Siibawayh was the first grammarian to give an account of the...

Siibawayh was the first grammarian to give an account of the entire language in what was probably the first publication in book form in Arabic prose. In his book, زهر الآداب وثمر الألباب , Al-Husary reported that Siibawayh used to have his work reviewed by another grammarian of his time named Al-Akhfash Al-Saghiir who said that, " Siibawayh showed me the grammar rules he came up with thinking that I knew better than him.

In fact, he has better knowledge than me." Siibawayh's example set the trend for all subsequent generations of grammarians, who believed that their main task was to provide an…