Al-Jahiz

Abu Uthman Amr ibn Bahr al-Kinani al-Basri (; ), commonly known as al-Jahiz (), was an Arabic polymath and author of works of literature (including theory and criticism), theology, zoology, philosophy, grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, philology, linguistics, and politico-religious polemics. His extensive zoological work has been credited with describing principles related to natural selection, ethology, and the functions of an ecosystem.

Ibn al-Nadim lists nearly 140 titles attributed to al-Jahiz, of which 75 are extant. The best known are ''Kitāb al-Ḥayawān'' (The book of the Animal), a seven-part compendium on an array of subjects with animals as their point of departure; ''Kitāb al-Bayān wa-l-tabyīn'' (The book of eloquence and exposition), a wide-ranging work on human communication; and ''Kitāb al-Bukhalāʾ'' (The book of misers), a collection of anecdotes on stinginess. Tradition claims that he was smothered to death when a vast amount of books fell over him. Provided by Wikipedia