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dîn al-Kisai, chief traditionist of Tunis, he perused Muslim's collection of Traditions and received a general licence (ijâza). In law he studied the abridgment of the Mudawwana (1) composed by Abû Said al-Baradài, and the exposition of the doctrines held by the sect of Malik. He followed, besides, a general course of law and learned Mâlik's Muwatta; certificates were also obtained by him authorizing him to teach that book, the Sirat ar-Rasûl (2), the treatise of Ibn Salâh on the Traditions, and many other works. He obtained access to the library of Abd al-Muhaimin al-Hadrami, chief traditionist and grammarian of Morocco, who had accompanied to the city of Tunis Abû 'lHasan, the sovereign of that empire, in the quality of secretary of state. This collection of books consisted of more than three thousand volumes on the Traditions, law, grammar, philology, the intellectual sciences, general literature, and poetry; these manuscripts were all of the highest correctness and their authenticity was guaranteed by certificates annexed to them. Under another master he studied logic, dogmatic theology, jurisprudence, and all the intellectual and philosophical sciences. Whilst pursuing his studies, he followed the public lectures at Tunis, and attended the assemblies held by the first doctors and professors of the place. He finally devoted three years to study under a shaikh called Abû Abd Allah al-Abbali ()" and then", says he, "I felt that I knew something." Ibn Khaldun terminated his studies in the twentieth or twenty-first year of his age (3).

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(1) See vol. II. page 86.

(2) Vol. II. page 128.

(3) This notice was just terminated, when a large manuscript, containing the biography of the doctor and historian Ahmad Ibn Ali Ibn Hajar al-Askalâni, by the hâfiz Shams ad-din Muhammad as-Sakhâwi, fell into the writer's hands. A chapter of this work is devoted to the history of Ibn Hajar's youth, travels, studies, etc.; but it is drawn up in such a manner that to make an analysis of it would be a very difficult task. We find however that he began by learning the Koran by heart, and proceeded to the study of the Traditions and jurisprudence; following, in fact, the same system which has been already indicated in the introduction of our first volume.

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Abu Bakr Aâsim was the son of Abu 'n-Najùd Bahdala, a mawla to the tribe of Jadima Ibn Mâlik Ibn Nasr Ibn Koain Ibn Asad. His acquaintance with the koranic readings drew upon him general notice and ranked him as one of the seven great masters of that science. He had learned it from Abù Abd ar-Rahmân as-Sulami (1) and Zirr Ibn Hubaish (2); he taught it to Abu Bakr Ibn Aiyâsh (see vol. I. page 553) and Abû Omar al-Bazzâz (3), but these two varied very much in their manner of reading certain words. Aâsim died at Kûfa, A.H. 345 127 (A. D. 744-5).-The word najûd signifies a female wild ass not pregnant; others say that she is thus designated when keeping watch on the top of a hill. Some persons state that Bahdala was his mother's name (not his father's).

(1) Abu Abd ar-Rahmân Abd Allah Ibn Habib as-Sulami al-Kûfi (a member of the tribe of Sulaim and a native of Kufa) was born in the lifetime of Muhammad. He learned to read the Koran under the tuition of the khalifs Othman and Ali, and then taught the same science in the great mosque of Kûfa. He died A. H. 74 (A.D. 693-4).-(Ad-Dahabi's Tabakat al-Kurra.)

(2) Abu Miryam Zirr Ibn Hubaish Ibn Hubâsa, a member of the tribe of Asad and a native of Kúfa, was one of the great masters in the art of reading the Koran. He was celebrated also as a philologist, and died at a very advanced age, A. H. 82 (A. D. 701).-(Ad-Dahabi's Tabakat al-Kurra, fol. 8.)

(3) Abú Omar Hafs Ibn Abi Dâwûd al-Bazzaz, the disciple of al-Aâsim, was a native of Kufa and a mawla to the tribe of Asad. Born A H. 90 (A.D. 708-9); died A.H. 180 (A.D. 796-7).-(Tab. al-Kurra.)

VOL. II.

1

ABU BURDA IBN ABI MUSA.

Abû Burda Aâmir was the son of Abû Mûsa Abd Allah Ibn Kais al-Ashari, one of Muhammad's companions, who had come to him from Yemen with the Asharites when they became converts to Islamism (1). Muhammad Ibn Saad mentions in his Tabakât that Abû Burda succeeded to Shuraih (see vol. I. p. 619) as kadi of Kûfa. By the nobleness of his conduct and by his virtues he attained a high reputation. Abû Mûsa, when governor of Basra, married Taniya the daughter of Dammûn, a native of Tâif, and she bore him Abû Burda; the child was put to nurse with the tribe of Fukaim, which dwelt at al-Ghark (2); when grown a boy, he was dressed in two mantles (burda) by (his foster-father) Abû Shaikh Ibn al-Gharik, and brought to his father, who then surnamed him Abû Burda; from that time his real name ceased to be given him. Abû Mûsa was kâdi of Basra under the khalif Omar and afterwards, in the reign of Othman, he acted as a kâdi at Kûfa; his (grand)son Bilâl was also kâdi of Basra: this was the circumstance which gave rise to the saying, three kâdis in succession.—The poet Zû 'r-Rumma composed a number of splendid poems in praise of Bilâl, and in the following verse, addressed to his camel, he alludes to him also:

When thou reachest Bilâl the (grand) son of Abû Mûsa (thy toils are at an end,) and the butcher then may wield his axe to disjoint thy limbs.

He said also of him:

On hearing that the tribe were roaming through the desert with their flocks in search of pasturage, I said to Saidah: "Seek abundance near Bilal!"

Saidah was the name of the poet's camel.—Bilâl was one of the deputies in the service of Khâlid al-Kasri (see his life, vol. I. p. 484); when the latter was deprived of the government of Arabian and Persian Irak, his successor Yûsuf Ibn Omar ath-Thakafi required from him and his agents an account of what had been done with the revenues of these provinces, and employed torture to make them refund; al-Kasri and Bilâl expired under their sufferings. In a book containing a collection of anecdotes I found the following: At a public assembly Abû Burda was extolling the virtues of his father, and mentioned that he had been one of Muhammad's companions; he vaunted also the glory which accrued to himself

in being sprung from so illustrious a parent. He held a long discourse on this topic, till the poet, al-Farazdak, who happened to be present and wished to humble his pride, made the remark that, had Abû Mûsa possessed no other merit than that of having cupped the Prophet, such an honour would have been quite sufficient for his reputation. On this, Abù Burda got angry (3) and replied: "Your observation is true, but he never cupped any person either before or after."-" By Allah!" exclaimed al-Farazdak, "Abû Mûsa was too good a man to dare make his first essay in cupping on the person of the Pro"phet!" This retort silenced Abû Burda and forced him to smother his anger.—The following anecdote is related by Ghars an-Nima as-Sâbi (4) in one of his works: "Abû Safwân Khâlid Ibn Safwân, a member of the tribe of "Tamim, was celebrated as an eloquent speaker. He used to visit Bilâl Ibn "Abi Burda and converse with him, but his language was frequently ungram"matical. This grew at length so irksome to Bilal, that he said to him: '() "Khalid! you make me narrations fit for khalifs to hear, but you commit as

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many faults against grammar as the women who carry water in the streets.' Stung with this reproach, Khâlid went to learn grammar at the mosque, and 344 some time after he lost his sight. From that period, whenever Bilal rode by "in state, he used to ask who it was, and on being answered that it was the

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emir, he would say: 'There goes a summer-cloud, soon to be dispelled.' "When this was told to Bilâl, he exclaimed: By Allah! it shall not be dispelled till he get a full shower from it;' and he then ordered him a whipping "of two hundred strokes. This Khâlid was extremely giddy and never paid "the slightest attention to what he said. He drew his descent from Amr Ibn “al-Ahtam (5), one of Muhammad's companions; his grandfather Abd Allah being that person's son. Al-Ahtam was the son of Sumai Ibn Sinan Ibn "Khalid Ibn Minkar, of the tribe of Tamim; and for this reason he bore the surnames of al-Minkari and at-Tamimi. His real name was Sinân, but when "Kais Ibn Aasim al-Minkâri (6) struck him across the mouth with his bow and "broke his front teeth, he was called al-Ahtam (broken-tooth).” that his teeth were broken on the battle-day of al-Kulâb (7). Shabba (8) was an uncle of this Khâlid.-Abû Burda died A. H. 721-2), but others place this event in the years 104, 106, and 107. (Muhammad) Ibn Saad says that Abû Burda and as-Shâbi died in the year 103 and on

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Others say

Shabib Ibu

103 (A. D.

the same day, which was a Friday.-We shall explain the mean ng of the surname al-Ashari in the life of Abû 'l-Hasan (Ali) al-Ashari.

(1) The conversion of the Yemenites took place in the tenth year of the Hijra.

(2) I am unable to fix with any certainty the situation of this place. The author of the Merdsid merely says: “al-Ghark, a village in the dependencies of Marw-al Ghork, a village in Yemâma, and a plantation of date"trees belonging to the tribe of Adi Ibn Hanifa."

(3) The profession of a cupper was considered by some jurisconsults as degrading. In one of the Traditions it is said: "The price of a dog is impure, and the wages of fornication are impure, and the pay of a cupper is “impure.”—(Matthew's Mishcât, vol. II. page 2. See also the first volume of the present work, p. 501.) (4) Mention has been made of this historian in the first volume,

page 290.

(5) Amr, the son of Sinân al-Ahtam, an eminent chief of the tribe of Tamîm, an able orator and a good poet, flourished before and after the promulgation of Islamism. He and Amr Ibn Zibrikân went together to Muhammad and embraced his religion. He died A.H. 58 (A D 677-8). For further information see Rasmussen's Historia Anteislamica, p. 119 note; and his Additamenta ad Hist. Islam. p. 33.

(6) See vol. I. page 166, note (17); Rasmussen's Additamenta, p. 67, and Hist. Anteisl.— Al-Minkari, the surname borne by Kais, is derived from Minkar, the name of one of his ancestors, descended from Tamim. (7) For the account of this battle or skirmish see Rasmussen's Hist. Anteislam. p. 117.

(8) Shabib Ibn Shabba, a celebrated preacher (Fihrist, fol. 171), was a contemporary of the khalif al-Mahdi. That prince had a daughter named al-Yakuta, of whom he was so fond that he could not bear to be separated from her a single instant. He therefore had her attired in the uniform of a page, so that she might accompany him when he rode out. She died before him, and he continued inconsolable for her loss till Shabîb Ibn Shabba addressed to him a short but most effective exhortation.-(Ibn al-Athir's Kamil, year 169.)

AS-SHABI.

Abû Amr Aâmir as-Shâbi was the son of Sharâhil Ibn Abd Ibn (1) Zì Kibâr : Zû Kibar was one of the princes of Yemen. As-Shâbi sprang from Himyar and was counted as a member of the tribe of Hamdân, but Kûfa was the place of his birth. He held a high rank among the Tabis and was distinguished also by his profound learning. It is stated that Ibn Omar (2) walked past him one day whilst he was relating the history of a victorious campaign made by the first Moslems, and said, on hearing the narration which he made: "He knows what was done at the expedition better than I who was with it." Az-Zuhri made the remark that the really learned men were four in number: Ibn al-Musaiyab (3) at Medina, as-Shâbi at Kufa, al-Hasan al-Basri (4) at Basra, and Mak

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