Ibn Faris (, , died Ray, Iran 395/1004) was a Persian linguist, scribe, scholar, philologist and lexicographer, سير أعلام النبلاء الطبقة الثانية والعشرون ابن فارس المكتبة الإسلامية. وصل لهذا المسار في 14 ديسمبر 2016 As well as bearing the epithet al-Rāzī ('meaning 'from Ray'), ibn Fāris was also known variously by the epithets al-Shāfiʿī, al-Mālikī, al-lughawī ('the linguist'), al-naḥwī ('the grammarian'), al-Qazwīnī ('from Qazvin') and (possibly inaccurately) al-Zahrāwī ('from al-Zahrāʾ').H. Fleisch, 'Ibn Fāris', in Encyclopædia of Islam, ed. by P. J. Bearman and others, 2nd edn, 12 vols (Leiden: Brill, 1960–2005), . He is noted for compiling two of the early dictionaries to organise words alphabetically rather than according to the word's rhyming pattern. He was primarily associated with Ray.Хрестоматия по исламу / Сост. и отв. ред. С. М. Прозоров. — М. : Наука, «Восточная литература», 1994. Initially, he was an adherent of the Shafi'i madhhab, but later switched to the Maliki.
Life Although some sources ascribe precise dates and places of birth to ibn Faris, including 329 AH/941 CE in Kursuf, in the district of al-Zahrāʾ, modern scholars conclude that this cannot be known. His father was Fāris ibn Zakariyyāʾ, who was perhaps a faqīh and who certainly gave ibn Fāris some of his education, passing on to him ibn al-Sikkīt's Kitāb al-Manṭiq.
Ibn Fāris studied in Qazvin, where his teachers included ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm al-Qaṭṭān (d. 345/956). He also studied in Zanjān (making the acquaintance of Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn al-Khaṭīb), Baghdad, and, while undertaking hajj, in Mecca.
Little is known about his family's origins or social status. According to his own account, his father was an educated man.Brockelmann, C., History of the Arabic Written Tradition Supplement, Volume 1, Brill, 2017, p. 194; Fleisch, H., “Ibn Fāris”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed, P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs (eds) http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3162 ; Scholars have pointed to inconsistencies in Faris’ account, as written in one of his poems (Yâkūt, Mu'cemü'l-Üdebâ, IV, 93), on the basis that if the family lived in a tiny village, they would have been peasants, but elsewhere Faris’ claims that his father was an educated man (his Muḳaddima, i, 5).
He was probably raised in Hamadan.Brockelmann, C., History of the Arabic Written Tradition Supplement, Volume 1, Brill, 2017, p. 194 where he achieved great fame as a scholar and writer. In Hamadan, he took on many students, one of whom was Al-Hamadhani, who became the celebrated poet and originator of the Maqamat.Meisami, J.S. and Starkey, P. (eds), Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, Volume 1, Taylor & Francis, 1998, p, 123: Hämeen-Anttila, J., Maqama: A History of a Genre, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2002, p. 21 He was educated at Qazvin, Hamadan and BaghdadFleisch, H., “Ibn Fāris”, in: Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs (eds). Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., First published online: 2012 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3162>
Based in Hamadan and attached to ibn al-ʿAmīd, ibn Fāris became well known for his scholarship, teaching al-Ṣāḥib ibn ʿAbbād (to whom he gave the Kitāb al-Ḥajar) and Badīʿ al-Zamān al-Hamadhānī, though he came to have a bad relationship with each. Nevertheless, he was chosen to be to be tutor to Majd al-Dawla, son of Fakhr al-Dawla in Ray, and dedicated to his employer his book al-Ṣāḥibī.
He relocated to Rayy (now part of Tehran), possibly to take up a position as a tutor to, Majd al-Dawla, the son of the Buyid, Fakhr al-Dawla.Haywood, J.A., Arabic Lexicography: Its History, and its Place in the General History of Lexicography, Brill, 1965, p. 99; Meisami, J.S. and Starkey, P. (eds), Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, Volume 1, Taylor & Francis, 1998, p, 123; Fleisch, H., “Ibn Fāris”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed, P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs (eds)<http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3162> https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/ibn-faris-SIM_3162?lang=enl> At that time, Rayy was a centre of literature, enabling ibn Faris to mix with scholars and men of letters. There ibn Faris, gained favour of the Vizier, Ibn al-Amid, who was a patron of the learning and learned men.Hämeen-Anttila, J., Maqama: A History of a Genre, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2002, pp 20-21; Kraemer. J.L., Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam: The Cultural Revival During the Buyid Age, Brill, 1992, p. 261
Said to have been kind and humble and an emotive poet, Ibn Fāris is generally accepted to have died in 395/1004, in Ray.
Ibn Fāris specialised in lexicography, but also studied poetry, grammar, Koranic exegesis (tafsīr) and jurisprudence (fiḳh). In the assessment of H. Fleisch, 'Ibn Fāris had an unbiased mind. It is remarkable that in the 4th/10th century, an age dominated grammatically by Sībawayhi and the Baṣrans, he should have returned to the freedom of thought of the Kūfans and should once again have introduced grammatical discussion in his K[itāb] Kifāyat al-mutaʿallimīn fi’k̲h̲tilāf al-naḥwiyyīn'.
Ibn Fāris died in Rayy in 395/1004 (the generally accepted date).According to Brockelmann, C., History of the Arabic Written Tradition Supplement, Volume 1, Brill, 2017, 389n; scholars quote various dates of death; 360,369,390 and 395, however his signature appears on a document dated 391 which suggests a later date. Most scholars indicate his date of death falling between 391/1000 and 395/1004.
Works During his lifetime, Ibn Fāris produced many original works on a wide range of subjects: lexicography, grammar, poetry, literature, hadith (the words of the Prophet), the history of the Arabic language, ethics and jurispridence. He is best known for his dictionaries, Mujmal fi al-Lugha [Summary of the Language] and Maqāyīs al-Lugha [Analogical Templates of Language].Mestyan, A., Arabic Lexicography and European Aesthetics: The Origin of Fann, Muqarnas, Vol. 28, 2011, p.71, https://www.jstor.org/stable/23350284; Meisami, J.S. and Starkey, P. (eds), Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, Volume 1; p. 123; Mustafa Shah and مصطفى شاه,“The Philological Endeavours of the Early Arabic Linguists: Theological Implications of the tawqīf-iṣṭilāḥ Antithesis and the majāz Controversy — Part “ I / , Journal of Qur'anic Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, 999, pp. 27-46; Hämeen-Anttila, J., Maqama: A History of a Genre, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2002, pp 16-21 He was the first scholar to use the method of isytiqq in which he considers the derivation of words and word roots and shows great ingenuity in tracing the origin of Arabic words.Haywood, J.A., Arabic Lexicography: Its History, and Its Place in the General History of Lexicography, Brill Archive, 1960, p. 102 He is generally credited with being the first scholar to organise words in alphabetical order, rather than according to rhyming patterns, as was customary practice at the time.Haywood, J.A., Arabic Lexicography: Its History, and Its Place in the General History of Lexicography, Brill, 1960, p. 53, p. 68 and pp 98-99; Islamic Studies, Volume 31, Nos, 1-2, 1992, p. 157
He has been described as "one of the most original philologists of his time",Hämeen-Anttila, J., Maqama: A History of a Genre, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2002, p. 21 and "the brightest representative of the philological school".Zarytovskaya, V. N. and Bazanova, E. A., “Arabic Verbs of Conventional and Unconventional Root: Semantics and Grammar Potential” in: Proceedings of 4th International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference on Social Sciences and Arts (SGEM) 2017, 24–30 August 2017, pp 563-570, DOI: 10.5593/sgemsocial2017/32/S14.072
He wrote some forty works.Suleiman, Y., The Arabic Tradition, A Study in Ta’lil, Edinburgh University Press, 1999, p. 174n; Al-Shidyaq, A. F., Leg over Leg: Volumes One and Two, NYU Press, 2015, p. 404; Meisami, J.S. and Starkey, P., Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, Volume 1, Taylor & Francis, 1998, p. 325 He also wrote many poems, most of which are now lost or forgotten.Haywood, J.A., Arabic Lexicography: Its History, and its Place in the General History of Lexicography, Brill, 1965, p. 99 Some scholars credit al-Fāris as the originator of the maqamat genre, even before al-Hamadani.The Book of Iran: A History of Persian Literature: Schools, Periods, Styles and Literary Genres, UK, Alhoda, 2002, p. 108
He is best known for his works on lexicography, which was his favourite subject. His most important works include:
Kitāb al-mujmal fī al-lugha (). A dictionary which traced words with multiple meanings back to their original semantic meaning,Egger, N.S., “Conceptions of Trust in the Qur’an”, Journal of Qur’anic Studies, vol. 13, no. 2, 2011, p. 57 .Mestyan, A., “Arabic Lexicography and European Aesthetics: The Origin of Fann”, Muqarnas, Vol. 28, 2011, p.71, https://www.jstor.org/stable/23350284. analysing and defining classical vocabulary in a clear and concise way, with numerous poetic citations.Printed in Cairo, 1 vol. (1331 or 1332 AH/1914 CE). Words are listed by their first radical consonant, beginning with hamza. The preface says that this work supersedes ibn Fāris's Kitāb al-ʿAyn and Kitāb al-Jīm. The work was influenced by al-Khalīl and in turn influenced al-Fīrūzābādī's Qāmūs. Mu‘jam maqāyīs al-lugha (). A novel dictionary, inspired by al-Khalīl, which aimed to establish the basic meanings of word-roots, and the semantic connections between their derivatives. But ibn Fāris was committed to a belief that there was no semantic change, but a single divine plan for the form of Arabic, which made his explanations at times convoluted.Published by ʿAbd al-Salām Muḥammad Hārūn, 6 vols (Cairo 1366-71/1947-52). al-Ṣāḥibī fī fiqh al-lugha wa-sunan al-ʿarab fī kalāmihā ().Ed. Cairo 1328/1910; ed. M. Chouémi (Bibliotheca Philologica Arabica, i), Beirut 1383/1964. A novel, small-scale Muzhir, beginning to attempt a comprehensive account of Arab ideas about Arabic lexicography, grammar, and history, arguing for the superiority of the Arabic language. Dedicated to Sahib ibn Abbad and described as "a masterpiece".Hämeen-Anttila, J., Maqama: A History of a Genre, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2002, p. 21.See also Mestyan, A., “Arabic Lexicography and European Aesthetics: The Origin of Fann”', Muqarnas, Vol. 28, 2011, p.71, https://www.jstor.org/stable/23350284.See also Haywood, J.A., Arabic Lexicography: Its History, and its Place in the General History of Lexicography, Brill, 1965, p. 99. Dhamm al-khata’ fī al-shi‘r (). A polemic concerning the pretentious uses of language by certain tenth-century poets.“A Fourth Century Contribution on Poetic Licenses”, Journal of Arabic Literature, vol. 24, no. 1, 1993, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/157006493X00131.
Other works that have been attributed to ibn Fāris are:ابن فارس المكتبة الشاملة. وصل لهذا المسار في 14 ديسمبر 2016
Kitāb al-itbā‘ wa-al-muzāwaja (), a collection of words, always used in pairs, of the same pattern.Ed. by R. Brünnow, Orient. Stud. Th. Nöldeke … gewidmet, 1 (Giessen 1906), 225-48. Ikhtilāf al-naḥwiyyīn () Kitāb akhlāq al-nabī () al-Ifrād () al-Amālī () Amthilat al-asjā’ () Kitāb al-intiṣār li-tha‘lab (), perhaps identical to the Kitāb Kifāyat al-mutaʿallimīn fi’khtilāf al-naḥwiyyīn below. al-Tāj () Tafsīr asmā’ al-nabī () Tamām faṣīḥ al-kalām () Jāmi‘ al-ta’wīl () al-Ḥajr () Ḥilyat al-fuqahā’ () al-Ḥamāsa al-muḥdatha () Khalq al-insān () دارات العرب ذم الغيبة رائع الدرر ورائق الزهر في أخبار خير البشر (Kitāb Sīrat al-Nabī).Ed. as Awjaz al-siyar li-khayr al-bashar (Algiers, 1301; Bombay, 1311).