the tribe of Hamdân. --- Abû Ishak as-Sabii relates as follows: "My father held me that I might see Ali Ibn Abi Tâlib preach, and (I perceived that) his hair and "his beard were white."

“up

(1) Othman was murdered in the month of Zù 'l-Hijja, A. H. 35 (June, A. D. 636).

(2) His life is given by Ibn Khallikân.

(3) See vol. I. page 438, note (8).

AMR IBN OBAID.

Abû Othman Amr Ibn Obaid Ibn Bâb, a celebrated ascetic and a scholastic theologian, was a mawla to the Banû Akîl, a family which drew its descent from Arâda Ibn Yarbû Ibn Mâlik. His father Bâb was one of the prisoners taken at Kâbil (1), a place situated in the mountains of Sind. His father acted as lieutenant (2) to the (successive) chiefs of the police guards at Basra, and the people used to say, when they saw his son Amr with him: "There goes Best-of-men, the son "of Worst-of-men!" on which the father would reply: "You speak truly; this "is Abraham, and I am Aazar (3)." On being told that his son frequented the society of al-Hasan al-Basri (vol. I. p. 370), and that some good might therefore come of him, he exclaimed: "What good can come of my son? his mother was a captive fraudulently purloined from the commonwealth (4), and it is I who "am his father." Amr was the chief of the Motazilite sect in that age; we shall relate, in the life of Wàsil Ibn Atâ, the motive which induced him to secede, and the reason why his followers were named Motazilites (seceders). Amr was of a light complexion, a middle size, and marked between the eyes with a callosity produced by his frequent prostrations in prayer. Al-Hasan al-Basri was once asked his opinion respecting him, and he replied in these terms: "You question me con"cerning a man who seems to have been educated by the angels, and brought up "by the prophets; if he rises to perform a task, his mind is impressed therewith "when he sits down; and when he sits down with a resolution, he rises with the

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"same: if he be ordered to do a work, he is the most assiduous of men therein; "and if he be prohibited from any thing, he is the most strict of men in ab"staining therefrom; I never saw an exterior so similar to the interior as his; nor an interior so similar to the exterior." Before Abu Jaafar al-Mansur's elevation to the khalifate, Amr Ibn Obaid had been his companion and intimate friend, and many anecdotes are related of their sittings and conversations: when al-Mansûr came to the throne, Amr went one day into his presence, and was told by him to draw near and sit down, after which the khalif asked to hear an exhortation from him. Amr acceded to his request, and addressed him an admonition, in which he said, amongst other things: "The power which thou now "wieldest, had it remained in the hands of thy predecessors, had never come "unto thee; be warned then of that night which shall give birth to a day never "more to be followed by another night." When he rose to depart, al-Mansûr said: "We have ordered thee ten thousand pieces of silver."--" I stand not "in need thereof;" replied Amr.-" By Allah! thou shalt take it," exclaimed the khalif." By Allah! I shall not take it ;" answered the other. On this, alMansûr's son, al-Mahdi, who happened to be present, said to Amr: "The "Commander of the faithful swears that a thing shall be done; and yet "thou art bold enough to swear that it shall not!" "Who is this youth?" said Amr, turning to al-Mansûr." He is the declared successor to the khalifate, my son al-Mahdi ;" replied the prince." Thou hast clothed him in "raiment," said Amr, "which is not the raiment of the righteous, and thou "hast given him a name which he deserveth not (5), and thou hast smoothed "for him a path wherein the more the profit the less the heed." He then turned towards al-Mahdi, and addressed him thus: "Yes, I do so, O son of my bro"ther! when thy father maketh an oath, thy uncle causes him to be perjured; "for thy father is abler to pay the expiation of broken oaths than is thy uncle (6)." Al-Mansûr then asked him if there was any thing which he might require, and Amr made answer: "Send not for me, but wait till I come to "thee.' "In that case," said al-Mansûr, "thou wilt never meet me.""That," replied Amr, "is precisely what I desire." He then withdrew, and al-Mansur kept his eyes fixed upon him and said :

All of you walk with stealthy steps; all of you are in pursuit of prey; all, except Amr Ibn Obaid!

Amr composed some epistles and sermons; he drew up also an explanation of the Koran, in the words of al-Hasan al-Basri; a refutation of the Kadarite sect; a 356 long discourse on the doctrine of justice and the profession of God's unity (7); with other treatises besides. When his last hour drew near, he said to a friend : "Death has come unto me, and I am not prepared to receive it." He then exclaimed: "Thou knowest, O Almighty God! that whenever two things were "presented to my choice, one of them pleasing to thee and the other to myself, I "always preferred thy pleasure to my own satisfaction; have therefore mercy " on me!" His birth took place A. H. 80 (A. D. 699-700), and he died A. H. 144 (A. D. 761-2); others say 142, or 143, or 148. He expired at a place called alMarrân, on his return from (8) Mekka. Al-Mansûr composed the following elegy on his death:

May God's blessing be on thee who art reposing in the tomb by which I passed, at Marrân! a tomb containing an orthodox believer, who placed his faith in God and served him from conviction. Did time ever spare the life of a saint, he would have spared us that of Amr Abû Othmân.

That a khalif should thus lament the death of a person beneath him in rank is a circumstance quite unparalleled.—Marrûn is a place between Mekka and Basra, at two days' journey from the former city. There also was interred Tamim Ibn Murr, the progenitor of the great and illustrious tribe of Tamim. I may remark here, that the name of his grandfather Bab () is sometimes incorrectly writ

. (ناب ) ten Nab

(1) The autograph has ↓ but I suspect (Kabul) is meant. The passage is written in the margin of

that manuscript, and in Ibn Khallikân's own hand.

يخلف Read (2)

(3) According to the Moslim doctrine, Abraham's father bore the name of Aazar. He and all his people adored idols, and for this he was reprehended by his son, who said to him: Verily, I perceive that thou and thy people are in a manifest error. (Koran, surat 6, verse 74.) The father of Amr Ibn Obaid seems to have alluded to these words, and thus told indirectly his townsmen that they were all reprobates.

(4) According to the Moslim law, the booty and slaves carried off from an enemy's country must be delivered up by the soldiers to the chief. The spoil and prisoners are then shared amongst all the persons in the army after the reservation of the quint, or fifth of the whole, for the use of the poor. The booty obtained even by the smallest detachment of the army must not be reserved by the captors; the law requires imperiously that it should be joined to the general mass. It is not therefore to be wondered at, if the captors sometimes con

cealed their prisoners and spoil for their own advantage. Amr Ibn Obaid's mother had been embezzled in this manner, and his father imagined that no good ould come of property so ill gotten.

(5) Mahdi is the passive participle of the verb ahda (to direct), and signifies, when used as a surname, the well-directed, or the well-guided.

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SIBAWAIH.

Abû Bishr Amr Ibn Othmân Ibn Kanbar, surnamed Sibawaih, a mawla to the family of Harith Ibn Kaab-or (according to another statement) to the family of ar-Rabi Ibn Ziad al-Harithi - was a learned grammarian, and surpassed in this science every person of former and latter times: as for his Kitâb, or Book, composed by him on that subject, it has never had its equal. Speaking of this work one day, al-Jahiz said: "Never was the like of such a book written on grammar, and the books of other men have drawn their substance from it." He said another time: "Having formed the design of visiting Muhammad Ibn Abd ،، al-Malik az-Zaiyat, the vizir of al-Motasim, I considered what present I should "offer him, and could find none more precious than the Kitâb of Sibawaih. "On my arrival, I said to him: 'I have not been able to find any thing to offer you equal to this book; I bought it after the demise of al-Farrà (1), at the "sale of his property.'-' By Allah!' exclaimed the vizir, you could not pre،، ، sent me with any thing more pleasing to me. I read (however, another account of this interview) in a historical work, where it is stated that al-Jahiz, on arriving at the vizir's with the book of Sibawaih, informed him of the circumstance before offering it. On this Ibn az-Zaiyat said to him: "Did you think "that our libraries were without this book?" and al-Jâhiz replied: "I did not "think so ; but this copy is in the handwriting of al-Farrà; it had been collated by al-Kisâi (2), and corrected by Amr Ibn Bahr;" meaning himself.—“ It is ،، the best and most precious copy in existence;" said the vizir. Al-Jahiz then produced it, and Ibn az-Zaiyàt manifested such joy in receiving it as proved how highly he appreciated the gift.-Sibawaih acquired his grammatical information

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from al-Khalil Ibn Ahmad (vol. I. p. 493), Isa Ibn Omar, Yunus Ibn Habib (3), and others: he learned philology from Abû 'l-Khattab, surnamed al-Akhfash alAkbar (4), and other masters. Ibn an-Nattâh (4) relates that, being one day with al-Khalil Ibn Ahmad, Sibawaih came in; on which al-Khalil said: “Welcome to "a visitor whose company is never tiresome!" And Abû Amr al-Makhzumi, who had often sat in al-Khalil's society, remarked that he never heard him say the same thing to any other person but Sibawaih. At the time in which al-Kisài was preceptor to al-Amin, the son of Harûn ar-Rashid, Sibawaih happened to arrive at Baghdad from Basra, and they were both brought together in this meeting, they had a discussion of which it would be too long to give the particulars: Al-Kisài pretended that the Arabs of the desert would say: I thought 357 that the wasp stung more severely than the bee, and behold! it was so (faîza hùa aiyaha) (6). Sibawaih here observed that the example was not as al-Kisâi gave it, and that it should be faiza hûa hia (et ecce! illud est illa res). After a long dispute on this point, they agreed to refer it to a genuine Arab of the desert, speaking a language unmixed with that used by the towns-people. Al-Amin, who was extremely partial to al-Kisài, because he had been his preceptor, caused an Arab to be brought in, and questioned him on the subject, but the reply was in accordance with Sibawaih's assertion. On this, he told the Arab that they wished him to give the phrase as al-Kisâi had done, but the man observed that, in such a case, he could not master his own tongue, which would certainly pronounce the right expression, notwithstanding his efforts to the contrary. They then proposed to him that a person should say: "Sibawaih said "so and so, and al-Kisâi said so and so; which of them is right?" and that to this he should answer: "Al-Kisài is right."- 66 That," said the Arab, thing which can be done." A meeting was then held at which all the principal grammarians were assembled, and, the Arab being brought in, the question was presented to him in that form. He immediately answered: "Al-Kisài "is right, and it is thus the Arabs of the desert say it." Sibawaih perceived by this that they had all conspired against him through partiality for al-Kisài, and he left Baghdad, filled with indignation at the treatment he had received. He then proceeded to the province of Fars and died at a village near Shiraz, called al-Baidà, in the year 180 (A. D. 796-7); some say 177. He was then aged between forty and fifty. Ibn Kânî (7) states that he died at Basra, A. H. 464, or,

" is a