Al-Zamakhshari's first pilgrimage and the hospitality of Ibn Wahhas, c. 513/1119

حجّة الزمخشري الأولى وضيافة ابن وهّاس، نحو ٥١٣هـ/١١١٩م

c. 1119 CE · c. 513 AH – c. 1121 CE · c. 515 AH

Mecca

On recovering, al-Zamakhshari visited Baghdad and debated with the Hanafi jurist Ahmad ibn Ali al-Damaghani and the grammarian al-Sharif Hibat Allah ibn al-Shajari. He then made the pilgrimage and was welcomed by the amir of Mecca, the Mu'tazili Zaydi man of letters Sharif Ali ibn Hamza ibn Wahhas, staying with him two years as a greatly honoured guest and visiting parts of Arabia and Yemen, before returning to Jurjaniyya, where the Khwarazmshahs Muhammad ibn Anushtakin (d. 521/1127) and his son Atsiz honoured him 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era
Region
Persia & Central Asia · Arabia
Review
Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

In time

111011201130 c.
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era · The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks

In space

Mecca

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Overview

On recovering, al-Zamakhshari visited Baghdad and debated with the Hanafi jurist Ahmad ibn Ali al-Damaghani and the grammarian al-Sharif Hibat Allah ibn al-Shajari. He then made the pilgrimage and was welcomed by the amir of Mecca, the Mu'tazili Zaydi man of letters Sharif Ali ibn Hamza ibn Wahhas, staying with him two years as a greatly honoured guest and visiting parts of Arabia and Yemen, before returning to Jurjaniyya, where the Khwarazmshahs Muhammad ibn Anushtakin (d. 521/1127) and his son Atsiz honoured him 1.

Connections

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Had participant
الزمخشري
Occurred at
Mecca

People and things also explored

Completion of al-Kashshaf at Mecca, 528/1133· Al-Zamakhshari's second journey to Mecca via Damascus, 526/1132· Dar al-Nadwa· The Kaaba· Al-Masjid Al-Haram· Idol worship in the Jahiliyya and its rites· The offices of Quraysh at Mecca· Restoration of the Abbasid Khutba in the Two Harams in 479

Sources

  1. Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes , vol. 12 p. 917-918
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Al-Zamakhshari's first pilgrimage and the hospitality of Ibn Wahhas, c. 513/1119”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/al-zamakhshari-mecca-first-513/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-01.

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Completion of al-Kashshaf at Mecca, 528/1133

During his second sojourn at Mecca, encouraged by his host Sharif Ibn Wahhas, al-Zamakhshari completed in two years his Qur'an commentary al-Kashshaf 'an haqa'iq al-tanzil, finishing it in 528/1133 — the work on which his fame chiefly rests. In it he explained the scripture's grammar, lexicography, rhetoric, variant readings and inimitability, drawing on early prose rather than transmitted exegesis, while its Mu'tazili interpretations provoked criticism among traditionalist Sunnis.