Abu ʻAmr ibn al-ʻAlāʼ al-Basri ( ar, أبو عمرو بن العلاء; died 770 CE/154 AH) was the Qur'an reciter of

Basra, Iraq Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...

and an

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

. He was born in

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...

in .

Ibn Khallikan Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ibrāhīm bin Abū Bakr ibn Khallikān) ( ar, أحمد بن محمد بن إبراهيم بن أبي بكر ابن خلكان; 1211 – 1282), better known as Ibn Khallikān, was a 13th century Shafi'i Islamic scholar w ...

's Biographical Dictionary, translated by

William McGuckin de Slane William McGuckin (also Mac Guckin and MacGuckin), known as Baron de Slane (Belfast, Ireland, 12 August 1801 - Paris, France, 4 August 1878) was an Irish orientalist. He became a French national on 31 December 1838. and held the post of the Princ ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. Sold by

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute m ...

and

Royal Library of Belgium The Royal Library of Belgium (french: Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, nl, Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België, abbreviated ''KBR'' and sometimes nicknamed in French or in Dutch) is the national library of Belgium. The library has a history t ...

. Vol. 2, pg. 402. Descended from a branch of the

Banu Tamim Banū Tamīm ( ar, بَنُو تَمِيم) is an Arab tribe that originated in Najd in the Arabian Peninsula. It is mainly present in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Algeria, and has a strong presence in Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia ...

, Ibn al-ʻAlāʼ is one of the seven primary transmitters of the chain of narration for the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...

.Ibn Khallikan, vol. 2, pg. 399. He founded the Basran philology school of

Arabic grammar Arabic grammar or Arabic language sciences ( ar, النحو العربي ' or ar, عُلُوم اللغَة العَرَبِيَّة ') is the grammar of the Arabic language. Arabic is a Semitic language and its grammar has many similarities with ...

.al-Aṣmaʿī
at the

Encyclopædia Britannica Online An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article ...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. is a British-American company known for publishing the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', the world's oldest continuously published encyclopaedia, as well as extensive digital efforts—including text and audiovisual— ...

Accessed 10 June 2013. 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 Abū Maʿbad (or Abū Bakr) ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr al-Dārānī al-Makkī, better known as Ibn Kathir al-Makki (45-120AH), was one of the transmitters of the seven canonical Qira'at, or methods of reciting the Qur'an.Muhammad Ghoniem and MSM Sai ...

.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. In between his study of

Qur'an reading The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sin ...

in his hometown of Mecca and in Basra, he also traveled to learn more about the practice in the Kufan school and in

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

. Ibn al-ʻAlāʼ studied under

Ibn Abi Ishaq ʿAbd-Allāh ibn Abī Isḥāq al-Ḥaḍramī (Arabic, عَبْدُ اللّهِ بْنُ أَبِي إِسْحَاقَ الْحَضْرَمِيُّ), (died AD 735 / AH 117)Kees Versteegh, ''Arabic Grammar and Qur'anic Exegesis in Early Islam' ...

and among his own pupils were

Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi Abu ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad ibn ‘Amr ibn Tammām al-Farāhīdī al-Azdī al-Yaḥmadī ( ar, أبو عبدالرحمن الخليل بن أحمد الفراهيدي; 718 – 786 CE), known as Al-Farāhīdī, or Al-Khalīl, ...

Yunus ibn Habib Yunus ibn Habib ( ar, أبو عبد الرحمن يونس بن حبيب الضبي; died after 183 AH/798 CE) was a reputable 8th-century Arab linguist. An early literary critic and expert on poetry, Ibn Habib's criticisms of poetry were known, alo ...

, Al-Asma'i and

Harun ibn Musa Abu Abdullah Harun ibn Musa al-'Ataki al-A'war (d. 170AH/786AD) was an early convert from Judaism to Islam and a scholar of the Arabic language and Islamic studies.M.G. Carter, ''Sibawayh'', pg. 21. Part of the Makers of Islamic Civilization series. ...

. Al-Asma'i related that Ibn al-ʻAlāʼ was asked a thousand grammatical questions, and answered each with an example. Another student of his was Abu ʿUbaidah, who called Ibn al-ʻAlāʼ the most learned of all men in

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

, grammar,

Arabic poetry Arabic poetry ( ar, الشعر العربي ''ash-shi‘ru al-‘Arabīyyu'') is the earliest form of Arabic literature. Present knowledge of poetry in Arabic dates from the 6th century, but oral poetry is believed to predate that. Arabic poetry ...

and the Qur'an. Although he never met

Sibawayhi Sibawayh ( ar, سِيبَوَيْهِ ' or ; fa, سِیبُویه‎ ' ; c. 760–796), whose full name is Abu Bishr Amr ibn Uthman ibn Qanbar al-Basri (, '), was a Persian leading grammarian of Basra and author of the earliest book on Arabic ...

, the ethnic Persian considered the father of Arabic grammar, Sibawayhi quotes from Abu Amr 57 times in his infamous ''Kitab'', mostly by transmission from Ibn Habib and al-Farahidi. The famous Qur'an reciter

Al-Duri Abu ‘Amr Hafs Ibn ‘Umar Ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Baghdadi, better known as Al-Duri (150-246AH),Muhammad Ghoniem and MSM Saifullah (c) Islamic Awareness. Updated January 8, 2002; accessed April 11, 2016.Shady Hekmat NasserIbn Mujahid and the Can ...

was also Ibn al-ʻAlāʼs student, and preserved his recitation, passing on his method to

Niftawayh Abu Abdillah Ibrahim bin Muhammad bin 'Urfah bin Sulaiman bin al-Mughira bin Habib bin al-Muhallab bin Abi Sufra al-Azdi () better known as Niftawayh, was a Medieval Muslim scholar. He was considered to be the best writer of his time,Al-Masudi's ...

and

Muhammad bin Dawud al-Zahiri Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Dawud al-Zahiri, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd al-Iṣbahānī, also known as Avendeath, was a medieval theologian and scholar of the Arabic language and Islamic law. He was one of the early propagators of his father Daw ...

. Ibn al-ʻAlāʼ was a contemporary of many early Muslim notables; he remarked that in his experience,

Hasan al-Basri Abu Sa'id ibn Abi al-Hasan Yasar al-Basri, often referred to as Hasan of Basra (Arabic: الحسن البصري, romanized: ''Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī''; 642 - 15 October 728) for short, or as Hasan al-Basri, was an early Muslim preacher, asceti ...

and

Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf Abu Muhammad al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi Aqil al-Thaqafi ( ar, أبو محمد الحجاج بن يوسف بن الحكم بن أبي عقيل الثقفي, Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Abī ʿAqīl al-T ...

were the first and second most eloquent and pure speakers of the Arabic language.Ibn Khallikan, vol. 1, pg. 370. On his return from a visit to the governor of

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, Ibn al-ʻAlāʼ experienced a series of fainting fits and died in

Kufa Kufa ( ar, الْكُوفَة ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Currently, Kufa and Najaf ...

in 770CE (154AH). He was buried in that city.

References

Further reading