al-Azhari (linguist)

Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Azhari al-Harawi (282-370H) was a major Arabic lexicographer from Herat (modern Afghanistan). His most important work, Tahdhib al-Lughah, is a 15-volume dictionary of classical Arabic drawing on the early works of al-Khalil, Ibn al-A'rabi, and others, with extensive attention to the roots and derivations of words. He had a remarkable life story: he was captured by the Qarmatians during a Hajj journey and spent years among the Bedouins, which deepened his knowledge of authentic spoken Arabic. His work remains an important reference for understanding classical and Quranic Arabic.