(1) See vol. I. Introduction, p. xxxv.

(2) See Freytag's Darstellung der Arabischen Verskunst, p. 461.

(3) In this verse, the word, here rendered by messengers, bears also the meaning of propendula (coma). It is a mere quibble, but pleasing enough in Arabic.

(4) The petals of the anemony are red and the parts of fructification black.

(4) This is an allusion to a well-known line of an ancient poet, given in the Hamâsa, p. 4, and of which the meaning is: " Had I been related to al-Mazin, the sons of al-Lakita, of the tribe of Dohl Ibn Shaiban, had not carried off my camels."

66

(5) Najd, as has been already observed, was the Arcadia of the Arabian poets.

(6) "KHUFTIDAKAN: two large castles in the dependencies of Arbela; one, situated on a hill by the road

leading to Maragha and called Khuftidakân az-Zarzâri; the other, on the road to Shahrozûr and called Khuf

tidakân Sarhân; the latter is the larger and stronger of the two.”—(Marâsid.) It appears from this and from the words of Ibn Khallikân that those castles bore different names at different times.

TUWAIS THE SINGER.

Abu 'l-Faraj al-Ispahâni says, in his Kitab al-Aghani, that the real name of Tuwais was Isa Ibn Abd Allah, and that he bore the surname of Abu Abd alMunêm till the Mukhannath(1) changed it into Abd an-Naim (the slave of pleasure). He was a mawla to the Makhzoum family, and bore the surname of Tuwais. Ibn Kutaiba says, in his Kitab al-Maârif, in the article where he speaks of Aamir Ibn Abd Allah, the companion of Muhammad: "One of those who were mawlas to the Kuraiz family was Tuwais, mawla of Arwa, the daughter of Kuraiz, her "who was mother to Othman Ibn Affan. His name was Abd al-Malik and his "surname Abû Abd an-Naim." Al-Jauhari says, in his Sahah: "His real name "was Tawûs (peacock); but, when he became a Mukhannath, they changed it "into Tuwais (little peacock), and he received also the name of Abd an-Naim." Such, as the reader may perceive, is the difference in the statements respecting his name; but it is generally said that Isa was his real name, in as much as it is a point on which the majority of the learned are agreed. Tuwais attained so high a reputation as a singer that his talent became proverbial; and it is to him that a certain poet alludes in the following verse, wherein he praises Mâbad (see vol. II. p. 374, note (5) )

Tuwais sang, and after him as-Suraiji (2); but Mâbad alone deserved the palm.

A long account of him is given in the Kitab al-Aghani. In the proverb, More inauspicious than Tuwais, he is the person meant, and the reason was this: he came into the world on the day of the Prophet's death; he was weaned the same day on which Abû Bekr died; he was circumcised on the day in which Omar Ibn alKhattab was assassinated—some say that he attained the age of puberty on that day- he got married on the day in which Othman was slain; and he became a father on the day in which Ali Ibn Abi Tâlib was murdered-some say, the day in which al-Hasan, the son of Ali, died. This was certainly a singular series of coincidences. He was extremely tall, awkward in his movements, and squinted. He resided at Medina, but afterwards removed to as-Suwaida, a place at the dis- 339 tance of two days' journey from that city and on the road to Syria; he continued to dwell there till his death, which happened in A. H. 92 (A. D. 710-1), being then eighty-two years of age. Some state that he died at Medina. Yakub alHamawi (3) mentions, in his Mushtarik, that Tuwais the Mukhannath was interred at Sukya 'l-Jazl, but he does not indicate the situation of this place.-" Tuwais," says al-Jauhari, in the Sahah, is the "diminutive of Tâwûs (peacock), and is "regularly formed after the suppression of the reduntant letters in the pri"mitive word." Mention is made of him by Abû Hilâl al-Askari (4) in his work, the Kitab al-Awâil.

(1) The word Mukhannath signifies hermaphrodite, but it bears also the meanings of fool, an effeminate person, impotent, and muliebria patiens. I refer to what Reiske says on the subject in his notes on Abû 'l-Fedȧ; see Annales, tom. I. adnot. hist. No. 200.

(2) Ce Souraydji est le même qu'Ibn Souraydj, chanteur et compositeur d'un grand mérite. Il s'appelait Obayd et son prénom était Abou Yahya. Il était affranchi, on ne sait pas au juste de quelle famille, et son père était Turc. Il avait l'habitude de se voiler le visage lorsqu'il chantait, afin de cacher sa laideur. Ce fut lui qui le premier chanta à la Mekke des chansons arabes en s'accompagnant lui-même avec un luth fait à la manière des luths persans. Il était né en cette ville sous le califat d'Omar fils de Khattab et il commença à chanter sous Othmân. Il était d'abord simple nayeh (pleureur de morts, ou chanteur d'élégies funèbres). Il abandonna ensuite ce genre dans lequel il avait trouvé un égal en son élève Gharidh, et se livra exclusivement au chant des autres poésies. Entre autres traits qui montrent la puissance de son talent, on cite celui-ci : Un jour étant assis auprès du jardin d'Ibn Amir, au moment où le cortège des pélerins défilait, il se mit à chanter. Le cortège s'arrêta à l'instant; les pélerins montaient les uns sur les autres pour l'approcher et l'entendre. Il en résulta une affreuse confusion. Enfin un homme perçant la foule, dit à Ibn Souraydj: Crains Dieu et laisse continuer la marche. Ibn Souraydj cessa de chanter et s'en alla. Aussitôt les pélerins reprirent leurs rangs et la colonne se remit en marche. Ibn Souraydj mourut d'éléphantiasis à la Mekke, les uns disent sous le règne de Hechâm fils d'Abdelmélik, à l'âge d'environ 85 ans; suivant quelques auteurs,

sous le califat de Souleyman fils d'Abdelmélik, selon d'autres, à la fin du règne de Wélid fils d'Abdelmélik. -(A. Caussin de Perceval.)

(3) His life is given by Ibn Khallikân.

(4) Abu Hilal al-Hasan Ibn Abd Allah Ibn Sahl Ibn Mihran al-Askâri, a learned philologer, studied under Abu Ahmad al-Askari (see vol. I. p. 382). He composed the following works: a commentary on the Koran, in five volumes; the Awail (origins); the Kitab as-Sandatain (book of the two arts), on prose and verse; the Amthal (proverbs); a commentary on the Hamasa (see Hajji Khalifa). He left also a Diwan of poetry. In his conduct he was most exemplary. He died subsequently to A.H. 400 (A.D. 1009).-(As-Suyuti de Interpretibus Corani; ed. Meursinge. Lugd. Bat. 1839). Hajji Khalifa places his death in 395 (A. D. 1004-5). (See Fluegel's Hajji Khalifa, tom. I. p. 490.)

--

SAIF AD-DIN GHAZI IBN ZINKI.

Saif ad-din (the sword of the faith) Ghazi, the son of Imåd ad-din Zinki (vol. I. p. 539), the son of Ak Sunkur (vol. I. p. 225), was sovereign of Mosul. We have already mentioned that his father Zinki was murdered whilst besieging the castle of Jaabar. Alp Arslan, the son of the Sultan Mahmûd, and surnamed al-Khafaji the Seljuk, was there with him. On Zinki's death, the chief men of the empire assembled, and with them the vizir Jamâl ad-dîn Muhammad al-Ispahàni, surnamed al-Jawad (the generous), and the kâdi Kamâl ad-din Abû 'l-Fadl Muhammad as-Shahrozûri, persons of whom notice will be again taken in another part of this work. They then proceeded to the tent of Alp Arslan, and addressed him thus: "Zinki was thy servant (ghulâm), and we also are thy servants, and all the country is thine." By these words they calmed the general agitation, and the army separated in two divisions, one of which marched off for Syria, under the orders of Nûr ad-din Mahmûd, son to Imȧd ad-din Zinki (1); and the other, being joined by the troops of Mosul and Diàr Rabia, proceeded with Alp Arslân towards Mosul. On their arrival at Sinjar, Alp Arslan suspected treason and took to flight, but was overtaken by a troop of soldiers and brought back. When they arrived at Mosul, presents were distributed to them by Saif ad-dîn Ghâzi, who had been residing till then at Shahrozûr, which place he held as a fief from the Seljûk sultan Masùd.

(We

shall give the life of this prince.) As soon as Ghazi was established at Mosul, he caused Alp Arslân to be arrested, and sent him to a fortress where he remained a prisoner. Having thus become master of Mosul, and recovered the portion of Diàr Bakr which had been possessed by his father, he gave a regular organisation to his empire. As for his brother, Nûr ad-din Mahmûd, a prince of whom we shall again have occasion to speak, he obtained possession of Aleppo and the neighbouring parts of Syria, but Damascus at that time was in the power of neither. Ghâzi was animated with the spirit of piety and virtue; he loved learning and learned men, and he built a college at Mosul, now known by the name of al-Atika (the Old). His reign was but short, and he expired on the 29th of the latter Jumâda, A. H. 544 (Nov. A. D. 1149), aged about forty years. He was interred in the college of which we have just spoken. His brother, Kutb ad-din Maudûd, a prince whose life we shall give, succeeded to the vacant throne.

(1) The life of this Mahmûd is given by Ibn Khallikân.

GHAZI IBN MAUDUD.

Saif ad-din (the sword of the faith) Ghazi, the son of Kutb ad-din Maudud (1), the son of Zinki (see vol. I. page 539), the son of Ak Sunkur, and sovereign of Mosul, was a brother's son of the prince whose life has just been given. He 360 succeeded to the empire on the death of his father Maudûd. His son, Sanjar Shâh, ruled at Jazîra tibni Omar. When his father died (A. H. 565), the intelligence reached Nûr ad-din at Tall Bashir, who set out the same night for Mosul. He reached ar-Rakka in the month of Muharram, A. H. 566 (Sept.Oct. A. D. 1170), and, having taken possession of that city, he proceeded to Nasibin and occupied it towards the end of the same month; he then reduced Sinjar, in the month of the latter Rabî, and marched from thence towards Mosul. Having led his army across the ford at Balad, a village near Mosul, he continued to advance, and finally established his camp opposite the

VOL. II.

56

city. Not wishing to reduce it by force, he acquainted Saif ad-din, who was his brother's son, with his real intentions, and, a peace having been concluded between them, he made his entry into Mosul on the 13th of the first Jumâda (Jan. A. D. 1171); having then confirmed the reigning sovereign in the possession of the throne, he received his daughter in marriage, and gave up Sinjâr to his own brother, Imad ad-din Zinki, the same prince of whom mention has been already made in the life of his grandfather, Imâd ad-dîn Zinki. On leaving Mosul, he returned to Syria, and entered Aleppo in the month of Shaaban of the same year (April-May). On the death of Nûr ad-din, (the sultan) Salah ad-din obtained possession of Damascus, and afterwards laid siege to Aleppo. Saif addin then sent an army (against him) under the command of his own brother, Izz ad-din Masud, a prince whose life will be found in this work, and the two parties came to an engagement at Kurûn, near Hamât. The particulars of this action will be given in our biography of Masûd. Izz ad-din Masûd having been defeated, Saif ad-din marched out in person, and the two armies drew up at Tall as-Sultân, a village between Aleppo and Hamåt. This was on Thursday morning, the 10th of Shawwâl, A. H. 574 (April, A. D. 1176). Imàd ad-din al-Ispahani states in his work entitled al-Bark as-Shami, as also Ibn Shaddad, in his History of Salah ad-din (2), that the left wing of that prince's army was broken by Muzaffar ad-din, son of Zain ad-din (3), who commanded. Saif ad-din's right wing; then Salah ad-din charged at the head of his troops, and routed the army of Saif ad-din, who returned to Aleppo and proceeded afterwards to Mosul. The Muzaffar ad-din of whom we have spoken was sovereign of Arbela, and his life will be found in this volume.-Ghâzi continued in possession of his empire, but, being attacked by a chronical disorder, he died on Sunday, the 3rd of Safar, A. H. 576 (June, A. D. 1180), after a reign of ten years and some months. He was succeeded by his brother Izz ad-din Masúd. - The malady which afflicted him was a lingering consumption, and he died at the age of about thirty years.

(1) The life of Maudud will be found in the third volume of this work.

(2) See Schulten's Vita et res gesta Saladini, p 43.

(3) The lives of all these persons will be found in this work.