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

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

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 Fustat (), also Fostat, was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule, though it has been integrated into Cairo. It was built adjacent to what is now known as Old Cairo by the Rashidun Muslim general 'Amr ibn al-'As immediately after the Mus ...

, he studied in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

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

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

Mu'allaqat The Muʻallaqāt (, ) is a compilation of seven long pre-Islamic Arabic poems. The name means The Suspended Odes or The Hanging Poems, they were named so because these poems were hung in the Kaaba in Mecca. Some scholars have also suggested th ...

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