He produced an extensive commentary on al-Idāḥ (1), filling thirty volumes; a large treatise entitled Iʿjāz al-Qurʾān (2); an abridged commentary on al-Idāḥ in three tomes; the book al-ʿAwāmil al-Miʾah (3); al-Miftāḥ; a single-volume exegesis of Sūrat al-Fātiḥah; al-ʿUmad (4) fī l-Taṣrīf; al-Jumal; and other works besides (5).
He followed the Shāfiʿī school, was a learned Ashʿarī, and a man of devotion and piety.
Al-Silafī said: “He was scrupulous and content with little. A thief once entered his house and carried off whatever he found while the shaykh watched—he was engaged in prayer and did not break it off.” (6)
He was a prodigy in the science of grammar.
He died in 471 AH; some said in 474 AH.
220 – Ibn Zīrak, Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Aḥmad al-Qumisānī*
The erudite scholar, the shaykh of Hamadhān, Abū al-Faḍl Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān ibn
(1) The work in question is al-Idah fi al-nahw (The Elucidation of Grammar) by Abu Ali al-Farisi (d. 377/987). Hajji Khalifa notes that numerous grammarians devoted themselves to it, writing commentaries and marginal notes. Foremost among them was the distinguished scholar Abd al-Qahir ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Jurjani (d. 471/1078), who first produced an expansive commentary of some thirty volumes entitled al-Mughni, then condensed it into a single volume called al-Muqtasid. He also prepared a brief epitome of al-Idah known as al-Ijaz.
(2) The book has been printed in Egypt.
(3) As a grammatical text, it was first printed at Leiden in 1617 CE, then at Calcutta in 1803 CE, and subsequently at Bulaq in 1247 AH/1831-32 CE.
(4) Kashf al-zunun, Fawat al-wafayat, and al-Subki’s Tabaqat refer to it under the title al-Umda.
(5) Among al-Jurjani’s celebrated major works are Asrar al-balagha (The Secrets of Rhetoric) in the science of bayan, and Dalail al-ijaz (Proofs of the Quran’s Inimitability) in the science of maani; both have been published.
(6) See al-Subki, Tabaqat, 5/149; al-Isnawi, Tabaqat, 2/492.
(*) Additional biographical notices: Mu jam al-buldan 4/414; al-Ibar 3/277; Tadhkirat al-huffaz 3/1177; al-Wafi bi-l-wafayat 4/84; Shadharat al-dhahab 3/341.