Ibn Qutaybah

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 Islamicscholar of Kurdish or 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.