Al-Akhfash al-Akbar explained

Abu al-Khaṭṭāb ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn ʻAbd al-Majīd (ar|أبو الخطاب عبد الحميد بن عبد المجيد; died 177 AH/793 CE),^[1] commonly known as Al-Akhfash al-Akbar (ar|الأخفش الأكبر) was an Arab^[2] grammarian who lived in Basra and associated with the method of Arabic grammar of its linguists, and was a client of the Qais tribe.^[3]

His most notable students were: Sibawayh,^{[4] [5]} Yunus ibn Habib,^[6] Abu ʿUbaidah, Abu Zayd al-Ansari and Al-Asma'i. Al-Akhfash revised his student Sibawayh's famous Kitab, the first book ever written on Arabic grammar, and was responsible for circulating the first manuscripts after his student's untimely death.^[7] Al-Akhfash was also one of the first linguists to contribute significantly to commentary and analysis of Arabic poetry.^[3] Additionally, he contributed to Arabic philology as well as lexicography, recording vocabulary and expressions of the Bedouin tribes which had not previously been recorded.^[8]

Notes and References

1. Stefan Sperl, Mannerism in Arabic Poetry: A Structural Analysis of Selected Texts (3rd Century AH/9th Century AD - 5th Century AH/11th Century AD), pg. 109. Part of the Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
2. Weipert. Reinhard. 2009-06-01. al-Akhfash. Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. en.
3. Monique Bernards, "Pioneers of Arabic Language Studies." Taken from In the Shadow of Arabic: The Centrality of Language to Arabic Culture, pg. 214. Ed. Bilal Orfali. Volume 63 of Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2011.
4. [Francis Joseph Steingass]
5. M.G. Carter, Sibawayh, pg. 21. Part of the Makers of Islamic Civilization series. London: I.B. Tauris, 2004.
6. [Ibn Khallikan]
7. Khalil I. Semaan, Linguistics in the Middle Ages: Phonetic Studies in Early Islam, pg. 39. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1968.
8. [Ibn Khallikan]