Abu ʻAmr bin al-ʻAlāʼ al-Basri (Arabic: أبو عمرو بن العلاء; (689/90-770/71; c.70-154 AH[1]) was the Qur'an reciter of Basra, Iraq and an Arab linguist.[1]
Abu Amr bin al-Ala | |
|---|---|
أبو عمرو بن العلاء | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | c. AH 70 (689/690) |
| Died | AH 154 (770/771) |
| Main interest(s) | Arabic, Quran |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
| Muslim leader | |
Influenced by | |
He was born in Mecca.[2] Descended from a branch of the Banu Tamim,[3] Ibn al-ʻAlāʼ is one of the seven primary transmitters of the chain of narration for the Qur'an.[4] He founded the Basran philology school of Arabic grammar.[5] 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.[6] In between his study of Qur'an reading in his hometown of Mecca and in Basra, he also travelled to learn more about the practice in the Kufan school and in Medina.[6]
Ibn al-ʻAlāʼ studied under Ibn Abi Ishaq and among his own pupils were Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi,[7][8] Yunus ibn Habib,[1][9] Al-Asma'i[5] and Harun ibn Musa.[10] Al-Asma'i related that Ibn al-ʻAlāʼ was asked a thousand grammatical questions, and answered each with an example.[4] Another student of his was Abu ʿUbaidah, who called Ibn al-ʻAlāʼ the most learned of all men in philology, grammar, Arabic poetry and the Qur'an.[11] Although he never met Sibawayhi, the ethnic Persian , Sibawayhi quotes from Abu Amr 57 times in his Kitab, mostly by transmission from Ibn Habib and al-Farahidi.[12]
The Qur'an reciter Al-Duri was the student of al-Yazīdī, who was Ibn al-ʻAlāʼs student, and preserved his recitation, passing on his method to Niftawayh and Muhammad bin Dawud al-Zahiri.[13] Ibn al-ʻAlāʼ was a contemporary of many early Muslim notables; he remarked that in his experience, Hasan al-Basri and Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf were the first and second most eloquent and pure speakers of the Arabic language.[14] On his return from a visit to the governor of Syria, Ibn al-ʻAlāʼ experienced a series of fainting fits and died in Kufa in 770CE (154AH).[1] He was buried in that city.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Sībawayh, ʻAmr bin ʻUthmān (1988), Hārūn, ʻAbd al-Salām Muḥammad (ed.), Al-Kitāb Kitāb Sībawayh Abī Bishr ʻAmr bin ʻUthmān bin Qanbar, vol. Introduction (3rd ed.), Cairo: Maktabat al-Khānjī, p. 13
- ^ a b Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, translated by William McGuckin de Slane. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. Sold by Institut de France and Royal Library of Belgium. Vol. 2, pg. 402.
- ^ Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, History of the Prophets and Kings, trans. G. Rex Smith. Vol. 14: The Conquest of Iran, pg. 71. Albany: SUNY Press, 1989.
- ^ a b Ibn Khallikan, vol. 2, pg. 399.
- ^ a b al-Aṣmaʿī at the Encyclopædia Britannica Online. ©2013 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Accessed 10 June 2013.
- ^ a b Peter G. Riddell, Early Malay Qur'anic exegetical activity, p. 164. Taken from Islam and the Malay-Indonesian World: Transmission and Responses. London: C. Hurst & Co., 2001. ISBN 9781850653363
- ^ Introduction to Early Medieval Arabic: Studies on Al-Khalīl Bin Ahmad, pg. 2. Ed. Karin C. Ryding. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1998. ISBN 9780878406630
- ^ Eckhard Neubauer, "Al-Khalil Ibn Ahmad and Music." Taken from Early Medieval Arabic: Studies on Al-Khalīl Ibn Aḥmad, pg. 63. Ed. Karin C. Ryding. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1998. ISBN 9780878406630
- ^ Ibn Khallikan, Deaths of Eminent Men and History of the Sons of the Epoch, vol. 4, pg. 586. Trns. William McGuckin de Slane. London: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland, 1871.
- ^ M.G. Carter, Sibawayh, pg. 21. Part of the Makers of Islamic Civilization series. London: I.B. Tauris, 2004. ISBN 9781850436713
- ^ Ibn Khallikan, vol. 2, pg. 400.
- ^ M.G. Carter, Sibawayh, pg. 19.
- ^ Muhammad bin Jarir al-Tabari, trans. Franz Rosenthal. Vol. 1: General Introduction and From the Creation to the Flood, pg. 58.
- ^ Ibn Khallikan, vol. 1, pg. 370.
Further reading
edit- Nik Hanan Mustapha, "To What Extent Did Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala and al-Kisa`i Adhere to Their Respective Schools of Grammar? An Analytical Study in the Light of the Qur'anic qira`at." Journal of Qur'anic Studies, vol. 10, #1, pg. 202. January 2008.