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under the year 144, that Radwa is the mountain of (the tribe of) Juhaina, and that it is situated in the canton of Yanbô. Others state that it lies at a day's journey from Yanbô, and at seven days' journey from Medina; to the right of it passes the road leading to Medina, and, to the left, the road leading to the desert, if the traveller be going up to Mekka. It is at two days' journey from the sea. God knows if this be correct! Abû 'l-Yakzân (7) says, in his Kitâb anNisab, that Ibn al-Hanafiya had a son called al-Haitham, and that he was held away (muwakhkhad) from the mosque of the Prophet, being unable to enter it. As a word of the (Arabic) language, al-akhîd (the held) means a prisoner, and al-uhkda, signifies any charm, such as magic. It would appear from this that the youth was enchanted.

(1) The expedition into the province of Yemåma by Khålid Ibn al-Walid had for object the destruction of the false prophet Musailama and his partisans. A very full account of it is given by at-Tabari. See Kosegarten's Taberistanensis Annales, vol. I. pag. 149 et seq. See also Price's Retrospect, vol. I. p. 41, etc. and Abu 'l-Feda's Annals, year 11.

(2) The life of al-Mubarrad will be found in the third volume of this work.

(3) Aad and Thamûd were two Arabic tribes of great antiquity. The Adites were of prodigious stature, the largest being one hundred cubits high, and the least sixty; so Jalâl ad-din and az-Zamakhshari inform us in their commentaries on the Koran, when explaining these words, addressed by the prophet Hûd to the Adites: Call to mind how he hath appointed you successors unto the people of Noah, and hath added unto your "stature largely."-(Koran, surat 7, verse 67.)

(4) I have already made the remark that al-Mubarrad's work seems unworthy of confidence, and I must here express my regret that Ibn Khallikân should have been tempted to quote it so often as he does.

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(5) Mahdi (for so this word must be pronounced, inasmuch as it is the passive participle of the first form of the verb hada, to direct) signifies the guided, or the well-directed. Sale and others are mistaken in pronouncing it Mohdi and translating it the director.-According to the Moslims, the end of the world will be announced by a number of signs, one of which is to be the appearance of the Mahdi, concerning whom Muhammad prophesied that the world should not have an end till one of his own family should govern the "Arabians, whose name should be the same with his own name, and whose father's name should also be the same with his father's name; and who should fill the earth with righteousness.”— (Sale's Preliminary Discourse to the Koran.)

(6) The Katam (buxus dioica of Forskæl) is a species of hinna. For its description and use, see Dr. Sontheimer's Heil-und-Nahrungsmittel von Ibn Baithar, vol. II. page 348.

(7) Abû 'l-Yakzân Aâmir Ibn Hafs, surnamed Suhaim, was a traditionist of acknowledged authority in whatever regarded the history, genealogy, virtues, and vices of the Arabs. He composed a great number of works, mostly genealogical, and the titles of which are given in the Fihrest (MS. 874, fol. 31). According to the author of that work, he died A. H. 170 (A.D. 786-7)

MUHAMMAD AL-BAKIR.

Abu Jaafar Muhammad, the son of Zain al-Aâbidin Ali (vol. II. p. 209), the son of al-Husain, the son of Ali Ibn Abi Tâlib, and surnamed al-Bàkir, was one of the twelve Imâms, according to the belief of those who admit the imamate (1), and the father of Jaafar as-Sadik (vol. I. p. 300). Al-Bakir held a high rank not only by birth but by learning. He received the appellation of al-Bakir (the ample) because he collected an ample fund (tabakkar) of knowledge (2). It is of him that the poet says:

O thou, copious collector (bakir) of knowledge for (the instruction of) the pious! and best of those who ever said labbaika (3) on the mountains!

He was born at Medina on Tuesday, the third of the month of Safar, A. H. 57 (Dec. A.D. 676), and he completed his third year on the day in which his grandfather, al-Husain, was murdered. His mother, Omm Abd Allah, was the daughter of al-Hasan Ibn al-Hasan Ibn Ali Ibn Abi Tâlib. He died at al-Humaima, in the month of the first Rabi, A.H. 113 (May-June), A.D. 731); others say, on the 23rd of Safar, A. H. 114, or in 117, or the year following. His corpse was carried to Medîna and interred at the Bakî cemetery, in the tomb wherein are deposited the bodies of his father, and his father's uncle, al-Hasan the son of Ali; it is placed under the same dome which covers the tomb of al-Abbâs.—We have already spoken of al-Humaima, in the life of Ali Ibn Abd Allah Ibn alAbbas (vol. II. p. 220.)

(1) That is, "Who maintain that Ali Ibn Abi Talib was lawful khalif and imâm, and that the supreme authority, both in spirituals and temporals, of right belongs to his descendants, notwithstanding they may "be deprived of it by the injustice of others or their own fear."-(Sale's Preliminary Discourse.)

(2) Others say that he was called al-Bakir because he split open (bakara) knowledge, that is, he scrutinized it, and examined into the depths of it.

(3) Labbaika signifies: Here I am at thy service! It is an exclamation employed by the pilgrims on approaching the city of Mekka. In d'Ohsson's Tab. gén. de l'Empire Othom. tom. III. pages 66 and 67, will be found full information on this subject.

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MUHAMMAD AL-JAWAD.

Abû Jaafar Muhammad, the son of Ali ar-Rida (v. II. p. 212), the son of Musà al-Kâzim (1), the son of Jaafar as-Sâdik (vol. I. p. 300), the son of Muhammad al-Bakir (see the preceding article), and surnamed al-Jawad (the generous), was one of the twelve Imâms. Having gone to Baghdad with his wife, Omm alFadl, the daughter of (the khalif) al-Mâmûn, on a visit to (the khalif) al-Motasim, he died in that city. His wife was then borne to the palace of her uncle al-Motasim and placed in the haram with the other women.—Al-Jawad used to repeat the following saying of Ali Ibn Abi Tâlib's, citing, at the same time, the names of his ancestors through whom it had been successively transmitted down: "The blessed Prophet sent me to Yemen, and he counselled me, "saying: "O Ali! he is never disappointed who asks good (from God); and he "never has a motive for repenting who asks advice. Make it a point to travel "by night, for more ground can be got over by night than by day. O Ali! "rise betimes (2) in the name of God, for God hath bestowed a blessing on my people in their early rising.' He used to say: "Whosoever gaineth unto himself a brother in God, hath gained for himself a mansion in Paradise.” Jaafar Ibn Muhammad Ibn Mazyad relates as follows: "I happened to be in Bagh"dad, when Muhammad Ibn Manda Ibn Mihrayezd said to me: 'Would you like me to introduce you to Muhammad, the son of Ali ar-Rida?' I replied: "Certainly, I would.' He then took me in to him, and we saluted and sat down. He (the imâm) then said: 'A saying of the blessed Prophet was, that Fàtima lived "chastely; wherefore God pronounced that her offspring should not be touched by the fire (of hell). But this applied specially to al-Hasan and al-Husain.' Numerous anecdotes are told of him. He was born on Tuesday, the 5th of Ramadan, some say the 15th, A. H. 195 (June, A.D. 811), and he died at Baghdad on Tuesday, the 5th of Zû 'l-Hijja, A. H. 220 (December, A. D. 835). Some say that he died in the year 219. He was interred near his grandfather, Mûsa, the son of Jaafar, in the Cemetery of the Koraish, and the funeral service was said over him by al-Wâthik, the son of (the khalif) al-Motasim.

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MUHAMMAD AL-HUJJA.

Abû 'l-Kàsim Muhammad, the son of al-Hasan al-Askari (v. I. p. 390), the son of Ali al-Hadi (v. II. p. 214), the son of Muhammad al-Jawâd (see the preceding article), was one of the twelve Imâms, according to the opinion of the Imâmites. He was surnamed al-Hujja (the proof of the truth), and it is he whom the Shiites pretend to be the Muntazar (the expected), the Kâim (the chief of the age), and the Mahdi (the directed). According to them, he is the Sahib as-Sirdab (the dweller in the cistern), and the opinions they hold with regard to him are very numerous. They expect his return (into the world) from a cistern at Sarra man râa, when time is near its end. He was born on Friday, the 15th of Shaabàn, A. H. 255 (July, A. D. 869). When his father died, he was five years of age. His mother's name was al-Khamt, but some call her Narjis (narcissus). The Shiites say that he entered into the cistern at his father's house whilst his mother was looking on, and that he never again came out. This occurred in the year 265 (A. D. 878-9), and he was at that time nine years of age. Ibn al-Azrak says, in his History of Maiyâfârikin: "The birth of the Hujja took place on the 9th of "the first Rabi, A. H. 258; others say, and with greater truth, on the 8th of

Shaaban, 256 (July, A. D. 870). When he went into the cistern, his age "was four years; some say five; years; some say five; and others again state that he entered it in A.H. “275 (A. D. 888-9), at the age of seventeen years." God best knows which of these statements is true.

IBN SHIHAB AZ-ZUHRI.

Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Muslim Ibn Obaid Allah Ibn Abd Allah Ibn Shihâb Ibn Abd Allah Ibn al-Hârith Ibn Zuhra, a member of the tribe of Koraish, and surnamed az-Zuhri, was one of the most eminent Tâbîs, jurisconsults, and

Traditionists of Medina.

He saw ten of Muhammad's Companions, and a num

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653 ber of the imâms of that age received Traditions from him and transmitted them to others. Of these we may mention Mâlik Ibn Anas (vol. II. p. 545), Sofyan Ibn Oyaina (vol. I. p. 578), and Sofyan ath-Thauri (vol. I. p. 576).It is related that Amr Ibn Dinâr (vol. I. p. 580, n. (4)) said: “Let az-Zuhri know "what he may, I have met Ibn Omar (v. I. p. 567, n. (1)), who never went to "meet him; and I have met also Ibn Abbas (v. I. p. 89, n. (3)), who never went "to meet him." Az-Zuhri then came to Mekka, and Amr said : Carry me "to him ;" for he had lost the use of his limbs. They carried him to az-Zuhri, and he did not return to his disciples till the next morning. They then asked him how he found az-Zuhri, and he replied: "By Allah! I never in my life "saw the like of that Koraishite."- Mak'hul (1) having been asked who was the most learned man he ever saw, answered: "Ibn Shihab." He was then asked who came next to him, and he answered: "Ibn Shihâb." Being again asked who came next, he replied: "Ibn Shihâb.”—Az-Zuhri had learned by heart all the legal information possessed by the seven jurisconsults (v. I. p. 263), and (the khalif) Omar Ibn Abd al-Aziz wrote these words to all the provinces of the empire"Take the opinion of Ibn Shihab (on points of law); for you will "find no one better acquainted than he is with the Sunna (or usages) of times past.”— Az-Zuhri was one day at an assembly (majlis) held by Hisham Ibn Abd el-Malik, and Abou 'z-Zinâd Abd Allah Ibn Zikwân (vol. I. p. 580, n. (6)) happened to be present. Hisham then asked az-Zuhri in what month the (regular) donations (from the treasury) were issued to the people of Medina? and the other replied that he did not know. He then addressed the same question to Abû 'z-Zinâd, who answered: "In Muharram." On this, Hisham said to az-Zuhri : “O Abû Bakr! there is a piece of information which you have acquired to-day." To this az-Zuhri replied: "The Commander of the faithful's "assembly is the fittest place for acquiring information.”— When az-Zuhri kept at home, he remained seated with his books around him, and so deeply was he absorbed by their study that he forgot all worldly concerns; this induced his wife to say to him one day: "By Allah! these books annoy me more than "three other wives would do (if you had them)."— Abd Allah Ibn Shihàb, his great-grandfather, fought on the side of the infidels at the battle of Badr, and he was one of those who, on the day in which the battle of Ohod was fought,

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