Abu Jaʿfar An-Nahhas (; died 949 AD / AH 338) was an Egyptian Muslim scholar of

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...

and Qur'anic exegete during the 10th-century Abbasid period. His full name was ''Abū Jaʿfar Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Ismail Ibn Yūnus al-Murādi'', surnamed ''an-Nahhās'' "copper-worker" (a term for artisans who make brass vessels).

Life

Abu Jaʿfar An-Nahhas—whose full name was ''Abū Jaʿfar Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Ismail Ibn Yūnus al-Murādi'', surnamed ''an-Nahhās'' "copper-worker" (a term for artisans who make brass vessels)—was born in

Fustat Fusṭāṭ ( ar, الفُسطاط ''al-Fusṭāṭ''), also Al-Fusṭāṭ and Fosṭāṭ, was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule, and the historical centre of modern Cairo. It was built adjacent to what is now known as Old Cairo by ...

, he studied in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

under the foremost grammarians of the period like al-Zajjāj who familiarised him with the Kitāb by the famed grammarian Sībawayh (d. c.180/796). He also studied philology with ʿAlī b. Sulaymān al-Akhfash al-Aṣghar (d. 315/927) and Nifṭawayh (d. 323/935). He is the author of an influential work on

abrogation Abrogation may refer to: * ''Abrogatio'', the Latin term for legal annulment under Roman law * Abrogation of Old Covenant laws, the ending or setting aside of Old Testament stipulations for the New Testament * Abrogation doctrine, a doctrine in Un ...

, ''Al-Nasīkh wal-Mansūkh''. He wrote a treatise on the grammatical analysis of 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. ...

and a grammatical primer known as "The Apple" (التفاحة ''at-Tuffāha''), besides works on poetry, including a commentary on the

Mu'allaqat The Muʻallaqāt ( ar, المعلقات, ) is a group of seven long Arabic poems. The name means The Suspended Odes or The Hanging Poems, the traditional explanation being that these poems were hung in the Kaaba in Mecca, while scholars have also ...

Death

He was killed as he was reciting poetry sitting on the banks of the Nile in Cairo, as a passing peasant thought he was uttering a charm to prevent the rise of the Nile, "so as to raise the price of provisions" and threw him into the river causing him to drown.

References

* Mac Guckin de Slane, (trans.), ''Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary'', vol. 1, Paris, 1843
p. 81
* Louis Moréri, ''Le grand dictionnaire historique'' (1759)
Abou-Giafar al Nahas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Jafar an-Nahhas 949 deaths Year of birth unknown Scholars from the Abbasid Caliphate Arab grammarians Medieval grammarians of Arabic