The well-known linguist and scholar, Abu Turab Al-Dhahiry, died a few days ago at a time when the Arab world was embroiled in a Middle East crisis. I was informed of the great scholar’s death only two days later. In my mind I can picture him with all his personality traits, including the impressive way he spoke. The most outstanding feature of this wonderful man was his uncommonly deep knowledge of the Arabic language and grammar. He was a walking encyclopedia of millenniums-old Arabic expressions and usage. He was also equally well-versed in the fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and Hadith (the life and sayings of Prophet Muhammad, pbuh).
He always had a satisfactory reply to any difficult question related to Arabic. His quick answers without having to look in a reference book were always authoritative as well.
Once a group of young men — I was among them — were discussing the Arabic tendency to use a large number of synonyms for a word. In the course of the discussion, we argued about the number of synonyms for the noun lion. Some said that there were 40 while others said there were 50. Finally we decided to ask Abu Turab who surprised us when he recited to us 700 synonyms for the single word! This is just one of the hundreds of instances which prove his unique knowledge of the language.
His was a lovable and genial personality except where an issue related to the Arabic language was involved. He would never tolerate criticism or disfiguring of pure Arabic style. His friends Abdul Qaddus Al-Ansari and Ahmad Abdul Ghafour Attar were also linguistic hard-liners who took any attack on Arabic as a personal.
A peculiar characteristics of Abu Turab, who wrote more than 40 books, most of them on linguistics, was his penchant for rare and sometimes obsolete words and expressions. In this regard, he was like an archeologist who loved to display all his rare collections. A reader may not find some of the words he used in modern dictionaries. He used to send me a copy of each of his books as soon as it was published. Even the page devoted to the dedication in his books will be suggestive of his rare style. Both the titles and topics of his books reflected his extraordinary erudition.