as well as Abū ʿUmar al-Jarmī (1), Abū ʿUmar al-Ḥawḍī (2), and the emir Abū Dulaf al-ʿIjlī al-Tamīmī, famed for his liberality (3). Another to pass away was Saʿīd ibn Masʿadah (4), Abū al-Ḥasan al-Akhfash al-Awsat. Originally from Balkh and later of Basra, he was a distinguished grammarian who studied under Sibawayh and wrote many works, among them a book on the Meanings of the Qur’an, the grammatical treatise al-Awsat (“The Middle Book”), and other writings. In prosody he produced a work in which he added the khabab metre to the metres codified by al-Khalīl (5).
He was called “al-Akhfash” because of his small eyes and weak eyesight, and he was also described as ajlaʿ—one who cannot bring his lips together over his teeth (6). At first he was known as “al-Akhfash al-Ṣaghīr” (the Younger) in contrast to al-Akhfash al-Kabīr, Abū al-Khaṭṭāb ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn ʿAbd al-Majīd al-Hajarī, the teacher of Sibawayh and Abū ʿUbaydah. When ʿAlī ibn Sulaymān later appeared and was likewise nicknamed al-Akhfash, Saʿīd ibn Masʿadah became “the Middle,” al-Hajarī “the Elder,” and ʿAlī ibn Sulaymān “the Younger.”
He died in the present year, though some report his death as having occurred in 221 AH (7).
Al-Jarfī the grammarian (8) is Ṣāliḥ ibn Isḥāq al-Baṣrī. He came to Baghdad and engaged in debate there with al-Farrāʾ (9). He had learned grammar from Abū ʿUbaydah, Abū Zayd, and al-Aṣmaʿī (10), and he authored several books, among them al-Farakh (“The Offshoot”).
(1) Salih ibn Ishaq al-Jarmi al-Basri, grammarian; imam of al-Rabiya; author of numerous works; scholar of grammar and Arabic language; originally from Basra, later residing in Baghdad. Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubala, vol. 10, p. 561; Bughyat al-Wuʿāhha, vol. 2, p. 8.
(2) The phrase in parentheses is an addition found only in the Dhakh [manuscript]. He is Hafs ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Harith ibn Sakhbira, Abū ʿUmar al-Azdi, known as al-Hawdi; an imam, hafiz (hadith master), meticulous, trustworthy; a Bedouin of eloquence. Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubala, vol. 10, p. 354.
(3) The wording in parentheses does not appear in Dhakh or B, and the author will include his biography in the annals for the year 226 AH.
(4) al-Maʾārif, p. 545; Akhbār al-Naḥwiyyīn al-Baṣriyyīn, p. 50; al-Fihrist, p. 58; Muʿjam al-Adabāʾ, vol. 11, p. 224; Wafayāt al-Aʿyān, vol. 2, p. 380; Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubala, vol. 10, p. 206; Bughyat al-Wuʿāhha, vol. 1, p. 590; Shadhārāt al-Dhahab, vol. 2, p. 36; etc.
(5) Khalil ibn Aḥmad al-Farāhīdī originally set the number of poetic meters (buḥūr) at fifteen; with the addition of the khabba meter they became sixteen.
(6) In B and Dhakh: la tandamm shafatayh (“the lips do not meet”).
(7) Wafayāt al-Aʿyān, vol. 2, p. 381.
(8) Ṭabaqāt al-Zubaydī, p. 46; Akhbār al-Baṣriyyīn, p. 72; Tārīkh Baghdad, vol. 9, p. 313; Muʿjam al-Adabāʾ, vol. 12, p. 5; Wafayāt al-Aʿyān, vol. 2, p. 485; Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubala, vol. 1, p. 561; Ṭabaqāt al-Qurrāʾ, vol. 1, p. 332; Bughyat al-Wuʿāhha, vol. 2, p. 8; Shadhārāt al-Dhahab, vol. 2, p. 57.
(9) Muʿjam al-Adabāʾ, vol. 12, p. 6; Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubala, vol. 10, p. 563.
(10) Muʿjam al-Adabāʾ, vol. 12, p. 5; it notes that he acquired the language from these scholars, and from Yūnus ibn Ḥabīb al-Rabiya, and from Abū al-Ḥasan Saʿīd ibn Masʿada al-Akhfash, and studied the Kitāb of Sibawayh with him. Wafayāt al-Aʿyān, vol. 2, p. 485.