Muḥammad al-Kisāʾī

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Kisāʾī (Arabic: محمد الكسائي) (ca. 1100 CE) wrote a work on Stories of the Prophets (Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyā). It has been characterised as "one of the best-loved versions of the prophetic tales".^[1]: xix

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Kisāʾī
محمد بن عبد الله الكيسائي
Born	ca. 10th/11th century CE
Academic background
Influences	Abd Allah ibn Salam; Ka'b al-Ahbar; Wahb ibn Munabbih
Academic work
Era	Classical / Medieval Islamic period
Language	Arabic
Main interests	Biblical Prophets, folk-religion, Qurʾanic tales, exegesis
Notable works	Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyāʾ (Stories of the Prophets)

Work

Al-Kisāʾī produced a collection of Stories of the Prophets; according to Wheeler M. Thackston, its date "is highly uncertain, although the prevalent opinion is that it must have been written not long before 1200".^[1]: xix It includes exegetic information not found elsewhere^[2] and elaborates on earlier exegesis with a fuller narrative and folkloric elements from oral traditions now lost^[2] that often parallel those from Christianity. He includes two prophets, Shem and Eleazar, not named in later literature as prophets.^[3] The work often cites ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām (d. 663), Kaʿb al-Aḥbār (d. c. 652), and Wahb ibn Munabbih (d. c. 730), who were understood as foundational authorities on pre-Islamic Abrahamic traditions in early Islam.^[1]: xiii It was later translated into Persian by Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan al-Daydūzamī.^[1]: xix

Editions and translations

• al-Kisāʾī, Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ / Vita Prophetarum, ed. by I. Eisenberg (Leiden 1922–23)
• Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Kisāʾī, The Tales of the Prophets of al-Kisa’i, trans. by Wheeler M. Thackston Jr. ([Chicago, IL]: Great Books of the Islamic World, 1997), ISBN 187103101X