Page images
PDF
EPUB

(3) Hotel; in Arabic raba See vol. I. page 347, note (2).

Here, in the printed

(4) The justification and impugning of witnesses (tazkiya wa tajrih) is a duty devolved secretly by the kâdi on some person of acknowledged probity living in his jurisdiction. This censor examines into the moral character of the witnesses and informs the kâdi whether their evidence is receivable or not. He is called also the muzakki or purifier. Consult on this subject Hamilton's Hedaya, chap. on Evidence. Arabic text of Ibn Khallikân, is a repetition of the same fault already noticed, vol. I. page 417, note (1). (5) Abû Abd Allah Bishr Ibn Bakr at-Tinnîsi as-Shâmi ( a native of Tinnis and sprung from a family which inhabited Damascus) is known as a Traditionist. He studied under al-Awzâî and died towards the end of A. H. 205 (A. D. 821) —(Tab. al-Muhaddithin.)

IBN WAHB.

Abu Muhammad Abd Allah Ibn Wahb Ibn Muslim, a member, by adoption, of the tribe of Koraish, a doctor of the sect of Mâlik and a native of Egypt, was a mawla to Rihana, who was herself a mawla to Abû Abd ar-Rahman Yazid Ibn 330 Unais, of the tribe of Fihr (or Koraish). He was one of the great imâms of that age, and had been a disciple of the imâm Mâlik Ibn Anas during twenty years: he put down in writing (his master's works) the greater Muwatta and the less. Mâlik said of him: "Abd Allah Ibn Wahb is an imâm." Abû Jaafar Ibn alJazzâr (1) mentions that Ibn Wahb set out (from his native place) to see the imâm Malik in the year 148 (A. D. 765-6), and never left him till he, Mâlik, died. He had commenced his studies under him more than ten years before Abd arRahman Ibn al-Kasim (2). When Mâlik wrote to consult him, he addressed his letters thus: To Abd Allah Ilm Wahb the mufti, an honour which he never conferred on any other of his disciples. Ibn Wahb saw and conversed with upwards of twenty persons who had studied under Ibn Shihâb az-Zuhri. His name and that of Ibn al-Kasim were once mentioned in the presence of Malik (3) and that imâm said: "Ibn Wahb is a learned man, and Ibn al-Kâsim a juris"consult." Al-Kudâi says in his Khitat: "Different opinions are entertained respecting the site of Ibn Wahb's tomb, but in the Majarr Bani Miskin (4) "there is a small one, much dilapidated, which people call the tomb of Abd "Allah; it is a very ancient monument and is probably the tomb of Ibn Wahb.” He was born at Old Cairo in the month of Zû 'l-Kaada, A. H. 125 (September, A. D. 743), but some say 124; he died in the same city on Sunday, the 24th of

[ocr errors]

Shaaban, A. H. 197 (April, A. D. 813). He composed a number of wellknown works on jurisprudence, and was also a Traditionist. Yûnus Ibn Abd al-Aala (5), one of the imam as-Shâfi's disciples, relates as follows: The khalif wrote to Ibn Wahb, desiring him to accept the place of kàdi at Old Cairo, on which he concealed himself (6) and avoided stirring from home; but one of his neighbours, Asad (7) Ibn Saad, happening to look out, and seeing him making his ablutions in the court-yard of his house, called to him and said: "Why dost thou not go forth to the people and judge between them according "to the book of God and the sunna of the Prophet?"-On this, Ibn Wahb looked up and replied: "Is that the utmost extent of thy wisdom? dost thou not "know that the learned shall be raised to life with the prophets, and the kådis "with the princes?" (8)-Ibn Wahb was a man of learning and holiness, living in the fear of Almighty God. His death happened in the following manner: A student was reading to him out of his own Jâmî, or collection of Traditions, an account of the terrible signs which are to precede the day of judgment, when something like a swoon came over him, and he was carried to his house, he remained in that state till he expired. Ibn Yunus al-Misri says in his History (of Egypt that Ibn Wahb was a mawla to Yazid Ibn Rommana, who was himself a mawla to Abû Abd ar-Rahmân Yazid Ibn Unais; the statement first given is made by Ibn Abd al-Barr, and God best knoweth which is the truth. The following anecdote is related by Abd Allah Ibn Wahb: "When Haiyat Ibn Shu"raih (9) received his yearly salary of sixty dinars, he used to distribute it all "in alms before he went home, but on entering into his house, he would find "this money again under his mattress. Haiyat had a cousin who, on learning "the circumstance, took his salary also and gave it in alms; he then sought it "under his mattress, but found nothing; and Haiyat, to whom he complained of "his disappointment, said to him: 'I gave to the Lord with full confidence, "but you gave to him merely to make a trial of his goodness.'"

(1) See vol. I. page 672.

(2) The life of this celebrated disciple of Mâlik will be found in this volume.

(3) Some mistakes disfigure this notice in the printed Arabic text: here

and in the first line وعند ملك

زید
يزيد

In the third line the word

has been put for for must be suppressed. A too scrupulous adherence to his manuscripts led the editor into these faults and some others, which shall be noticed when met with.

[ocr errors]

(4) I have not been able to discover any account of this place in al-Makrizi's Khitat. (5) His life is given by Ibn Khallikan.

(6) The printed text has ↳ and the autograph

The meaning of both words is the same.

شدین

زرعة.

and was a

(7) In place of Asad the autograph seems to have Shadîn (8) See an observation on this subject in vol. I. p. 235, note (5). (9) There were two Traditionists of this name, both of whom drew their origin from Hadramût. The first, who was probably the same person who is mentioned here, bore the surname of Abû Zaraa native of Egypt. He taught the Traditions on the authority of Ibn al-Mubarak, Ibn Wahb, and other doctors. He died A. H. 157 (A. D. 773-4), during the khalifat of Abu Jaafar al-Mansûr. The other Haiyat Ibn Shuraih was surnamed Abû 'l-Abbas and was a native of Emessa. His authority is cited by al-Bukhâri in that chapter of his work which treats of the prayer to be said in time of danger.—(Tab. al-Muhad.)

ABD ALLAH IBN LAHIA.

Abû Abd ar-Rahman Abd Allah Ibn Lahia Ibn Okba Ibn Lahîa al-Hadrami al-Ghâfiki (member of the tribe of Ghafik) (1), a native of Egypt, was a narrator of Traditions, historical relations, and pieces in prose and verse, a great quantity of which he transmitted down. Muhammad Ibn Saad states that he was a man of weak memory, and that those who received from him oral information when he first began to give lessons, had most probably acquired more correct versions of the pieces which he taught them, than those who studied under him in the latter period of his life. It sometimes happened that his pupils read to him (out of their note-books) passages which he had never taught them (2), and he would make no observation on the subject; being afterwards told of the circumstance, he would reply: "It is not my fault; they come to me with a book and read it "in my presence; they then go away. Had they asked me if that was what I taught them, I should have told them that it was not." In the beginning of the year 155 (A.D. 772), he was appointed kâdi of Old Cairo by Abu Jaafar alMansûr, and was the first person raised to the place of kâdi in that city by the 551 direct nomination of the khalif. He was removed from office in the month of the first Rabi, A. H. 164. He was also the first kâdi who made it his duty to be present when watch was kept for the first appearance of the new moon in the month of Ramadan (3), and this custom is still continued to the present time (4). Ibn al-Farrà mentions him in his Annals under the year 152: "In this

[ocr errors]

VOL. II.

3

[ocr errors]

666

"year," says he, "died the kâdi Abû Khuzaima Ibrahim Ibn Yazid al-Himyari "(descended from Himyar) (5); he was succeeded by Abd Allah Ibn Lahia al"Hadrami. Ibn Khudaij (Hudaij), who was in Irak at that time, relates in the fol"lowing terms the cause of his nomination: 'I went to see Abû Jaafar al-Mansûr, "who said to me : Ibn Khudaij! there is a man in your city who has just died "and left the people in affliction for his loss.-Commander of the faithful! “I replied, it must be Ibn Khuzaima!—It is, said he; and whom do you "think we should put in his place?-I answered, Commander of the faith"ful! I suppose Ibn Maadan al-Yahsubi.—It is not fit that a kâdi should be "deaf, replied al-Mansûr, and he is. It is then Ibn Lahia, said I.—The very "man, answered the khalif, although his memory be a little weak. He then gave orders for his appointment and settled on him thirty dinars a month.' “He was the first kâdi who received a salary, and the first also who was nomi"nated directly by the khalif; before that, the kâdi was chosen by the go"vernor of the city." (6)-Ibn Lahia died at Old Cairo on Sunday, the 15th of the first Rabî, A. H. 174 (August, A. D. 790), or by another account in 170, -aged eighty-one years. Abû Mûsa al-Anazi (7) says in his History, that alLaith Ibn Saad was one or two years older than Ibn Lahia. Ibn Yunus also mentions him in his History, in these terms: "Abd Allah Ibn Lahîa Ibn Okba "Ibn Furân Ibn Rabia belonged to the family of Odûl, one of the first in "Hadramaut. His surname was Abû Abd ar-Rahmân. Traditions were given on his authority by Amr Ibn al-Hârith (8), al-Laith Ibn Saad, Othman Ibn “al-Hakam al-Judâmi, and Ibn al-Mubârak (9). He then gives the date of his death and adds: "He was born A. H. 97 (A. D. 715-6);" after which, he mentions the following words, and traces them down, through an uninterrupted series of narrators, from Ibn Lahîa to himself: "On going to see Yazid "Ibn Abi Habib (10), he said to me: I think I see you seated on the cushion,' meaning the one on which the kâdi sits.'' And so it came to pass, for Ibn

66

[ocr errors]

Lahia did not die before he filled the place of a kàdi. - Hadrami means belonging to Hadramaut, which is a country in the most distant part of Yemen.

(1) According to the author of the Ansab, Ghâfik was the son of as-Shâhid Ibn Alkama Ibn Akk, a descendant from Kahlân.

(2) Students took notes of the master's lessons and read them to him the next day.

(3) In those countries where the Sunnite doctrines are professed, the fast of Ramadan is not commenced till the appearance of the new moon has been regularly certified.

(4) Ibn Khallikân might have observed that it was discontinued under the Fatimite dynasty and had been re-established by Salâh ad-dîn.

(5) Abû Khuzaima Ibrahîm Ibn Yazid, a native of Old Cairo, was appointed kådi of that city by Yazid Ibn Hâtim, A.H. 144 (A.D. 761-2). He continued to fill this place till his death, which took place A.H. 154 (A. D. 770-1). He was a man of great piety and lived by making halters, of which he sold two every day; with the price of one he supported himself, and he gave the price of the other to his brethren in Alexandria.—(History of the kådis of Cairo, by Sibt Ibn Hujr, MS. No. 691.)

(6) Sibt Ibn Hujr, in his Lives of the Kâdis, mentions Ibn Lahîa and relates the anecdote given here. Ibn Khudaij, or, as he writes the name, Abd Allah Ibn Abd ar-Rahmân Ibn Hudaij, was the son of a kâdi of Cairo who had been nominated A. H. 86 and died A. H. 94 (A. D. 712-3).

(7) In the Arabic text this name is incorrectly printed__.

(8) Abû Omaiya Amr Ibn al-Hârith Ibn Yakub, a native of Egypt and surnamed al-Muwaddib (the preceptor), was allied by adoption to the Ansårs. He learned the Traditions from Katâda and other great masters, and among his own pupils he had Ibn Wahb. His death took place between A. H. 147 (A. D. 764) and 149. He was then upwards of fifty.-(Tab. al-Muhad.)

(9) The life of Ibn al-Mubarak is given in this volume, page 12.

(10) Abû Rajâ Yazîd Ibn Abi Habîb Suwaid, a member by adoption of the tribe of Koraish and a native of Egypt, studied the Traditions under a number of eminent masters and had al-Laith Ibn Saad among his own pupils. He died A. H. 128 (A. D. 745), aged between seventy-five and eighty years.-(Tab. al-Muhaddithîn.)

AL-KAANABI.

Abu Abd ar-Rahmân Abd Allah Ibn Maslama Ibn Kaanab al-Hârithi, surnamed al-Kaanabi, was a native of Medina. He received instructions in jurisprudence and the Traditions from the imâm Mâlik, and was one of his most talented, learned (1), and virtuous disciples. He knew by heart his master's work, the Muwatta, and taught it to his own pupils from memory; for such was the manner in which this work was transmitted down by a number of Mâlik's disciples: some diversity exists in the text as thus related by each; but the most perfect copy of it is that given viva voce by Yahya Ibn Yahya, as shall be again remarked in his life. Al-Kaanabi was surnamed ar-Rahib (the monk) for his devotion and his virtue. Abd Allah Ibn Ahmad Ibn al-Haitham related that his grandfather had said to him, in speaking of al-Kaanabi: "When we went to see him, he would

come out to us with the face of one who had been looking down on (the ter

« PreviousContinue »