Khalil ibn Ahmad

Who was Khalil ibn Ahmad?

Abu ‘Abd ar-Rahmān al-Khalīl ibn Ahmad ibn ‘Amr ibn Tammam al-Farāhīdī al-Azdi al-Yahmadi, more commonly known as Al-Farahidi or simply Al-Khalīl, was one of the earliest Arab lexicographers and philologists. His best known contributions are Kitab al-'Ayn regarded as the first dictionary of the Arabic language, the current standard for Harakat, and the invention al-'arud, musicology and metre. His study also formed the basis for prosody in the Persian, Turkish and Urdu languages as well. Al-Farahidi was considered the "shining star" of the Basran school of Arabic grammar and a legitimate polymath who was not only a scholar but a genuine man of original ideas.