Arabic Beyond the Arabs
al-Zamakhshari: «I praise God that He made me one of the scholars of Arabic»
الزَّمَخْشَريّ: «اللهَ أحمدُ على أن جعلني من علماء العربيّة»
al-Zamakhshari was born in Zamakhshar, a village of Khwarazm, and was not an Arab. Yet he opened his grammar, al-Mufassal, by praising God for making him one of the scholars of Arabic, and on the same page disowned the Shuʿubiyya, those who belittled the Arabs. He was called «Jar Allah», God's neighbour, for his long stays at Mecca.
- In brief
- A Khwarazmian who opened his grammar by thanking God for Arabic
- Outside Arabic
- al-Zamakhsharī
«اللهَ أحمدُ على أن جعلني من علماء العربية، وجبلني على الغضب للعرب والعصبية.»
The sources do not name his people, so the card says only that he was not an Arab. He was born in 467 AH and died in 538 AH (1075–1144).
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Sources
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