Yaḥyā Ibn-Ziyād Farrāʾ

Al-Farrā , he was Abū Zakarīyā Yaḥyā ibn Ziyād ibn Abd Allāh ibn Manṣūr al-Daylamī al-Farrā , was a Daylamite scholar and the principal pupil of al-Kisā’ī . He is the most brilliant of the Kūfan scholars. Muḥammad ibn Al-Jahm quotes Ibn al-Quṭrub that it was al-Farrā’s melodic eloquence and knowledge of the pure spoken Arabic of the Bedouins and their expressions that won him special favour at the court of Hārūn al-Rashīd. He died on the way to Mecca, aged about sixty, or sixty-seven, in 822 (207 AH).

Life Abū Zakarīyah ibn Ziyād al-Farrā’ was born in al-Kūfah into a family of Iranian Daylamī origin. He was a mawla (client, or, apprentice) of the Banū Minqar , although Salamah ibn ‘Āṣim said he was called al-‘Absī , i.e. of the Banū Abs. Abū ‘Abd Allāh ibn Muqlah claimed Al-Yūsufī called him Yaḥyā ibn Ziyād ibn Qāwī-Bakht ibn Dāwar ibn Kūdanār. The main details of his life come from Tha‘lab who quotes Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā saying: “If the expression spoils the meaning it is not the words of the Bedouin Arabs, or ‘pure’. But al-Farrā’ says it correctly because he based Arabic and grammar on the spoken language of the Arabs. He (al-Farrā) said: When the expression agrees with its meaning, the expression is correct. Sībawayh errs because his etymological work is not founded in the expressions of the 'Desert Arabs' (Bedouin) and is without knowledge of their oral language and their poems, but instead relies on the poems of the urban Arabs and the pharaohs and applies the expression to the meaning.” Al-Farrā’ was said to be called Farrā’ because he was 'free to speak'.

He knew the grammarians of al-Kūfah after the time of al-Kisā’ī's, whom he adopted. The Kūfans claimed that he borrowed much from Yūnus ibn Habīb but this was denied by the Baṣrans. He loved to speak and yet was retiring and pious. He was a zealous adherent of Sībawayh, writing under his leadership. In his Al-Hudud he used philosophical terminology.

Tha'lab relates that al-Farrā’s was a friend of ‘Umar ibn Bukayr , the preceptor to the vizier of the caliph Al-Ma'mūn, who was called Āmir al-Ḥasan ibn Sahl . Al-Farrā taught in the mosque next to his house. Umar approached him for exegetic advice on teaching Qur'ānic studies to the vizier, and so al-Farrā' dictated the book Ma‘ānī aI-Qur’ān for his students to copy out. At the request of the caliph al-Ma'mun he dictated his Kitāb al-Ḥudūd , 'Classifications' (in poetry and grammar), as a project to instruct the students of al-Kisā’ī. Over the sixteen year period it took to complete, a muezzin reader read while al-Farrā’ explained the entire Qur’ān. He continued dictating long after most students had lost interest and only two remained. Instruction without recourse to a text book was a good proof of memory and the mark of a great scholar. Tha'lab makes a point of saying that al-Farrā’ was only once seen with a book and that was his dictation from a manuscript of the chapter ‘Mulāzim’. A neighbour of Al-Farrā’s, named al- Wāqidī , remarked on al-Farrā’ particular use of philosophical terms in his literary dictations. Al-Farrā’ lived most of his life at Baghdād and was very frugal, and even hunger did not concern him. He spent forty days annually at al-Kūfah, his native town, and distributed most of his considerable earnings from teaching among his people.

His father Ziad had his hand cut off in the war with Abī Tharwan and Abū Tharwan the mawla of the Banū Abs. Ibn al-Nadīm lists Al-Farrā's associates as Ibn Qādim and Salamah ibn Āṣim, who was with him in his final illness, when his mind had gone. Those who quoted him listed by Suyūṭī were; Qais ibn al-Rabī, Mandal ibn ‘Alī al-Kisā’ī, Salamah ibn Āṣim and Muḥammad ibn Jahm al-Samari, who transmitted his books.

Salamah ibn Āṣim said it was al-Ṭuwāl who preserved his only extant poetry in some verses quoted by Abū Ḥanīfah al-Dīnawarī :

Works Al-Suyuti recorded eleven works by him, Ibn al-Nadim listed thirteen, while Ibn Khallikan and Yaqut al-Hamawi each attributed seventeen works to him. Some of the listed titles may actually be referring to individual chapters of his larger work, al-Ḥudūd. In total, his writings are said to have amounted to three thousand sheets. Several of his works are now lost, while other survive only in manuscript form.

Ālat al-Kitāb – The Key of [Understanding Sībawayh's] Kitāb.

Lost Work

al-Ayyām wa al-Layālī wa-l-shuhūr – The Days, Nights and the Months.

Printed.

al-Jamʿ wa al-Tathniyah fī al-Qurʾān – Plural and Dual [Forms] in the Qurʾān.

Lost Work

Kitab al-Ḥudūd – The Book of [Grammatical] Definitions.

It was commissioned by Al-Ma'mun and compiled with the help from the caliph's secretaries around 204 / 819. Al-Ma’mun ordered the work to be kept in his treasury. According to Ibn al-Nadim, it contained 45 chapters; Al-Suyuti counted 46, while Al-Zubaydī recorded 60. A table of contents is cited in Ibn al-Nadīm's Fihrist and a slightly different version is cited by Al-Qifṭī. Lost Work

Ḥurūf al-Muʿjam – The Letters of the Alphabet.

Lost Work. Cited by Ibn Rashīq.

al-Fākhir fī al-Amthāl – The Distinguished [Book] of Proverbs.

A manuscript is located in the Fātiḥ Library, Istanbul, (MS no. 4009). Not printed yet

Faʿala wa Afʿala – [On the Verb Patterns] Faʿala and Afʿala.

Possibly a chapter in al-Ḥudūd. It was cited by Al-Suyuti in al-Muẓhir. Lost Work

al-Lughāt al-Qurʾān – The Dialects of the Qurʾān.

A partial manuscript survives in Vahid Pasha Manuscript Library (MS no. 721917). It is published in digital library Al-Maktaba al-Shamela. Not printed yet.

al-Mudhakkar wa al-Muʾannath – Masculine and Feminine [Forms].

Printed

al-Mushkil al-Ṣaghīr – The Minor Book of Ambiguities.

The work addressed ambiguous Qurʾānic expressions. Lost Work

al-Mushkil al-Kabīr – The Major Book of Ambiguities.

The work addressed ambiguous Qurʾānic expressions. Lost Work

al-Maṣādir fī al-Qurʾān – The Verbal Nouns in the Qurʾān.

Lost Work

Maʿānī al-Qurʾān – Meanings of the Qurʾān.

His most important work. He started it on the suggestion of his friend ʿUmar bin Bukayra and completed it in three years (202–204 / 817–819) dectating it entirely from memory. A refutation of this work was written by Ibn Durustawayh and an abridgement was produced by al-Dīnawārī. Printed multiple times.

al-Maqṣūr wa al-Mamdūd – The Shortened and Lengthened [Forms].

Also called al-Manqūṣ wa-l-mamdūd. Printed

Kitab al-Nawādir – The Book of Linguistic Rarities.

Lost Work

al-Waqf wa al-Ibtidāʾ – The Pause and Resumption [in Qurʾānic Recitation].

Lost Work

Kitab al-Mulazim – The Book of Necessary Linguistic Constructions

Possibly a chapter heading of al-Ḥudūd

Kitāb al-Wāw – The Book on [the Letter] Wāw

Lost Work

Kitāb Yāfiʿ wa-Yafaʿa – The Book on [the Words] Yāfiʿ and Yafaʿa

Yaqut al-Hamawi recorded it as Kitāb Yāfiʿwa-Yāfiʿa, which comprised 50 folios together with Kitab al-Mulazim.

Kitāb al-Bahāʾ fī mā talḥanu fīhi al-ʿāmma – The Book of Elegance Concerning the Mistakes Made by the Common People

It was written for Abdallah ibn Tahir. Lost Work

Kitāb Ikhtilāf Ahl al-Kūfa wa al-Baṣra wa Ahl al-Shām fī al-Maṣāḥif – The Book on the Differences between the People of Kūfa, Baṣra, and al-Shām in the Muṣḥafs

Lost Work

Mushkil al-Lughah – Difficulties of the Language

Lost Work