al-Zawzani, Abu Sahl
- Died
- 445 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu Sahl al-Zawzani (d. c. 445 AH / 1053 CE) was an Arabic philologist and literary critic from Khurasan, known for his critical treatise on the poetry of al-Mutanabbi, Qashr al-Fasar.
Identity and Scholarly Contribution
His full name is given as Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Zawzani, and he bore the honorific title al-Shaykh al-Amid. His nisba indicates an origin from Zawzan, a town in Khurasan situated between Herat and Nishapur.
Al-Zawzani was part of the critical movement in the fifth Islamic century that engaged with commentaries on the poetry of al-Mutanabbi. His principal scholarly contribution is Qashr al-Fasar (or in fuller form Qashr al-Fasar an Diwan Abi al-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi), composed as a critical emendation and supplement (istidrak) targeting al-Fasar, the major commentary on al-Mutanabbi's collection by the grammarian Ibn Jinni.
Death and Biographical Variants
Al-Zawzani died around 445 AH (c. 1053 CE). In certain later bibliographical compilations, his work Qashr al-Fasar was conflated with the authorship of an earlier scholar from the same region, the Shafi'i jurist Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Zawzani (known as al-Bahhathi, d. 370 AH / 980 CE), though manuscript records and biographical notices identify Abu Sahl as the author.
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List of Works
Qashr al-Fasar, also known in fuller form as Qashr al-Fasar Ƀan Diwan Abi al-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi, is a critical work that offers corrections, emendations, and critiques directed against Ibn Jinni's major commentary on the poetry of al-Mutanabbi.