[9][10] He was an Athari theologian[2][11] and polymath[12][13][14] who wrote on diverse subjects, such as Qur'anic exegesis, hadith, theology, philosophy, law and jurisprudence, grammar, philology, history, astronomy, agriculture and botany.

[18] He was viewed by Sunni Muslims as a hadith Master, foremost philologist, linguist, and man of letters.

[16][19] His book Uyun al-Akhbar, along with the romantic literature of Muhammad bin Dawud al-Zahiri and Ibn Abi Tahir Tayfur, were considered by lexicographer Ibn Duraid to be the three most important works for those who wished to speak and write eloquently.

His work Taʾwīl mukhtalif al-ḥadīth was an influential early Atharite treatise that rebuked rationalists on the nature of Tradition.

In his treatise, Ibn Qutayba censures the mutakallimūn (scholastic theologians) for holding contradictory and differing views on the principles of religion.