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final elif, notwithstanding the presence of the apocopating particle lam, which required tasbir. To this he answered: 'Were Abû 'l-Fath here'—mean❝ing me- he would tell you the reason.'"-The elif replaces here the simple corroborative nûn; the original form of the word is tasbiran, but when this nûn is followed by a full stop, an elif is put in its place; it is thus that al-Aasha says: Adore not Satan, adore God; (la tabudi 's-Shaitana wa 'llaha fabuda) ; here the original form of the word is fâbudan, but the subsequent stop brings in the elif to replace the nûn. Ibn Jinni was born at Mosul some time before A. H. 330 (A.D. 941); he died at Baghdad on Friday, the 27th of Safar, A. H. 392 (January, A. D. 1002).

زيت وانت حصرم Such appears to be the meaning of the expression (1)

give out must although you are an unripe grape.

which signifies literally: You

(2) This may be an allusion to the satisfaction expressed by Muhammad on learning how favourably his letter, in which he invited the emperor Heraclius to embrace Islamism, had been received by that prince. Or perhaps it may refer to the lively interest which Muhammad took in the triumph of the Greeks over the Persians; an event which the Moslims pretend was foretold in the Koran many years before. See Surat 30. (3) It abstained from the pleasure of seeing the beloved, lest her charms should have deprived it of sight. (4) The title of this work is written differently in each of the MSS. I discovered it at length in the Fihrist, and the autograph gives it with the vowel points.

ABU AMR IBN AL-HAJIB.

Abû Amr Othman Ibn Omar Ibn Abi Bakr (1), surnamed Jamâl ad-din (beauty of religion), and generally known by the appellation of Ibn al-Hâjib (the son of the chamberlain), was a jurisconsult of the sect of Mâlik. His father was a Kurd and served the emir Izz ad-din Musak as-Salâhi in the capacity of a chamberlain. His son Abû Amr was yet a boy when he studied the Koran at Cairo; he then applied himself successively to Malikite jurisprudence, Arabic grammar, and the readings of the Koran, sciences in all the branches of which he acquired a consummate knowledge and attained distinction. He then proceeded to Damascus, where he opened a class in that corner of the Great Mosque

VOL. II.

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which is appropriated to the Malikites. Multitudes attended his lessons, and nothing could abate his zeal as a professor. He was deeply versed in a great number of sciences, but grammar became his favourite study. His (principal) works are an abridgment of the Malikite doctrines, a short introduction to grammar, entitled the Kafiya (sufficient), and a treatise of a similar kind on the grammatical inflexions, entitled as-Shafiya (satisfactory); to illustrate each of these works, he composed a commentary. He wrote also on the principles of jurisprudence, and all his productions are highly elegant and instructive. He contradicted the grammarians on some particular points and quoted, to confute them and bring their rules into doubt, examples (from ancient authors) extremely difficult to solve: he was (indeed) gifted with great penetration. Having left Damascus, he returned to Cairo, where he settled, and had crowds of pupils who assiduously attended his lessons. (When I was a kâdi there) he came before me repeatedly to give evidence, and I then questioned him on obscure points of grammar, to which he made most satisfactory replies, with great sedateness of manner and complete self-possession. One of the questions which I proposed to him was relative to the incidental conditional phrase employed in another phrase of the same kind, as it occurs in this expression: in akalti in sharabti faânti tâliku (wife! if you eat (if you drink), you are divorced by the fact! (2) and I asked him how it could be shown that, in this phrase, the priority of the act of drinking to that of eating is implicitly declared; and that such is the case is proved by the fact that the divorce then takes place (by law), whereas had she eaten first and drunk afterwards, she would not have been divorced. I consulted him also on this verse of al-Mutanabbi's:

I endeavoured to support my woes till I could endure them no longer (láta mustabari), and I faced every danger till no more remained for me to face (láta muktahami).

Respecting this verse, I asked him what was the reason that mustabar and muktaham were here in the genitive, although lâta is not one of those parts of speech which have the power of governing a noun in that case? On both these questions he spoke at some length and gave an excellent solution to each; and were his answers not so long, I would give them here (3). Ibn al-Hâjib afterwards removed to Alexandria with the intention of taking up his residence there, but he had not been long in that city, when he died. This event took place

after sunrise on Thursday, the 26th of Shawwâl, A. H. 646 (February, A. D. 1249), and he was buried outside the gate which opens towards the sea (Bab alBahr). His birth took place towards the end of the year 570 (A. D. 1175) at Asna, a small village in the dependencies of al-Kûsiya, which place is situated in Upper Said, a province of Egypt.

(1) The following passage is written in the margin of the autograph: güğüül

ابن یونس الدونى ثم المصرى

Ibn Yunus ad-Duwani al-Misri (native of Egypt)." Ad-Duwani probably signifies belonging to Devin ♪ or Tovin, a town in Armenia.—It may however mean belonging to Dunak ÿ,d, a village near Nahawend, or to Dùn, a village near Dinawar.

(2) This phrase signifies: Wife! if you eat when drinking, you are divorced. The solution of numerous questions similar to this is given in the Futawa Alemgiri, vol. I. p. 579 et seq.

(3) The commentators on al-Mutanabbi say that in the expression lâta mustabari the noun stood, it is therefore equivalent to

لات حين

مصطبر

حين

is under

AL-MALIK AL-AZIZ THE SON OF SALAH AD-DIN.

Abû 'l-Fath Othmân, surnamed al-Malik al-Aziz Imád ad-din (the mighty 457 prince, column of the faith), acted as viceroy of Egypt during the absence of his father, the sultan Salâh ad-din Yûsuf Ibn Aiyûb, in Syria. On the demise of his father at Damascus, he took possession of the supreme power with the unanimous consent of the great military officers of the empire. This is an event so well known that any relation of it is unnecessary (1). His conduct as a sovereign was marked by such piety, virtue, magnanimity, and beneficence, as entitled him to the reputation of sanctity. He learned Traditions at Alexandria from the hafiz as-Silafi (vol. I. p. 86) and the jurisconsult Abû 't-Tahir Ibn Aûf az-Zuhri (2); at Cairo he received lessons from the learned grammarian Abû Muhammad Ibn Bari (vol. II. p. 70), and other eminent masters. It is said that his father preferred him to all his other children. Al-Malik al-Aziz was in Syria when his son al-Malik al-Mansûr Nâsir ad-dîn Muhammad came into the world; and the letter of congratulation which al-Kâdi al-Fâdil (vol. II. p. 114) wrote

to him from Cairo, announcing the happy event, was worded in these terms: "The humble servant of our master al-Malik an-Nasir kisses the ground before "him, and prays God to preserve his well directed and exemplary life! may "He increase his happiness for the happiness of others! may the number of his "friends, servants, and followers be multiplied so that his authority have "therein an arm of might! may God so augment the abundance of his off

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spring that it may be said: There is the Adam of kings, and these are his sons! "His servant now informs him that the Almighty, to whom all dominion be"longeth, hath favoured him, al-Malik al-Aziz, (may his arms be triumphant!! "with a signal blessing, a young prince, pure and holy, sprung from a gene"rous stock the branches of which are engrafted one on the other, and pro"duced by a noble family of which the princes are nearly equal to the angels “of heaven, and of which the slaves are sovereigns on this earth.” Al-Malik al-Azîz was born at Cairo on the 8th of the first Jumâda, A. H. 567 (January, A. D. 1172). (His death was the result of an accident;) having gone to (the province of) al-Faiyûm, he rode out to hunt, and as he was gallopping full speed after a beast of chase, his horse fell with him, and the injury which he sustained brought on a fever he was borne in that state to Cairo, and he died there on the seventh hour of the night preceding Wednesday, the 21st of Muharram, A. H. 595 (November, A. D. 1198). This event was announced to his uncle alMalik al-Aâdil in a letter of consolation addressed to him by al-Kâdi 'l-Fàdil, and a passage of which we shall transcribe here: "And we now say, in bidding farewell to the blessing of al-Malik al-Azîz's existence: There is no power "and no might but in God! the words of those who endure with resignation ;— "and we say moreover, inasmuch as a blessing still subsisteth among us by "the existence of al-Malik al-Aàdil: Praise be to God, the lord of all creatures! "the words of those who utter thanksgiving. From this unfortunate event "has resulted that every heart is broken, and that the extreme of affliction is "drawn (down upon us); an occurrence such as this is for every individual (and "especially for those who resemble your humble servant,) one of death's most "effective admonitions, and how much the more effective when exemplified "in the fate of a youthful king! May the mercy and blessing of God be shed 66 over his countenance; and may the Divine favour make easy for him the path "to paradise!

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"And when the beauty of other countenances is effaced (by death), may the earth ab"stain from obliterating the beauty of his.

'Thy humble servant, whilst he thus traces these lines in respectful duty, is "undergoing the combined sufferings of mind and body; having pains in the “limbs, and sadness parching the heart! he is the more afflicted by the loss of "such a master, as it was not long since that he saw the father of that master "among the living; each day his grief has been renewed, and the first wound was scarcely healed when it was opened by a second! May God not deprive "the Moslims of the consolation which they find in the existence of their "sultan al-Malik al-Aàdil! inasmuch as he hath not refused to them a befitting "model of patience in the conduct of their blessed Prophet.”— Al-Malik al-Aziz was buried in the lesser Karâfa, in the sepulchral chapel erected over the grave of the imâm as-Shâfì. His tomb is a conspicuous object in that cemetery.

(1) See Abû 'l-Fedâs Annals; tom. IV. p. 133 et seq.

(2) Abû't-Tâhir Ismail Ibn Makki Ibn Ismail Ibn Isa Ibn Aûf az-Zuhri al-Korashi al-Iskandarâni (a member of the tribe of Zuhra, which is a branch of that of Kuraish and a native of Alexandria), surnamed also Sadr al-Islâm (centre of Islamism), was a doctor of the sect of Mâlik and a mufti of the highest consideration. He studied jurisprudence under Abû Bakr at-Tortûshi, and he learned Traditions from him, Abû Abd Allah Muhammad Ibn Ahmad ar-Râzi, and others. The hâfiz as-Silafi took notes at his lectures and gave Traditions on his authority. He was esteemed one of the most learned doctors of his sect, and the sultan Salah ad-dîn studied Malik's treatise on jurisprudence, the Muwatta, under him. He composed a number of works and educated many disciples. This doctor was highly respected for his piety and mortified life. He was born A.H. 485 (A. D. 1092), and he died in the month of Shaaban, A. H. 581 (November, A. D. 1185).— (As-Soyûti's Husn al-Muhâdira; MS. 632, fol. 118. Ad-Dahabi's Annals; MS. 753, fol. 1. Al-Yâfi's Annals; MS. 644.)

THE SHAIKH ADI IBN MUSAFIR AL-HAKKARI.

The shaikh Adi Ibn Musafir al-Hakkâri was an ascetic, celebrated for the holiness of his life, and the founder of a religious order called after him al-Adawia. His reputation spread to distant countries and the number of his followers in- 458

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