Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi was an influential Arab scholar born in 718 CE in Oman. He is best known for his contributions to linguistics, particularly in the study of the Arabic language. Al-Farahidi is credited with creating the first Arabic dictionary, called Kitab al-Ayn, which organized words based on their roots and meanings. In addition to his work in linguistics, al-Farahidi made significant contributions to prosody, the study of poetic meter. He developed a system for analyzing Arabic poetry, which helped standardize the rules of verse. His pioneering efforts laid the groundwork for future scholars in both linguistics and literature.