Al-Hassan ibn Abdullah ibn Sahl is better known as Abu Hilal Al-Askari, mainly to distinguish him from his maternal uncle who, according to Yaqoot, the scholars’ bibliographer, shares with him his own and his father’s names.
His uncle is, therefore, known as Abu Ahmad Al-Askari. Both uncle and nephew were scholars and the uncle was one of the teachers of his nephew. The uncle was a highly reputed scholar of Fiqh, language and literature.
He is described by many biographers as a scholar of high standing, whose circle was attended by many eminent scholars who sought to read under him. Since the family relationship between the two is not mentioned by other scholars, we cannot confirm it with absolute certainty. But what is certain is that Abu Hilal Al-Askari was taught a great deal by Abu Ahmad. The student was later to excel in poetry and literature. He earned wide reputation that equalled that of his teacher.
Abu Hilal Al-Askari was an excellent poet and that could have earned him a good living, if he were to use his poetic talent to praise some of the people of influence, or political figures, but he disdained such a pursuit.
He preferred to earn his living by his own efforts. He had a small business of his own, selling clothes. He certainly did not like having to be in the market place every day, stating that in his poetry. However, he preferred that to seeking rich people’s gifts and generosity. In this he was one of many scholars who preferred to earn their living by their own efforts. What further distinguishes Abu Hilal Al-Askari is the fact that he was a friend of As-Sahib ibn Abbad, a minister who adored literature and poetry and was a scholar and an author in his own right. Ibn Abbad was very generous with his gifts which he gave to a large number of scholars and literary figures.
However, Abu Hilal Al-Askari did not try to make use of his friendship to acquire any wealth or position.
Abu Hilal Al-Askari wrote a large number of books, most of which either have been lost or remain in manuscript. Of his published book, perhaps the most important is the one known as Al-Furooq, or ‘The Differences’. It has been published several times under different names, one describes it as ‘Linguistic Differences’, and another as ‘The Difference in Meaning’. A new edition of it was published in 1994 in Lebanon under the first title, which is more accurate than its predecessors.
The book is of great importance. It is unique in its subject matter, which was never tackled by any earlier scholar of Arabic. What the book is concerned with is drawing distinctive shades of meaning between synonyms.
The author says in his introduction: “I have written this book, including in it only what is necessary, without going into too many details or glossing over any important feature. I have limited it to what occurs in God’s book, the Qur’an, and what is frequently used by scholars of Fiqh and theology and in scholarly debate.”
Many scholars have talked about synonyms, some acknowledging that the same meaning could be expressed by two or more words, which are interchangeable and can replace each other in all senses. However, some scholars deny the whole concept of synonym and insist that there are distinctions in sense and meaning between words, even when they appear to denote the same meaning or the same concept.
Abu Hilal Al-Askari belonged to this latter group, and he was perhaps the most outspoken advocate of the concept saying that each word in the language has its distinctive features. Indeed one purpose for his writing this book is to prove this thesis. He says in his introduction: “What proves the fact that different terms and names necessarily mean different things is that a name means what it points to. When something has been pointed out once, a second or a third pointing out of the same thing is of no use. Language does not include what is useless... It is not possible that the same term means two different things, and in the same way, it is not possible, as many linguists have mistakenly thought, that two different terms should have exactly the same meaning.”
The book is a treasure of great value. It distinguishes terms which have been long thought to mean exactly the same meaning, and which have always been used interchangeably. Thus it is highly important to anyone who wishes to excel in Arabic and use its vocabulary in a discerning way.
If this book tells us something about the breadth of Abu Hilal Al-Askari’s linguistic knowledge, we should mention that as a scholar of the fourth century of the Islamic era, he had to be encyclopedic in his knowledge.
That was a period which was full of great scholars of high achievement in a variety of disciplines. Only a scholar with high aptitude and tireless endeavor could aspire to a position of distinction. Abu Hilal Al-Askari was one such scholar. This is evident in the large number of books he has written. One of his books is a commentary on the Qur’an, of which we know that two manuscripts exist in the libraries of Mashhad and Tehran. However, only a few of his books have been published.
A book of his that has been published more than once is Jamharat al-Amthal, which is a dictionary of Arabic proverbs. It includes no less than 2000 entries, each of which is explained in full. The book also includes several hundred proverbs that occur in his commentary on his entries. These are distinguished from the rest of his explanations. The author also refers to works that were written earlier in this field, but does not include what is not of sound Arabic origin. This means that he discards hundreds of proverbs which use the comparative form to exaggerate a particular case or condition. The book has been edited by two contemporary scholars and published recently in Beirut, Lebanon.
We have mentioned that Abu Hilal Al-Askari belonged to the fourth century of the Islamic era, but his year of birth is unknown. No one of the scholars’ bibliographers mentions when he was born. But it is well documented that he was born in the town of Askar Mukram in the Khuzstan province in south Iran.
In fact the year of his death is not known for certain. However, he mentions at the end of one of his books that he completed it in the month of Shaaban of year 395 A.H. Scholars differ with regard to the exact date of his death, but most probably it occurred around the year 400, which corresponds to A.D. 1010. May God bless his soul.
