Abu Al-Duqaish Al-A`raabi: His life, Narrations and Linguistic Views

Abstract

Many of the trustworthy Bedouins (Al-A`raab) whose language was transmitted and written down are still unknown to us; we only know their names or nicknames, and few anecdotes collected in some of the linguists' compilations and biographies. However, their narrations in general were scattered in books, and mostly reflect a brief overview of their language. Neither the Bedouins (Al-A`raab), nor their language attracted the researchers to address them individually in an  in-depth study, though they were the basic source on which linguists relied to collect the basics of the language and compile  an Arabic lexicon. This study considersAbu Al-Duqaish Al- Qanaani Al-Ghanawi as one of the most trustworthy renowned Bedouin (A`raabi) in his time, though many of his contemporary scholars did not know him.

 The study sheds light on unknown aspects of his life, introducing some of his salient narrators such as Al-Khaleel and Yoonus Bin Habeeb among others, and highlighting his varied narrations included in different language sources. Although his language narrations were rare, they show his established eloquence in both prose and poetry, which are most often cited by others. Again, these language narrations indicate a well-grounded knowledge of the Arabic language as revealed by his linguistic arguments and explanations placing him among the Bedouins (Al-A`raab) linguists.