Quick Facts
Biography
Abū Muhammad Abd-Allāh ibn Muslim ibn Qutayba al-Dīnawarī al-Marwazī or simply Ibn Qutaybah (Arabic: ابن قتيبة, translit. Ibn Qutaybah; 828 – 13 November 889 CE / 213 – 15 Rajab 276 AH) was a renowned Islamic scholar of Persian origin. He served as a judge during the Abbasid Caliphate, but was best known for his contributions to Arabic literature. He was a polymath who wrote on diverse subjects, such as Qur'anic exegesis, hadith, theology, philosophy, law and jurisprudence, grammar, philology, history, astronomy, agriculture and botany.
Biography
His full name is Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdullāh b. Muslim ibn Qutaybah ad-Dīnawarī. He was born in Kufa in what is now Iraq. He was of Iranian descent; his father was from Merv. Having studied tradition and philology he became qadi in Dinawar during the reign of Al-Mutawakkil, 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.
Legacy
He was viewed by Sunni Muslims as a hadith Master, foremost philologist, linguist, and man of letters. In addition to his literary criticism and anthologies, he was also known for his work in the problems of Tafsir or Qur'anic interpretation. He also authored works on astronomy and legal theory. His book Uyun al-Akhbar, along with the romantic literature of Muhammad bin Dawud al-Zahiri and Ibn Abi Tahir Tayfur, were considered by lexocographer Ibn Duraid to be the three most important works for those who wished to speak and write eloquently.
There can be no government without an army,
No army without money,
No money without prosperity,
And no prosperity without justice and good administration.— Ibn Qutaybah on good government.
Works
- Gharīb al-Qur'an also known as Mushkil al-Qur'an, on its lexical difficulties.
- The Interpretation of Conflicting Narrations (Arabic: Ta’wīl Mukhtalif al-Hadīth), where he defends and reconciles hadiths that Mu'tazilites had dismissed as contradictory or irrational.
- Adab al-Kātib.
- 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 over the Persians.
- 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-Imāma wal-Siyāsa
- 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.
- ‘Uyūn al-Shi‘r in poetry.
- al-Shi‘r wal-Shu‘arā’