Abū Zayd al-Anṣārī was a lexicographer and grammarian of the Arabic language who lived and worked in Basra, Iraq. A lifelong bachelor, his ascetic lifestyle was softened by a jovial demeanor. There was in his day no scholar of note who did not study under him, or under whom he did not study, and he conducted his own fieldwork, interviewing speakers of select tribal dialects in their Central Arabian redoubts. He was not, per se, a writer, but a teacher whose lectures on linguistic matters were much sought out and copied down as books by later generations of students. Of some forty-five recorded titles, six by Abū Zayd have survived to the present day; and of these, the Book of Rain is the first to be translated into any language. Abū Zayd died in Basra circa 830 CE, at the age of ninety-five.

(pictured left: Old Mosque of Basra, photographer unknown)