Al-Mubarrad

Who was Al-Mubarrad?

Mubarrad or Mobarrad, full name Abu Al-'Abbas Muhammad Ibn Yazid, was an Arab grammarian. After studying grammar in that city, he was called to the court of the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil at Samarra in 860. When the caliph was killed in 861, he went to Baghdad, remaining there most of his life as a teacher.

Al-Mubarrad became the leader of the Basran grammarians against the Kufan school. His judgment, however, was independent, as is shown by his attack on some points in the grammar of Sibawayh, the greatest writer of his own school. He died at Baghdad in 898.

His main work is the grammatical one known as the Al-Kamil, which has been edited by W. Wright, and published at Constantinople and Cairo. It was also edited more recently by Muhammad Dali. Two or three other works exist in manuscript; cf. C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, i.109.

Al-Mubarrad's writings are considered to be the first source recounting the story that Shahrbanu or Shahr Banu — eldest daughter of Yazdegerd III, the last Emperor of the Sassanid dynasty of Persia/Iran — had married Hussain ibn Ali, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson and the third Shia Imam and that she gave birth to Ali Zayn al Abidin.