Ali ibn Adlan
- Died
- 666 AH
- Born in
- Mosul
Ali ibn Adlan (583–666 AH / 1187–1268 CE) was an Arab grammarian, philologist, and cryptanalyst from Mosul who taught in Cairo and is noted for his treatises on deciphering ciphers and resolving complex poetic syntax .
Life and Education
Afif al-Din Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Adlan ibn Hammad ibn Ali al-Raba'i al-Mawsili was born in Mosul in 583 AH, or possibly earlier . He traveled to Baghdad to pursue his education, where he studied Arabic grammar under Abu al-Baqa al-Ukbari . He also studied hadith with scholars including Abd al-Aziz ibn al-Akhdar, Abd al-Aziz ibn Munayna, Yahya ibn Yaqut, and Ahmad ibn Ali al-Ghaznawi, the latter in 613 AH .
Ibn Adlan later relocated to Egypt, settling in Cairo, where he established a long-standing teaching circle for Arabic grammar and literature at the Jami‘ al-Salih outside the city . A diverse group of scholars transmitted from him and attended his sessions, including Abd al-Mumin al-Dimyati, Ibn al-Zahiri, al-Dawadari, and al-Sharif Izz al-Din .
Scholarly Standing and Specialization
Biographers characterized Ibn Adlan as an exceptionally acute intellect and leading authority in Arabic philology and literature . He achieved distinctive renown for his unmatched skill in cryptanalysis (hall al-mutarjam) and solving literary riddles and enigmas (al-alghaz) . On the subject of decipherment, he authored Hall al-mutarjam ("The Decipherment of Cryptograms") for the Ayyubid ruler al-Malik al-Ashraf Musa, alongside his literary treatise ‘Uqlat al-mujtaz fi hall al-alghaz ("The Traveler's Restraint in Solving Riddles") . In grammatical analysis, his treatise al-Intikhab li-kashf al-abyat al-mushkila al-i‘rab addressed verses of ambiguous and challenging syntax . He also composed poetry and engaged in epistolary and literary exchanges with contemporaries such as Alam al-Din al-Sakhawi .
Death
Ibn Adlan died in Cairo on Friday, 9 Shawwal 666 AH, and was buried the following day at the foot of Mount Muqattam .
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Intikhab li-Kashf al-Abyat al-Mushkila al-Irab (The Selection for Clarifying Verses of Difficult Grammatical Analysis) is a grammatical treatise dedicated to resolving syntactically ambiguous and riddle-like Arabic poetic verses. Arranged alphabetically by the rhyme letter of each poetic line, the work analyzes difficult syntactic structures, competing parsing options, and poetic necessities across both classical and later poetry.