Rabi'.Ibn al-Baghil Abu Jafar Ahmad ibn Qasim
Jurist, lexicographer and historian from Almeria in al-Andalus, of Murcian origin; died 750 AH (1349 CE).al-Burshani Ibrahim ibn Muhammad
1403 CE · 806 AHAndalusi jurist, linguist and scholar of inheritance law and arithmetic from Wadi Ash (Guadix), who studied with the leading scholars of his time.Ali ibn Muhammad al-Ashmuni
c. 1435 CE · c. 838 AH†A Shafi'i jurist of Cairo who memorized al-Nawawi's Minhaj, al-Subki's Jam' al-Jawami' and Ibn Malik's Alfiyya, and studied with many scholars of his age.Al-Balawi, Ahmad ibn Ali
1462 CE · 866 AHA philologist, man of letters and poet from Wadi Ash, linked to the tribe of Bali.'Abd Allah al-Fakihi, the grammarian
c. 1493 CE · 899 AHAl-Fakihi of Mecca — son of an Abyssinian freedwoman, b. 899; he wrote his Qatr al-Nada sharh at eighteen and found it already being read in Cairo — answering the students' difficulty, they would not believe him until he proved the author was himself; he coined definitions of nahw in a booklet then commented them — 'unprecedented'; 'he had no peer in his time in grammar, he was a sign of God's signs'.al-Sayyid al-Safawi al-Husayni
c. 1495 CE · 900 AHThe Iji grandson — b. 900, grandson of Safi al-Din al-Iji the mufassir; trained at Delhi's majalis under Sultan Ibrahim b. Sikandar Shah, licensed by Jalal al-Din al-Dawani, then six years of mujawara at Mecca; at Damascus he taught the Radi Kafiya, received Sulayman's fifty uthmani pension, gave Ibn al-Hanbali the khirqa at Aleppo, settled in Cairo; works: a short Kafiya sharh, the Ghurra sharh, the Diya'iyya sharh, a half-size Mukhtasar of Ibn al-Athir's Nihaya, a tafsir from sura 'Amma; 'one of the marvels of the age'.Khalid al-Azhari
Egyptian grammarian who studied Arabic with the scholars of his time in Egypt.Ahmad al-Hisami the grammarian
The nahwi the scholars compared to Ibn Malik and Ibn Hisham — yet he carried his own market goods, bathed in cotton without soap, wore short Salafi-style clothes, fasted and rose nightly, and 'you could sit with him two days and not hear one idle word'; a Murshifi Sufi, died Tuesday 15 Rabi' II [925] in Cairo.Muhyi al-Din ibn al-Fanari
The Fanari grandson — schooled in Samarkand and Bukhara, back to Rum where Selim gave him the vizier Qasim Pasha's madrasa; a lover of the Wafa'iyya Sufis, keeper of histories and saints' tales; author of Tahdhib al-Kafiya with sharh, a gloss on Mawlana-zada's Hidayat al-Hikma sharh, glosses on the Sharif's Tajrid, and Tanwir al-Duha; d. 940.Abd al-Qadir al-Baghdadi
1621 CE · 1030 AHBorn in Baghdad, he was drawn to literature and the study of Arabic from childhood. He wrote Khizanat al-Adab.Sidi ibn al-Mukhtar al-Abyiri
c. 1760 CE · c. 1173 AH†A Mauritanian scholar from a learned family, born near Btalmit. He studied the Qur'an, grammar, rhetoric, logic and creed, then travelled widely in pursuit of learning.Ahmad al-Hamlawi
1856 CE · 1273 AHBorn in a village of the Belbeis district of the Sharqiyya governorate, and graduated from Dar al-Ulum in Cairo.Al-Akwa', Muhammad ibn Ali
1903 CE · 1321 AHA scholar of jurisprudence and inheritance law, philologist and prolific writer, with wide knowledge of the history of Yemen in the Islamic period.Munir al-Baalbaki
1918 CE · 1337 AHFrom a prominent Beirut family, and one of the best-known Arabic lexicographers of the twentieth century.Ahmad Abd al-Sattar al-Jawari
1922 CE · 1341 AHAn Iraqi scholar born in Karkh, Baghdad, who held a doctorate and was a leading researcher of the Arabic heritage.Said ibn Harun al-Ashnandani
A grammarian and philologist from Baghdad, one of the imams of the Arabic language and its transmitters, who lived in Basra, where Ibn Duraid met him.Abu'l-Fadl al-Riashi
Draft card for Abu'l-Fadl al-Abbas al-Riashi, the ninth-century linguist and muhaddith, d. 871; the biographical entry is not yet checked on the page.al-Akhfash al-Akbar
Early grammarian of Basra; transmitter of Sibawayh's circle.al-Banna Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Muhammad
Linguist from Damietta in Egypt, described by biographers as master of the Arabic language and of the Islamic sciences, whose surviving works number about five books.al-Ru'asi
Draft card for Abu Ja'far Muhammad al-Ru'asi, the ninth-century Kufan grammarian, d. 802; the biographical entry is not yet checked on the page.Ilm al-Din al-Sakhawi
Draft card for Ilm al-Din Ali ibn Muhammad al-Sakhawi, the thirteenth-century jurist and grammarian, d. 1245; the biographical entry is not yet checked on the page.
Concept
Language
Amharic
Ethiopia's official language; Abyssinian Muslims wrote in Arabic and Amharic, in one of Islam's earliest communities.Arabic
The language of the Qur'an and prayer; spread from Arabia with the Islamic conquests to become the language of scholarship, religion and letters from Andalusia to Persia.Bengali
Language of Bangladesh and Bengal; among the most-spoken languages by Muslims, with a wide Islamic and folk literature.Bosnian
Language of the Bosnian Muslims; among Europe's oldest Muslim languages, written in Ajami and Latin.Hausa
West Africa's great language; tongue of Islamic markets and broadcasting in Nigeria, Niger and Ghana, long written in Ajami.Indonesian
Indonesia's national language — the world's largest Muslim-majority country; Malay-based with a large modern da'wa and educational literature.Kurdish
Language of the Kurds across Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran; written in Arabic and Latin scripts with a devotional literature.Malay
Language of Malaysia, Brunei and southern Thailand; written in Jawi (Arabic script) for centuries, with a rich religious and courtly corpus.Pashto
Language of the Pashtuns in Afghanistan and Pakistan; home to great Sufi poets like Rahman Baba and Khushal Khan Khattak.Persian
A major language of Islamic culture in Iran and Central Asia; the tongue of Sufi poetry — Rumi, Hafez, Ferdowsi — and of centuries of history and law.Punjabi
Language of the Punjab; the Sufi verse of Bulleh Shah, Waris Shah and Sultan Bahu, written in Shahmukhi (Arabic-derived).Somali
Language of Somalia, Djibouti and eastern Ethiopia; a nearly all-Muslim nation with a rich religious and oral corpus.Swahili
Language of the East African coast; born at the crossing of trade and Islam, with old religious manuscripts in Arabic script.Turkish
Language of the Ottoman state; written in Arabic script for six centuries before the 1928 Latin reform, with a vast Sufi and devotional corpus.Urdu
The literary language of South Asian Muslims; born in the sultans' camps, it carries Iqbal, Ghalib and Pakistan's vast religious corpus.
What is missing? Tell us · A theme is open when it has a reviewed guide, 10 questions, 25 entries across 5 classes, and voices from several traditions and regions.