Al-Mubarrad


Al-Mubarrad , or Abū al-‘Abbās Muḥammad ibn Yazīd, was a native of Baṣrah and a great philologist, biographer and a leading grammarian of the School of Basra, rival to the School of Kufa. In 860 he was called to the court of the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil at Samarra. When the caliph was killed the following year, he went to Baghdād, and taught there until his death.
A prolific writer, perhaps the greatest of his school, his best known work is Al-Kāmil.
A leading scholar of Sībawayh's seminal treatise on grammar, "al-Kitab", he lectured on philology and wrote critical treatises on linguistics and Quranic exegesis. He is said to be the source of the story of Shahrbanu or Shahr Banu — eldest daughter of Yazdegerd III.
His quote to would-be students was::

Biography

transmitted the written account of Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Khazzāz, who gives al-Mubarrad's full genealogical name: Muḥammad ibn Yazīd ibn ‘Abd al-Akbar ibn ‘Umayr ibn Ḥasanān ibn Sulaym ibn Sa‘d ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Durayd ibn Mālik ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ‘Āmir ibn Abd Allāh ibn Bilāl ibn ‘Awf ibn Aslam ibn Aḥjan ibn Ka‘b ibn al-Ḥarīth ibn Ka‘b ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mālik ibn Naṣr ibn al-Azd, al-Azd said to be the son of al-Ghawth.
According to Sheikh Abū Sa‘īd al-Sīrāfī, Abū al-‘Abbās Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Azdī al-Thumālī was a protégé of the grammarians al-Jarmī, al-Māzinī, etc. He was descended from a branch of al-Azd, called the Thumālah. He began studying Sībawayh's Book with al-Jarmī, but completed it with al-Māzinī, whose linguistic theories he developed.
In a citation from the book called Device of the Men of Letters, al-Hakimi wrote that Abū ‘Abd Allah Muhammad ibn al-Qāsim called Al-Mubarrad a "Sūraḥūn", of al-Baṣrah. His origins were in al-Yaman, however his marriage to a daughter of al-Ḥafṣā al-Mughannī earned him the name ‘Ḥayyan al-Sūraḥī.’
Abū Sa’īd reports al-Sarrāj and Abū ‘Ali al-Ṣaffār that al-Mubarrad was born in 825-26 and died in 898-99, aged seventy-nine. Others said his birth was in 822-23. Al-Ṣūlī Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya said he was buried in the cemetery of the Kūfah Gate.
Al-Mubarrad related many anecdotes of the poets, linguists and satirists of his circle. In one such tale al-Mubarrad says
He estimated that “Abū Zayd knew a great deal about grammar, but less than al-Khalīl and Sībawayh." He described al-Aṣma’ī as "equal to Abu ‘Ubaydah in poetry and rhetoric but more expert in grammar, although ‘Ubaydah excelled in genealogy."
In another tradition al-Mubarrad read a poem of the poet Jarīr to a student of al-Aṣma‘ī and Abū ‘Ubaydah, called al-Tawwazī, in the presence of the poet’s great grandson Umārah, which began:
until he came to the line
When ‘Umārah asked al-Tawwazī how his master Abū ‘Ubaydah would interpret “Jumanah and Rayyā”, al-Tawwazī replied, “The names of two women,” ‘Umārah laughed saying, ‘These two, by Allāh, are two sandy places to the right and left of my house!' When al-Tawwazi asked al-Mubarrad to write this explanation down, he refused out of respect for Abū ‘Ubaydah. Al-Tawwazī insisted that if he were present, Abū ‘Ubaydah, would accept Umārah’s interpretation, as it was about his own house.’

Works

Explanation of the Names of Allah the Almighty;
The copyists Ismā’īl ibn Aḥmad Ibn al-Zajjājī and Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad al-Shāshī were probably al-Mubarrad’s amanuenses.
Other contemporary grammarians wrote commentaries of lesser value on The Book of Sībawayh.
Among this group were:
Abū Dhakwān al-Qāsim ibn Ismā’īl, who wrote “The Meaning of Poetry”;
Abū Dhakwān’s stepson Al-Tawwazī.
‘Ubayd ibn Dhakwān Abū ‘Ali, among whose books there were Contraries, Reply of the Silencer, Oaths of the Arabians,
Abū Ya‘lā ibn Abī Zur‘ah, a friend of al-Māzinī, who wrote A Compendium of Grammar
Al-Mubarrad‘s leading pupil al-Zajjāj became an associate of al-Qāsim, the vizier of the ‘Abbāsid caliph al-Mu‘taḍid, and tutor to the caliph’s children. When al-Mu’taḍid was recommended the book Compendium of Speech by Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Abi ‘Abbād, which was composed in the form of tables, the caliph ordered his vizier, al-Qāsim, to commission an expositionary commentary. Al-Qāsim sent first to Tha‘lab, who declined -offering instead to work on Kitāb al-‘Ayn of al-Khalīl- and then to al-Mubarrad, who in turn declined on grounds of age. Al-Mubarrad recommended his younger colleague al-Zajjāj for such a laborious task.
Al-Mubarrad had a close friendship with Ibn al-Sarrāj, one of his brightest and sharpest pupils. When al-Mubarrad died al-Sarrāj became a pupil of al-Zajjāj.. Al Mubarrad taught Abū Muḥammad ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Durustūyah. and Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn ‘lsā al-Rummānī, wrote a commentary on the “Introduction" of al-Mubarrad.. Ibn al-Ḥā’ik Hārūn, from al-Ḥīrah, a grammarian of al-Kūfah, debated with al-Mubarrad. A conversation between al-Mubarrad and Ibn al-Ḥā’ik is related by al-Nadīm were al-Mubarrad says to Ibn al-Ḥā’ik, “I notice that you are full of understanding, but at the same time free from pride." Ibn al-Ḥā’ik replied, “Oh, Abū al-‘Abbas, it is because of you that Allāh has provided our bread and livelihood.” Then al-Mubarrad said, “In spite of receiving your bread and livelihood, you would be proud if you had a proud nature."

Al-Nadīm also relates a tradition from Abū ‘Ubayd Allāh that Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad had related that Abū al-‘Abbas Muhammad ibn Yazid the grammarian had said:
“I never saw anyone more avaricious for learning than al-Jāḥiẓ, al-Fatḥ ibn Khāqān, and Ismā’īl ibn Isḥaq al-Qāḍī . Whatever book came into the hands of al-Jāḥīẓ, he read it from cover to cover, while al-Fatḥ carried a book in his slipper and if he left the presence of Caliph al-Mutawakkil to relieve himself or to pray, he read the book as he walked and returned to his seat. As for Ismā’īl ibn Isḥaq, whenever I went in to him there was in his hand a book which he was reading, or else he was turning over some books so as to choose one of them to read.