The Maqāmāt of Badiʻ Al-Zamān Al-HamādhāniLuzac & Company, 1915 - 190 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
Abú Abú Bakr al-Khwárazmí Abú'l Abú'l-Fath al-Iskanderí Aghání Aḥmad al-Farazdaq al-Hamadhání al-Qais Alí alighted allusion to Qur'án answered appears Arab Proverbs Arabic language Arabicized art thou asked Badí Baghdad Başra beauty Bishr Buwayhid camel century A.D. death desert didst dinar dirhems dost thou edition eloquence excellent famous Farazdaq Freytag Hamadhání hand Harírí hast thou hath Heavens horse Ibid Ibn Duraid IBN HISHAM related Ibn Khallikan Ibn Qutaiba Imr al-Qais Iráq ÍSA Ísá ibn Hishám Islám Islámic Jáḥiz Jarír Khalaf Khalifa learned Letters Literally literary Maḍirah maqáma Maqámát means Metre Muḥammad mujtath Muslim night Nishapur Persian poet poetry praise prayer Prophet recited rejez replied rhymed prose Sacy Saif al-Daula satire says scholar Shaikh Slane's Translation tawil Text Tha'álibí thee thou art thou hast thou wilt tribe Verily verse Wazír word Yaqút Yatima youth Zuheir
Popular passages
Page 91 - He was a man of great natural gifts, an excellent administrator, and liberal to extravagance. In AH 299 the Khalifa dismissed him and seized all his vast wealth. This is the incident Hamadhani refers to. From the time of his dismissal to his reinstatement in 304 the income from his estates to the public treasury amounted to no less than seven million dinars. On his reappointment in 304 the Khalifa showed him the highest favours, sending him seven cloaks of honour and 300,000 dirhems. Two years later...
Page 87 - What is meant by this word the commentators cannot agree. Some will have it to be the name of the mountain, or the valley, wherein the cave was; some say it was the name of their dog; and others (who seem to come nearest the true signification) that it was a brass plate, or stone table, placed near the mouth of the cave, on which the names of the young men were written. There are some, however, who take the companions of al...
Page 96 - The Gate of Gates : or Darband, a town in the province of Daghistan on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. To the south lies the seaward extremity of the Caucasian wall (fifty miles long) otherwise known as Alexander's wall, blocking the narrow pass of the Iron Gate, or Caspian Gates. This, when entire, had a height of twenty-nine feet and a thickness of about ten feet and with its iron gates and numerous watch towers formed a valuable defence of the Persian frontier. The walls and the citadel...
Page 98 - If anything of the matter had happened unto us, we had not been slain here. Answer, If ye had been in your houses, verily they would have gone forth to fight, whose slaughter was decreed, to the places where they died...
Page 86 - From ^t* it (milk) became sour or acid biting the tongue, or, as made by the Arabs, fleshmeat cooked with pure milk that bites the tongue, until the fleshmeat is thoroughly done, and the milk has become thick, and sometimes they mix fresh milk with milk that has been collected in a skin, and in this case it is the best that can be. (Lane, Lexicon art. ^ p. 2720). It is said to have been the favourite dish of Abu Hurayrah, the Traditionalist, and contemporary of the Prophet. For a eulogy on Madirah...
Page 161 - But if the husband divorce her a third time, she shall not be lawful for him again, until she marry another husband. But if he also divorce her, it shall be no crime in them, if they return to each other...
Page 104 - They have left the world and what .Iiey had collected therein, And none of them succeeded but the perseveringly patient. And they have alighted in an abode where there is no exchange of visits ; For how can there be intercourse between the tenants of the tomb ? Thou seest nought but the level...
Page 103 - ... they are saved by their responsibility. Men are divided into two classes, the observant scholar and the striving student, as for the rest, they are abandoned ostriches and beasts pasturing at pleasure. Woe to him of high degree commanded by one beneath him, and woe to the knower of something who is ruled by one ignorant of it! I have heard that...
Page 27 - The language of the ancients is nobler and their themes more delightful, whereas the conceits of the moderns are more refined and their style more elegant.' We then said : ' If thou wouldst only exhibit some of thy poetry and tell us something about thyself.
Page 33 - Gen. xxv.) gave the name of Nabatene to the border-land between Syria and Arabia from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. The language of Josephus...