THE KHATIB ABU ISHAK AL-IRAKI.

Abû Ishak Ibrahim Ibn Mansûr Ibn Musallam, native of Egypt and doctor of the sect of as-Shâfi, known also by the name of al-Irâki (native of Irak), was a preacher (khatib) of the great mosque (of Amr) in Old Cairo, and a talented jurisconsult; he wrote a good commentary in ten volumes on the Muhaddab by Abû Ishak Shirâzi. Though not a native of Iràk, he was called so, because he had travelled to Baghdad, and studied there for some time: when in that city, he took lessons in jurisprudence from Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn al-Hosain alOrmawi (1), one of Abû Ishak Shirâzi's disciples, and from Abù 'l-Hasan Muhammad Ibn al-Mubârik, surnamed Ibn al-Khall, native of Baghdad. In his own country, he studied jurisprudence under the kadi Abû 'l-Maàli al-Mujalli Ibn Jumaiya (whose life shall be given later); when in Baghdad, he was called al-Misri (the Egyptian), but he got the name of al-Irâki on his return to Egypt. He is said to have related that his master, Ibn al-Khall, recited to him, in Baghdad, the following verses, but without naming their author:

Falsehood is rendered pleasing if clothed in gilded terms; and Truth may sometimes assume a repulsive form: in praising honey, you may say: This is the saliva (2) of the bee; in blaming, call it: the ejection of the wasp. Describe it with such blame. and praise as this, and you do not exaggerate: elegant language can make darkness appear like light.

Al-Iraki was born at Old Cairo, A. H. 510 (A. D. 1116); he died in that city on Thursday, 21st of the first Jumâda, A. H. 596 (A. D. 1200), and was buried at the foot of mount Mukattam. He had a son of great talent and merit, named Abu Muhammed Abd al-Hukm, who became preacher of the mosque on the death of his father, and composed some good sermons and pleasing poetry, of which the following verses may be cited; they were written on Imâd ad-dìn Ibn Jibril, commonly called Ibn Akhi 'l-Ilm, chief of the treasury-office in Cairo, who had shattered his hand by a fall:

Imad Ibn Jibril has a hand which bears an evil mark; though given to thieving, it had as yet escaped á tardy amputation; but a fracture has happened to it now which will not be readily healed.

He wrote other verses in the same style of originality as the preceding, which 7 I have, however, since met with in the poetical works of Jaafar Ibn Shams alKhilafa (whose life shall be given later); so that I cannot decide to which author

they belong. Abd al-Hukm composed the following verses on a man condemned to death (for murder), and who was shot dead by the person authorized to take blood-revenge; the arrow striking him in the heart: (3)

From the heart (the middle) of the bow you expelled its son (the arrow); and the bow sighed; for a mother will sigh when separated from her child: but the bow was not aware that the arrow you shot off would merely pass from one heart to another. The idea expressed in the first of these verses was taken from the following lines, composed by a native of Maghreb :

No doubt of my affliction when my friends depart; on that day of separation when I and sadness shall be (inseparable) brothers! The very bow, though formed of wood, utters a sigh when forced to send away its arrow.

The idea in Abd al-Hukm's second verse is taken from a poem rhyming in m, by Omarat al-Yamani, and of which we shall speak hereafter in that person's life: al-Yamani, having come from Mekka to Egypt, composed this poem in praise of the reigning prince, al-Faiz Isa Ibn Zafir al-Obaidi, and of his vizir, Salih Talaiya Ibn Ruzzîk (whose Lives will be found in this work); in the course of the poem, he lauds in these terms the camels which had borne him to Egypt:

They went forth at eve from the Kaaba of al-Bathâ and the Harem (4), to visit the Kaaba of generosity and nobleness. Did the temple know that, on leaving it, I should only pass from one harem (sanctuary) to another?

The following verses are also by Abd al-Hukm :

When my beloved perceived my eyes pour forth their tears, she pressed me to restore the pearls which had adorned her neck: astonished (then at her mistake) she smiled; and I said to my friend: That which she thought lost is in her mouth. This idea is taken from the following piece of verse, composed by Abû 'l-Hasan Ali Ibn Atiya, better known as Ibn az-Zakkâk, native of Valentia, in Spain :

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A fawn (-like nymph) passed round the cups at dawn; the morning brightened up, and still she pushed them round; the flowery mead offered us its anemones, and the scented myrtles now began to breathe. Where," said I, "are the white blossoms of the anthemis?" My companion answered: "I deposed them in the mouth of her who fills my cup." She who poured out the wine denied the charge; but her smiles betrayed her, and she blushed with confusion.

Safi ad-din Abu Muhammad Abd Allah Ibn Ali, commonly called Ibn Shukr, vizir of al-Malik al-Aâdil Ibn Aiyûb, having taken from Abd al-Hukm the place of preacher in the mosque of Old Cairo, this poet wrote him the following lines:

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To what door shall I repair for refuge, if not to thine? from whom can I expect liberality, if not from thee? All paths and ways are closed up against me, except that which leads towards thee; direct me then how to act. It seems as if the (hospitable) doors of other men had become (one single door,) thy door! It seems as if thou alone Iwert all the human race!

The thought in this last verse is borrowed from the poet as-Salami, who says:

I encouraged my hopes with the prospect of dominion, (and) all mankind (my subjects); the world was to be my palace; and eternity, one day of my reign! We shall speak of the poem from which this verse is taken, in the Life of Adad ad-Dawlat (Fennákhosrü) Ibn Buwaih, under the letter F.-The following verses were pronounced by Abd al-Hokm when he first unveiled his bride:

When the charms of the bride were disclosed to my eyes, she hid her face with her hand, on which was graven a net-work tracery (5). "Your efforts to hide your countenance will not now avail," said I;" when has a net hid the light of the sun?” By the same:

At the feast, where we spent the night in pleasure, it seemed as if we were borne asleep upon the waters; over us were the constellations; under us, the boat; in those, stars in this, full-moons (6).

By the same :

Proceed gently! all affairs admit delay: do you, who are a lion, fear to be insulted? If you dwelt in Egypt, you would be a Nile (spreading abundance)! If you went to Syria, you would be a fertilizing shower!

This author was born on Sunday eve, 19th of the first Jumadà, A. H. 563 (A. D. 1168); he died at Old Cairo, on the morning of the 28th Shaaban, A. H. 613 (A. D. 1246), and was buried at the foot of mount Mukattam. A great deal of his poetry, and all of an agreeable cast, was recited to me by his son. The Imad ad-din, above-mentioned, bore the name of Abu Abd Allah Muhammad Ibn Abi l-Amana Jibril Ibn al-Moghaira Ibn Sultan Ibn Nima; he was a worthy man, and celebrated for his great integrity in the fulfilment of his duty; he had been employed most part of his life in different government-offices at Old Cairo and Alexandria. Born A. H. 558 (A. D. 1463); died at Cairo, the 5th of Shaabản, A. H. 637 (A. D. 1240).

1 The imam and jurisconsult Abu Bakr Muhammad al-Ormawi native of Ormiya in Aderbijan was a pupil of the celebrated Abû Ishak as-Shirâzi. Died A. H. 537 A. D. 1142). (Tab. al-Fokeha.

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(2 It may appear strange that such a word as this should be thought compatible with an elegant style: the fact is, however, that it is often employed by Arabic writers; and the Moslim poet, in describing the pleasures of love, never fails vaunting the intoxicating draughts imbibed from the honeyed lips of his mistress.

(3) Literally in the liver. : The Arabic word signifies also that part of the bow which is equally distant from the two extremities: there is a play upon this double meaning in the verses immediately following.

(4) Al-Bathâ, the gravelly, is the name of the valley in which Mekka is built; the Harem is the sacred territory of Mekka; the Kaaba is the temple of that city, towards which all the Moslims turn when saying their prayers; a Kaaba of generosity means a noble and liberal patron, on whom all eyes are fixed with hope.

(5) Among the Arab women it is still customary to tattoo the hands and arms.

(6) In this verse, the poet plays upon the double meaning of the word Aflak, which signifies the constellations of the zodiac and ships; by the full moons, he designates his fair companions, the partners in his pleasures.

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ABU ISHAK ZAHIR AD-DIN.

Abu Ishak Ibrahim Ibn Nasr Ibn Askar, surnamed Zahir ad-din (support of religion), doctor of the sect of as-Shâfî, kâdi of Sallâmiya, and native of Mosul, is thus spoken of by Ibn ad-Dobaithi in his History (1): “ Abû Ishak, native of Mosul, studied jurisprudence in that city under the kâdi Abû Abd Allah al-Hosain Ibn "Nasr Ibn Khamis, native of the same place, from whom he learned the traditions: 'having then travelled to Baghdad, he took lessons from a number of masters, "and returned to his native place. He became kâdi of Sallâmiya, a town in the "dependency of Mosul, and he taught, when in Irbil (Arbela), a portion of the "works of Abu 'l-Barakât Abd ar-Rahmân Ibn Muhammad al-Anbâri, the gram“marian, under whom he had studied at Baghdad, along with many natives of "that city." This talented jurisconsult was originally from Sindiya, in Irak; he studied law at the Nizâmiya college in Baghdad; he learned and taught the traditions, and filled, for a long time, the place of kadi in Sallâmiya. His reigning passion was poetry, and his verses, the following for instance, are very pleasing:

Oh, my friends! call me not a man of perfidy; no perfidy is in my character. I 9 swear-by the days of my life which have passed away, and by those joys which have departed—that I have been always constant in my promised friendship, and that the ties of my attachment have never yet been broken.

By the same :

The bounty of a generous man, promised but long delayed, is never pure from alloy. Vain and useless are the lightnings from the cloud, if it withholds its promised showers. He who defers fulfilling his promise merits blame, though his hands should lavish riches after the long delay. Oh, tree of bounty! the man must not be blamed who shakes thy branches when he needs thy fruit.

In a village called al-Bawâzij, near Sallâmiya, was a convent inhabited by a fraternity of dervishes, under a sheikh named Mekki, upon whom the following verses were made by Abû Ishak :

Go bear to Mekki this word of good counsel; for good counsel merits attention: when was it taught, as a point of religion, that the (pursuit of) riches is a precept inculcated by Muhammad, and therefore to be followed? (When was it taught) that a man should eat with the voracity of a camel, and leap about in the conventicle till he fall Were he hungry, were his stomach empty, he would neither whirl round for joy nor listen to musicians. They say: We are intoxicated with the love of the Divinity! But that which intoxicates the fraternity is draughts (of the wine cup). The ass in a rich pasture acts as they; when its thirst and hunger are satisfied, it skips about.

Abù l-Barakat Ibn al-Mastawfi mentions his name with eulogium in the History of Arbela, and cites numerous extracts from his works, and from the letters he received from him: the katib Imad ad-din also speaks of him in the Kharida (2), as a young man of talent. The following verses are his :

:

I said to her Unite me to thee in the bonds of love! but she turned away her head as if I had asked her to commit a crime. If she reject my love through fear of sinning (she should reflect) that it is a grievous sin to cause (by a cruel refusal) the death of a Moslim.

This writer died at Sallâmiya, on Thursday, the 3rd of the second Rabi, A. H. 610 (A. D. 1243) he had a son whom I met at Aleppo, and who recited to me a great deal of his own and of his father's poetry: he wrote verses well, and hit upon fine ideas. Sallamiya was a village on the east bank of the Tigris, at day's journey lower down than Mosul, which stands on the west bank: the town of Sallamiya, in which Zahir ad-din was kâdi, is now in ruins, and a new village of the same name has been founded in the neighbourhood.

(1) This work of as-Ibn Dobaithi is a continuation of the History of Baghdad by Abù Saad ad-Samâni, which is itself a Supplement to the celebrated work composed by Abu Bakr Ahmad, surnamed al-Khatib al-Baghdadi : the lives of these writers will be found in this work.

(2) See MS. of the Bibliothèque du Roi, No. 1414, fol. 191, verso.

IBRAHIM IBN AL-MAHDI.

Abu Ishak Ibrahim Ibn al-Mahdi Ibn Abi Jaafar al-Mansur Ibn Muhammad Ibn 10 Ali Ibn Abd-Allah Ibn al-Abbàs Ibn Abd al-Muttalib al-Hashimi (descended from