Ibn Maḍāʾ

Abu al-Abbas Ahmad bin Abd al-Rahman bin Muhammad bin Sa'id bin Harith bin Asim al-Lakhmi al-Qurtubi, better known as Ibn Maḍāʾ (; 1116–1196) was an Andalusian Muslim polymath from Córdoba in Al-Andalus. Ibn Mada was notable for having challenged the traditional formation of Arabic grammar and of the common understanding of linguistic governance among Arab grammarians, performing an overhaul first suggested by Al-Jahiz 200 years prior. He is considered the first linguist in history to address the subject of dependency in the grammatical sense in which it is understood today, and was instrumental during the Almohad reforms as chief judge of the Almohad Caliphate.

Biography

Education Ibn Mada's exact date of birth is a matter of dispute, having been listed as both 1116 according to the Gregorian calendar. His family was famous within their local community. Ibn Mada was not known to have traveled outside of Cordoba prior to his academic study. He grew up in a family of noble origin, and as a youth he seemed to concern himself only with pursuing his education. Later on, Almohad Caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf chose him to serve as the chief judge for the caliphate. During the Almohad reforms, he assisted the Almohad authorities in banning any and all religious books written by non-Zahirites during the reign of Abu Yaqub Yusuf, Ibn Maḍāʾs adherence to Zahirism has been described by Dutch arabist Kees Versteegh as "fanatical." just as he was approaching eighty years of age.

Theological position The brilliant polymath Ibn Mada' was a proponent of the Ash'ari doctrine that opposed philosophy in general and Aristotle in particular, contending that reason should only be used to counter classical influences that were infiltrating into Islamic intellectual life. The Ash'ari adherents believed that the Quran and Hadith represented the infallible, accurate word of truth. His attack on eastern Arabic grammar was violent yet reasoned and eloquent, defending his view that grammar as it was understood in that region was complicated, casuistic, obscure and artificial; Ibn Mada instead called for building simple and clear grammar based on true facts of the language. Ibn Mada felt that scholarly work on the Arabic language was intentionally convoluted and inaccessible to both non-native speakers and laymen Arabs, and that an overall simplification of language and grammar would enhance overall comprehension of Arabic. Ibn Mada held great respect for the language as the native speakers understood it, and while he emphasized a simplification of grammar he did not advocate a complete overhaul of the entire language.

His Zahirite views in Muslim jurisprudence influenced his views in linguistics. He explicitly denied the ability of human beings to willfully choose what they say and how they say it, since speech – like all other things – is predetermined by God.

Ibn Mada's reaction toward Arabic grammar and grammarians wasn't without provocation. Both earlier Zahirite jurists such as Ibn Hazm and al-Ballūṭī and some Shafi'ites sparred with Hanafite jurists who sought to justify practices such as Istihsan, on the basis of grammatical and linguistic arguments. Although Ibn Dihya, Abu Hayyan and Ibn Mada shared their Zahirite and Andalusian backgrounds, not all of Ibn Mada's intellectual descendants shared these traits.

Thus, while Ibn Mada opened the discussion regarding the competence of grammarians, suspicion surrounding them and the religious implications of their work continued even after his death. In the mid-20th century, the rediscovery of Ibn Mada's Refutation by Egyptian linguist Shawqi Daif caused minor shockwaves. Convinced that Ibn Mada's abolition of linguistic analogy and governance were the solutions to the failure of Arabic language education, Daif used this foundation for his later advocacy of modernizing language arts education in the Middle East.

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