Abū Riyāsh al-Qaysī, Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm Abū Riyāsh (d. 339/950) was a philologist, poet and traditionist. Al-Suyūṭī erroneously gives his name as Ibrāhīm b. Aḥmad (1/409). Born in the desert region of al-Yamāma, Abū Riyāsh travelled to Baṣra in search of knowledge and learning (Yāqūt, 2/124; al-Qifṭī, 1/25). According to al-Tanūkhī, he was initially in the military but soon left the army because of his thirst for knowledge and in order to compose and recite poetry (Yāqūt, 2/127). He came to be one of Baṣra's prominent adībs, or men of letters, during the first half of the 4th/10th …