Ibn al-Warraq
- Died
- 381 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu al-Hasan Ibn al-Warraq (d. 381 AH / 991 CE) was an Arabic grammarian and linguist, best known for his treatise on grammatical reasoning and theory, 'Ilal al-Nahw (The Causes of Grammar).
Life and Scholarly Career
His full name was Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Abbas, with the kunya Abu al-Hasan. He had close familial and scholarly ties to the prominent grammarian Abu Sa'id al-Sirafi, having married al-Sirafi's daughter.
In Quranic recitation and linguistic sciences, Ibn al-Warraq studied under Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Miqsam, reading the Quran with variant readings under him and transmitting from him. In turn, students gathered around him; among those who read under him and narrated on his authority was the scholar and reciter Abu Ali al-Ahwazi. Biographical accounts place Ibn al-Warraq in the same generational rank (tabaqa) as the grammarian Abu Talib al-Abdi.
Besides his treatise 'Ilal al-Nahw, he wrote commentaries on earlier grammatical compendia, including al-Hidayah (The Guidance), which was an exposition of the shorter grammatical summary of al-Jarmi, and al-Fusul fi Nukat al-Usul (The Chapters on the Nuances of Fundamentals), an exposition of al-Jarmi's larger summary. Regarding the latter, Yaqut al-Hamawi recorded a report stating that al-Sirafi had originally dictated al-Fusul to him, after which Ibn al-Warraq claimed the authorship for himself.
Death
Ibn al-Warraq died in the month of Jumada al-Ula in 381 AH (991 CE).
Answer updated
List of Works
Ilal al-Nahw (The Causes of Grammar) is a fourth-century AH treatise on Arabic grammatical theory and justification. The work explores the logical, philosophical, and functional explanations for Arabic grammatical rules, examining fundamental linguistic categories, essential definitions, morphological derivations, and the causes governing inflection.