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Hisham ibn al-Kalbi

هشام بن الكلبي

The genealogist Ibn al-Kalbi — dead in 204, the year of al-Shafi'i's death 1. Tarikh Baghdad (#7386): a Kufan who came to Baghdad and transmitted from his father; his pupils include his son al-'Abbas, Khalifa b. Khayyat, Shabba al-Misfari, Muhammad b. Sa'd (al-Waqidi's katib), Muhammad b. Abi'l-Sari and Abu'l-Ash'ath Ahmad b. al-Miqdam; his own boast — 'I memorised what no one memorised and forgot what no one forgot' — and that he learnt the Qur'an in three days; Ahmad b. Hanbal dismissed him as 'a man of genealogy and verse, no one transmits his hadith'; died 204, another report 206 2.

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Overview

Hisham ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sa'ib al-Kalbi, a genealogist, who died in 204 AH, the year of al-Shafi'i's death according to al-Mas'udi. 3

His account of the origin of script

Ibn al-Nadim reports from him that the first to devise the Arabic script were people of the ancient Arab tribes who settled among Adnan ibn Udd, and that he named them: Abu Jad, Hawwaz, Hutti, Kalamun, Sa'fas and Qurashat. They wrote the script after their names. 4

An additional source is needed: the year of death is given by a single source in this data.

Sources

  1. Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi , p. 418
  2. Tarikh Baghdad — al-Khatib al-Baghdadi , j.11 p.45-47
  3. Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi , p.418
  4. al-Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadim , p.9-10
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Hisham ibn al-Kalbi”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/hisham-ibn-al-kalbi/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-21.

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Prophets, companions, scholars, rulers, scientists, poets, travelers: women and men who shaped the story.