Arabic Beyond the Arabs
al-Kisaʾi: the man in the cloak who became a master of Qur'an reading
الكِسائيّ: صاحبُ الكساء الذي صار إمامًا في القراءة
al-Kisaʾi was of Persian descent, from the Sawad of Iraq, its farming villages, and his lineage includes Bahman and Fayruz, two Persian names. He entered a mosque in Kufa wrapped in a black cloak (kisāʾ), so people called him al-Kisaʾi, «the man of the cloak». He kept close to Hamza al-Zayyat, the Qur'an reader of Kufa, until the leadership in reading passed to him after Hamza. He is one of the Seven Readers whose readings of the Qur'an are still recited today, and the leading grammarian of Kufa.
- In brief
- Of Persian descent from the farmlands of Iraq, and one of the Seven Readers
- Outside Arabic
- al-Kisāʾī
«هو أبو الحسن علي بن حمزة الكسائي النحوي، من أولاد الفرس من سواد العراق، وجده عبد الله بن بهز بن فيروز، وهو مولى بني أسد، كوفي، انتهت إليه الإمامة في القراءة.»
His grandfather's name is written «Bahz» in Fath al-Wasid and «Bahman» in al-Samʿani's al-Ansab, which also tells the story of the cloak; the card follows al-Ansab, and «Fayruz» is in both. That he is one of the Seven Readers and the leading Kufan grammarian is well known.
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