Nasir al-Din al-Asad
- Died
- 1436 AH
- Born in
- -
Nasir al-Din al-Asad (d. 1436 AH / 2015 CE) was a Jordanian scholar of Arabic literature and classical texts, best known for his monograph Masadir al-Shi'r al-Jahili (Sources of Pre-Islamic Poetry).
Education and Academic Career
Al-Asad completed his higher education in Egypt at Cairo University. He obtained his master's degree in 1951 with a dissertation on singing-girls and their influence on early Arabic verse, al-Qiyan wa-Atharuhunna fi al-Shi'r al-Jahili, published by Dar al-Ma'arif in 1955. In 1955, he earned his doctorate from Cairo University for his study on the sources and historical validity of pre-Islamic poetry (Masadir al-Shi'r al-Jahili wa-Qimatuh al-Tarikhiyya), which appeared in print the following year.
In Amman, Jordan, al-Asad served as president of the Royal Academy for Islamic Civilization Research (the Aal al-Bayt Foundation). A festschrift titled Qutuf Adabiyyah was published and presented in his honor in Jordan in 1997.
Scholarly Contributions
Al-Asad made substantial contributions to the critical study of pre-Islamic literature, classical philology, and heritage manuscript editing. In textual editing, he collaborated with Ihsan 'Abbas on the critical edition of Ibn Hazm's biographical work Jawami' al-Sirah, and he also established the text of the poetic collection (diwan) of al-Hadira.
In literary historiography, al-Asad critically analyzed the survival and preservation of early tribal poetry compendia, noting that most independent tribal collections, such as that of the Banu Sulaym, were lost over time, leaving only that of Hudhayl preserved. In grammatical and lexicographical discussions, he defended the widespread plural ma'ajim for mu'jam (dictionary) against alternative classical analogies, establishing its validity through ancient morphological parallels.
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List of Works
Masadir al-Shi'r al-Jahili (Sources of Pre-Islamic Poetry and Their Historical Value) is a monograph examining the writing, oral transmission, compilation, and authenticity of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry.