"these words, Abd al-Malik turned pale, and said: A monk from Aila who "once saw him with me, pretended that thirteen kings should come forth "from his loins, and he described to me the appearance of each.'" The authority (of the imamate) was transmitted to him in the following manner : Muhammad Ibn al-Hanafiya, of whom we have already spoken (vol. II. p. 574), was considered by the Shiites as having acquired the qualities of the true imâm on the death of his brother al-Husain. When Ibn al-Hanifiya died, his authority passed to his son Abû Hâshim (vol. II. p. 577). The influence which Abû Hashim possessed was immense, and the Shiites acknowledged him for their chief. Being taken ill in Syria, and at the point of death, he left the authority to Muhammed Ibn Ali, as he had himself no offspring, and he said: "Thou art now "the possessor of this authority, and it shall remain with thy children." He then delivered him his books (or letters), and the Shiites immediately turned towards him. When Muhammad was on his death-bed in Syria, he left his authority to his son Ibrahim, surnamed (thenceforward) the Imâm. Ibrahim was imprisoned in the city of Harrân, by Marwân Ibn Muhammad, the last of the Omaiyides, and, feeling convinced that this prince meant to put him to death, he transmitted the authority to his brother as-Saffah, who was the first of the Abbaside family who obtained the khalifate. Such are the main points of the whole proceeding, but 638 to expose the particulars of it would lead us too far. Muhammad (Ibn Ali) was born A. H. 60 (A. D. 679-80); so, at least, I have found it mentioned; but this date cannot be reconciled with that of his father's birth, if, as has been already stated, fourteen years only intervened between them: we have observed (vol. II. p. 220) that his father's birth took place in the lifetime of Ali, or, in admitting another statement, on the night in which that khalif was assassinated; now, Ali's death occurred in the month of Ramadan, A. H. 40 (January, A. D. 661); how then could fourteen years only have elapsed, when it appears, on the contrary, that there must have been at least twenty years between the two events?Muhammad died A. H. 126 (A. D. 743-4), some say 122, the same year in which was born al-Mahdi, the son of Abu Jaafar al-Mansûr and the father of Harûn ar-Rashid. Others refer the death of Muhammad to the year 125, and state that he breathed his last at as-Sharât. At-Tabari says, in his History: "Mu"hammad Ibn Ali expired on the first of Zù 'l-Kaada, A. H. 126 (August, "A. D. 744), at the age of sixty-three years." We have spoken of as-Sharât in

VOL. II.

75

66

،،

the life of his father Ali (vol. II. p. 220).—In at-Tabari's historical work, the following passage is inserted under A. H. 98: "Abû Hâshim Abd Allah, the son ،، of Muhammad Ibn al-Hanafiya, went to see Sulaiman Ibn Abd al-Malik Ibn Marwân, by whom he was received with marked honour. He then set out for Palestine, and Sulaiman suborned a person to await his passage on the road, "and offer him a draught of poisoned milk. Abû Hàshim had no sooner swal“lowed the milk than he felt death to be at hand, and he immediately turned off ،، from his way, and proceeded to al-Humaima. He there found Muhammad Ibn "Ali Ibn Abd Allah Ibn al-Abbâs, and told him that he transmitted his rights ،، as legitimate khalif to Abd Allah Ibn al-Harithiya, the son of Muhammad Ibn "Ali.”—This Ibn al-Hàrithiya is the same person who afterwards bore the title of as-Saffah." He then delivered to him the letters written by the missiona"ries (or political agents) (3) and instructed him how to act at al-Humaina." AtTabari takes no notice here of Ibrahîm the Imâm, yet all other historians agree in stating that Abù Hashim's rights to the khalifate were transmitted to Ibrahim, who did not, however, attain to their full exercise.

66

(1) The author of the Mardsid notices a number of places bearing the name of Dûma tal-Jandal; one of them, a castle in the district of Medina; another, a village at five parasangs from Damascus; and the third, a place in the vicinity of the Two Mountains of Tai (Jabalai Tai . That which is mentioned in this article seems to be the second indicated in the Marâsid.

(2) The cultivated country around Damascus is called the Ghata.

(3) It has been already observed, vol. I. p. 26, that some of the Moslim dynasties had the way prepared for their establishment by political agents or missionaries. Those dynasties all claimed kindred with Muhammad, and this was the basis on which they founded their pretensions to the khalifate. In M. de Sacy's Exposé de l'Histoire des Druzes, a very clear light is thrown on the proceedings of the Ismailian missionaries.

AL-BUKHARI.

The hâfiz Abu Abd Allah Muhammad Ibn Abi 'l-Hasan Ismail Ibn Ibrahim Ibn al-Mughaira Ibn al-Ahnaf Yezdibah (or Yezdezbah, according to Ibn Mâkûla,

a mawla to the tribe of Jôfì, and surnamed al-Bukhâri, was the great imâm in the science of the Traditions, and the author of the work entitled al-Jâmi as-Sahih (the authentic collector) and of the (well-known) history (1). Animated with the desire of collecting Traditions, he went to see most of the Traditionists in all the great cities, and he wrote down in Khorâsân, in the cities of Irak, in Hijaz, in Syria, and in Egypt (the information he thus acquired). On visiting Baghdad, the inhabitants gathered round him, and acknowledging his merit, declaring him to be the first man of the age for his learning in the Traditions, and for his talent in delivering them to others. It is related by Abû Abd Allah al-Humaidi, in his Jadwa tal-Muktabis, and by the Khatib, in his History of Baghdad, that, when al-Bukhari arrived at that city, the Traditionists assembled, and, having selected one hundred Traditions, they applied to the text of each a wrong isnad (2), and gave them by tens to ten different persons, whom they directed to attend the conference held by al-Bukhâri, and submit to him these Traditions. When the appointed day came, a great number of Traditionists from Khorâsân proceeded with those of Baghdad to the meeting. The assembly having taken their places, one of the ten men came forward and questioned al-Bukhâri-on one of these Traditions. This doctor answered that he was not acquainted with it, and the other proceeded to ask his opinion on the remaining nine, which he submitted to him successively. As Al-Bukhari continued to answer: "I am not acquainted with it;" the jurisconsults present at the meeting began to turn from one to another and say: "The man knows what he is about;" but some of the auditors were led to conclude that he was a man of great incapacity and slight information. Another of the ten men then came forward, and, having 659 proposed in a similar manner his ten altered Traditions, he obtained the same answers as his predecessor. The eight others then advanced successively, but the result was always the same. When al-Bukhari perceived that they had done, he turned to the first man and said: "Thy first Tradition should be said so and so; thy second so and so;" repeating them till he came to the last, and prefixing to the text of each the isnâd which belonged to it. He then commenced with the second man, answering him in the same way, and he continued till he ended by the tenth. The whole assembly then acknowledged his abilities as a hâfiz, and admitted his superior merit. When Ibn Said (3) spoke of al-Bukhâri, he called him the butting ram (whom none could withstand).— Muhammad

Ibn Yûsuf al-Farabri (4) relates that he heard al-Bukhari say: "I never in"serted a Tradition in my Sahih till after I had made an ablution, and offered "up a prayer of two rakas (5)." It is also stated that al-Bukhari said: "It "took me sixteen years to draw up the Kitâb as-Sahih. I selected the matter "which forms its contents from a mass of six hundred thousand Traditions, and "I have offered it up to God as a title to his favour."—Al-Farabri mentioned that ninety thousand persons had learned the Sahih from al-Bukhari, and, that of all who taught it on the authority of the author, he himself was the sole survivor. Abû Isa at-Tirmidi (6) also taught Traditions on the authority of al-Bukhari. The birth of al-Bukhari took place after the public prayer of Friday, the 13th of Shawwâl, A. H. 194 (July, A. D. 810); but Abû Yala alKhalili (vol. I. p. 53, n. (3)) states, in his Kitâb ar-Irshâd, that it happened on the 12th of the above mentioned month. He died at Khartank, on the eve of Saturday, the first of Shawwâl, A. H. 256 (September, A. D. 870), after the evening prayer, and he was buried the following day, on the termination of the afternoon prayer. Ibn Yûnus mentions, in his History of Foreigners (see page 93 of this vol.), that al-Bukhâri came to Egypt and died there. This is, however, a mistake, and the truth is as we have just stated. Khalid Ibn Ahmad Ibn Khalid ad-Dohli, the governor of Khorâsân, banished al-Bukhâri from Bukhâra, and sent him to Khartank; Khâlid then made the pilgrimage, and, on arriving at Baghdad, he was imprisoned by al-Muwaffak Ibn al-Mutawakkil, the brother of the khalif al-Motamid, and detained in confinement till he died. Al-Bukhari was a lean-bodied man and of the middle size. Different opinions are held respecting the true name of his ancestor (surnamed al-Ahnaf); some say that he was called Yezdibah, but Ibn Mâkúla says, in his Ikmal (vol. II. p. 248, that his name was Yezdezbah. This person was a Magian and died in that religion. The first of his ancestors who embraced Islamism was al-Mughaira.— In another work, I find the former of al-Bukhari's ancestors called al-Ahnaf, it is therefore possible that Yezdibah was really ahnaf, or club-footed.—Bukhâri means belonging to Bukhara, a great city in Transoxiana, at eight days' journey from Samarkand.-Khartank is a village in the district of Samarkand.We have already spoken of Joft (vol. I. p. 106). Al-Bukhari bore the surname of Jofi because his family were mawlas to Said Ibn Jaafar al-Jôfi, governor of

Khorasan.

(1) See Fluegel's Hajji Khalifa, tom. II. pag. 117, No. 2174.

(2) See vol. I. Introduction, page xxii.

(3; Abû Muhammad Yahya Ibn Sâîd, a native of Baghdad and a mawla to Abû Jaafar al-Mansûr, was one of the most eminent hafiz of Irâk. He died A. H. 318 (A. D. 930-1).—(Nujûm. Al-Yâfî.)

(4) His life will be found in this work.

(5) See vol. I. page 624.

(6) His life will be found in this volume.

IBN JARIR AT-TABARI.

Abû Jaafar Muhammad Ibn Jarir Ibn Yazid Ibn Khâlid at-Tabari (native of Tabarestân) is the author of the great commentary on the Korân and of the celebrated history. Some say that his grandfather Yazid was the son of Kathir 640 Ibn Ghâlib. At-Tabari was an imâm (master of the highest authority) in many various branches of knowledge, such as koranic interpretation, Traditions, jurisprudence, history, etc. He composed some fine works on various subjects, and these productions are a testimony of his extensive information and great abilities. He was one of the mujtahid imâms (1), as he (judged for himself and) adopted the opinions of no particular doctor. Abû 'l-Faraj al-Moâfa Ibn Zakariya an-Nahrawâni, surnamed Ibn Taràra, was a follower of his doctrines. We shall give a notice on this person. Ibn Jarir at-Tabari is held to merit the highest confidence as a transmitter of traditional information, and his history is the most authentic and the most exact of any. The shaikh Abû Ishak as-Shiràzi (vol. I. p. 9) places him among the mujtahids, in his Tabakat al-Fokaha (classified list of jurisconsults). I found in some compilation or other the following verses attributed to at-Tabari :

When I am reduced to poverty, I let my brother know it not; and when I am rich, I enrich my friends. My honest pride prevents me from losing my self-respect; and if I do ask a favour, modesty is always my companion. But did I condescend to forego my self-respect, I should soon be on a beaten path to riches.

He was born A. H. 224 (A. D. 838-9), at Amul in Tabarestàn, and he died at Baghdad on Saturday evening, the 25th of Shawwal, A. H. 310 (February, A. D.