Ibn al-Mawla went to see Yazîd, when the latter was governor of Egypt, and recited to him the following verses:

Thou who, of all the Arabs, standest alone, without an equal! did another like thee exist, there would not be a poor man in the world.

Yazîd, on hearing these verses, called for his treasurers and asked them how much money he had remaining in his chests. They replied: "There are gold and "silver pieces to the amount of twenty thousand dirhems (£. 500)"; he told them to give the whole sum to the poet, whom he then addressed in these terms: "Brother! I ask pardon of God and next of you; did I possess more, I should not "with hold it from you." Ibn al-Mawla was the surname of the poet Abu Abd Allah Muhammad Ibn Muslim. Al-Asmâi (vol. II. p. 123) related also (7) that, when Yazîd was in Ifrîkiya, a courier came with the news that a son was born to him in Basra. On hearing this, he said: "I give him the name of al-Mughîra." (The poet) al-Mushahhar at-Tamîmi, who was present, exclaimed: "God grant that this "child be a blessing to you and that his sons be as great a blessing to him "as his father has been to his grandfather." — Yazîd held the government of Ifrîkiya till his death. He died at Kairawân, on Tuesday, the 18th of Ramadân, 170 (13th March, A. D. 787), and was buried near the city gate called Bâb Salm. His son, Dâwûd, was appointed by him as governor of Ifrîkiya, but was removed from office, in the year 172 (A. D. 788-9), by Hârûn ar-Rashîd. His successor was Rûh (Rauh) Ibn Hatim.

(1) See Ibn Khaldûn's History of the Berbers, vol. I, p. 384 of the French translation.

(2) See vol. III, p. 573.

(3) Ashab Ibn Jubair, a native of Medina, was always expecting to receive presents, even from persons whom he did not know. Numerous anecdotes are related of his infatuation. See Abû 'l-Fedâ's Annales, t. II, p. 632, and Freytag's Meidani, t. II, p. 50. He died A. H. 154 (A. D. 771).

(4) The text says: If beneficence could he obtained by glory. All the manuscripts agree in the reading, but it is not satisfactory.

(5) The life of Yamût will be found in this volume.

(6) This is certainly a mistake; al-Asmâi died eighty-eight years before Yamût, and we find, lower down, that the latter gives him the surname of Abû Othmân, not of Abu Sald. Our author probably meant to name Abů Othman al-Jâhiz (vol. II, p. 405), who was Yamût's uncle.

(7) The insertion of the word also () is probably a mistake of the author's. See the preceding note.

VOL. IV.

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YAZID IBN MAZYAD AS-SHAIBANI

Yazîd, surnamed Abû Khâlid and Abû Zubair, was the son of Mazyad Ibn Zâida as-Shaibâni and the nephew of Maan Ibn Zâida, him whose life we have already given (vol. III. p. 398). The remainder of the genealogy is there set forth in full, so, we need not repeat it here. This Yazid was a famous chieftain, renowned for bravery. He was governor of Armenia, but, in the year 172 (A. D. 788-9), he was deposed by Hârûn ar-Rashîd. Eleven years later, that khalif appointed him to the united governments of Armenia and Adarbaijân. We have already related something of his history in our account of al-Walid Ibn Tarîf (vol. III. p. 668); it was Yazîd who conducted the war against that Khârijite and slew him. Al-Walid took up arms against Hârûn ar-Rashîd in the year 178 (A. D. 794-5). He revolted in al

Jazîra (Mesopotamia), the province situated between the Euphrates and the shatt (or river) of Mosul (the Tigris). His partisans, the Shurdt, became so numerous that they overran all that country and killed the governor of Diâr Rabîa, who had marched against them. They then invaded Diâr Modar and besieged Abd al-Malik Ibn Salih Ibn Ali the Abbaside (vol. I. p. 316) in ar-Rakka. Ar-Rashid asked the advice of Yahya Ibn Khâlid the Barmekide, as to whom he should send to carry on the war against the insurgents. Yahya replied: "Send Mûsa Ibn Hâzim of the tribe of "Tamîm, for Pharaoh's real name was al-Walîd and he was drowned by Mûsa (Moses)." Ar-Rashid placed this chief at the head of a numerous army and sent him off. Al-Walid and his partisans advanced against him, put his troops to flight and slew him. When this news reached ar-Rashîd, he dispatched against him Mamar Ibn Isa al-Abdi. A number of encounters took place between the two armies, in the territory of Dârâ (a city) in Diâr Rabîa; hostilities continued for a considerable time, and the bands of al-Walid increased to such a degree that he became extremely powerful. Ar-Rashid then said: "No person is capable of conducting this war "except that bedwin Arab, Yazîd Ibn Mazyad as-Shaibâni. The poet Bakr Ibn an"Nattâh (1) said :

"Send not against (the tribe of) Rabîa any other than a Rabianite; iron cannot be cut except by iron."

Ar-Rachid placed Yazîd at the head of a numerous army and ordered him to go and give battle to the rebel. Yazîd went in pursuit of al-Walîd who, being full of craft and cunning, endeavoured to circumvent him. A number of conflicts ensued; arRashîd, being informed that Yazîd was dilatory in his movements, sent him one troop of cavalry after another, and then dispatched an officer to reprimand him. Yazîd went therefore in pursuit of the enemy and, having stopped in order to say the morning prayer, he was surprised, before finishing, to see al-Walid come up with his troops. The cavalry, on both sides, fell into rank, the soldiers marched forward and the battle was engaged. At that moment, Yazîd called out and said: “ Al-Wa"lid! why do you take shelter behind your men? come out and fight with me.""That I will!" replied al-Walid. On this the armies halted, and not a man stirred from his place; the two champions tilted against each other, and the conflict lasted for some hours, without any advantage to either. At last, Yazîd found an opportunity, and gave his adversary such a stroke on the leg that he felled him to the ground. He (Yazid) then cried out to his cavalry, which dashed forward, and they cut off his (al-Walid's) head.-Abû Yâkûb Ishak Ibn Ibrahîm, surnamed Ibn al-Kirâb (2) al-Harawi, says, in the historical work of which he is the author, that alWalid Ibn Tarîf was killed by Yazîd Ibn Mazyad at al-Hadîtha, a place situated near Aâna (L), in the territory of the Euphratian al-Jazîra (Mesopotamia). It is called Hadîtha tan-Nûra, lies at the distance of some parasangs from al-Anbâr and must not be confounded with the Haditha of Mosul. Yazîd sent his son Asad () to arRashid with al-Walid's head and a letter announcing the victory. On this occasion, the celebrated poet, Muslim Ibn al-Walid al-Ansâri (vol. 1. p. 25), who was wholly devoted to Yazîd, pronounced these verses:

The khalif found among the descendants of Modar a sword so sharp that it separated bodies from heads. Were it not for Yazîd, — and esteem has always a motive,-al-Walîd would have flourished many more years than two. Noble is Yazid, and so were his fathers before him! To perpetuate their glory, they left (the recollection of) battle-days followed by battle-days.

When Yazîd returned to court, ar-Rashîd called him forward, assigned to him a place of honour and said: "Yazîd! most of the Moslim emirs belonged to your "tribe." To this, Yazîd replied: They did; but, instead of mounting into pulpits (to say the khotba, as they hoped to do), they were mounted upon trunks of palm-trees." By these words he meant the posts to which their bodies were atta

ched when they lost their lives.-Al-Walîd Ibn Tarîf was slain in the year 179 (A. D. 795), as we have said in his article. Al-Fârêa, his sister, lamented his death in those admirable verses which we have there given and alluded again to it in the following piece :

Children of Wail! the sword of Yazid has cast you into affliction by striking al-Walid. Had another sword than that of Yazîd attacked him, it would not have been so fortunate. The children of Wail cannot be slain but by each other; iron cannot be notched except by iron.

It is related that Hârûn ar-Rashid, on sending Yazîd Ibn Mazyad against al-Walid, gave him Zû 'l-Fakâr, the sword which had belonged to the Prophet. Take it,

Yazîd! by it you will be victorious." He took it, departed, and then occurred what we have related of al-Walid's defeat and death. To this, Muslim Ibn al-Walid alludes, in the following verse of a kasida composed by him in praise of Yazîd :

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You caused the Prophet's sword to recollect his way of acting and the bravery displayed by the first (Musulman) who ever prayed and fasted.

By these last words he meant Ali, the son of Abû Tâlib, for he was the person who dealt blows with it.—Hishâm Ibn al Kalbi (vol. III. p. 608) mentions, in his Jamhara tan-Nisab, something which refers to Zû 'l-Fakâr and, as it is a piece of useful information, I insert it here. In treating of the genealogy of the Kuraish family, he says Munabbih and Nabîh, the sons of al-Hajjâj Ibn Aâmir Ibn Hudhaifa Ibn Saad Ibn Sahm the Kuraishide, were the chiefs of the Sahm family previously to the introduction of Islamism. They were slain at the battle of Badr and died in their infidelity. As chiefs, they were greatly respected. Al-Aâsi, the son of Nabîh, was killed with his father. To him belonged Zû 'l-Fakâr. Ali slew him on "the day of Badr and took that sword from him." Another author says that Zû 'lFakâr was given to Ali by the Prophet. I must observe that fakâr, with an a after the f, is the plural of fakâra, which means a vertebra of the back. The plural forms are fakár and fakârât. The name of this sword is also pronounced Zû 'l-Fikâr; the word fikar is the plural of fikra (vertebra). We find in the language no other word of a similar form in the singular having such a plural form except ibra (needle), the plural of which is ibâr.-Let us return to our account of Zù 'l-Fakâr. The manner in which it came into the hands of Hàrûn ar-Rashid is thus related by at-Tabari (vol. II. p. 597), in a traditional account which he traces up to Omar, the son of

(the khalif) al-Mutawakkil. The mother of that prince had been in the service of Fatima, the daughter of al-Husain, the son of Ali, the son of Abù Tâlib. She said: "Zû 'l-Fakâr was borne by Muhammad Ibn Abd Allah Ibn al-Hasan Ibn al-Hasan Ibn * Ali Ibn Abi Tâlib on the day in which battle was given to the army of Abu Jaafar al"Mansûr the Abbaside."-The history of this event is well known (3). -"When "he felt death to be near, he gave Zû 'l-Fakâr to a merchant who had followed him "and to whom he owed four hundred dinars (£. 200). Take this sword,' said

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he, any member of the Abû Tâlib family whom you may meet with will buy it "" from you and give you the sum to which you are entitled.' The sword remained "with the merchant till (the Abbaside prince) Jaafar the son of Sulaimân Ibn Ali Ibn "Abd Allah Ibn al-Abbas Ibn Abd al-Muttalib obtained the governments of Ye"men and Medina. He, being informed of what had happened, sent for the mer"chant, took the sword and gave him four hundred dinars. It remained with Jaafar till al-Mahdi, the son of al-Mansûr, was raised to the khalifate. This sovereign, having learned where the sword was, got possession of it. From him "it passed to Mûsa al-Hâdi and, from Mûsa, to his brother Hârûn ar-Rashîd."— AlAsmâi (vol. II. p. 123) related as follows: "I saw ar-Rashîd at Tûs with a sword suspended from his neck, and he said to me: Asmâi! would you like see Zû ... 'l-Fakâr!'-I replied: Most willingly; may God accept my life as a ransom for yours!' He then bade me draw the sword which he was wearing. I did so and found on it eighteen fakâras (4).". We have digressed from our subject, and must now return to the history of Yazîd Ibn Mazyad. The khatib Abu Bakr Ahmad Ibn Ali Ibn Thâbit al-Baghdâdi (vol. I. p. 75) relates, in his History of Baghdad, that Yazîd, having gone to visit ar-Rashîd, was addressed by him in these terms: Tell me, Yazîd! who was the person that composed on you these lines:

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6

"No perfumes are on his hands or on his hair, neither does he wipe antimony powder from "his eyes. He has taught the birds (of prey) a custom in which they have full confidence; so "they follow him in all his expeditions.'

Yazîd replied that he did not know, and ar-Rashid exclaimed: "How can it be that verses such as these should be composed in your honour without your knowing the author?" Yazid felt quite abashed and, having returned to his dwelling, he said to the chamberlain: "Is there any poet at the door?' The other answered Muslim Ibn al-Walid al-Ansâri is there." -"How long have you