Abu Abdullah Harun ibn Musa al-'Ataki al-A'war (d. 170AH/786AD) was an early convert from Judaism to Islam and a scholar of the Arabic language and Islamic studies. [1] He converted while living among the Azd tribe, and was later attributed to the tribe. [2] He was affiliated with the Basran school of Arabic grammar. A specialist in lexicography, al-A'war contributed significantly to the study of Qira'at, or variant readings of the Qur'an, [3] and is the first formal compiler of the different recitation styles. [2] [4] [5] [6] [7] His most active period, during which his work was marked by new developments in lexicographical studies concerning the Qur'an, was from 752 until his death. [8]
Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. It is an ancient, monotheistic, Abrahamic religion with the Torah as its foundational text. It encompasses the religion, philosophy, and culture of the Jewish people. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenant that God established with the Children of Israel. Judaism encompasses a wide body of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. The Torah is part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible, and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud. With between 14.5 and 17.4 million adherents worldwide, Judaism is the tenth largest religion in the world.
Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion teaching that there is only one God, and that Muhammad is the messenger of God. It is the world's second-largest religion with over 1.8 billion followers or 24% of the world's population, most commonly known as Muslims. Muslims make up a majority of the population in 50 countries. Islam teaches that God is merciful, all-powerful, unique and has guided humankind through prophets, revealed scriptures and natural signs. The primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, viewed by Muslims as the verbatim word of God, and the teachings and normative example of Muhammad.
Islamic studies refers to the study of Islam. Islamic studies can be seen under at least two perspectives:
Ibn Musa was also one of the seven teachers of Sibawayh, the ethnically Persian father of Arabic grammar, though like other Qur'an readers he was quoted by Sibawayhi less frequently than pure grammarians, with only five quotes in the infamous Kitab. [1] [9] Additionally, he was a student of Ibn Abi Ishaq and Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala'. [1]
Abū Bishr ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qanbar Al-Baṣrī, known as Sībawayh or Sībawayhi was Persian, a leading grammarian of Basra and author of Arabic linguistics. His famous unnamed work, referred to as Al-Kitāb, or "The Book", is a seminal encyclopedic grammar of the Arabic language.
ʿAbd-Allāh ibn Abī Isḥāq al-Ḥaḍramī, is considered the first grammarian of the Arabic language. He compiled a prescriptive grammar by referring to the usage of the Bedouins, whose language was seen as especially pure. He is also considered the first person to use linguistic analogy in Arabic.
Abu ʻAmr ibn al-ʻAlāʼ al-Basri was the Qur'an reciter of Basra, Iraq and an Arab linguist. He was born in Mecca in 689/690CE (70AH). Descended from a branch of the tribe of Banu Tamim, Ibn al-ʻAlāʼ is one of the seven primary transmitters of the chain of narration for the Qur'an. He is also considered the founder of the Basran school of Arabic grammar. He was as well known as a grammarian as he was a reader, though his reading style was influenced by those of Nafi‘ al-Madani and Ibn Kathir al-Makki. In between his study of Qur'an reading in his hometown of Mecca and in Basra, he also traveled to learn more about the practice in Kufa and Medina.
Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Umar al-Zamakhshari, known widely as al-Zamakhshari, also called Jar Allah, was a medieval Muslim scholar of Persian origin, who subscribed to the Muʿtazilite theological doctrine, who was born in Khwarezmia, but lived most of his life in Bukhara, Samarkand, and Baghdad. He was a great authority on the Arabic language as well as a rationalist theologian.
Abu Ubaida, Obaida, or Ubaydah Ma’mar ibn ul-Muthanna was an early Muslim scholar of Arabic philology. Abu Ubaida was a controversial figure; later scholar Ibn Qutaybah remarked that Abu Ubaida "hated Arabs," though his contemporaries still considered him perhaps the most well-rounded scholar of his age. Whether or not Abu Ubaida was truly a supporter of the Shu'ubiyya is a matter of debate.
Abū Muhammad Abd-Allāh ibn Muslim ibn Qutayba al-Dīnawarī al-Marwazī or simply Ibn Qutaybah was an Islamic scholar of Persian origin. He served as a judge during the Abbasid Caliphate, but was best known for his contributions to Arabic literature. He was a polymath who wrote on diverse subjects, such as Qur'anic exegesis, hadith, theology, philosophy, law and jurisprudence, grammar, philology, history, astronomy, agriculture and botany.
Abu ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad ibn ‘Amr ibn Tammām al-Farāhīdī al-Azdī al-Yaḥmadī, known as Al-Farahidi, or Al-Khalīl, he was a philologist, lexicographer and leading grammarian of Basra, Iraq. He produced the first dictionary of the Arabic language - the oldest extant dictionary - Kitab al-'Ayn - "The Source", introduced the now standard harakat system, and was instrumental in the early development of ʿArūḍ, musicology and poetic metre. His linguistic theories were influential in the development of Persian, Turkish and Urdu prosody. The "Shining Star" of the Basran school of Arabic grammar, a polymath and scholar, he was a man of genuinely original thought.
Abū Ḥayyān al-Gharnāṭī was a commentator on the Quran. He has earned near universal recognition as the foremost Arabic grammarian of his era. He is also notable as the only known Arabic linguist to have taken a strong interest in languages other than Arabic, authoring a number of works both on comparative linguistics and extensively analyzing and explaining the grammars of other languages for native speakers of Arabic.
Abu al-Khayr Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Yusuf al-Jazari was a distinguished and prolific scholar in the field of the qira'at of the Qur'an, whom al-Suyuti regarded as the "ultimate authority on these matters". His works on tajwid and qira'at are considered classics. The nisba, Jazari, denotes an origin from Jazirat ibn 'Umar.
Abu Salma Hammad ibn Salamah ibn Dinar al-Basri, the son of Salamah ibn Dinar, was Basra's mufti, a prominent narrator of hadith and one of the earliest grammarians of the Arabic language, who had a great influence on his student, Sibawayh.
Abu al-Khaṭṭāb ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn ʻAbd al-Majīd, commonly known as Al-Akhfash al-Akbar was a notable Arab grammarian who lived in Basra and associated with the method of Arabic grammar of its linguists, and was a client of the Qais tribe.
Yunus ibn Habib was a reputable 8th-century Arab or Persian linguist. An early literary critic and expert on poetry, Ibn Habib's criticisms of poetry were known, along with those of contemporaries such as Al-Asma'i, as a litmus test for measuring later writers' eloquence.
Abu al-Hasan, ‘Ali Ibn Hamzah al-Asadi, better known as Al-Kisa'i, was one of the transmitters of the seven canonical Qira'at, or methods of reciting the Qur'an. He is also the founder of the Kufi school of Arabic grammar which formed a rivalry with its Basri counterpart founded by Sibawayh.
Abu Abdillah Ibrahim bin Muhammad bin 'Urfah bin Sulaiman bin al-Mughira bin Habib bin al-Muhallab bin Abi Sufra al-Azdi, better known as Niftawayh, was a Medieval Muslim scholar. He was considered to be the best writer of his time, in addition to an expert in Muslim prophetic tradition and comparative readings of the Qur'an.
Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Abi Sara Ali Al-Ru'asi was an early convert from Judaism to Islam and a scholar of the Arabic language. He is considered to be the founder of the Kufan school of Arabic grammar, as well as the first person to write about Arabic morphology and phonology. He was a student of Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala' and an associate of Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi.
Abu ‘Imarah Hamzah Ibn Habib al-Zayyat al-Taymi, better known as Hamzah az-Zaiyyat (80-156AH), was one of the seven canonical transmitters of the Qira'at, or methods of reciting the Qur'an. His appellation "az-Zaiyyat" was given to him because he used to work transporting natural oils to Hulwan and then bringing cheese and walnuts back to Kufa.
‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Amir Ibn Yazid Ibn Tamim Ibn Rabi‘ah al-Yahsibi, better known as Ibn Amir, was one of the seven canonical transmitters of the Qira'at, or methods of reciting the Qur'an.
Abu ‘Amr Muhammad Ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahman, al-Makhzumi, better known as Qunbul (195-291AH), was one of the primary transmitters of one of the Qira'at, or the canonical methods of reading the Qur'an. Of the seven primary readings of the Qur'an, Qunbul was a transmitter of the method of Ibn Kathir al-Makki. Like Al-Buzzi, who was the other canonical transmitter of Ibn Kathir's method, Qunbul was an indirect student and lived later than the namesake of the recitation method.
Abu al-Hasan Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdillah Ibn al-Qaasim Ibn Nafi'i Ibn Abi Buzzah, better known simply as al-Bazzi (170–250AH), was an important figure in the transmission of Qira'at, the seven canonical methods of Qur'an reading. He and Qunbul were the primary people responsible for spreading the recitation method of Ibn Kathir al-Makki, which became especially popular among the people of Mecca.
