Abū Bakr, ‘Abd al-Qāhir ibn ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad al-Jurjānī (10091078 or 1081 AD
00 – 471 or 474 A.H.;
nicknamed "Al-Naḥawī" (the grammarian), he was a renowned
Persian grammarian of the
Arabic language
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
, literary theorist of the Muslim
Shafi'i
The Shafi'i school or Shafi'i Madhhab () or Shafi'i is one of the four major schools of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), belonging to the Ahl al-Hadith tradition within Sunni Islam. It was founded by the Muslim scholar, jurist, and traditionis ...
, and a follower of
al-Ash'ari
Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari (; 874–936 CE) was an Arab Islamic theology, Muslim theologian known for being the eponymous founder of the Ash'ari school of kalam in Sunnism.
Al-Ash'ari was notable for taking an intermediary position between the two ...
. He wrote several celebrated works on grammar and rhetoric, among these are ''
Mi,ut Ạmil'' and ''Al-Jumal'' - introductions to Arabic syntax - and a commentary titled ''Al-Mughnī'' in three volumes.
Al-Jurjānī is said to have never left his native town of
Gorgan
Gorgan (; ) is a city in the Central District (Gorgan County), Central District of Gorgan County, Golestan province, Golestan province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It lies approximately to the nor ...
,
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
, yet his reputation in the twin sciences of ''ilm al balaghah'' (eloquence and rhetorical art) and ''ilm al bayan'' (a branch of Arabic rhetoric dealing with
metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...
ical language), reached many Arabic scholars who travelled to see him. His two books on these subjects, ''Asrār al-Balāghah'' (''Secrets of Rhetoric''), and ''Dalāʾīl al-ʿIjāz fi-l-Qurʾān'' (''Arguments of the Miraculous Inimitability of the Quran'') show influences of al-Jurjānī's predecessors, the grammarian
Sibawayh, the critic
Abi Helal al-'Askari al Balaghi, and the linguist and literary theorist
Abu Ali al-Farisi, the author of ''al-Idah'' (''Elucidation'').
Ali al-Farisi's nephew, Abi al-Hussein Muhammad ibn al-Hassan ibn Abd al-Wareth al-Faressi al-Nawawi, was al-Jurjānī's teacher, under whom he studied the ''al-Idah'', and on which he wrote a thirty-volume work of commentary entitled ''al Maghna fi Sharh al-Idah'' .
Critical opinions
Publications
* ''Asrār al-Balāghah'' (''The Secrets of Elucidation'')
* ''Al-Awāmil al-Mi’ah'' (''The Hundred Elements'') - A short text on 100 modifiers, or particles, in Arabic and their different uses with examples.
* ''Dalā’il al-Iʿjaz'' (''Intimations of Inimitability'')
* ''Iʿjaz al-Qur’ān'' (''The inimitability of the
Qur'an
The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...
'')
* ''Al-Jumal'' (''Sentences'')
* ''Kitab ʿArūd'' (''Poetic Structure'')
* ''Al-Maghna fī Sharḥ al-Idah’'', thirty volumes
* ''Al-Miftāḥ'' (''The Key'')
* ''Muʿjam al-taʿrifāt'' (''Compendium of Definitions'')
* ''Al-Muqtasad'', a short version of ''Al Maghna''.
* ''Sharḥ al-Fātiḥa fī Mujallad'' (''Explaining
Al-Fatiha
Al-Fatiha () is the first chapter () of the Quran. It consists of seven verses (') which consist of a prayer for guidance and mercy.
Al-Fatiha is recited in Muslim obligatory and voluntary prayers, known as ''salah''. The primary literal mea ...
in a Volume'')
* ''Al-Talkhiss bi Sharḥihi'' (''The Brief of Sentence Elucidation'')
* ''Al-'Umhad fī al-Taṣrīf'' (''The Basis of Morphology'')
* An anthology collection on the works of Abi-tammam, al-Buh'turi, and al-Mutannabī.
References
Bibliography
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External links
"Summary of Disagreements Between at-Taftazani and al-Jurrujani"is an Arabic work, dating from 1805, which compares Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani's work to the work of
Taftazani
Sa'ad al-Din Masud ibn Umar ibn Abd Allah al-Taftazani () also known as Al-Taftazani and Taftazani (1322–1390) was a Muslim Persian polymath."Al-Taftazanni Sa'd al-Din Masud b. Umar b. Abdullah", in Encyclopedia Islam by W. Madelung, Brill ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jurjani, Abd al-Qahir al-
Year of birth unknown
1000s births
1078 deaths
Iranian Arabic-language writers
11th-century Persian-language writers
Grammarians from Iran
Religious writers
11th-century Iranian writers
People from Gorgan