[n 3] Al-Kisā’ī entered the court of the Abbāsid caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd at Baghdād as tutor to the two princes, al-Ma’mūn and al-Amīn.
[n 5][9] A famous anecdote relates a grammatical contest in Baghdad between the leaders of the two rival schools, with al-Kisā’ī representative of Al-Kufah, and Sibawayh of the Baṣrans.
At issue was the Arabic phrase: كنتُ أظن أن العقربَ أشد لسعة من الزنبور فإذا هو هي\هو إياها I always thought that the scorpion is more painful than the hornet in its sting, and so it is (lit.
Sibawayh proposed:[12] ... fa-'ida huwa hiya (فإذا هو هي), literally ... sure-enough he shemeaning "so he (the scorpion, masc.)
However, when al-Kisa'i was supported in his assertion by four Bedouin -Desert Arab, whom he had supposedly bribed-[11][13] that the correct form was huwa 'iyyaha, his argument won the debate.
The primary transmitters of his recitation method were Abū al-Ḥārith ibn Khālid al-Layth (d.845)[16][17] and Al-Duri [n 8] [n 9] Al-Naqqāsh[n 10] wrote Al-Kitāb al-Kisā’ī.