It is also said that he was al-Dilī. He was the judge of Kufa. He was a noble tābiʿī (successor to the Companions), and his name was Ẓālim b. ʿAmr b. Sufyān b. Jandal b. Yamūr b. Jalis b. ʿAdī b. ad-Duʾal b. Bakr, known as Abu'l-Aswad. The science of grammar (naḥw) is attributed to this person. It is reported that he was the first to speak on this subject. He learned this science from ʿAlī, the son of Abū Ṭālib, the trustworthy one of the believers. There is disagreement regarding his actual name, with various opinions put forward. According to the most well-known opinion, his real name is Ẓālim b. ʿAmr. The opposite has also been said. According to Wahīdī, his real name is ʿUwaymir b. Zuwaylim. He became Muslim during the lifetime of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but did not see him. He participated in the Battle of the Camel and died during the governorship of ʿUbaydullāh b. Ziyād.
Yahya b. Maʿīn and Aḥmad b. ʿAbdullāh al-ʿIjlī said: "This person is among the trustworthy transmitters. He is the first to speak on the science of grammar (naḥw)."
According to Ibn Maʿīn and others, he died in the plague outbreak in the sixty-ninth year of the hijra. Ibn Khallikān said: "He died during the caliphate of ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. The beginning of the plague outbreak in Jārīf was in the sixty-ninth year of the hijra."
I say: This is truly strange.
Ibn Khallikān and others said: "The first person to teach Abu'l-Aswad the science of grammar (naḥw) was ʿAlī, the son of Abū Ṭālib. ʿAlī explained to him that a sentence is composed of a noun, a verb, and a particle. Then Abu'l-Aswad followed his path and developed various details based on these principles. For this reason, this science was called the science of grammar (naḥw). The reason that led Abu'l-Aswad to develop the science of grammar (naḥw) was the change in people's language and the entry of laḥn (incorrectness) into people's speech in Iraq during the governorship of Ziyād."
Abu'l-Aswad was the tutor of his children. One day, a man went to Ziyād and said: "Our father died and left behind children." Ziyād then ordered him to prepare a system for people to learn Arabic speech. It is reported that Abu'l-Aswad was the first to establish the form of the verb expressing wonder (taʿajjub). One night, his daughter said to him: "O my father, how beautiful the sky is!" Abu'l-Aswad replied: "Are you asking about my stars?" His daughter answered: "I did not want to ask which of the stars is more beautiful; I only wanted to express how beautiful the sky is." Thereupon, Abu'l-Aswad said to his daughter: "Then say: 'Mā aḥsanu's-samāʾ!'—that is, how beautiful the sky is."
Ibn Khallikān stated that Abu'l-Aswad was stingy.
Abu'l-Aswad used to say: "We obeyed the needy regarding our wealth, but we are like them."
One night, Abu'l-Aswad gave dinner to a poor man, then chained him and kept him overnight, preventing him from going out so that he would not beg and disturb the Muslims. The poor man said to him: "You fed me, now let me go." Abu'l-Aswad replied: "I fed you tonight so that the Muslims would be saved from you and have peace." In the morning, he released the man. Abu'l-Aswad also composed fine poetry.
Ibn Jarīr said: In this year, ʿAbdullāh b. al-Zubayr led the people in the pilgrimage. One of the Khārijites spoke openly against the arbitration incident at Minā and was killed near the chamber.
The governors of the previous year remained in office this year.
In this year, Jābir b. Samura b. Junāda died. He was among the Companions (ṣaḥāba). He narrated hadith. His father was also among the Companions (ṣaḥāba) and narrated hadith. There is another report that Jābir died in the sixty-sixth year of the hijra. Allah knows best.
In this year, Asmāʾ bint Yazīd b. Sakan al-Anṣāriyya also died. She pledged allegiance to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). On the night of her wedding during the Battle of Yarmūk, she killed nine Byzantines with the pole of her tent. She resided in Damascus and, upon her death, was buried in Bāb al-Ṣaghīr.
In this year, Ḥassān b. Mālik also died. His kunya was Abū Sulaymān al-Bahdalī. When the caliphate passed to Marwān, he pledged allegiance to him and died in the sixty-ninth year of the hijra. Allah, exalted and free from all deficiencies, knows best.