Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, Volume 1

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Oriental translation fund of Great Britain and Ireland, 1842

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Page 502 - From the moment when you set it before us as a duty to hand ourselves over to our lords on such and such a day, at such and such an hour, at a date and a minute fixed beforehand.
Page xxii - Muham- ^ madan history were transmitted during the first centuries by oral tradition from one h&fiz to another, and these persons made it an object of their particular care not to alter, in the least degree, the narrations which they had received.
Page xxxvi - ... the languor of the eyes. Pearls signify both tears and teeth, the latter are sometimes called hailstones, from their whiteness and moisture ; the lips are cornelians or rubies ; the gums a pomegranate flower; the dark foliage of the myrtle is synonymous with the black hair of the beloved, or with the first down which appears on the cheeks of youths at the period of puberty. The down itself is called the i;ar or head-stall of the bridle, and the curve of the izur is compared to the letters /am...
Page xxxvii - ... and day ; black hair is night ; the waist is a willowbranch or a lance ; the water of the face is self-respect ; a poet sells the water of his face when he bestows mercenary praises on a rich patron devoid of every noble quality.
Page 470 - I can recite to you, for each letter of the alphabet, one hundred long poems rhyming in that letter, without taking into count the short pieces, and all that composed exclusively by poets who lived before the promulgation of Islamism.
Page 113 - When water has long remained at rest, its noxious qualities appear; and when its surface has continued tranquil, its foulness gets into motion : thns it is with a guest; his presence is displeasing when his stay has been protracted ; and his shadow is oppressive when the time for which he should sojourn is at an end. Adieu.
Page 113 - Ka'ba of pilgrims ; the station of honour, not to say the station of sanctity — to him let this be a consolation : Death is awful till it comes, and then it is found light. Its touch seems grating till felt, and then it is smooth. The world is so hostile, and its injustice so great, that death is the lightest of its inflictions, the least of its wrongs. Look, then, to the right. Do you see aught but affliction ? Look to the left. Do you see aught but woe...
Page 269 - God be merciful to Abu Nuwas (6) ! one would think lhat he had seen this, " when he described the bubbles which cover the surface of wine when mixed ' ' with water : ' The little bubbles and the great resemble a gravel of pearls upon a ground of gold.
Page 18 - Shaklah1 and his gang raised tumults in Iraq : then every fool and villain flew to join him ! Were Ibrahim fit to reign, the empire had devolved by right to Muharik, to Zulzul, and to Marik ! Must it be ? but no ! 'tis impossible (mumtani) ! Must the patrimony (mal mawruth) pass from one reprobate to another ? " Muluarik , Zulzul, and Marik, the persons mentioned in the foregoing lines, were public singers at the time.
Page 32 - Here is another : Black misbecomes you not ; by it you are increased in beauty ; black is the only colour princes wear. Were you not mine, I should purchase you with all my wealth. Did I not possess you, I should give my life to obtain...

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