Al‐Muṭayyin said, “He died in 156 AH.”
77 – ʿĪsā ibn ʿUmar, Abū ʿUmar al-Thaqafī al-Baṣrī *
The erudite scholar and pre-eminent grammarian, Abū ʿUmar al-Thaqafī of Basra.
He narrated from al-Ḥasan, ʿAwn ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUtbah, ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Isḥāq al-Ḥaḍramī, ʿĀṣim al-Jahdarī, and others.
Those who learned from him include al-Aṣmaʿī, Shujāʿ al-Balkhī, ʿAlī ibn Naṣr al-Jahḍamī, Hārūn al-Aʿwar, Khalīl ibn Aḥmad, ʿUbayd ibn ʿUqayl, and al-ʿAbbās ibn Bakkār. His allegiance was to Banū Makhzūm, yet he settled among Thaqīf and came to be associated with them.
He was known for eloquence, but also for a certain pedantic affectation in his speech, and he was a close friend of Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ.
He obtained his Qurʾān recitation directly from ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Isḥāq and Ibn Kathīr al-Makkī.
In grammar he authored two books, al-Ikmāl and al-Jāmiʿ, and he was fond of self-aggrandisement; on one occasion he said to Abū ʿAmr, “I am more eloquent than Maʿadd ibn ʿAdnān.”
Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said, “He is a Basran and reliable.”
Al-Qifṭī (1) and Ibn Khallikān (2) dated his death to 149 AH, but I consider this mistaken, for Sībawayh sat in his company and studied under him; it is more likely that he lived beyond 160 AH.