Zayn al-Din al-Razi
- Died
- 666 AH
- Born in
- Damascus
Zayn al-Din al-Razi (610–after 666 AH / 1214–after 1268 CE) was a Hanafi jurist, lexicographer, and Quranic scholar from Damascus, best known for his Arabic dictionary Mukhtar al-Sihah .
Life and travels
His full name was Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr ibn Abd al-Qadir ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Razi al-Hanafi . Although his family originated from Rayy, he was born in Damascus on Friday, 15 Shawwal 610 AH .
Al-Razi traveled across the Levant and entered Egypt, where he composed Arabic poetry praising Birkat al-Habash . He later resided in Konya (Qunya), where he was recorded living in 666 AH, marking the last definitive record of his life . He died in or shortly after 666 AH, though some later bibliographical sources placed him in the eighth century AH around 760 or 768 AH .
Scholarly contribution
Al-Razi produced recognized writings in lexicography, Quranic interpretation, and jurisprudence . His primary work, Mukhtar al-Sihah (The Selection of al-Sihah), completed in Ramadan 660 AH, abridged Ismail ibn Hammad al-Jawhari's lexicon al-Sihah to essential vocabulary, supplying additional lexical notes from Abu Mansur al-Azhari's Tahdhib and standardizing unvocalized patterns .
In Quranic studies, he authored Unmudhaj Jalil fi As'ila wa-Ajwiba 'an Ghara'ib Ay al-Tanzil (A Sublime Model of Questions and Answers on the Anomalies of the Verses of Revelation), addressing intricate textual queries across the chapters of the Quran . In Hanafi legal doctrine, he composed the manual Tuhfat al-Muluk (The Gift of Kings) on positive law .
Answer updated
List of Works
Unmudhaj Jalil fi Asila wa Ajwiba an Gharaib Ay al-Tanzil (A Sublime Model of Questions and Answers on the Anomalies of the Verses of Revelation) is a work on Quranic interpretation and textual nuances. Arranged as an abridgment containing over 1,200 dialectical questions and answers following the traditional order of the surahs, it addresses linguistic subtleties, structural sequence, and textual coordination between verses.
Mukhtar al-Sihah (The Selection of al-Sihah) is an Arabic lexicon that serves as a concise abridgment of Ismail ibn Hammad al-Jawhari's classical dictionary al-Sihah (Taj al-Lugha wa-Sihah al-Arabiyya). It provides essential and frequently used vocabulary—particularly terms occurring in the Quran and Prophetic hadith—supplemented with additional lexical material and morphological vocalizations from earlier authorities.
Tuhfat al-Muluk (The Gift of Kings) is a concise manual of Hanafi jurisprudence (furu' al-fiqh) that focuses primarily on acts of worship alongside selected legal and ethical topics. Structured into ten distinct books, the treatise provides a clear and accessible summary of essential legal rulings and positive law.