ثعلب

Tha'lab, Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Yahya, the imam of the Kufan school in Baghdad. There was a rivalry between him and al-Mubarrad over leadership in learning. Among its causes was the difference between their two schools in grammar, morphology and lexicography, and in what may be analogised and what may not ².

Ahmad Amin holds that al-Mubarrad overcame him through his good expression and eloquence, and that Tha'lab was reserved and withdrawn, while al-Mubarrad loved to debate with him and Tha'lab evaded him ³.