Al-Asmaʿi

Template:Short description Template:Infobox scholar

Al-Asmaʿi ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Qurayb al-Aṣmaʿī ; Template:Refn Template:Circa–828/833), or Asmai was an Arab philologist and one of three leading Arabic grammarians of the Basra school.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn At the court of the Abbasid caliph, Hārūn al-Rashīd, as polymath and prolific author on philology, poetry, genealogy, and natural science, he pioneered zoology studies Template:Sfn in animal-human anatomical science. He compiled an important poetry anthology, the Asma'iyyat, and was credited with composing an epic on the life of Antarah ibn Shaddad.Template:Citation needed A protégé of Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi and Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala', he was a contemporary and rival of Abū ʿUbaidah and Sibawayhi also of the Basran school.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Ibn Isḥaq al-Nadīm's c.10th biography of al-Aṣma’ī follows the “isnad” narrative or ‘chain-of-transmission’ tradition. Al-Nadīm reports Abū ‘Abd Allāh ibn Muqlah's written report Template:Refn of Tha’lab's report,Template:Sfn giving Al-Aṣma’ī‘s full name as ’’‘Abd al-Malik ibn Qurayb ibn ‘Abd al-Malik ibn ‘Ali ibn Aṣma’ī ibn Muẓahhir ibn ‘Amr ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Bāhilī.’’’

The c.13th biographer Ibn Khallikān calls al-Aṣmaʿī “a complete master of the Arabic language,” and “the most eminent of all transmitters of the oral history and rare expressions of the language.”.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn His account includes collected anecdotes of numerous adventures.

BiographyEdit

His father was Qurayb Abū Bakr from ‘Āṣim and his son was Sa’īd. He belonged to the family of the poet Abū ‘Uyaynah al-Muhallabī.Template:Refn Template:Sfn Al-Aṣma’ī was descended from Adnān Template:Sfn and the tribe of Bahila.Template:Sfn Growing up studying in Basra, he spent all of his wealth on seeking knowledge. A greengrocer at the end of his alley would chide him to just get a job and give up his books, so he set out very early and returned late to avoid him.<ref name="halaqa1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Later, the governor of Basra brought him to the notice of the caliph, Harun al-Rashid, who made him tutor to his sons, Al-Amin and Al-Ma'mun.Template:Sfn It was said Al-Rashid was an insomniac, and that he once held an all-night discussion with al-Asmaʿi on pre-Islamic and early Arabic poetry.Template:Sfn Al-Aṣma’ī was popular with the influential Barmakid viziers Template:Sfn and acquired wealth as a property owner in Basra.Template:Sfn Some of his protégés attained high rank as literary men.Template:Sfn Among his students was the noted musician Ishaq al-Mawsili.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> After finishing the education of al-Rashid's children, he asked the caliph to order the people of Basra to all greet him on his return and honor him after that. For three days the city greeted him until he met the greengrocer again and hired him as a wakeel.<ref name="halaqa1"/>

His ambitious aim to catalogue the complete Arabic language in its purest form, led to a period he spent roaming with desert Bedouin tribes, observing and recording their speech patterns.Template:Sfn

Rivalry between Al-Aṣma’ī and Abū ‘UbaidaEdit

His great critic Abū ʿUbaida was a member of the Shu'ubiyya movement, a chiefly Persian cultural movement. Al-Aṣma’ī, as an Arab nationalist and champion of the Arabic language, rejected foreign linguistic and literary influences.

Al-Nadīm cites a report of Abū ‘Ubaida that al-Aṣma’ī claimed his father travelled on a horse of Salm ibn Qutaybah.Template:Refn Abū ‘Ubaida had exclaimed,

“Praise be to Allāh and thanks to Allāh, for Allāh is greater [than His creatures]. One boasting of what he does not own is like a person wearing a false robe and, by Allāh the father of al-Aṣma’ī never owned any animal other than the one inside of his robe!"

Ubaida’s reference here to al-Asma’ī’s father seems to relate to the story given by Khallikān about al-Asma’ī’s grandfather, Alī ibn Asmā, who had lost his fingers in punishment for theft.Template:Sfn

A corollary to 'Ubaida’s anecdote is related by Khallikān, that once al-Faḍl Ibn Rabī, the vizier to caliph al-Rashid, had brought forth his horse and asked both Al-Aṣma’ī and Abū 'Ubaida (who had written extensively on the horse) to identify each part of its anatomy. Abū 'Ubaida excused himself from the challenge, saying that he was an expert on Bedouin culture not a farrier; When al-Aṣma’ī then grabbed the horse by the mane, named each part of its body while, at the same time, reciting the Bedouin verses that authenticated each term as proper to the Arabic lexicon, Al-Faḍl had rewarded him the horse. Whenever after this, Aṣma’ī visited Ubaida he rode his horse. Template:Sfn Al-Aṣma’ī, was a perennial bachelor and when Yahya, a Barmakid vizier of the caliph, presented him with the gift of a slave girl, the girl was so repulsed by Al-Aṣma’ī's appearance, Yahya bought her back.Template:Sfn

Shaykh Abū Sa’īd reported that Abū al-‘Abbas al-Mubarrad had said al-Aṣma’ī and Abū ‘Ubaida were equal in poetry and rhetoric, but where Abū ‘Ubaida excelled in genealogy, al-Aṣma’ī excelled in grammar – “al-Aṣma’ī, [like] a nightingale [would] charm them with his melodies”Template:Sfn

Al-Aṣma’ī died, aged 88 yearsTemplate:Sfn in BaṣraTemplate:Refn, ca. 213/828 - 217/832,Template:Sfn in the company of the blind poet and satirist Abū al-‘Aynā'.Template:Refn His funeral prayers were said by his nephew and poet ‘Abd al-Raḥmān:Template:Refn "To Allāh we belong and to Him we return."Template:Refn Template:Sfn

WorksTemplate:RefnEdit

Al-Aṣma’ī's magnum opus Asma'iyyat, is a unique primary source of early Arabic poetry and was collected and republished in the modern era, by the German orientalist Wilhelm Ahlwardt.Template:Sfn Al-Sayyid Muʻaẓẓam Ḥusain's English translation of selected poems taken from both the Aṣma’īyyat and Mufaddaliyyat- the larger important source of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry- is available online.Template:Sfn Most other existing collections were compiled by al-Aṣma’ī's students based on the principles he taught.Template:Sfn

One of Al-Aṣma’ī's most famous works is the 9th century poem Sawt Safir al-Bulbul (صوت صفير البلبل), made to challenge the Abbasid caliph. However, historians still argue about whether he was the poet or not.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Of al-Aṣma’ī's prose works listed in the Fihrist about half a dozen are extant. These include the Book of Distinction, the Book of the Wild Animals, the Book of the Horse, and the Book of the Sheep, and Fuḥūlat al-Shu‘arā a pioneering work of Arabic literary criticism.Template:Sfn

Disposition of Man or Humanity ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) - Kitab Khalaq al-Insan
Categories ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Al-Anwā’ ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) – “Influence of the stars on the weather”Template:Sfn
Marking with the Hamzah) ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Short and Long ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Distinction, or of Rare Animals ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) - Kitab al-Farq
Eternal Attributes [of God] ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
GatesTemplate:Refn ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) or Merit ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Al-Maysir and al-QidāḥTemplate:Refn ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Disposition of the Horse ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Horses ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) - Kitāb al-Khail
The Camel ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) - Kitāb al-Ibil
Sheep ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) - Kitāb al-Shā
Tents and Houses ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Wild Beasts ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) - Kitab al-Wuhush
Times ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Fa‘ala wa-Af‘ala [gram.]) ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Proverbs ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Antonyms ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Pronunciations/Dialects ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Weapons ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Languages/Vernaculars ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Etymology ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Rare Words ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Origins of Words ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Change and Substitution [gram.] ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
The Arabian Peninsula ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
The Utterance/Pail) ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Migration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
The Meaning of Poetry ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Infinitive/Verbal Noun ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
The Six Poems Template:Refn ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Rajaz Poems ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Date Palm/Creed ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Plants and Trees ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})Template:Refn
The Land Tax ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Synonyms ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
The Strange in the Ḥadīth Template:Refn ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
The Saddle, Bridle, Halter and Horse ShoeTemplate:Refn ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
The Strange in the Ḥadīth-Uncultured Words ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Rare Forms of the Arabians/Inflections/Declensions ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Waters of the Arabs ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Genealogy Template:Refn ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Vocal Sounds Template:Refn ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Masculine and Feminine ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
The Seasons {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}Template:Refn

Contribution to Early Arabic LiteratureEdit

Al-Aṣma’ī was among a group of scholars who edited and recited the Pre-lslāmic and Islāmic poets of the Arab tribes up to the era of the Banū al-‘Abbās Template:Refn Template:Sfn

He memorised thousands of verses of rajaz poetryTemplate:Sfn and edited a substantial portion of the canon of Arab poets, but produced little poetry of his own.Template:Sfn He met criticism for neglecting the ‘rare forms’ (nawādir - {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) and lack of care in his abridgments.Template:Refn

List of Edited PoetsTemplate:RefnEdit

Al-Nābighah al-Dhubyānī Template:Refn (whom he also abridged)
Al-Ḥuṭay’ah Template:Refn
Al-Nābighah al-Ja‘dī Template:Refn
Labīd ibn Rabī‘ah al-‘ĀmirīTemplate:Refn
Tamīm ibn Ubayy ibn MuqbilTemplate:Refn
Durayd ibn al-ṢimmahTemplate:Refn
Muhalhil ibn Rabī‘ahTemplate:Refn
Al-A‘shā al-Kabīr, Maymūn ibn Qays, Abū BaṣīrTemplate:Refn:Template:Refn
A‘shā Bāhilah ‘Amir ibn al-ḤārithTemplate:Refn
Mutammim ibn NuwayrahTemplate:Refn Template:Refn
Bishr ibn Abī KhāzimTemplate:Refn Template:Refn
Al-Zibraqān ibn Badr al-TamīmīTemplate:Refn Template:Refn
Al-Mutalammis Jarīr ibn ‘Abd al-MasīḥTemplate:Refn
Ḥumayd ibn Thawr al-RājizTemplate:Refn Template:Refn
Ḥumayd al-ArqaṭTemplate:Refn
Suhaym ibn Wathīl al-RiyāḥīTemplate:Refn
Urwah ibn al-Ward Template:Refn
‘Amr ibn Sha’sTemplate:Refn Template:Refn
Al-Namir ibn TawlabTemplate:Refn Template:Refn
Ubayd Allāh ibn Qays al-Ruqayyāt Template:Refn Template:Sfn
Muḍarras ibn Rib‘īTemplate:Refn
Abū Ḥayyah al-NumayrīTemplate:Refn Template:Refn

Al-Kumayt ibn Ma‘rūf Template:Refn Template:Sfn
Al-‘Ajjāj al-Rājaz, Abū Shāthā’ ‘Abd Allāh ibn Ru’bah.Template:Refn. For his son, see Ru’bah.Template:Sfn
Ru’bah ibn al-‘Ajjāj, called Abū Muḥammad Ru’bah ibn ‘Abd Allāh Template:Refn, was a contemporary of al-Aṣma’ī whose poetry al-Aṣma’ī recited.
Jarīr ibn ‘AṭīyahTemplate:Refn al-Aṣma’ī was among group of editors who included Abū ‘Amr [al-Shaybānī], and Ibn al-Sikkīt.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn