Quṭrub The Grammarian

Abū Alī Muḥammad ibn al-Mustanīr (), known as Quṭrub the Grammarian of al-Baṣrah, was a poet, a scientist, a scholar of Qur'anic exegesis (''tafsir'') and the leading philologist and linguist of his time. He wrote on a wide field of subjects and authored the first ''Kitāb al-Muthalath'' ('Ternary'), of which several later and extended versions were produced. He died in 821/22 (206 AH).

Life

Quṭrub the Grammarian, Abū ‘Alī Muḥammad ibn al-Mustanīr, known also as Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, or al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad; he studied under Sibawayh and the Baṣran philologists, rivals of the Kūfah school. Quṭrub, and later his son al-Ḥasan, taught the sons of Abū Dulaf al-Qāsim ibn Īsā.

Quṭrub was a native of Baṣrah and a ''mawlā'' (apprentice) of Salīm ibn Ziād. The polymath Muḥammad ibn Ḥabīb (d.859/860) quoted Quṭrub along with Ibn al-A‘rābī, Abū ‘Ubaydah, Abū al-Yaqẓān, et al, who were among the scholars of genealogy, historical tradition, language, poetry and the tribes. The '' ḥāfiẓ'' of Baghdād Hārūn Ibn ‘Alī al-Munajjim, of the famous Munajjim family, included verses by Quṭrub in his ''Kitāb al-Bārī''.

Works

Among his written books were:
* ''Ma’ānī al-Qur’ān'' () ‘Meaning of the Qur’ān’; (rhetorical figures of the Qur’ān)
* ''Kitāb al-Ishtiqāq'' () 'Derivations' (Etymology);
* ''Kitāb al-Qawāfī'' () (treatise on Rhymes);
* ''Kitāb al-Nawādir'' () 'Rare Forms' (book of anecdotes);
* ''Kitāb al-Azmina'' () 'Periods' (Seasons);
* ''Kitāb al-Muthalath'' () The Ternary ‘Triple’;
* ''Kitāb al-Farq'' () 'Distinguishing' (anthropological and zoological anatomical terms);
* ''Kitāb al-Aswāt'' () 'Voices' (Interjections);
* ''Kitāb al-Sifāt'' () 'Epithets' (Adjectives, Attributes);
* ''Kitāb al-‘Ilal fī al-Nahwī'' () 'The Weak Letters in Grammar';
* ''Kitāb al-Adhdād'' () 'Antonyms';
* ''Kitāb al-Khulq al-Faras'' () 'Nature of the Horse';
* ''Kitāb al-Khulq al-Insān'' () 'Nature of Man';
* ''Kitāb al-Khulq Gharīb al-Ḥadīth'' () 'Rare Expressions in the Ḥadīth';
* ''Kitāb al-Radd ‘alā ‘l-Mulhidīn fī Mutashābu ‘l-Qur’ān'' () 'Refutation of the Heretics, about the metaphorical (anthropomorphic) interpretations in the Qur’ān';
* ''Kitāb al-Hamza'' () 'The Letter Hamza';
* ''Kitāb al-Fa‘ala wa-Af‘ala'' () 'Verbs in First and Fourth Class';
* ''Kitāb I’rāb al-Qur’ān'' () 'Inflection (Declension) of the Qur’ān'.
* ''Kitāb fī al-Anwā’'' () 'Al-Anwā’'

Bibliography

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See also

*List of Arab scientists and scholars
*Encyclopædia Britannica Online

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quṭrub the Grammarian
821 deaths
Grammarians of Basra
9th-century linguists
9th-century philologists
9th-century scientists
9th-century writers
9th-century zoologists
Scholars from the Abbasid Caliphate