Ḥammād al-Rāwiya (Arabic: حماد الراوية, 'Ḥammād the transmitter') (Abu-l-Qasim Hammad ibn Abi Laila Sapur (or ibn Maisara)) (8th century), Iranian[1] scholar born in Kufa.
[4] He was reputed to be the most learned man of his time in regard to the "days of the Arabs" (i.e. their chief battles), their stories, poems, genealogies and dialects.
He was favoured by Yazid II and his successor Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, who brought him up from Iraq to Damascus.
[3] Arabian critics, however, say that in spite of his learning he lacked a true insight into the genius of the Arabic language, and that he made more than thirty—some say three hundred—mistakes of pronunciation in reciting the Qur'an.
No diwan of his is extant, though he composed verse of his own and probably a good deal of what he ascribed to earlier poets.