Ibn Qutaybah

Muslim scholar Abū Muhammad Abd-Allāh ibn Muslim ibn Qutayba al-Dīnawarī al-Marwazī
Title	ibn Qutaybah
Born	828CE, 213 AH
Died	885CE, 276 AH
Era	Islamic golden age
Jurisprudence	Sunni
Main interest(s)	politics, history, Tafsir, Hadith, Kalam and Arabic literature
Notable work(s)	Training of the Secretary, `Uyun al-akhbar, Gharīb al-Qur’ān, etc

Ibn Qutaybah (828 – 885 CE / 213 – 276 AH)^[1] was a renowned Islamic^[2] scholar of Iranic (Persian^[3]^[4] or Kurdish^[5]) origin.

Biography

His full name is Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdullāh b. Muslim ibn Qutaybah ad-Dīnawarī. He was born in Kufa in what is now modern day Iraq. He was of Iranian descent; his father was from Merv. Having studied tradition and philology he became qadi in Dinawar, and afterwards a teacher in Baghdad, where he died. He was the first representative of the school of Baghdad philologists that succeeded the schools of Kufa and Basra.

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Legacy

He was viewed by Sunni Muslims as a hadith Master, foremost philologist, linguist, and man of letters.

English translation of his quotation on good government: There can be no government without an army, No army without money, No money without prosperity, And no prosperity without justice and good administration. ^[6]

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Works

Gharīb al-Qur'an also known as Mushkil al-Qur'an, on its lexical difficulties.
Al-Imama wa al-Siyasa,^[7] also known as Ta’rikh al-Khulafa’.
The Interpretation of Conflicting Narrations (Arabic: Ta’wīl Mukhtalif al-Hadīth)
Adab al-Kitāb.
al-Amwāl.
al-Anwā’.
al-‘Arab wa ‘Ulūmuhā on Arab intellectual history.
al-Ashriba on alcoholic beverages.
Dalā’il al-Nubuwwa or A‘lām al-Nubuwwa on the Proofs of Prophethood.
Fad.l al-‘Arab ‘alā al-‘Ajam in praise of the Arabs.
I‘rāb al-Qur’ān, a philological commentary.
al-Ikhtilāf fī al-Lafz. wa al-Radd ‘alā al-Jahmiyya wal-Mushabbiha, a refutation of both the Allegorizers and the Anthropomorphists. This slim volume received editions in Egypt.
al-Ishtiqāq.
Is.lāh. Ghalat. Abī ‘Ubayd, corrections on al-Qāsim ibn Salām’s Gharīb al-H.adīth.
Jāmi‘ al-Fiqh in jurisprudence, dispraised as unreliable by al-T.abarī and Ibn Surayj, as was Ibn Qutayba’s al-Amwāl.
Jāmi‘ al-Nah.w al-Kabīr and Jāmi‘ al-Nah.w al-S.aghīr.
al-Jarāthīm in linguistics.
al-Jawābāt al-H.ād.ira.
al-Ma‘ānī al-Kabīr.
al-Ma‘ārif, a slim volume that manages to cover topics from the beginning of creation and facts about the Jāhiliyya to the names of the Companions and famous jurists and h.adīth Masters.
al-Masā’il wal-Ajwiba.
al-Maysar wal-Qidāh. on dice and lots.
al-Na‘m wal-Bahā’im on cattle and livestock.
al-Nabāt in botany.
al-Qirā’āt in the canonical readings.
al-Radd ‘alā al-Qā’il bi Khalq al-Qur’ān, against those who assert the createdness of the Qur’an.
al-Radd ‘alā al-Shu‘aybiyya, a refutation of a sub-sect of the ‘Ajārida ‘At.awiyya, itself a sub-sect of the Khawārij.
al-Rah.l wal-Manzil.
Ta‘bīr al-Ru’yā on the interpretation of dreams.
Talqīn al-Muta‘allim min al-Nah.w in grammar.
‘Uyūn al-Akhbār in history.^[8]
‘Uyūn al-Shi‘r in poetry.
al-Shi‘r wal-Shu‘arā’

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Notes

^ Joseph T. Shipley, Encyclopedia of Literature, Volume 1 - Page 37
^ "Ibn Qutaybah". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
^ Rosenthal, Franz. "EBN QOTAYBA, ABŪ MOḤAMMAD ʿABD-ALLĀH". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 9 June 2012. "...he seems to refer, if the text is correctly understood, to his own Persian (ʿajam) descent and declares himself to be by nature not prejudiced for or against either Arabs or Persians. His father or family seems, indeed, to have come from Marv (hence the nesba Marvazī). He himself was, however, an eloquent spokesman for Arab civilization and in intellectual makeup was totally committed and assimilated to it"
^ Adamec, Ludwig W. (May 11, 2009). Historical Dictionary of Islam (Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies, and Movements Series) (Second Edition ed.). Scarecrow Press. p. 259. ISBN 0810861615. |accessdate= requires |url= (help)
^ R. Izady, Mehrdad (1991). The Kurds: a concise handbook.
^ The Economist, 24 May 08
^ alseraj
^ See: Luisa Arvide, Relatos, University of Almeria Press, Almeria 2004 (in Arabic and Spanish).

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References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.