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is the date given by al-Kudài in his work, the Khitat, and al-Farghàni (8) indicates the same date in his History. Kâfûr was interred in the Lesser Karâfa, and his tomb is a well-known object in that cemetery. His reign did not continue long, as may be perceived, since it commenced on the death of Ali Ibn al-Ikhschid. His dominion extended not only over Egypt, but Syria also, and public prayers were offered up for him (as sovereign) from the pulpits of Mekka, Hijàz, Egypt, and the cities of Syria, including Damascus, Aleppo, Antioch, Tarsus, and al-Missisa. According to al-Farghâni, in his History, he died at the age of sixty-five years. Kâfûr ruled with justness and mildness; on his death, contestations arose respecting the choice of a successor, but it was at length unanimously decided that the son of Abû 'l-Hasan Ali Ibn al-Ikhshid should be raised to the throne. Kâfûr reigned two years, two months, and twenty-three days. On Friday, the 23rd of the first Jumâda, A. H. 357 (April, A. D. 968), public prayers were offered up for Abû 'l-Fawàris Ahmad Ibn Ali Ibn al-Ikhshid. The history of these princes will be given in the life of their grandfather, Muhammad al-Ikhshid.

(1) This name was given him by antiphrasis; camphor is white, and he was a negro. (2) See vol. I. page 330.

(3) This is an anachronism, ar-Rådi died five years before. We must read al-Muti, with Abû 'l-Mahȧsin, who says, in his Nujûm, that al-Ikhshid's nomination of Anûjûr as his successor was confirmed by the khalif alMuti.

(4) The commentators say, on this verse, that the poet, alluding to Kâfûr's dark complexion and to his merit, represents him as the most noble object upon earth, the pupil of the eye of the age; and that, for the worthlessness of other men, he designates them as the white and the corners of the eye, in which parts the sense of sight does not exist.

(3) This is an allusion to an old Arabian proverb: More difficult to find than the Anka. The Ankà was an enormous bird which carried off two children, on which Hanzala Ibn Safwan, a prophet of that time, invoked God against it, and it never appeared after. The commentator on al-Mutanabbi, who furnishes this

عنقاء may be made to agree with عنقاء مغرب in the expression مغرب information, says that the word

as an adjective agrees with a substantive; but I have generally found it governed by it in the genitive as one noun governs another. See M. de Sacy's commentary on al-Hariri, page of. Mr. Lane speaks of the Anka in his translation of the Thousand and one Nights; vol. III. page 91.

(6) The coppersmith put a brass ring in his ear to show that he was a slave.

(7) The word

ease. The word

is not only the technical term designating the genitive case, but it signifies also wealth,

which, as a technical term, denotes the accusative case, signifies also pain, affliction.

(8) See vol. I. pages 155 and 290.

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KUTHAIYIR THE LOVER OF AZZA.

Abu Sakhr Kuthaiyir Ibn Abd ar-Rahman Ibn Abi Jumà al-Aswad Ibn Aâmir Ibn Owaimir al-Khuzai was one of the most celebrated Arabian lovers. Ibn alKalbi gives his genealogy as follows, in the Jamhara tan-Nisab: "Kuthaiyir Ibn "Abd ar-Rahmân Ibn al-Aswad Ibn Owaimir Ibn Makhlad Ibn Said Ibn Kha"thama Ibn Saad Ibn Malih Ibn Amr Ibn Rabia Ibn Hâritha Ibn Amr Ibn Muzaikiya Ibn Aamir Mà as-Samâ Ibn Hâritha Ibn Amr 'l-Kais Ibn Thaa"laba Ibn Mâzin Ibn al-Azd." The remainder of this genealogy is well known (1). "The Rabia Ibn Hâritha mentioned in this list is the same person as Luhai, and it was Amr, the son of this Luhai whom the blessed Prophet saw dragging his own entrails in hell. Amr Ibn Luhai was the "first who introduced the custom of making camels saibas and bahîras (2), "who altered the religion of Abraham, and called on the Arabs to worship "idols. Luhai and Afsa, the sons of Hâritha, were the persons denominated "Khuzda, and, from them, the tribe bearing this name drew its descent. They were called Khuzaa (segment) because they separated from the tribe 606 "of Azd, when it left Yemen at the epoch of the Torrent of the Dike (Sail "al-Aram) (3); they then settled at Mekka, and the rest of their people pro"ceeded to Medina, Syria, and Oman." A little before this, Ibn al-Kalbi says: Al-Ashyam, the same person as Abû Jumâ, was the son of Khalid Ibn Obaid “Ibn Mubashshir Ibn Rabâh, and father of the mother of Kuthaiyir, the lover “of Azza; for this reason, Kuthaiyir was called the grandson of Abû Jumâ. His "mistress, Azza, was the daughter of Jamil Ibn Hafs Ibn Aiyâs Ibn Abd al"Ozza Ibn Hajib Ibn Afàr Ibn Malik Ibn Damra Ibn Bakr Ibn Abd Manâf "Ibn Kinana Ibn Khuzaima Ibn Mudrika Ibn al-Yâs Ibn Modar Ibn Nizar Ibn “Maadd Ibn Adnân." It is stated, however, by as-Samàni, that Jamil was the son of Wakkas Ibn Hafs Ibn Aiyâs.-The anecdotes told of Kuthaiyir's affection for Azza and of his interviews with her are numerous and well known. The greater part of his poems were composed in her praise. Although a Râfidi (4) and ardently devoted to the cause of the family of Abû Tâlib, he used to go to the court of the (Omaiyide khalif) Abd al-Malik Ibn Marwân, and recite poems in

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his presence: Ibn Kutaiba relates, in his Tabakât as-Shuarâ (vol. II. page 22), that Kuthaiyir went one day into the presence of Abd al-Malik, and this prince said to him: "I conjure thee by the rights of Ali Abi Ibn Tâlib to inform me if "thou ever sawest a truer lover than thyself." To this Kuthaiyir replied: "Commander of the faithful! conjure me by your own rights, and I shall answer you."-"Well," said the prince, "I conjure thee by my own rights; wilt "thou not tell it to me now?"-" Certainly," said Kuthaiyir; "I will. As I was travelling in a certain desert, I beheld a man who had just pitched his "toils to catch game, and I said to him: 'Why art thou sitting here?' And "he replied: "I and my people are dying with hunger, and I have pitched "these toils that I may catch something which may sustain our lives till to"morrow.'-'Tell me;' said I, 'if I remain with thee and if thou takest any

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game, wilt thou give me a share?' He answered that he would, and whilst "we were waiting, behold, a gazelle got into the net. We both rushed for"ward, but he outran me, and having disentangled the animal, he let it go. "What,' said I, could have induced thee to do so?' " He replied: "On seeing her so like (my beloved) Laila (in the eyes), I was touched with pity.' He then repeated these verses:

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'Timid animal, so like to Laila, fear not! to-day, I am thy friend. When I deli⚫vered it from the toils, I exclaimed: As long as I live, thou shalt go free for Laila's sake.'"

When Abd al-Malik resolved on marching out to combat Musâb Ibn az-Zubair, his wife Aȧtika, the daughter of Yazid Ibn Moawia, implored him not to go forth in person, but to send some one in his place. The more she pressed him, the more resolutely he refused, and when she found her entreaties unavailing, she burst into tears. On this, all the female slaves and attendants who surrounded her uttered loud lamentations, and Abd al-Malik exclaimed: "Damn that fellow, Ibn Abi Jumâ!" meaning Kuthaiyir, "one would think "that he had witnessed this scene when he said :

"When he resolved on going forth to fight, the noble lady bedecked with necklaces "of pearls could not turn him from his purpose. She forbade him, and finding that her prohibitions withheld him not, she burst into tears, on which her attendants wept in sympathy for her affliction."

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He then insisted on her ceasing to weep, and she obeyed; after which he set out as he had intended. It is said that Azza went one day to see Omm alBanin, who was the daughter of Abd al-Aziz, the sister of Omar Ibn Abd alAzîz, and the wife of al-Walid Ibn Abd al-Malik. This princess asked her what was the nature of the debt to which Kuthaiyir alluded in the verse where he says:

Every other debtor pays, and his creditor is satisfied; but Azza's creditor is put off, and remains afflicted.

To this question Azza replied that she promised him a kiss, but refused to keep her word. Omm al-Banin then said: "Fulfil thy promise, and let the "sin of the deed be upon me."-Kuthaiyir had a slave-boy who kept a grocer's shop (for his master) at Medina, and the Arab women sometimes bought from him on credit. He once sold perfumes to Azza, whom he did not then know, and he remained some days without being paid. She at length came back to the 607 shop with some other women, and he asked her for payment. "O," said she, "I am quite willing; it shall be done very, very soon." On this he repeated these words:

Every other debtor pays, and his creditor is satisfied; but Azza's creditor is put off, and remains afflicted.

On this, the other women asked him if he knew the name of his debtor, and, as he answered that he did not, they exclaimed: "By Allah! it is Azza her"self." On hearing these words, he said to them: "I take you to witness that "I declare her liberated from what she may owe me.' He then went to his master, and, having told him what had passed, Kuthaiyir replied: "I take God "to witness that thou art free for His sake; and I give thee the shop with "all its contents." The coincidence was certainly singular.-Kuthaiyir composed a great number of pieces on Azza's deferring the fulfilment of her promise; in one of these, he says:

Charming Azza! you defer the payment of thy debt; and, surely, the worst of maidens are those who defer. To this she replied: "Silly man! how can I pay a creditor from whom I never received money."

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In another piece he says:

She pretends that I am changed since our last separation; but who, O Azza! does not undergo a change? My body is changed, but my soul remains as thou hast known it, and nothing (in me) has ever betrayed the secret of our love.

When Yazid Ibn al-Muhallab Ibn Abi Sufra was slain with a number of his family at Akr Babel, as we shall relate in his life, the news of this event reached Kuthaiyir, who had been always treated by them with great kindness; on which he shed a flood of tears, and exclaimed: "What awful calamities! the sons of "Harb destroyed religion on the day of at-Taff (5), and the sons of Marwân de"stroyed generosity on the day of al-Akr (6)!"— Abû 'l-Faradj al-Ispahani “vol. II. p. 249), the author of the Kitâb al-Aghâni, relates as follows: “Kuthaiyir was coming out from Abd al-Malik Ibn Marwân's, dressed in a gown "of flowered silk, when an old woman, who was carrying home some fire in a

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Kuthaiyir, the lover of

lump of dried horse-dung, met him in the street. He expressed his disgust openly that she asked him his name. He replied: “Azza.'—' Are not you,' said she, 'the person who said :

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A blooming meadow, on a fertile soil, whose shrubs (7) overflow with sap, spreads "not a sweeter perfume than the sleeves of Azza at the midnight hour, when she places green aloes-wood on her fire."

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Kuthaiyir replied that he was, and she said:

"Were green aloes-wood placed

on this lump of dung, it would give out a sweet perfume also. Why did you "not say, like Amro 'l-Kais:

"Did you not observe that, every night on which I went to visit her, I found her "smell of perfumes, and yet she uses them not (8) ? "

He immediately gave her the gown he wore, and implored her to conceal his blunder. —At the time of my literary studies, I heard a teacher of the belleslettres say that the latter part of the second verse composed by Kuthaiyir referred to the meadow and served to complete the description of it; it was therefore as if the poet had said, that this meadow, whose soil is so fertile, and whose shrubs overflow with sap, smells not sweeter [when green aloes-wood is burned on its fire] (9), than do the sleeves of Azza. If the verse be explained

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