Page images
PDF
EPUB

IBN AL-MAJISHUN.

Abû Marwan Abd al-Malik Ibn Abd al-Aziz Ibn Abd Allah Ibn Abi Salama al-Majishûn, the Malikite doctor, was a native of Medina and a client to the Munkadirs, a family which drew its origin from Taim, a descendant of Koraish he was therefore surnamed al-Korashi, at-Taimi, al-Munkadiri; he bore also the appellation of al-Aami (the blind), because he did not possess the sense of sight, or because he lost it towards the close of his life. His ancestor Abû Salama was surnamed al-Majishûn, but his real name is uncertain; some say that he was called Maimûn, and others, Dinår. Ibn al-Majishûn studied jurisprudence under his father Abd al-Aziz, the imâm Malik, and others. He took great pleasure in hearing vocal music, and to this, Ahmad Ibn Hanbal bears testimony: "He came to visit us," said he, "and was accompanied by a person whose business it was to sing to him." He was also noted for his talent as a narrator of anecdotes and for the purity of his style: relative to this it is related that, when the imâm as-Shâfi conversed with him (on literature), the persons present understood very little of what they said; the reason was that as-Shafi had acquired his knowledge of pure Arabic by living for some time in the desert with the tribe of Hudail, and Ibn al-Majishun had learned it in the same manner from the tribe of Kalb, who were his relations by the mother's side. It was said by Yahya Ibn Ahmad Ibn al-Muaddal : "When I reflect that Abd al-Malik's tongue must sooner or later moulder into

[ocr errors]

66

dust, the world loses its value in my sight." The same person being asked how great was the difference between his own talent as a correct speaker and that of his master Abd al-Malik, he made this reply: "The tongne of Abd alMalik, when embarrassed, was more lively than mine when animated (1). Ibn al-Majishûn died A. H. 243 (A.D. 828-9), but it is mentioned by Abù Omar Ibn Abd al-Barr (2) that his death took place in 212; others again place this event in 214.- Majishûn signifies tinged with a rose colour, or, according to some, tinged with white and red; it was the surname of Abu Yûsuf Yâkûb the son of Abu Salama Abd al-Malik's great-grandfather, and the uncle of Abd alMalik's father. This surname was given him by Sukaina the daughter of al-Husain Ibn Abi Tâlib (3), and it passed to all his children and to those of his bro

ther. But the origin of this appellation has been explained in another manner : as they were originally from Ispahan, they used to salute one another, when they met, with the words shûni shûni; and they were called Majishûn for that reason (4): this we give on the authority of the hafiz Abu Bakr Ahmad Ibn Ibrahim al-Jûrjâni. It was said by Abû Dàwùd (5) that Ibn al-Majishûn did not understand the Traditions, and Ibn al-Barki (6) relates that a man having requested him to go and see Abd al-Malik, he went and found that he had no conception of what a Tradition was. Muhammad Ibn Saad mentions him in his greater Tabakåt, and says: "He had a knowledge of jurisprudence and "handed down orally traditional information."— Munkadiri means descended from al-Munkadir the son of Abd Allah Ibn Hudair, a member of the family of Taim, which is a branch of the tribe of Koraish. He was the father of the Muhammad, Abû Bakr, and Omar, whose history is given in full by Ibn Kutaiba, in the Kitâb al-Madrif, under the head of Muhammad Ibn al-Munkadir (7).

(1) In this passage all the MSS. except the autograph are wrong: forl we must read, and

تحايا تحابي for

(2) This person's life is given by Ibn Khallikàn.

(3) Her life will be found in vol. I. page 581.

(4) I have not been able to discover what the words shuni and Majishûn may mean in this case; had Ibn Khallikan known it, he would most probably have explained it.

(5) Probably Abû Dâvûd the imâm; see vol. I. page 589.

(6) Abû Ishak Ibrahim Ibn Abd ar-Rahmân Ibn Abi 'l-Kádi al-Barki al-Misri (a native of Egypt, but sprung from a family inhabiting Barka in North Africa) was a doctor of the sect of Mâlik, and esteemed as one of the ablest jurisconsults of Egypt. He studied the law under Asshhab and Ibn Wahb. His death is placed by as-Suyuthi in A.H. 245 (A.D. 859-60). —(Husn al-Muhâdira, MS. No. 652, fol. 116 verso.)

(7) Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn al-Munkadir Ibn Abd Allah Ibn al-Hudair at-Taimi, a member of the tribe of Koraish, was an eminent Koran-reader and Traditionist. His masters were Jâbir Ibn Abd Allah, Anas Ibn Malik, Orwa Ibn az-Zubair, etc. He had for pupils the imâm Malik, Shôba, ath-Thauri, Ibn Oyaina, Ibn Juraij, etc. He died A. H. 131 (A. D. 748-9) —Tab. al-Muhad.)

THE IMAM AL-HARAMAIN.

The Shâfite doctor, Abû 'l-Maàli Abd al-Malik, surnamed Diâ ad-din (splendour of religion) and generally known by the title of the imam al-Haramain, was son to the shaikh Abû Muhammad Abd Allah Ibn Abi Yâkûb Yûsuf Ibn Abd Allah Ibn Yûsuf Ibn Muhammad Ibn Haiyûya al-Jûwaini. He was, without exception, the most learned doctor of the Shafite sect in later times, and is universally considered as a (mujtahid) imâm; it is also agreed on by all that he stood pre-eminent by the extent of his information and his skill in many different branches of science, such as dogmatic theology, jurisprudence, philology, etc. (We have spoken of his father in vol. II. page 27.) By a favour of the divine grace, he was enabled to carry the practices of devotion to an unexampled pitch of fervour; he repeated also from memory, and without the least hesitation, lessons to his pupils, each of which would have filled a number of 402 leaves. When a youth, he was instructed in jurisprudence by his father Abû Muhammad, who was struck with his capacity, acquirements, excellent disposition, and other prognostics of future eminence. Abd al-Malik having thus gone through all his parent's works and mastered their contents, surpassed him in accuracy of knowledge and subtilness. On his father's death, he replaced him as a teacher, and, having accomplished that duty, he went to the Madrasa of al-Baihaki (1) and mastered the science of dogmatic theology under the tuition of the ustad Abû 'l-Kâsim al-Iskâf, a native of Isfarâin (2). From thence he travelled to Baghdad, where he met a number of the learned; he then proceeded to Hijaz, where he made a residence of four years, partly at Mekka and partly at Medina. During this period he filled the duties of a professor and a mufti, whilst the rest of his time was devoted to the task of collecting the Shafite doctrines from all the various channels through which they had passed down. It was on account of his residence in these two holy cities that he received the surname of the Imam al-Haramain (imâm of the two sanctuaries). Towards the commencement of Alp Arslan's reign, he returned to Naisapûr, and Nizâm alMulk, that sultan's vizir, founded there a Nizamiya College for the express purpose of establishing the Imâm in it as a professor. This doctor filled besides the place of khatib, or chief preacher of the city, and held assemblies in which

66

The

he gave exhortations and presided at discussions on points of doctrine. works which he had written became then generally known, and his lectures were attended by doctors of the highest eminence; the presidency of the Shafite sect devolved on him; and the administration of the wakfs, or religious endowments, was confided to his care. During a space of nearly thirty years he continued in undisputed possession of these places, and held with general consent the posts of officiating imâm at public prayers, of preacher in the principal mosque, of professor, and of president at the assemblies which met every Friday to hear pious exhortations. He composed works on very many subjects, and Islamism has never produced one equal to his treatise, the Nihayat al-Matlab fi Dirayat al-Mazhab (satisfactory results to inquiry, being a guide to the knowledge of the Shafite doctrines). The hâfiz Abu Jaafar (3) relates that he heard Abu Ishak as-Shirâzi say to the Imâm al-Haramain: “O instructor of the people of the East and of the West! thou art to-day the imâm (chief) of the "imâms."-The Imam al-Haramain was taught Traditions by a great number of the learned in that branch of knowledge, and he possessed a licence from Abu Noaim al-Ispahâni, the author of the Hilyat al-Awlia (see vol. I. paye 74), authorising him to teach those which he had communicated to him. His other works are the Shamil (comprehensive), on the dogmas of religion; the Burhân (proof), on the fundamentals of jurisprudence; the Talkhis at-Takrib, an abridgment of (al-Kasim Ibn Muhammad as-Shashi's treatise on jurisprudence), the Takrib; the Irshad (direction, on the fundamentals of jurisprudence); al-Akîda an-Nizâmiya (4); the Madârik al-Okûl (results of the utmost efforts of human reason), which work was left unfinished; an unfinished abridgment of the Nihâyat alMatlab; the Ghidth al-Umam (help for the nations), in which he treats of the imâmat or presidency over the whole Moslim community; the Mugîth al-Khalk (assister of God's creatures), leading to the choice of the true way; the Ghunyat al-Mustarshidîn (5) (sufficient help for those who desire guidance), being a treatise on controversy. He composed also some other works. Whenever he entered into an explanation of the sciences peculiar to the Sufis and of the state of extatic exaltation (6) to which they sometimes reached, he would draw tears from all present. During the entire course of his life he never swerved from a line of conduct most praiseworthy and agreeable to God. I was told by a shaikh that he had read a full account of the Imam al-Haramain's life in a certain treatise, 16

VOL. II.

and that his father Abu Muhammad began the world as a professional bookcopyist: having amassed some money by his labours, he bought a slave-girl bearing a high character for piety and virtue, and her he supported with the lawful gains furnished him by his trade. She bore him a son, afterwards known as the Imam al-Haramain, and he told her not to allow any person but herself to suckle the child; but it happened one day, that on going into her apartment, he found her indisposed, and as the child was crying, a woman who was one of the neighbours, gave it the breast for a short time to quiet it. When the father saw this, he felt much vexed, and taking the child, he held it with its head downwards, stroked its belly, and put his finger into its mouth, till he succeeded in making it throw up what it had swallowed: "I would rather see him die,' said he, "than have his natural disposition spoiled by the milk of one who was "not his mother." It is related also of the Imâm himself that a languor of mind sometimes came over him during the conferences at which he presided, and that he attributed it to the effects of that milk, a portion of which had remained in his stomach. He was born on the 18th of Muharram, A. H. 419 (February, A.D. 1028); in his last illness he was borne to Bashtanikân, a village situated in the province of Naisapûr and noted for the salubrity of its air and water; he died at that place on Wednesday, the 25th of the latter Rabi, A.H. 478 405 (August, A. D. 1085), just as the evening had closed in. His body was taken to Naisapûr that night, and was buried the next morning in (the court of) his house, but, some years later, it was removed to the al-Husain Cemetery and interred beside the grave of his father. The funeral prayers were said over him by his son Abù 'l-Kâsim, and on the day of his death, all the shops were shut, the pulpit in the great mosque from which he preached was broken to pieces, and the whole population mourned for him as for a relation. A great number of elegies were composed on his death, and one of them we shall give here it is as follows:

The hearts of mankind were in torture (7) and the days of mortals became dark as nights! Can the tree of science ever again bear fruit, now that the imâm Abu 'l-Maâli is no more?

At the moment of his death, his scholars, who were four hundred and one in number, broke their pens and inkhorns and let a full year pass over before they resumed their studies.

« PreviousContinue »