Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati

Arab grammarian

Abū Ḥayyān Athīr ad Dīn al Gharnāṭī (أَبُو حَيَّان أَثِير ٱلدِّين ٱلْغَرْنَاطِيّ, November 1256 – July 1344 CE / 654 745 AH), whose full name is Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf bin ‘Alī ibn Yūsuf ibn Hayyān (مُحَمَّد ٱبْن يُوسُف ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱبْن يُوسُف ٱبْن حَيَّان), sometimes called Ibn Hayyan, was a celebrated commentator on the Quran and foremost Arabic grammarian of his era. His magnum opus Tafsir al Bahr al Muhit (Explanation of the Ocean) is the most important reference on Qur'anic expressions and the issues of grammar, vocabulary, etymology and the transcriber copyists of the Qur'an. Quite exceptionally for a linguist of Arabic of his day was his strong interest in non Arabic languages. He wrote several works of comparative linguistics for Arabic speakers, and gives extensive comparative grammatical analysis and explanation.

He was born in Spain in November 1256 to a family of Berber origins, from the Berber tribe of Nifza. Historians variously cite Gharnati's place of birth as both Jaén and Granada; his appellation "Gharnati" derives from this latter. At the time Jaén was a dependency of Granada, and the appellation conflict may only be apparent.

On reaching Mamluk Egypt, Abu Hayyan was appointed lecturer of the science of Qur'anic exegesis at the college named after the sultan of Egypt, Al Mansur Qalawun, in Alexandria. Later, he spent a period teaching tafsir in the Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo. When Abu Hayyan's daughter, Nudhar, died, he received permission to inter her body at his family's property instead of at a cemetery.