Al-Asmaÿi (, ÿAbd al-Malik ibn Qurayb al-Aá¹£maÿë ; âÂÂ828/833), or Asmai was an Arab philologist and one of three leading Arabic grammarians of the Basra school. At the court of the Abbasid caliph, HÃÂrà «n al-Rashëd, as polymath and prolific author on philology, poetry, genealogy, and natural science, he pioneered zoology studies in animal-human anatomical science. He compiled an important poetry anthology, the Asma'iyyat, and was credited with composing an epic on the life of Antarah ibn Shaddad. A protégé of Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi and Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala', he was a contemporary and rival of Abà « ÿUbaidah and Sibawayhi also of the Basran school.
Ibn Isḥaq al-Nadëm's c.10th biography of al-Aá¹£maâÂÂë follows the âÂÂisnadâ narrative or âÂÂchain-of-transmissionâ tradition. Al-Nadëm reports Abà « âÂÂAbd AllÃÂh ibn Muqlah's written report of ThaâÂÂlab's report, giving Al-Aá¹£maâÂÂëâÂÂs full name as âÂÂâÂÂâÂÂAbd al-Malik ibn Qurayb ibn âÂÂAbd al-Malik ibn âÂÂAli ibn Aá¹£maâÂÂë ibn MuáºÂahhir ibn âÂÂAmr ibn âÂÂAbd Allah al-BÃÂhilë.âÂÂâÂÂâÂÂ
The c.13th biographer Ibn KhallikÃÂn calls al-Aá¹£maÿë âÂÂa complete master of the Arabic language,â and âÂÂthe most eminent of all transmitters of the oral history and rare expressions of the language.âÂÂ. His account includes collected anecdotes of numerous adventures.
His father was Qurayb Abà « Bakr from âÂÂÃÂá¹£im and his son was SaâÂÂëd. He belonged to the family of the poet Abà « âÂÂUyaynah al-Muhallabë. Al-Aá¹£maâÂÂë was descended from AdnÃÂn and the tribe of Bahila. Growing up studying in Basra, he spent all of his wealth on seeking knowledge. A greengrocer at the end of his alley would chide him to just get a job and give up his books, so he set out very early and returned late to avoid him. Later, the governor of Basra brought him to the notice of the caliph, Harun al-Rashid, who made him tutor to his sons, Al-Amin and Al-Ma'mun. It was said Al-Rashid was an insomniac, and that he once held an all-night discussion with al-Asmaÿi on pre-Islamic and early Arabic poetry. Al-Aá¹£maâÂÂë was popular with the influential Barmakid viziers and acquired wealth as a property owner in Basra. Some of his protégés attained high rank as literary men. Among his students was the noted musician Ishaq al-Mawsili. After finishing the education of al-Rashid's children, he asked the caliph to order the people of Basra to all greet him on his return and honor him after that. For three days the city greeted him until he met the greengrocer again and hired him as a wakeel.
His ambitious aim to catalogue the complete Arabic language in its purest form, led to a period he spent roaming with desert Bedouin tribes, observing and recording their speech patterns.
His great critic Abà « ÿUbaida was a member of the Shu'ubiyya movement, a chiefly Persian cultural movement. Al-Aá¹£maâÂÂë, as an Arab nationalist and champion of the Arabic language, rejected foreign linguistic and literary influences.
Al-Nadëm cites a report of Abà « âÂÂUbaida that al-Aá¹£maâÂÂë claimed his father travelled on a horse of Salm ibn Qutaybah. Abà « âÂÂUbaida had exclaimed,
UbaidaâÂÂs reference here to al-AsmaâÂÂëâÂÂs father seems to relate to the story given by KhallikÃÂn about al-AsmaâÂÂëâÂÂs grandfather, Alë ibn AsmÃÂ, who had lost his fingers in punishment for theft.
A corollary to 'UbaidaâÂÂs anecdote is related by KhallikÃÂn, that once al-Faá¸Âl Ibn Rabë, the vizier to caliph al-Rashid, had brought forth his horse and asked both Al-Aá¹£maâÂÂë and Abà « 'Ubaida (who had written extensively on the horse) to identify each part of its anatomy. Abà « 'Ubaida excused himself from the challenge, saying that he was an expert on Bedouin culture not a farrier; When al-Aá¹£maâÂÂë then grabbed the horse by the mane, named each part of its body while, at the same time, reciting the Bedouin verses that authenticated each term as proper to the Arabic lexicon, Al-Faá¸Âl had rewarded him the horse. Whenever after this, Aá¹£maâÂÂë visited Ubaida he rode his horse. Al-Aá¹£maâÂÂë, was a perennial bachelor and when Yahya, a Barmakid vizier of the caliph, presented him with the gift of a slave girl, the girl was so repulsed by Al-Aá¹£maâÂÂë's appearance, Yahya bought her back.
Shaykh Abà « SaâÂÂëd reported that Abà « al-âÂÂAbbas al-Mubarrad had said al-Aá¹£maâÂÂë and Abà « âÂÂUbaida were equal in poetry and rhetoric, but where Abà « âÂÂUbaida excelled in genealogy, al-Aá¹£maâÂÂë excelled in grammar â âÂÂal-Aá¹£maâÂÂë, [like] a nightingale [would] charm them with his melodiesâÂÂ
Al-Aá¹£maâÂÂë died, aged 88 years in Baá¹£ra, ca. 213/828 - 217/832, in the company of the blind poet and satirist Abà « al-âÂÂAynÃÂ'. His funeral prayers were said by his nephew and poet âÂÂAbd al-RaḥmÃÂn: "To AllÃÂh we belong and to Him we return."
Al-Aá¹£maâÂÂë's magnum opus Asma'iyyat, is a unique primary source of early Arabic poetry and was collected and republished in the modern era, by the German orientalist Wilhelm Ahlwardt. Al-Sayyid MuûaáºÂáºÂam Ḥusain's English translation of selected poems taken from both the Aá¹£maâÂÂëyyat and Mufaddaliyyat- the larger important source of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry- is available online. Most other existing collections were compiled by al-Aá¹£maâÂÂë's students based on the principles he taught.
One of Al-Aá¹£maâÂÂë's most famous works is the 9th century poem Sawt Safir al-Bulbul (õÃÂê õÃÂÃÂñ çÃÂèÃÂèÃÂ), made to challenge the Abbasid caliph. However, historians still argue about whether he was the poet or not.
Of al-Aá¹£maâÂÂë's prose works listed in the Fihrist about half a dozen are extant. These include the Book of Distinction, the Book of the Wild Animals, the Book of the Horse, and the Book of the Sheep, and Fuá¸¥à «lat al-ShuâÂÂaràa pioneering work of Arabic literary criticism.
Al-Aá¹£maâÂÂë was among a group of scholars who edited and recited the Pre-lslÃÂmic and IslÃÂmic poets of the Arab tribes up to the era of the Banà « al-âÂÂAbbÃÂs
He memorised thousands of verses of rajaz poetry and edited a substantial portion of the canon of Arab poets, but produced little poetry of his own. He met criticism for neglecting the âÂÂrare formsâ (nawÃÂdir - ) and lack of care in his abridgments.