Therefore Qudamah alone had thirteen to his credit and...

Therefore Qudamah alone had thirteen to his credit and between them thirty styles have been identified. Thereafter people took after these two.” Qudamah ibn Ja’far has another work, Naqd al–Shi’r , which is known as Naqd Qudamah . We could not ascertained anything with respect to Ibn al–Mu’taz except his precedence in naming this discipline al–badi’ .

We sought a clarification as to the truth of his assertion that is found in the opening section of his book that “No one compiled or wrote about the techniques of literature before me”, in compliance with the command of Allah the Glorious concerning people like Ibn al–Ma’taz. However, we have found that his claim could not hold water. [Here the author alludes to the Qur’an, Chapter 49 verse 6 and he said this with respect to Ibn al–Mu’taz because the man led an immoral life]. Previous…