(Here the author says :)" Abû Bakr Muhammad Ibn Yahya as-Sûli mentioned that "the following piece was composed by Abû 'l-Attâf al-Kùfi and directed against "Sâlih Ibn Abd ar-Rahmân Nashît:

"Son of al-Walid! explain to us, and let your explanation remain within bounds: Why do we see you at liberty? what has become of your chains and fetters? is iron now dear in your country or is it incapable of holding you?"

They are sufficient for our

Here finish our extracts from al-Baiyâsi's Hamâsa. purpose, which was, to select out of the pieces chosen by him a certain number which might indicate his (extensive) acquaintance with poetry. He was born on Thursday, the 14th of the first Rabî, 573 (11th Sept. A. D. 1177), and he died at Tunis, on Sunday, the 4th of Zû 'l-Kaada, 653 (5th Dec. A. D. 1255). — “ Bai

66

yási means belonging to Bayâsa (Baeza), which is a large town of Moslim Spain

and now included in the province of Jaen." So says Yakût al-Hamawi (page 9 of this vol.) in his dictionary of geographical synonyms.

(1) The six poets whose works are inserted in this collection were Amro 'l-Kais, an-Nabigha ad-Dubyâni, Alkama, Zuhair, Tarafa and Antara. For farther information see the translator's edition of the Diwân of Amro 'l-Kais, preface, page x.

(2) For the history of Abû Zakariya Yahya, the founder of the Hafside dynasty, see Ibn Khaldûn's Histoire des Berbers, tome II, p. 297 et seq.

(3) See Mr de Sacy's remarks relatively to Majnûn in the Anthologie grammaticale arabe, page 150.

(4) It is the second t in that word which represents the pronoun of the first person singular.

(5) For the history of Antara, the author of one of the Moallakas, see Mr Caussin de Perceval's Essai sur l'histoire des Arabes, tome II, pp. 514 et suiv.

(6) Read

with the manuscripts. For the signification of this word see the Hamasa, p. 565, l. 15 and az-Zuzeni's commentary on the sixteenth verse of Amr Ibn Kulthûm's Moallaka.

(7) This translation is merely conjectural.

(8) For the Moslim legend respecting Kârun, the Corah of the Bible, Numbers, XVI, see Sale's note on the twenty-eigth sûrat of the Koran.

(9) According to the Koran, sûrat XXIX, verse 13, Noah tarried among his people one thousand years, save fifty years.

VOL. IV.

74

YUNUS IBN HABIB.

66

Abû Abd ar-Ralımân Yûnus Ibn Habib the grammarian.

"He

Abu Abd Allah al-Marzubâni (vol. III, p. 67) says, in his work entitled Kitab al-Muktabis (Book for him who desires information) and containing the history of the grammarians: “ He was attached to the tribe of Dabba by the bonds of enfranchisement, or, by ano"ther account, to the family of Laith Ibn Bakr Ibn Abd Manât Ibn Kinâna. Others 66 say that he was a client, by enfranchisement, of Bilâl Ibn Harmi, a member of the family called the Dubaiyâ Ibn Bajâla and that he was a native of Jabbul. His "birth took place in the year 90 (A. D. 708-9) and his death in the year 182 (A. D.

66

66

66

798-9). He sometimes said that he recollected the death of al-Hajjâj (1). Some place his birth in the year 80. According to others, he saw al-Hajjaj and "lived to the age of one hundred and two years; another account says, ninety-eight 66 years. "The following indications are furnished, not by al-Marzubâni, but by another author: "Yûnus learned philology from Abû Amr Ibn al-Alâ (vol. II. p. 399) "and Hammad Ibn Salama (vol. I. p. 261), but the study of grammar became his predominant occupation. He obtained, by audition (much philological information) from the Arabs (of the desert); Sîbawaih handed down much (information of "that kind) on his authority, and lessons were given by him to al-Kisâi (vol. II. “p. 237) and al-Farrâ (page 63 of this vol.). In grammar he followed a system of "analogical deduction and of rules which was peculiar to himself. As a philologer, "he belonged to the fifth class (2). — It was at Basra that held his school (lit. his circle), which was much frequented by literary men and (even) by the most elegant speakers among the Arabs and the inhabitants of the desert."- Abû Obaida Mamar Ibn al-Muthanna (vol. III. p. 388) said: "I frequented (the school of) Yunus during forty years and, every day, I filled my tablets with notes which he dictated from memory. -The grammarian Abù Zaid al-Ansâri (vol. I. p. 570) said: "I "sat (as a student) by the side of Yûnus Ibn Habîb during ten years, and Khalaf alAhmar (vol. I. p. 572) before me did the same during twenty years."— Yûnus himself said:" Rûba Ibn al-Ajjâj (vol. I. p. 527) addressed me, one day, in these "terms: How long will you be asking me questions about those (philological) futi

❝lities, and how long must I be adorning them for your (pleasure)? Do you not perceive that the greater part of your beard has turned gray?'- Amongst the works which Yunus drew up (and published), we may notice the Kitáb Madni 'l-Korân (on the rhetorical figures employed in the Koran), the Kitâb al-Loghál, the Kitâb alAmthal (book of Proverbs) and the lesser collection of Anedotes (Nawâdir) (3). Ishak Ibn Ibrâhîm al-Mausili (vol. I, p. 183) said: " Yûnus lived eighty-eight years; he was "never married, never kept a concubine and never thought of any thing but acqui

66

ring knowledge and conversing with distinguished (literary men.)"-Yûnus said: "If I formed the wish of being able to compose in verse, I should not desire to "utter any thing better than the verse in which Adi Ibn Zaid (4) said:

"O you who rejoice at other's woes and deride the fickleness of Fortune! are you then "safe from danger and perfectly secure?"

This verse belongs to a piece which is currently known among literary men and contains moral exhortations with examples. The next lines we here give:

Do you know the history of ancient times (5)? No! you are ignorant and misled. Whom think you that destiny will render immortal? Who has always a guardian, so that he may not be harmed? What has become of Chosroes, the Chosroes of kings, Anûshrewân? What has become of Sâpûr before him? The noble race of Asfar (6), kings of the Romans, have left no recollection worthy of being recalled. (Think of) the founder (7) of al-Hadr (8), when he built it and when tribute was paid to him by (the countries situated on) the Tigris and the Khâbûr. He lined it with marble, coated it with plaster, and, on its pinnacles, the birds built their nests. The vicissitudes of time alarmed him not, but his kingdom departed from him and the door of his palace was abandoned. Think of the lord of al-Khawarnak (9), when he looked, one day, from the top of his castle, and reflexion leads to wisdom; he rejoiced in his kingdom and his ample possessions; (he contemplated with pleasure) the river flowing before him and (the palace of) as-Sadîr. Then his heart was troubled and he said: "What is the felicity of living beings who are always journeying towards their death? After enjoying prosperity, ruling over a kingdom and a people, they fall as an inheritance to the grave, and become like the dry leaves which are blown about by the east wind and by the west.

-

These verses would require a long commentary; if I undertook to give one, I should be led into prolixity and digress from my subject; more particularly as many of them have a historical, and the rest a philological, import. I therefore keep within bounds, giving what is necessary for my purpose and nothing more. As a full explanation of the verses would fill four or five quires (of twenty pages each), it could not find a place here. Muhammad Ibn Sallâm al-Jumahi (10) relates that Yûnus

said: "The Arabs (of the desert) never expressed grief with more energy than in "lamenting (the loss of) youth, and yet they did not do full justice to its value." Mansûr an-Namari (page 131 of this vol.) took hold of this expression and said, in a kasida of some length which he composed in praise of Hârûn ar-Rashîd :

Whilst my youth was in its prime, I did not appreciate its value, and, when it passed away, (I perceived that) the world also was passing away (for me).

It was mentioned by Yûnus that the (desert) Arabs said: "Separation from friends "is sickness for the heart." He then recited these lines:

Were my eyes to shed tears of blood, foreboding loss of sight, they could not do justice even to the tenth part of two things; departure of youth and separation from friends.

He related also that Labîd (the author of the Moallaka), after the introduction of Islamism, never uttered a line of poetry except the following:

Praise be to God for not bringing me to the term of my life till I had put on the robe of Islamism.

Abû Obaida Mamar Ibn al-Muthanna related as follows: "Djaafar Ibn Sulai"mân the Abbaside (vol. II. p. 547) was visiting the khalif al-Mahdi. On retur"ning home, he sent for Yûnus Ibn Habib and said to him: 'I and the Commander "of the faithful have differed in opinion respecting the meaning of this verse:

66

“The blackness (of the hair) being invaded by grayness, is like the night (lail), at the 66 6 beginning and the end of which, day (nahâr) utters its cry (is on the alert).

“What do the words lail and nahár mean?' Yûnus replied: Lail has here the "meaning with which you are familiar and so also has nahar.' Djaafar then " said Al-Mahdi maintains that lail means a young partridge and nahár a young "bustard.' Ibn Habib was in the right with regard to the signification of these "words; the meanings assigned to them by al-Mahdi are no where recognised ex"cept in treatises on the unusual terms of the language." - Yûnus related the following anecdote Jabala Ibn Abd ar-Rahmân (11) used, in ordering his dinner, to write out a list of the dishes which he wished to have served, and send it to the cook. In this list he always employed such uncommon and agrestic expressions that

66

:

the cook never knew what was wanted till he consulted Ibn Abi Ishak (12), Yahya Ibn Yamar (see p. 59 of this vol.) and other well-informed men.-When he obtained from them the explanation of the difficult words, he would bring to his master what was required. One day Jabala said to him "Woe betide you! I am dying of hunger. The cook answered: "Make easy phrases and your dinner will be easy (to get ready)."Jabala replied: "You son of a slut! must I lay aside my pure "Arabic on account of your doltishness?" - Yûnus was a native of Jabbul, a town situated on the Tigris, between Baghdad and Wâsit. He did not like to be considered as having come from that place (or to hear it named). A man belonging to the Bani Abi Omair family met him one day and said: "Tell me, Abu Abd ar-Rahmân! "Jabbul is it of the first declension or the second?"--The other answered by abusive language, and the Omairide looked round for some one whom he might take as a witness of the insult, and, not seeing any person, he went away. The next morning, when-Yunus was sitting with his pupils around him, the same man came to him and said: "Tell me, Abû Abd ar-Rahmân! Jabbul is it of the first declension "or of the second?" To this Yunus replied: "The answer is the same as that "which you received yesterday." -As-Samâni (vol. II. p. 156) says, in his Ansab, that Jabbul (J,b,l,) is to be pronounced with an a after the J and a double b followed by the vowel u. This (13) was the native place of Abû 'l-Khattâb al-Jabbuli, a poet of some celebrity and the author of these lines:

To reach you, how many deserts did I not cross which, had I been unsupported by my passion, I should never have been able to pass through. To get near you I faced the greatest dangers, but, to encounter perils for the pleasure of seeing you is a welcome task.

“ Abû 'l-Khattâb, says as -Samâni, died in the month of Zû 'l-Kaada, 439 (April

May 1048). A poetical rivality existed between him and Abû'l-Alâ al-Maarri (vol. I. p. 94) and it was to him that the latter addressed the kasida which begins thus:

"My religion and my creed declare improfitable (lamentations over the dead and the song "of the camel-driver) (14)."

Here as-Samâni is mistaken: the poem was written by Abû 'l-Alâ and sent to Abù Hamza al-Hasan Ibn Abd ar-Rahmân, a native of Maarra tan-Nomân and a hanifite doctor, who was then acting as a kâdi at Manbej. The same remark has been made by the kâdi Kamâl ad-Dîn, in his history of Aleppo.— Habib was the name of his