Abu Abdullah Harun ibn Musa al-'Ataki al-A'war (d. 170AH/786AD) was an early convert from Judaism to Islam and a scholar of the Arabic language and Islamic studies.M.G. Carter, Sibawayh, pg. 21. Part of the Makers of Islamic Civilization series. London: I.B. Tauris, 2004. He converted while living among the Azd tribe, and was later attributed to the tribe.Ignác Goldziher, Schools of Koranic commentators, pg. 26. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006. He was affiliated with the Basran school of Arabic grammar. A specialist in lexicography, al-A'war contributed significantly to the study of Qira'at, or variant readings of the Qur'an,Monique Bernards, "Pioneers of Arabic Language Studies." Taken from In the Shadow of Arabic: The Centrality of Language to Arabic Culture, pg. 214. Ed. Bilal Orfali. Volume 63 of Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2011. and is the first formal compiler of the different recitation styles.Michael M. J. Fischer and Mehdi Abedi, Debating Muslims: Cultural Dialogues in Postmodernity and Tradition, pg. 20. Part of the New Directions in Anthropological Writing series. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990. Michael M. J. Fischer and Mehdi Abedi, "Qur'anic Dialogics: Islamic Poetics and Politics for Muslims and Us." Taken from The Interpretation of Dialogue, Volume 0, Issues 226-50436, pg. 129. Ed. Tulio Maranhao. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990. Frederick M. Denny, "Exegesis and Recitation." Taken from Transitions and Transformations in the History of Religions: Essays in Honor, pg. 117. Eds. Joseph Mitsuo Kitagawa, Frank E. Reynolds and Theodore M. Ludwig. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1980. Salo Wittmayer Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Jews: High Middle Ages, 500-1200, pg. 243. Volume 6 of A Social and Religious History of the Jews. New York City: Columbia University Press, 1958. His most active period, during which his work was marked by new developments in lexicographical studies concerning the Qur'an, was from 752 until his death.Monique Bernards, Pioneers, pg. 209.
Ibn Musa was also one of the seven teachers of Sibawayh, the ethnically Persian father of Arabic grammar, though like other Qur'an readers he was quoted by Sibawayhi less frequently than pure grammarians, with only five quotes in the infamous Kitab.Kees Versteegh, Arabic Grammar and Qurʼānic Exegesis in Early Islam, pg. 161. Volume 19 of Studies in Semitic languages and linguistics. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1993. Additionally, he was a student of Ibn Abi Ishaq and Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala'.
Bibliography Nāṣir ibn Muḥammad Mani', Hārūn ibn Mūsá al-A‘war, manzilatuhu wa-āthāruhu fī ‘ilm al-qirā’āt. Riyadh: Dār Kunūz Ishbīlyā lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzī‘, 2008. 1st ed.Hārūn ibn Mūsá al-A‘war, manzilatuhu wa-āthāruhu fī ‘ilm al-qirā’āt at Arabic Bookshop.
See also List of converts to Islam List of converts to Islam from Judaism
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