Originally posted on the Light of the Furqan blog.
The following is a table that documents some of the major scholars and works written, in the fields of Arabic morphology, grammar and rhetoric. I prepared this table as an introduction to the sciences of the Arabic language because I believe that understanding the history of this scholarly tradition can offer a lot of insight to the material that is typically studied to learn Arabic morphology, grammar and rhetoric.
For example, it helps to understand that most of Arabic grammar as we know it today is heavily influenced by the Basran school and that this school incorporated a lot of philosophical lines of reasoning into their conclusions on the rules of Arabic grammar. There are certain discussions in Arabic grammar that are heavily influenced by ideas on causality, or more specifically, the idea that one effect can only have one cause.
I accompanied this table with a lot of discussion focusing on the differences between the different schools, introducing important works etc. when teaching, however here I have just posted the table with a few interesting notes here and there. For some further discussion on the history and development of Arabic grammar, this post on Iqra Online might be helpful although it is a little technical.
Below is the table, please note all death dates are approximate.
| Name | Death (Hijrī) | School | Works | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al-Akhfash (Al-Akbar) | 157 | Baṣrī | ||
| Al-Khalīl Bin Aḥmad al-Farāhidī | 174 | Baṣrī | Kitāb al-‘Ain (Dictionary), Al-Jumal fī al-Naḥw | Teacher of Al-Sībaway |
| Al-Sībaway | 180 | Baṣrī | Al-Kitāb | Teacher of Al-Sībaway |
| Yūnus Bin Ḥabīb bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān | 183 | Baṣrī | Teacher of Al-Sībaway | |
| Al-Kisāī | 189 | Kūfī | He is one of the 7 Qurrā and is considered one of the main scholars from the Kūfī school | |
| Quṭrub | 206 | Baṣrī | He was a mu’tazalī, studied under al-Sībaway. He taught al-Kisāī. | |
| Al-Farrā | 207 | Kūfī | Ma’ānī al-Qurān | |
| Al-Akhfash (Al-Awsaṭ) | 208 | Baṣrī | Ma’ānī al-Qurān | He is known to be the most knowledgable of al-Sībaway’s students. He narrated al-Sībaway’s book to his students such as Al-Māzinī. |
| Ibn al-Sikkīt | 244 | Kūfī | Kitāb al-Alfāẓ | He was famous for being Shia and was apparently killed by al-Mutawakkil for this same reason. |
| Al-Māzinī | 249 | Baṣrī | Al-Taṣrīf | |
| Al-Mubarrad | 285 | Baṣrī | Al-Kāmil fī al-Lughah wa al-Adab, Al-Muqtaḍab | He is from amongst the most famous students of al-Māzinī. Some would even say that he was the most knowledgeable in Arabic grammar after al-Sībaway. He is the teacher of al-Zujāj |
| Tha’lab | 291 | Kūfī | ||
| Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm al-Zujāj | 311 | Baṣrī | Tafsīr Asmā Allah al-Ḥusnā | |
| Abū Sa’īd al-Sīrāfī | 368 | Baṣrī | ||
| Abū ‘Alī al-Fārsī | 377 | Baghdādī | Ta’līqāt on al-Kitāb | |
| Ibn Jinnī | 392 | Baghdādī | Al-Khaṣāiṣ, Al-Munṣif | |
| ‘Abd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī | 474 | Balāghīyūn | Dalāil al-I’jāz | Largely written to develop the discussion on why the Quran was a miracle |
| Jār Allah Al-Zamakhsharī | 538 | Baghdādī | Al-Mufaṣṣal, Al-Kashshāf | |
| Ibn al-Anbārī | 577 | Kūfī | Al-Inṣāf fī Masāil al-Khilāf | |
| Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī | 606 | Balāghīyūn | Nihāyat al-Ījāz fī Dirāyat al-I’jāz | He wrote an abridged version of al-Jurjānī’s work in which he tried to refine, polish and develop newer ideas on top of the concepts that al-Jurjānī had proposed |
| Al-Sakkākī | 626 | Balāghīyūn | Miftāḥ al-‘Ulūm | This book is very comparable to the idea of a Latin trivium which would typically comprise of grammar, logic and rhetoric |
| Ibn al-Ḥājib | 646 | Miṣrī | Al-Shāfīyah, Al-Kāfīyah | Some attribute al-Hidāyah fī al-Naḥw to Ibn al-Ḥājib or apparently to his daughter |
| Ibn ‘Uṣfūr | 663 | Andalūsī | Al-Mumta’ fī al-Taṣrīf | |
| Ibn Mālik | 672 | Andalūsī | Alfīyyah | |
| Raḍī al-Dīn al-Astarābādī | 686 | Commentary on al-Shāfīyah and al-Kāfīyah | ||
| Khaṭīb al-Qazwīnī | 739 | Balāghīyūn | Talkhīs al-Miftāḥ | Talkhīs al-Miftāḥ was an abridged and refined version of Miftāḥ al-‘Ulūm |
| Abū Ḥayyān | 745 | Andalūsī | Al-Baḥr al-Muḥīṭ | |
| Ibn Hishām | 761 | Miṣrī | Sharḥ Qaṭr al-Nidā, Mughnī al-Labīb, Awḍaḥ al-Masālik fī Sharḥ Alfīyat Ibn Mālik | |
| Ibn ‘Aqīl | 769 | Miṣrī | Sharḥ Ibn ‘Aqīl ‘alā Alfīyat Ibn Mālik | He was a student of Abu Ḥayyān |
| Al-Taftāzānī | 792 | Balāghīyūn | Sharḥ Kitāb al-Taṣrīf, Al-Muṭṭawwal, Mukhtaṣar al-Ma’ānī | Al-Muṭṭawwal is a commentary on Talkhīs al-Miftāḥ. |
| Niẓām (/Naẓẓām) al-Dīn al-Nīsapūrī | 850 | Sharḥ al-Naẓẓām(/Niẓām) ‘alā al-Shāfīyah | ||
| Al-Suyūṭī | 911 | Miṣrī | Ham’ al-Hawāmi’, Al-Bihjat al-Marḍīyah | |
| Shaykh Bahāī | 1030 | Al-Ṣamadīyah | ||
| ‘Abbās Ḥasan | 1399 (1979 AD) | Al-Naḥw al-Wāfī |
