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It is said that he wrote the following verses to his son Muhi ad-din, who was then at Aleppo; and the author of the Kharida pronounces them positively to be

his :

I dispatch to thy presence a legion of loving wishes, in the form of letters; thinking of thee, I hold a pleasing conversation with myself, but, alas! it is a mere delusion.

The katib Imad ad-din says in the Kharida, in his article on Kamâl ad-din, that these lines were recited to him by the kâdi as his own, on the 3rd of the first Rabi, A. H. 571. "They recalled to my mind," he adds, "the words of "the sharif Abû Yala Ibn al-Habbâriya (3, who said, alluding to the slow ap"proach of morning (after a night of anxiety:

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How many the nights I passed, concealing the flame which consumed me, and uttering complaints to the stars, so as nearly to awake their pity; whilst the East withheld from me the sight of morn, as the hand of the wretched holds closely the favour it obtained.""

He then adds: “If the poet had (changed a single word and) said: (ardently de

sired) like a tardy favour granted to the wretched, the thought had been ex"cellent." It is said that when Kamal ad-din grew old and feeble, so as to be hardly able to move, he used very often to repeat these lines :

O Lord! let me not live till I become a burden to any man; take me by the hand unto thyself), before I am obliged to say, when I wish to rise up: "Take me by the hand.”

I am not sure whether these verses be his own or not, and I have since met with them in a poem composed by Abû 'l-Hasan Muhammad Ibn Abi s'-Sakr alWasiti. In the life of Ibn Abi 's-Sakr, we shall again speak of them.— Kamàl ad-din was born at Mosul, A. H. 492 (A. D. 1098-9); he died at Damascus on Thursday, the 6th of Muharram, A. H. 572 (July, A.D. 1176), and was interred, the next morning, at Mount Kàsiûn. He was then aged eighty years and some months. His son Muhi ad-din composed an elegy on his death.-One of Kamal ad-din's last requests, was that the chief kadiship should be conferred on his nephew, Abu 'l- Fadàil al-Kasim Ibn Yahya Ibn Abd Allah, surnamed Dià ad-din, and the sultan acceded to this recommendation by nominating him kâdi of Damascus. He held this post for some time, but discovering that the prince had a partiality for

the shaikh Sharaf ad-dîn Ibn Abi Usrún (vol. II. p. 32), he asked and obtained his dismissal. Sharaf ad-din was appointed to the vacant place.

(1) It would appear from a note by M. de Sacy, in his Chrestomathie, tom. II. p. 269, that the tarha was a sort of hood worn by the chief kådis of the Shafite sect.

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

(3) The sharif Abû Yala Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Salih Ibn al-Habbâriya, a native of Baghdad, was one of the poets patronised by Nizâm al-Mulk (vol. I. p 413). He had a great propensity to satire, and surpassed, in the gaiety and licentiousness of his poems, Ibn al-Hajjâj (vol.I. p. 448), on whose style his own might be said to be formed. He ended by satirizing Nizâm al-Mulk himself. Imâd ad-din gives some passages from his compositions in the Kharida, MS. No. 1447, fol. 24 et seq.

MUHI AD-DIN AS-SHAHROZURI.

Abu Hamid Muhammad as-Shahrozûri, surnamed Muhi ad-din (reviver of gion), was the son of the kadi Kamâl ad-din, whose life has been given in the preceding article. Having already mentioned the high rank and authority held by his father, we need not repeat our observations here. The kâdi Muhî ad-din went to study at Baghdad, and, having distinguished himself by his progress in jurisprudence under the tuition of the shaikh Abu Mansûr Ibn al-Bazzaz, he proceeded to Syria and filled the kadiship of Damascus, as his father's deputy. In the month of Ramadan, A. H. 555 (September, A. D. 1160), he removed to Aleppo, where he exercised the chief magistracy in his father's name also, having replaced, in this office, Ibn Abi Jarâda, surnamed Ibn al-Adim (1). On the death of his father, he removed to Mosul and obtained not only the kadiship of that city, but the professorship in the colleges founded there, one by his father, and the other by Nizâm al-Mulk. Having gained the confidence of Izz ad-din Masûd, the son of Kutb ad-din Maudud, sovereign of Mosul, be became the uncontrolled director of the state, and was frequently dispatched by his master on missions to the court of Baghdad. Bahâ ad-din Yûsuf Ibn Shaddâd, kâdi of Aleppo, mentions, in his work entitled: Maljâ al-Hukkâm and Iltibás il-Ahkâm (resource of magistrates

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664 when the law is doubtful), that he was in the retinue of Muhi ad-din when that kâdi proceeded to Baghdad on one of his missions. The eminence of Muhi ad-din may be easily appreciated from the fact of his having such a man as Bahâ ad-din in his service. He was distinguished by his princely beneficence, and it is said that, in one of his embassies to Baghdad, he distributed ten thousand emirian dinars (2) to jurisconsults, literary men, poets, and indigent persons. It is said also that, during the whole period of his magistracy at Mosul, he never allowed a debtor to be imprisoned for two dinars or a smaller sum, but discharged the debt himself. Numerous anecdotes are related of his generosity. The great authority and influence which he exercised obtained for him universal respect; and his character, which was of the very noblest cast, was marked by beneficence and affability (3). He possessed a very fair knowledge of the belles lettres, and composed some good poetry. One of his pieces, recited to me at Damascus by a friend, is on a grasshopper, and offers great novelty in its comparisons; he says:

It has the thighs of a camel, the legs of an ostrich, the claws of an eagle, and the breast of a lion. It borrowed its belly from the serpent of the sands, and its head and mouth from the spirited steed.

In a collection of various pieces, I found the following verses of his on the descent of snow from the clouds :

When time grew hoary with grief at the loss of its generous men, he tore off this hoariness and scattered it upon mankind.

His birth may be placed approximatively in the year 510 (A. D. 1416-7). The katib Imâd ad-din says in his Kharida, I know not on what authority, that he was born in the year 519, to which he adds, in the Sail, that this event took place in the month of Shaaban. He died at daybreak, on Wednesday the 14th of the first Jumada, A. H. 586 (June, A. D. 1190), according to Ibn ad-Dubaithi (4), but, on the 23rd of the month, according to the katib Imâd ad-din, in his Sail. His death took place at Mosul, and he was buried in his house, situated in the quarter of the Castle, but his corpse was subsequently carried to Medina; so, at least, I have read in an historical work, but Ibn ad-Dubaithi states, in his History, that it was removed to a mausoleum built

for its reception outside the city. (of Mosul). Having endeavoured to clear up this point, I found Ibn ad-Dubaithi's statement to be true. This mausoleum lies outside the Maidan Gate, near the tomb of Kadib al-Bàn, the celebrated worker of miracles (5).—Kamâl ad-din had another son called Imåd ad-dîn Ahmad, who was sent, in the year 569 (A. D. 1173-4), as ambassador from Nûr ad-din to the court of Baghdad. His praises were celebrated by the poet Ibn atTaawîzi (6), in a kâsîda of which one of the verses is

:

They said: He is an envoy (rasûl) whose qualities are above description! and I answered: You speak the truth; such is the description of every apostle (rasul).

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(1) Ibn Abi Jarâda, the grandfather of the historian of Aleppo, refused to hold the place of kâdi as deputy to Kamal ad-din — MS. No. 728, f. 176. Farther on, we read as follows: "In the year 573 (A.D. 1179-80, some ill-intentioned persons complained secretly of Muhi ad-din as-Shahrozûri, kâdi of Aleppo, to Jamâl ad-dîn "Shadbakht, governor of that city, pretending that he favoured the projects of al-Malik as-Salih, and producing poems (to that effect), which they declared to be his. This awakened the apprehensions of Muhî ad-dîn, who proceeded to Mosul; on which the post of kadi at Aleppo was offered to my uncle, Abû Ghânim Muham"mad Ibn Hibat Allah Ibn Abi Jarâda, who refused it. My father then accepted the place, and continued to hold it till the death of al-Malik as-Sâlih.”—(History of Aleppo by Kamâl ad-din Ibn al-Adim. This is the work of which a portion has been published by M. Freytag under the title of Excerpta ex Historia Halebi.) (2) I am indebted to the author of the excellent Essai sur les Médailles des Sasanides for the following note on the emirian dinar:-Les Toulounides, au quatrième siècle, inscrivirent sur leurs monnaies d'or le nom du khalife suivi du titré d'émir. Mais la première monnaie d'or frappée par un khalife et portant ce titre paraît être un dinar de Mostarched billah, dont un exemplaire unique et inédit appartient à la bibliothèque royale. Cette monnaie est frappée à Bagdad en l'année 321. D'un côté on y lit, après le symbole,

;

لله محمد رسول الله : le revers un peu altéré, permet pourtant de lire المسترشد بالله امیر المومنين Comme le module et le poids des dinars des derniers khalifs صلى الله عليه معز الدنيا والدين محمود

étaient plus considérables que ceux des dinars anonymes frappés pendant les trois premiers siècles, on a dû, dans le peuple, distinguer ces nouvelles monnaies par une appellation vulgaire. Le titre d'émir étant aussi une innovation pour la monnaie de Bagdad, aura frappé l'attention des gens de cette ville qui auront créé la dénomination de dinar émirien. Cette distinction était d'autant plus naturelle que les dinars antérieurs, quoique ne portant pas de nom de prince, nous montrent quelquefois son titre a placé dans le champ de la pièce au-dessous du symbole. Je citerai le dinar de 190 de al-Mamoun comme offrant un exemple de cette particularité.-ADRIEN DE LONGPÉRIER.

(3) The words, rendered here by affability, may perhaps signify penetration. It is an expression which has a great variety of meanings.

(4) His life will be found in the third volume.

(5) I have not yet succeeded in finding a notice on the sûf surnamed Kadib al-Ban (willow-wand).

(6) The life of this poet is given by Ibn Khallikân.

FAKHR AD-DIN AR-RAZI.

Abu Abd Allah Muhammad Ibn Omar Ibn al-Husain Ibn al-Hasan Ibn Ali atTaimi al-Bakri (1) at-Tabarestâni ar-Râzi (native of Rai in Tabarestân), surnamed Fakhr ad-din (glory of the faith) and generally known by the appellation of Ibn al-Khatib (the son of the preacher), was a doctor of the Shafite sect, and born at Rai. Fakr ad-din was the pearl of the age, a man without a peer; he surpassed all his contemporaries in scholastic theology, metaphysics, and philosophy (2). He composed instructive works on many branches of science, such as a commentary on the Koran containing an immense quantity of rare and curious observations; it is a most extensive work, but he left it unfinished; the explanation of the opening sûrat alone fills one volume. On scholastic theology he wrote the works entitled at-Matâlib al-Adliya (the loftiest aims); the Nihaya tal-Okûl (limit of human reason); the Arbain (forty traditions) (3); the Muhassal (summary) (4); the 663 Kitâb al-Baiyân wa 'l-Burhân, etc. (book of elucidation and proof, being a refutation of the partisans of error and impiety); the Kitâb al-Mabâhith al-Imâdiya fil-Matâlib al-Maddiya (Imadian researches on the questions raised concerning the resurrection) (5); the Tahdib ad-Dalail wa Oyûn al-Masail (correctio argumentorum et fontes questionum); the Irshad an-Nuzzâr ila latâif il-Asrår (direction of investigators towards subtle mysteries); the Ajwiba tal-Masail in-Najjariya (replies to the Najjarian questions) (6); the Tahsil al-Hakk (acquisition of the truth); the Zubda (cream) (7), the Maâlim (guiding marks), etc. On the fundamentals of jurisprudence he wrote the Mahsûl (results) and the Maâlim. On philosophy he composed the Mulakhkhas (succinct exposition); a commentary on Avicena's (vol. I. page 440) Isharat (indications or theorems) (8); a commentary on (the same author's) Oyûn al-Hikma (fontes philosophia), etc. On the science of talismans he wrote the work intitled as-Sirr al-Maktum (the hidden secret), and an Explanation of the excellent names of God. It is said that he left a commentary on az-Zamakhshari's grammatical treatise the Mufassal, another on al-Ghazzâli's treatise on jurisprudence, the Wajiz, and a third an Abu 'l-Ala's Sikt az-Zand (vol. I. page 95). He composed also a compendium on the unattainable perfection of style displayed in the Koran, a collection of excellent strictures on the grammarians, a system of