About the book Al-Mustatraf fi Kull Fann Mustatraf
Al-Mustatraf fi Kull Fann Mustatraf by Shihab al-Din Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Abshaihi is one of the most enjoyable and witty literary, religious, and historical books. In it, its author collected everything that his memory provided him with from rare news, poems, sermons, and good speech. Haji Khalifa described it in his book Kashf al-Zunun with the best description, saying: It includes every witty art and contains evidence from the verses of the Quran, authentic hadiths, and good stories from the righteous. He transferred much of what Al-Zamakhshari included in Rabi' al-Abrar and Ibn Abd Rabbih in Al-Aqd, and it contains many subtleties from the products of useful books. He included proverbs, humorous anecdotes, curiosities, insights, poems, and insights, making it consist of eighty-four chapters.