Firuzabadi
Firuzabadi (from Firuzabad; 1329–1414), whose proper name was Abu 'l-Ṭāhir Muḥammad ib Yaʿqūb ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Majd al-Dīn al-Shāfiʿī al-Shīrāzī, was a Persian Sunni Muslim polymath. He excelled in hadith, grammar, philology, history, literature, poetry and Islamic jurisprudence. He was a revered narrator and preserver of Prophetic traditions.
Also recorded as al-Fayrūzabādī · el-Fīrūz Abādī
Firuzabadi

Firuzabadi · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
- Occupation
- Polymath, Lexicographer, Linguist, Traditionist, Litterateur, Historian
- Name
- al-Firuzabadi
- Born
- 1329 CE
- Birthplace
- Kazerun, Iran
- Died
- 1414
- Place of death
- Zabid, Yemen
- Teachers
- Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya · Taqi al-Din al-Subki · Ibn Nubata · Muḥammad Ibn-Ibrāhīm Ibn-Ǧamāʿa
- Known for
- Al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ · al-Bulghah fī tarājim aʼimmat al-naḥw wa-al-lughah
- Languages
- Arabic · Persian
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Firuzabadi (from Firuzabad; 1329–1414), whose proper name was Abu 'l-Ṭāhir Muḥammad ib Yaʿqūb ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Majd al-Dīn al-Shāfiʿī al-Shīrāzī, was a Persian Sunni Muslim polymath. He excelled in hadith, grammar, philology, history, literature, poetry and Islamic jurisprudence. He was a revered narrator and preserver of Prophetic traditions.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q4115262 · wikipedia · Firuzabadi
In this article
Biography
Biography
Regarded as a major linguist and one of the prominent scholars of the 15th century. He was one of the leading lexicographers in the medieval Islamic world. He was the compiler of Al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ "The Encompassing Ōkeanós", a comprehensive Arabic dictionary which, for nearly five centuries, was one of the most widely used.
Training under Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Taqi al-Din al-Subki and Ibn Nubata is recorded. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani is recorded as having studied under Firuzabadi. The recorded working language is Arabic and Persian. Works named in the authority record are Al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ and al-Bulghah fī tarājim aʼimmat al-naḥw wa-al-lughah.

Al-Qāmūs al-muḥīṭ, Vol. 4 book cover
Firuzabadi · Wikimedia Commons

Al-Qāmūs al-muḥīṭ, Vol. 2 book cover
Firuzabadi · Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
Key facts
• Religion — Islam • Occupation — Polymath, Lexicographer, Linguist, Traditionist, Litterateur, Historian • Era — Middle Ages • Honorific Prefix — Imam • Name — al-Firuzabadi • Native Name — الفيروزآبادي • Title — Majd al-Din Al-Ḥāfiẓ • Born — 1329 CE • Birthplace — Kazerun, Iran • Died — 1414 • Place of death — Zabid, Yemen • Region — Middle East • Denomination — Sunni • Jurisprudence — Shafi'i • Creed — Ash'ari • Main Interests — Lexicography, Linguistic, Arabic grammar, Philology, Arabic literature, Hadith, History, Islamic jurisprudence, Poetry • Notable Works — Al-Qamus al-Muhit • Influences — Al-Shafi'i Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari Ibn Manzur Taqi al-Din al-Subki Salah al-Din al-Ala'i • Influenced — Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani Murtada al-Zabidi
Name
Name
Known simply as Muḥammad ibn Ya'qūb al-Fīrūzābādī (محمد بن يعقوب الفيروزآبادي), his nisbas "al-Shīrāzī" and "al-Fīrūzābādī" refer to the cities of Shiraz (located near Kazerun, his place of birth) and Firuzabad (his father's hometown) in Fars, Persia, respectively.
Lineage
Lineage
Al-Furazabadi claims to be a descendent of Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi and ultimately from Abu Bakr, one of the famous Companions of the Prophet.
Life
Life
Al-Firuzabadi was born in Kazerun, Fars, Persia in the year 729/1328. In his hometown of Karzin, Al-Firuzabadi received his early schooling from his father. Al-Furazabadi memorized the Quran at the age of seven and studied Quranic recitation, Hadith, Arabic grammar, and literature in the scholarly hubs of Shiraz, Wasit, and Baghdad during the year (735-50/1336-49). Al-Firuzabadi's early professors included Muhammad b. Yusuf al-Zaradni (d. 747/1346) and 'Umar b. Ali al-Qazwini (d. 750/1349). Al-Firuzabadi studied under the major Shafi'i ulama Taqi al-Din al-Subki and his son Taj al-Din al-Subki in Damascus in 750/1349. He then travelled to Jerusalem, where he studied under prominent scholars of the day, including Salah al-Din al-Ala'i (d. 76/1359) and Taqi al-Din al-Kalkashandi (d. 821/1418). Additionally, he journeyed to Cairo and studied under al-Kalanisi (d. 765/1363), Izz al-Din Ibn Jama'ah (d. 767/1365), Ibn Hisham al-Ansari, and Ibn Nubata. However, he also taught Jamal al-Din al-Isnawi, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, and Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Aqil. Al-Firuzabadi travelled to Mecca in 770/1370 and remained there for fourteen years. He then spent the next five years in Delhi, India. He returned to Mecca and visited Baghdad and Shiraz one more tim (where he was received by Timur) and finally travelled to Yemen which took place in 796/1394. He spent fourteen months in Taiz in Yemen. In 1395, he was appointed chief qadi (judge) of Yemen by Al-Ashraf Umar II, who had summoned him from India a few years before to teach in his capital. Al-Ashraf's marriage to a daughter of Firūzābādī added to Firuzabadi's prestige and power in the royal court. In his latter years, Firūzābādī converted his house at Mecca, and appointed three teachers, to a school of Maliki law. Al-Firuzabadi died in the year 817/1414 in Zabid, Yemen.
Sufism and relations with Ibn Arabi
Sufism and relations with Ibn Arabi
Firuzabadi composed several poems lauding Ibn Arabi for his writings, including the "وما علي إن قلت معتقدي دع الجهول يظن العدل عدوانا". Ibn Arabi's works inspired Firūzābādī's intense interest in Sufism.
Selected works
Selected works
He was a prolific writer and wrote more than sixty books in the sciences of the Quran, Hadith, language, and other fields including: • ("The Surrounding Ocean "); his principal literary legacy is this voluminous dictionary, which amalgamates and supplements two great dictionaries; Al-Muhkam by Ibn Sida (d. 1066) and Al-ʿUbab (العباب الزاخر واللباب الفاخر) by al-Saghānī (d. 1252). Al-Saghānī's dictionary had itself supplemented the seminal medieval Arabic dictionary of Al-Jawharī (d. ca. 1008), titled al-Sihah. Firūzābādī also produced a concise simplified edition using a terse notation system and omitting grammatical examples of usage and some rarer definitions. The larger-print-two-volume concise dictionary proved much more popular than the vast Lisan al-Arab dictionary of Ibn Manzur (d. 1312) with its numerous quotations and usage examples. • Al-Bulghah fī tārīkh a'immat al-lughah (البلغة في تراجم أئمة النحو واللغة) (Damascus 1972, in Arabic). • Tabaqat Al-Hanafiyyah, a biography of Hanafi scholars. • Fath Al-Bari bi-Al-Sayl Al-Faseh Al-Jari, a commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari. • Basair Dhaw Al-Tamyeez fi Lata’if Al-Kitab Al-Aziz, a book on weak hadiths in four volumes. • Safar Al-Sa’adah, a Hadith book on the Prophetic biographies. • Adda Al-Ahkam fi Umdat Al-Ahkam by Al-Maqdisi • Al-Marqat Al-Wafiya fi Tabaqat Al-A’immah Al-Hanafiyyah • Al-Isharat ila Ma Fi Kutubul Al-Fiqh Min Al-Asma' Wa Al-Amaan Wa Al-Lughaat • Al-Lami' Al-Mu’allim Al-Ajab, Al-Jami' Bayn Al-Muhkam Wa Al-Abab in sixty volumes, and it was said that it was a hundred volumes, and he summarized it in (Al-Qamus Al-Muhit)
Identity
Identity
Indexed under Metal-Organic Frameworks: Synthesis and Applications, Catalytic C–H Functionalization Methods, Catalytic Cross-Coupling Reactions, Radioactive element chemistry and processing, Metal complexes synthesis and properties. Associated with Shiraz University, Ningxia University, College of Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University of Shiraz. Recorded as linguist, writer, poet, lexicographer and islamic jurist. Identity and origins. The authorities additionally record the headings al-Fayrūzabādī and el-Fīrūz Abādī. His recorded languages were Arabic and Persian. His recorded confession was Islam.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1329
Firuzabadi born at Kazerun.
1415
Firuzabadi died at Zabid.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Kazerun.
Birth place
Zabid.
Death place
Legacy
Al-Firuzabadi was the final authority in lexicographical history to cite his sources for each factual information he documented. There are around fifty references to the earlier lexicographical works in this collection. Al-Firuzabadi was so troubled by the requirements for a valid entry that he went so far as to enumerate the line of transmission from himself to Ibn Hajar, who obtained it verbally from al-Firuzabadi. Long after his passing, al-Firuzabadi's significant contribution to the evolution of lexicography in Egypt persisted. This was particularly the case for Hadith scholars in later times. But he wasn't by himself. Al-Sabban, who trained under al-Firuzabadi, likewise blended philological research with hadith study. Fakhr al-Din b. Muhammad Tuwayh was another writer who worked in lexicography and hadith during al-Firuzabadi's time. He wrote "Mama' al-Bahrayn wa Malta' al-Nitrayn," which was written to address the ambiguities in the Qur'an and Hadith.
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q4115262: Firuzabadi
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “Firuzabadi”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q4115262: FiruzabadiWikimedia Foundation
Verifiedreference work
Partially resolved
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
He trained under Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Taqi al-Din al-Subki, Ibn Nubata and Muḥammad Ibn-Ibrāhīm Ibn-Ǧamāʿa. Each of those relationships is stated by the authority record rather than inferred from style.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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