Hammad Ar-Rawiya

Background

Hammad was born in Kufa, Iraq. The date of his birth is given by some as 694 AD, by others as 714.

Career

Hammad Ar-Rawiya was reputed to be the most learned man of his time in regard to the "days of the Arabs" (i. e. their chief battles), their stories, poems, genealogies and dialects. He is said to have boasted that he could recite a hundred long qasidas for each letter of the alphabet (i. e. rhyming in each letter) and these all from pre-Islamic times, apart from shorter pieces and later verses. Hence his name Hammad ar-Rawiya, "the reciter of verses from memory. " The Omavyad caliph Walld is said to have tested him, the result being that he recited 2900 qasidas of pre-Islamic date and Walld gave him 100, 000 dirhems. He was favoured by Yazld II and his successor Hisham, who brought him up from Iraq to Damascus. Arabian critics, however, say that in spite of his learning he lacked a true insight into the genius of the Arabic language, and that he made more than thirty-some say three hundred-mistakes of pronunciation in reciting the Koran. To him is ascribed the collecting of the Mu'allaqat. No diwan of his is extant, though he composed verse of his own and probably a good deal of what he ascribed to earlier poets.

Achievements

• Hammad Ar-Rawiya was an Iranian scholar, known in his time as the most learned man.

References

• History of the Arabs: From the Earliest Times to the Present