Ma'mar ibn al-Muthanna

Abu ’Ubaida or Ubayda (Ma’mar ibn ul-Muthanna) (728–825) was a Muslim scholar. Born in Basra , he was a mawla (“client”) of a family from the Arab tribe of Quraish , and “was said, on dubious authority, to have been Jewish.” In his youth, he was a pupil of Abu ’Amr ibn al-’Ala , and in 803 he was called to Baghdad by the Caliph Harun al-Rashid . He died in Basra. He was one of the most learned and authoritative scholars of his time in all matters pertaining to the Arabic language , antiquities and stories, and is constantly cited by later authors and compilers. Al-Jahiz held him to be the most learned scholar in all branches of human knowledge, and Ibn Hisham accepted his interpretation even of passages in the Qur’an . The titles of 105 of his works are mentioned in the Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadim , and his Book of Days is the basis of parts of the history of Ibn al-Athir and of the Kitab al-Aghani of Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani , but nothing of his (except a song) seems to exist now in an independent form. He is often described as a Kharijite . This, however, is true only insofar as he denied the privileged position of the Arab people before God . He was, however, a strong supporter of the Shu’ubiyah movement, i.e., the movement which protested against the idea of the superiority of the Arab race over all others. This is especially seen in his satires on Arabs (which made him so hated that no man followed his bier when he died). He delighted in showing that words, fables, customs, etc., which the Arabs believed to be peculiarly their own, were derived from the Persians. In these matters he was the great rival of al-Asma’i . “Abū ʿUbayda Maʿmar b. al-Mut̲h̲annā.” Encyclopaedia of Islam. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P.

Abu ’Ubaida or Ubayda ( ) Ma’mar ibn ul-Muthanna (728–825) was an early Muslim scholar of Arabic philology. Abu Ubaida was a controversial figure; later scholar Ibn Qutaybah remarked that Abu Ubaida "hated Arabs," though his contemporaries still considered him perhaps the most well-rounded scholar of his age. Whether or not Abu Ubaida was truly a supporter of the Shu'ubiyya is a matter of debate. A Challenge to Islam for Reformation: The Rediscovery and Reliable Reconstruction of a Comprehensive Pre-Islamic Christian Hymnal Hidden in the Koran Under Earliest Islamic Reinterpretations , pg. 31. Volume 21 of Routledge library editions: Islam.

Abu Ubaida , Obaida , or Ubaydah ( ; ad 728–825) Ma’mar ibn ul-Muthanna was an early Muslim scholar of Arabic philology. Abu Ubaida was a controversial figure; later scholar Ibn Qutaybah remarked that Abu Ubaida "hated Arabs," though his contemporaries still considered him perhaps the most well-rounded scholar of his age. Whether or not Abu Ubaida was truly a supporter of the Shu'ubiyya is a matter of debate. A Challenge to Islam for Reformation: The Rediscovery and Reliable Reconstruction of a Comprehensive Pre-Islamic Christian Hymnal Hidden in the Koran Under Earliest Islamic Reinterpretations , pg. 31. Volume 21 of Routledge library editions: Islam.

Persian Arab grammarian and linguist (728–825) Abu Ubaida , Obaida , or Ubaydah ( ; AD 728–825) Ma’mar ibn ul-Muthanna-Abu al-Mukhtar Firas b. Khindif was an early Muslim scholar of Arabic philology. Abu Ubaida was a controversial figure; later scholar Ibn Qutaybah remarked that Abu Ubaida "hated Arabs," though his contemporaries still considered him perhaps the most well-rounded scholar of his age. Whether or not Abu Ubaida was truly a supporter of the Shu'ubiyya is a matter of debate. A Challenge to Islam for Reformation: The Rediscovery and Reliable Reconstruction of a Comprehensive Pre-Islamic Christian Hymnal Hidden in the Koran Under Earliest Islamic Reinterpretations , pg. 31. Volume 21 of Routledge library editions: Islam.

Persian Arab grammarian and linguist (728–825) Ma'mar ibn al-Muthanna (728–825) also known as Abu Ubayda ( Arabic : أبو عبيدة ) was an early Muslim scholar of Arabic philology. He was a controversial figure; later scholar Ibn Qutayba remarked that Abu Ubayda "hated Arabs," though his contemporaries still considered him perhaps the most well-rounded scholar of his age. Whether or not Abu Ubayda was truly a supporter of the Shu'ubiyya is a matter of debate. A Challenge to Islam for Reformation: The Rediscovery and Reliable Reconstruction of a Comprehensive Pre-Islamic Christian Hymnal Hidden in the Koran Under Earliest Islamic Reinterpretations , pg. 31. Volume 21 of Routledge library editions: Islam.