Abu Musa al-Jazuli explained

Abu Musa al-Jazuli
Birth Date:1146 AD (540 AH)
Birth Place:Sous region, Morocco
Death Date:1211 AD (607 AH)
Death Place:Azemmour, Morocco
Major Works:Al-Qānūn, also known as Al-Muqaddima al-Jazūlīyya
Influences:Ibn Barrī, al-Bukhārī

Abu Musa al-Jazuli (; full name: Īsā ibn ‘Abd al-Azīz ibn Yalalbakht ibn Īsā ibn Yūmārīlī al-Barbarī al-Marākeshī al-Yazadaktnī al-‘Alāmah;), was a Moroccan philologist and grammarian, who produced an encyclopaedia called Al-Qānūn, or Al-Muqaddima of al-Jazūlī. Many scholars wrote tafsir (literary critiques) or sharḥ (commentaries), and it was incorporated in many grammars. Nevertheless, its opacity challenged the best language scholars. Al-Jazūlī was the first to introduce Al-Ṣiḥāḥ fī al-lughah (Arabic: الصحاح تاج اللغة وصحاح العربية) of al-Jawhari to the Maghreb, and he makes many references to this and other works in his Muqaddima.

Life

Al-Jazuli was probably born in 540 AH (1146 AD) at Idaw gharda. He was from the Yazdaktan tribe, a branch of the Berber tribe Jazula in the Sous region of Morocco. His early education was in the cosmopolitan Moroccan city of Marrakesh, the Almohad capital filled with scholars, writers and grammarians, fine buildings, fountains and public amenities.

After his early education in Marrakesh, Al-Jazuli went to make the pilgrimage to Mecca and medina. Returning from the hajj, he stayed in Cairo and Alexandria. Although he experienced poverty there he attended lectures under Abū Muḥammad ‘Abd Allāh ibn Barrī on Assihah of al-Jawhari and al-Jumal of al-Zajjaji. He also studied the Ṣaḥīḥ of al-Bukhari with Abū Muḥammad ibn ‘Ubayd Allāh. Financial hardship forced his return to the Maghreb. At Béjaïa, he lectured on philology for a time, then moved on to Algiers and taught his Qānūn to the grammarian Abū ibn Qāsim ibn Mandās al-Āshīrī. He then travelled to Almería, in Al-Andalus (present-day Spain), to teach for a period. Then he returned to Morocco and settled down in Marrakesh, where he started teaching Arabic. As his Qānūn became famous and his reputation grew, so students from far and wide came to hear him lecture. When the mosque where he taught became full to capacity he moved to the Mosque of Ibn al-Abakm, north of Mahallat al-Sharqiyyin, under the passage of the Great Bab Aghmat to the side of Al Awadin. The ascetic Abū 'l-‘Abbās al-Maghribī, made representations to the Almohad Caliph, al-Mansur, who entrusted al-Jazūlī with the khuṭba at the great mosque at Marrakesh. Before his death, al-Mansur declared in his will that the only one who will wash his body is al-Jazuli. Ibn Khallikan quotes a satirical verse that al-Jazuli is said to have quipped to a pestering student about the eighth-century grammarian of the Basra school, Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala', wherein he puns a famous grammatical example of declension.

Al-Jazūlī died at Azemmour, Morocco AH (AD).

His Professors

who lectured on Al-Jumal by al-Zajjājī, Al-Kitāb by Sībawayh and Al-Uṣūl by Ibn al-Sarraj. Material from these studies were incorporated into Al-Qānūn. Such was his dire financial state while in Alméria, he had to sell his own autograph copy of Al-Uṣūl.

His Disciples

Works

Bibliography

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