Ibn Malik

Jamāl al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mālik al-Ṭāʾī al-Jayyānī (600–672 AH / 1203–1274 CE), widely known as Ibn Mālik, was an Andalusian grammarian, philologist, and linguist. He is best remembered for his didactic poem the Alfiyya of Ibn Malik, which became one of the most studied works in the Arabic grammatical tradition.

Early life

Ibn Mālik was born in Jaén, Spain (al-Andalus) in 600 AH/1203 CE, during a period of political instability as Christian forces advanced in the Iberian Peninsula. He studied grammar, linguistics, and Qurʾānic recitation with scholars in al-Andalus, including Abū ʿAlī al-Shalubīn, Thābit ibn Khiyār, and Aḥmad ibn Nuwār.

Migration to the East

After the siege of Jaén in 627 AH (1230 CE), Ibn Mālik migrated east. He first settled in Aleppo, where he studied with Ibn al-Hajib and Ibn Yaʿīsh, and gained recognition as a master of Arabic grammar and Qurʾānic readings. He later taught in Hama, where he composed his Alfiyya, before moving to Cairo and then Damascus.

In Damascus he was appointed to teach at the al-ʿĀdiliyya Madrasa and later became its head. He also held a teaching circle in the Umayyad Mosque, where he remained active in scholarship until his death in 1274 CE.

Students

Among his most prominent students were his son Badr al-Din Ibn Malik, who wrote a commentary on the Alfiyya; the jurist Badr al-Dīn Ibn Jamāʿa; the hadith scholar Abū al-Ḥasan al-Yūnīnī; the grammarian Ibn al-Nahhas; and Abū al-Thanaʾ al-Ḥalabī, a chancery secretary in Egypt and Damascus.

Works

Ibn Mālik was a prolific author whose writings cover grammar, morphology, philology, Qurʾānic recitation, and hadith studies. His most important works include:

• Alfiyya of Ibn Mālik – a versified grammar of about 1,000 lines in rajaz metre, summarizing rules of Arabic syntax and morphology.
• al-Kāfiya al-shāfiya – a 3,000-verse didactic poem on grammar.
• TashÄ«l al-fawāʾid wa-takmÄ«l al-maqāṣid – a concise prose grammar widely studied and commented upon.
• Lāmiyyat al-afʿāl – on verb morphology.
• IÊ¿jāz al-taá¹£rÄ«f and Tuḥfat al-mawdÅ«d fÄ« al-maqṣūr wa-l-mamdÅ«d.
• Shawāhid al-tawḍīḥ li-mushkilāt al-jāmiÊ¿ al-á¹£aḥīḥ – grammatical notes on hadith from Sahih al-Bukhari.

Commentaries on the Alfiyya

The Alfiyya was the subject of over forty commentaries and glosses, including:

• Awḍaḥ al-masālik by Ibn Hishām al-AnṣārÄ« (d. 1359).
• Sharḥ Ibn Ê¿AqÄ«l by Bahāʾ al-DÄ«n Ibn Ê¿AqÄ«l (d. 1367).
• Sharḥ al-AshmÅ«nÄ« by AbÅ« al-Ḥasan al-AshmÅ«nÄ« (d. 1522).
• al-Bahja al-marḍiyya by Jalāl al-DÄ«n al-SuyÅ«á¹­Ä« (d. 1505).

Character and scholarship

Contemporaries described Ibn Mālik as dignified, modest, and devoted to study and teaching. He was renowned for his mastery of Arabic poetry used in linguistic evidence, his command of Qurʾānic readings, and his careful method of writing—never recording from memory without checking sources.

Death

Ibn Mālik died in Damascus on Monday 21 February 1274 (12 Shaʿbān 672 AH). He was buried at al-Rawḍa near the grave of Ibn Qudāma.

See also

• Arabic grammar
• Andalusian scholars
• Alfiyya of Ibn Mālik

References

Sources

• al-MaqarrÄ«, Nafḥ al-á¹­Ä«b, ed. Iḥsān Ê¿Abbās, Beirut 1968.
• Ibn Shākir al-KutubÄ«, Fawāt al-wafayāt, ed. Iḥsān Ê¿Abbās, Beirut 1974.
• al-SubkÄ«, Ṭabaqāt al-ShāfiÊ¿iyya al-kubrā, ed. Ê¿Abd al-Fattāḥ al-Ḥulw and MaḥmÅ«d al-Ṭanāḥī, Cairo 1992.
• Ê¿Abd al-ʿĀl Sālim Makram, al-Madrasah al-naḥwiyya fÄ« Miá¹£r fÄ« al-qarnayn al-sābiÊ¿ wa-l-thāmin, Beirut 1990.
• Muḥammad Kāmel Barakāt, Introduction to TashÄ«l al-fawāʾid, Cairo 1967.