Sibawayh's Kitab

"Kitab Sibawayh", the book on grammar. Ibn al-Nadim says that no one before its author had written anything like it, and that no one after him has equalled it. ²

Ibn al-Nadim read, in the hand of Abu al-Abbas Tha'lab, that forty-two people gathered to compose the book, among them Sibawayh; among its sources were "Al-Usul" and "Al-Masa'il" of al-Khalil. ²

When someone wished to read the book with al-Mubarrad, he would ask him: "Have you ever sailed the sea?", in reverence for it. Al-Mazini used to say: whoever wants to write a large grammar after the book of Sibawayh should be ashamed. ²