Al-Jurjānī was influenced by his predecessors such as the grammarian Sibawayh, the critic Abi Helal al-'Askari al Balaghi, and the linguist and literary theorist Abu Ali al-Farisi, known for his book al-Idah (Elucidation).
Some grammarians (such as Sibawayh) argue that it is an abbreviation of يا الله أمّ بخير (yā allāhu ʾumm bi-khayr) (with the meaning of "O God, bestow (on us) goodness"); others have argued without explanation that the suffix ـ هُمَّ (-humma) takes the place of yā (O).
Among Christian and Islamic Arabic manuscripts are treatises on medicine, a unique 11th-century diwan of poets, and the oldest copy of the Kitab Sibawahaihi.
Sibawayh |