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Al-Kisā’ī () Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Ḥamzah ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Uthman (), called Bahman ibn Fīrūz (), surnamed Abū ‘Abd Allāh (), and Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Hamzah of al-Kūfah ( d. ca. 804 or 812) was preceptor to the sons of caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd and one of the ‘Seven Readers’ of the seven canonical
Qira'at In Islam, (pl. ; ) refers to the ways or fashions that the Quran, the holy book of Islam, is recited. More technically, the term designates the different linguistic, lexical, phonetic, morphological and syntactical forms permitted with rec ...
.Muhammad Ghoniem and MSM Saifullah
The Ten Readers & Their Transmitters
(c) Islamic Awareness. Updated January 8, 2002; accessed April 11, 2016.
He was a Persian and founded the Kufi school of Arabic grammar, the rival philology school to the Basri school founded by
Sibawayh Sibawayh ( (also pronounced in many modern dialects) ; ' ; ), whose full name is Abu Bishr Amr ibn Uthman ibn Qanbar al-Basri (, '), was a Persian leading grammarian of Basra and author of the Third book on Arabic grammar. His famous unname ...
.


Life

A
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
born in al-Kūfah, he learned grammar from al-Ru’āsī and a group of other scholars. It is said that al-Kisā’ī took this moniker from the particular kind of mantle he wore called a kisā’. Al-Kisā’ī entered the court of the Abbāsid
caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...
Hārūn al-Rashīd at Baghdād as tutor to the two princes, al-Ma’mūn and al-Amīn. His early biographer Al-Nadim relates Abū al-Ṭayyib's written account that Al-Rashīd held him in highest esteem. When the caliph moved the court to al-Rayy as the capital of Khurāsān, al-Kisā’ī moved there but subsequently became ill and died. During his illness al-Rashīd paid him regular visits and deeply mourned his death. It seems he died in 804 (189 AH) on the day that the hanīfah official of Al-Rashīd, Muḥammad al-Shaybānī also died. It is also said he shared his date of death with the judge Abū Yūsuf in 812 (197 AH). When al-Kisā’ī died al-Farrā' was elected to teach in his stead, according to the account of Ibn al-Kūfī.


Rival Schools

A famous anecdote relates a grammatical contest in
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
between the leaders of the two rival schools, with al-Kisā’ī representative of Al-Kufah, and
Sibawayh Sibawayh ( (also pronounced in many modern dialects) ; ' ; ), whose full name is Abu Bishr Amr ibn Uthman ibn Qanbar al-Basri (, '), was a Persian leading grammarian of Basra and author of the Third book on Arabic grammar. His famous unname ...
of the Baṣrans. The debate was organized by the
Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...
vizier A vizier (; ; ) is a high-ranking political advisor or Minister (government), minister in the Near East. The Abbasids, Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was at first merely a help ...
Yahya ibn Khalid, and became known as ''al-Mas'ala al-Zunburīyah'' (The Question of the Hornet). At issue was the Arabic phrase: كنتُ أظن أن العقربَ أشد لسعة من الزنبور فإذا هو هي\هو إياها ''I always thought that the scorpion is more painful than the hornet in its sting, and so it is'' (lit. translation).
Kees Versteegh Cornelis Henricus Maria "Kees" Versteegh (; born 1947) is a Dutch academic linguist. He served as a professor of Islamic studies and the Arabic language at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands until April 2011. Versteegh graduated fro ...
, ''The Arabic Linguistic Tradition'', pg. 64. Part of the ''Landmarks in Linguistic Thought'' series, vol. 3.
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
:
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, 1997.
At issue was the correct declension of the last word in the sentence. Sibawayh proposed:M.G. Carter, ''Sibawayhi'', pg. 13. London: I.B. Tauris, 2004.
''... fa-'ida huwa hiya'' (فإذا هو هي), literally ''... sure-enough he she''
meaning "so he (the scorpion, masc.) is she (the most painful one, fem.)"; In Arabic syntax the predicative copula of the verb ''to be'' or ''is'', has no direct analogue, and instead employs nominal inflexion. Al-Kisa'i argued the correct form is:
''... fa-'ida huwa 'iyyaha''(فإذا هو إياها), literally ''... sure-enough he her''
meaning "he is her". In Sibawayh's theoretical argument the accusative form can never be the predicate. However, when al-Kisa'i was supported in his assertion by four
Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...
-Desert Arab, whom he had supposedly bribed- that the correct form was ''huwa 'iyyaha'', his argument won the debate. Such was Sibawayh's bitterness in defeat, he left the court to return to his country where he died sometime later at a young age. Al-Kisa'i was accosted by one of Sibawayh's students after the fact and asked 100 grammatical questions, being proved wrong by the student each time. Upon being told the news about Sibawayh's death, al-Kisa'i approached the Caliph
Harun al-Rashid Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ar-Rāshīd (), or simply Hārūn ibn al-Mahdī (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Hārūn al-Rāshīd (), was the fifth Abbasid caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, reigning from September 786 unti ...
and requested that he be punished for having a share in "killing Sibawayh."al-Qāsim Ibn-ʻAlī al- Ḥarīrī, ''The Assemblies of Al Ḥarîri: 1: containing the first 26 assemblies'', vol. 1, pg. 499. Trns. Thomas Chenery. Williams and Norgate, 1867.


Legacy

Hishām ibn Mu'āwīyah and Yaḥya al-Farrā' were two notable students. The primary transmitters of his recitation method were Abū al-Ḥārith ibn Khālid al-Layth (d.845) and
Al-Duri Abu ‘Amr Hafs Ibn ‘Umar Ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Baghdadi, better known as Al-Duri (767-860 CE; 150-246 AH),Muhammad Ghoniem and MSM Saifullah (c) Islamic Awareness. Updated January 8, 2002; accessed April 11, 2016.Shady Hekmat NasserIbn Mujah ...
Al-Naqqāsh wrote ''Al-Kitāb al-Kisā’ī''.and Bakkār wrote ''The Reading of al- Kisā’ī''.


Works

Among his books there were: *''Kitāb Ma'ānī al-Qur'an'' () 'The Meaning of the Qur’an'; *''Kitāb Mukhtasar al-Nahw'' () 'Abridgment of Grammar'; *''Kitāb al-Qirā'āt'' () ' ur’ānicReadings'; *''Kitāb al'Adad'' () 'Numbers'; *''Kitāb al-Nawādir al-Kabīr'' () 'Book of Great Anecdotes'; *''Kitāb al-Nawādir al-Awsat''() 'Book of Medium Anecdotes'; *''Kitāb al-Nawādir al-Asghir'' () 'Book of Small Anecdotes'; *''Kitāb al-Maqtu' wa-Mawsulahu'' () 'Terminations and Connections in the Qur’ān'; *''Kitāb Ikhtilāf al-'Adad'' () 'Disagreement or Discrepancies of Numbers'; *''Kitāb al-Hija'' () 'Spelling'; *''Kitāb al-Masādir'' () 'Nouns'; *''Kitāb Ash'ār al-Mu'āyāh wa-Tarā'iqiha'' () 'Poems of Contention and Their Forms'; *''Kitāb al-Hā'āt al-Makani biha fi al-Qur'an'' () 'Forms of Surnames in the Qur’an'; *''Kitāb al-Huruf'' () 'Letters'. Al-Kisā’ī composed ten leaves of poetry.


See also

*
List of Arab scientists and scholars Arab scientists and scholars from the Muslim World, including Al-Andalus (Spain), who lived from antiquity up until the beginning of the modern age, include the following. The list consists primarily of scholars during the Middle Ages. Both th ...
*
Encyclopædia Britannica Online An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by artic ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kisai 9th-century deaths 8th-century linguists 8th-century philologists 8th-century scholars Arabic language Grammarians of Kufa Philologists of Arabic Scholars from the Abbasid Caliphate Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam 8th-century Iranian people 9th-century Iranian people Grammarians from Iran Iranian scholars