Abu al-Husayn al-Tustari al-Katib
- Died
- 361 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu al-Husayn al-Tustari al-Katib (d. after 360 AH / 971 CE) was a Christian scribe, prose stylist, and philologist based in Baghdad, associated with the Banu al-Furat .
Life and Career
Abu al-Husayn Sa'id ibn Ibrahim al-Tustari, also known as Ibn al-Tustari, originated from Tustar and subsequently lived in Baghdad . He was a Christian, and both he and his father were proteges and administrative clients of the Banu al-Furat family . As a professional scribe (katib), he was known for adhering strictly to rhymed prose (saj') in his official correspondence . He also composed poetry, with a collection of his verse recorded as spanning around one hundred folios .
Scholarly Contributions
In Arabic linguistics, al-Tustari authored al-Mudhakkar wa al-Muannath (The Masculine and Feminine), ordering its lexicon alphabetically by root letter . In the treatise, he posited that grammatical gender in Arabic cannot be determined solely by uniform systematic analogy (qiyas muttarid), demonstrating that markers associated with feminine forms appear on masculine nouns and vice versa, which requires reliance on transmitted usage . Following the same alphabetical arrangement, he also composed Kitab al-Maqsur wa al-Mamdud (The Shortened and Prolonged Alif) .
Death
Al-Tustari died after 360 AH (971 CE) ; another record places his death in 361 AH (972 CE) .
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Mudhakkar wa al-Muannath (The Masculine and Feminine) is a specialized grammatical treatise on grammatical gender in the Arabic language. It posits that masculine and feminine distinctions in Arabic cannot be governed by uniform systematic analogy alone, rejecting the idea that fixed markers determine gender and emphasizing reliance on recorded linguistic transmission.