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{{Short description|8th-century founder of Kufi school of Arabic grammar}}
{{about|the Qur'an transmitter ʿAlī al-Kisāʾī (d. 189/804)|Muḥammad al-Kisāʾī (ca. 1100 CE) who wrote a work on Stories of the Prophets (Qiṣaṣ al-'Anbiyā')|Muḥammad al-Kisāʾī}}
{{for|the scholar of c. 1100 CE|Muḥammad al-Kisāʾī}}
{{Islam}}
{{distinguish|Kisai Marvazi}}
Abu al-Hasan, ‘Ali Ibn Hamzah al-Asadi, better known as '''Al-Kisa'i''' (119-189AH), was one of the transmitters of the seven canonical [[Qira'at]], or methods of reciting the [[Qur'an]].<ref name=aware>Muhammad Ghoniem and MSM Saifullah, [http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Text/Qiraat/the10.html The Ten Readers & Their Transmitters]. (c) Islamic Awareness. Updated January 8, 2002; accessed April 11, 2016.</ref> He is also the founder of the Kufi school of Arabic grammar which formed a rivalry with its [[Basri]] counterpart founded by [[Sibawayh]].
{{Infobox scholar
| name = Al-Kisā’ī ({{lang|ar|الكسائي}})
| caption =
| fullname =
| othernames = Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Ḥamzah ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Uthman, ({{lang|ar|أبو الحسن على بن حمزة بن عبد الله بن عثمان}}); Bahman ibn Fīrūz ({{lang|fa|بهمن بن فيروز}}); Abū ‘Abd Allāh ({{lang|ar|أبو عبد الله}}).
| birth_date =
| birth_place = [[Kufa|Al-Kūfah]], [[Iraq|Irāq]]
| death_date = 804
| death_place = [[Ray, Iran|Al-Rayy]], [[Iran]]
| era = [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbāsid Caliphate]]
| school_tradition = [[Grammarians of Kufa]]
| main_interests = [[philology]], [[Arabic language]], [[Bedouin]] [[poetry]], [[idioms]] [[Quran]]
| principal_ideas =
| major_works =
| influences = [[Al-Ru’āsī]], [[Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi]], [[Yunus ibn Habib]], et al.<ref>{{Citation | last =Sībawayh | first =ʻAmr ibn ʻUthmān | date =1988 | editor-last =Hārūn | editor-first =ʻAbd al-Salām Muḥammad | title =Al-Kitāb Kitāb Sībawayh Abī Bishr ʻAmr ibn ʻUthmān ibn Qanbar | edition =3rd | location =Cairo | publisher =Maktabat al-Khānjī | volume =Introduction | pages =9–11}}</ref>
| influenced = [[Hisham ibn Muawiyah]] and [[Al-Farra’|Al-Farrā']]
}}

'''Al-Kisā’ī''' ({{lang|ar|الكسائي}}) '''Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Ḥamzah ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Uthman''' ({{lang|ar|أبو الحسن على بن حمزة بن عبد الله بن عثمان}}), called '''Bahman ibn Fīrūz''' ({{lang|ar|بهمن بن فيروز}}),<ref name="Frye 1975 p467">{{cite book|editor-last1=Frye|editor-first1=R.N.|title=The Cambridge history of Iran.|date=1975|publisher=Cambridge U.P.|location=London|isbn=978-0-521-20093-6|page=467|edition=Repr.|quote=Of these four were Persians: Asim b. Abi'l-Najiid, whom Ibn al-Nadim lists among the mawali, Nafi', whom the same source considers as having originated in Isfahan, Ibn al-Kathir and Kisa'i, whose full name, 'Ali b. Hamza b. 'Abd- Allah b. Bahman b. Firuz, reveals his Persian origin.}}</ref> surnamed '''Abū ‘Abd Allāh''' ({{lang|ar|أبو عبد الله}}), and '''Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Hamzah of al-Kūfah''' ( d. ca. 804 or 812) was preceptor to the sons of caliph [[Harun al-Rashid|Hārūn al-Rashīd]] and one of the ‘Seven Readers’ of the seven canonical [[Qira'at]].<ref name="Donzel1994">{{cite book|last1=Donzel|first1=E. J. van|title=Islamic Desk Reference|date=1 January 1994|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-09738-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/islamicdeskrefer00donz_0/page/218 218]|quote=al-Kisai *, Abu l-Hasan*: well-known Arab philologist and "reader" of the Quran*, of Persian origin; ca. 737805. He is said to have stayed for some time among the Bedouins in order to become fully conversant in Arabic. He is the real founder of the grammatical school of Kufa. His discussion with Sibawayhi, the prominent grammarian of the school of Basra, has become famous.|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/islamicdeskrefer00donz_0/page/218}}</ref><ref name=aware>Muhammad Ghoniem and MSM Saifullah, [http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Text/Qiraat/the10.html The Ten Readers & Their Transmitters]. (c) Islamic Awareness. Updated January 8, 2002; accessed April 11, 2016.</ref>{{refn|group=n|Of the seven canonical transmitters, [[Ibn Amir ad-Dimashqi]] was the oldest and al-Kisa'i was the youngest.}}<ref>Shady Nasser, ''Canonization'', pg. 38.</ref>{{sfn|Nadīm (al-)|1970|p= 143}} He founded the [[Grammarians of Kufa|Kufi school of Arabic grammar]], the rival philology school to the [[Grammarians of Basra|Basri school]] founded by [[Sibawayh]].


==Life==
==Life==
A [[Persian people|Persian]]<ref name="Frye 1975 p467"/><ref name="Donzel1994"/> born in al-Kūfah, he learned grammar from al-Ru’āsī {{refn|group=n|Abū Ja'far Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Sārah al-Nīlī al-Ru’āsī (fl. time of Hārūn al-Rashīd), wrote first book on grammar. ''See'' Yāqūt ''Irshād'' VI (6), 480; Nadīm (al-), 76, 141-2, 145, 1084.}} 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’. {{refn|group=n|Probably a short cloak as distinct from a ḥulal or ‘cloak’. Cloaks and mantles differentiated regional styles. see Khallikān, II, 238; Nadīm (al-) 144, n10 }}
Of [[Persian people|Persian]] origin,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Frye|first1=ed. by R.N.|title=The Cambridge history of Iran.|date=1975|publisher=Cambridge U.P.|location=London|isbn=978-0-521-20093-6|page=467|edition=Repr.|quote=Of these four were Persians: Asim b. Abi'l-Najiid, whom Ibn al-Nadim lists among the mawali, Nafi', whom the same source considers as having originated in Isfahan, Ibn al-Kathir and Kisa'i, whose full name, 'Ali b. Hamza b. 'Abd- Allah b. Bahman b. Firuz, reveals his Persian origin.}}</ref><ref name="Donzel1994">{{cite book|last1=Donzel|first1=E. J. van|title=Islamic Desk Reference|date=1 January 1994|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-09738-4|page=218|quote=al-Kisai *, Abu l-Hasan*: well-known Arab philologist and "reader" of the Quran*, of Persian origin; ca. 737805. He is said to have stayed for some time among the Bedouins in order to become fully conversant in Arabic. He is the real founder of the grammatical school of Kufa. His discussion with Sibawayhi, the prominent grammarian of the school of Basra, has become famous.}}</ref> he learned Arabic grammar from [[Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi]] as well as [[Yunus ibn Habib]].<ref>{{Citation | last =Sībawayh | first =ʻAmr ibn ʻUthmān | publication-date =1988 | editor-last =Hārūn | editor-first =ʻAbd al-Salām Muḥammad | title =Al-Kitāb Kitāb Sībawayh Abī Bishr ʻAmr ibn ʻUthmān ibn Qanbar | edition =3rd | publication-place =Cairo | publisher =Maktabat al-Khānjī | volume =Introduction | pages =9–11}}</ref> As a result, he gained fame during the reign of [[Harun al-Rashid]], so much that he was entrusted with the instruction of the caliph's son, [[al-Amin]]. Some of his notable students were Hisham b. Muawiyah and Yaḥya al-Farā'. The two primary transmitters of his method of recitation were al-Layth and [[Al-Duri]], the latter of whom was also a transmitter for the method of [[Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala']], the namesake of another one of the seven canonical recitations.<ref name=aware/><ref>Shady Hekmat Nasser, [https://books.google.com.sa/books?id=Kx7i2Y56WuYC&pg=PA57&dq=aasim+qira%27ah&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=aasim%20qira'ah&f=false Ibn Mujahid and the Canonization of the Seven Readings], p. 129. Taken from ''The Transmission of the Variant Readings of the Qur'an: The Problem of Tawaatur and the Emergence of Shawaadhdh''. [[Leiden]]: [[Brill Publishers]], 2012. {{ISBN|9789004240810}}</ref>


Al-Kisā’ī entered the court of the [[Abbasid caliphate|Abbāsid]] [[list of caliphs|caliph]] [[Harun al-Rashid|Hārūn al-Rashīd]] at Baghdād as tutor to the two princes, [[Al-Ma'mun|al-Ma’mūn]] and [[Al-Amin|al-Amīn]]. His early biographer [[Ibn al-Nadim|Al-Nadim]] relates Abū al-Ṭayyib's written account that Al-Rashīd held him in highest esteem. {{sfn|Nadīm (al-)|1970|p= 143}} When the caliph moved the court to al-Rayy as the capital of [[Khorasan Province|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 [[Abū Ḥanīfah|hanīfah]] official of Al-Rashīd, [[Muhammad al-Shaybani|Muḥammad al-Shaybānī]]{{refn|group=n|Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī, Abū ‘Abd Allāh of [[Wasit|Wāsiṭ]], a judge under Hārūn al-Rashīd who died at [[Ray, Iran|Al-Rayy]] in 804. ''Enc. Islām'' IV, 271.}}{{sfn|Nadīm (al-)|1970|p=504}} also died. It is also said he shared his date of death with the judge Abū Yūsuf in 812 (197 AH).{{sfn|Nadīm (al-)|1970|p=144}}
Al-Kisa'i died in the year 804CE.<ref>Shady Nasser, ''Canonization'', pg. 49.</ref> Of the seven canonical transmitters, [[Ibn Amir ad-Dimashqi]] was the oldest and al-Kisa'i was the youngest.<ref>Shady Nasser, ''Canonization'', pg. 38.</ref>
When al-Kisā’ī died [[Al-Farra'|al-Farrā']] was elected to teach in his stead, according to the account of [[Ibn al-Kūfī]].{{refn|group=n|Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Muḥammad ibn ‘Ubayd ibn al-Zubayr al-Asadī ibn al-Kūfī (ca. 868-960) was a scholar and calligrapher. See [[Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi|Khatib al-Baghdādī]] XII, § 81, 6489; [[Yaqut al-Hamawi|Yāqūt]] ''Irshād'', VI (5), 326; Nadīm (al-), pp. 6, 145, 151-8, 162, 173-4, 192, 864, 1033.}}{{sfn|Nadīm (al-)|1970|p=158}}


==Work==
===Rival Schools===
A famous anecdote relates a grammatical contest in [[Baghdad]] between the leaders of the two rival schools, with al-Kisā’ī representative of Al-Kufah, and [[Sibawayh]] of the [[Grammarians of Basra|Baṣrans]]. The debate was organized by the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] [[vizier]] [[Yahya ibn Khalid]],<ref>{{cite book|last1= Touati|first1= Houari|last2= Cochrane|first2= Lydia G.|title= Islam and Travel in the Middle Ages|year= 2010|publisher= University of Chicago Press|isbn= 978-0-226-80877-2|page= 51}}</ref> 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).<ref name=ver64>[[Kees Versteegh]], ''The Arabic Linguistic Tradition'', pg. 64. Part of the ''Landmarks in Linguistic Thought'' series, vol. 3. [[London]]: [[Routledge]], 1997. {{ISBN|9780415157575}}</ref> At issue was the correct declension of the last word in the sentence. Sibawayh proposed:<ref name="Carter 2004">M.G. Carter, ''Sibawayhi'', pg. 13. London: I.B. Tauris, 2004. {{ISBN|1850436711}}</ref>
Al-Kisā'i is the author of one of the collections of ''[[Stories of the Prophets]]'', which includes information not found in other collections nor repeated in later exegesis.<ref name="ReferenceA">''Historical Dictionary of Prophets in Islam and Judaism'', Wheeler, ''Al-Kisa'i''</ref> Al-Kisā'i often expanded upon early exegesis by elaborating a fuller narrative storyline and by adding folkloric elements from non-extant oral traditions<ref name="ReferenceA"/> that often parallel those from [[Christianity]]. Al-Kisā'i's collection included [[Shem]] and [[Eleazar]] as [[prophet]]s, two figures who would not appear in later literature as prophets.
<blockquote>''... fa-'ida huwa hiya'' (فإذا هو هي), literally ''... sure-enough he she''</blockquote>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:<blockquote>''... fa-'ida huwa 'iyyaha''(فإذا هو إياها), literally ''... sure-enough he her''</blockquote> meaning "he is her".{{refn|group=n|The difference has been compared to that in English between, for example, ''It is she'' and ''It is her'', still a point of contention today.}}


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]] -Desert Arab, whom he had supposedly bribed-<ref name=ver64/><ref>[[Franz Rosenthal]], ''A History of Muslim Historiography'', pg. 245. Leiden: Brill Archive, 1952.</ref> that the correct form was ''huwa 'iyyaha'', his argument won the debate. Such was Sibawayh's bitterness in defeat, he left the court<ref name="Carter 2004"/> 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]] and requested that he be punished for having a share in "killing Sibawayh."<ref>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.</ref>
One of the more famous incidents of his career was his debate with Sibawayh that had been organized in [[Baghdad]] by [[Abbasid]] vizier [[Yahya ibn Khalid]].<ref>{{cite book|last= Touati|first= Houari|last2= Cochrane|first2= Lydia G.|title= Islam and Travel in the Middle Ages|year= 2010|publisher= University of Chicago Press|isbn= 0-226-80877-7|page= 51}}</ref> The incident became known as ''al-Mas'ala al-Zunburīyah'', "The Question of the Hornet," because one of the sentences involved translates as "I have always thought that the scorpion was more painful in stinging than the hornet, and sure enough it is."<ref name=ver64>[[Kees Versteegh]], ''The Arabic Linguistic Tradition'', pg. 64. Part of the ''Landmarks in Linguistic Thought'' series, vol. 3. [[London]]: [[Routledge]], 1997. {{ISBN|9780415157575}}</ref> At issue was the form of the last word in the Arabic sentence. Sibawayh proposed:<ref name="Carter 2004">M.G. Carter, ''Sibawayhi'', pg. 13. London: I.B. Tauris, 2004. {{ISBN|1850436711}}</ref>
<blockquote>''... fa-'ida huwa hiya'' (فإذا هو هي), literally ''... sure-enough he she''</blockquote>meaning "sure-enough he (the scorpion, masc.) is she (the most painful one, fem.)"; Arabic does not need or use any verb-form like ''is'' in such situations.
On the other side al-Kisa'i argued for:<blockquote>''... fa-'ida huwa 'iyyaha''(فإذا هو إياها), literally ''... sure-enough he her''</blockquote>


==Legacy==
meaning "he is her".{{efn|The difference has been compared to that in English between, for example, ''It is she'' and ''It is her'', still a point of contention today.}}
[[Hishām ibn Mu'āwīyah]]{{refn|group=n|Hishām ibn Mu'āwīyah al-Darīr (d.824) a grammarian and Qur'ānic reciter of Kufa who was blind. ''See'' [[Ibn Khallikan]] {{sfn|Khallikān (Ibn)|1868|loc=vol.III|p=612}}}} and [[Al-Farra'|Yaḥya al-Farrā']] were two notable students. The primary transmitters of his recitation method were Abū al-Ḥārith ibn Khālid al-Layth (d.845){{sfn|Flügel|1871|p=30, n.3}}{{sfn|Nadīm (al-)|1970|pp=69, 1035}} and [[Al-Duri]] {{refn|group=n|Abū ‘Umar ‘Umar Hafṣ ibn al-‘Aziz ibn Suhbān Al-Durī (d.861) from [[Baghdad]] was a popular teacher at [[Samarra]].{{sfn|Khallikān (Ibn)|1843|loc=I |p=401, n.1}}{{sfn|Nadīm (al-)|1970|p=79-82}}}} {{refn|group=n|Al-Duri was a transmitter for the method of [[Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala']], the namesake of another one of the seven canonical recitations.<ref name=aware/><ref>Shady Hekmat Nasser, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Kx7i2Y56WuYC&dq=aasim+qira%27ah&pg=PA57 Ibn Mujahid and the Canonization of the Seven Readings], p. 129. Taken from ''The Transmission of the Variant Readings of the Qur'an: The Problem of Tawaatur and the Emergence of Shawaadhdh''. [[Leiden]]: [[Brill Publishers]], 2012. {{ISBN|9789004240810}}</ref>}}


Al-Naqqāsh{{refn|group=n|Al-Naqqāsh, ‘Alī ibn Murrah, surnamed Abū al-Ḥasan, one of the people of Baghdād, the author also of Kitāb al-Ḥamzah’ and ‘The Eight Readers in Addition to the Seven,’ after Khalaf ibn Hishām al-Bazzār.}} wrote ''Al-Kitāb al-Kisā’ī''.{{sfn|Nadīm (al-)|1970|p= 84}}and Bakkār{{refn|group=n|Bakkār ibn Aḥmad ibn Bakkār, surnamed Abū ‘Īsā (d. 963), a Qur’ānic reader in Baghdād, author of ''The Reading of Ḥamzah''.}} wrote ''The Reading of al- Kisā’ī''.{{sfn|Nadīm (al-)|1970|p= 84}}
Sibawayh justified his position on theoretical grammatical grounds, arguing that an accusative form cannot be a predicate, but to his dismay al-Kisa'i ushered in four Bedouin who were pretending to have just happened to be waiting at the door; al-Kisa'i had bribed them to support his answer prior to the debate.<ref name=ver64/><ref>[[Franz Rosenthal]], ''A History of Muslim Historiography'', pg. 245. Leiden: Brill Archive, 1952.</ref> All of them testified that ''huwa 'iyyaha'' was the way they always said it and therefore Sibawayh was wrong and he left the court.<ref name="Carter 2004"/> Later, Sibawayh returned to his country bitter after the debate and died young. 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 al-Rashid and requested that he be punished for having a share in "killing Sibawayh."<ref>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.</ref>

==Works{{sfn|Nadīm (al-)|1970|p=144}}==

Among his books there were:
*''Kitāb Ma'ānī al-Qur'an'' ({{lang|ar|كتاب معانى القرآن}}) 'The Meaning of the Qur’an';
*''Kitāb Mukhtasar al-Nahw'' ({{lang|ar|كتاب مختصر النحو}}) 'Abridgment of Grammar';
*''Kitāb al-Qirā'āt'' ({{lang|ar|كتاب القراءات}}) '[Qur’ānic] Readings';
*''Kitāb al'Adad'' ({{lang|ar|كتاب العدد}}) 'Numbers';
*''Kitāb al-Nawādir al-Kabīr'' ({{lang|ar|كتاب النوادر الكبير}}) 'Book of Great Anecdotes'; {{refn|group=n|For list of authors of books of this title ''See'' [[Ibn al-Nadim|Nadīm (al-)]], ''[[Al-Fihrist]]'', p. 191.{{sfn|Nadīm (al-)|1970|p=191}}}}
*''Kitāb al-Nawādir al-Awsat''({{lang|ar|كتاب النوادر الاوسطِ}}) 'Book of Medium Anecdotes';
*''Kitāb al-Nawādir al-Asghir'' ({{lang|ar|كتاب النوادر الاصغر}}) 'Book of Small Anecdotes';
*''Kitāb al-Maqtu' wa-Mawsulahu'' ({{lang|ar|كتاب مقطوع القرآن وموصوله }}) 'Terminations and Connections in the Qur’ān';
*''Kitāb Ikhtilāf al-'Adad'' ({{lang|ar|كتاب اختلاف العدد}}) 'Disagreement or Discrepancies of Numbers';{{sfn|Nadīm (al-)|1970|p=79}}{{sfn|Flügel|1872|loc=vol.II|p=686}}
*''Kitāb al-Hija'' ({{lang|ar|كتاب الهجاء}}) 'Spelling';
*''Kitāb al-Masādir'' ({{lang|ar|كتاب المصادر}}) 'Nouns';
*''Kitāb Ash'ār al-Mu'āyāh wa-Tarā'iqiha'' ({{lang|ar|كتاب اشعار المعاياة وطرائقها}}) 'Poems of Contention and Their Forms';
*''Kitāb al-Hā'āt al-Makani biha fi al-Qur'an'' ({{lang|ar|كتاب الهاءات المكنى بها في القرآن}}) 'Forms of Surnames in the Qur’an';
*''Kitāb al-Huruf'' ({{lang|ar|كتاب الحروف}}) 'Letters'.

Al-Kisā’ī composed ten leaves of poetry.{{sfn|Nadīm (al-)|1970|p=361, 365}}

==See also==

*[[List of Arab scientists and scholars]]
*[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]]


==Notes==
==Notes==

{{notelist}}
{{Reflist|group=n}}


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}


{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Sunni Muslim scholars]]

[[Category:Persian Muslim historians of Islam]]
==Bibliography==
*{{cite book|last=Flügel|author-link=Gustav Leberecht Flügel|first=Gustav Leberecht|title=Al-Fihrist |editor1= J. Roediger |editor2= A. Mueller |place=[[Leipzig]]|publisher=F.C.W. Vogel |year=1871|volume=1|page=[https://archive.org/details/kitabalfihrist00ibna/page/21 21]|language=ar, de |url= https://archive.org/details/kitabalfihrist00ibna}}
*{{cite book|last=Flügel|author-link=Gustav Leberecht Flügel|first=Gustav Leberecht|title=Al-Fihrist |editor1= J. Roediger |editor2= A. Mueller |place=[[Leipzig]]|publisher=F.C.W. Vogel |year=1872|volume=2|language=ar |url= https://archive.org/details/KitabAlFihrist/page/n655 }}
*{{cite book|last=Khallikān (Ibn)|author-link=Ibn Khallikan|first=Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad| title= Ibn Khallikān's Biographical Dictionary (translation of Wafayāt al-A'yān wa-Anbā')|translator= [[William McGuckin de Slane|MacGuckin de Slane]]|place=London|publisher=Oriental Translation Fund of Britain and Ireland |year=1843|volume=I |page=401, n.1|url=https://archive.org/stream/WafayatAl-ayantheObituariesOfEminentMenByIbnKhallikan/Vol1Of4WafayatAl-ayantheObituariesOfEminentMenByIbnKhallikan#page/n439/mode/2up
}}
*{{cite book|last=Khallikān (Ibn)|author-link=Ibn Khallikan|first=Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad| title= Ibn Khallikān's Biographical Dictionary (translation of Wafayāt al-A'yān wa-Anbā')|translator= [[William McGuckin de Slane|MacGuckin de Slane]]|place=London|publisher=Oriental Translation Fund of Britain and Ireland |year=1843b|volume=II |pages=237–9|url=https://archive.org/stream/WafayatAl-ayantheObituariesOfEminentMenByIbnKhallikan/Vol2Of4WafayatAl-ayantheObituariesOfEminentMenByIbnKhallikan#page/n253/mode/2up}}
* {{cite book|last=[[Ibn Khallikan|Khallikān (Ibn)]]|first=Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad| translator-last=[[William McGuckin de Slane|McGuckin de Slane]]|translator-first=William|year=1868|title=Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary (translation of Wafayāt al-A'yān wa-Anbā' Abnā' al-Zamān)|publisher=[[W. H. Allen & Co.|W. H. Allen]]|place=[[London]]|volume=III|url=https://archive.org/details/WafayatAl-ayantheObituariesOfEminentMenByIbnKhallikan/Vol3Of4WafayatAl-ayantheObituariesOfEminentMenByIbnKhallikan/page/n614/mode/1up?view=theater}}
*{{cite book|last=Nadīm (al-)|author-link=Ibn al-Nadim|first=Abū al-Faraj Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq Abū Ya’qūb al-Warrāq| title=The Fihrist of al-Nadim; a tenth-century survey of Muslim culture|editor-last=[[Bayard Dodge|Dodge]] |editor-first=Bayard |place=New York & London |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1970|pages=[https://archive.org/details/fihristofalnadim0000ibna/page/n239 79], 84, 112, 143, 144, 158, 191, 361, 365, 504|isbn=978-0-231-02925-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/fihristofalnadim0000ibna|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book|last= Mas'ūdī (al-)|author-link= Al-Masudi|first=Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn al-Ḥusayn| title= Kitāb Murūj al-Dhahab wa-Ma'ādin al-Jawhar (Les Prairies d'or) |translator1-last= [[Charles Barbier de Meynard|Meynard]] | translator1-first= C Barbier de| translator2-last=[[Abel Pavet de Courteille|Courteille]] | translator2-first=Pavet de |place=Paris |publisher=Imprimerie nationale |volume= VI|year=1871|language=ar, fr |pages=[https://archive.org/details/lesprairiesdor06masuuoft/page/302 302], 319|url= https://archive.org/details/lesprairiesdor06masuuoft}}
*{{cite book|last=Suyūṭī|author-link=Al-Suyuti|first=Jalāl al-Dīn ‘Abd Al-Raḥmān| title= Bughyat al-Wu'āt fī Ṭabaqāt al-Lughawīyīn wa-al-Nuḥāh |editor-last= Khānjī|editor-first= Muḥammad Amīn|place= Cairo|publisher= Sa’ādah Press|year=1909|language=ar |volume=2|pages=162–4|url=https://archive.org/stream/FP12042/02_12043#page/n162/mode/2up}}
*{{cite book|last=Zubaydī |first= Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan| title=Ṭabaqāt al-Naḥwīyīn wa-al-Lughawīyīn |editor-last=Ibrāhīm |editor-first=Muḥammad |place=Cairo |publisher=Dar al-Ma'arif|year=1984|edition=2|pages=127–30|language=ar|url= https://archive.org/details/WAQ42908 }}

{{Quranic qira'ates}}
{{Arabic literature}}

{{Authority control}}

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

Latest revision as of 08:36, 14 May 2024

For the scholar of c. 1100 CE, see Muḥammad al-Kisāʾī.
Not to be confused with Kisai Marvazi.
Al-Kisā’ī (الكسائي)
Born
Al-Kūfah, Irāq
Died804
Al-Rayy, Iran
Other namesAbū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Ḥamzah ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Uthman, (أبو الحسن على بن حمزة بن عبد الله بن عثمان); Bahman ibn Fīrūz (بهمن بن فيروز); Abū ‘Abd Allāh (أبو عبد الله).
Academic background
InfluencesAl-Ru’āsī, Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi, Yunus ibn Habib, et al.[1]
Academic work
EraAbbāsid Caliphate
School or traditionGrammarians of Kufa
Main interestsphilology, Arabic language, Bedouin poetry, idioms Quran
InfluencedHisham ibn Muawiyah and Al-Farrā'

Al-Kisā’ī (الكسائي) Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Ḥamzah ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Uthman (أبو الحسن على بن حمزة بن عبد الله بن عثمان), called Bahman ibn Fīrūz (بهمن بن فيروز),[2] surnamed Abū ‘Abd Allāh (أبو عبد الله), 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.[3][4][n 1][5][6] He founded the Kufi school of Arabic grammar, the rival philology school to the Basri school founded by Sibawayh.

Life

[edit]

A Persian[2][3] born in al-Kūfah, he learned grammar from al-Ru’āsī [n 2] 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’. [n 3]

Al-Kisā’ī entered the court of the Abbāsid caliph 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. [6] 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[n 4][7] also died. It is also said he shared his date of death with the judge Abū Yūsuf in 812 (197 AH).[8] When al-Kisā’ī died al-Farrā' was elected to teach in his stead, according to the account of Ibn al-Kūfī.[n 5][9]

Rival Schools

[edit]

A famous anecdote relates a grammatical contest in Baghdad between the leaders of the two rival schools, with al-Kisā’ī representative of Al-Kufah, and Sibawayh of the Baṣrans. The debate was organized by the Abbasid vizier Yahya ibn Khalid,[10] 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).[11] At issue was the correct declension of the last word in the sentence. Sibawayh proposed:[12]

... 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".[n 6]

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 -Desert Arab, whom he had supposedly bribed-[11][13] that the correct form was huwa 'iyyaha, his argument won the debate. Such was Sibawayh's bitterness in defeat, he left the court[12] 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 and requested that he be punished for having a share in "killing Sibawayh."[14]

Legacy

[edit]

Hishām ibn Mu'āwīyah[n 7] 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)[16][17] and Al-Duri [n 8] [n 9]

Al-Naqqāsh[n 10] wrote Al-Kitāb al-Kisā’ī.[21]and Bakkār[n 11] wrote The Reading of al- Kisā’ī.[21]

Works[8]

[edit]

Among his books there were:

  • Kitāb Ma'ānī al-Qur'an (كتاب معانى القرآن) 'The Meaning of the Qur’an';
  • Kitāb Mukhtasar al-Nahw (كتاب مختصر النحو) 'Abridgment of Grammar';
  • Kitāb al-Qirā'āt (كتاب القراءات) '[Qur’ānic] Readings';
  • Kitāb al'Adad (كتاب العدد) 'Numbers';
  • Kitāb al-Nawādir al-Kabīr (كتاب النوادر الكبير) 'Book of Great Anecdotes'; [n 12]
  • Kitāb al-Nawādir al-Awsat(كتاب النوادر الاوسطِ) 'Book of Medium Anecdotes';
  • Kitāb al-Nawādir al-Asghir (كتاب النوادر الاصغر) 'Book of Small Anecdotes';
  • Kitāb al-Maqtu' wa-Mawsulahu (كتاب مقطوع القرآن وموصوله) 'Terminations and Connections in the Qur’ān';
  • Kitāb Ikhtilāf al-'Adad (كتاب اختلاف العدد) 'Disagreement or Discrepancies of Numbers';[23][24]
  • Kitāb al-Hija (كتاب الهجاء) 'Spelling';
  • Kitāb al-Masādir (كتاب المصادر) 'Nouns';
  • Kitāb Ash'ār al-Mu'āyāh wa-Tarā'iqiha (كتاب اشعار المعاياة وطرائقها) 'Poems of Contention and Their Forms';
  • Kitāb al-Hā'āt al-Makani biha fi al-Qur'an (كتاب الهاءات المكنى بها في القرآن) 'Forms of Surnames in the Qur’an';
  • Kitāb al-Huruf (كتاب الحروف) 'Letters'.

Al-Kisā’ī composed ten leaves of poetry.[25]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Of the seven canonical transmitters, Ibn Amir ad-Dimashqi was the oldest and al-Kisa'i was the youngest.
  2. ^ Abū Ja'far Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Sārah al-Nīlī al-Ru’āsī (fl. time of Hārūn al-Rashīd), wrote first book on grammar. See Yāqūt Irshād VI (6), 480; Nadīm (al-), 76, 141-2, 145, 1084.
  3. ^ Probably a short cloak as distinct from a ḥulal or ‘cloak’. Cloaks and mantles differentiated regional styles. see Khallikān, II, 238; Nadīm (al-) 144, n10
  4. ^ Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī, Abū ‘Abd Allāh of Wāsiṭ, a judge under Hārūn al-Rashīd who died at Al-Rayy in 804. Enc. Islām IV, 271.
  5. ^ Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Muḥammad ibn ‘Ubayd ibn al-Zubayr al-Asadī ibn al-Kūfī (ca. 868-960) was a scholar and calligrapher. See Khatib al-Baghdādī XII, § 81, 6489; Yāqūt Irshād, VI (5), 326; Nadīm (al-), pp. 6, 145, 151-8, 162, 173-4, 192, 864, 1033.
  6. ^ The difference has been compared to that in English between, for example, It is she and It is her, still a point of contention today.
  7. ^ Hishām ibn Mu'āwīyah al-Darīr (d.824) a grammarian and Qur'ānic reciter of Kufa who was blind. See Ibn Khallikan [15]
  8. ^ Abū ‘Umar ‘Umar Hafṣ ibn al-‘Aziz ibn Suhbān Al-Durī (d.861) from Baghdad was a popular teacher at Samarra.[18][19]
  9. ^ Al-Duri was a transmitter for the method of Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala', the namesake of another one of the seven canonical recitations.[4][20]
  10. ^ Al-Naqqāsh, ‘Alī ibn Murrah, surnamed Abū al-Ḥasan, one of the people of Baghdād, the author also of Kitāb al-Ḥamzah’ and ‘The Eight Readers in Addition to the Seven,’ after Khalaf ibn Hishām al-Bazzār.
  11. ^ Bakkār ibn Aḥmad ibn Bakkār, surnamed Abū ‘Īsā (d. 963), a Qur’ānic reader in Baghdād, author of The Reading of Ḥamzah.
  12. ^ For list of authors of books of this title See Nadīm (al-), Al-Fihrist, p. 191.[22]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Sībawayh, ʻAmr ibn ʻUthmān (1988), Hārūn, ʻAbd al-Salām Muḥammad (ed.), Al-Kitāb Kitāb Sībawayh Abī Bishr ʻAmr ibn ʻUthmān ibn Qanbar, vol. Introduction (3rd ed.), Cairo: Maktabat al-Khānjī, pp. 9–11
  2. ^ a b Frye, R.N., ed. (1975). The Cambridge history of Iran (Repr. ed.). London: Cambridge U.P. p. 467. ISBN 978-0-521-20093-6. Of these four were Persians: Asim b. Abi'l-Najiid, whom Ibn al-Nadim lists among the mawali, Nafi', whom the same source considers as having originated in Isfahan, Ibn al-Kathir and Kisa'i, whose full name, 'Ali b. Hamza b. 'Abd- Allah b. Bahman b. Firuz, reveals his Persian origin.
  3. ^ a b Donzel, E. J. van (1 January 1994). Islamic Desk Reference. BRILL. p. 218. ISBN 90-04-09738-4. al-Kisai *, Abu l-Hasan*: well-known Arab philologist and "reader" of the Quran*, of Persian origin; ca. 737805. He is said to have stayed for some time among the Bedouins in order to become fully conversant in Arabic. He is the real founder of the grammatical school of Kufa. His discussion with Sibawayhi, the prominent grammarian of the school of Basra, has become famous.
  4. ^ a b Muhammad Ghoniem and MSM Saifullah, The Ten Readers & Their Transmitters. (c) Islamic Awareness. Updated January 8, 2002; accessed April 11, 2016.
  5. ^ Shady Nasser, Canonization, pg. 38.
  6. ^ a b Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 143.
  7. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 504.
  8. ^ a b Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 144.
  9. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 158.
  10. ^ Touati, Houari; Cochrane, Lydia G. (2010). Islam and Travel in the Middle Ages. University of Chicago Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-226-80877-2.
  11. ^ a b Kees Versteegh, The Arabic Linguistic Tradition, pg. 64. Part of the Landmarks in Linguistic Thought series, vol. 3. London: Routledge, 1997. ISBN 9780415157575
  12. ^ a b M.G. Carter, Sibawayhi, pg. 13. London: I.B. Tauris, 2004. ISBN 1850436711
  13. ^ Franz Rosenthal, A History of Muslim Historiography, pg. 245. Leiden: Brill Archive, 1952.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ Khallikān (Ibn) 1868, p. 612, vol.III.
  16. ^ Flügel 1871, p. 30, n.3.
  17. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, pp. 69, 1035.
  18. ^ Khallikān (Ibn) 1843, p. 401, n.1, I.
  19. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 79-82.
  20. ^ Shady Hekmat Nasser, Ibn Mujahid and the Canonization of the Seven Readings, p. 129. Taken from The Transmission of the Variant Readings of the Qur'an: The Problem of Tawaatur and the Emergence of Shawaadhdh. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2012. ISBN 9789004240810
  21. ^ a b Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 84.
  22. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 191.
  23. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 79.
  24. ^ Flügel 1872, p. 686, vol.II.
  25. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 361, 365.

Bibliography

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