al-Abbâs Ibn Amr al-Ghanawi was this: When the Karmats became powerful, they invaded the neighbouring countries and indulged to the utmost in the shedding of blood. In the year 287 (A. D. 900), al-Motadid Billah sent against them an army under the orders of al-Abbâs al-Ghanawi. A battle ensued in which Abû Saîd alKirmiti (vol. I. p. 427), the chief of the Karmats, took al-Abbâs and all his army prisoners. The next day, he had them all brought before him, put them to death and had their bodies burned. Al-Abbâs, whom he set at liberty, was the only one of the army who returned to al-Motadid. This was towards the end of Shaaban (end of August) in that year. The encounter took place between Basra and al-Bahrain, and furnished matter to a long and well-known relation. We present here a mere summary of it, because this is not a fit place for entering into particulars. If it please God, we shall give a full relation of it in our great historical work (22). The first of the two verses which were said to have been inscribed on Yakub's tomb and which we have already given, terminates with a hemistich borrowed from the piece of verse which was sung by Moawîa Ibn Abi Sofyân the Omaiyide, when he had established his domination in Syria and received the visit of Jarîr Ibn Abd Allah al-Bajali, who had been sent to him from Kufa by Ali Ibn Abi Tâlib. Moawîa heard the message from Jarîr and, when the sitting was over, had him lodged in a chamber near his own. That night, he sung the following verses, so that Jarir might hear them and repeat them to Ali :

Long and uneasy is my night, vague the suppositions which assail me, since the arrival of a visitor who came to me with vain and futile talk (turrahât basâbis). Jarîr has come, though events are crowding on, with proposals equivalent to the amputating of our noses. I bear with him, but the sword is still between me and him; for I am not a man to put on the raiment of ignominy. Syria has offered me the same obedience which I already received from Yemen, and the chiefs of that country declare it loudly in their assemblies. If they act (as they promise), I shall attack Ali with a band (jabha) which shall break down, to his harm, all the branches, green or withered (which afford him shelter). I hope for the greatest advantage which any man ever obtained, neither do I dispair of ruling over Iråk.

- The word turrahât signifies futilities; in its primitive acceptation, it designates the paths which branch off a highway. Turraha, its singular form, is a Persian word arabicized (turréhé). Being subsequently employed to signify futilities, it gave rise to the expression turrahât basâbis. - The word jabha means a troop of men. The poet, in using it, gave to understand that he would attack Ali with a body

of horse and foot. The other words of the poem are so well known that they do not require explanation. I found the following indications in the handwriting of a person who cultivated this branch of science (history): When Amr Ibn al-Laith was taken prisoner, his grandson, Tâhir Ibn Muhammad Ibn Amr obtained the government of Fars. This took place on the 17th of Safar, 288 (10th February, A. D. 901). In the year 296 (A. D. 908-9), he and his brother Yakub Ibn Muhammad were arrested by Sebuk as-Sebukri, a chief who had been one of their grandfather's pages, and were sent by him to Madîna tas-Salâm (Baghdad). The authority then passed to al-Laith Ibn Ali Ibn al-Laith, a nephew of Yakub and Amr, who made the conquest of Sijistân, A. H. 296. A number of conflicts had passed between Tâhir and Sebuk as-Sebukri, who finally obtained possession of the country. Al-Muaddel (Ibn Ali) Ibn al-Laith, who-governed Sijistân in the name of his brother al-Laith (Ibn-Ali), then invaded Fars, and Sebuk fled to the khalif for assistance. In the month of Ramadân, 296 (May-June, A. D. 909), al-Muktadir Billah sent off troops, under the orders of Mûnis at-Muzaffar, Badr al-Kabîr and alHusain Ibn Hamdân. These generals encountered al-Laith Ibn Ali, routed his army and took him prisoner with his brother Muhammad and his son Ismaîl. Mùnis returned to Baghdad with the prisoners and arrived there in the month of Muharram, 297 (Sept.-Oct. A. D. 909). Al-Laith Ibn Ali was paraded through the city on an elephant, and al-Muaddel Ibn Ali obtained the government of Sijistân. Ahmad Ibn Ismail the Sâmânide then marched against him with a numerous army of horse and foot, and deprived him of that province. After that, Sebuk as-Sebukri possessed it for some time and was subsequently carried prisoner to Baghdad with Muhammad Ibn Ali Ibn al-Laith. Thus ended the power of the Saffârides.

(1) I am inclined to believe that the historian whose names are here given by our author is the same who is designated in the Paris manuscript of the Fihrest, anc. fds, no 874, fol. 200 v, by the surname of Ibn Abi'l-Azhar and by the names of Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Mazyad an-Nah wi (the grammarian), al-Akhbâri (the historian), al-Bûshanji (native of Bushanj, a village at about thirty miles from Herât). In A. H. 313 (A. D. 925-6), he was thirty years of age and lived, probably, much longer. He left a collection of anecdotes concerning the khalif al-Mustain and his successor al-Motazz, an account of those among the ancients who spoke their language with elegance and a history of such men as were distinguished for their talents and the immorality of their lives. According to the author whose authority is followed by professor Fluegel, in his Grammatische Schulen der Araber, p. 97, he died A. H. 325 (A. D. 936-7), aged upwards of ninety years (?), and had been one of al-Mubarrad's favorite disciples.

(2) Nearly all the provinces of the Moslim empire were, at that time, in the power of chiefs who, though acknowledging the supremacy of the khalifs, were, in fact, independant sovereigns. Such were the Taherides in Khorâsân and the Tùlùnides in Egypt, whilst the Alides of Taberistân, the Kharijites of Mosul and of the countries to the north of Persia rejected completely the authority of the khalifs. The south of Iråk was ravaged by the Zenj.

(3) This singular proceeding was perhaps conformable to the etiquette observed by all the khalif's ambassadors.

(4) Ali Ibn al-Husain Ibn Kuraish had been appointed governor of Fars by the khalif, but, though he acknowledged the authority of the court of Baghdad, he acted as an independant prince.

(5) The editions and the manuscripts read Aiyds

instead of Onds, but the orthography given

by the geographical dictionary entitled the Mardsid, seems preferable.

(6) The word abnd signifies sons. It was generally employed to designate persons one of whose parents was an Arab and the other of a foreign race. At the time of Muhammad and afterwards, there was in Yemen a great number of abnd whose progenitors were Persians and whose mothers were Arabs.

(7) It is remarkable that in this ancient relation and in the account given by the historian at-Tabari, the khalif is designated, not by the title of imdm, but by that of sultan. This latter term generally serves to indicate sovereigns who possess, not the spiritual, but the civil authority.

(8) Yakût wished to propitiate the khalif by refusing to take the title of emir, till authorized to do so by the court of Baghdad.

(9) The badra or purse contained one thousand dirhems (L. 25), according to some, ten thousand, ing to others.

accord

(9 bis, p. 311) The word ghilman, here rendered by dependants, means boys, servants, pages. Those whom Yakub had in Baghdad were perhaps slaves or mawlas who traded there on his account.

(10) These mawlas were the Turkish slaves or mamlûks who formed the khalif's guard.

(11) The editions and manuscripts read Abú 's-Saj Dawud, but it is well ascertained that the name of this chief was Divdâd (God's gift). We have spoken of him in the first volume, p. 500. A history of the Sâjites has been published by Mr Defrémery in the Journal asiatique for 1847. The Sâjite junds were probably regiments of cavalry which Abû 's-Saj had formed and kept up at his own expense. Kamål ad-Din Ibn alAdim takes notice occasionally of this chief in his history of Aleppo. See Freytag's Selecta ex historia Halebi.

(12) There is here some error in the dates.

(13) Abû 'l-Kasim Muhammad Ibn Haukal, a native of Baghdad and the author of a very remarkable geographical work, entitled al-Masâlik wa 'l-Mamálik, put his last corrections to that treatise in the year 366, A. D. 976-7). He travelled over many countries and appears to have been a secret agent of the Fatimides. The date of his death is not known.

(14) Kamâl ad-Din Omar Ibn Ahmad, surnamed Ibn al-Adîm and chief kddi of Aleppo, wrote a biographical dictionary in which he noticed all the remarkable men who had been in that city. Another good work of his, the History of Aleppo, has been analyzed by professor Freytag in the Selecta ex historia Halebi, which contains also a long extract from Kamål ad-Din's treatise, with instructive notes. Kamål ad-Din was born A. H. 588 (A. D. 1192), and died at Cairo, A. H.;660 (A. D. 1261-2). He had been driven from Aleppo

by the invasion of the Tartars. For a full account of his life, see p. XXXVI of the introduction to Freytag's work. The anecdote related by Ibn Khallikân is borrowed from Tabari.

(15) In the editions and the manuscripts this name is preceded by the word, which must be suppressed. (16) The diacritical points of the word which I read Sijazi (native of Sijistán) vary greatly in the manuscripts.

(17) Here the word sultan is employed by Tabari to designate the khalif. See above, note (7).

(18) The orthography of this proper name is uncertain.

(19) The arabic words may also signify: they found him standing upon a horse. If this be the true meaning, the horse was his own, which had sunk into the mud.

(20) This was a sort of fool's cap which criminals were obliged to wear when exposed to public view. (21) Abu Ali al-Husain Ibn Muhammad Ibn Fahm, a learned Traditionist and a native of Baghdad, A. H. 289 (A. D. 902), aged seventy-eight years. (Huffaz.)

(22) This work was probably never published.

died

YAKUB IBN YUSUF IBN ABD AL-MUMIN.

Abû Yûsuf Yakub, the son of Abû Yakub Yûsuf and the grandson of Abu Muhammad Abd al-Mumin al-Kaisi al-Kûmi (1), was sovereign of Maghrib (2). We have spoken of his grandfather Abd-al-Mûmin (vol. II. pag. 182), and shall give an article on his father Yûsuf. [He was of a very light tawny complexion (3), rather tall (4) and well-looking; his mouth wide, his eyes large and very dark, his limbs bulky, his voice loud and his discourse fluent. He was the most veracious of men, the most elegant in language and the most fortunate in his suppositions. He managed affairs with skill whilst acting as vizir to his father and watched over his provincial governors and other public officers so attentively that he acquired a perfect acquaintance with all the details of the administration.] On the death of his father, the shaikhs (or chiefs) of the Almohades and of the descendants of Abd al-Mumin agreed on placing him at the head of affairs and, having tendered to him the oath of allegiance, they instituted him chief of the empire and saluted him by the appellation of Emir al-Múminîn (Commander of the faithful) (5), the same which was borne by his father and his grandfather. They gave him also the surname of al-Mansûr (the victorious). He governed with great ability, displayed

A

(to the world) the glory of the (Almohade) empire, set up the standard of the holywar (against the Christians), settled the balance of justice on a firm basis and established throughout the land the application of the prescriptions enounced in the divine law. He watched over the interests of religion and of piety, corrected public morals by ordering the people to do what was commendable and avoid what was reprehensible; the penalties fixed by law were applied by him not only to his subjects in general but even to the members of his own family and to his nearest relations. His reign was therefore prosperous and his conquests extensive. When his father died (4. H. 580 — A. D. 1184, at the siege of Santarem), he was with him, and, from that moment, he took into his own hands the administration of the empire. In the space of two months, he re-established order in (Moslim) Spain, ameliorated greatly the state of that country, placed garrisons in the centers of administration and did all that might promote the welfare of the people. He gave directions that the Fatiha, when recited in the public prayer, should be preceded by the Bismilla (6), and orders to that effect were sent by him to all the Moslim countries under his rule. These orders some complied with, but others disobeyed. He then returned to Morocco, which city was the capital of the (Almohade) empire. After that, in the month of Shabân, 580 (Nov.-Dec. A. D. 1184), the Almoravide prince Ali Ibn Iskâk Ibn Muhammad Ibn Ali Ibn Ghânîa (7) departed from the island of Majorca and took possession of Bugia and the neighbouring country. The emir (8) Yakub (he who is the subject of this article) sent against him a fleet and an army of twenty thousand horse; then, in the beginning of the year 583 (March, A. D. 1187), he set out himself and recovered the countries. which had been taken from him. He then returned to (the city of) Morocco and, in the year 586, he learned that the Franks (the Spanish Christians) had obtained possession of Silves, a city in the west of Spain. He, in consequence, set out thither in person and, having retaken it, he immediately dispatched on an expedition a body of Almohade (Berber) troops and of Arabs. This army entered into the country of the Franks and took from them four cities of which they had effected the conquest forty years before. The sovereign of Toledo (Alphonso IX, king of Castile) then conceived such fear of Yakûb that he asked for peace and obtained a truce of five years. Yakub then returned to (the city of) Morocco. The truce had nearly expired when some Franks, at the head of a numerous army, invaded the Moslim territory, plundering and slaying all before