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', [al.dʒaː.ħɪðˤ]), was an Arab Muslim theologian, intellectual, and litterateur known for his individual Arabic prose. A polymath who lived during the Abbasid Caliphate, he was the 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.
From about 815 CE, he rose to become one of the literary figures around the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833 CE). Although he held no official posts, he received funding from several Abbasid prime ministers, while also working as a scribe and a teacher. Al-Jahiz was part of the rationalist Mu'tazilite school of theology supported by al-Ma'mun and his two successors, Al-Mu'tasim (r. 833-842 CE) and Al-Wathiq (r.
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