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, Abū ʿUt̲h̲mān Bakr b. Muḥammad . Arab philologist and Ḳurʾān reader from al-Baṣra. Information about his life and works is scarce and partly contradictory. Already discutable is the name of his grandfather and his supposed lineal descent from the Banū Māzin [ q.v.]; the tradition that he was only a mawlā of the Banū Māzin is more likely to be correct. Al-Māzinī uses materials taken from Abū Zayd al-Anṣārī, Abu ’l-Ḥasan al-Ak̲h̲fas̲h̲ al-Awsaṭ, al-Aṣmaʿī and Abū ʿUbayda [ q.vv.]. Among his disciples, al-Mubarrad (d. 286/900 [ q.v.]) is to be mentioned in the first place. The stor…

Abū ʿUbayd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʿImrān b. Mūsā b. Saʿīd b. ʿUbayd Allāh al-K̲h̲urāsānī al-Bag̲h̲dādī al-Kātib , was one of the most versatile and prolific of Arab scholars in the vast field of adab during the 4th/10th century. 1. Life. His wealthy and influential family resided in K̲h̲urāsān, and his father was deputy to the ṣāḥib K̲h̲urāsān at the caliphal court in Bag̲h̲dād, where al-Marzubānī was born in D̲j̲umādā II 297/February-March 910 or in the year before. Here he devoted himself to the study of ḥadīt̲h̲ under the guidance of well-known traditionists …

, Abū Muḥammad Yaḥyā b. al-Mubārak b. al-Mug̲h̲īra al-ʿAdawī al-Baṣrī al-Bag̲h̲dādī, with the laḳab or s̲h̲uhra of al-Yazīdī (so named after Yazīd b. Manṣūr al-Ḥimyarī, d. 165/781, maternal uncle of the caliph al-Mahdī), Ḳurʾān teacher, grammarian, lexicographer, poet and man of letters, d. 202/817-18. 1. Al-Yazīdī, the father. Born around 128/745-6 in Baṣra (?) as a client of the Banū ʿAdī b. ʿAbd Manāt, he frequented the local philologists, particularly Abū ʿAmr b. al-ʿAlāʾ, Yūnus b. Ḥabīb and al-K̲h̲alīl b. Aḥmad [ q.vv.]. He became the main transmitter of the seven canoni…

, Abū Saʿd (incorrectly Saʿīd) ʿAbd al-Karīm b. Abī Bakr Muḥammad b. Abi ’l-Muẓaffar (al-)Manṣūr al-Tamīmī al-Marwazī al-S̲h̲afiʿī, Tād̲j̲ al-Islām (al-Dīn) Ḳiwām al-Dīn, also known as Ibn al-Samʿānī (Samʿān/Simʿān, in the long, incomplete genealogy, being a branch of the tribe of Tamīm), important Arab biographer. Born in Marw on Monday, 21 S̲h̲aʿbān 506/10 February 1113, he died there on Monday, 1 Rabīʿ I 562/26 December 1166. He was born into a learned family (for his father [466-510/1074-1116] see Ziriklī, vii, 112, and for his grandfather [426-89/1036-96] ibid., vii, 303-4).…

, Abu ’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Ḥamza b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Bahman b. Fayrūz , mawlā of the Banū Asad, well-known Arab philologist and Ḳurʾān-reader ( ca. 119-89/737-805). Descendant of an Iranian family from the Sawād, he was born in Bāḥams̲h̲ā, Dud̲j̲ayl, north of Bag̲h̲dād (Yāḳūt, Muʿd̲j̲am , i, 458 s.v.; M. Streck, Die alte Landschaft Babylonien , Leiden 1901, ii, 226) and when still a boy, came to al-Kūfa (Zubaydī, Ṭabaḳāt , 138; Ibn al-D̲j̲azarī, G̲h̲āya , i, 535). It is related that he had difficulties with the ʿarabiyya and therefore sought to attach himself to the grammarian Muʿād̲h̲ al-Harrāʾ ( Taʾ…

, Abū Zakariyyāʾ Yaḥyā b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. [Muḥammad b. Mūsā b. (Yāḳūt, Udabāʾ , vii, 286)] Bisṭām al-S̲h̲aybānī, imām ahl al-adab (Yāḳūt, Muʿd̲j̲am , i, 823; al-k̲h̲aṭīb is incorrect, see Ḳifṭī, Inbāh , iv, 22), celebrated Arab philologist (421-502/1030-1109). Born a son of the k̲h̲aṭīb of Tabrīz [ q.v.], the talented young man embarked on the ṭalab al-ʿilm at an early age. He did not give it up until his appointment at the madrasa [ q.v.] al-Niẓāmiyya (inaugurated 459/1067) in Bag̲h̲dād as professor of the adab sciences, above all naḥw , lug̲h̲a , ʿarūḍ , and ḳawāfī …

, Abū ʿAbd Allāh (Abu ’l-Faḍl, Abū Ḏj̲aʿfar) Muḥammad (Aḥmad) b. Abī Yazīd Ṭayfūr al-Sad̲j̲āwandī al-G̲h̲aznawī al-Muḳriʾ al-Mufassir al-Naḥwī al-Lug̲h̲awī, an innovative Ḳurʾān reader and philologist, died 560/1165 (?) He lived and worked in Sad̲j̲/g/kāwand, a small ¶ village half-way to the east of the route from Kābul to G̲h̲aznī in the vicinity of Sayyidābād, dominated by a high-lying citadel, now in ruins, called Tak̲h̲t-i or S̲h̲ār-i (S̲h̲ahr-i) Ḏj̲ams̲h̲īd. On the foot of this mount is placed the mausoleum of Ḵh̲wād̲j̲a Aḥmad (Muḥammad). Here, even today, the S̲h̲ayk…

, Abū ʿAlī Ismāʿīl b. al-Ḳāsim b. ʿAvd̲h̲ūn b. Hārūn b. ʿĪsā b. Muḥammad b. Sulaymān / Salmān ( mawlā of ʿAbd al-Malik b. Marwān or of his son Muḥammad) al-Bag̲h̲dādī , great Arab philologist (288/901-356/967). The genealogy and following data are vouched for by his autobiography, which was preserved by his pupil, al-Zubaydī (p. 204 f.). He was born in the year 28(8)/901 in Manāzd̲j̲ird [ q.v.], to the north of Lake Van. In 303/915 he set out for Bag̲h̲dād; after a longer stay in Mosul, he arrived there in 305/917, along with people from the frontier town of Ḳālīḳalā (Erzerum), whose nisba …

, Abu ’l-ʿAbbās Muḥammad b. Yazīd b. ʿAbd al-Akbar al-T̲h̲umālī al-Azdī (his genealogy reaches back to the D̲j̲āhiliyya; cf. Wüstenfeld, Tabellen , no. 10; Caskel, Tafeln , no. 210), celebrated philologist, was born in al-Baṣra on 10 D̲h̲u ’l-Ḥid̲j̲d̲j̲a 210/24 March 826 (or between 2 and 5 years earlier). As tradition tells us, it was in the circles ( ḥalaḳāt ) of Abū ʿUmar al-D̲j̲armī (d. 225/839) and Abū ʿUt̲h̲mān al-Māzinī [ q.v.] that he came into close contact with the Kitāb of Sībawayh; moreover, he took part in the scholarly discussions between …

(a.) pl. kuttāb , secretary, a term which was used in the Arab-Islamic world for every person whose rôle or function consisted of writing or drafting official letters or administrative documents. In the Middle Ages this term denoted neither a scribe in the literary sense of the word nor a copyist, but it could be applied to private secretaries as well as to the employees of the administrative service. It can denote merely a “book-keeper” as well as the chief clerk or a Secretary of State, directly responsible to the sovereign or to his vizier. The use of kātib is theref…

(a., pl. amt̲h̲āl ) proverb, popular saying, derives—similarly to Aram, mat̲h̲lā , Hebr. mās̲h̲āl and Ethiop. mesl , mesālē —from the common Semitic root for “sameness, equality, likeness, equivalent” (cf. Akkad. mas̲h̲ālum “equality”, mis̲h̲lum “half”). In Arabic, to create a proverb is fa-arsala( t) hā , or d̲j̲aʿala ( t) hu mat̲h̲al an, fa-ḍaraba ( t) bihi ’l-mat̲h̲al a; to become proverbial is ḍuriba bihi ’l-mat̲h̲alu , mat̲h̲al un yuḍrabu fa-d̲h̲ahaba ( t), or d̲j̲arā / d̲j̲arat mat̲h̲al an, or, simply, fa-ṣāra mat̲h̲al an. 1. In Arabic i. Definition ii. Arabic proverbs (1) Earlie…

, Abu ’l-Faḍl Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm al-Naysābūrī , Arab philologist, domiciled in Naysābūr in the upper part of the Maydān (square) of Ziyād b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. In the cemetery of this quarter (al-Maydān) he was buried after his death on Wednesday, 25 Ramaḍān 518/5 November 1124. In his home town, his teachers were the philologists and Ḳurʾān scholars Abu ’l-Ḥasan al-Wāḥidī (d. 468/1076), Yaʿḳūb b. Aḥmad al-Kurdī (d. 470/1078), and ʿAlī al-Mud̲j̲ās̲h̲iʿī al-Farazdaḳī (d…

b. ʿĀṣim (with the erroneous nisba “al-Ḍabbī” since Ibn Ḵh̲allikān [ q.v.]) al-Kūfī, Abū Ṭālib (d. after 290/903), transmitter of historical materials ( ak̲h̲bārī ) with wide interests and a philological-lexicographical background. With this approach (Yāḳūt, Udabā , vii, 170), he differed (a) from his father Salama (d. after 270/883; Ibn al-Ḏj̲azarī, i, 311), a disciple and copyist ( warrāḳ ) of al-Farrāʾ [ q.v.], the great authority of the Kūfan school of philologists, and (b) from his son Abu ’l-Tayyib Muḥammad al-Bag̲h̲dādī (d. 308/920; Kaḥḥāla, xii, 43-4…

stands for 1. papyrus, papyrus roll, 2. parchment, and 3. later also rag paper; from the Arabic texts, it is not always clear which material is meant. The word ḳirṭās , ḳarṭās , ḳurṭās , or ḳirṭas , kartas , has been adopted from the Greek word χάρτη through the Aramaic; from the Arabic, it has been adopted by the Spanish as alcartaz meaning “bag”, and by the Portugese as cartaz meaning “paper, permit; placard”. In the Ḳurʾān, it is mentioned in the singular, ḳirṭās (Sūra VI, 7), and in the plural, ḳarāṭīs , meaning “[written] papyri” (Sūra VI, 91). Sometimes a genuine Arabic word is used: warak al-ḳ…

, Arab philologist and jurisprudent, grandson of the Umayyad governor of K̲h̲urāsān Naṣr b. Sayyār al-Kinānī al-Layt̲h̲ī (d. 131/748, 85 years old [ q.v.]). Sometimes he is identified as the son of the latter or even as the son of an alleged third son of his grandfather, Rāfiʿ, who might be confused with the well-known Rāfiʿ b. Layt̲h̲ b. Naṣr b. Sayyār [see hārūn al-ras̲h̲īd ]. The biographical information about al-Layt̲h̲ (or Layt̲h̲) is meagre. He studied grammar and lexicography under the versatile scholar and ḳāḍī , of Kūfa, Ḳāsim b. Maʿn (d. 175/791?),…

, Amīn al-Dīn Abu ’l-G̲h̲an̄aʾim Muslim b. Abi ’l-T̲h̲anāʾ Maḥmūd b. Sanad al-Dawla ¶ D̲j̲amāl al-Mulk Abi ’l-Faḍāʾil Niʿma b. Sanad al-Dawla Abi ’l-ʿAṭāʾ Arslān (Raslān) b. Yaḥyā, adīb , poet and astronomer. His grandfather and great-grandfather belonged to the mamālīk , in the rank of an amīr, of Usāma b. Munḳid̲h̲ (d. 584/1188 [see munḳid̲h̲ ], lord ( ṣāḥib ) of S̲h̲ayzar [ q.v.] on the Orontes. His father (d. after 565/1169) was an adīb and poet at the court of Usāma, but acquired also a reputation as grammarian ( naḥwī ) in the Great Mosque at Damascus (ʿImād al-Dīn, K̲h̲arīda …

, Burhān al-Dīn Abu ’l-Fatḥ (Abu ’l-Muẓaffar) Nāṣir b. Abi ’l-Makārim ʿAbd al-Sayyid b. ʿAlī al-K̲h̲wārazmī al-Ḥanafī, philologist, jurist and adīb (538-610/1144-1213). He was born in K̲h̲wārazm, at al-D̲j̲urd̲j̲āniyya or Gurgānd̲j̲ [ q.v.], in Rad̲j̲ab 538/January-February 1144. He began his studies with his father and continued them under the ak̲h̲tab K̲h̲ w ārazm Abu ’l-Muʾayyad al-Muwaffaḳ b. Aḥmad al-Makkī, a pupil of al-Zamak̲h̲s̲h̲arī [ q.v.], and others. Later, well-known as an authority in philology, he was called k̲h̲alifat al-Zamak̲h̲s̲h̲arī …

, Abu ’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Mattūya al-Mattūyī (Mattuwī) al-Naysābūrī al-S̲h̲āfiʿī, Arab philologist and Ḳurʾān scholar. He was descended from a family of merchants from Sāwa [ q.v.] who were very likely originally Christians. He was born in Naysābūr (Nīs̲h̲āpūr), and died there after a long illness in advanced age in D̲j̲umādā II 468/January-February 1076, highly venerated as ustād̲h̲ ʿaṣrihī “the master of his age”. Still a boy, he took part in teaching sessions on adab and naḥw , and attended classes in the large law schools of …

, verbal noun from the root s-m-ʿ (like samʿ and simʿ ), signifying "hearing"; by extension, it often denotes "that which is heard", such as music, for example. The same applies to istimāʿ "listening" (Lane, Lexicon , 1427b, 1429b; LʿA , s.v.) 1. In music and mysticism. The term is not found in the Ḳurʾān, but it exists in ancient Arabic, even in the sense of song or of musical performance (Lane, 1617b, s.v. mus̲h̲ār ). In lexicology and in grammar, it signifies "that which is founded on authority", as opposed to ḳiyāsī "founded on analogy" (de Sacy, Grammaire , i, 347, …

, Abū Bakr Aḥmad b. ʿAlī b. T̲h̲ābit b. Aḥmad b. Mahdī al-S̲h̲āfiʿī , known as al-K̲h̲aṭīb al-Bag̲h̲dādī , was born on 24th D̲j̲umadā II 392/10th May 1002 ( Taʾrīk̲h̲ Bag̲h̲dād , xi, 266) in Hanīḳiyā, a village in the neighbourhood of the Nahr al-Malik below Bag̲h̲dād (Ṣafadī, Wāfī , vii, 191; see M. Streck, Die alte Landschaft Babylonien , Leiden 1900, i, 27). According to Ibn al-Nad̲j̲d̲j̲ār (see Y. al-ʿIs̲h̲s̲h̲, al-K̲h̲aṭīb al-Bag̲h̲dādī, Damascus 1364/1945, 17) he was born in G̲h̲uzayya, a hamlet about half-way between Kūfa and Mecca. The son of the preacher ( k̲h̲aṭīb [ q.v.]) of Darz…