al-Azharī, Abū Manṣūr Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Ṭalḥa (282–380/895–980), was a linguist, writer, jurist and Qurʾān exegete of the Shāfiʿī school and compiler of the Tahdhīb al-lugha. He was born in Herat and studied with the famous scholars and men of letters of that city (Yāqūt, Udabāʾ, 17/164; Ibn Khallikān, 4/334; al-Dhahabī, 16/316; al-Ṣafadī, 2/45).

All we know about his life is that he was taken captive by the Qarmaṭīs when returning from the Ḥajj in 312/924 when the Qarmaṭīs waylaid a caravan of pilgrims returning f…