Al-Kisā’īAbū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Ḥamzah ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Uthman, called Bahman ibn Fīrūz, surnamed Abū ‘Abd Allāh, and Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Hamzah of al-Kūfah was preceptor to the sons of caliphHārūn al-Rashīd and one of the ‘Seven Readers’ or ‘authorized’ Qur’ānic reader. He founded the Kufi school of Arabic grammar, the rival philology school to the Basri school founded by Sibawayh.
Life
A Persian native of 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 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. 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 AbbasidvizierYahya ibn Khalid, and became known as al-Mas'ala al-Zunburīyah. At issue was the Arabic phrase: I always thought that the scorpion is more painful than the hornet in its sting, and so it is. At issue was the correct declension of the last word in the sentence. Sibawayh proposed:
... fa-'ida huwa hiya, literally ... sure-enough he she
meaning "so he is she "; 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, 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 CaliphHarun al-Rashid and requested that he be punished for having a share in "killing Sibawayh."
Legacy
and Yaḥya al-Farrā' were two notable students. The primary transmitters of his recitation method were Abū al-Ḥārith ibn Khālid al-Layth and Al-Duri Al-Naqqāsh wrote Al-Kitāb al-Kisā’ī.and Bakkār wrote The Reading of al- Kisā’ī.
