Abu al-Khaṭṭāb ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn ʻAbd al-Majīd (Arabic: أبو الخطاب عبد الحميد بن عبد المجيد; died 177 AH/793 CE),[1] commonly known as Al-Akhfash al-Akbar (Arabic: الأخفش الأكبر) was an Arab[2] grammarian who lived in Basra and associated with the method of Arabic grammar of its linguists, and was a client of the Qais tribe.[3]
His most notable students were: Sibawayh,[4][5][6] Yunus ibn Habib,[5][7] Abu ʿUbaidah, Abu Zayd al-Ansari and Al-Asma'i. Al-Akhfash revised his student Sibawayh's famous Kitab, the first book ever written on Arabic grammar, and was responsible for circulating the first manuscripts after his student's untimely death.[8] Al-Akhfash was also one of the first linguists to contribute significantly to commentary and analysis of Arabic poetry.[3] Additionally, he contributed to Arabic philology as well as lexicography, recording vocabulary and expressions of the Bedouin tribes which had not previously been recorded.[9]