Ḥammād al-Rāwiya (, 'Ḥammād the transmitter') (Abu-l-Qasim Hammad ibn Abi Laila Sapur (or ibn Maisara)) (8th century), Iranian scholar born in Kufa. He was of Daylamite origin. The date of his birth is given by some as 694 AD, by others as 714. He is considered the first person to have systematically collected Arabic poetry.
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 is said to have boasted that he could recite a hundred long 'qasidas for each letter of the alphabet (i.e. rhyming in each letter) and these all from pre-Islamic times, apart from shorter pieces and later verses. Hence his name Hammad ar-Rawiya, " the reciter of verses from memory."