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Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition

al- azwn
(1,532 words)

( K H AB DIMASH ), D JALL AL -DN AB ABD ALLH MUAMMAD B. ABD AL -RAMN B. UMAR (666-739/12681338), Chief , in Syria and Egypt and author of two famous compendiums on rhetoric.
Almost nothing is known about his early life. Most biographers mention that he was born in
Mosul and that his elder brother, Imm al-Dn Umar, was born in Tabrz in 653/1255. If it is
true that the two brothers were related to Abd al-Karm al-Rfi (d. 623/1266; see
Brockelmann, I, 393, S I, 678), as is reported by Abu l-Fid, al-Mukh taar f akh br al-bash ar
(Cairo 1325 ?), iv, 129 (cf. a quotation from al-Rfi by azwn in Subk, abat al-sh fiiyya ,
Cairo 1324/1906, v, 124, and a note on the nisba al-Rfi in al-Asnaw, abat al-sh fiiyya,
Bag h dd 1390/1970, i, 572), the nisba al-azwn is explained. azwn himself claimed
descent from Ab Dulaf al-Id jl [q.v.] (cf. afad, al-Wf bi-l-wafayt , ed. Dedering, iii,
Damascus 1953, 243; afad probably knew azwn personally, since he held an id j za from
him and praised him in a poem quoted by Subk, abat , v, 239) and this claim is often
reported in biographies, either explicitly or as part of the genealogy of azwn, though it
cannot be proved (see Malb, 99-101). Unfortunately, these biographies do not mention when
and under what circumstances azwns family left their native town and give no details on
the intellectual background of azwns father, who was his first teacher (Yfi, Mirt alzamn , Hyderabad 1337/1918-9, iv, 301, asserts that both his father and his grandfather held the
rank of Chief ; cf. also Ibn ln, ut Dimash , ed. . Munad jd ji d, Damascus 1956, 82,
ll. 8-10, 87, ll. 14-16), or the studies of rhetoric he might have pursued at an early age. Since the
Asrr al-balg h a and the Dalil al-id j z of Abd al-hir al- jurd j n (d. 471/1078) were

inaccessible to some scholars even in the Middle Ages, it would be interesting to know where
azwn studied these two books, and whether he might possibly have composed the Talkh
and the , before coming to Damascus.
Some biographers assert that azwn held a position as in a district of Anatolia when he
was about twenty years old (this prompts Ibn Tag h rbird to raise the question whether
azwn originally followed the Sh fi mad h hab ; see Malb, 107-8) and that he was already
an accomplished scholar when he and his brother came to Damascus in or before 689/1290
(the date after 690 given by Ibn Kath r, al-Bidya , Cairo 1351/1932, xiv, 185, cannot be correct;
see Malb, 108). His teachers, the most important of whom was Alam al-Dn al-Birzl [q.v.],
appear to have been interested mostly in fih , adth , logic, and the ilm al-awil , and there
are no indications that azwn owed his interest in rhetoric to any of them (Malb, 114-16).
Apart from the two books he wrote on this subject, there is some further evidence of his
talents as a man of letters: he is reported to have encouraged the study of adab through his
lectures and to have composed an anthology of the poetry of Arrad j n [q.v.]. Ibn al- (
Durrat al-id j l , Cairo 1390/1970, ii, 115) mentions a commentary on the Tiyya of Ibn al-Fri
by him, and alash and ( ub al-ash , i, 469) cites a commentary on a didactic poem on
prosody by Sw (d. 749/1348; see Brockelmann, S II, 258). Bah al-Dn al-Subk [q.v.] held an
id j za for the Talkh al-mift from azwn (see Nuaym, al-Dris f trkh al-madris ,
Damascus 1367/1948, i, 38-9) and Suy prided himself on possessing an autograph of this
book (azwns handwriting was famous), on which he based his urd jza (the Ud ald jumn ; see the ed. published in Cairo in 1358/1939, 3, and Suy, Bug h ya , Cairo 1326/1908-9,
66). Other indications of his literary talents come from a tar by him on a work by D jaml al
-Dn b. Nubta [q.v.] and the praise bestowed by biographers and poets on his eloquence (see
Malb, 116-8, 139-52), which may have earned him the title K h ab Dimash (Taftzn, alSh ar al-muawwal , Istanbul 1330/1911-2, 3; ad jd j K h alfa, i, 210; Mehren, 7; this title does not
appear as part of his name in any of the biographies known to the author of this article though
the fact that he held the office of K h ab is mentioned). Some assert that azwn knew
Persian and Turkish in addition to Arabic. His competence in fih was, according to Ibn alImd ( Sh adhart , vi, 123), reflected in a work on the ul .
In sharp contrast to the scarcity of information on azwns early career, and the isolated data
on his activities as a man of letters, are the many details on his official career, the most
important of which are the following: He held various teaching positions and deputised for his
brother (who had been appointed in 696/1297) and Nad jm
al-Dn b. ar [q.v.] in
705/1305, and became K h ab and imm of the Mosque of the Umayyads in 706/1307, and
Chief and of the Army of Syria in 724/1324, having received the appointment in

person from the Mamlk sultan al-Nir during a visit to Cairo (in 711/1311 he had
distinguished himself by his personal courage in resisting the imposition of heavy taxes by one
of al-Nirs lieutenants, but this opposition had apparently not met with disfavour from alNir, who had his lieutenant imprisoned; see Ibn ad ja r, al-Durar al-kmina , iii, Hyderabad
1373/1954, 235-6). Soon afterwards, in 727/1327, he was appointed Chief in Cairo,
succeeding Badr al-Dn Ibn D jama [q.v.]. This appointment marked the height of his career.
No , was said to have gained an influence over a Turkish ruler comparable to azwns.
Unfortunately azwns position was adversely influenced by the dissolute life of his sons,
who were charged with corruption. In the end al-Nir was unable to ignore the numerous
complaints (Marz, Sulk , ed. M. Ziyda, Cairo 1941, ii/2, 439-42; according to Ibn ad ja r, alDurar , iv, Hyderabad 1350/1931, 4, he had been advised of these complaints as early as 724)
and felt himself compelled to dismiss azwn and appoint him to his former position in
Damascus, where he died soon afterwards on 15 D jumd I 739/30 November 1338.
Of azwns writings only the Talkh al-mift and the f ulm al-balg h a appear to
have survived. The Talkh is a digest of the third section of the Mift al-ulm by Sakkk
[q.v.], which in turn is based on the Asrr al-balg h a and the Dalil al-id j z of Abd al-hir
al-D jurd j n [see ISTIRA ]. The is an enlarged version of the Talkh . Both works, though
not free from dryness and some casuistry, gained wide circulation, as is evidenced by the
numerous manuscripts and commentaries that have come down to us; and their popularity to
this day is shown by the existence of various printed editions (lists of manuscripts, printed
editions, and commentaries in manuscript or in print in d jd j K h alfa. 210-11, 473-9;
Brockelmann, II, 22, S II, 15; Malb, 169-82; 184-90). They completely superseded not only the
two books by D jurd j n, but also the work by Sakkk. At the same time, however, they secured
a firm place for the methodical approach that had been initiated by these two authors and
influenced the older, unsystematic method of discussing literary theory in collections of
chapters on the figures of speech ( bad ) which continued to be practised. The main
differences between the presentation of azwn and that of Sakkk are: (a) azwns
classification of the mad j z al as part of the ilm al-man (see Mehren, 30; Sakkk
classifies this group of figures under the ilm al-bayn ); (b) the addition of a section on the
bad clearly distinguished from the sections on the ilm al-man (based on jurd j ns Dalil
) and the ilm al-bayn (based on D jurd j ns Asrr ; Sakkk in dealing with these figures only
speaks of special methods frequently used for the purpose of embellishing a literary
composition); (c) the addition of chapters on saria , ibtid , takh allu , and intih [qq.v.].
azwn also consulted and discussed the two books by Abd al-hir al- jurd j n and the
Kash sh f of Zamakh sh ar, and borrowed from some of his other predecessors, often without
acknowledging his borrowings (Malb, 191-243). The oldest manuscript of the Talkh carried

the date 724 (Malb, 164). The , which was intended as a supplement to the Talkh ,
cannot have been written before the Talkh , but nothing further is known about the date of
composition of these books or the circumstances under which they were written.
(S.A. Bonebakker)

Bibliography
Biographies appear in all the chronicles and collections of biographies dealing with the end of
the 7th/13th and the 8th/14th centuries. The most important have been quoted in the article,
but reference should also be made to ash kprzde, Mift al-sada, Cairo 1968, i, 209-10.
Abstracts from the Talkh in A. F. Mehren, Die Rhetorik der Araber, Copenhagen-Vienna 1853
commentaries in Sh ur al-talkh , Cairo 1937. The only detailed study of azwn and his
work is A. Malb, al-azwn wa-sh ur al-talkh , Baghdad 1387/1967
see also the introduction to H. Ritters ed. of jurd j ns Asrr al-balg h a, Istanbul 1954, 6-7.
Cite this page
Bonebakker, S.A., al-azwn, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P.
Heinrichs. Consulted online on 06 January 2017 <http://dx.doi.org.proxy3.library.mcgill.ca/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_4091>
First published online: 2012
First print edition: ISBN: 9789004161214, 1960-2007