An-Nadhar bin Syamil (740–818)
Born 740 CE, died 818 CE.
Abu ʾl-Ḥasan al-Naḍr ibn Shumayl ibn Kharasha al-Māzinī al-Tamīmī (Arabic: أبو الحسن النضر بن شميل بن خرشة المازني التميمي; 740–819/820) was an Arab scholar and poet from central Asia active in Iraq. Al-Naḍr belonged to the Banū Māzin branch of the Banū Tamīm. He was born in Marw al-Rūdh, but raised in Baṣra, where he spent most of his life. He lived for some years—forty, according to tradition—among the Bedouin, from whom he gained a mastery of Arabic. In Baṣra, al-Naḍr studied ḥadīth, fiqh, grammar, lexicography and the history of the Arabs. He studied under al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad and wrote an introduction to Khalīl's Kitāb al-ʿAyn. Unable to make a living off his extensive education in Baṣra, he moved to Marw al-Shāhijān. Tradition records that a large number of scholars—700 or even 3,000—went to see him off at the Mirbad in order to persuade him to stay, but when they would not personally guarantee him even an extremely modest living he left. His contemporary, Abū ʿUbayda, included this incident in his book on the mathālib (vices) of the Arabs. In Marw, al-Naḍr became a qāḍī (judge) and helped establish the sunna (Islamic custom) throughout Khorasan.
Text from the Wikipedia article Al-Nadr_ibn_Shumayl, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.