with some difficulty, he found in it a writing, the words of which were intricately combined one with another. After some time he succeeded in reading the contents, which were these:

I am gone to seek hospitality from one who never disappoints the expectations of his guest; and I hope for salvation from the pains of hell. Though in dread of God, I confide in his bounty; for God is generous and bountiful.

This poet was born on the 15th of Zû 'l-Kaada, A.H. 410 (March, A.D. 1020), and he died on the eve of Sunday, the 4th of Muharram, A. H. 485 (February, A. D. 1092), at Baghdad. He was interred at the Damascus Gate (Bâb asShâm).—We have already given, in the life of Abû Ishâk as-Shirâzi (vol. I. p.10), a fragment of an elegy composed by Ibn Nâkiya.

(1) This work is attributed to the philologer Abû 'l-Abbâs Thalab; see vol. I. page 84.

ABU 'L-BAKA AL-OKBARI.

Abû 'l-Baka Abd Allah Ibn Abi Abd Allah al-Husain Ibn Abi 'l-Baka Abd Allah Ibn al-Husain al-Okbari, surnamed Muhabb ad-din (beloved for his religion), was a jurisconsult of the Hanbalite sect, a skilful arithmetician, a calculator of inheritance shares and a grammarian. Baghdad was the place of his birth and residence, but his family belonged to Okbara. This doctor was totally deprived of sight. He learned grammar at Baghdad from Abu Muhammad Ibn al-Khashshâb (see the next article) and other teachers of that time, and was instructed in the Traditions by Abû 'l-Fath Muhammad Ibn al-Batti (1), Abû Zurâa Tâhir Ibn Muhammad Ibn Tâhir al-Makdisi, and some others. In the last period of his life he was without a rival in the various sciences which he professed; but his attention was chiefly engrossed by grammar, and on that subject he composed some instructive works. He made a commentary on Abu Ali 'l-Farisi's treatise, the Idah, and another on the poems of al-Mutanabbi; to which must be added a grammatical analysis of the text of the Koran in two volumes, a small volume containing a grammatical analysis of the Tra

VOL. II.

9

ditions, a commentary on Ibn Jinni's work the Lumâ, the Kitâb al-Lubâb (essence), treating of the examples given in proof of the rules of grammar, a grammatical analysis of the verses contained in the Hamâsa, a full commentary on az-Zamakhshari's Mufassal, a commentary on the khotbâs of Ibn Nubâta (2), and another on al-Hariri's Makâmas. He composed also some original treatises on

grammar and arithmetic. Numerous pupils studied under him with great profit to themselves, and his reputation extended, even in his lifetime, to distant countries. His birth took place A.H. 538 (A.D. 1143-4); he died at Baghdad on the eve of Sunday, the 8th of the latter Rabi, A.H. 646 (June, A.D. 1249), and was interred in the cemetery outside the Gate of Harb.-Okbari means belonging to Okbara, which is a village on the Tigris, ten parasangs higher up than Baghdad. This spot has produced a number of men remarkable for learning or for other acquirements.

(1) Abû Fath Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Bâki Ibn al-Batti, the hajib, was the chief traditionist of Irak in that age. He died A.H. 564 (A.D. 1169, aged eighty-seven years.—(Nujùm.)

(2) I have given the text and translation of one of these Khotbas in the Journal Asiatique for Jan. 1840.

576

IBN AL-KHASHSHAB.

Abû Muhammad Abd Allah Ibn Ahmad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Ahmad, surnamed Ibn al-Khashshâb, was a native of Baghdad celebrated for his abilities in philology, grammar, the koranic exegesis, Traditions, genealogy, the calculation of inheritance shares, and arithmetic; he knew also the Koran by heart, so as to repeat it according to most of the readings (1). His mind was filled with every species of knowledge, and in each branch of science he displayed abilities of the highest order. His penmanship (2) was also extremely beautiful. The kâtib Imâd ad-din mentions him in the Kharida with the enumeration of his various talents and his excellencies; he then adds: "He composed but little poetry; "this, however, was made by him on a wax-light :

It is pale, but not from sickness; how could it be sick when its mother is the restorer of health? (3) It is naked, but its interior (the wick) is clothed; how strange that it should be at once both clothed and naked!''

The katib quotes also an enigma by Ibn al-Khashshâb, of which the word is book; it runs as follows:

It has many faces, yet it does not betray your secrets as a double-faced man would do. The lines (asrår) on its face reveal secrets (asrår) to you and make them audible to the eye whilst you look upon them.

This thought is taken from al-Mutanabbi's poem on the vizir Ibn al-Amid, where he says:

Thy enemies called thee the rais (4) without any addition, but thy Creator entitled thee ar-Ráis al-Akbar (the greatest of the chiefs). Thy qualities have rendered these words of His as a writing for our eyes, so that they fill the ears of him who uses his sight.

He composed a commentary entitled al-Martajal (extempore dissertation) on Abd al-Kahir al-Jurjâni's (grammatical treatise the) Jumal, but he left some chapters towards the middle of the book without any elucidation; he wrote also a commentary on Ibn Jinni's work the Luma, but did not finish it. He was dirty in his person and paid hardly the slightest attention to what he ate or wore. The kâtib Imâd ad-din mentions that Ibn al-Khashshâb was an acquaintance of his, and that he had kept up a written correspondence with him. "When he died," says the same writer, "I was in Syria, and I saw him one night in a "dream, and said to him: How has God treated thee?'-'Well,' he replied. "-"Does God show mercy to literary men?'-'Yes.'-' And if they have been "remiss?'-'A severe reprimand will be given and then will come eternal happiness.' - Ibn al-Khashshâb was born A. H. 492 (A. D. 1098-9); he died on the Friday evening, the 3rd of Ramadân, A.H. 567 (May, A. D. 1172), in the house of Abu 'l-Kàsim al-Farrâ, situated near the gate of al-Azaj, at Baghdad. He was buried in the cemetery of Ahmad, at the gate of Harb, on the Saturday which followed his death. The funeral prayers were said over him in the Jâmi 's-Sultan (the sultan's great mosque.)

(1) For the readings of the Koran, see vol. I. page 152.

(2) The autograph has abs, not abi.

(3) In the Traditions it is mentioned that Muhammad praised the great medical virtues of honey, saying that

in it was a cure for man. See Matthew's Mishkat, vol. II. p. 374.

(4) Rais or chief was a title given to vizirs and chief officers in the administration.

377

IBN AL-FARADI.

Abû 'l-Walid Abd Allah Ibn Muhammad Ibn Yusuf Ibn Nasr al-Azdi, surnamed Ibn al-Faradi, a native of Cordova in Spain, was a jurisconsult deeply versed in the sciences connected with the Traditions, and well acquainted with the history and character of the persons by whom the Traditions were handed down; he possessed also immense information in general literature and other branches of knowledge. Amongst the number of his compositions, we must notice his History of the Learned Men of Spain; this is the work in continuation of which Ibn Bashkuwâl wrote his Silat. Another good production of Ibn al-Faradi is a treatise on homonymous terms (al-Mukhtalif wa 'l-Mûtalif), and on those relative adjectives the derivation of which might be mistaken (Mushtabih an-Nisba); he composed also a history of the Spanish poets. In the year 382 (A. H. 992-3), he travelled from his native country to the East; in this visit he made the pilgrimage and frequented the company of the learned, communicating to them information, listening to their instructions, and writing down their observations (amali). He composed a great deal of poetry, specimens of which we here give :

A prisoner enslaved by his sins stands at Thy door, his heart filled with dread for reasons which Thou knowest well. He trembles for crimes the horridness of which cannot be concealed from Thee, and thou alone art the sole object of his hopes and fears. In whom should hopes be placed,-whom should man fear but Thee? nought can prevent the fulfilment of Thy judgments. Lord! let not the book in which my actions are written bring me to shame, on the great day of reckoning, when the registers of men's deeds shall be opened to view. Be my consoler in the darkness of the tomb when my family abandon me and my friends know me no longer. In Thy abundant mercies I hope to find pardon for my transgressions; if Thy mercies fail me, I am lost for ever!

By the same:

If she who leads me a willing captive be not equal to the full moon in beauty, she is yet hardly surpassed by it. My submission as a lover proceeds from the power of her charms, and my languishing sickness is caused by the languor of her eyes.

He was born in the month of Zû 'l-Kaada, A. H. 351 (December, A. D. 962). During some time he officiated as a kâdi in the city of Valencia, and on Monday the 7th of Shawwal, A. H. 403 (April, A. D. 1013), he was slain in Cordova

at the storming of that city by the Berbers (1). His body lay in his house during three days, and was at length buried in a state of putrefaction, without being washed, or shrouded, or prayed over. Speaking of this subject we may cite here a circumstance which was related by himself: "When performing the pilgrimage, I clung to the veil of the Kaaba and asked of Almighty God the 66 grace of dying a martyr; but on withdrawing, I reflected on the terrors of a "violent death and repented of my wish; I even thought of returning and "praying God to consider it as null, but shame withheld me." It is related also that a person saw him lying amongst the slain, and on going over to him, heard him utter these words with a feeble voice: "No one shall be wounded in "the cause of God, (and God well knoweth him who is wounded in that cause! "but will come at the day of resurrection with his wound dropping blood; its "colour will be that of blood, but its smell that of musk (2);" thus repeating to himself the Tradition relative to those who die martyrs. The same person said that he expired immediately after. This Tradition was first given by Muslim in his Hadith, or collection of the Prophet's sayings.

(1) This occurred in the reign of Hisham al-Muwaiyad, who disappeared in the catastrophe and was never heard of after. Sulaiman Ibn al-Hakam, surnamed al-Mustaîn billah, then ascended the throne for the second time. On taking the city, his African troops passed three days in the perpetration of every excess.

(2) This is one of the sayings pronounced by Muhammad. See Matthew's Mishkat al-Masabih, vol. II. page 237.

AR-RUSHATI.

Abû Muhammad Abd Allah Ibn Ali Ibn Abd Allah Ibn Khalaf Ibn Ahmad Ibn Omar ar-Rushâti, a member of the tribe of Lakhm and a native of Almeria in Spain, was assiduously devoted to the study of the Traditions, the Traditionists, the transmitters of oral information and the historians. He is the author of a good work on the genealogy of Muhammad's companions and of the persons by whom the history of (his) deeds was handed down; it is entitled Iktibas al-Anwar w'Iltimâs al-Azhar (acquisition of lights and search for flowers). This