Abu Jafar al-Ruayni al-Andalusi
- Died
- 779 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu Ja'far al-Ru'ayni (c. 700–779 AH / 1301–1378 CE) was an Andalusian grammarian, Maliki jurist, and philologist who settled in Syria . He is known for his linguistic scholarship and his treatise on Quranic variants, Tuhfat al-aqran fi ma quri'a bi-l-tathlith min huruf al-Qur'an .
Lineage and early life
He was Shihab al-Din Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Yusuf ibn Malik ibn Isma'il ibn Ahmad al-Ru'ayni, hailing from Granada and associated also with Illora (al-Ilbiri) . He was born around 700 AH (1301 CE), with reports placing his birth in 708 or 709 AH . In al-Andalus, he studied the seven Quranic readings under Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Qijati, Arabic grammar under Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ali al-Khawlani, and Maliki jurisprudence under al-Khawlani, Abu Abd Allah al-Bayyani, and the chief judge Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Bakr, from whom he also heard hadith .
Travels and companionship
In early Muharram 738 AH, al-Ru'ayni departed al-Andalus for the East alongside his close companion, the blind Andalusian poet and scholar Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Jabir al-Hawwari . The two formed a lifelong partnership in study, writing, and livelihood—where al-Ru'ayni transcribed what Ibn Jabir composed—earning them the enduring epithet "the Blind and the Sighted" (al-A'ma wa-l-Basir) .
They performed the pilgrimage to Mecca and visited Cairo, where al-Ru'ayni met and studied with Abu Hayyan al-Andalusi . Arriving in Syria after the pilgrimage around 741 AH, they stayed at Dar al-Hadith al-Ashrafiyya in Damascus, where al-Ru'ayni heard hadith from Yusuf ibn al-Zaki al-Mizzi, Ahmad ibn Ali al-Jazari, and Ibn Abd al-Hadi . Al-Ru'ayni subsequently moved to northern Syria, residing in Aleppo and settling in al-Birah for approximately thirty years . Among those who transmitted from him or received his teaching were Abu al-Ma'ali Ibn 'Asha'ir and Abu Hamid Ibn Zahirah .
Scholarly standing
Al-Ru'ayni was regarded by his contemporaries as an authority in Arabic grammar, morphology, prosody, and rhetoric . The Andalusian statesman and historian Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib described him as devout, humble, well-mannered, and uniquely proficient in the Arabic language . Biographers praised his command of both verse and prose, his engaging conversation, and his extensive devotional practice . In morphology and lexicology, he authored Iqtitaf al-azahir wa-iltiqat al-jawahir, which investigates variable vowel vocalizations in triliteral verbs . He also wrote Tiraz al-hullah, an extensive rhetorical commentary on Ibn Jabir's eulogistic poem .
Death
Al-Ru'ayni died in the middle of Ramadan 779 AH (January 1378 CE) in the region of Aleppo; another transmission places his death in Dhu al-Hijjah of that year . He predeceased his lifelong companion Ibn Jabir, who composed an elegy mourning him .
Answer updated
List of Works
This specialized treatise on Arabic morphology and lexicology examines triliteral verbs of the pattern fa‘ala that take variable vowel patterns in the imperfect tense. Arranged alphabetically, it gathers verbs whose imperfect forms are vocalized with both a dammah (yaf‘ulu) and a kasrah (yaf‘ilu), addressing cases where the alternate vocalizations share identical meanings as well as instances where their meanings differ.
Composed in Aleppo, this specialized treatise on Quranic variants focuses on Quranic terms that can be recited with all three short vowels: fathah, dammah, and kasrah. It examines canonical and non-canonical readings featuring threefold vocalization, analyzing eighty-eight distinct triplet words and expressions to clarify grammatical inflection, morphological structure, and obscure linguistic nuances.