Arabic Beyond the Arabs
Samuel ibn Naghrela
صموئيل بن النَّغريلة
Samuel ibn Naghrela (993–1056), a Jew born in Mérida and raised in Córdoba, became vizier to the Zirid kings of Granada. He was a great Hebrew poet, but his Arabic reached a level the Muslim writers of al-Andalus acknowledged, counting him a master of prose. He gave generously to poets and men of letters, who praised him, and his son Joseph succeeded him as vizier.
- In brief
- A Jewish vizier whose Arabic the writers of al-Andalus acknowledged
- Outside Arabic
- Samuel ha-Nagid
«وقد أجمع الأدباء الأندلسيّون على أنّ ابي [كذا] نغريلة هذا وزير ملوك غرناطة قد ألمّ بدقائق اللغة العربيّة وخصائصها واعترفوا به كاتبًا عبقريًّا.»
Pérès counts him among Jews who converted to Islam, which is wrong: Samuel remained a Jew and a leader of the Jewish community of Granada, so the card does not say he converted. Dates and birthplace are not in the lecture.
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Sources
- هنري بيريس، مجلّة المجمع العلميّ العربيّ ١٩/٩ (١٩٤٤م)، ص٤٠٥
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