Among those who transmitted his readings were Yahyā al-Farrāʾ, Abū ʿUbayd, and Khalaf al-Bazzār.

He left behind a number of works, among them: Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (The Meanings of the Qur’an); a book on the variant readings; al-Nawādir al-Kabīr (The Major Book of Rare Expressions); an abridged grammar; and other writings besides.

It was said that while he was studying the recitation of Ḥamzah he would wrap himself in a cloak (kisāʾ), so people came to call him “al-Kisāʾī.”

Ibn Masrūq narrated—Salamah told us, from ʿĀṣim—that al-Kisāʾī said:

“I led Hārūn al-Rashīd in prayer and made a mistake in a verse—one that even a child would not make. I thought to myself, ‘Perhaps they will ask me to repeat it.’ Yet, by Allah, al-Rashīd did not dare say, ‘You made a mistake’; rather he asked, ‘Which dialect is that?’ I replied, ‘Commander of the Faithful, even a thoroughbred horse can stumble.’ He said, ‘As for that, indeed.’ (1)

Salamah also reported from al-Farrāʾ: I heard al-Kisāʾī say, ‘At times my tongue outpaces me with a grammatical slip.’

Khalaf ibn Hishām related that al-Kisāʾī once recited from the pulpit, “I have more wealth than you,” pronouncing “more” in the accusative. People questioned him about the rationale, and I rose up against them until they erased it. He then said to me, ‘Khalaf, who is entirely safe from error?’

And al-Farrāʾ said: ‘Al-Kisāʾī only learned grammar in later life (2), and he kept…’