Abū Alī Muḥammad ibn al-Mustanīr (أبو علي محمد بن المستنير), 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^[1] ('Ternary'), of which several later and extended versions were produced. He died in 821/22 (206 AH).^[2]

Life

Quṭrub^{[n 1]} the Grammarian, Abū ‘Alī Muḥammad ibn al-Mustanīr, known also as Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, or al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad;^[3] he studied under Sibawayh^{[n 2][4]} 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) ^[5] 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.^[5] The ḥāfiẓ of Baghdād Hārūn Ibn ‘Alī al-Munajjim, of the famous Munajjim family, included verses by Quṭrub in his Kitāb al-Bārī. ^[3]

Works

Among his written books were:^[6]

• Ma’ānī al-Qur’ān (كتاب معانى القرآن) ‘Meaning of the Qur’ān’; (rhetorical figures of the Qur’ān) ^[7]
• Kitāb al-Ishtiqāq (كتاب الاشتقاق) 'Derivations' (Etymology);
• Kitāb al-Qawāfī (كتاب القوافى) (treatise on Rhymes);
• Kitāb al-Nawādir (كتاب النوادر) 'Rare Forms' (book of anecdotes);
• Kitāb al-Azmina (كتاب الازمنة) 'Periods' (Seasons);
• Kitāb al-Muthalath^{[n 3] [10]} (كتاب المثلث) The Ternary ‘Triple’;^{[n 4]}
• Kitāb al-Farq (كتاب الفرق) 'Distinguishing' (anthropological and zoological anatomical terms);^[11][12]
• Kitāb al-Aswāt (كتاب الاصوات) 'Voices' (Interjections);
• Kitāb al-Sifāt (كتاب الصفات) 'Epithets' (Adjectives, Attributes);
• Kitāb al-‘Ilal fī al-Nahwī (كتاب العلل في النحو) 'The Weak Letters in Grammar';
• Kitāb al-Adhdād (كتاب الاضداد) 'Antonyms';
• Kitāb al-Khulq al-Faras (كتاب خلق الفرس) 'Nature of the Horse';
• Kitāb al-Khulq al-Insān (كتاب خلق الانسان) 'Nature of Man';
• Kitāb al-Khulq Gharīb al-Ḥadīth (كتاب غريب الآثار) 'Rare Expressions in the Ḥadīth';^{[n 5][13]}
• Kitāb al-Radd ‘alā ‘l-Mulhidīn fī Mutashābu ‘l-Qur’ān (كتاب الردّ على الملحدين في متشابة القرآن) 'Refutation of the Heretics, about the metaphorical (anthropomorphic) interpretations in the Qur’ān';^[14]
• Kitāb al-Hamza (كتاب الهمز) 'The Letter Hamza';
• Kitāb al-Fa‘ala wa-Af‘ala (كتاب فعل وافعل) 'Verbs in First and Fourth Class';
• Kitāb I’rāb al-Qur’ān (كتاب اعراب القرآن) 'Inflection (Declension) of the Qur’ān'. ^{[n 6]}
• Kitāb fī al-Anwā’ (كتاب في الانواء) 'Al-Anwā’' ^[15]

Bibliography

• Flügel, Gustav (1862). Die Grammatischen Schulen der Araber (in German). Leipzig: Brockhaus. p. 65.
• Khallikān (ibn), Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad (1843). Ibn Khallikān's Biographical Dictionary (translation of Wafayāt al-A'yān wa-Anbā'). Vol. II. Translated by MacGuckin de Slane. London: Oriental Translation Fund of Britain and Ireland.
• Khallikān (ibn), Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad (1868). Ibn Khallikān's Biographical Dictionary (translation of Wafayāt al-A'yān wa-Anbā'). Vol. III. Translated by MacGuckin de Slane. London: Oriental Translation Fund of Britain and Ireland. pp. 29–30.
• Nadīm (al-), Abū al-Faraj Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq Abū Ya’qūb al-Warrāq (1970). Dodge, Bayard (ed.). The Fihrist of al-Nadim; a tenth-century survey of Muslim culture. New York & London: Columbia University Press.
• Vilmar, Eduard (1856), De Qutrubo, antiquissimo Arabum lexicographo commentatio adiecta carminis de vocibus Tergiminis, quod ad illum auctorem refertur e codicibus manuscriptis editi (Thesis/dissertation) (in Latin), Marburg, OCLC 51066371{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Vilmar, Eduard (1857). Carmen de vocibus tergeminis Arabicis ad Qutrubum : auctorem relatum e codicibus manuscriptis (in Latin). Marburgi Cattorum. OCLC 768102084.

See also

• List of Arab scientists and scholars
• Encyclopædia Britannica Online

Notes

References