Sibawayh, Abi Helal al-'Askari al Balaghi, Abu Ali al-Farisi
Academic work
Main interests
literary theory, grammar
Notable works
al Maghna fi Sharh al-Idah
Abū Bakr, ‘Abd al-Qāhir ibn ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad al-Jurjānī (1009 – 1078 or 1081 AD [400 – 471 or 474 A.H.]);[1] nicknamed "Al-Naḥawī" (the grammarian), he was a renowned Persian[2] grammarian of the Arabic language, literary theorist of the Muslim Shafi'i, and a follower of al-Ash'ari. He wrote several celebrated works on grammar and rhetoric, among these are Mi,ut Ạmil and Al-Jumal - introductions to Arabic syntax - and a commentary titled Al-Mughnī in three volumes.[3]
Al-Jurjānī is said to have never left his native town of Gorgan, Iran, yet his reputation in the twin sciences of ilm al balaghah (eloquence and rhetorical art) and ilm al bayan (a branch of Arabic rhetoric dealing with metaphorical language), reached many Arabic scholars who travelled to see him. His two books on these subjects, Asrār al-Balāghah (Secrets of Rhetoric), and Dalāʾīl al-ʿIjāz fi-l-Qurʾān (Arguments of the Miraculous Inimitability of the Quran) show influences of al-Jurjānī's predecessors, the grammarian Sibawayh, the critic Abi Helal al-'Askari al Balaghi, and the linguist and literary theorist Abu Ali al-Farisi, the author of al-Idah (Elucidation).
Ali al-Farisi's nephew, Abi al-Hussein Muhammad ibn al-Hassan ibn Abd al-Wareth al-Faressi al-Nawawi, was al-Jurjānī's teacher, under whom he studied the al-Idah, and on which he wrote a thirty-volume work of commentary entitled al Maghna fi Sharh al-Idah .
Critical opinions
"The Swiss linguist Saussure's theory of deconstruction is preceded by Abd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī’s theory of deconstruction."
— Muhammad Abdul Mun'em Khafagi, Asrar al-Balaghah (1972)
"There is a similarity between these (al-Jurjānī and Noam Chomsky) two men."
— Muhammad Abdul Muttaleb, "Introduction", Issues of Modernism in the Works of Abd-al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī (1995)
Deeb, K. Abu (2007). "al-Jurjānī, Abū Bakr Abd al-Qāhir b. Abd al- Rahmān (d. 471/1078)". In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; Donzel, E. van; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Brill Online: Brill.
Sutherland (Consultant), John (1999). "Vol.1 A-K". In Murray, Chris (ed.). Encyclopedia of Literary Critics and Criticism. London: Fitzroy Dearborn.
Abbs, Ihsn (1971). Tarikh al-Naqd al-Adabi 'inda al-'Arab, Naqd al-Shi'r min al-Qarn al-Thani hattá al-Qarn al-Thamin al-Hijri. History of Arabic Literary Criticism (A comprehensive study of Arabic literary criticism from the second century to the eighth century AH. It covers most of the literary critics from al-Asma'ei to Ibn-Khaldoun.). Beirut: Dr al-Amnah.
Jurjānī (al-), Abd Al-Qāhir (1972). Khafagi, Muhammad Abdul Mun'em (ed.). Asrar al-Balaghah. Cairo: Maktabet al Qāhira.
Jurjānī (al-), Abd Al-Qāhir (1991). Khafagi, Muhammad Abdul Mun'em; Sharaf, Abdul Aziz (eds.). Asrar al-Balaghah. Beirut: Dar Al Jeel.
Jurjānī (al-), Abd Al-Qāhir (1959). Al Imam Al Sheikh, Mohammad Abdo; Ridah, Mohammad Rashid (eds.). Asrar al-Balaghah in the Art of Rhetoric (6th ed.). Midan Al Azhar: Mohammad Ali Subeih.
Jurjānī (al-), Abd Al-Qāhir (1972). Haydar, Ali (ed.). al-Jummal. Damascus.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Jurjānī (al-), Abd Al-Qāhir (1990). Usri Abd al-Ghani, Abdallah (ed.). al-Jummal in Grammar (1st ed.). Beirut: Dar Al Kutub al Ilmieh.
Muttaleb, Muhammad Abdul (1995). Mahmoud Ali Makki (ed.). Issues of Modernism in the works of Abd-al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī. Egypt: Longman.
Key, Alexander (2018). "Translation of Poetry from Persian to Arabic: ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī and Others". Journal of Abbasid Studies. 5 (1–2): 146–176. doi:10.1163/22142371-12340037. S2CID201011701.
Noy, Avigail (2018). "The Legacy of ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī in the Arabic East before al-Qazwīnī's Talkhīṣ al-Miftāḥ". Journal of Abbasid Studies. 5 (1–2): 11–57. doi:10.1163/22142371-12340036. S2CID198592091.
