Al-Jahiz

Al-Jāḥiẓ (in Arabic الجاحظ) (real name Abu Uthman Amr ibn Bahr al-Kinani al-Fuqaimi al-Basri ) (781 – December 868/January 869) was a famous Arab scholar. One of his grandparents was a Zanj slave. He was an Arabic prose writer and author of works on Arabic literature , biology, zoology , history , early Islamic philosophy , Islamic psychology , Mu'tazili theology , and politico-religious polemics .

al-Jāḥiẓ ( ) (full name Abū ʿUthman ʿAmr ibn Baḥr al-Kinānī al-Baṣrī أبو عثمان عمرو بن بحر الكناني البصري ) (born in Basra , 776 – December 868/January 869) was an Arabic prose writer and author of works of literature, Mu'tazili theology, and politico-religious polemics.

Arabic writer Abū ʿUthman ʿAmr ibn Baḥr al-Kinānī al-Baṣrī ( ), commonly known as al-Jāḥiẓ ( , bug eyes , born 776; died December 868/January 869) was an Arab prose writer and author of works of literature, Mu'tazili theology, and politico-religious polemics. Ibn al-Nadim lists nearly 140 titles attributed to Al-Jahiz, of which 75 are extant. The best known are Kitāb al-­Ḥayawān (The book of living), a seven-part compendium on an array of subjects with animals as their point of departure; Kitāb al-Bayān wa-l-tabyīn (The book of eloquence and exposition), a wide-ranging work on human communication; and Kitāb al-Bukhalāʾ (The book of misers), a collection of anecdotes on stinginess. He is said to have been crushed to death under the weight of his own tomes.

Arabic writer (776–869) Abū ʿUthman ʿAmr ibn Baḥr al-Kinānī al-Baṣrī ( ), commonly known as al-Jāḥiẓ ( , The Bug Eyed , born 776 – died December 868/January 869) was a prose writer and author of works of literature, theology, zoology, and politico-religious polemics. He described himself as a member of the Arabian tribe Banu Kinanah . He has been credited with describing certain principles related to natural selection . Ibn al-Nadim lists nearly 140 titles attributed to al-Jahiz, of which 75 are extant. The best known are Kitāb al-Ḥayawān (The book of Animals), a seven-part compendium on an array of subjects with animals as their point of departure; Kitāb al-Bayān wa-l-tabyīn (The book of eloquence and exposition), a wide-ranging work on human communication; and Kitāb al-Bukhalāʾ (The book of misers), a collection of anecdotes on stinginess. Tradition claims that he was smothered to death when a vast amount of books fell over him.

Arabic writer (776–869) Abu Uthman Amr ibn Bahr al-Kinani al-Basri ( Arabic : أبو عثمان عمرو بن بحر الكناني البصري , romanized : Abū ʿUthman ʿAmr ibn Baḥr al-Kinānī al-Baṣrī ; c. 776–868/869 ), commonly known as al-Jahiz ( Arabic : الجاحظ , romanized : al-Jāḥiẓ , lit. ' the bug eyed ' ), was an Arab polymath and author of works of literature (including theory and criticism), theology , zoology , philosophy , grammar, dialectics, rhetoric , philology , linguistics , and politico-religious polemics . His extensive zoological work has been credited with describing principles related to natural selection , ethology , and the functions of an ecosystem. Ibn al-Nadim lists nearly 140 titles attributed to al-Jahiz, of which 75 are extant. The best known are Kitāb al-Ḥayawān (The Book of Animals), a seven-part compendium on an array of subjects with animals as their point of departure; Kitāb al-Bayān wa-l-tabyīn (The Book of Eloquence and Exposition), a wide-ranging work on human communication; and Kitāb al-Bukhalāʾ (The Book of Misers), a collection of anecdotes on stinginess. Tradition claims that he was smothered to death when a vast amount of books fell over him.