# Al-Kisa'i

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), 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. He was a Persian and founded the Kufi school of Arabic grammar, the rival philology school to the Basri school founded by Sibawayh.

## Life

A Persian born in al-Kūfah, he learned grammar from al-Ru’āsī 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’.
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. 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 also died. It is also said he shared his date of death with the judge Abū Yūsuf in 812 (197 AH). When al-Kisā’ī died al-Farrā' was elected to teach in his stead, according to the account of Ibn al-Kūfī.

### 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 Baṣrans. The debate was organized by the Abbasid vizier Yahya ibn Khalid, 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). At issue was the correct declension of the last word in the sentence. Sibawayh proposed:
   ... 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".
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- that the correct form was huwa 'iyyaha, his argument won the debate. Such was Sibawayh's bitterness in defeat, he left the court 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."

## Legacy

Hishām ibn Mu'āwīyah 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) and Al-Duri
Al-Naqqāsh wrote Al-Kitāb al-Kisā’ī.and Bakkār wrote The Reading of al- Kisā’ī.

## Works

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';
* 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';
* 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.