Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Sarī al-Zajjāj (Arabic: أبو إسحاق إبراهيم بن محمد بن السري الزجاج) was a grammarian of Basrah, a scholar of philology and theology and a favourite at the Abbāsid court. He died in 922[n 1][1] at Baghdād, the capital city in his time.[2][3][4]
Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Sarī (Surrī) al-Zajjāj | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 842 |
| Died | 13 October 922 (aged 80) |
| Other names | The Glassman |
| Occupation | Grammarian |
| Years active | caliph al-Mu’taḍid |
| Academic work | |
| Era | Abbāsid |
| School or tradition | School of Baṣrah |
| Main interests | philology, theology, philosophy, linguistics, natural science |
| Notable works | Kitāb mā fassarahu min jāmi‘ an-nuṭq (كتاب ما فسّرة من جامع النطق); 'Exposition of the "Compendium of Speech"' |
Life
editAbū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad al-Sarī (Surrī) al-Zajjāj had been a glass-grinder – al-Zajjāj means 'the glassman' – before abandoning this trade to study philology under the two leading grammarians, al-Mubarrad of the Baṣran school and Tha'lab of the Kufan school. As top student and class representative he advised al-Mubarrad. He studied "Al-Kitāb" of Sībawayh with the Baṣrah grammarian Abū Fahd.[n 2][5]
Al-Zajjāj entered the Abbāsid court, first as tutor to al-Qāsim ibn ‘Ubayd Allāh,[n 3] son of the vizier ‘Ubayd Allāh ibn Sulaymān ibn Wahb’s [n 4] and later, as tutor to the sons of the caliph al-Mu‘taḍid.
On his succession to the vizierate, Caliph al-Mu’taḍid ordered vizier al-Qāsim to commission an exposition of the Compendium of Speech by Maḥbarah al-Nadīm.[n 5] Both Tha’lab and Al-Mubarrad declined the project for lack of knowledge[8] and old age respectively. Al-Mubarrad proposed his friend and relative novice al-Zajjāj, who was commissioned to work on just two sections as a trial of his abilities. In doing his research he consulted books on language by Tha‘lab, al-Sukkarī, et al. He was assisted by al-Tirmidhī the Younger, as his amanuensis. The bound two-section commentary greatly impressed Caliph al-Mu’taḍid and al-Zajjāj was given the work to complete the commentary for the payment of three hundred gold dīnār. The finished manuscript was kept in al-Mu’taḍid's royal library, and the issuing of any copies to other libraries was prohibited.[n 6]
Winning the caliph's favour, he received a royal pension of three hundred gold dīnār from three official roles as court companion, jurist and scholar.[9]
Among al-Zajjāj's pupils were the grammarian Abū Alī al-Fārisī and Abū ‘l-Qāsim Abd ar-Raḥmān, author of the Jumal fi ‘n-Nawhi,[n 7] Ibn al-Sarrāj[11] and ‘Alī al-Marāghī[n 8] the rival of Abu al-‘Abbās Tha’lab.[citation needed]
Al-Zajjāj had a dispute with al-Khayyāṭ,[13][14] a grammarian-theologian of Samarqand, whom he met in Baghdād.[15]
Al-Zajjāj died at Baghdād on 13 October 922 [Friday, 18th, or 19th, Jumada al-Akhirah 310 AH] – other sources give 924 and 928 [311 and 316 AH.], aged over eighty.
Selected works
edit- Kitāb mā fassarahu min jāmi‘ an-nuṭq (كتاب ما فسّرة من جامع النطق); 'Exposition of the "Compendium of Speech"'. Ibn Khallikān describes this as "Extracts from his complete Treatise on Logic with his own commentary";[n 9] [2]
- Kitāb ma’ānī al-Qur’ān (كتاب معانى القرآن), 'Meaning of the Quran'; tafsir (exegesis) of ambiguities, metaphors and figurative expressions.[16]
- Kitāb al-Ishtiqāq (كتاب الاشتقاق); Etymology[n 10]
- Kitāb al-Qawāfī (كتاب القوافى);[n 11]
- Kitāb al-‘Arūḍ (كتاب العروض); Prosody
- Kitāb al-farqu (كتاب الفرق); Differentiation[n 12]
- Kitāb kulq al-Insān (كتاب خلق الانسان); The nature of Man
- Kitāb kulq al-faris (كتال خلق الفرس); The nature of the Horse
- Kitāb mukhtaṣir nuḥw (كتاب مختصر نحو); Abridgment of Grammar
- Kitāb Fa‘altu wa-Af‘altu (كتاب فعلت وافعلت); on the first and fourth Arabic verb forms
- Kitāb mā yunṣarif wa-mā lā yunṣarif (كتاب ما ينصرف وما لا ينصرف); 'What Is Inflected and What Is Not Inflected'[n 13]
- Kitāb ṣahr abyāt Sībawayh (كتاب شرح ابيات سيبويه); Commentary on the verses in the grammar of Sībawayh;
- Kitāb an-nawādir (كتاب النوادر); Book of Rare Forms. [citation needed]
- Book of Dictates;[n 14]
- Book of Anecdotes;
Abū Alī al-Fārisī wrote a treatise in refutation of al-Zajjāj, titled Kitāb al-masā’il al-maslahat yurwiha ‘an az-Zajjāj wa-tu’raf bi-al-Aghfāl (كتاب المسائل المصلحة يرويها عن الزجاج وتعرف بالاغفال); the Aghfāl ('Negligences', or 'Beneficial (Corrected) Questions'), in which he refutes al-Zajjāj in his book Maāni (Rhetoric).[20][21][22]
See also
editFurther reading
edit- al-Ḥamawī, Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn ‘Abd Allāh (1907). Margoliouth, D. S. (ed.). Irshād al-Arīb alā Ma'rifat al-Adīb (in Arabic). Leiden: Brill.
- Zajjāji, ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq (1983). Hārūn, ʻAbd al-Salām Muḥammad (ed.). Majālis al-ʻulamāʼ (in Arabic). al-Qāhirah: Maktabat al-Khānjī.
- Zajjāji, ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq (1995). Versteegh, C H M (ed.). The explanation of linguistic causes : az-Zaǧǧāǧī's theory of grammar : introduction, translation, commentary. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: J. Benjamins.
- Zajjāji, ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq (1957). Cheneb, Mohammed Ben (ed.). al-Gumal, précis de grammaire arabe. Paris: C. Klincksieck. OCLC 793425520.
- Zajjāji, ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq (1984). Ḥamad, ʻAli Tawfīq (ed.). Kitāb ḥurūf al-maʻānī (in Arabic). Bayrūt, Irbid, al-Urdun: Muʼassasat al-Risālah, Dār al-Amal.
Notes
edit- ^ Al-Zubaydī gives his date of death as 316/928.
- ^ Abū Fahd wrote a book about grammar titled "The Exposition".
- ^ Al-Qāsim became vizier to both al-Mu’taḍid and his successor al-Muktafi, in whose reign he died. He was a skilled a politician.[6]
- ^ Vizier to al-Mu’taḍid, and an able statesman, d. 901 (288 h.)
- ^ Maḥbarah was the laqab (nickname) of Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Abī ‘Abbād, Abū Ja’far al-Nadim, the court companion of al-Mu’taḍid.[7]
- ^ This library was destroyed probably in 945/46 when Aḥmad ibn Buwayh captured Baghdād and blinded caliph al-Mu’taḍid, who later died, perhaps from poisoning. However, the fact that Muḥammad ibn Isḥaq al-Nadīm writes that he, and his circle of scholars, had seen the manuscript on fine paper, suggests it may have escaped destruction.
- ^ Abū ‘l-Qāsim Abd ar-Raḥmān was called al-Zajjājī after him.[10]
- ^ Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ‘Alī al-Marāghī was a scholar of philology and religion from the city of al-Marāghah at the time the capital of Maragheh County, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. Although al-Marāghī stayed at al-Mawṣil, he was al-Zajjāj’ pupil. He wrote; "Abridgment of Grammar"; "Exposition and Interpretation of the Arguments of Sībawayh", [12]
- ^ Probably taken from al-Zajjāj’s treatise titled 'Jāmi al-munṭaq' (جامع المنطق), mentioned in Kaşf az-Zunūn ‘an 'asāmī ‘l-Kutub wa-l’fanūn, the biblio-bibliographical dictionary of Hajji Khalifa
- ^ Khallikān calls this "Different treatises on etymology".
- ^ Listed by al-Nadīm but not Ibn Khallikān
- ^ Ibn Khallikān gives the title "Muslim Sects".
- ^ Ibn Khallikān gives the title "On Nouns of the First or Second Declension"
- ^ Dictates (امالي);[17][18][2] The last three titles are omitted by al-Nadīm.
- ^ Hajji Khalifa remarks that a considerable number of works has been written on the subject.
References
editCitations
edit- ^ Zubaydī (al-) 1984, p. 112, §9 (#39).
- ^ a b c Ibn Khallikān 1843, p. 28, I.
- ^ al-Nadīm 1970, pp. 77, 131–33, 135, 139, 178, 185, 187, 191.
- ^ Zubaydī (al-) 1984, pp. 111–112, §9 (#39).
- ^ al-Nadīm 1970, p. 185.
- ^ Ibn Khallikān 1843, p. 29, n.4.
- ^ al-Mas‘ūdī 1874, p. 205, viii.
- ^ al-Nadīm 1970, p. 132.
- ^ al-Nadīm 1970, p. 133.
- ^ Ibn Khallikān 1843, p. 29, I.
- ^ al-Nadīm 1970, p. 135.
- ^ al-Nadīm 1970, p. 187.
- ^ al-Suyūṭī 1909, p. 19.
- ^ Zubaydī (al-) 1984, pp. 111–112, §9 (#38).
- ^ al-Nadīm 1970, p. 178.
- ^ al-Nadīm 1970, pp. 76–77.
- ^ de Sacy 1829, p. 137.
- ^ Çelebi 1835, p. 427, I.
- ^ Pococke 1806, p. 168.
- ^ al-Nadīm 1970, p. 140.
- ^ Flügel 1872, p. 658.
- ^ Ibn Khallikān 1843, p. 381, I.
Bibliography
edit- Flügel, Gustav Leberecht (1872). J. Roediger; A. Mueller (eds.). Al-Fihrist (in Arabic). Leipzig: F.C.W. Vogel.
- Çelebi, Kâtip (1835). Flügel, Gustav Leberecht (ed.). Kashf al-zunun (Lexicon Bibliographicum et Encyclopaedicum) (in Arabic and Latin). Vol. 1. London: Oriental Translation Fund.
- Ibn Khallikān (1843). Mac Guckin de Slane, William (ed.). Wafayāt al-A'yān wa Anbā' (Ibn Khallian's Biographical Dictionary). Vol. 1. Paris & London: W. H. Allen.
- al-Mas‘ūdī, Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn al-Ḥusayn (1874) [1861]. Kitāb Murūj al-Dhahab wa-Ma'ādin al-Jawhar/Les Prairies d'or (in Arabic and French). Vol. VIII. Translated by Meynard (de), C. Barbier. Paris: Imprimerie impériale.
- al-Nadīm, Abū al-Faraj Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq Abū Ya’qūb al-Warrāq (1970). Dodge, Bayard (ed.). The Fihrist of al-Nadim; a tenth-century survey of Muslim culture. New York & London.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Pococke, Edward (1806). Specimen historiae Arabum (in Arabic and Latin). London: Clarendon Press.
- de Sacy, Antoine Isaac Silvestre (1829). Anthologie grammaticale arabe (Morceaux choisis de divers grammairiens et scholiastes arabes, with introduction and notes in French) (in Arabic and French). Paris: Imprimé par autorisation du Roi, al'Imprimerie Royale.
- al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān (1909). Bughyat al-Wu'āt fī Ṭabaqāt al-Lughawīyīn wa-al-Nuḥāh. Cairo: Sa‘ādah Press.
- Zubaydī (al-), Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan (1984) [1954]. Ibrāhīm, Muḥammad (ed.). Ṭabaqāt al-Naḥwīyīn wa-al-Lughawīyīn (in Arabic). Cairo: Al-Khanjī.