Muhammad bin Dawud al-Zahiri
Iraqi theologian and scholar (c. 868–909)
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Dawud al-Zahiri, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd al-Iṣbahānī, also known as Avendeath, was a medieval theologian and scholar of the Arabic language and Islamic law. He was one of the early propagators of his father Dawud al-Zahiri's method in jurisprudence, Zahirism.
Life
Youth and education
Ibn Dawud was born in Baghdad in the year 255 according to the Islamic calendar, corresponding roughly to the year 868 according to the Gregorian calendar. By the age of seven, he had memorized the entire Qur'an by heart. By the age of ten, he was already an exemplary student in the fields of Arabic grammar, lexicography, and Arabic literature under his teacher Niftawayh, himself a student of Ibn Dawud's father. Regarding the variant readings of the Qur'an, Ibn Dawud learned from Al-Duri, a student of Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala', one of the ten primary transmitters of the Qur'an. Ibn Dawud's classmate, Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, also learned the Qur'an from the same study circle in addition to having been a student of Ibn Dawud's father, suggesting a close relationship early on, despite their later rivalry.
Ibn Dawud's relationship with his father was complex. As a child, Ibn Dawud was bullied by other children, being given the name "poor little sparrow." When he complained to his father about the nickname, his father insisted that names of people and things are predestined by God; there was no reason to analyze the meaning of names to know that they had been established. His father then actually affirmed the nickname given by the other children, emphasizing that all things occur according to divine will.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3093345. VIAF identifies the subject as 96982185. The Library of Congress control number is n87840399. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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