Quṭrub the Grammarian

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-Muthallath ('Ternary'), of which several later and extended versions were produced. He died in 821/22 (206 AH).

Life

Quṭrub the Grammarian, Abū ‘Alī Muḥammad ibn al-Mustanīr, known also as Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, or al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad; he studied under Sibawayh 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) 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. The ḥāfiẓ of Baghdād Hārūn Ibn ‘Alī al-Munajjim, of the famous Munajjim family, included verses by Quṭrub in his Kitāb al-Bārī.

Works

Among his written books were:

Ma’ānī al-Qur’ān (كتاب معانى القرآن) ‘Meaning of the Qur’ān’; (rhetorical figures of the Qur’ān)

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 (كتاب المثلث) The Ternary ‘Triple’;

Kitāb al-Farq (كتاب الفرق) 'Distinguishing' (anthropological and zoological anatomical terms);

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 Khulq al-Faras (كتاب خلق الفرس) 'Nature of the Horse';

Kitāb Khulq al-Insān (كتاب خلق الانسان) 'Nature of Man';

Kitāb Al-Nihayah Fi Gharīb al-Ḥadīth wa'l-Athaar. (كتاب النهاية في غريب الحديث والآثار) 'Rare Expressions in the Ḥadīth';

Kitāb al-Radd ‘alā ‘l-Mulhidīn fī Mutashābu ‘l-Qur’ān (كتاب الردّ على الملحدين في متشابه القرآن) 'Refutation of the Heretics, about the metaphorical (anthropomorphic) interpretations in the Qur’ān';

Kitāb al-Hamz (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'.