Ibn al-Tayyib
- Died
- 1170 AH
- Born in
- Fez
Muhammad ibn al-Tayyib al-Fasi (1110–1170 AH / 1698–1757 CE) was a Moroccan Maliki jurist, hadith scholar, and renowned Arabic lexicographer based in Fez and later Medina, widely recognized for his extensive commentaries and linguistic glosses.
Lineage and Early Life
Abu Abd Allah Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn al-Tayyib ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Musa al-Sharqi al-Fasi al-Maliki was born in Fez in 1110 AH (1698 CE). He is known as Ibn al-Tayyib and also carries the nisba al-Sharqi (or al-Sharki), which refers to Sharaqa, a locality situated near Fez. He was raised in Fez, where he began his studies under his father and the city's senior scholars.
Ibn al-Tayyib studied with more than 180 scholars. His teachers included Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Masnawi, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Qadir al-Fasi, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Fasi, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Salam Bannani, Abu Abd Allah Muhammad Mayyara, Ahmad ibn Ali al-Wajjari, and Abu al-Tahir Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Kurani. In his infancy, around the age of two, his father also obtained an ijaza for him from the prominent scholar Hasan ibn Ali al-Ujaymi.
Travels and Teaching Career
After mastering various Islamic disciplines in Morocco, Ibn al-Tayyib traveled east to perform the pilgrimage and settled in Medina. He taught at the Prophet's Mosque in Medina and concluded the reading of the Six Books of Hadith at the Sacred Mosque in Mecca. He later journeyed to the Ottoman lands (al-Rum) by way of Syria and returned through Egypt, holding scholarly assemblies and debates in both regions where numerous students and scholars received transmissions from him.
A large circle of students took hadith and language from him, the most celebrated being Muhammad Murtada al-Zabidi, who studied lexicography and hadith directly under him in Medina. Other prominent students included Mustafa al-Rahmati, Abd al-Qadir Kedekzade, Sulayman al-Ahdal, and Hamdun Bannani.
Scholarly Standing
Contemporary and later authorities regarded Ibn al-Tayyib as the foremost Arabic linguist and lexicographer of his era, noting his vast erudition across jurisprudence, hadith transmission, rhetoric, and grammar. He composed over fifty treatises and extensive commentaries characterized by rigorous analytical precision.
Among his most influential contributions was Ida'at al-Ramus, a comprehensive supercommentary on al-Fayruzabadi's dictionary al-Qamus al-Muhit. Al-Zabidi relied fundamentally on this gloss while composing his monumental lexicon Taj al-Arus, consistently acknowledging Ibn al-Tayyib as his primary authority and referring to him throughout the text simply as "our shaykh." Ibn al-Tayyib also authored Sharh Kifayat al-Mutahaffiz (subtitled Tahrir al-Riwaya fi Taqrir al-Kifaya), an expansive lexical commentary clarifying obscure vocabulary and vocalizations, as well as Muwatti'at al-Fasih, a detailed two-volume commentary on Malik ibn al-Murahhal's versification of Thalab's al-Fasih.
Death
Ibn al-Tayyib died in Medina in 1170 AH (1757 CE). Other isolated reports place his death earlier, in 1135 AH or 1142 AH.
Answer updated
List of Works
Sharh Kifayat al-Mutahaffiz: Tahrir al-Riwaya fi Taqrir al-Kifaya is an extensive Arabic lexical commentary on Ibn al-Ajdabi's thematic vocabulary primer, Kifayat al-mutahaffiz wa-nihayat al-mutalaffiz. Following the thematic arrangement of the original guide, the work systematically explains vocabulary, provides precise vocalizations, and clarifies rare, difficult, and obscure linguistic terms.