The book “Adab al-Katib” or “Al-Kitab” by Ibn Qutaybah (d. 276 AH) is one of the most prominent works of Arabic literature that fascinated scholars. They paused before it, providing explanations, interpretations, and writing several other works that influenced Arab literary life. These works revealed the personalities of those scholars and their distinguished scientific abilities in multiple aspects. Abu Muhammad Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sayyid al-Battaliyusi al-Andalusi (d. 512 AH) was one of those scholars. He authored a book titled “Al-Iqtidab fi Sharh Adab al-Kitab”. In this book, he explained the introduction, interpreted the information and various knowledge contained within, pointed out errors found, and discussed and explained the poetic verses mentioned.

This book, “Al-Iqtidab,” reveals the personality of a knowledgeable man with a wide range of expertise and knowledge in several areas. He is a researcher, critic, linguist, grammarian, and jurist, with knowledge in history. In this study, we focused on his critical personality, which showed that he possesses both innate self-criticism and acquired cultural objectivity. He appears to be eager to search for accurate information and knowledge, discussing words linguistically and clarifying their meanings, sources, and origins. He examines syntactic contexts to reveal their concepts, and he delves into the integrated context of the situation to expose what is hidden and concealed. He elucidates the grammatical analysis and possible interpretations of each word, and he is keen on researching precise historical information. He approaches all of this with humility and objectivity, far from personal inclinations and biases, which are among the most important characteristics of a critic’s personality