Ibn Qutaybah

Abu Muhammad Abd Allah ibn Muslim ibn Qutaybah al-Dinawari was of Persian heritage, born in Kufa and educated in Baghdad. Serving as chief judge (qadi) of Dinawar and later lecturing in Baghdad, he was a prolific scholar whose works defended traditional Sunni scholarship while embracing humanistic learning.

Ibn Qutaybah was the supreme architect of classical Arab adab (humanities and bureaucratic culture). His manual Adab al-Katib (The Etiquette of the Scribe) was the indispensable textbook for government chanceries, while his encyclopedic ten-volume Uyun al-Akhbar (Fountains of Information) surveyed statecraft, warfare, nobility, friendship, and character, establishing the definitive canon of Islamic belles-lettres.