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الحيوان #4

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Al-Jahiz

130 books157 followers
Al-Jāḥiẓ (Arabic: عمرو بن بحر الجاحظ)

Because of the caliphs' patronage and his eagerness to establish himself and reach a wider audience, al-Jāḥiẓ stayed in Baghdad (and later Samarra), where he wrote a huge number of his books. The caliph al-Ma'mun wanted al-Jāḥiẓ to teach his children, but then changed his mind when his children were frightened by al-Jāḥiẓ's goggle-eyes. This is said to be the origin of his nickname.

He enjoyed the patronage of al-Fath ibn Khaqan, the bibliophile boon companion of Caliph al-Mutawakkil, but after his murder in December 861 he left Samarra for his native Basra. He died there in late 868, according to one story, when a pile of books from his private library collapsed on him.

Most important books:
*Kitab al-Hayawan (Book of the Animals)
*Kitab al-Bukhala (Book of Misers) also (Avarice & the Avaricious)
*Kitab al-Bayan wa al-Tabyin (The Book of eloquence and demonstration)
*Risalat mufakharat al-sudan 'ala al-bidan (Treatise on Blacks)

Al-Jāḥiẓ returned to Basra with hemiplegia after spending more than fifty years in Baghdad. He died in Basra in the Arabic month of Muharram in AH 255/December 868-January 869 CE. His exact cause of death is not clear, but a popular assumption is that Jahiz died in his private library after one of many large piles of books fell on him, killing him instantly.

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