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son of Lujaim Ibn Saab Ibn Ali Ibn Bakr Ibn Wâil; it is a celebrated tribe. Hanifa's real name was Uthal, but it was changed for this reason: he and alAhzan Ibn Aûf al-Abdi were conversing together on a subject which it would take us too long to relate, when Hanifa struck al-Ahzan with his sword and cut off (jazam) his hand, and al-Ahzan struck Hanifa on the foot and shattered it (hanaf); so al-Ahzam received the surname of Jazima (the one-handed), and his adversary that of Hanifa (the club-footed). This Hanifa was the brother of Ijl (the progenitor of a famous tribe).—Yamami means belonging to Yamama, a town in the desert which forms part of the province of Hijaz; the greater part of the inhabitants belong to the tribe of Hanifa. It was there that the impostor Musailama set up for a prophet and lost his life. His history is well known.

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(3) In place of, the autograph has ; the sense is then try and find other eyes to help you. (4) His life will be found in the first volume.

(3) See his life in the first volume.

(6) It must be remembered that al-Abbås himself belonged to that tribe.

(7) Literally: It has neither before nor after.

AR-RIASHI.

Abu 'l-Fadl al-Abbas Ibn Faraj ar-Riàshi, a grammarian, a philologer, and a native of Basra, was a man of great learning and a trustworthy transmitter of oral literature; he knew besides the traditional accounts of the combats and adventures of the desert Arabs, and possessed great general knowledge. The information which he communicated to others was given by him on the authority of al-Asmài, Abû Obaida, and other great masters, and his own authority was cited by Ibrahim al-Harbi (1), Ibn Abi 'd-Dunia (2), and others. The following is one of the (curious philological) passages which, according to his statement, he had learned from al-Asmài: "An Arab of the desert," said he, "passed near 548" us in search of his son, and we said to him: 'Describe him;' and he an

"swered:

He is like a (pretty) little piece of gold;' on which we replied that "we had not seen him. Soon after, he returned with a swarthy little fellow, as "black as a beetle, perched upon his shoulder; and we then said to him: 'Hadst "thou asked us about that fellow, we could have directed thee, for he did not "stir out of our sight all day (3).' Al-Asmai then repeated these lines:

Any bedfellow is good on the break of day, after a frosty night, when the chilled (sleeper) shivers with cold. God makes her as charming to the heart as the son is charming to the eyes of his father!'"'

Ar-Riâshi was slain at Basra during the insurrection of al-Alawi al-Basri (4), the chief of the Zenj. He lost his life in the month of Shawwâl, A. H. 257 (September, A. D. 871). He had been asked towards the end of Zû 'l-Hijja, A. H. 254, how old he was, and he replied: " Seventy-seven years, I believe." Our shaikh Ibn al-Athir mentions, in his great historical work (the Kâmil), that ar-Riâshi was killed by the Zenj at Basra, A. H. 265, but this is a mistake; for all persons who have studied history unanimously agree that the Zenj entered Basra at the hour of Friday prayer, on the 16th Shawwâl, A. H. 257; that night and the following Saturday they ravaged the city with fire and sword, and on Monday they entered it again, after the flight of the garrison, and proclaimed a general amnesty; but when any of the people showed themselves, they massacred them. Very few of the inhabitants escaped, and the great mosque with all who were in it was destroyed by fire. Ar-Riâshi lost his life in one of the above-mentioned days, for he perished in the mosque.—Riâshi is derived from Ridsh, which was the name of the ancestor of a man who belonged to the tribe of Judâm; this man possessed as a slave the father of (al-Abbas ar-Ridshi,) him who was surnamed after him. The father had (first) received this surname and it never quitted him.

(1) See vol. I. page 46, note (5).

(2) See vol. I. page 531.

(3) This passage contains some diminutive nouns of rare occurrence, and it was therefore precious for philologers and lexicographers.

(4) Al-Alawi al-Basri, i. e. the descendant of Ali and native of Basra. His real name was Ali Ibn Muhammad; he revolted A. H. 253, and after devastating the southern provinces of the khalifat for many years, he was made prisoner and executed, A.H. 270 (See his history in Abulfeda's Annals; Price's Retrospect, vol. II. page 168; and al-Maktn, p. 162. This last writer styles him how (the wicked wretch,

الز

chief of the Zenj), which words Erpenius has rendered Habibus Rihorum Dominus.

ABD ALLAH IBN AL-MUBARAK..

Abu Abd ar-Rahmân Abd Allah Ibn al-Mubârak Ibn Wâdih al-Marwazi (native of Maru), a mawla to the tribe of Hanzala, was a man possessing profound learning combined with great self-mortification. He studied jurisprudence under Sofyan ath-Thauri, and Malak Ibn Anas (1), from whom he learned by heart the Muwatta, and then taught it to others. He loved retirement and solitude, and was extremely assiduous in the practice of ascetic devotion. It is related of his father, who, like him, was a man of great piety, that he served a master who employed him to work in his garden; he had passed a considerable time in this occupation, when his master came to him one day and told him to bring him a ripe pomegranate, on which he went to a tree and gathered an unripe one. His master having broken it open and found it sour, got angry with him and ordered him to go for a ripe one; he then went and cut one off another tree, but it was also sour, and his master's anger became more violent : "I asked you for a ripe one," he exclaimed, "and you give me a sour one! "bring me a ripe one!" He went then for the third time and did as before, on which his master said to him: "Do you not know the difference between a ripe and an unripe pomegranate ?""No."-" And how does that happen ?"-" Because I never tasted of them so as to know the difference.""And why did you not?"-"Because I had not your permission." His master having found on examination that he had told the truth, conceived the highest respect for him and gave him his daughter in marriage. It is said that God blessed this union with a son, this Abd Allah, to whom were transmitted the divine graces granted to his father. In some historical work I have found the same thing related of the pious and holy Ibrahim Ibn Adham (2), and it is told of him also by at-Tortûshi (3), towards the commencement of his work the Siraj al-Mulûk. Abû Ali 'l-Ghassâni (4) relates the following anecdote: Abd Allah Ibn al-Mubarak was asked which was the more blessed man of the two, Moawia Ibn Abi Sofyân or Omar Ibn Abd al-Azîz, to which he made answer : "The very dust which entered into Moawia's nostrils when accompanying God's 349 "blessed Prophet is a thousand times more holy than all Omar. Moawia was praying behind the Prophet when the latter said: God hearkeneth to him who

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speaks his praise. On which Moawia exclaimed: O Lord! to thee be praise ! "Can there be any stronger proof of Moawia's blessedness than that?"-Ibn al-Mubarak composed some poetry, from which we will quote the following verses:

Other men open shops to sell their goods, but you have opened a shop that you may sell religion;-a shop between the columns (of the mosque) and without a lock, where you give religion in exchange for the money of the poor. You have made of religion a falcon wherewith to catch your prey, but falconers never acquire riches by their trade (5).

One of his sayings was: "We sought learning that we might acquire worldly advantages, and it led us to renounce the world." He died at Hit, on his return from an expedition against the infidels, in the month of Ramadân, A. H. 184 (November, A.D. 797). He was born at Marw in the year 118 (A.D. 736). -Hit is a town situated on the Euphrates, higher up than al-Anbar; it belongs to the government of Irak, but it lies on the Syrian side of the river, whilst al-Anbâr is on the Baghdad side. The Tigris flows between these two last cities. Ibn al-Mubarak's tomb is still visible at Hit and continues to be a place of pilgrimage. The history of his life has been compiled in two volumes.

(1) I have hitherto transcribed by Ans, but the true pronunciation is Anas or Anes.

(2) Abû Ishak Ibrahim Ibn Adham Ibn Mansûr al-Balkhi was celebrated for his holy life. His father Adham was a native of Balkh and belonged to one of the first families in the place. He made the pilgrimage to Mekka with his wife who was then pregnant, and she brought forth Ibrahîm in that city. His father carried him round the Kaaba and begged of the assembled multitude to implore God's blessings on the child, and the effect of their prayers was manifested many years later. Adham was very rich and possessed numerous slaves, horses, hounds, and falcons; his son Ibrahim took the dogs and falcons one day, and rode out to hunt; he was galloping after the game when he heard a voice say: "O Ibrahim! what meaneth this sport? dost thou think that we created thee in sport! Fear God and make provision for the day of need!" On hearing these words, he got off his horse and renounced the world. His death took place A. H. 160 (A. D. 776-7) — (Abû 'l— Mahâsin's Nujùm.)—This author gives him the surnames of at-Tamîmi al-Ijli (belonging to the tribes of Tamim and Ijl), which does not seem to be exact, as those two tribes were quite distinct; that of Tamim drawing its origin from Nizar by Modar and Tâbikha, and Ijl from Nizâr by Rabia.-Abû 'l-Fedâ gives some account of Ibrahim Ibn Adham and places his death in 161; al-Yàfi, who vaunts the high perfection which Ibn Adham had attained by his spiritual exercises, mentions that he died in 162.

(3) The life of Abu Bakr Muhammad at-Tortûshi will be found in this work. (4) His life will be found in vol. I. page 458.

(5) This is manifestly directed against some teacher of theology who opened a course of lectures in the mosque and required payment from his scholars. Such a proceeding was highly scandalous at that early period, but in later times it was permitted as a necessary evil.-(See d'Ohsson's Tableau général de l'empire othoman, tom. VI. page 143.)

IBN ABD AL-HAKAM.

Abu Muhammad Abd Allah Ibn Abd al-Hakam (1) Ibn Aâyan Ibn Laith Ibn Râfi was a doctor of the sect of Mâlik and a native of Egypt. He was the best acquainted of all Malik's disciples with the various branches of his master's doctrine; and on the death of Ashhab (2), the presidency of the Malikite sect devolved to him. He transmitted orally to his scholars the contents of Malik's work, the Muwatta, which he himself had learned by heart under that imâm's dictation. His riches and the numerous hotels (3) which he possessed enabled him to live in great state, and (for his virtue) he was treated with profound respect. He filled the office of justifier and impugner of witnesses (4); but neither he nor any of his sons would ever give evidence in a court of law, on account of a vow which he had previously made against doing so this particularity is mentioned by al-Kudài in his Khitat (or topographical history) of Old Cairo. It is said that on the arrival of as-Shâfì in that city, he gave him one thousand dinars out of his own money, with two thousand more, one half of which he had obtained for him from a merchant named Ibn Osama, and the remainder from two other men. He was the father of Abu Abd Allah Muhammad (Ibn Abd al-Hakam), the disciple of as-Shâfi, whose life we shall give in the letter M.— Bishr Ibn Bakr (5) relates that some days after the death of Mâlik Ibn Anas, he had a dream in which that doctor appeared to him and said: "There is a man "in your country called Ibn Abd al-Hakam; receive the knowledge he may

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impart to you, for he is a sure authority."-- Abu Muhammad had another son called Abd ar-Rahman, who studied the Traditions and history, and wrote some works, one of which was on the conquests of the Moslims.-Abû Muhammad was born A. H. 150 (A. D. 767-8); some say 155; he died at Old Cairo in the month of Ramadan, A. H. 214 (November, A. D. 829). He was buried close to the tomb of the imâm as-Shâfi, at the south side of it; his son Abd ar-Rahman died A. H. 257 (A. D. 870-1), and was interred at the south side of his father's grave; so that, of the three tombs, Abû Muhammad's is in the middle.

(1) In the first volume of this translation, this name has been erroneously transcribed Abd al-Hukm. (2) See vol. I. page 223.

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