Al-Asmaʿi
Basra school Arab scholar and grammarian (c.740–828/833) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Al-Asmaʿi (أبو سعيد عبد الملك ابن قريب الأصمعي, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Qurayb al-Aṣmaʿī ; [n 1] c. 740–828/833), or Asmai was an Arab philologist and one of three leading Arabic grammarians of the Basra school.[1][2][3] Celebrated at the court of the Abbasid caliph, Hārūn al-Rashīd, as polymath and prolific author on philology, poetry, genealogy, and natural science, he pioneered zoology studies [4] in animal-human anatomical science. He compiled an important poetry anthology, the Asma'iyyat, and was credited with composing an epic on the life of Antarah ibn Shaddad.[citation needed] A protégé of Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi and Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala', he was a contemporary and rival of Abū ʿUbaidah and Sibawayhi also of the Basran school.[5][6]
Abu Saeed ʿAbd al-Malik b. Quraib al-Aṣmaʿī Al-bahili | |
---|---|
Born | 740 |
Died | 828 Basra |
Nationality | Caliphate |
Other names | أبو سعيد عبد الملك ابن قريب الأصمعي الباهلي |
Academic background | |
Influences | Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi, Abū 'Amr ibn al-'Ala' |
Academic work | |
Era | Islamic Golden Age (Abbasid era) |
Main interests | grammar, poetry, natural science, zoology |
Notable works | Asma'iyyat, Fuḥūlat al-Shu’arā’, Book of Distinction, the Book of the Wild Animals |
Ibn Isḥaq al-Nadīm's c.10th biography of al-Aṣma’ī follows the “isnad” narrative or ‘chain-of-transmission’ tradition. Al-Nadīm reports Abū ‘Abd Allāh ibn Muqlah's written report [n 2] of Tha’lab's report,[8] giving Al-Aṣma’ī‘s full name as ’’‘Abd al-Malik ibn Qurayb ibn ‘Abd al-Malik ibn ‘Ali ibn Aṣma’ī ibn Muẓahhir ibn ‘Amr ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Bāhilī.’’’
The celebrated c.13th biographer Ibn Khallikān calls al-Aṣmaʿī “a complete master of the Arabic language,” and “the most eminent of all transmitters of the oral history and rare expressions of the language.”.[9][10] His account includes collected anecdotes of numerous adventures.