Ibn Ḥalawayh

His real name was Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad b. Ḥalawayh. Abū ʿAbdallāh was his kunyah (teknonym). He was a grammarian (nahwī) and lexicographer (lughaṭchī). He authored works. Originally, he was from Hamadān, then he came to Baghdad and studied hadith from scholars there. He listened to hadith from figures such as Ibn Duraid, Ibn Mujāhid, and Abū ʿUmar al-Zāhid, and took lessons from Abū Saʿīd al-Sayrafī. Afterwards, he went to Aleppo and gained prestige with the Ḥamdān family there. Sayf al-Dawla kept him in his assembly and did not fail to honor him. Ibn Ḥalawayh had debates with al-Mutanabbī. Ibn Ḥallikān stated that he had many works and listed their names. Among his works is a book titled Kitāb Laysa fī Kalām al-ʿArab (The Book of What Is Not in the Speech of the Arabs). The reason for this title is that in this book he frequently stated, "There is no such expression in Arabic literature." He also wrote a work called Kitāb Āl (The Book of the Family), in which he narrated the biographies of the Twelve Imams. He performed iʿrāb (grammatical parsing) of thirty surahs of the Qurʾān. He made explanations and commentaries related to the Buraydiyya madhhab and produced other works as well. He was skilled in beautiful poetry. His death was caused by an illness.