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    Abū Ḥayyān al-Ġarnāṭī: Andalusian Philological Learning in the Islamic East
    Makhlouf, Tarek ( 2022-06)
    Over the seventh/thirteenth century, Andalusian philological learning went from being virtually unknown in the mashriq to becoming the backbone of its pedagogical tradition. A generation of emigre Andalusian scholars in the mashriq slowly established the groundwork for Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati, the scholar who had the most substantial influence and was the capstone of this project. Abu Hayyan was born in Nasrid Granada in 654/1256 and passed away in Mamluk Cairo in 745/1344. The central question of this thesis is: How did philological knowledge flow through Abu Hayyan? Before answering this question, I argue that “philological discourses” is a more complete way of analysing the Arabic grammatical tradition than the prevailing “grammatical schools” category. Abu Hayyan's biography and intellectual lineage are examined to show that he was thoroughly Andalusian in his philological training. Abu Hayyan championed Andalusian philological learning by forming Andalusian scholarly communities in the mashriq, by forming Andalusian textual communities, and by adopting specifically Andalusian modes of philological thinking influenced primarily by Zahirism. Abu Hayyan formed Andalusian scholarly communities by preferring Andalusians or mashriqi students of Andalusians. Abu Hayyan formed Andalusian textual communities by choosing Andalusians as his main interlocutors, commenting on Andalusian books, and quoting Andalusians more copiously than their Mashriqi counterparts. Scholarly and textual communities amplified the presence and prestige of Andalusians in the mashriq. The thesis then moves on to look at issues of philological methodology. In the seventh/thirteenth century, Arabic philology in the mashriq leaned toward a science servicing theology and jurisprudence. Given the nature of these disciplines, mashriqi grammarians used a more theory-oriented approach. Because of local influences, Arabic philology in al-Andalus had veered towards a data-oriented approach. Andalusian philology retained its bias towards the literary sources of Arabic: the Qur'anic readings, Qur'anic exegesis, poetry, and literature. I analyse the influence of Zahirism on grammar by analysing Ibn Mada'’s Zahiri-inspired epistemological critique of grammarians in some depth. After comparing and contrasting Ibn Mada' and Abu Hayyan's Zahiri identities and methods, I discuss how Abu Hayyan implemented Zahirism in his work. Abu Hayyan's Zahirism can be seen through his positions on grammatical data, especially hadith and his use of non-Arabic languages. The thesis ends with Abu Hayyan's influence on the generation after him, showing how Andalusian philological learning became cemented in the near mashriq. At this point, the Arabic philological tradition bifurcates into an Andalusian data-oriented one, dominant in the Arab world and Africa, and a theory-oriented one, dominant in the Persianate world. Please note: The transliteration system has been modified here as the Thesis deposit system does not support characters with diacritics.