268 – al-Mujashiʿi, Abū al-Hasan ʿAlī b. Faḍāl b. ʿAlī *
The eminent grammarian, Abū al-Hasan ʿAlī b. Faḍāl b. ʿAlī b. Ghālib al-Mujashiʿī, al-Qayrawānī, al-Tamīmī, surnamed al-Farazdaqī, and renowned as a Qur’an exegete.
He travelled far and wide, formed a connection with Niẓām al-Mulk, and authored “al-Iksīr fī al-Tafsīr” (The Elixir on Qur’anic Exegesis) in thirty-five volumes, a work on grammar in several volumes, and “al-Burhān fī al-Tafsīr” (The Proof in Exegesis) in twenty volumes.
Imām al-Ḥaramayn had pledged him one thousand dinars for al-Iksīr, so he composed it; but after completing its recitation to the Imām, he received nothing. He threatened to lampoon him, whereupon the Imām sent word: “My honor is your ransom.” (1)
While in Ghazna he wrote a number of books named after distinguished dignitaries and taught the literary sciences for a time.
He also composed fine poetry (2).
Among his other writings are “The Basmalah and Its Commentary,” in a single volume, and the book al-Duwal.
(*) Al-Muntazam 9/33; Muʿjam al-Udabaʾ 14/90-98 and its introduction 1/48; Al-Kamil 10/159; Inbaʾ al-Ruwat 2/229-301; Al-ʿIbar 3/295; Talkhis Ibn Maktum 146-148; Al-Wafi (MS) 12/135-136; Mirʾat al-Jinan 3/132; Al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya 12/132; Tabaqat Ibn Qadi Shuhba 2/177-178; Lisan al-Mizan 4/249; Al-Nujum al-Zahira 5/124; Isharat al-Taʿyin, fols. 34-35; Bughyat al-Wuʿat 2/183; Tabaqat al-Mufassirin by al-Suyuti, 24-25; Tabaqat al-Mufassirin by al-Dawudi 1/421-422; Kashf al-Zunun 1027, 1179; Shadharat al-Dhahab 3/363; Rawdat al-Jannat, 485; Idah al-Maknun 1/85, 115, 116, 178; Hadiyat al-ʿArifin 1/693.
Al-Mujashiʿi: pronounced with a damma on the m, a fatha on the j, a silent alif, a kasra on the sh (with dot), and a plain ʿayn; this nisba goes back to Mujashiʿ b. Darim b. Malik b. Hanzala b. Malik b. Zayd Manat of Tamim.
It is misspelled as “al-Mushajiʿi” in Al-Bidaya.
(1) For the episode, see Muʿjam al-Udabaʾ 14/97 and Inbaʾ al-Ruwat 2/300-301. Yaqut adds: “Not a single grain was given to him.” He continues: “Immediately afterwards he arrived in Baghdad, settled there, never lectured on grammar again, and composed his history book.”
(2) Samples of his poetry are in Muʿjam al-Udabaʾ 14/93-96, among them:
“I deemed my brothers coats of mail; they proved to be so—yet only for the foe.”