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Preface
The term ' Literary History ' may be interpreted in such
different ways that an author who uses it is bound to explain
at the outset what particular sense he has attached to it.
When Mr, Fisher Unwin asked me to contribute a volume on
the Arabs to this Series, 1 accepted his proposal with alacrity,
not only because I welcomed the opportunity of making
myself better acquainted with Arabic history and literature,
but also and more especially in the hope that I might be able
to compile a work which should serve as a general introduction
to the subject, and which should neither be too popular for
students nor too scientific for ordinary readers. Its precise
character was determined partly by my own predilections and
partly by the conditions of time and space under which it had
to be produced. To write a critical account of Arabic
literature was out of the question. Brockelmann's invaluable
work, which contains over a thousand closely-printed pages, is
confined to biography and bibliography, and does not deal with
the historical development of ideas. This, however, seems to
me the really vital aspect of literary history. It has been my
chief aim to sketch in broad outlines what the Arabs thought,
and to indicate as far as possible the influences which moulded
their thought. I am well aware that the picture is sadly
incomplete, that it is full of gaps and blanks admitting of no
disguise or apology ; but I hope that, taken as a whole, it is not
unlike. Experience has convinced me that young students of
181380
X PREFACE
Arabic, to whom this volume is principally addressed, often
find great difficulty in understanding what they read, since
they are not in touch with the political, intellectual, and
religious notions which are presented to them. The pages of
almost every Arabic book abound in familiar allusions to names,
events, movements, and ideas, of which Moslems require no
explanation, but which puzzle the Western reader unless he
have some general knowledge of Arabian history in the widest
meaning of the word. Such a survey is not to be found, I
believe, in any single European book ; and if mine supply the
want, however partially and inadequately, I shall feel that my
labour has been amply rewarded. Professor E. G. Browne's
Literary History of Persia covers to a certain extent the same
ground, and discusses many important matters belonging to
the common stock of Muhammadan history with a store of
learning and wealth of detail which it would be impossible for
me to emulate. The present volume, written from a different
standpoint and on a far smaller scale, does not in any way clash
with that admirable work ; on the contrary, numerous instances
occur to me in which my omissions are justified by the fact
that Professor Browne has already said all that is necessary.
If I have sometimes insufficiently emphasised the distinction
between history and legend on the one hand, and between
popular legend and antiquarian fiction on the other, and if
statements are made positively which ought to have been
surrounded with a ring-fence of qualifications, the reader will
perceive that a purely critical and exact method cannot reason-
ably be expected in a compilation of this scope.
As regards the choice of topics, I agree with the author of a
famous Arabic anthology who declares that it is harder to
select than compose [ikhtiydru U-kaldm as^abu min taWifihi).
Perhaps an epitomist may be excused for not doing equal
justice all round. To me the literary side of the subject
appeals more than the historical, and I have followed my bent
without hesitation ; for in order to interest others a writer must
PREFACE xi
first be interested himself. In the verse-translations I have
tried to represent the spirit and feeling of the original poems.
This aim precludes verbal fidelity, which can only be attained
through the disenchanting medium of prose, but scholars, I
think, will recognise that my renderings are usually as faithful
as such things can or should be. To reproduce a typical Arabic
ode, e.g.^ one of the Mu^allaqdt ('Suspended Poems'), in a
shape at once intelligible and attractive to English readers is
probably beyond the powers of any translator. Even in those
passages which seem best suited for the purpose we are baffled
again and again by the intensely national stamp of the ideas,
the strange local colour of the imagery, and the obstinately
idiomatic style. Modern culture can appreciate Firdawsi,
<Umar Khayyam, Sa'di, and Hafiz : their large humanity
touches us at many points ; but the old Arabian poetry moves
in a world apart, and therefore, notwithstanding all its splendid
qualities, will never become popular in ours. Of the later
poets who lived under the 'Abbasid Caliphate one or two
might, with good fortune, extend their reputation to the
West : notably the wise sceptic and pessimist, Abu 'l-'Ala
al-Ma'arr{. The following versions have at least the merit of
being made directly from the original language and with a
uniform motive. Considering the importance of Arabic poetry
as (in the main) a true mirror of Arabian life, I do not think
the space devoted to it is at all extravagant. Other branches
of literature could not receive the same attention. Many an
eminent writer has been dismissed in a few lines, many well-
known names have been passed over. But, as before said, this
work is a sketch of ideas in their historical environment rather
than a record of authors, books, and dates.
The transliteration of Arabic words, though superfluous for
scholars and for persons entirely ignorant of the language, is an
almost indispensable aid to the class of readers whom I have
especially in view. My system is that recommended by the
xii PREFACE
Royal Asiatic Society and adopted by Professor Browne in his
Literary History of Persia ; but I use z for the letter which he
denotes by dh. The definite article a/, which I have fre-
quently omitted at the beginning of proper names, has been
restored in the Index. It may save trouble if I mention here
the abbreviations *b.' for * ibn ' (son of); J.R.A.S. for
yournal of the Royal Asiatic Society; Z.D.M.G. for Zeitschrift
der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft ; and S.B.IV.A.
for Sitzungsberichte der Wiener Akademie.
Finally, it behoves me to make a full acknowledgment or
my debt to the learned Orientalists whose works I have
studied and freely * conveyed ' into these pages. References
could not be given in every case, but the reader will see for
himself how much is derived from Von Kremer, Goldziher,
Noldeke, and Wellhausen, to recall only a few of the leading
authorities. At the same time I have constantly gone back to
the native sources of information, and a great portion of the
book is based on my own reading and judgment. Although
both the plan and the execution are doubtless open to censure,
I trust that serious mistakes have been avoided. The warmest
thanks are due to my friend and colleague, Professor A. A.
Bevan, who read the proofs throughout and made a number of
valuable remarks which will be found in the footnotes. Mr,
A. G. Ellis kindly gave me the benefit of his advice in
selecting the frontispiece as well as other help. I have also to
thank the Editor of the Athencsum for permission to reprint
my version of the Song of Vengeance by Ta'abbata Sharr"",
which was originally published in that journal.
REYNOLD A. NICHOLSON.
Contents
PAGE
Preface . . . . . . . . ix
Introduction . . . . . . . xv
CHAPTER
I. Saba and Himyar . . . . . . i
II. The History and Legends of the Pagan Arabs . 30
III. Pre-islamic Poetry, Manners, and Religion . 71
IV. The Prophet and the Koran . . . .141
V. The Orthodox Caliphate and the Umayyad
Dynasty. . . . . . .181
VI. The Caliphs of Baghdad . . . .254
VII. Poetry, Literature, and Science in the 'Abbasid
Period ....... 285
VIII. Orthodoxy, Free-thought, and Mysticism . . 365
IX. The Arabs in Europe . . . . .405
X. From the Mongol Invasion to the Present Day . 442
Bibliography . . . . • . • 47^
Index .....••• 4^^
Introduction
The Arabs belong to the great family of nations which on
account of their supposed descent from Shem, the son of
Noah, are commonly known as the * Semites.'
This term includes the Babylonians and Assyrians,
the Hebrews, the Phoenicians, the Aramaeans, the Abyssinians,
the Sabaeans, and the Arabs, and although based on a classifica-
tion that is not ethnologically precise — the Phoenicians and
Sabaeans, for example, being reckoned in Genesis, chap, x,
among the descendants of Ham — it was well chosen by Eich-
horn (t 1827) to comprehend the closely allied peoples which
have been named. Whether the original home of the undivided
Semitic race was some part of Asia (Arabia, Armenia, or the
district of the Lower Euphrates), or whether, according to a
view which has lately found favour, the Semites crossed
into Asia from Africa,^ is still uncertain. Long before the
epoch when they first appear in history they had branched
off from the parent stock and formed separate nationalities.
The relation of the Semitic languages to each other cannot
be discussed here, but we may arrange them in the chrono-
logical order of the extant literature as follows : — 2
' H. Grimme, Weltgeschichte in Karakterbildern : Mohammed (Munich,
1904), p. 6 sqq.
* Cf. Noldeke, Die Semitischen Sprachen (Leipzig, 1887), or the same
scholar's article, ' Semitic Languages,' in the Encyclopadia Britannica,
9th edition. Renan's Histoire generate des langues semitiques (1855) is now
XV
xvi INTRODUCTION
1. Babylonian or Assyrian (3000-500 B.C.).
2. Hebrew (from 1500 B.C.).
3. South Arabic, otherwise called Sabaean or Himyarite
(inscriptions from 800 B.C.).
4. Aramaic (inscriptions from 800 B.C.).
5. Phoenician (inscriptions from 700 B.C.).
6. ^thiopic (inscriptions from 350 a.d.).
7. Arabic (from 500 a.d.).
Notwithstanding that Arabic is thus, in a sense, the youngest
of the Semitic languages, it is generally allowed to be nearer
akin than any of them to the original archetype, the
* Ursemitisch,' from which they all are derived, just as
the Arabs, by reason of their geographical situation and the
monotonous uniformity of desert life, have in some respects
preserved the Semitic character more purely and exhibited it
more distinctly than any people of the same family. From
the period of the great Moslem conquests (700 a.d.) to the
present day they have extended their language,
^''resentatives religion, and Culture over an enormous expanse
SemUic^nice ^^ territory, tar surpassing that of all the ancient
Semitic empires added together. It is true that
the Arabs are no longer what they were in the Middle Ages,
the ruling nation of the world, but loss of temporal power
has only strengthened their spiritual dominion. Islam still
reigns supreme in Western Asia ; in Africa it has steadily
advanced ; even on European soil it has found in Turkey
compensation for its banishment from Spain and Sicily.
While most of the Semitic peoples have vanished, leaving but
a meagre and ambiguous record, so that we cannot hope to
become intimately acquainted with them, we possess in the
antiquated. An interesting essay on the importance of the Semites in the
history of civilisation was published by F. Hommel as an introduction to
his Semitischen VOlker und Sprachen, vol. i (Leipzig, 1883). The dates
in this table are of course only approximate.
INTRODUCTION xvii
case of the Arabs ample materials for studying almost every
phase of their development since the sixth century of the
Christian era, and for writing the v^^hole history of their
national life and thought. This book, I need hardly say,
makes no such pretensions. Even vi^ere the space at
my disposal unlimited, a long time must elapse before
the vast and various field of Arabic literature can be
thoroughly explored and the results rendered accessible to
the historian.
From time immemorial Arabia was divided into North and
South, not only by the trackless desert [al-Rub*' a/-KhdIi, the
* Solitary Quarter') which stretches across the
Arabs of the • ^ j c i i •
North and South, penmsula and forms a natural barrier to inter-
course, but also by the opposition of two kindred
races widely differing in their character and way of life.
Whilst the inhabitants of the northern province (the Hijaz
and the great central highland of Najd) were rude nomads
sheltering in ' houses of hair,' and ever shifting to and fro
in search of pasture for their camels, the people of Yemen
or Arabia Felix are first mentioned in history as the inheritors
of an ancient civilisation and as the owners of fabulous wealth
— spices, gold and precious stones — which ministered to the
luxury of King Solomon. The Bedouins of the North spoke
Arabic — that is to say, the language of the Pre-islamic poems
and of the Koran — whereas the southerners used a dialect
called by Muhammadans ' Himyarite ' and a peculiar script
of which the examples known to us have been discovered and
deciphered in comparatively recent times. Of these Sabasans
— to adopt the designation given to them by Greek and
Roman geographers — more will be said presently. The
period of their bloom was drawing to a close in the early
centuries of our era, and they have faded out of history
before 600 a.d., when their northern neighbours first rise
into prominence.
It was, no doubt, the consciousness of this racial distinction
I*
xviii INTRODUCTION
that caused the view to prevail among Moslem genealogists
that the Arabs followed two separate lines of descent from
their common ancestor, Sam b. Nuh (Shem,
^'X^tS"'* the son of Noah). As regards those of the
North, their derivation from 'Adnan, a de-
scendant of Isma'fl (Ishmael) was universally recognised ; those
of the South were traced back to Qahtan, whom most
genealogists identified with Yoqtan (Joktan), the son of 'Abir
(Eber). Under the Yoqtanids, who are the elder line, we
find, together with the Sabaeans and Himyarites, several large
and powerful tribes — e.g.^ Tayyi', Kinda, and Taniikh —
which had settled in North and Central Arabia long before
Islam, and were in no respect distinguishable from the
Bedouins of Ishmaelite origin. As to 'Adnan, his exact
genealogy is disputed, but all agree that he was of the
posterity of Isma'fl (Ishmael), the son of Ibrdhim (Abraham)
by Hajar (Hagar). The story runs that on the birth of
Isma'fl God commanded Abraham to journey to Mecca with
Hagar and her son and to leave them there. They were seen
by some Jurhumites, descendants of Yoqjan, who took pity
on them and resolved to settle beside them. Isma'fl grew up
with the sons of the strangers, learned to shoot the bow, and
spoke their tongue. Then he asked of them in marriage,
and they married him to one of their women.^ The tables
on the opposite page show the principal branches of the
younger but by far the more important family of the Arabs
which traced its pedigree through 'Adnan to Isma'il. A
dotted line indicates the omission oi one or more links in
the genealogical chain. ^
' Ibn Qutayba, Kitdhu 1-Ma'drij, ed. by Wiistenfeld, p. i8.
' Full information concerning the genealogy of the Arabs will be found
in Wiistenfeld's Gencalogische Tabcllen der Ayabischen StiUnmc und
Familien with its excellent Register {Gottingen, 1852-1853).
INTRODUCTION
XIX
I.
The Descendants of Rabi'a.
'Adnan,
I
Ma'add.
Nizar.
I
Rabi'a.
'Anaza.
Bakr.
Wa'il.
Namir.
Taghlib.
n.
The Descendants of Mudar.
'Adnan.
I
Ma'add.
I,
Nizar.
I
Mudar.
Qays 'Aylan.
Ghatafan.
'Abs. Dhu
Dabba.
Tamim.
Sulaym. Hawazin.
Khuzayma.
Asad. Kinana.
Hudhayl.
byan.
Fihr (Quraysh)."
' The tribes Dabba, Tamim, Khuzayma, Hudhayl, Asad, Kinana, and Quraysh
together formed a group which is known as Khindif, and is often distinguished
from Qays 'Aylan.
XX INTRODUCTION
It is undeniable that these lineages are to some extent
fictitious. There was no Pre-islamic science of genealogy,
so that the first Muhammadan investigators had only con-
fused and scanty traditions to work on. They were biassed,
moreover, by political, religious, and other con-
Muhammadan sidcrations.^ Thus their study of the Koran
genealogy. ... .
and of Biblical history led to the introduction
of the patriarchs who stand at the head of their lists. Nor
can we accept the national genealogy beginning with 'Adnan
as entirely historical, though a great deal of it was actually
stored in the memories of the Arabs at the time when Islam
arose, and is corroborated by the testimony of the Pre-islamic
poets.2 On the other hand, the alleged descent of every
tribe from an eponymous ancestor is inconsistent with facts
established by modern research.3 It is probable that many
names represent merely a local or accidental union ; and
many more, e.g.^ Ma'add, seem originally to have denoted
large groups or confederations of tribes. The theory of
a radical difference between the Northern Arabs and those
of the South, corresponding to the fierce hostility which
has always divided them since the earliest days of Islam,4
may hold good if we restrict the term * Yemenite '
(Southern) to the civilised Sabaeans, Himyarites, &c., who
dwelt in Yemen and spoke their own dialect, but
can hardly apply to the Arabic-speaking ' Yemenite '
Bedouins scattered all over the peninsula. Such criticism,
however, does not affect the value of the genealogical
documents regarded as an index of the popular mind. From
this point of view legend is often superior to fact, and it
must be our aim in the following chapters to set forth what
' Goldziher, Muhamincdanisclic Studien, Part I, p. 133 sqq., 177 sqq.
^ Noldeke in Z.D.M.G., vol. 40, p. 177.
3 See Margoliouth, Mohaimned and the Rise 0/ Islam, p. 4.
^ Concerning the nature and causes of this antagonism see Goldziher,
op. cit.. Part I, p. 78 sqq.
INTRODUCTION xxi
the Arabs believed rather than to examine whether or no
they were justified in believing it.
'Arabic,' in its widest signification, has two principal
dialects: —
1. South Arabic, spoken in, Yemen and including Sabaean,
Himyarite, Minasan, with the kindred dialects of Mahra
and Shihr.
2. Arabic proper, spoken in Arabia generally, exclusive
of Yemen.
Of the former language we possess nothing beyond the
numerous inscriptions which have been collected by European
travellers and which it will be convenient to
South Arabic. 1 1 •
discuss in the next chapter, where I shall give
a brief sketch of the legendary history of the Sabaeans and
Himyarites. South Arabic resembles Arabic in its gram-
matical forms, e.g.^ the broken plural, the sign of the dual, and
the manner of denoting indefiniteness by an affixed m (for
which Arabic substitutes «) as well as in its vocabulary ; its
alphabet, which consists of twenty-nine letters, ^in and Samech
being distinguished as in Hebrew, is more nearly akin to the
iEthiopic. The Himyarite Empire was overthrown by the
Abyssinians in the sixth century after Christ, and by 600 a.d.
South Arabic had become a dead language. From this time
forward the dialect of the North established an almost
universal supremacy and won for itself the title of ' Arabic '
par excellence.^
The oldest monuments of written Arabic are modern in
date compared with the Sabaean inscriptions, some of which
take us back 2,500 years or thereabout. Apart
The oldest - ,. .. - f^.. . , ,
specimens of from the msctiptions or Hijr \n the northern
Hijaz, and those of Safd in the neighbourhood of
Damascus (which, although written by northern Arabs before
the Christian era, exhibit a peculiar character not unlike the
' The word ' Arabic ' is always to be understood in this sense
wherever it occurs in the following pages.
xxii INTRODUCTION
Sabasan and cannot be called Arabic in the usual acceptation
of the term), the most ancient examples of Arabic writing
which have hitherto been discovered appear in the trilingual
(Syriac, Greek, and Arabic) inscription of Zabad,^ south-east of
Aleppo, dated 512 or 513 a.d., and the bilingual (Greek and
Arabic) of Harran,^ dated 568 a.d. With these documents we
need not concern ourselves further, especially as their
interpretation presents great difficulties. Very few among
the Pre-islamic Arabs were able to read or write. 3 Those who
could generally owed their skill to Jewish and Christian
teachers, or to the influence of foreign culture radiating
from Hira and Ghassdn. But although the Koran, which
was first collected soon after the battle of Yamdma (633
A.D.), is the oldest Arabic book, the beginnings of literary
composition in the Arabic language can be traced back to
an earlier period. Probably all the Pre-islamic poems which
have come down to us belong to the century preceding
Islam (500-622 A.D.), but their elaborate form and technical
perfection forbid the hypothesis that in them we have "the
first sprightly runnings " of Arabian song. It may be said of
these magnificent odes, as of the Iliad and
^'"'polms'^'" Odyssey, that « they are works of highly finished
art, which could not possibly have been produced
until the poetical art had been practised for a long time."
They were preserved during hundreds of years by oral tradition,
as we shall explain elsewhere, and were committed to writing,
for the most part, by the Moslem scholars of the early
'Abbdsid age, i.e.^ between 750 and 900 a.d. It is a note-
worthy fact that the language of these poems, the authors of
which represent many different tribes and districts of the
' First published by Sachau in Monatsberichte der KSn. Preuss. Akad.
der Wissenschaften zn Berlin (February, 1881), p. 169 sqq.
'^ See De Vogiie, Sync Centmle, Inscriptions Semitiqnes, p. 117. Other
references are given in Z.D.M.G., vol. 35, p. 749.
3 On this subject the reader may consult Goldziher, Miihammedanische
Studien, Part I, p. no sqq.
INTRODUCTION xxiii
peninsula, is one and the same. The dialectical variations
are too trivial to be taken into account. We might conclude
that the poets used an artificial dialect, not such as was
commonly spoken but resembling the epic dialect of Ionia
which was borrowed by Dorian and iEolian bards. When
we find, however, that the language in question is employed
not only by the wandering troubadours, who were often men
of some culture, and the Christian Arabs of Hira on the
Euphrates, but also by goat-herds, brigands, and illiterate
Bedouins of every description, there can be no room for doubt
that in the poetry of the sixth century we hear the Arabic
language as it was then spoken throughout the length and
breadth of Arabia. The success of Muhammad and the
conquests made by Islam under the Orthodox Caliphs gave
an entirely new importance to this classical idiom. Arabic
became the sacred language of the whole Moslem world.
This was certainly due to the Koran : but, on
The Koran. -^ -in
the other hand, to regard the dialect of Mecca,
in which the Koran is written, as the source and prototype
of the Arabic language, and to call Arabic ' the dialect of
Quraysh,' is utterly to reverse the true facts of the case.
Muhammad, as Noldeke has observed, took the ancient poetry
for a model ; and in the early age of Islam it was the authority
of the heathen poets (of whom Quraysh had singularly few)
that determined the classical usage and set the standard of
correct speech. Moslems, who held the Koran to be the
Word of God and inimitable in point of style, naturally
exalted the dialect of the Prophet's tribe above all others, even
laying down the rule that every tribe spoke less purely in
proportion to its distance from Mecca, but this view will not
commend itself to the unprejudiced student. The Koran,
however, exercised a unique influence on the history of the
Arabic language and literature. We shall see in a subsequent
chapter that the necessity of preserving the text of the Holy
Book uncorrupted, and of elucidating its obscurities, caused
xxiv INTRODUCTION
the Moslems to invent a science of grammar and lexicography,
and to collect the old Pre-Muhammadan poetry and traditions
which must otherwise have perished. When the Arabs
settled as conquerors in Syria and Persia and mixed with
foreign peoples, the purity of the classical language could no
longer be maintained. While in Arabia itself, especially
among the nomads of the desert, little difference was felt,
in the provincial garrison towns and great centres of industry
like Basra and Kufa, where the population largely consisted
of aliens who had embraced Islam and were rapidly being
Arabicised, the door stood open for all sorts of depravation
to creep in. Against this vulear Arabic the
Arabic in the . ^ ° . °
Muhammadaii philologists Waged Unrelenting war, and it was
Empire. . ° ° . .
mainly through their exertions that the classical
idiom triumphed over the dangers to which it was exposed.
Although the language of the pagan Bedouins did not survive
intact — or survived, at any rate, only in the mouths of pedants
and poets — it became, in a modified form, the universal
.medium of expression among the upper classes of Muham-
^j^^ j madan society. During the early Middle Ages it was spoken
] and written by all cultivated Moslems, of whatever nationality
they might be, from the Indus to the Atlantic ; it was the
language of the Court and the Church, of Law and
Commerce, of Diplomacy and Literature and Science. When
the Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century swept away the
*Abbdsid Caliphate, and therewith the last vestige of political
unity in Islam, classical Arabic ceased to be the KOivi] or
* common dialect ' of the Moslem world, and was supplanted
in Arabia, Syria, Egypt, and other Arabic-speaking countries
by a vulgar colloquial idiom. In these countries, however, it
is still the language of business, literature, and education, and
we are told on high authority that even now it " is undergoing
a renaissance, and there is every likelihood of its again
becoming a great literary vehicle." ^ And if, for those
' Professor Margoliouth in J.R.AJ^. for 1905, p. 418
INTRODUCTION xxv
Moslems who are not Arabs, it occupies relatively much
the same position as Latin and Greek in modern European
culture, we must not forget that the Koran, its most
renowned masterpiece, is learned by every Moslem when
he first goes to school, is repeated in his daily prayers, and
influences the whole course of his life to an extent which the
ordinary Christian can hardly realise.
I hope that I may be excused for ignoring in a work
such as this the scanty details regarding Ancient Arabian
history which it is possible to glean from the Babylonian
and Assyrian monuments, especially when the very uncertain
nature of the evidence is taken into consideration. Any
sketch that might be drawn of the Arabs, say from 2500 B.C.
to the beginning of our era, would resemble a map of
Cathay delineated by Sir John Mandeville. But amongst
the shadowy peoples of the peninsula one, besides Saba and
Himyar, makes something more than a transient impression.
The Nabataeans [Nabat^ pi. Anbdt) dwelt in towns, drove a
flourishing trade long before the birth of Christ, and founded
the kingdom of Petra, which attained a high
The Nabatceans. > o
degree of prosperity and culture until it was
annexed by Trajan in 105 a.d. These Nabataeans were
Arabs and spoke Arabic, although in default of a script of their
own they used Aramaic for writing.^ Muhammadan authors
identify them with the Aramaeans, but careful study of their
inscriptions has shown that this view, which was accepted by
Quatremere,2 is erroneous. ' The Book of Nabataean Agri-
culture ' {Kitdbu 'l-Falahat al-Nabatjyya\ composed in 904 a.d.
by the Moslem Ibnu '1-Wahshiyya, who professed to have
translated it from the Chaldaean, is now known to be a forgery.
I only mention it here as an instance of the way in which
Moslems apply the term ' Nabataean ' ; for the title in question
does not, of course, refer to Petra but to Babylon.
' Noldeke, Die Setnitischen Sprachen, p. 30 sqq. and p. 43.
» journal Asiatique (March, 1835), p. 209 sqq.
XXVI INTRODUCTION
From what has been said the reader will perceive that the
history of the Arabs, so far as our knowledge of it
Ara'bfanhu°to'ry°/ is derived from Arabic sources, may be divided
into the following periods : —
I. The Sabaean and Himyarite period, from 8oo B.C.,
the date of the oldest South Arabic inscriptions, to
—^ -{ 500 A.D.
II. The Pre-islamic period (500-622 a.d.).
III. The Muhammadan period, beginning with the Flight
(Hijra, or Hegira, as the word is generally written)
of the Prophet from Mecca to Medina in 622 a.d.
and extending to the present day.
For the first period, which is confined to the history of Yemen
or South Arabia, we have no contemporary Arabic sources
except the inscriptions. The vague and scanty
Himyarites^" information which these supply is appreciably
increased by the traditions preserved in the Pre-
islamic poems, in the Koran, and particularly in the later
Muhammadan literature. It is true that most of this material
is legendary and would justly be ignored by any one engaged
in historical research, but I shall nevertheless devote a
good deal of space to it, since my principal object is to make
known the beliefs and opinions of the Arabs themselves.
The second period is called by Muhammadan writers the
ydhiliyya^ i.e., the Age of Ignorance or Barbarism. ^ Its
characteristics are faithfully and vividly reflected
^^Arlbs^''" in the songs and odes of the heathen poets which
have come down to us. There was no prose
literature at that time : it was the poet's privilege to sing the
history of his own people, to record their genealogies, to cele-
brate their feats of arms, and to extol their virtues. Although
an immense quantity of Pre-islamic verse has been lost for ever,
' Strictly speaking, the Jdhiliyya includes the whole time between
Adam and Muhammad, but in a narrower sense it may be used, as here
to denote the Pre-islamic period of Arabic Literature.
INTRODUCTION xxvii
we still possess a considerable remnant, which, together with
the prose narratives compiled by Moslem philologists and
antiquaries, enables us to picture the life of those wild days,
in its larger aspects, accurately enough.
The last and by far the most important of the three periods
comprises the history of the Arabs under Islam. It falls
naturally into the following sections, which are
The Moslem , • , ■ , ■ ,
Arabs. enumerated m this place in order that the reader
may see at a glance the broad political outlines
of the complex and difficult epoch which lies before him.
A. The Life of Muhammad.
About the beginning of the seventh century of the Christian
era a man named Muhammad, son of 'Abdulldh, of the tribe
Quraysh, appeared in Mecca with a Divine
Mu^Immad. revelation (Koran). He called on his fellow-
townsmen to renounce idolatry and worship the
One God. In spite of ridicule and persecution he continued
for several years to preach the religion of Islam in Mecca, but, '
making little progress there, he fled in 622 a.d. to the neigh- \ N
bouring city of Medina. From this date his cause prospered
exceedingly. During the next decade the whole of Arabia
submitted to his rule and did lip-service at least to the new
Faith.
B. The Orthodox Caliphate (632-661 a.d.).
On the death of the Prophet the Moslems were governed
in turn by four of the most eminent among his Companions —
Abii Baler, 'Umar, 'Uthmdn, and 'Ali — who bore
Caliphs. the title of Khalifa (Caliph), /.^., Vicegerent, and
are commonly described as the Orthodox Caliphs
{al-Khulafd al-Rdshidiin). Under their guidance Islam was
firmly established in the peninsula and was spread far beyond
its borders. Hosts of Bedouins settled as military colonists in
the fertile plains of Syria and Persia. Soon, however, the
xxviii , INTRODUCTION
recently founded empire was plunged into civil war. The
murder of 'Uthmdn gave the signal for a bloody strife between
rival claimants of the Caliphate. ' Ali, the son-in-law of the
Prophet, assumed the title, but his election was contested by
the powerful governor of Syria, Mu'dwiya b. Abl Sufydn.
C, The Umayyad Dynasty (661-750 a.d.).
'All fell by an assassin's dagger, and Mu'dwiya succeeded to
the Caliphate, which remained in his family for ninety years.
The Umayyads, with a single exception, were
dynasty^^ Arabs first and Moslems afterwards. Religion
sat very lightly on them, but they produced some
able and energetic princes, worthy leaders of an imperial race.
By 732 A.D. the Moslem conquests had reached the utmost
limit which they ever attained. The Caliph in Damascus had
his lieutenants beyond the Oxusand the Pyrenees, on the shores
of the Caspian and in the valley of the Nile. Meantime the
strength of the dynasty was being sapped by political and
^---^ , religious dissensions nearer home. The Shi'ites, who held that
/ the Caliphate belonged by Divine right to 'All and his de-
scendants, rose in revolt again and again. They were joined
by the Persian Moslems, who loathed the Arabs and the
oppressive Umayyad government. The 'Abbdsids, a family
closely related to the Prophet, put themselves at the head of
the agitation. It ended in the complete overthrow of the
reigning house, which was almost exterminated.
^ ^ D. The *Abbdsid Dynasty (750-1258 a.d.).
^^ ^ Hitherto the Arabs had played a dominant role in the
f^ Moslem community, and had treated the non-Arab Moslems
rs with exasperating contempt. Now the tables were
dynast^*' tumed. We pass from the period of Arabian
nationalism to one of Persian ascendancy and
I cosmopolitan culture. The flower of the 'Abbasid troops
\ were Persians from Khurdsan ; Baghdad, the wonderful
J5
INTR OD UCTION xxix
'Abbasid capital, was built on Persian soil ; and Persian nobles
filled the highest offices of state at the *Abbasid court. The
new dynasty, if not religious, was at least favourable to
religion, and took care to live in the odour of sanctity. For a
time Arabs and Persians forgot their differences and worked
together as good Moslems ought. Piety was no longer its
own reward. Learning enjoyed munificent patronage. This
was the Golden Age of Islam, jwhich culminated in the glorious
reign of Hariin al-Rashid (786-809 a.d.). On his death
peace was broken once more, and the mighty empire began
slowly to collapse. As province after province cut itself loose
from the Caliphate, numerous independent dynasties sprang up,
while the Caliphs became helpless puppets in the hands of
Turkish mercenaries. Their authority was still formally
recognised in most Muhammadan countries, but since the
middle of the ninth century they had little or no real
power.
E. From the Mongol invasion to the present day (1258
A.D. — ).
The Mongol hordes under Hulagii captured Baghdad in
1258 A.D. and made an end of the Caliphate. Sweeping
onward, they were checked by the Egyptian
The Post-Mon- Mamelukes and retired into Persia, where, some
golian penod. ' '
fifty years afterwards, they embraced Islam. The
successors of Hulagii, the Il-khans, reigned in Persia until a
second wave of barbarians under Timur spread devastation and
anarchy through Western Asia (i 380-1405 a.d.). The unity
of Islam, in a political sense, was now destroyed. Out of the
chaos three Muhammadan empires gradually took shape. In
1358 the Ottoman Turks crossed the Hellespont, in 1453
they entered Constantinople, and in 15 17 Syria, Egypt, and
Arabia were added to their dominions. Persia became an
independent kingdom under the Safawids (1502— 1736) ; while
in India the empire of the Great Moguls was founded by Babar,
XXX INTRODUCTION
a descendant of Timur, and gloriously maintained by his
successors, Alcbar and Awrangzib (1525-1707).
Some of the political events which have been summarised
above vi'ill be treated more fully in the body of this work ;
others will receive no more than a passing notice.
^^ hlstory^'^^'^ The idcas which reveal themselves in Arabic
literature are so intimately connected with the
history of the people, and so incomprehensible apart from the
external circumstances in which they arose, that I have found
myself obliged to dwell at considerable length on various
matters of historical interest, in order to bring out what is really
characteristic and important from our special point of view.
The space devoted to the early periods (500-750 a.d.) will not
appear excessive if they are seen in their true light as the
^ centre and heart of Arabian history. During the next hundred
— ^ I years Moslem civilisation reaches its zenith, but the Arabs
recede more and more into the background. The Mongol
invasion virtually obliterated their national life, though in
Syria and Egypt they formed an intellectual aristocracy under
Turkish rule, and in Spain we meet them struggling despe-
rately against Christendom. Many centuries earlier, in the
palmy days of the *Abbdsid Empire, the Arabs pur sang con-
tributed only a comparatively small share to the literature
which bears their name. I have not, however, enforced the
test of nationality so strictly as to exclude all foreigners or
men of mixed origin who wrote in Arabic. It may be said
that the work of Persians (who even nowadays
Writers who are ^j-g accustomed to use Arabic when writing on
wholly or partly °
"^ teactfon ^'^' theological and philosophical subjects) cannot
illustrate the history of Arabian thought, but
only the influence exerted upon Arabian thought by Persian
ideas, and that consequently it must stand aside unless admitted
for this definite purpose. But what shall we do in the case of
those numerous and celebrated authors who are neither wholly
INTRODUCTION xxxi
Arab nor wholly Persian, but unite the blood of both races ?
Must we scrutinise their genealogies and try to discover which
strain preponderates ? That would be a tedious and unprofit-
able task. The truth is that after the Umayyad period no
hard-and-fast line can be drawn between the native and foreign
elements in Arabic literature. Each reacted on the other, and
often both are combined indissolubly. Although they must be
distinguished as far as possible, we should be taking a narrow
and pedantic view of literary history if we insisted on regarding
them as mutually exclusive.
CHAPTER I
SABA AND HIMYAR
With the Sabaeans Arabian history in the proper sense may
be said to begin, but as a preliminary step we must take
account of certain races which figure more or less
^"aces^^ prominently in legend, and are considered by
Moslem chroniclers to have been the original
inhabitants of the country. Among these are the peoples of
'Ad and Thamud, which are constantly held up in the Koran
as terrible examples of the pride that goeth before destruction.
The home of the 'Adites was in Hadramawt, the province
adjoining Yemen, on the borders of the desert named Ahqafu
U-Raml. It is doubtful whether they were Semites, possibly
of Aramaic descent, who were subdued and exterminated by
invaders from the north, or, as Hommel maintains,^ the
representatives of an imposins non - Semitic
Legend of 'Ad. ^ . . .
culture which survives in the tradition of
' Many-columned Iram,' 2 the Earthly Paradise built by
Shadddd, one of their kings. The story of their destruction
is related as follows : 3 They were a people of gigantic
strength and stature, worshipping idols and committing all
' Die Namen der ScUigethiere bet den Sudsemitischen Volkern, p. 343 seq.
* Iramii Dhdfu 'l-'Imdd (Koran, Ixxxix, 6). The sense of these words is
much disputed. See especially Tabari's explanation in his great com-
mentary on the Koran (O. Loth in Z.D.M.G., vol. 35, p. 626 sqq.).
3 I have abridged Tabari, Annals, i, 231 sqq. Cf. also chapters vii, xi,
xxvi, and xlvi of the Koran.
-7 I
2 SABA AND HIMYAR
manner of wrong ; and when God sent to them a prophet,
Hud by name, who should warn them to repent, they
answered : " O Hiid, thou hast brought us no evidence,
and we will not abandon our gods for thy saying, nor will we
believe in thee. We say one of our gods hath afflicted thee
with madness." ^ Then a fearful drought fell upon the land
of 'Ad, so that they sent a number of their chief men to
Mecca to pray for rain. On arriving at Mecca the envoys
were hospitably received by the Amalekite prince, Mu'awiya
b. Baler, who entertained them with wine and music — for he
had two famous singing-girls known as al-Jarddatdn ; which
induced them to neglect their mission for the space of a whole
month. At last, however, they got to business, and their
spokesman had scarce finished his prayer when three clouds
appeared, of different colours — white, red, and black — and a
voice cried from heaven, " Choose for thyself and for thy
people ! " He chose the black cloud, deeming that it had the
greatest store of rain, whereupon the voice chanted —
"Thou hast chosen embers dun | that will spare of *Ad not one |
that will leave nor father nor son | ere him to death they shall have
done."
Then God drove the cloud until it stood over the land of 'Ad,
and there issued from it a roaring wind that consumed the
whole people except a few who had taken the prophet's
warning to heart and had renounced idolatry.
From these, in course of time, a new people arose, who are
called ' the second 'Ad.' They had their settlements in
Yemen, in the region of Saba. The building of the great
Dyke of Ma'rib is commonly attributed to their king,
Luqman b. 'Ad, about whom many fables are told. He was
surnamed ' The Man of the Vultures ' [Dhu '/-Nusur\
because it had been granted to him that he should live as
long as seven vultures, one after* the other.
• Koran, xi, 56-57.
THE LEGEND OF 'AD AND THAMl^D 3
In North Arabia, between the Hijaz and Syria, dwelt the
kindred race of Thamud, described in the Koran (vii, 72) as
inhabiting houses which they cut for themselves
Thlmud°^ in the rocks. Evidently Muhammad did not
know the true nature of the hewn chambers
which are still to be seen at Hijr (Madd'in Sdlih), a week's
journey northward from Medina, and which are proved by
the Nabataean inscriptions engraved on them to have been
sepulchral monuments. ^ Thamud sinned in the same way
as 'Ad, and suffered a like fate. They scouted the prophet
Salih, refusing to believe in him unless he should work a
miracle. Sdlih then caused a she-camel big with young to come
forth from a rock, and bade them do her no hurt, but one of
the miscreants, Quddr the Red (al-Ahmar), hamstrung and
killed her. "Whereupon a great earthquake overtook them
with a noise of thunder, and in the morning they lay dead in
their houses, flat upon their breasts." 2 The author of this
catastrophe became a byword : Arabs say, " More unlucky
than the hamstringer of the she-camel," or " than Ahmar of
Thamud." It should be pointed out that, unlike the 'Adites,
of vj^hom we find no trace in historical times, the Thamudites
are mentioned as still existing by Diodorus Siculus and
Ptolemy ; and they survived down to the fifth century a.d.
in the corps of equites Thamudeni attached to the army of the
Byzantine emperors.
Besides 'Ad and Thamud, the list of primitive races
includes the 'Amaliq (Amalekites) — a purely fictitious term
under which the Moslem antiquaries lumped
together several peoples of an age long past,
e.g.y the Canaanites and the Philistines. We hear of Amale-
kite settlements in the Tihdma (Netherland) of Mecca and
in other parts of the peninsula. Finally, mention should
' See Doughty's Documents Epigraphiques recucilUs dans le nord de
I' Arable, p. 12 sqq.
- Koran, vii, 76.
4 SABA AND HIMYAR
be made of Tasm and Jadfs, sister tribes of which nothing
is recorded except the fact of their destruction and the
events that brought it about. The legendary
Tasm and Jadis. • • , • u u u J- J u
narrative in vi^hich these are embodied has some
archaeological interest as show^ing the existence in early
Arabian society of a barbarous feudal custom, ' le droit du
seigneur,' but it is time to pass on to the main subject of
this chapter.
The Pre-islamic history of the Yoqtanids, or Southern
Arabs, on which we now enter, is virtually the history of
two peoples, the Sabaeans and the Himyarites,
History of the ^]^q formed the successive heads of a South
Voqtanids.
Arabian empire extending from the Red Sea to
the Persian Gulf.
Saba I (Sheba of the Old Testament) is often incorrectly
used to denote the whole of Arabia Felix, whereas it was only
one, though doubtless the first in power and
The Sabxans ? o i
importance, of several kingdoms, the names and
capitals of which are set down in the works of Greek
and Roman geographers. However exaggerated may be the
glowing accounts that we find there of Sabaean wealth and
magnificence, it is certain that Saba was a flourishing com-
mercial state many centuries before the birth of Christ.^
" Sea-traffic between the ports of East Arabia and India was
very early established, and Indian products, especially spices
and rare animals (apes and peacocks) were conveyed to the
coast of 'Uman. Thence, apparently even in the tenth century
B.C., they went overland to the Arabian Gulf, where they
' Properly Saba' with hamza, both syllables being short.
^ The oldest record of Saba to which a date can be assigned is found in
the Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions. We read in the Annals of King
Sargon (715 B.C.), " I received the tribute of Pharaoh, the King of Egypt,
of Shamsiyya, the Queen of Arabia, of Ithamara the Sabcean — gold, spices,
slaves, horses, and camels." Ithamara is identical with Yatha'amar, a
name borne by several kings of Saba.
THE SAB^AN EMPIRE 5
were shipped to Egypt for the use of the Pharaohs and
grandees. . . . The difficulty of navigating the Red Sea
caused the land route to be preferred for the traffic between
Yemen and Syria. From Shabwat (Sabota) in Hadramawt
the caravan road went to Ma'rib (Mariaba), the Sabasan
capital, then northward to Macoraba (the later Mecca), and
by way of Petra to Gaza on the Mediterranean." ^ The
prosperity of the Sabaeans lasted until the Indian trade,
instead of going overland, began to go by sea along the coast
of Hadramawt and throu2;h the straits of Bab al-Mandab. In
consequence of this change, which seems to have taken place
in the first century a.d., their power gradually declined, a
great part of the population was forced to seek new homes in
the north, their cities became desolate, and their massive
aqueducts crumbled to pieces. We shall see presently that
Arabian legend has crystallised the results of a long period of
decay into a single fact — the bursting of the Dyke of Ma'rib.
The disappearance of the Sabasans left the way open for a
younger branch of the same stock, namely, the Himyarites,
or, as they are called by classical authors.
The Himyarites. „ . ^ , / , C u J
Homeritas, whose country lay between baba and
the sea. Under their kings, known as Tubba's, they soon
became the dominant power in South Arabia and exercised
sway, at least ostensibly, over the northern tribes down to the
end of the fifth century a.d,, when the latter revolted and, led
by Kulayb b. Rabi'a, shook off the suzerainty of Yemen in a
great battle at Khazaza.^ The Himyarites never flourished like
the Sabaeans. Their maritime situation exposed them more to
attack, while the depopulation of the country had seriously
weakened their military strength. The Abyssinians — originally
colonists from Yemen — made repeated attempts to gain a
' A. Miiller, Der Islam im Morgen und Abendland, vol. i, p. 24 seq.
- Noldeke, however, declares the traditions which represent Kulayb as
leading the Rabi'a clans to battle against the combined strength of Yemen
to be entirely unhistorical (Funf Mo'allaqdf, i, 44).
6 SABA AND HIMYAR
foothold, and frequently managed to instal governors who
were in turn expelled by native princes. Of these Abyssinian
viceroys the most famous is Abraha, whose unfortunate expedi-
tion against Mecca will be related in due course. Ultimately
the Himyarite Empire was reduced to a Persian dependency.
It had ceased to exist as a political power about a hundred
years before the rise of Islam.
The chief Arabian sources of information concerning Saba
and Himyar are (i) the so-called 'Himyarite' inscriptions,
and (2) the traditions, almost entirely of a legen-
infomation ^'^^^ kind, which are preserved in Muhammadan
literature.
Although the South Arabic language may have maintained
itself sporadically in certain remote districts down to the
Prophet's time or even later, it had long ago been
A^rabic^or Superseded as a medium of daily intercourse by
inswSns. ^he language of the North, the Arabic par
excellence^ which henceforth reigns without a rival
throughout the peninsula. The dead language, however, did
not wholly perish. Already in the sixth century a.d. the
Bedouin rider made his camel kneel down while he stopped
to gaze wonderingly at inscriptions in a strange character
engraved on walls of rock or fragments of hewn stone, and
compared the mysterious, half-obliterated markings to the
almost unrecognisable traces of the camping-ground which
for him was fraught with tender memories. These inscrip-
tions are often mentioned by Muhammadan authors, who
included them in the term Musnad. That some Moslems —
probably very few — could not only read the South Arabic
alphabet, but were also acquainted with the elementary rules
of orthography, appears from a passage in the eighth book of
Hamdani's I kill ; but though they might decipher proper
names and make out the sense of words here and there, they
had no real knowledge of the language. How the inscriptions
were discovered anew by the enterprise of European travellers,
SOUTH ARABIC INSCRIPTIONS 7
gradually deciphered and interpreted until they became capable
of serving as a basis for historical research, and what results
the study of them has produced, this I shall now set forth as
briefly as possible. Before doing so it is necessary to explain
why instead of ' Himyarite inscriptions' and ' Himyarite
language ' I have adopted the less familiar designations ' South
Arabic ' or ' Sabaean.' ' Himyarite ' is equally misleading,
whether applied to the language of the inscriptions or to the
inscriptions themselves. As regards the language, it was
spoken in one form or another not by the
Objections to . ir>i
the term Himvantes alone, but also by the Sabseans, the
'Himyarite.' J^. ._
Minasans, and all the different peoples of Yemen.
Muhammadans gave the name of ' Himyarite ' to the ancient
language of Yemen for the simple reason that the Himyarites j
were the most powerful race in that country during the last
centuries preceding Islam. Had all the inscriptions belonged
to the period of Himyarite supremacy, they might with some
justice have been named after the ruling people ; but the fact
is that many date from a far earlier age, some going back to
the eighth century B.C., perhaps nearly a thousand years before
the Himyarite Empire was established. The term ' Sabaean '
is less open to objection, for it may fairly be regarded as a
national rather than a political denomination. On the whole,
however, I prefer ' South Arabic ' to either.
Among the pioneers of exploration in Yemen the first to
interest himself in the discovery of inscriptions was Carsten
Niebuhr, whose Beschreibung von Arahien^ pub-
Discovery and I'll- 1 •T' 1
decipherment lishcd m 1 772, conveyed to Europe the report
Arabic that inscriptions which, though he had not seen
inscriptions. . j i / tt- • j • i
them, he conjectured to be ' Himyarite, existed
in the ruins of the once famous city of Zafdr. On one
occasion a Dutchman who had turned Muhammadan showed
him the copy of an inscription in a completely unknown
alphabet, but "at that time (he says) being very ill with a
violent fever, I had more reason to prepare myself for death
8 SABA AND HIMYAR
than to collect old inscriptions." i Thus the opportunity was
lost, but curiosity had been awakened, and in 1810 Ulrich
Jasper Seetzen discovered and copied several inscriptions in the
neighbourhood of Zafar. Unfortunately these copies, which
had to be made hastily, were very inexact. He also purchased
an inscription, which he took away with him and copied at
leisure, but his ignorance of the character led him to mistake
the depressions in the stone for letters, so that the conclusions
he came to were naturally of no value.^ The first serviceable
copies of South Arabic inscriptions were brought to Europe by
English officers employed on the survey of the southern and
western coasts of Arabia. Lieutenant J. R. Wellsted published
the inscriptions of Hisn Ghurab and Naqb al-Hajar in his
Travels in Arabia (1838).
Meanwhile Emil Rodiger, Professor of Oriental Languages
at Halle, with the help of two manuscripts of the Berlin Royal
Library containing ' Himyarite ' alphabets, took the first step
towards a correct decipherment by refuting the idea, for which
De Sacy's authority had gained general acceptance, that the
South Arabic script ran from left to rights; he showed, moreover,
that the end of every word was marked by a straight perpendi-
cular line.4 Wellsted's inscriptions, together with those which
Hulton and Cruttenden brought to light at San'a, were de-
ciphered by Gesenius and Rodiger working independently
(1841). Hitherto England and Germany had shared the
* Op, cit., p. 94 seq. An excellent account of the progress made in dis-
covering and deciphering the South Arabic inscriptions down to the year
1841 is given by Rodiger, Excurs ucber himjantisclte Inschriftcn, in his
German translation of Wellsted's Travels in Arabia, vol. ii, p. 368 sqq.
= Seetzen's inscriptions were published in Fundgruhen dcs Orients,
vol. ii (Vienna, 181 1), p. 282 sqq. The one mentioned above was after-
wards deciphered and explained by Mordtmann in the Z.D.M.G., vol. 31,
p. 89 seq.
3 The oldest inscriptions, however, run from left to right and from right
to left alternately (j3ovarpopt]S6v).
* Notiz ueber die himjaritischc Schrift nebst doppeltem Alphabet derselben
in Zeitschrift fur die Kundc des Morgenlandes, vol. i (Gottingen, 1837),
p. 332 sqq.
SOUTH ARABIC INSCRIPTIONS 9
credit of discovery, but a few years later France joined
hands with them and was soon leading the way with
characteristic brilliance. In 1843 Th. Arnaud, starting from
San'a, succeeded in discovering the ruins of Ma'rib, the ancient
Sabaean metropolis, and in copying at the risk of his life
.between fifty and sixty inscriptions, which were afterwards
published in the JournalJsiatiqueznd found an able interpreter
in Osiander.i Still more important were the results of the
expedition undertaken in 1870 by Joseph Haldvy, who, dis-
guised as a Jew, penetrated into the Jawf, or country lying
east of San'a, which no European had traversed before him
since 24 B.C., when ^Elius Gallus led a Roman army by the same
route. After enduring great fatigues and meeting with many
perilous adventures, Halevy brought back copies of nearly seven
hundred inscriptions.^ During the last twenty-five years much
fresh material has been collected by E. Glaser and Julius
Euting, while study of that already existing by Praetorius,
Halevy, D. H. Miiller, Mordtmann, and other scholars has
substantially enlarged our knowledge of the language, history,
and religion of South Arabia in the Pre-islamic age.
Neither the names of the Himyarite monarchs, as they
appear in the lists drawn up by Muhammadan historians, nor
the order in which these names are arranged can pretend to
accuracy. If they are historical persons at all they must have
reigned in fairly recent times, perhaps a short while before the
rise of Islam, and probably they were unimportant princes
whom the legend has thrown back into the ancient epoch, and
has invested with heroic attributes. Any one who doubts this
has only to compare the modern lists with those which have
been made from the material in the inscriptions.3 D. H.
' See Arnaud's Relation d'un voyage a March (Saba) dans V Arabic
mcridionalc in the Journal Asiatiquc, 4th series, vol. v (1845), p. 211 sqq.
and p. 309 sqq.
- See Rapport sur une mission archeologique dans le Yemen in the
Journal Asiatiquc, 6th series, vol. xix (1872), pp. 5-98, 129-266, 489-547.
3 See D. H. Miiller, Die Burgen und Schlosscr SUdarabicns in S.B.W.A.,
vol. 97, p. 981 sqq.
lo SABA AND HIMYAR
Miiller has collected the names of thirty-three Sabaean kings.
Certain names are often repeated — a proof of the existence of
rulin? dynasties — and ornamental epithets are
The historical iT
value of usually attached to them. Thus we find Dhamar-
the inscriptions. -^ . ^
'all Dhirrih (Glorious), Yatha'amar Bayyin (Dis-
tinguished), Kariba'il Watar Yuhan'im (Great, Beneficent),
Samah'all Yanuf (Exalted). Moreover, the kings bear
different titles corresponding to three distinct periods of
Sabaean history, viz., 'Prince of Saba' {Mukarrib Saba\'^
' King of Saba ' {Malk Saba), and ' King of Saba and Raydan.'
In this way it is possible to determine approximately the age of
the various buildings and inscriptions, and to show that they
do not belong, as had hitherto been generally supposed, to the
time of Christ, but that in some cases they are at least eight
hundred years older.
i^J \ How widely the peaceful, commerce-loving people of Saba
i>) I and Himyar differed in character from the wild Arabs to
' . whom Muhammad was sent appears most strikingly
jyv^ • inscriptions. '" their submissive attitude towards their gods,
which forms, as Goldziher has remarked, the key-
note of the South Arabian monuments. ^ The prince erects
a thank-offering to the gods who gave him victory over his
enemies ; the priest dedicates his children and all his posses-
sions ; the warrior who has been blessed with " due man-
slayings," or booty, or escape from death records his gratitude,
and piously hopes for a continuance of favour. The dead are
conceived as living happily under divine protection ; they are
venerated and sometimes deified. 3 The following inscription,
' The name Mukarrib apparently combines the significations of prince
and priest.
^ Goldziher, M uhammedanische Studien, Part I, p. 3.
3 See F. Praetorius, Unstcrblichkeitsglaube und Heiligenvcrehrung bci
den Himyareii in Z.D.M.G., vol. 27, p. 645. Hubert Grimme has
given an interesting sketch of the religious ideas and customs of the
Southern Arabs in Weltgeschichte in Karakterbildern : Mohammed {Munich,
1904), p. 29 sqq.
SOUTH ARABIC INSCRIPTIONS il
translated by Lieut.-Col. W. F. Prideaux, is a typical example
of its class : —
" Sa'd-ilah and his sons, Benu Marthad™, have endowed Il-Makah
of Hirran with this tablet, because Il-Makah, lord of Awwam Dhu-
'Iran Alii, has favourably heard the prayer addressed to him, and has
consequently heard the Benii Marthad™ when they offered the first-
fruits of their fertile lands of Arhakim in the presence of Il-Makah
of Hirran, and Il-Makah of Hirran has favourably heard the prayer
addressed to him that he would protect the plains and meadows and
this tribe in their habitations, in consideration of the frequent gifts
throughout the year ; and truly his (Sa'd-ilah's) sons will descend to
Arhakim, and they will indeed sacrifice in the two shrines of 'Athtor
and Shams'", and there shall be a sacrifice in Hirran — both in order
that Il-Makah may afford protection to those fields of Bin Marthad'"
as well as that he may favourably listen — and in the sanctuary of
Il-Makah of Harvvat, and therefore may he keep them in safety
according to the sign in which Sa'd-ilah was instructed, the sign
which he saw in the sanctuary of Il-Makah of Na'man ; and as for
Il-Makah of Hirran, he has protected those fertile lands of Arhakim
from hail and from all misfortune {or, from cold and from all
extreme heat).'
In concluding this very inadequate account of the South
Arabic inscriptions I must claim the indulgence of my readers,
w^ho are aware how difficult it is to write clearly and accurately
upon any subject without first-hand knowledge, in particular
when the results of previous research are continually being
transformed by new workers in the same field.
Fortunately we possess a considerable literary supplement to
these somewhat austere and meagre remains. Our knowledge
of South Arabian geography, antiquities, and
sources. legendary history is largely derived from the
works of two natives of Yemen, who were filled
with enthusiasm for its ancient glories, and whose writings,
though different as fact and fable, are from the present point
of vievvr equally instructive — Hasan b. Ahmad al-Hamdani and
' Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archcvolofly, vol. 5, p. 409.
12 SABA AND HIMYAR
Nash wan b. Sa'id al-Himyari. Besides an excellent geography
of Arabia {Sifatu yazirat al-^Arah)^ which has been edited by
D. H. Miiller, HamdanI left a great work on
(1945 A^D.). the history and antiquities of Yemen, entitled
al-Iklil (' The Crown '), and divided into ten
books under the following heads : — ^
Book I. Compendium of the beginning and origins of genealogy.
Book II. Genealogy of the descendants of al-Hamaysa' b. Himyar.
Book III. Concerning the pre-eminent qualities of Oahtdn.
Book IV. Concerning the first period of history down to the reign of
Tubba' Abu Karib.
Book V. Concerning the middle period from the accession of As' ad
Tubba' to the reign of Dhn Nuwds.
Book VI. Concerning the last period down to the rise of Islam.
Book VII. Criticism of false traditions and absurd legends.
Book VIII. Concerning the castles, cities, and tombs of the Hiniyarites ;
the extant poetry of'Alqajtia,^ the elegies, the inscriptions,
and other matters.
Book IX. Concerning the proverbs and wisdom of the Himyarites in the
Himyarite language, and concerning the alphabet of the
inscriptions.
Book X. Concerning the genealogy of Hdshid and Bakil (the two
principal tribes of Hamdan).
The same intense patriotism which caused Hamdani to devote
himself to scientific research inspired Nashwan b. Sa'id, who
descended on the father's side from one of the
^'^^s^ixi" ''■ ancient princely families of Yemen, to recall the
(fiw'To"). legendary past and become the laureate of a
long vanished and well-nigh forgotten empire.
In *The Himyarite Ode' {al-QasJdatu H-H'imyariyya) he sings
the might and grandeur of the monarchs who ruled over his
people, and moralises in true Muhammadan spirit upon the
' This table of contents is quoted by D. H. Miiller {Sudarabische
Studicn, p. io8, n. 2) from the title-page of the British Museum MS. of the
eighth book of the Iklil. No complete copy of the work is known to
exist, but considerable portions of it are preserved in the British Museum
and in the Berlin Royal Library.
* The poet 'Alqama b. Dhi Jadan, whose verses are often cited in the
commentary on the ' Himyarite Ode."
LITERARY MATERIALS l%
fleetingness of life and the futility of human ambition. ^
Accompanying the Ode, which has little value except as a
comparatively unfalsified record of royal names,^ is a copious
historical commentary either by Nashvi^an himself, as Von
Kremer thinks highly probable, or by some one w^ho lived
about the same time. Those for w^hom history represents an
aggregate of naked facts v^^ould find nothing to the purpose in
this commentary, where threads of truth are almost inextricably
interwoven with fantastic and fabulous embroideries. A
literary form was first given to such legends by the professional
story-tellers of early Islam. One of these, the South Arabian
'Abid b. Sharya, visited Damascus by command of the Caliph
Mu'awiya I, who questioned him "concerning
'Abidb. Sharya. , / ' . . ^ , , . r i a . 1
the ancient traditions, the kings or the Arabs and
other races, the cause of the confusion of tongues, and the
history of the dispersion of mankind in the various countries of
the world," 3 and gave orders that his answers should be put
together in writing and published under his name. This work,
of which unfortunately no copy has come down to us, was
entitled 'The Book of the Kings and the History of the
Ancients' {Kitabu U-Muluk wa-akhbdru U-Mddln). Mas'udi
(1956 A.D.) speaks of it as a well-known book, enjoying a wide
circulation. 4 It was used by the commentator of the Himyarite
Ode, either at first hand or through the medium of Hamdani's
Iklil. We may regard it, like the commentary itself, as a
historical romance in which most of the characters and some of
the events are real, adorned with fairy-tales, fictitious verses,
' Die Himjarische Kasidch herausgegeben und iibersetzt von Alfred von
Kremer (Leipzig, 1865). The Lay of the Himyarites, by W. F. Prideaux
(Sehore, 1879).
^ Nashwan was a philologist of some repute. His great dictionary, the
Shamsu 'l-^Uluin, is a valuable aid to those engaged in the study of South
Arabian antiquities. It has been used by D. H. Miiiler to fix the correct
spelling of proper names which occur in the Himyarite Ode (Z.D.M.G.,
vol. 29, p. 620 sqq. ; Sildarabische Studien, p. 143 sqq.).
3 Fihrist, p. 89, 1. 26.
* Murtiju 'l-Dhahab, ed. by Barbier de Meynard, vol. iv, p. 89.
14 SABA AND HIMYAR
and such entertaining matter as a man of learning and story-
teller by trade might naturally be expected to introduce.
Among the few remaining Muhammadan authors who
bestowed special attention on the Pre-islamic period of
South Arabian history, I shall mention here only
"iSn.^ Hamza of Isfahan, the eighth book of whose
Annals (finished in 961 a.d.) provides a useful
sketch, with brief chronological details, of the Tubba's or
Himyarite kings of Yemen.
Qahtan, the ancestor of the Southern Arabs, was succeeded
by his son Ya'rub, who is said to have been the first to use the
Arabic languap-e, and the first to receive the salu-
Ya'rub. .
tations with which the Arabs were accustomed
to address their kings, viz., '•'■ InHm labaJf^'''' ("Good morn-
ing!") and ^^ Abayta 7-/fl'«fl " (" Mayst thou avoid maledic-
tion!"). His grandson, 'Abd Shams Saba, is named as the
founder of Ma'rib and the builder of the famous Dyke, which,
according to others, was constructed by Luqman b. 'Ad.
Saba had two sons, Himyar and Kahlan. Before his
death he deputed the sovereign authority to Himyar,
and the task of protecting the frontiers and making
war upon the enemy to Kahlan. Thus Himyar
"'KawL'!"'^ obtained the lordship, assumed the title Abii
Ayman, and abode in the capital city of the
realm, while Kahlan took over the defence of the borders
and the conduct of war.^ Omitting the long series of mythical
Sabasan kings, of whom the legend has little or nothing to
relate, we now come to an event which fixed itself inefFaceably
in the memory of the Arabs, and which is known in their
traditions as Saylu U-'-Arim^ or the Flood of the Dyke.
' Von Kremer, Die Sildarabische Sage, p. 56. Possibl}', as he suggests
(p. 115), the story may be a symbolical expression of the fact that the
Sabseans were divided into two great tribes, Himyar and Kahlan, the
former of which held the chief power.
THE DYKE OF MA' RIB 1$
Some few miles south-west of Ma'rib the mountains draw
together leaving a gap, through which flows the River Adana.
During the summer its bed is often dry, but in the
^'^Ma'ri'b. °^ rainy season the water rushes down with such
violence that it becomes impassable. In order to
protect the city from floods, and partly also for purposes of
irrigation, the inhabitants built a dam of solid masonry, which,
long after it had fallen into ruin, struck the imagination of
Muhammad, and was reckoned by Moslems among the wonders
of the world. I That their historians have clothed the bare fact
of its destruction in ample robes of legendary circumstance is
not surprising, but renders abridgment necessary .2
Towards the end of the third century of our era, or possibly
at an earlier epoch, 3 the throne of Ma'rib was temporarily
occupied by 'Amr b. 'Amir Ma' al-Sama, sur-
announced by named Muzayqiya.4 His wife, Zarifa, was skilled
in the art of divination. She dreamed dreams and
saw visions which announced the impending calamity. " Go
to the Dyke," she said to her husband, who doubted her clair-
voyance, " and if thou see a rat digging holes in the Dyke
with its paws and moving huge boulders with its hind-legs, be
assured that the woe hath come upon us." So 'Amr went to
' C/. Koran xxxiv, 14 sqq. The existing ruins have been described by
Arnaud in the Journal Asiatique, 7th series, vol. 3 (1874), p. 3 sqq.
- I follow Mas'iidi, Muriiju 'l-Dhahab (ed. by Barbier de Meynard),
vol. iii, p. 378 sqq., and Nuwayri in Reiske's Priince lincce Hisioricc Rerum
Arabicarum, p. 166 sqq.
3 The story of the migration from Ma'rib, as related below, may have
some historical basis, but the Dam itself was not finally destroyed until
long afterwards. Inscriptions carved on the existing ruins show that it
was more or less in working order down to the middle of the sixth
century a.d. The first recorded flood took place in 447-450, and on
another occasion (in 539-542) the Dam was partially reconstructed by
Abraha, the Abyssinian viceroy of Yemen. See E. G\3LSQT,Zwei Inschriftcn
iiber den Dammbruch von Marib (Mitteilungcn dor Vorderasiatischeji
Gesellschaft, 1897, 6).
"* He is said to have gained this sobriquet from his custom of tearing to
pieces (mazaqa) every night the robe which he had worn during the day.
i6 SABA AND HIMYAR
the Dyke and looked carefully, and lo, there was a rat moving
an enormous rock which fifty men could not have rolled from
its place. Convinced by this and other prodigies that the
Dyke would soon burst and the land be laid waste, he resolved
to sell his possessions and depart with his family ; and, lest
conduct so extraordinary should arouse suspicion, he had re-
course to the following stratagem. He invited the chief men
of the city to a splendid feast, which, in accordance with a
preconcerted plan, was interrupted by a violent altercation
between himself and his son (or, as others relate, an orphan
who had been brought up in his house). Blows were ex-
changed, and 'Amr cried out, "O shame ! on the day of my
glory a stripling has insulted me and struck my face." He
swore that he would put his son to death, but the guests
entreated him to show mercy, until at last he gave way.
"But by God," he exclaimed, "I will no longer remain in
a city where I have suffered this indignity. I will sell my
lands and my stock." Having successfully got rid of his
encumbrances — for there was no lack of buyers eager to take
him at his word — 'Amr informed the people of the danger with
which they were threatened, and set out from Ma'rib at the
head of a great multitude. Gradually the waters made a
breach in the Dyke and swept over the country, spreading
devastation far and wide. Hence the proverb Dhahabu (or
tafarraqu) aydi Saha^ "They departed" (or "dispersed") "like
the people of Saba." ^
This deluge marks an epoch in the history of South Arabia.
The waters subside, the land returns to cultivation
sabxan and prosperity, but Ma'rib lies desolate, and the
Sabaeans have disappeared for ever, except " to
point a moral or adorn a tale." Al-A'shd sang : —
Metre Mniaqarib :(^-^ |--^ l^-' | ^ — ).
' Freytag, Arabum Proverbia, vol. i, p. 497.
DESTRUCTION OF THE DYKE 17
" Let this warn whoever a warning will take —
And Ma' rib withal, which the Dam fortified.
Of marble did Himyar construct it, so high,
The waters recoiled when to reach it they tried.
It watered their acres and vineyards, and hour
By hour, did a portion among them divide.
So lived they in fortune and plenty until
Therefrom turned away by a ravaging tide.
Then wandered their princes and noblemen through
Mirage-shrouded deserts that baffle the guide."'
The poet's reference to Himyar is not historically accurate.
It was only after the destruction of the Dyke and the dispersion
of the Sabaans who built it 2 that the Himyarites, with their
capital Zafar (at a later period, San'd) became the rulers of Yemen.
The first Tubba', by which name the Himyarite kings are
known to Muhammadan writers, was Hdrith, called al-Ra'ish,
i.e.. the Featherer, because he ' feathered ' his
TheXubba's. , , • , i , i • i i i i
people s nest with the booty which he brought
home as a conqueror from India and Adharbayjan.3 Of the
Tubba's who come after him some obviously owe their place
in the line of Himyar to genealogists whose respect for the
Koran was greater than their critical acumen. Such a man of
straw is Sa'b Dhu '1-Oarnayn (Sa'b the Two-horned).
The following: verses show that he is a double of the
mysterious Dhu '1-Oarnayn of Koranic legend,
Dhu 'l-Qarnayn. ^ -^ ■' ° . ,
supposed by most commentators to be identical
with Alexander the Great 4 : —
' Hamddni, Iklil, bk. viii, edited by D. H. Miiller in S.B.W.A. (Vienna,
1881), vol. 97, p. 1037. The verses are quoted with some textual differences
by Yaqut, Mu^jam al-Bulddn, ed. by Wiistenfeld, vol. iv, 387, and Ibn
Hishara, p. 9.
' The following inscription is engraved on one of the stone cylinders
described by Arnaud : " Yatha'amar Bayyin, son of Samah'ali Yanuf,
Prince of Saba, caused the mountain Balaq to be pierced and erected the
flood-gates (called) Rahab for convenience of irrigation." I translate after
D. H. Miiller, loc. laud., p. 965.
3 The words Himyar and Tubba'' do not occur at all in the older inscrip-
tions, and very seldom even in those of a more recent date.
* See Koran, xviii, 82-98.
3
i8 SABA AND HIMYAR
" Ours the realm of Dhu '1-Qarnayn the glorious,
Realm like his was never won by mortal king.
Followed he the Sun to view its setting
When it sank into the sombre ocean-spring ;
Up he clomb to see it rise at morning,
From within its mansion when the East it fired ;
All day long the horizons led him onward,'
All night through he watched the stars and never tired.
Then of iron and of liquid metal
He prepared a rampart not to be o'erpassed,
Gog and Magog there he threw in prison
Till on Judgment Day they shall awake at last." =
Similarly, among the TubbaS we find the Queen of Sheba,
whose adventures with Solomon are related in the twenty-
seventh chapter of the Koran. Although Muh-
Bilqis. 1 1 • 1 r 1 • 1 • 1
ammad himself did not mention her name or
lineage, his interpreters were equal to the occasion and revealed
her as Bilqis, the daughter of Sharahil (Sharahbfl).
The national hero of South Arabian legend is the Tubba'
' Dhu '1-Qarnayn is described as "the measurer of the earth" (Massahii
7-arrf) by Hamdani, Jaziratii- 'l-'Arab, p. 46, 1. 10. If I may step for a
moment outside the province of literary history to discuss the mythology of
these verses, it seems to me more than probable that Dhu '1-Qarnayn is a
personification of the Sabasan divinity 'Athtar, who represents " sweet
Hesper-Phosphor, double name" (see D. H. Miiller in S.B.W.A., vol. 97,
p. 973 seq.)- The Minaean inscriptions have " 'Athtar of the setting and
'Athtar of the rising" {ibid., p. 1033). Moreover, in the older inscriptions
'Athtar and Almaqa are always mentioned together ; and Almaqa, which
according to Hamdani is the name of Venus [al-Zuhara], was identified by
Arabian archseologists with Bilqis. For qarn in the sense of ' ray ' or
'beam' see Goldziher, Abhand. ziir Arab. Philolos^ic, Part I, p. 114. I
think there is little doubt that Dhu '1-Oarnayn and Bilqis may be added to
the examples (ibid., p. iii sqq.) of that peculiar conversion by which many
heathen deities were enabled to maintain themselves under various dis-
guises within the pale of Islam.
= The Arabic text will be found in Von Kremer's Altarabische Gcdichie
iicber die Volkssagc von Jemen, p. 15 (No. viii, 1.6 sqq.). Hassan b. Thabit,
the author of these lines, was contemporary with Muhammad, to whose
cause he devoted what poetical talent he possessed. In the verses imme-
diately preceding those translated above he claims to be a descendant of
Qahtan.
THE TUBBA' AS'AD KAMIL 19
As'ad Kdmil, or, as he is sometimes called, Abii Karib. Even
at the present day, says Von Kremer, his memory is kept alive,
and still haunts the ruins of his palace at Zafar.
" No one who reads the Ballad of his Adven-
tures or the words of exhortation which he addressed on his
death-bed to his son Hassan can escape from the conviction that
here we have to do with genuine folk-poetry — fragments of a
South Arabian legendary cycle, the beginnings of which un-
doubtedly reach back to a high antiquity." ^ I translate here
the former of these pieces, which may be entitled
THE BALLAD OF THE THREE WITCHESr
" Time brings to pass full many a wonder
Whereof the lesson thou must ponder.
Whilst all to thee seems ordered fair,
Lo, Fate hath wrought confusion there.
Against a thing foredoomed to be
Nor cunning nor caution helpeth thee.
Now a marvellous tale will I recite ;
Trust me to know and tell it aright !
Once on a time was a boy of Asd
Who became the king of the land at last,
Born in Hamdan, a villager ;
The name of that village was Khamir.
This lad in the pride of youth defied
His friends, and they with scorn replied.
None guessed his worth till he was grown
Ready to spring.
' Von Kremer, Die Siidarabische Sage, p. vii of the Introduction.
^ A prose translation is given by Von Kremer, ibid., p. 78 sqq. The
Arabic text which he published afterwards in Altarabische Gedichtc ucber
die Volkssage von Jemen, p. 18 sqq., is corrupt in some places and incorrect in
others. I have followed Von Kremer's interpretation except when it seemed
to me to be manifestly untenable. The reader will have no difficulty in
believing that this poem was meant to be recited by a wandering minstrel
to the hearers that gathered round him at nightfall. It may well be the
composition of one of those professional story-tellers who flourished in
the first century after the Flight, such as 'Abid b. Sharya (see p. 13 supra),
or Yazid b. Rabi'a b. Mufarrigh (f 688 a.d.), who is said to have invented
the poems and romances of the Himyarite kings (Aghdni, xvii, 52).
20 SABA AND HIMYAR
One morn, alone
On Hinwam hill he was sore afraid.'
(His people knew not where he strayed ;
They had seen him only yesternight,
For his youth and wildncss they held him light.
The wretches ! Him they never missed
Who had been their glory had they wist).
O the fear that fell on his heart when he
Saw beside him the witches three !
The eldest came with many a brew —
In some was blood, blood-dark their hue.
' Give me the cup ! ' he shouted bold ;
'Hold, hold!' cried she, but he would not hold.
She gave him the cup, nor he did shrink
Tho' he reeled as he drained the magic drink.
Then the second yelled at him. Her he faced
Like a lion with anger in his breast.
'These be our steeds, come mount,' she cried,
' For asses are worst of steeds to ride.'
' 'Tis sooth,' he answered, and slipped his flank
O'er a hyena lean and lank.
But the brute so fiercely flung him away.
With deep, deep wounds on the earth he lay.
Then came the youngest and tended him
On a soft bed, while her eyes did swim
In tears ; but he averted his face
And sought a rougher resting-place :
Such paramour he deemed too base.
And himthought, in anguish lying there,
That needles underneath him were.'
Now when they had marked his mien so bold.
Victory in all things they foretold.
' The wars, O As'ad, waged by thee
Shall heal mankind of misery.
' Instead of Hinwam the original has Hayyum, for which Von Kramer
reads Ahnum. But see Hamdaiii, Jaziratu 'l-'Arab, p. 193, last line and
fol.
* I read al-jahdi for al-jahli.
BALLAD OF THE THREE WITCHES 21
Thy sword and spear the foe shall rue
When his gashes let the daylight through ;
And blood shall flow on every hand
What time thou marchest from land to land.
By us be counselled : stay not within
Khamir, but go to Zafdr and win !
To thee shall dalliance ne'er be dear,
Thy foes shall see thee before they hear.
Desire moved to encounter thee,
Noble prince, us witches three.
Not jest, but earnest on thee we tried,
And well didst thou the proof abide.'
As'ad went home and told his folk
What he had seen, but no heed they took.
On the tenth day he set out again
And fared to Zafdr with thoughts in his brain.
There fortune raised him to high renown :
None swifter to strike ever wore a crown.'
Thus found we the tale in memory stored,
And Almighty is the Lord.
Praise be to God who liveth aye.
The Glorious to whom all men pray ! "
Legend makes As'ad the hero of a brilliant expedition to
Persia, where he defeated the general sent against him by the
Arsacids, and penetrated to the Caspian Sea. On his way
home he marched through the Hijdz, and having learned that
his son, whom he left behind in Medina, had been treacherously
murdered, he resolved to take a terrible vengeance on the
people of that city.
" Now while the Tubba' was carrying on war against them, there
came to him two Jewish Rabbins of the Banu Qurayza, men deep in
knowledge, who when they heard that he wished to destroy the
' I omit the following verses, which tell how an old woman of Medina
came to King As'ad, imploring him to avenge her wrongs, and how he
gathered an innumerable army, routed his enemies, and returned to Zafar
in triumph.
22 SABA AND HIMYAR
city and its people, said to him : ' O King, forbear 1 Verily, if thou
wilt accept nothing save that which thou desirest, an intervention
. , ,„, .. will be made betwixt thee and the city, and we are
As'adKamil . ■'
and the not sure but that sudden chastisement may befall
^of°Medina"' thee.' ' Why SO ? ' he asked. They answered : "Tis
the place of refuge of a prophet who in the after
time shall go forth from the sacred territory of Quraysh : it shall be
his abode and his home.' So the king refrained himself, for he saw
that those two had a particular knowledge, and he was pleased with
what they told him. On departing from Medina he followed them
in their religion.' . . . And he turned his face towards Mecca, that
being his way to Yemen, and when he was between
^at^Mecca".'' 'Usfan and Amaj some Hudhalites came to him and
said : ' O King, shall we not guide thee to a house of
ancient treasure which the kings before thee neglected, wherein
are pearls and emeralds and chrysolites and gold and silver ?' He
said, ' Yea.' They said : ' It is a temple at Mecca which those who
belong to it worship and in which they pray.' Now the Hudhalites
wished to destroy him thereby, knowing that destruction awaited
the king who should seek to violate its precinct. So on compre-
hending what they proposed, he sent to the two Rabbins to ask
them about the affair. They replied : ' These folk intend naught
but to destroy thee and thine army ; we wot not of any house in the
world that God hath chosen for Himself, save this. If thou do that
to which they invite thee, thou and those with thee will surely
perish together.' He said : 'What then is it ye bid me do when I
come there ? ' They said : ' Thou wilt do as its people do — make
the circuit thereof, and magnify and honour it, and shave thy head,
and humble thyself before it, until thou go forth from its precinct.'
He said; 'And what hinders you from doing that yourselves?'
' By God,' said they, ' it is the temple of our father Abraham, and
verily it is even as we told thee, but we are debarred therefrom by
the idols which its people have set up around it and by the blood-
offerings which they make beside it ; for they are vile polytheists,'
or words to the same effect. The king perceived that their advice
was good and their tale true. He ordered the Hudhalites to
approach, and cut off their hands and feet. Then he continued his
march to Mecca, where he made the circuit of the temple, sacrificed
camels, and shaved his head. According to what is told, he stayed
six days at Mecca, feasting the inhabitants with the flesh of camels
Ibn Hisham, p. 13, 1. 14 sqq.
AS'AB KAMIL and THE RABBINS 23
and letting them drink honey.' . . . Then he moved out with his
troops in the direction of Yemen, the two Rabbins accompanying
him ; and on entering Yemen he called on his subjects
^esUbHsh° ^° adopt the religion which he himself had embraced,
Judaism in but they refused unless the question were submitted
Yemen
to the ordeal of fire which at that time existed in
Yemen ; for as the Yemenites say, there was in their country a
fire that gave judgment between them in their disputes : it devoured
the wrong-doer but left the injured person unscathed.
^''^ °ti^e ^' °^ The Yemenites therefore came forward with their
idols and whatever else they used as a means of
drawing nigh unto God, and the two Rabbins came forward with
their scriptures hung on their necks like necklaces, and both parties
seated themselves at the place from which the fire was wont to
issue. And the fire blazed up, and the Yemenites shrank back from
it as it approached them, and were afraid, but the bystanders urged
them on and bade them take courage. So they held out until the
fire enveloped them and consumed the idols and images and the
men of Himyar, the bearers thereof ; but the Rabbins came forth
safe and sound, their brows moist with sweat, and the scriptures
were still hanging on their necks. Thereupon the Himyarites con-
sented to adopt the king's religion, and this was the cause of
Judaism being estabhshed in Yemen." "
The poem addressed to his son and successor, Hassdn, which
tradition has put into his mouth, is a sort of last will and
testament, of which the greater part is taken
^tohisToT^ up with an account of his conquests and with
glorification of his family and himself.3 Nearly-
all that we find in the way of maxims or injunctions suitable
to the solemn occasion is contained in the following verses : —
" O Hassan, the hour of thy father's death has arrived at last :
Look to thyself ere yet the time for looking is past.
Oft indeed are the mighty abased, and often likewise
Are the base exalted : such is Man who is born and dies.
' Ibn Hisham, p. 15, 1. i sqq. = Ihid., p. 17, 1. 2 sqq.
3 Arabic text in Von Kremer's Alfarabische Gedichte ueber die Volkssage
von Jemen, p. 20 seq. ; prose translation by the same author in Die
Sudarabische Sage, p. 84 sqq.
24 SABA AND HIMYAR
Bid ye Himyar know that standing erect would I buried be,
And have my wine-skins and Yemen robes in the tomb with
me.'
And hearken thou to my Sibyl, for surely can she foresay
The truth, and safe in her keeping is castle Ghayman aye.^
In connection with GhaymAn a few words may be added
respecting the castles in Yemen, of which the ruined skeletons
rising from solitary heights seem still to frown
^fVm"r defiance upon the passing traveller. Two thou-
sand years ago, and probably long before, they
were occupied by powerful barons, more or less independent,
who in later times, when the Himyarite Empire had begun to
decline, always elected, and occasionally deposed, their royal
master. Of these castles the geographer Hamdani has given a
detailed account in the eighth book of his great work on the
history and antiquities of Yemen entitled the Iklil^ or
* Crown.' 3 The oldest and most celebrated was Ghumddn,
the citadel of San'a. It is described as a huge edifice of
twenty stories, each story ten cubits high. The
four facades were built with stone of different
colours, white, black, green, and red. On the top story was
a chamber which had windows of marble framed with ebony
and planewood. Its roof was a slab of pellucid marble, so
that when the lord of Ghumddn lay on his couch he saw the
birds fly overhead, and could distinguish a raven from a kite.
At each corner stood a brazen lion, and when the wind blew
' The second half of this verse is corrupt. Von Kramer translates (in
his notes to the Arabic text, p. 26) : " And bury with me the camel
stallions (al-khihhi) and the slaves {al-niqqdn)." Apart, however, from
the fact that ruqqdn (plural of raqfq) is not mentioned by the lexico-
graphers, it seems highly improbable that the king would have com-
manded such a barbarity. I therefore take khi'hin (plural of kluil) in the
meaning of ' soft stuffs of Yemen,' and read zuqqdn (plural of ziqq).
' Ghayman or Miqlab, a castle near San'a, in which the Himyarite kings
were buried.
3 The text and translation of this section of the Ikli'l have been pub-
lished by D. H. Miiller in S.B.W.A., vols. 94 and 97 (Vienna, 1879-1880).
ZARQA of VAMAMA 25
it entered the hollow interior of the effigies and made a sound
like the roaring of lions.
The adventure of As'ad Kdmil with the three witches must
have recalled to every reader certain scenes in Macbeth,
Curiously enough, in the history of his son Hassdn an incident
is related which offers a striking parallel to the march of
Birnam Wood. Tasm and Jadis have already been men-
tioned. On the massacre of the former tribe by the latter, a
single Tasmite named RibAh b. Murra made his escape and
took refuge with the Tubba' Hassdn, whom he persuaded to
lead an expedition against the murderers. Now Ribah's sister
had married a man of Jadis. Her name was
'i-lamima. ZarqA'u '1-Yamdma — i.e.^ the Blue-eyed Woman
of Yamama — and she had such piercing sight that
she was able to descry an army thirty miles away. Hassdn
therefore bade his horsemen hold in front of them leafy
branches which they tore down from the trees. They
advanced thus hidden, and towards evening, when they had
come within a day's journey, Zarqd said to her people : " I
see trees marching." No one believed her until it was too
late. Next morning Hassan fell upon them and put the whole
tribe to the sword.
The warlike expeditions to which Hassdn devoted all his
energy were felt as an intolerable burden by the chiefs of
Himyar, who formed a plot to slay him and set
Hassan *. / ' V ]
murdered by his brother 'Amr on the throne. 'Amr was at
his brother.
first unwilling to lend himself to their designs,
but ultimately his scruples were overcome, and he
stabbed the Tubba' with his own hand. The assassin
suffered a terrible punishment. Sleep deserted him, and in his
remorse he began to execute the conspirators one after another.
There was, however, a single chief called Dhii
Ru'ayn, who had remained loyal and had done his
best to save 'Amr from the guilt of fratricide. Finding his
efforts fruitless, he requested 'Amr to take charge of a sealed
26 SABA AND HIMYAR
paper which he brought with him, and to keep it in a safe
place until he should ask for it. 'Amr consented and thought
no more of the matter. Afterwards, imagining that Dhu
Ru'ayn had joined in the fatal plot, he gave orders for his
execution. " How ! " exclaimed Dhu Ru'ayn, " did not I tell
thee what the crime involved ? " and he asked for the sealed
writing, which was found to contain these verses —
" O fool to barter sleep for waking ! Blest
Is he alone whose eyelids close in rest.
Hath Himyar practised treason, yet 'tis plain
That God forgiveness owes to Dhu Ru'ayn.'"
On reading this, 'Amr recognised that Dhu Ru'ayn had
spoken the truth, and he spared his life.
With 'Amr the Tubba' dynasty comes to an end. The
succeeding kings were elected by eight of the most powerful
barons, who in reality were independent princes, each ruling in
his strong castle over as many vassals and retainers as he could
bring into subjection. During this period the Abyssinians
conquered at least some part of the country, and Christian
viceroys were sent by the Najashi (Negus) to govern it in his
name. At last Dhu Nuwas, a descendant of the Tubba'
As'ad Kamil, crushed the rebellious barons and made himself
unquestioned monarch of Yemen. A fanatical adherent of
Judaism, he resolved to stamp out Christianity in
Dhii Nuwas. -vt • ^ l • • ■ i i i • j i
JNajran, where it is said to have been introduced
from Syria by a holy man called Faymiyun (Phemion). The
Himyarites flocked to his standard, not so much from religious
motives as from hatred of the Abyssinians. The pretended
murder of two Jewish children gave Dhu Nuwas a plausible
casui belli. He marched against Najran with an overwhelming
force, entered the city, and bade the inhabitants
Massacre of the , , t i • i i i n /r
Christians in choose bctwccn Judaism and death. Many
Najran(523 A.D.). • u j t_ l j i i
perished by the sword ; the rest were thrown into
a trench which the king ordered to be dug and filled with
' Aghdni, XX, 8, 1. 14 seq.
DHjy NUWAS 27
blazing fire. Nearly a hundred years later, when Muhammad
was being sorely persecuted, he consoled and encouraged his
followers by the example of the Christians of Najran, who
suffered ^'^ for no other reason but that they believed in the mighty^
the glorious God." ^ Dhu Nuwas paid dearly for his triumph.
Daws Dhu Tha'laban, one of those who escaped from the
massacre, fled to the Byzantine emperor and implored him, as
the head of Christendom, to assist them in obtaining vengeance.
Justinus accordingly wrote a letter to the Najashii, desiring him
to take action, and ere long an Abyssinian army, 70,000
strong, under the command of Aryat, disembarked in Yemen.
Dhu Nuwas could not count on the loyalty of the Himyarite
nobles ; his troops melted away. " When he saw
DhifNuwas. the fate that had befallen himself and his people,
he turned to the sea and setting spurs to his horse,
rode through the shallows until he reached the deep water.
Then he plunged into the waves and nothing more of him
was seen." 2
Thus died, or thus at any rate should have died, the last
representative of the long line of Himyarite kings. Hence-
forth Yemen appears in Pre-islamic history only as an Abys-
sinian dependency or as a Persian protectorate. The events
now to be related form the prologue to a new drama in which
South Arabia, so far from being the centre of interest, plays an
almost insignificant role. 3
On the death of Dhu Nuwas, the Abyssinian general Aryat
continued his march through Yemen. He slaughtered a third part
of the males, laid waste a third part of the land, and
AbySan^rtue. ^ent^ a third part of the women and children to the
Najashi as slaves. Having reduced the Yemenites to
submission and re-established order, he held the position of viceroy
' Koran, Ixxxv, 4 sqq. ' Tabari, i, 927, 1. 19 sqq.
3 The following narrative is abridged from Tabari, i, 928, 1. 2 sqq.
= Noldeke, Geschichte der Pcrser and Araber zur Zeit der Sasanidcn,
p. 192 sqq.
28 SABA AND HIMYAR
for several years. Then mutiny broke out in the Abyssinian army
of occupation, and his authority was disputed by an officer, named
Abraha. When the rivals faced each other, Abraha said to Aryat :
" What will it avail you to engage the Abyssinians in a civil war that
will leave none of them alive ? Fight it out with me, and let the
troops follow the victor." His challenge being accepted, Abraha
stepped forth. He was a short, fleshy man, compactly built, a
devout Christian, while Aryat was big, tall, and hand-
^'^Arydf"'^ some. When the duel began, Aryat thrust his spear
with the intention of piercing Abraha's brain, but it
glanced off his forehead, slitting his eyelid, nose, and lip — hence the
name, al-Ashram, by which Abraha was afterwards known ; and ere
he could repeat the blow, a youth in Abraha's service, called
'Atwada, who was seated on a hillock behind his master, sprang
forward and dealt him a mortal wound. Thus Abraha found
himself commander-in-chief of the Abyssinian army, but the Najashi
was enraged and swore not to rest until he set foot on the soil of
Yemen and cut off the rebel's forelock. On hearing this, Abraha
wrote to the Najashi : "O King, Aryat was thy servant even as I am.
We quarrelled over thy command, both of us owing allegiance to
thee, but I had more strength than he to command the Abyssinians
and keep discipline and exert authority. When I heard of the
king's oath, I shore my head, and now I send him a sack of the
earth of Yemen that he may put it under his feet and fulfil his oath."
The Najashi answered this act of submission by appointing Abraha
to be his viceroy. . . . Then Abraha built the church
Abraha^ceroy {^al-Qalis) at San'd, the like of which was not to be seen
at that time in the whole world, and wrote to the
Najashi that he would not be content until he had diverted thither
every pilgrim in Arabia. This letter made much talk, and a man of
the Banu Fuqaym, one of those who arranged the calendar, was
angered by what he learned of Abraha's purpose ; so he went into
the church and defiled it. When Abraha heard that the author of
the outrage belonged to the people of the Temple in Mecca, and
that he meant to show thereby his scorn and contempt for the new
foundation, he waxed wroth and swore that he would march against
the Temple and lay it in ruins.
The disastrous failure of this expedition, which took place
in the year of the Elephant (570 a.d.), did not at once free
Yemen from the Abyssinian yoke. The sons of Abraha,
Yaqsum and Masruq, bore heavily on the Arabs. Seeing no
THE ABYSSINIANS IN YEMEN 29
help among his own people, a noble Himyarite named Sayf b.
Dhl Yazan resolved to seek foreign intervention. His choice
lay between the Byzantine and Persian empires,
^^vL^ai?''' and he first betook himself to Constantinople.
Disappointed there, he induced the Arab king of
Hfra, who was under Persian suzerainty, to present him at the
court of Madd'in (Ctesiphon). How he won audience of the
Sdsanian monarch, Nushirwan, surnamed the Just, and tempted
him by an ingenious trick to raise a force of eight hundred
condemned felons, who were set free and shipped to Yemen
under the command of an aged general ; how they literally
*burned their boats 'and, drawing courage from despair, routed
the Abyssinian host and made Yemen a satrapy
The Persians in ^ r* . i • r i
Yemen ot Pcrsia ^ — this lorms an almost epic narrative,
which I have omitted here (apart from considera-
tions of space) because it belongs to Persian rather than to
Arabian literary history, being probably based, as Noldeke has
suggested, on traditions handed down by the Persian con-
querors who settled in Yemen to their aristocratic descendants
whom the Arabs called al-Abna (the Sons) or Banu U-Jhrar
(Sons of the Noble).
Leaving the once mighty kingdom of Yemen thus pitiably
and for ever fallen from its high estate, we turn northward
into the main stream of Arabian history.
' The reader will find a full and excellent account of these matters in
Professor Browne's Literary History of Persia, vol. i, pp. 178-181.
--^
CHAPTER II
THE HISTORY AND LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
MuHAMMADANs iiiclude the whole period of Arabian history
from the earhest times down to the establishment of Islam
in the term al-Jdhiliyya. which was used by
The Ace of , ^ , , • r r i t^ j •
Barbarism Muhammad m four passages of the Koran and is
(al-Jahiiiyya). * i j i u r • »
generally translated 'the state of ignorance or
simply ' the Ignorance.' Goldziher, however, has shown con-
clusively that the meaning attached to yc/;/ (whence 'Jahiliyya
is derived) by the Pre-islamic poets is not so much ' ignorance '
as ' wildness,' 'savagery,' and that its true antithesis is not
^ilm (knowledge), but rather hilm^ which denotes the moral
reasonableness of a civilised man. " When Muhammadans say
that Islam put an end to the manners and customs of the
Jahiliyya^ they have in view those barbarous practices, that
/ I savage temper, by which Arabian heathendom is distinguished
^- from Islam and by the abolition of which Muhammad sought
to work a moral reformation in his countrymen : the haughty
spirit of the Jahiliyya [hamiyyatu '/-Jahiliyya), the tribal pride
and the endless tribal feuds, the cult of revenge, the implaca-
bility and all the other pagan characteristics which Islam was
destined to overcome." ^
Our sources of information regarding this period may be
classified as follows : —
(i) Poe?ns and fragments of verse^ which though not written
' Goldziher, Muhammcdanischc Studiai, Part I, p. 225.
30
SOURCES OF INFORMATION 31
down at the time were preserved by oral tradition and com-
mitted to writing, for the most part, two or three hundred
years afterwards. The importance of this, virtu-
information ^^^y ^^^ 5°^^ contemporary record of Pre-islamic
'^°jamiij"yi!'^^ history, is recognised in the w^ell-known saying,
" Poetry is the public register of the Arabs [al-
shi^ru dlwdnu U-^Arab) ; thereby genealogies are kept in mind
and famous actions are made familiar." Some account of the
chief collections of old Arabian poetry will be given in the
next chapter.
(2) Proverbs. These are of less value, as they seldom
explain themselves, while the commentary attached to them is
the work of scholars bent on explaining them at all costs,
though in many cases their true meaning could only be con-
jectured and the circumstances of their origin had been entirely
forgotten. Notwithstanding this very pardonable excess of
zeal, we could ill afford to lose the celebrated collections
of Mufaddal al-Dabbi (f about 786 a.d.) and Maydani
(f 1 1 24 A.D.),i which contain so much curious information
throwing light on every aspect of Pre-islamic life.
(3) Traditions and legends. Since the art of writing was
neither understood nor practised by the heathen Arabs in
general, it was impossible that Prose, as a literary form, should
exist among them. The germs of Arabic Prose, however, may
be traced back to the ydhiliyya. Besides the proverb [mathal) and
the oration [kjiutba) we find elements of history and romance
in the prose narratives used by the rhapsodists to introduce and
set forth plainly the matter of their songs, and in the legends
which recounted the glorious deeds of tribes and individuals.
A vast number of such stories — some unmistakably genuine,
others bearing the stamp of fiction — are preserved in various
literary, historical, and geographical works composed under the
'Abbasid Caliphate, especially in the Kitdbu U-Aghdni (Book
' Maydani's collection has been edited, with a Latin translation by
Freytag, in tliree volumes {Arahum Proverbia, Bonn, 1838-1843).
32 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
of Songs) by Abu '1-Faraj of Isfahan (f 967 a.d.), an invaluable
compilation based on the researches of the great Humanists
as they have been well named by Sir Charles Lyall, of the
second and third centuries after the Hijra.i The original
writings of these early critics and scholars have
'^^\ont°^ perished almost without exception, and beyond the
copious citations in the Aghinl we possess hardly
any specimens of their work. " The Book of Songs" says Ibn
Khaldun, " is the Register of the Arabs. It comprises all that
they had achieved in the past of excellence in every kind of
poetry, history, music, et cetera. So far as I am aware, no other
book can be put on a level with it in this respect. It is the
final resource of the student of belles-lettres, and leaves him
nothing further to desire." 2
In the following pages I shall not attempt to set in due
order and connection the confused mass of poetry and legend
in which all that we know of Pre-islamic Arabia
thfs^chapter ^^^^ deeply embedded. This task has already been
performed with admirable skill by Caussin de
Perceval in his Essai sur Phistoire des Arabes avant Plslamisme^S
and it could serve no useful purpose to inflict a dry summary
of that famous work upon the reader. The better course, I
think, will be to select a few typical and outstanding features
of the time and to present them, wherever possible, as they
have been drawn — largely from imagination — by the Arabs
themselves. If the Arabian traditions are wanting in historical
accuracy they are nevertheless, taken as a whole, true in spirit
to the Dark Age which they call up from the dead and
reverently unfold beneath our eyes.
• The Kitdbn 'l-Agluini has been published at Bulaq (1284-1285 a.h.) in
twenty volumes. A volume of biographies not contained in the Bulaq
text was edited by R. E. Briinnow (Leiden, 1888).
' Muqaddima of Ibn Khaldun (Beyrout, 1900), p. 554, 11. 8-10 ; Les Pro-
legomencs d' Ibn Khaldoun tradiuts par M. dc Slanc (Paris, 1863-68)
vol. iii, p. 331-
3 Published at Paris, 1847-1S48, in three volumes.
ARAB KINGDOMS 33
About the middle of the third century of our era Arabia
was enclosed on the north and north-east by the rival empires
of Rome and Persia, to which the Syrian desert, stretching
right across the peninsula, formed a natural termination. In
order to protect themselves from Bedouin raiders, who poured
over the frontier-provinces, and after laying hands on all the
booty within reach vanished as suddenly as they came, both
Powers found it necessary to plant a line of garrisons along
the edge of the wilderness. Thus the tribesmen were partially
held in check, but as force alone seemed an expensive and
inefficient remedy it was decided, in accordance with the well-
proved maxim, divide et impera^ to enlist a number of the
offending tribes in the Imperial service. Regular pay and the
prospect of unlimited plunder — for in those days Rome and
Persia were almost perpetually at war — were inducements that
no true Bedouin could resist. They fought, how-
TheArab "' ,- r
dynasties of Hira cvcr, as tree aiiics uuder their own chiers or
and Ghassan. , , , t i • a i • i
phylarchs. in this way two Arabian dynasties
sprang up — the Ghassanids in Syria and the Lakhmites at
Hira, west of the Euphrates — military buffer-states, always
ready to collide even when they were not urged on by the
suzerain powers behind them. The Arabs soon showed what
they were capable of when trained and disciplined in arms.
On the defeat of Valerian by the Chosroes Sabiir I, an Arab
chieftain in Palmyra, named Udhayna (Odenathus), marched
at the head of a strong force against the conqueror, drove him
out of Syria, and pursued him up to the very walls of Mada'in,
the Persian capital (265 a.d.). His brilliant exploits were
duly rewarded by the Emperor Gallienus, who bestowed on
him the title of Augustus. He was, in fact, the
°'^z"enoWa!"^'' acknowledged master of the Roman legions in the
East when, a year later, he was treacherously
murdered. He found a worthy successor in his wife, the
noble and ambitious Zenobia, who set herself the task of
building up a great Oriental Empire. She fared, however, no
4
34 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
better than did Cleopatra in a like enterprise. For a moment
the issue was doubtful, but Aurelian triumphed and the proud
* Queen of the East ' was led a captive before his chariot
through the streets of Rome (274 a.d.).
These events were not forgotten by the Arabs. It flattered
their national pride to recall that once, at any rate, Roman
armies had marched under the flag of an Arabian princess
But the legend, as told in their traditions, has little in common
with reality. Not only are names and places freely altered —
Zenobia herself being confused with her Syrian general, Zabdai
— but the historical setting, though dimly visible in the back-
ground, has been distorted almost beyond recognition : what
remains is one of those romantic adventures which delighted
the Arabs of the yahiliyya, just as their modern descendants
are never tired of listening to the Story of '■Antar or to the
Thousand Nights and a Night.
The first king of the Arab settlers in 'Iraq (Babylonia) i
is said to have been Malik the Azdite, who was accidentally
shot with an arrow by his son, Sulayma. Before
Malik the Azdite. , . , , , , • , , i
he expired he uttered a verse which has become
proverbial : —
U'allimiiliu 'l-rimdyata kulla yawim"
falamma 'shtadda sd'iduhn ramdni.
" I taught him every day the bowman's art,
And when his arm grew strong, he pierced my
heart."
Malik's kingdom, if it can properly be described as such, was
consolidated and organised by his son, Jadhima, surnamed
al-Abrash (the Speckled) — a polite euphemism for
J^Abrash. al-Abras (the Leprous). He reigned as the vassal
of Ardashir Babakan, the founder (226 a.d.) of
the Sasanian dynasty in Persia, which thereafter continued to
dominate the Arabs of 'Iraq during the whole Pre-islamic
' These are the same Bedouin Arabs of Taniikh who afterwards formed
part of the population of Hira. See p. 38 infra.
JADHfMA AL-ABRASH 35
period. Jadhima is the hero of many fables and proverbs.
His pride, it is said, was so overweening that he would suffer
no boon-companions except two stars called al-Farqadan^ and
when he drank wine he used to pour out a cup for each of
them. He had a page, 'Adi b. Nasr, with whom his sister fell
in love ; and in a moment of intoxication he gave his consent
to their marriage. Next morning, furious at the trick which
had been played upon him, he beheaded the unlucky bride-
groom and reviled his sister for having married a slave.
Nevertheless, when a son was born, Jadhima adopted the boy,
and as he grew up regarded him with the utmost affection.
One day the youthful *Amr suddenly disappeared. For a long
time no trace of him could be found, but at last he was dis-
covered, running wild and naked, by two brothers, Malik and
*Aqil, who cared for him and clothed him and presented him
to the king. Overjoyed at the sight, Jadhima promised to
grant them whatever they asked. They chose the honour,
which no mortal had hitherto obtained, of being his boon-
companions, and by this title [nadmana Jadhima) they are
known to fame.
Jadhima was a wise and warlike prince. In one of his
expeditions he defeated and slew 'Amr b. Zarib b. Hassan b.
Udhayna, an Arab chieftain who had brought part of Eastern
Syria and Mesopotamia under his sway, and who, as the name
Udhayna indicates, is probably identical with Odenathus, the
husband of Zenobia. This opinion is confirmed by the state-
ment of Ibn Qutayba that "Jadhima sought in marriage
Zabba, the daughter of the King of Mesopotamia,
'""'^labb? °^ vf^o became queen after her husband^ ^ Accord-
ing to the view generally held by Muhammadan
authors Zabba 2 was the daughter of 'Amr b. Zarib and was
' Ibn Qutayba in Briinnow's Chrestomathy, p. 29.
^ Properly «/-Za66tf, an epithet meaning 'hairy.' According to Tabari
(i, 757) her name was Na'ila. It is odd that in the Arabic version of the
story the name Zenobia (Zaynab) should be borne by the heroine's sister.
36 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
elected to succeed him when he fell in battle. However this
may be, she proved herself a woman of extraordinary courage
and resolution. As a safeguard against attack she built two
strong castles on either bank of the Euphrates and connected
them by a subterranean tunnel ; she made one fortress her
own residence, while her sister, Zaynab, occupied the other.
Having thus secured her position she determined to take
vengeance on Jadhima. She wrote to him that the sceptre was
slipping from her feeble grasp, that she found no man worthy of
her except himself, that she desired to unite her kingdom with his
by marriage, and begged him to come and see her. Jadhima needed
no urging. Deaf to the warnings of his friend and counsellor,
Qasir, he started from Baqqa, a castle on the Euphrates. When
they had travelled some distance, Qasir implored him to return.
"No," said Jadhima, "the affair was decided at Baqqa" — words
which passed into a proverb. On approaching their destination the
king saw with alarm squadrons of cavalry between him and the city,
and said to Qasir, "What is the prudent course?" "You left
prudence at Baqqa," he replied ; " if the cavalry advance and salute
you as king and then retire in front of you, the woman is sincere,
but if they cover your flanks and encompass you, they mean
treachery. Mount al-'Asa" — Jadhima's favourite mare — "for she
cannot be overtaken or outpaced, and rejoin your troops while
there is yet time." Jadhima refused to follow this advice. Presently
he was surrounded by the cavalry and captured. Qasir, however,
sprang on the mare's back and galloped thirty miles without drawing
rein.
When Jadhima was brought to Zabba she seated him on a skin of
leather and ordered her maidens to open the veins in his arm, so
that his blood should flow into a golden bowl. "O Jadhima," said
she, " let not a single drop be lost. I want it as a cure for madness."
The dying man suddenly moved his arm and sprinkled with his
blood one of the marble pillars of the hall — an evil portent for
Zabba, inasmuch as it had been prophesied by a certain soothsayer
that unless every drop of the king's blood entered the bowl, his
murder would be avenged.
Now Qasir cameto'Amr b. 'Adi, Jadhima's nephew and son by adop-
tion, who has been mentioned above, and engaged to win over the
army to his side if he would take vengeance on Zabba. " But how ? "
cried 'Amr ; " for she is more inaccessible than the eagle of the air."
"Only help me," said Qasir, "and you will be clear of blame." He
THE STORY OF ZABBA 37
cut off his nose and ears and betook himself to Zabba, pretending
that he had been mutilated by 'Amr. The queen believed what she
saw, welcomed him, and gave him money to trade on her behalf.
Qasir hastened to the palace of 'Amr at Hira, and, having obtained
permission to ransack the royal treasury, he returned laden with
riches. Thus he gradually crept into the confidence of Zabba, until
one day he said to her : " It behoves every king and queen to pro-
vide themselves with a secret passage wherein to take refuge in
case of danger." Zabba answered : " I have already done so," and
showed him the tunnel which she had constructed underneath the
Euphrates. His project was now ripe for execution. With the
help of 'Amr he fitted out a caravan of a thousand camels, each
carrying two armed men concealed in sacks. When they drew near
the city of Zabba, Qasir left them and rode forward to announce
their arrival to the queen, who from the walls of her capital viewed
the long train of heavily burdened camels and marvelled at the slow
pace with which they advanced. As the last camel passed through
the gates of the city the janitor pricked one of the sacks with an
ox-goad which he had with him, and hearing a cry of pain, exclaimed,
" By God, there's mischief in the sacks ! " But it was too late.
'Amr and his men threw themselves upon the garrison and put them
to the sword. Zabba sought to escape by the tunnel, but Qasir stood
barring the exit on the further side of the stream. She hurried back,
and there was 'Amr facing her. Resolved that her enemy should
not taste the sweetness of vengeance, she sucked her seal-ring,
which contained a deadly poison, crying, " By my own hand, not
by 'Amr's!"'
In the kingdoms of Hira and Ghassan Pre-islamic culture
attained its highest development, and from these centres it
diffused itself and made its influence felt throughout Arabia.
Some account, therefore, of their history and of the circum-
stances vs^hich enabled them to assume a civilising role will
not be superfluous.2
' The above narrative is abridged from Aghdnt, xiv, 73, 1. 20-75, 1. 25.
Cf. Tabari, i, 757-766 ; Mas'udi, Muniju 'l-Dhahab (ed. by Barbier de
Meynard), vol. iii, pp. 189-199.
* Concerning Hira and its history the reader may consult an admirable
monograph by Dr. G. Rothstein, Die Dynastie der Lahmiden in al-Hira
(Berlin, 1899), where the sources of information are set forth (p. 5 sqq.).
The incidental references to contemporary events in Syriac and Byzantine
writers, who often describe what they saw with their own eyes, are
38 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
About the beginning of the third century after Christ a
number of Bedouin tribes, wholly or partly of Yemenite origin,
who had formed a confederacy and called them-
^'''if°Hta"°° selves collectively Taniikh, took advantage of the
disorder then prevailing in the Arsacid Empire to
invade 'Iraq (Babylonia) and plant their settlements in the
fertile country west of the Euphrates. While part of the
intruders continued to lead a nomad life, others engaged in
agriculture, and in course of time villages and towns grew up.
The most important of these was Hira (properly, al-Hira,
i.e.^ the Camp), which occupied a favourable and healthy
situation a few miles to the south of Kufa, in the neigh-
bourhood of ancient Babylon. ^ According to Hisham b.
Muhammad al-Kalbi (fSig or 821 a.d.), an excellent
authority for the history of the Pre-islamic period, the
inhabitants of Hira during the reign of Ardashir Babakdn,
the first Sasanian king of Persia (226-241 a.d.), consisted of
three classes, viz. : —
( 1 ) The Taniikh^ who dwelt west of the Euphrates between
Hira and Anbar in tents of camel's hair.
(2) The ^Ibddy who lived in houses in Hira.
(3) The Ahlaf (Clients), who did not belong to either of
the above-mentioned classes, but attached themselves to the
people of Hira and lived among them — blood-guilty fugitives
extremely valuable as a means of fixing the chronology, which Arabian
historians can only supply by conjecture, owing to the want of a definite
era during the Pre-islamic period. Muhammadan general histories
usually contain sections, more or less mythical in character, "On the
Kings of Hira and Ghassan." Attention may be called in particular to the
account derived from Hisham b. Muhammad al-Kalbi, which is preserved
by Tabari and has been tranolated with a masterly commentary by
Noldeke in his Geschichtc dcr Pcrser unci Arabcr zur Zeil dcr Sasaniden,
Hisham had access to the archives kept in the churches of Hira, and
claims to have extracted therefrom many genealogical and chronological
details relating to the Lakhmite dynasty (Tabari, i, 770, 7).
* Hira is the Syriac hertd (sacred enclosure, monastery), which name
was apphed to the originally mobile camp of the Persian Arabs and
retained as the designation of the garrison town.
HIRA AND ITS INHABITANTS 39
pursued by the vengeance of their own kin, or needy emigrants
seeking to mend their fortunes.
Naturally the townsmen proper formed by far the most
influential element in the population. Hisham, as we have
seen, calls them ' the 'Ibad.' His use of this
The 'Ibid. , . . , t-.,
term, however, is not strictly accurate. i ne
'Ibad are exclusively the Christian Arabs of Hira^ and are
so called in virtue of their Christianity ; the pagan Arabs,
who at the time when Hira was founded and for long
afterwards constituted the bulk of the citizens, were never
comprised in a designation which expresses the very opposite
of paganism. ^Ibdd means ' servants,' i.e.^ those who serve
God or Christ. It cannot be determined at what epoch the
name was first used to distinguish the religious community,
composed of members of different tribes, which was dominant
in Hira during the sixth century. Dates are compara-
tively of little importance ; what is really remarkable is the
existence in Pre-islamic times of an Arabian community
that was not based on blood-relationship or descent from a
common ancestor, but on a spiritual principle, namely, the
profession of a common faith. The religion and culture of
the 'Ibad were conveyed by various channels to the inmost
recesses of the peninsula, as will be shown more fully in a
subsequent chapter. They were the schoolmasters of the
heathen Arabs, who could seldom read or write, and who, it
must be owned, so far from desiring to receive instruction,
rather gloried in their ignorance of accomplishments which
they regarded as servile. Nevertheless, the best minds among
the Bedouins were irresistibly attracted to Hira. Poets in
those days found favour with princes. A great number of
Pre-islamic bards visited the Lakhmite court, while some,
like Nabigha and 'Abld b, al-Abras, made it their permanent
residence.
It is unnecessary to enter into the vexed question as to the
origin and rise of the Lakhmite dynasty at Hira. According
<-
40 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
to Hisham b. Muhammad al-Kalbi, who gives a list of twenty-
kings, covering a period of 522 years and eight months, the
first Lakhmite ruler was 'Amr b. 'Adi b. Nasr
The Lakhmites. , -r. , ,, , t , , i i i j
b. Rabi'a b. Lakhm, the same who was adopted
by Jadhima, and afterwards avenged his death on Queen
Zabba. Almost nothing is known of his successors until we
come to Nu'man I, surnamed al-A'war (the One-eyed),
whose reign falls in the first quarter of the fifth
(aVca'^o^oV.D.). century. Nu'man is renowned in legend as the
builder of Khawarnaq, a famous castle near Hira.
It was built at the instance of the Sasanian king, Yazdigird I,
who desired a salubrious residence for his son, Prince Bahram
Gor. On its completion, Nu'man ordered the architect, a
' Roman ' (i.^., Byzantine subject) named Sinimmar, to be
cast headlong from the battlements, either on account of his
boast that he could have constructed a yet more
^Khaw^arnaq.^ wonderful edifice "which should turn round
with the sun," or for fear that he might reveal
the position of a certain stone, the removal of which would
cause the whole building to collapse. One spring day (so the
story is told) Nu'man sat with his Vizier in Khawarnaq, which
overlooked the Fen-land (al-Najar), with its neighbouring
gardens and plantations of palm-trees and canals, to the west,
and the Euphrates to the east. Charmed by the beauty of the
prospect, he exclaimed, " Hast thou ever seen the like of
this ? " " No," replied the Vizier, " if it would
beconTe^san but last." "And what is lasting?" asked
Nu'mdn. " That which is with God in heaven."
" How can one attain to it ? " "By renouncing the world
and serving God, and striving after that which He hath."
Nu'mdn, it is said, immediately resolved to abandon his
kingdom ; on the same night he clad himself in sack-cloth,
stole away unperceived, and became a wandering devotee
(jfl'i^). This legend seems to have grown out of the
following verses by 'Adf b. Zayd, the 'Ibddite : —
THE LAKHMITE DYNASTY 41
" Consider thou Khawarnaq's lord — and oft
Of heavenly guidance cometh vision clear —
Who once, rejoicing in his ample realm,
Surveyed the broad Euphrates, and Sadir ; '
Then sudden terror struck his heart : he cried,
' Shall Man, who deathward goes, find pleasure here ? '
They reigned, they prospered ; yet, their glory past,
In yonder tombs they lie this many a year.
At last they were like unto withered leaves
Whirled by the winds away in wild career. "'
The opinion of most Arabian authors, that Nu'min embraced
Christianity, is probably unfounded, but there is reason to
believe that he was well disposed towards it, and that his
Christian subjects — a Bishop of Hira is mentioned as early as
410 A.D. — enjoyed complete religious liberty.
Nu'man's place was filled by his son Mundhir, an able and
energetic prince. The power of the Lakhmites at this time
may be inferred from the fact that on the death
Mundhir I. "^ _ _
of Yazdigird I Mundhir forcibly intervened in
the dispute as to the Persian succession and procured the
election of Bahram Gor, whose claims had previously been
rejected by the priesthood.3 In the war which broke out
shortly afterwards between Persia and Rome, Mundhir proved
himself a loyal vassal, but was defeated by the Romans with
great loss (421 a.d.). Passing over several obscure reigns, we
arrive at the beginning of the sixth century, when another
Mundhir, the third and most illustrious of his
b. Md' ai-sama. name, ascended the throne. This is he whom the
Arabs called Mundhir b. Ma al-sama.4 He had
a long and brilliant reign, which, however, was temporarily
' Sadir was a castle in the vicinity of Hira. = Tabari, i, 853, 20 sqq.
3 Bahram was educated at Hira under Nu'mdn and Mundhir. The
Persian grandees complained that he had the manners and appearance of
the Arabs among whom he had grown up (Tabari, i, 858, 7).
* Ma' al-sama (i.e., Water of the sk>') is said to have been the sobriquet
of Mundhir's mother, whose proper name was Mariya or Mawiyya.
42 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
clouded by an event that cannot be understood without some
reference to the general history of the period. About 480 a.d.
the powerful tribe of Kinda, whose princes appear to have held
much the same position under the Tubba's of Yemen as the
Lakhmites under the Persian monarchs, had extended their
sway over the greater part of Central and Northern Arabia.
The moving; spirit in this conquest was Huir,
Rise of Kinda. , ' , , „ t\ /r r r" "l
surnamed Akilu 1-Murar, an ancestor of the
poet Imru'u '1-Qays. On his death the Kindite confederacy
was broken up, but towards the year 500 it was re-established
for a brief space by his grandson, Harith b. 'Amr, and became
a formidable rival to the kingdoms of Ghassdn and Hira.
Meanwhile, in Persia, the communistic doctrines of Mazdak
had obtained wide popularity among the lower
Mazdak. r r j &
classes, and were finally adopted by King Kawadh
himself.! Now, it is certain that at some date between 505
and 529 Harith b. 'Amr, the Kindite, invaded 'Iraq, and drove
Mundhir out of his kingdom ; and it seems not impossible
that, as many historians assert, the latter's down-
ex^ued from ^^^^ was duc to his auti-Mazdakite opinions, which
"'o'f Kinda"'^ would naturally excite the displeasure of his
suzerain. At any rate, whatever the causes may
have been, Mundhir was temporarily supplanted by Harith,
and although he was restored after a short interval, before the ,
accession of Anushirwan, who, as Crown Prince, carried out
a wholesale massacre of the followers of Mazdak (528 a.d.),
the humiliation which he had suffered and cruelly avenged was
not soon forgotten ; 2 the life and poems of Imru'u '1-Qays
' For an account of Mazdak and his doctrines the reader may consult
Noldeke's translation of Tabari, pp. 140-144, 154, and 455-467, and
Professor Browne's Literary History of Persia, vol. i, pp. 168-172.
» Mundhir slaughtered in cold blood some forty or fifty members of the
royal house of Kinda who had fallen into his hands. Harith himself was
defeated and slain by Mundhir in 529. Thereafter the power of Kinda
sank, and they were gradually forced back to their original settlements
in Hadramawt.
MUNDHIR III 43
bear witness to the hereditary hatred subsisting between
Lakhm and Kinda. Mundhir's operations against the
Romans were conducted with extraordinary vigour ; he
devastated Syria as far as Antioch, and Justinian saw himself
obHged to entrust the defence of these provinces to the
Ghassanid Harith b. Jabala (Harith al-A'raj), in whom
Mundhir at last found more than his match. From this time
onward the kings of Hira and Ghassan are continually raiding
and plundering each other's territory. In one of his expedi-
tions Mundhir captured a son of Harith, and " immediately
sacrificed him to Aphrodite "— /.^., to the Arabian goddess
al-'Uzza ; I but on taking the field again in 554 he was
surprised and slain by stratagem in a battle which
MMdhh- ni. is known proverbially as ' The Day of Halima.' 2
On the whole, the Lakhmites were a heathen and
barbarous race, and these epithets are richly deserved by
Mundhir III. It is related in the Aghani that he had two
boon-companions, Khalid b. al-Mudallil and 'Amr b. Mas'ud,
with whom he used to carouse ; and once, being irritated by
words spoken in wine, he gave orders that they should be
buried alive. Next morning he did not recollect what had
passed and inquired as usual for his friends. On learning
the truth he was filled with remorse. He caused two
obelisks to be erected over their graves, and two
Mundhir's . , , j • i. • j
"Good Day and davs m cverv vcar he would come and sit beside
these obelisks, which were called al-Ghar'tyydn
— i.e.^ the Blood-smeared. One day was the Day of Good
{yawmu na^'im'")^ and whoever first encountered him on that
day received a hundred black camels. The other day was the
Day of Evil [yawmu bus"'), on which he would present the
first-comer with the head of a black polecat [zaribdn), then
sacrifice him and smear the obelisks with his blood.3 The
' On another occasion he sacrificed four hundred Christian nuns to
the same goddess.
^ See p. 50 infra. 3 Aghdni, xix, 86, i. 16 sqq.
44 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
poet 'Abid b. al-Abra| is said to have fallen a victim to this
horrible rite. It continued until the doom fell upon a certain
Hanzala of Tayyi', who was granted a year's grace in order to
regulate his affairs, on condition that he should find a surety.
He appealed to one of Mundhir's suite, Shari'k b. 'Amr, who
straightway rose and said to the king, " My hand
^^Sharfk^"'^ for his and my blood for his if he fail to return
at the time appointed." When the day came
Hanzala did not appear, and Mundhir was about to sacrifice
Sharik, whose mourning-woman had already begun to chant
the dirge. Suddenly a rider was seen approaching, wrapped
in a shroud and perfumed for burial. A mourning-woman
accompanied him. It was Hanzala. Mundhir marvelled at
their loyalty, dismissed them with marks of honour, and
abolished the custom which he had instituted. ^
He was succeeded by his son 'Amr, who is known to
contemporary poets and later historians as 'Amr, son of Hind.^
During his reign Hira became an important literary
(5S4-569T.DO. centre. Most of the famous poets then living
visited his court ; we shall see in the next chap-
ter what relations he had with Tarafa, 'Amr b. Kulthum,
and Harith b. Hilliza. He was a morose, passionate, and
tyrannical man. The Arabs stood in great awe of him, but
vented their spite none the less. " At Hira," said Dahab
al-'IjH, "there are mosquitoes and fever and lions and 'Amr b.
Hind, who acts unjustly and wrongfully." 3 He was slain by
the chief of Taghlib, 'Amr b. Kulthum, in vengeance for an
insult offered to his mother, Layla.
It is sufficient to mention the names of Qdbiis and
' Aghdtn, xix, 87, 1. 18 sqq.
^ Hind was a princess of Kinda (daughter of the Harith b. 'Amr men-
tioned above), whom Mundhir probably captured in one of his marauding
expeditions. She was a Christian, and founded a monastery at Hira.
See Noldeke's translation of Tabari, p. 172, n, i.
3 Agluinf, xxi, 194, I. 22.
NU'MAN III ABl) QABI)S 45
Mundhir IV, both of whom were sons of Hind, and occu-
pied the throne for short periods. We now come to the
last Lakhmite king of Hira, and by far the
^"odblis^''" iTiost celebrated in tradition, Nu'man III, son of
Mundhir IV, with the kunya (name of honour) Abu
Qabiis, who reigned from 580 to 602 or from 585 to 607.
He was brought up and educated by a noble Christian family
in Hira, the head of which was Zayd b. Hammad, father of the
poet 'Adi b. Zayd. *Adi is such an interesting figure, and his
fortunes were so closely and tragically linked with those of
Nu'mdn, that some account of his life and character will be
acceptable. Both his father and grandfather were men of
unusual culture, who held high posts in the civil administration
under Mundhir III and his successors. Zayd, moreover,
through the good offices of a dlhqdn^ or Persian
'Adi b. Zayd. , . ^
landed proprietor, Farrukh-mahdn by name,
obtained from Khusraw Anushirwan an important and con-
fidential appointment — that of Postmaster — ordinarily reserved
for the sons of satraps.^ When 'Adi grew up, his father sent
him to be educated with the son of the dihqdn. He learned
to write and speak Persian with complete facility and Arabic
with the utmost elegance ; he versified, and his accomplish-
ments included archery, horsemanship, and polo. At the
Persian court his personal beauty, wit, and readiness in reply
so impressed Anushirwdn that he took him into his service
as secretary and interpreter — Arabic had never before been
written in the Imperial Chancery — and accorded him all the
privileges of a favourite. He was entrusted with a mission to
Constantinople, where he was honourably received ; and on his
departure the Qaysar,2 following an excellent custom, instructed
the officials in charge of the post-routes to provide horses and
' Zayd was actually Regent of Hira after the death of Qdbus, and paved
the way for Mundhir IV, whose violence had made him detested by the
people (Noldeke's translation of Tabari, p. 346, n. i).
^ The Arabs called the Byzantine emperor ' Qaysar,' i.e., Caesar, and the
Persian emperor ' Kisrd,' i.e., Chosroes.
46 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
every convenience in order that the ambassador might see for
himself the extent and resources of the Byzantine Empire.
*Adi passed some time in Syria, especially at Damascus, where
his first poem is said to have appeared. On his father's death,
which happened about this time, he renounced the splendid
position at Hira which he might have had for the asking, and
gave himself up to hunting and to all kinds of amusement
and pleasure, only visiting Mada'in (Ctesiphon) at intervals to
perform his secretarial duties. While staying at Hira he fell
in love with Nu'man's daughter Hind, who was then eleven
years old. The story as told in the 'Book of Songs is too curious
to be entirely omitted, though want of space prevents me from
giving it in full.^
It is related that Hind, who was one of the fairest women of her
time, went to church on Thursday of Holy Week, three days after
Palm Sunday, to receive the sacrament. 'Adi had
'Adi meets the entered the church for the same purpose. He espied
7n cliurch" her — she was a big, tall girl — while she was off her
guard, and fixed his gaze upon her before she became
aware of him. Her maidens, who had seen him approaching, said
nothing to their mistress, because one of them called Mariya was
enamoured of 'Adi and knew no other way of making his acquaint-
ance. When Hind saw him looking at herself, she was highly
displeased and scolded her handmaidens and beat some of them.
'Adi had fallen in love with her, but he kept the matter secret for a
whole year. At the end of that time Mariya, thinking that Hind had
forgotten what passed, described the church of Thoma (St. Thomas)
and the nuns there and the girls who frequented it, and the beauty
of the building and of the lamps, and said to her, "Ask thy mother's
leave to go." As soon as leave was granted, Mariya conveyed the
intelligence to 'Adi, who immediately dressed himself in a magnifi-
' My friend and colleague, Professor A. A. Bevan, writes to me that " the
story of 'Adi's marriage with the king's daughter is based partly on a
verse in which the poet speaks of himself as connected by marriage with
the royal house (Aghdnf, ii, 26, 1. 5), and partly on another verse in which
he mentions 'the home of Hind' (ibid., ii, 32, 1. 1). But this Hind was
evidently a Bedouin woman, not the king's daughter."
'ADf THE SON OF ZAYD 47
cent gold-embroidered Persian tunic (yalmaq) and hastened to the
rendezvous, accompanied by several young men of Hira. When
Mdriya perceived him, she cried to Hind, "Look at this youth : by
God, he is fairer than the lamps and all things else that thou seest."
" Who is he ? " she asked. " 'Adi, son of Zayd." " Do you think,"
said Hind, "that he will recognise me if I come nearer?" Then
she advanced and watched him as he conversed with his friends,
outshining them all by the beauty of his person, the elegance of his
language, and the splendour of his dress. "Speak to him," said
Mariya to her young mistress, whose countenance betrayed her
feelings. After exchanging a few words the lovers parted. Mariya
went to 'Adi and promised, if he would first gratify her wishes, to
bring about his union with Hind. She lost no time in warning
Nu'man that his daughter was desperately in love with 'Adi and
would either disgrace herself or die of grief unless he gave her to
him. Nu'man, however, was too proud to make overtures to 'Adi,
who on his part feared to anger the prince by proposing an aUiance.
The ingenious Mariya found a way out of the difficulty. She sug-
gested that 'Adi should invite Nu'man and his suite to a banquet,
and having well pHed him with wine should ask for the hand of his
daughter, which would not then be refused. So it
'^ "p^nd^^^ ° came to pass. Nu'man gave his consent to the mar-
riage, and after three days Hind was brought home
to her husband.'
On the death of Mundhir IV *Adi warmly supported the
claims of Nu'man, who had formerly been his pupil and was
'Adi secures the "^^ ^^^ father-in-law, to the throne of Hira.
Nu^mdnTsKing ^^^ ^^^^ which he employed on this occasion
of Hira. ^^g completely successful, but it cost him his
life.2 The partisans of Aswad b. Mundhir, one of the defeated
candidates, resolved on vengeance. Their intrigues awakened
^ Aghcini, ii, 22, 1. 3 sqq.
^ When Hurmuz summoned the sons of Mundhir to Ctesiphon that he
might choose a king from among them, 'Adi said to each one privately,
" If the Chosroes demands whether you can keep the Arabs in order, reply,
' All except Nu'man.' " To Nu'man, however, he said : " The Chosroes
will ask, ' Can you manage your brothers ? ' Say to him : ' If I am not
strong enough for them, I am still less able to control other folk ! ' "
Hurmuz was satisfied with this answer and conferred the crown upon
Nu'mun.
48 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
the suspicions of Nu'man against the * King-maker.' 'Adi
was cast into prison, where he languished for a
He is imprisoned , . /- n i i i xt <■ »
and put to death long time and was finally murdered by IN u man
when the Chosroes (Parwez, son of Hurmuz) had
already intervened to procure his release. ^
'Adii left a son named Zayd, who, on the recommendation
of Nu'mdn, was appointed by Khusraw Parwez to succeed his
The vengeance father as Secretary for Arabian Affairs at the court
ayd b. Adi. ^^ Ctcsiphon. Apparently reconciled to Nu'man,
he was none the less bent on vengeance, and only waited for
an opportunity. The kings of Persia were connoisseurs in
female beauty, and when they desired to replenish their harems
they used to circulate an advertisement describing with extreme
particularity the physical and moral qualities which were to be
sought after ; 2 but hitherto they had neglected Arabia, which,
as they supposed, could not furnish any woman possessed of
these perfections. Zayd therefore approached the Chosroes
and said : "I know that Nu'man has in his family a number
of women answering to the description. Let me go to him,
and send with me one of thy guardsmen who understands
Arabic." The Chosroes complied, and Zayd set out for Hira.
On learning the object of his mission, Nu'man exclaimed with
indignation : " What ! are not the gazelles of Persia sufficient
for your needs ? " The comparison of a beautiful woman to a
gazelle is a commonplace in Arabian poetry, but the officer
accompanying Zayd was ill acquainted with Arabic, and asked
the meaning of the word ('/« or mahd) which Nu'man had
employed. "Cows," said Zayd. When Parw6z heard from
Death of ^is guardsman that Nu'man had said, " Do not the
Nu'man III. ^-Q^g of Persia content him ? " he could scarcely
suppress his rage. Soon afterwards he sent for Nu'mdn,
' A full account of these matters is given by Tabari, i, 1016-1024 =
Noldeke's translation, pp. 314-324.
' A similar description occurs in Freytag's Arabum Proverbia, vol. ii.
p. 589 sqq.
DEATH OF NU'MAN III 49
threw him into chains, and caused him to be trampled to
pieces by elephants.^
Nu'man III appears in tradition as a tyrannical prince,
devoted to wine, women, and song. He was the patron of
Character of many celebrated poets, and especially of Nabigha
Nu man III. Dhubydni, who was driven from Hira in con-
sequence of a false accusation. This episode, as well as
another in which the poet Munakhkhal was concerned, gives
us a glimpse into the private life of Nu'man. He had married
his step-mother, Mutajarrida, a great beauty in her time ; but
though he loved her passionately, she bestowed her affections
elsewhere. Nabigha was suspected on account of a poem in
which he described the charms of the queen with the utmost
minuteness, but Munakhkhal was the real culprit. The lovers
were surprised by Nu'man, and from that day Munakhkhal
was never seen again. Hence the proverb, " Until Munakh-
khal shall return," or, as we might say, " Until the coming of
the Coqcigrues."
Although several of the kings of Hira are said to have been
Christians, it is very doubtful whether any except Nu'man III
deserved even the name ; the Lakhmites, unlike
Nu'man's ....
conversion to the ma ority of their subjects, were thorouehly
Christianity. J J j •) to J
pagan. Nu'man's education would naturally pre-
dispose him to Christianity, and his conversion may have been
wrought, as the legend asserts, by his mentor 'Adi b. Zayd.
According to Muhammadan genealogists, the Ghassanids,
both those settled in Medina and those to whom the name
The Ghassanids is consecrated by popular usage — the Ghassanids
orjafmtes. ^^ gy,j.j^ — ^^^ descended from *Amr b. *Amir
al-Muzayqiya, who, as was related in the last chapter, sold his
possessions in Yemen and quitted the country, taking with him
a great number of its inhabitants, shortly before the Bursting of
' Tabari, i, 1024-1029 = Noldeke's translation, pp. 324-331. Ibn
Qutayba in Briinnow's Chrcstotnathy, pp. 32-33.
5
50 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
the Dyke of Ma'rib. His son Jafna is generally regarded as
the founder of the dynasty. Of their early history very few
authentic facts have been preserved. At first, M^e are told,
they paid tribute to the Dajd'ima, a family of the stock of
Salfh, vi^ho ruled the Syrian borderlands under Roman pro-
tection. A struggle ensued, from which the Ghassanids
emerged victorious, and henceforth we find them established
in these regions as the representatives of Roman authority
with the official titles of Patricius and Phylarch, which they
and the Arabs around them rendered after the simple Oriental
fashion by 'King' {mal'iK).
The first (says Ibn Qutayba) that reigned in Syria of the family
of Jafna was Harith b. 'Amr Muharriq, who was so called because
he burnt {harraqa) the Arabs in their houses. He is
ibnQutayba's Harith the Elder {al-Akbar),?Lnd. his name of honour
Ghassanids. [kunyo) is Abii Shamir. After him reigned Harith b.
Abi Shamir, known as Harith the Lame {al-A'raj),
whose mother was Mariya of the Ear-rings. He was the best of
their kings, and the most fortunate, and the craftiest ; and in his
raids he went the farthest afield. He led an expedition against
Khaybar ' and carried off a number of prisoners, but set them free
after his return to Syria. When Mundhir b. Ma' al-sama marched
against him with an army 100,000 strong, Harith sent
Harith the Lame. . j j ■ i. i • i.i. j.l i.
a hundred men to meet him — among them the poet
Labid, who was then a youth — ostensibly to make peace. They
surrounded Mundhir's tent and slew the king and his companions ;
then they took horse, and some escaped, while others were slain.
The Ghassanid cavalry attacked the army of Mundhir and put them
to flight. Harith had a daughter named Halima, who perfumed the
hundred champions on that day and clad them in shrouds of white
linen and coats of mail. She is the heroine of the proverb, " The
day of Halima is no secret."^ Harith was succeeded by his son,
Harith the Younger. Among his other sons were 'Amr b. Harith
(called Abu Shamir the Younger), to whom Nabigha came on leaving
Nu'man b. Mundhir ; Mundhir b. Harith ; and al-Ayham b. Harith.
Jabala, the son of al-Ayham, was the last of the kings of Ghassan.
A town in Arabia, some distance to the north of Medina.
' See Freytag, Arabiim Provcrbia, vol. ii, p. 611.
THE JAFNITE DYNASTY 51
He was twelve spans in height, and his feet brushed the ground
when he rode on horseback. He reached the Islamic period and be-
came a Moslem in the Caliphate of 'Umar b. al-Khattab,
^ Ajii^'am.'*'' but afterwards he turned Christian and went to live in
the Byzantine Empire. The occasion of his turning
Christian was this : In passing through the bazaar of Damascus he
let his horse tread upon one of the bystanders, who sprang up and
struck Jabala a blow on the face. The Ghassdnis seized the fellow
and brought him before Abu 'Ubayda b. al-Jarrah,' complaining that
he had struck their master. Abu 'Ubayda demanded proof. " What
use wilt thou make of the proof ? " said Jabala. He answered : " If
he has struck thee, thou wilt strike him a blow in return." " And
shall not he be slain ? " " No." " Shall not his hand be cut off ? "
"No," said Abu 'Ubayda; "God has ordained retaUation only-
blow for blow." Then Jabala went forth and betook himself to
Roman territory and became a Christian ; and he stayed there all
the rest of his life.=
The Arabian traditions respecting the dynasty of Ghassan
are hopelessly confused and supply hardly any material even for
the roup;h historical sketch which may be pieced
Harith the Lame. ° . . ti •
together from the scattered notices in Byzantme
authors.3 It vv^ould seem that the first unquestionable Ghas-
sanid prince was Harith b. Jabala {'ApeOag rov FajSaXo), who
figures in Arabian chronicles as ' Harith the Lame,' and who
was appointed by Justinian (about 529 a.d.) to balance, on the
Roman side, the active and enterprising King of Hira, Mundhir
b. Ma' al-sama. During the greater part of his long reign
(529-569 A.D.) he was engaged in war with this dangerous
rival, to whose defeat and death in the decisive battle of
Halima we have already referred. Like all his line, Harith
was a Christian of the Monophysite Church, which he defended
with equal zeal and success at a time when its very existence
' A celebrated Companion of the Prophet. He led the Moslem army to
the conquest of Syria, and died of the plague in 639 a.d.
' Ibn Qutayba in Briinnow's Clirestoinatliy, pp. 26-28.
3 The following details are extracted from Noldeke's monograph : Die
Ghassdnischen Fiirstcn aus deni Hausc Gafna's, in Abhand. d, Koii. Prcuss.
Akad. d. Wisscnschaften (Berlin, 1887).
52 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
was at stake. The following story illustrates his formidable
character. Towards the end of his life he visited Constanti-
nople to arrange with the Imperial Government which of his
sons should succeed him, and made a powerful impression on
the people of that city, especially on the Emperor's nephew,
Justinus. Many years afterwards, when Justinus had fallen
into dotage, the chamberlains would frighten him, when he
began to rave, with " Hush ! Arethas will come and take you." ^
Harith was succeeded by his son, Mundhir, who vanquished
the new King of Hira, Qabus b. Hind, on Ascension Day,
Mundhir b. Sl'^ A.D., in a battle which is perhaps identical
^'''"t*>- with that celebrated by the Arabs as the Battle of
*Ayn Ubagh. The refusal of the Emperor Justinus to furnish
him with money may have prevented Mundhir from pursuing
his advantage, and was the beginning of open hostility between
them, which culminated about eleven years later in his being
carried off to Constantinople and forced to reside in Sicily.
From this time to the Persian conquest of Palestine
(614 A,D.) anarchy prevailed throughout the Ghassanid
kingdom. The various tribes elected their own princes, who
sometimes, no doubt, were Jafnites ; but the dynasty had
virtually broken up. Possibly it was restored by Heraclius
when he drove the Persians out of Syria (629 a.d.), as the
Ghassanians are repeatedly found fighting for Rome against
the Moslems, and according to the unanimous testimony of
Arabian writers, the Jafnite Jabala b. al-Ayham, who took an
active part in the struggle, was the last king of Ghassan.
His accession may be placed about 635 a.d. The poet
Hassan b. Thabit, who as a native of Medina could claim
kinship with the Ghassanids, and visited their court in his
youth, gives a glowing description of its luxury and mag-
nificence.
^ Noldeke, op. cit., p. 20, refers to John of Ephesus, iii, 2. See The
Third Part of the Ecclesiastical History of John, Bishop of Ephesus, translated
bj- R. Payne Smith, p. 168.
THE JAFNITE DYNASTY 53
" I have seen ten singing-girls, five of them Greeks, singing Greek
songs to the music of lutes, and five from Hira who had been pre-
sented to King Jabala by lyas b. Qabisa,' chanting
Hassan b. Babylonian airs. Arab singers used to come from
^ oiihe ""^^ Mecca and elsewhere for his delight ; and when he
^coifrt""^ would drink wine he sat on a couch of myrtle and
jasmine and all sorts of sweet-smelling flowers, sur-
rounded by gold and silver vessels full of ambergris and musk.
During winter aloes-wood was burned in his apartments, while in
summer he cooled himself with snow. Both he and his courtiers
wore light robes, arranged with more regard to comfort than cere-
mony,^ in the hot weather, and white furs, called fanak,'^ or the like,
in the cold season ; and, by God, I was never in his company but
he gave me the robe which he was wearing on that day, and many
of his friends were thus honoured. He treated the rude with for-
bearance ; he laughed without reserve and lavished his gifts before
they were sought. He was handsome, and agreeable in conversa-
tion : I never knew him offend in speech or act." ^
Unlike the rival dynasty on the Euphrates, the Ghassanids
had no fixed residence. They ruled the country round
Damascus and Palmyra, but these places w^ere never in their
possession. The capital of their nomad kingdom vi^as the
temporary camp (in Aramaic, herta) which followed them to
and fro, but was generally to be found in the Gaulonitis
' lyas b. Oabisa succeeded Nu'man III as ruler of Hira (602-611 a.d.).
He belonged to the tribe of Tayyi'. See Rothstein, Lahmideit, p. 119.
^ I read yatafaddaln for yanfasilu. The arrangement which the
former word denotes is explained in Lane's Dictionary as " the throwing
a portion of one's garment over his left shoulder, and drawing its ex-
tremity under his right arm, and tying the two extremities together in a
knot upon his bosom."
3 The fanak is properly a kind of white stoat or weasel found in
Abyssinia and northern Africa, but the name is also applied by Muham-
madans to other furs.
4 Aghdni, xvi, 15, 11. 22-30. So far as it purports to proceed from
Hassan, the passage is apocryphal, but this does not seriously affect its
value as evidence, if we consider that it is probably compiled from the
poet's di'wdn in which the Ghassanids are often spoken of. The par-
ticular reference to Jabala b. al-Ayham is a mistake. Hassan's acquaint-
ance with the Ghassanids belongs to the pagan period of his life, and he
is known to have accepted Islam many years before Jabala began to
54 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
(al-Jawlan), south of Damascus. Thus under the quickening
impulse of Hellenistic culture the Ghassanids developed a civi-
lisation far superior to that of the Lakhmites, who,
civfnsation. just because of their half-barbarian character,
were more closely in touch with the heathen
Arabs, and exercised a deeper influence upon them. Some
aspects of this civilisation have been indicated in the descrip-
tion of Jabala b. al-Ayham's court, attributed to the poet
Hassdn. An earlier bard, the famous Nabigha, having fallen
out of favour with Nu'man III of Hira, fled to Syria, where
he composed a splendid eulogy of the Ghassanids
encomkim. ^" honour of his patron. King 'Amr, son of Harith
the Lame. After celebrating their warlike
prowess, which he has immortalised in the oft-quoted verse —
" One fault they have : their swords are blunt of edge
Through constant beating on their foemen's mail,"
he concludes in a softer strain :
" Theirs is a liberal nature that God gave
To no men else ; their virtues never fail.
Their home the Holy Land : their faith upright :
They hope to prosper if good deeds avail.
Zoned in fair wise and delicately shod,
They keep the Feast of Palms, when maidens pale,
Whose scarlet silken robes on trestles hang.
Greet them with odorous boughs and bid them hail.
Long lapped in ease tho' bred to war, their limbs
Green-shouldered vestments, white-sleeved, richly veil." '
The Pre-islamic history of the Bedouins is mainly a record
of wars, or rather guerillas, in which a great deal of raiding
and plundering was accomplished, as a rule without serious
bloodshed. There was no lack of shouting ; volleys of vaunts
' Nabigha, ed. by Derenbourg, p. 78 ; Noldeke's Delectus, p. 96. The
whole poem has been translated by Sh- Charles Lyall in his Ancient
Arabian Poetry, p. 95 sqq.
HISTORY OF THE BEDOUINS 55
and satires were exchanged ; camels and women were carried
off; many skirmishes took place but few pitched battles : it
was an Homeric kind of warfare that called forth individual
exertion in the highest degree, and gave ample opportunity for
single-handed deeds of heroism. " To write a true history of
such Bedouin feuds is well-nigh impossible. As compara-
tively trustworthy sources of information we have only the
poems and fragments of verse which have been preserved.
According to Suyilti, the Arabian traditionists
Bedouin uscd to demand from any Bedouin who related
history. , . . , ....
an historical event the citation of some verses in
its support ; and, in effect, all such stories that have come
down to us are crystallised round the poems. Unfortunately
these crystals are seldom pure. It appears only too often that
the narratives have been invented, with abundant fancy and
with more or less skill, to suit the contents of the verses." ^
But although what is traditionally related concerning the
Battle-days of the Arabs [Ayydmu U-^Arah) is to a large extent
legendary, it describes with sufficient fidelity how tribal hos-
tilities generally arose and the way in which they were con-
ducted. The following account of the War of Basus — the
most famous of those waged in Pre-islamic times — will serve
to illustrate this important phase of Bedouin life.^
Towards the end of the fifth century a.d. Kulayb, son of Rabi'a,
was chieftain of the Banii Taghlib, a powerful tribe which divided
with their kinsmen, the Banii Bakr, a vast tract in
afsiisf north-eastern Arabia, extending from the central
highlands to the Syrian desert. His victory at the
head of a confederacy formed by these tribes and others over the
Yemenite Arabs made him the first man in the peninsula, and soon
his pride became no less proverbial than his power.^ He was
' Thorbecke, ^Antarah, ein vorislamischer Dichter, p. 14.
' The following narrative is an abridgment of the history of the War
of Basiis as related in Tibrizi's commentary on the Hamdsa (ed. by
Freytag), pp. 420-423 and 251-255. Cf. Noldeke's Delectus, p. 39 sqq.
' See p. 5 supra.
$6 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
married to Halila, daughter of Murra, of the Banu Bakr, and dwelt
in a 'preserve ' (hhnd), where he claimed the sole right of pasturage
for himself and the sons of Murra. His brother-in-law, Jassas, had
an aunt named Basus. While living under her nephew's protection
she was joined by a certain Sa'd, a chent of her own people, who
brought with him a she-camel called Sarabi,
Now it happened that Kulayb, seeing a lark's nest as he walked
on his land, said to the bird, which was screaming and fluttering
distressfully over her eggs, " Have no fear I I will
Kulayb b protect thee." But a short time afterwards he
Rabi'a and '^ , . ,
Jassas b. Murra. observed m that place the track of a strange camel
and found the eggs trodden to pieces. Next morning
when he and Jassas visited the pasture ground, Kulayb noticed the
she-camel of Sa'd among his brother-in-law's herd, and conjecturing
that she had destroyed the eggs, cried out to Jassas, " Take heed
thou ! Take heed ! I have pondered something, and were I sure,
I would have done it ! May this she-camel never come here again
with this herd ! " " By God," exclaimed Jassas, " but she shall
come ! " and when Kulayb threatened to pierce her udder with an
arrow, Jassas retorted, " By the stones of Wa'il,' fix thine arrow in
her udder and I will fix my lance in thy backbone ! " Then he
drove his camels forth from the himd. Kulayb went home in a
passion, and said to his wife, who sought to discover what ailed
him, " Knowest thou any one who durst defend his client against
me ? " She answered, " No one except my brother Jassas, if he has
given his word." She did what she could to prevent the quarrel
going further, and for a time nothing worse than taunts passed
between them, until one day Kulayb went to look after his camels
which were being taken to water, and were followed by those of
Jassas. While the latter were waiting their turn to
The wounding drink, Sa'd's she-camel broke loose and ran towards
of ba d s
she-camel. the water. Kulayb imagined that Jassas had let her
go deliberately, and resenting the supposed insult, he
seized his bow and shot her through the udder. The beast lay
down, moaning loudly, before the tent of Basus, who in vehement
indignation at the wrong suffered by her friend, Sa'd, tore the veil
from her head, beating her face and crying, " O shame, shame ! "
Then, addressing Sa'd, but raising her voice so that Jassas might
' Wa'il is the common ancestor of Bakr and Taghlib. For the use of
stones {niisdb) in the worship of the Pagan Arabs see Wellhausen, Restc
Arabischen Heidentums (2nd ed.), p. loi sqq. Robertson Smith, Lectures
on the Religion of the Semites (London, 1894), p. 200 sqq.
THE WAR OF BASjyS 57
hear, she spoke these verses, which are known as ' The Instigators '
(al-Muwaihihibdi) : —
" O Sa'd, be not deceived ! Protect thyself !
This people for their clients have no care.
Look to my herds, I charge thee, for I doubt
'^bTBasds.^" Ex'e/i my little daughters ill may fare.
By thy life, had I been in Minqafs house,
Thou would' st not have been wronged, my client, there !
But now such folk I dwell among that when
The wolf comes, 'tis my sheep he comes to tear!"^
Jassas was stung to the quick by the imputation, which no Arab
can endure, that injury and insult might be inflicted upon his guest-
friend with impunity. Some days afterwards, having ascertained
that Kulayb had gone out unarmed, he followed and slew him, and
fled in haste to his own people. Murra, when he heard the news,
said to his son, " Thou alone must answer for thy deed : thou shalt
be put in chains that his kinsmen may slay thee. By the stones of
Wa'il, never will Bakr and Taghlib be joined together
Kulayb jn welfare after the death of Kulayb. Verily, an evil
Jassas. thing hast thou brought upon thy people, O Jassas !
Thou hast slain their chief and severed their union
and cast vfar into their midst." So he put Jassas in chains and con-
fined him in a tent ; then he summoned the elders of the families
and asked them, " What do ye say concerning Jassas ? Here he is,
a prisoner, until the avengers demand him and we dehver him unto
them." " No, by God," cried Sa'd b. MaUk b, Dubay'a b. Days, " we
will not give him up, but will fight for him to the last man ! " With
these words he called for a camel to be sacrificed, and when its
throat was cut they swore to one another over the blood. There-
upon Murra said to Jassas : —
" // thou hast plucked down war on me.
No laggard I with arms outworn.
Whale er befall, I make to flow
^'Ihlflthir"^' T^'^ baneful cups of death at morn.
of Jassas.
When spear-points clash, my wounded man
Is forced to drag the spear he stained.
Never I reck, if war must be,
What Destiny hath preordained.
Hamdsa, 422, 14 sqq. Noldeke's Delectus, p. 39, last line and foil.
58 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
Donning war's harness, I will strive
To fend from me the shayne that sears.
Already I thrill and eager am
For the shock of the horsemen against the spears!"^
Thus began the War of Basus between Taghlib on the one side
and the clan of Shayban, to which Murra belonged, on the other ;
for at first the remaining divisions of Bakr held aloof
wa" between from the Struggle, considering Shayban to be clearly
Taghlib and j^j ^\-yQ wrong. The latter were reduced to dire straits,
when an event occurred which caused the Bakrites
to rise as one man on behalf of their fellows. Harith b. 'Ubad,
a famous knight of Bakr, had refused to take part in the contest,
saying in words which became proverbial, " I have neither camel
nor she-camel in it," i.e., "it is no affair of mine." One day his
nephew, Bujayr, encountered Kulayb's brother, Muhalhil, on whom
the mantle of the murdered chief had fallen ; and Muhalhil, struck
with admiration for the youth's comeliness, asked him who he was.
"Bujayr," said he, "the son of 'Amr, the son of 'Ubad." "And
who is thy uncle on the mother's side ? " " My mother is a cap-
tive " (for he would not name an uncle of whom he had no honour).
Then Muhalhil slew him, crying, " Pay for Kulayb's shoe-latchet !"
On hearing this, Harith sent a message to Muhalhil in which he
declared that if vengeance were satisfied by the death of Bujayr,
he for his part would gladly acquiesce. But Muhalhil replied, " I
have taken satisfaction only for Kulayb's shoe-latchet." Thereupon
Harith sprang up in wrath and cried : —
" God knows, I kindled not this fire, altho'
I am burned in it to-day,
A lord for a shoe-latchet is too dear :
To horse! To horse! Away!"''
And al-Find, of the Banii Bakr, said on this occasion : —
We spared the Bami Hind 3 and said, ' Our brothers they remain
It may be Time will make of us one people yet again.'
• Hamdsa, 423, ii sqq. Noldeke's Delectus, p. 41, 1. 3 sqq.
= Hamdsa, 252, 8 seq. Noldeke's Delectus, p. 44, 1. 3 seq.
3 Hind is the mother of Bakr and Taghlib. Here the Banu Hind (Sons
of Hind) are the Taghlibites.
THE WAR OF BASCS 59
But when the wrong grew manifest, and naked III stood plain,
And naught was left hut ruthless hate, we paid them
As lions marched we forth to war in wrath and high
disdain :
Our sivords brought widowhood and tears and wailing in theit
train,
Our spears dealt gashes wide whence blood like water spilled
amain.
No way but Force to weaken Force and mastery obtain ;
'Tis wooing contumely to meet wild actions with humane :
By evil thou may'st win to peace when good is tried in vain." '
The Banu Bakr now prepared for a decisive battle. As their
enemy had the advantage in numbers, they adopted a stratagem
devised by Harith. "Fight them," said he, "with your women.
Equip every woman with a small waterskin and give her a club.
Place the whole body of them behind you — this will make you more
resolved in battle — and wear some distinguishing mark which they
will recognise, so that when a woman passes by one of your
wounded she may know him by his mark and give him water to
drink, and raise him from the ground ; but when she passes by one
of your foes she will smite him with her club and slay him." So the
Bakrites shaved their heads, devoting themselves to
^Shearin«'^ death, and made this a mark of recognition between
themselves and their women, and this day was called
the Day of Shearing. Now Jahdar b. Dubay'a was an ill-favoured,
dwarfish man, with fair flowing love-locks, and he said, "O my
people, if ye shave my head ye will disfigure me, so leave my locks
for the first horseman of Taghlib that shall emerge from the hill-pass
on the morrow " (meaning " I will answer for him, if my locks are
spared"). On his request being granted, he exclaimed : —
" To wife and daughter
Henceforth I am dead :
Dust for ointment
On my hair is shed.
Let me close with the horsemen
The vow of lyjio hither ride,
Jahdar b. _ , , , ^
Dubay'a. Cut my locks from me
If I stand aside !
Hamdsa, 9, 17 seq. Noldeke's Delectus, p. 45, 1. 10 sqq.
6o THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
Well wots a mother
If the son she bore
And swaddled in her bosom
And smelt him o'er,
Whenever warriors
In the melt ay meet,
Is a puny weakling
Or a man complete!" '
He kept his promise but in the course of the fight he fell, severel)'
wounded. When the women came to him, they saw his love-locks
and imagining that he was an enemy despatched him with their
clubs.
The presence of women on the field and the active share they
took in the combat naturally provoked the bitterest feehngs. If
they were not engaged in finishing the bloody work of
cwnbatants ^^^ men, their tongues were busy inciting them. We
are told that a daughter of al-Find bared herself
recklessly and chanted : —
" War ! War ! War ! War !
It has blazed up and scorched us sore.
The highlands are filled with its roar.
Well done, ilie morning when your heads ye shore !"^
The mothers were accompanied by their children, whose tender
age did not always protect them from an exasperated foe. It is
related that a horseman of the Banu Taghlib transfixed a young boy
and lifted him up on the point of his spear. He is said to have been
urged to this act of savagery by one al-Bazbaz, who was riding
behind him on the crupper. Their triumph was short ; al-Find saw
them, and with a single spear-thrust pinned them to each other — an
exploit which his own verses record.
On this day the Banu Bakr gained a great victory, and broke the
power of Taghlib. It was the last battle of note in the Forty
Years' War, which was carried on, by raiding and plundering, until
the exhaustion of both tribes and the influence of King Mundhir III
of Hira brought it to an end.
Not many years after the conclusion of peace between
' Hamdsa, 252, 14 seq. Noldeke's Delectus, p. 46, 1. 16 sqq.
= Hamdsa, 254, 6 seq. Noldeke's Delectus, p. 47, 1. 2 seq.
THE WAR OF DAHIS AND GHABRA 6i
Bakr and Taghlib, another war, hardly less famous in tradition
than the War of Basus, broke out in Central Arabia. The
combatants were the tribes of 'Abs and Dhu-
Ddjyand^ byan, the principal stocks of the Banu Ghatafan,
Ghabra. ^^^ ^^^ occasion of their coming to blows is
related as follows : —
Qays, son of Zuhayr, was chieftain of 'Abs. He had a horse
called Dahis, renowned for its speed, which he matched against
Ghabra, a mare belonging to Hudhayfa b. Badr, the chief of
Dhubyan. It was agreed that the course should be a hundred
bow-shots in length, and that the victor should receive a hundred
camels. When the race began Ghabra took the lead, but as they
left the firm ground and entered upon the sand, where the ' going '
was heavy, Dahis gradually drew level and passed his antagonist.
He was nearing the goal when some Dhubyanites sprang from an
ambuscade prepared beforehand, and drove him out of his course,
thus enabling Ghabra to defeat him. On being informed of this
foul play Qays naturally claimed that he had won the wager, but
the men of Dhubyan refused to pay even a single camel. Bitterly
resenting their treachery, he vi^aylaid and slew one of Hudhayfa's
brothers. Hudhayfa sought vengeance, and the murder of Malik,
a brother of Qays, by his horsemen gave the signal for war. In the
fighting which ensued Dhubyan more than held their own, but
neither party could obtain a decisive advantage. Qays slew the
brothers Hudhayfa and Hamal —
"Hamal I slew and eased my heart thereby,
Hudhayfa glutted my avenging brand;
But though I slaked my thirst by slaying them,
I would as lief have lost my own right hand." '
After a long period — forty years according to the traditional
computation — 'Abs and Dhubyan were reconciled by the exertions
of two chieftains of the latter tribe, Harith b. 'Awf and Harim b.
' Hamdsa, g6. Ibn Nubata, cited by Rasmussen, Additamcnta ad His-
toriam Arabum ante Islamismuni, p. 34, remarks that before Qays no one
had ever lamented a foe slain by himself [wa-huwa awwalu man rathd
maqtiilalm).
62 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
Sinan, whose generous and patriotic intervention the poet Zuhayr
has celebrated. Qays went into exile. " I will not look," he said,
" on the face of any woman of Dhubyan whose father or brother or
husband or son I have killed." If we may believe the legend, he
became a Christian monk and ended his days in 'Uman.
Descending westward from the highlands of Najd the
traveller gradually approaches the Red Sea, which is separated
from the mountains running parallel to it by a
narrow strip of coast-land, called the Tihama
(Netherland). The rugged plateau between Najd and the
coast forms the Hijaz (Barrier), through which in ancient
times the Sabasan caravans laden with costly merchandise
passed on their way to the Mediterranean ports. Long before
the beginning of our era two considerable trading settlements
had sprung up in this region, viz., Macoraba (Mecca) and,
some distance farther north, Yathrippa (Yathrib, the Pre-
islamic name of Medina). Of their early inhabitants and
history we know nothing except what is related by Muham-
madan writers, whose information reaches back to the days of
Adam and Abraham. Mecca was the cradle of Islam, and
Islam, according to Muhammad, is the religion of Abraham,
which was corrupted by succeeding generations until he him-
self was sent to purify it and to preach it anew. Consequently
the Pre-islamic history of Mecca has all been, so to speak,
' Islamised.' The Holy City of Islam is made to appear in
the same light thousands of years before the Prophet's time :
here, it is said, the Arabs were united in worship of Allah,
hence they scattered and fell into idolatry, hither they return
annually as pilgrims to a shrine which had been originally
dedicated to the One Supreme Being, but which afterwards
became a Pantheon of tribal deities. This theory lies at the
root of the Muhammadan legend which I shall now recount
as briefly as possible, only touching on the salient points of
interest.
In the Meccan valley — the primitive home of that portion
EARLY HISTORY OF MECCA 63
of the Arab race which claims descent from Isma'il (Ishmael),
the son of Ibrahim (Abraham) by Hajar (Hagar) — stands an
irregular, cube-shaped building of small dimensions
the Ka'ba.
Foundation of — ^j^g Ka^ba. Legend attributes its foundation
to Adam, who built it by Divine command after
a celestial archetype. At the Deluge it was taken up into
heaven, but was rebuilt on its former site by Abraham and
Ishmael. While they were occupied in this work Gabriel
brought the celebrated Black Stone, which is set in the south-
east corner of the building, and he also instructed them in the
ceremonies of the Pilgrimage. When all was finished Abraham
stood on a rock known to later ages as the Maqdmu Ibrahim^
and, turning to the four quarters of the sky, made proclama-
tion : "O ye people ! The Pilgrimage to the Ancient House
is prescribed unto you. Hearken to your Lord ! " And
from every part of the world came the answer: ^^Labbayka
Uldhumma^ labbayka " — -ue.^ " We obey, O God, we obey."
The descendants of Ishmael multiplied exceedingly, so that
the barren valley could no longer support them, and a great
number wandered forth to other lands. They were succeeded
as rulers of the sacred territory by the tribe of Jurhum, who
waxed in pride and evil-doing until the vengeance of God fell
upon them. Mention has frequently been made of the Burst-
ing of the Dyke of Ma'rib, which caused an extensive move-
ment of Yemenite stocks to the north. The invaders halted
in the Hijdz and, having almost exterminated the Jurhumites,
resumed their journey. One group, however — the Banu
Khuza'a, led by their chief Luhayy — settled in the neigh-
bourhood of Mecca. 'Amr, son of Luhayy, was renowned
among the Arabs for his wealth and generosity. Ibn Hisham
says : 'I have been told by a learned man that 'Amr b. Luhayy
went from Mecca to Syria on some business
dSaTMecca. ^nd when he arrived at Ma'ab, in the land
of al-Balqd, he found the inhabitants, who were
'Amaliq, worshipping idols. " What are these idols ? " he in-
64 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
quired. " They are idols that send us rain when we ask them
for rain, and help us when we asic them for help." " Will ye
not give me one of them," said 'Amr, " that I may take it to
Arabia to be worshipped there?" So they gave him an idol
called Hubal, which he brought to Mecca and set it up and
bade the people worship and venerate it.' ^ Following his
example, the Arabs brought their idols and installed them
round the sanctuary. The triumph of Paganism was com-
plete. We are told that hundreds of idols were destroyed by
Muhammad when he entered Mecca at the head of a Moslem
army in 8 a.h. = 629 a.d.
To return to the posterity of Isma'il through *Adnan : the
principal of their descendants who remained in the Hijaz were
the Hudhayl, the Kinana, and the Ouraysh. The
TheQuraysh. , , •, "^ .^ ..•
last-named tribe must now engage our attention
almost exclusively. During the century before Muhammad
we find them in undisputed possession of Mecca and acknow-
ledged guardians of the Ka'ba — an office which they adminis-
tered with a shrewd appreciation of its commercial value.
Their rise to power is related as follows : —
Kildb b. Murra, a man of Quraysh, had two sons, Zuhra and Zayd.
The latter was still a young child when his father died, and soon
afterwards his mother, Fatima, who had married again,
^ Qusayy °^ left Mecca, taking Zayd with her, and went to live in
her new husband's home beside the Syrian borders.
Zayd grew up far from his native land, and for this reason he got
the name of Qusayy— z'.e., 'Little Far-away.' When he reached
man's estate and discovered his true origin he returned to Mecca,
where the hegemony was wholly in the hands of the Khuza'ites
under their chieftain, Hulayl b. Hubshiyya, with the determination
to procure the superintendence of the Ka'ba for his own people, the
Ouraysh, who as pure-blooded descendants of Isma'il had the best
right to that honour. By his marriage with Hubba, the daughter of
Hulayl, he hoped to inherit the privileges vested in his father-in-law,
but Hulayl on his death-bed committed the keys of the Ka'ba to a
' Ibn Hisham, p. 51, 1. 7 sqq.
THE QURAYSH 65
kinsman named Abii Ghubshan, Not to be baffled, Qusayy made
the keeper drunk and persuaded him to sell the keys for a skin of
wine — hence the proverbs "A greater fool than Abu Ghubshan"
and "Abu Ghubshan's bargain," denoting a miserable fraud.
Naturally the Khuza'ites did not acquiesce in the results of this
transaction ; they took up arms, but Qusayy was prepared for the
struggle and won a decisive victory. He was now master of Temple
and Town and could proceed to the work of organisation. His first
step was to bring together the Quraysh, who had
^"of Mecca*^"^ previously been dispersed over a wide area, into the
Meccan valley — this earned for him the title of al-
Mnjammi' (the Congregator) — so that each family had its allotted
quarter. He built a House of Assembly [Darn 'l-Nadwa), where
matters affecting the common weal were discussed by the Elders of
the tribe. He also instituted and centred in himself a number of
dignities in connection with the government of the Ka'ba and the
administration of the Pilgrimage, besides others of a political and
military character. Such was his authority that after his death, no
less than during his life, all these ordinances were regarded by the
Quraysh as sacred and inviolable.
The death of Qusayy may be placed in the latter half of the
fifth century. His descendant, the Prophet Muhammad, was
born about a hundred years afterwards, in 570 or
Mecca in the , . '
sixth century c?! A.D. With onc notable cxception, to be
after Christ. ' . ,. , , , •
mentioned immediately, the history of Mecca
during the period thus defined is a record of petty factions
unbroken by any event of importance. The Prophet's
ancestors fill the stage and assume a commanding position,
which in all likelihood they never possessed ; the historical
rivalry of the Umayyads and 'Abbasids appears in the persons
of their founders, Umayya and Hashim — and so forth. Mean-
while the influence of the Quraysh was steadily maintained
and extended. The Ka'ba had become a great national
rendezvous, and the crowds of pilgrims which it attracted
from almost every Arabian clan not only raised the credit ot
the Quraysh, but also materially contributed to their com-
mercial prosperity. It has already been related how Abraha,
the Abyssinian viceroy of Yemen, resolved to march against
6
e^ THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
Mecca with the avowed purpose of avenging upon the Ka'ba
a sacrilege committed by one of the Quraysh in the church
at San'^. Something of that kind may have served as a
pretext, but no doubt his real aim was to conquer Mecca and
to gain control of her trade.
This memorable expedition ^ is said by Moslem historians
to have taken place in the year of Muhammad's birth (about
570 A.D.), usually known as the Year of the
theEkph^ant Elephant — a proof that the Arabs were deeply
impressed by the extraordinary spectacle of these
huge animals, one or more of which accompanied the
Abyssinian force. The report of Abraha's prepa'-^tions filled
the tribesmen with dismay. At first they endeavoured to
oppose his march, regarding the defence of the Ka'ba as a
sacred duty, but they soon lost heart, and Abraha, after
defeating Dhu Nafar, a Himyarite chieftain, encamped in the
neighbourhood of Mecca without further resistance. He sent
the following message to 'Abdu '1-Muttalib, the
^'^^fM^ecta'^"^ Prophet's grandfather, who was at that time the
most influential personage in Mecca : "I have
not come to wage war on you, but only to destroy the
Temple. Unless you take up arms in its defence, I have
no wish to shed your blood." 'Abdu '1-Muttalib replied :
" By God, we seek not war, for which we are unable. This
is God's holy House and the House of Abraham, His Friend ;
it is for Him to protect His House and Sanctuary j if He
abandons it, we cannot defend it."
Then 'Abdu 'I-Muttalib was conducted by the envoy to the
Abyssinian camp, as Abraha had ordered. There he inquired after
, Dhii Nafar, who was his friend, and found him a
lib'slnierview prisoner. "O Dhu Nafar," said he, "can you do
with Abraha. ^^^^^ -^^ ^^^^ ^j^j^^j^ j^^g befallen us?" Dhu Nafar
answered, " What can a man do who is a captive in the hands of a
* In the account of Abraha's invasion given below I have followed
Tabari, i, 936, 9 - 945, 19 = Noldeke's translation, pp. 206-220.
THE ABYSSINIAN INVASION 67
king, expecting day and night to be put to death ? I can do nothing
at all in the matter, but Unays, the elephant-driver, is my friend ; I
will send to him and press your claims on his consideration and ask
him to procure you an audience with the king. Tell Unays what
you wish : he will plead with the king in your favour if he can."
So Dhu Nafar sent for Unays and said to him, "O Unays, 'Abdu
1-Muttalib is lord of Quraysh and master of the caravans of Mecca.
He feeds the people in the plain and the wild creatures on the
mountain-tops. The king has seized two hundred of his camels.
Now get him admitted to the king's presence and help him to the
best of your power." Unays consented, and soon 'Abdu '1-Muttahb
stood before the king. When Abraha saw him he held him in too
high respect to let him sit in an inferior place, but was unwilling
that the Abyssinians should see the Arab chief, who was a large
man and a comely, seated on a level with himself ; he therefore
descended from his throne and sat on his carpet and bade 'Abdu
'1-Muttalib sit beside him. Then he said to his dragoman, "Ask
him what he wants of me." 'Abdu '1-Muttalib replied, " I want the
king to restore to me two hundred camels of mine which he has
taken away." Abraha said to the dragoman, " Tell him : You
pleased me when I first saw you, but now that you have spoken to
me I hold you cheap. What ! do you speak to me of two hundred
camels which I have taken, and omit to speak of a temple venerated
by you and your fathers which I have come to destroy ? " Then said
'Abdu '1-Muttalib : " The camels are mine, but the Temple belongs
to another, who will defend it," and on the king exclaiming, " He
cannot defend it from me," he said, "That is your affair ; only give
me back my camels."
As it is related in a more credible version, the tribes settled round
Mecca sent ambassadors, of whom 'Abdu 'l-Muttahb was one, offer-
ing to surrender a third part of their possessions to Abraha on con-
dition that he should spare the Temple, but he refused. Having
recovered his camels, 'Abdu '1-Muttalib returned to the Quraysh,
told them what had happened, and bade them leave the city and
take shelter in the mountains. Then he went to the Ka'ba, accom-
panied by several of the Quraysh, to pray for help against Abraha
and his army. Grasping the ring of the door, he cried :—
"0 God, defend Thy neighbouring folk even as a man his gear^
defendeth !
Let not their Cross and guileful plans defeat the plans Thyself
intendeth !
But if Thou make it so, 'tis well: according to Thy will it endeth.''^
' I read hildlak. See Glossary to Tabari. ' Tabari, i, 940, 13.
68 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
Next morning, when Abraha prepared to enter Mecca, his
elephant knelt down and would not budge, though they beat its
head with an axe and thrust sharp stakes into its flanks ; but when
they turned it in the direction of Yemen, it rose up and trotted with
alacrity. Then God sent from the sea a flock of birds like swallows
every one of which carried three stones as large as a
Ab°ysskdans. chick-pea or a lentil, one in its bill and one in each
claw, and all who were struck by those stones perished.'
The rest fled in disorder, dropping down as they ran or wherever
they halted to quench their thirst. Abraha himself was smitten
with a plague so that his limbs rotted off piecemeal.^
These details are founded on the 105th chapter of the
Koran, entitled ' The Sura of the Elephant,' w^hich may be
freely rendered as follows : —
" Hast not thou seen the people of the Elephant, how dealt with
them the Lord ?
Did not He make their plot to end in ruin abhorred ? —
When He sent against them birds, horde on horde,
And stones of baked clay upon them poured.
And made them as leaves of corn devoured."
The part played by 'Abdu '1-Muttalib in the story is, or
course, a pious fiction designed to glorify the Holy City and
to claim for the Prophet's family fifty years before Islam a
predominance which they did not obtain until long afterwards ;
but equally of course the legend reflects Muhammadan belief,
and may be studied with advantage as a characteristic specimen
of its class.
" When God repulsed the Abyssinians from Mecca and
smote them with His vengeance, the Arabs held the Quraysh
' Another version says : " Whenever a man was struck sores and
pustules broke out on that part of his body. This was the first appearance
of the small-pox " (Tabari, i, 945, 2 sqq.). Here we have the historical
fact — an outbreak of pestilence in the Abyssinian army — which gave rise
to the legend related above.
= There is trustworthy evidence that Abraha continued to rule Yemen
for some time after his defeat.
ROUT OF THE ABYSSINIANS 69
in high respect and said, * They are God's people : God hath
fought for them and hath defended them against their enemy ;*
and made poems on this matter." ^ The following verses,
according to Ibn Ishaq, are by Abu '1-Salt b. Abi Rabl'a of
Thaqif; others more reasonably ascribe them to his son
Umayya, a well-known poet and monotheist [Hanlf) con-
temporary with Muhammad : —
" Lo, the signs of our Lord are everlasting,
None disputes them except the unbeliever.
He created Day and Night : unto all men
Is their Reckoning ordained, clear and certain.
Gracious Lord ! He illumines the daytime
With a sun v/idely scattering radiance.
Verses by He the Elephant stayed at Mughammas
Umayya b. Abi „ ^, ^ -^ ,• \ ^u u -^ u 4- ^
'1-Sait. So that sore it limped as though it were hamstrung,
Cleaving close to its halter, and down dropped,
As one falls from the crag of a mountain.
Gathered round it were princes of Kinda,
Noble heroes, fierce hawks in the mellay.
There they left it : they all fled together.
Every man with his shank-bone broken.
Vain before God is every religion.
When the dead rise, except the Hanifite.-"
The patriotic feelings aroused in the Arabs of the Hijaz
by the Abyssinian invasion — feehngs which must have been
shared to some extent by the Bedouins generally — received a
fresh stimulus through events which occurred about forty years
after this time on the other side of the peninsula. It will be
remembered that the Lakhmite dynasty at Hira came to an
end with Nu'man III, who was cruelly executed by Khusraw
Parwez (6o2 or 607 a.d.).3 Before his death he had deposited
his arms and other property with Hani', a chieftain of the
Banu Bakr. These were claimed by Khusraw, and as Hani'
refused to give them up, a Persian army was sent to Dhu Q^S
' Ibn Hisham, p. 38, 1. 14 sqq. ^ Ibid., p. 40, 1. 12 sqq.
3 See pp. 48-49 supra.
70 THE LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
a place near Kiifa abounding in water and consequently a
favourite resort of the Bakrites during the dry season. A
desperate conflict ensued, in which the Persians
Qir(circa6io were Completely routed, ^ Although the forces
engaged were comparatively small,^ this victory
was justly regarded by the Arabs as marking the com-
mencement of a new order of things ; e.g.^ it is related that
Muhammad said when the tidings reached him : " This is the
first day on which the Arabs have obtained satisfaction from
the Persians." The desert tribes, hitherto overshadowed by
the Sasanian Empire and held in check by the powerful
dynasty of Hira, were now confident and aggressive. They
began to hate and despise the Colossus which they no longer
feared, and which, before many years had elapsed, they trampled
in the dust.
' Full details are given by Tabari, i, ioi6-io37=Noldeke's translation,
pp. 311-345- , . r, •
^ A poet speaks of three thousand Arabs and two thousand Persians
Tabari, i, 1036, 5-6).
CHAPTER III
PRE-rSLAMIC POETRY, MANNERS, AND RELIGION
" When there appeared a poet in a family of the Arabs, the
other tribes round about would gather together to that family
and wish them joy of their good luck. Feasts would be got
ready, the women of the tribe would join together in bands,
playing upon lutes, as they were wont to do at bridals, and the
men and boys would congratulate one another ; for a poet was
a defence to the honour of them all, a weapon to ward off
insult from their good name, and a means of perpetuating their
glorious deeds and of establishing their fame for ever. And
they used not to wish one another joy but for three things —
the birth of a boy, the coming to light of a poet, and the
foaling of a noble mare." ^
As far as extant literature is concerned — and at this time
there was only a spoken literature, which was preserved by
oral tradition, and first committed to writing long afterwards
— the ydhiliyya or Pre-islamic Age covers scarcely more than
a century, from about 500 a.d., when the oldest poems of
which we have any record were composed, to the year of
Muhammad's Flight to Medina (622 a.d.), which is the
starting-point of a new era in Arabian history. The influence
of these hundred and twenty years was great and lasting.
' Ibn Rashiq in Suyiiti's Muzhir (Bulaq, 1282 A.H.), Part II, p. 236, 1. 22
sqq. I quote the translation of Sir Charles Lyall in the Introduction to his
Ancient Arabian Poetry, p. 17, a most admirable work which should be
placed in the hands of every one who is beginning the study of this
difficult subject.
71
72 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
They saw the rise and incipient decline of a poetry which
most Arabic-speaking Moslems have always regarded as a
model of unapproachable excellence ; a poetry rooted in the
life of the people, that insensibly moulded their minds and
fixed their character and made them morally and spiritually a
nation long before Muhammad welded the various conflicting
groups into a single organism, animated, for some time at
least, by a common purpose. In those days poetry was no
luxury for the cultured few, but the sole medium of literary
expression. Every tribe had its poets, who freely uttered what
they felt and thought. Their unwritten words " flew across
the desert faster than arrows," and came home to the hearts
and bosoms of all who heard them. Thus in the midst of
outward strife and disintegration a unifying principle was at
work. Poetry gave life and currency to an ideal of Arabian
virtue [muruwwa), which, though based on tribal community
of blood and insisting that only ties of blood were sacred,
nevertheless became an invisible bond between diverse clans,
and formed, whether consciously or not, the basis of a national
community of sentiment.
In the following pages I propose to trace the origins of
Arabian poetry, to describe its form, contents, and general
features, to give some account of the most cele-
Origins of brated Pre-islamic poets and collections of Pre-
Arabian poetry r
islamic verse, and finally to show in what manner
it was preserved and handed down.
By the ancient Arabs the poet {shd^ir^ plural shu'ara), as his
name implies, was held to be a person endowed with super-
natural knowledge, a wizard in league with spirits (Jinn) or
satans (jhaydtin) and dependent on them for the magical
powers which he displayed. This view of his. personality,
as well as the influential position which he occupied, are curi-
ously indicated by the story of a certain youth who was refused
the hand of his beloved on the ground that he was neither a poet
THE POET AS A WIZARD 73
nor a soothsayer nor a water-diviner.^ The idea of poetry as
an art was developed afterwards ; the pagan sha^ir is the oracle
of his tribe, their guide in peace and their champion in war.
It was to him they turned for counsel when they sought new
pastures, only at his word would they pitch or strike their 'houses
of hair,' and when the tired and thirsty wanderers found a well
and drank of its water and washed themselves, led by him they
may have raised their voices together and sung, like Israel —
" Spring up, O well, sing ye unto it." "
Besides fountain-songs, war-songs, and hymns to idols,
other kinds of poetry must have existed in the earliest times —
e.g.^ the love-song and the dirge. The powers of the shd^ir,
however, were chiefly exhibited in Satire {hijd)^ which in the
oldest known form " introduces and accompanies the tribal
feud, and is an element of war just as important
as the actual fighting." 3 The menaces which he
hurled against the foe were believed to be inevitably fatal.
His rhymes, often compared to arrows, had all the eiFect of a
solemn curse spoken by a divinely inspired prophet or priest,4
and their pronunciation was attended with peculiar ceremonies
of a symbolic character, such as anointing the hair on one side
of the head, letting the mantle hang down loosely, and wear-
ing only one sandal.S Satire retained something of these
ominous associations at a much later period when the magic
utterance of the shdHr had long given place to the lampoon
' Freytag, Arabutn Proverbia, vol. ii, p. 494.
- Numb, xxi, 17. Such well-songs are still sung in the Syrian desert
(see Enno Littmann, Ncuarabischc Volkspoesic, in Abhand. dcr Koii. Gesell-
schaft der Wissenschafteii, Phil.-Hist. Klassc, Gottingen, 1901), p. 92. In
a specimen cited at p. 81 we find the words witlaya dlewena — i.e., " Rise,
O bucket ! " several times repeated.
3 Goldziher, Ucbcr die Vorgcschichte der Higd'-Poesie in his Abhand. zur
Arab. Philologie, Part I (Leyden, 1896), p. 26.
* Cf. the story of Balak and Balaam, with Goldziher's remarks thereon,
ibid., p. 42 seq.
s Ibid., p. 46 seq.
74 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
by which the poet reviles his enemies and holds them up to
shame.
The obscure beginnings of Arabian poetry, presided over
by the magician and his familiar spirits, have left not a
rack behind in the shape of literature, but the task
^* of reconstruction is comparatively easy vi^here we
are dealing with a people so conservative and tenacious of
antiquity as the Arabs. Thus it may be taken for certain
that the oldest form of poetical speech in Arabia was rhyme
without metre (i'rt/''), or, as we should say, 'rhymed prose,'
although the fact of Muhammad's adversaries calling him a
poet because he used it in the Koran shows the light in which
it was regarded even after the invention and elaboration of
metre. Later on, as we shall see, 5fl/' became a merely
rhetorical ornament, the distinguishing mark of all eloquence
whether spoken or written, but originally it had a deeper,
almost religious, significance as the special form adopted by
poets, soothsayers, and the like in their supernatural revelations
and for conveying to the vulgar every kind of mysterious and
esoteric lore.
Out of 1S.2;' was evolved the most ancient of the Arabian
metres, which is known by the name of RajazJ This is an
irregular iambic metre usually consisting of four
^'^^' or six — an Arab would write ' two or three ' —
feet to the line ; and it is a peculiarity of Rajaz^ marking its
affinity to Sa/, that all the lines rhyme with each other,
whereas in the more artificial metres only the opening verse ^
' Rajaz primarily means " a tremor (which is a symptom of disease) in
the hind-quarters of a camel." This suggested to Dr. G. Jacob his interest-
ing theory that the Arabian metres arose out of the camel-driver's song
[hidd) in harmony with the varying paces of the animal which he rode
(Studien in arabischcii Dichtern, Heft III, p. 179 sqq.).
2 The Arabic verse (bayt) consists of two halves or hemistichs (misrd'').
It is generally convenient to use the word ' line ' as a translation of misrd\
but the reader must understand that the ' line ' is not, as in English
poetry, an independent unit. Rajaz is the sole exception to this rule, there
being here no division into hemistichs, but each line (verse) forming an
unbroken whole and rhyming with that which precedes it.
ARABIAN METRES 75
is doubly rhymed. A further characteristic of Rajaz. is that
it should be uttered extempore, a few verses at a time — com-
monly verses expressing some personal feeling, emotion, or
experience, like those of the aged vv^arrior Durayd b. Zayd b.
Nahd vv^hen he lay dying : —
" The house of death ' is builded for Durayd to-day.
Could Time be worn out, sure had I worn Time away.
No single foe but I had faced and brought to bay.
The spoils I gathered in, how excellent were they !
The women that I loved, how fine was their array !"'
Here would have been the proper place to give an account
of the principal Arabian metres — the ' Perfect ' (Kdmil), the
* Ample' {Wafir\ the 'Long' [Tawll), the
other metres, c ^jj^ , {Baslt), the 'Light' {Khafif), and
several more — but in order to save valuable space I must
content myself with referring the reader to the extremely
lucid treatment of this subject by Sir Charles Lyall in the
Introduction to his Ancient Arabian Poetry^ pp. xlv-lii. All
the metres are quantitative, as in Greek and Latin. Their
names and laws were unknown to the Pre-islamic bards : the
rules of prosody were first deduced from the ancient poems and
systematised by the grammarian, Khalil b. Ahmad (t 791 a.d.),
to whom the idea is said to have occurred as he watched a
coppersmith beating time on the anvil with his hammer.
We have now to consider the form and matter of the oldest
extant poems in the Arabic language. Between these highly
developed productions and the rude doggerel of
extant°poems. Saj*" OX Rajaz there lies an interval, the length of
which it is impossible even to conjecture. The
first poets are already consummate masters of the craft. " The
number and complexity of the measures which they use, their
established laws of quantity and rhyme, and the uniform
' In Arabic 'al-bayt,' the tent, which is here used figuratively for the
grave.
" Ibn Qutayba, Kitabu 'l-Shi'r wa-'l-Shu'atd, p. 36, 1, 3 sqq.
76 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
manner in which they introduce the subject of their poems,i
notwithstanding the distance which often separated one com-
poser from another, all point to a long previous study and
cultivation of the art of expression and the capacities of their
language, a study of which no record now remains." ^
It is not improbable that the dawn of the Golden Age of
Arabian Poetry coincided with the first decade of the sixth
century after Christ. About that time the War
of Basus, the chronicle of which has preserved a
considerable amount of contemporary verse, was in full
blaze ; and the first Arabian ode was composed, according
to tradition, by Muhalhil b. Rabi'a the Taghlibite on the
death of his brother, the chieftain Kulayb, which caused war
to break out between Baler and Taghlib. At any rate, during
the next hundred years in almost every part of the peninsula
we meet with a brilliant succession of singers, all using the
same poetical dialect and strictly adhering to the same rules of
composition. The fashion which they set maintained itself
virtually unaltered down to the end of the Umayyad period
(750 A.D.), and though challenged by some daring spirits under
the 'Abbasid Caliphate, speedily reasserted its supremacy, which
at the present day is almost as absolute as ever.
This fashion centres in the QasJdayS or Ode, the only
form, or rather the only finished type of poetry that existed
' Already in the sixth century a.d. the poet 'Antara complains that his
predecessors have left nothing new for him to say {Mu'allaqa, v. i).
= Ancient Arabian Poetry, Introduction, p. xvi.
3 Oasida is explained by Arabian lexicographers to mean a poem with
an artistic purpose, but they differ as to the precise sense in which ' pur-
pose ' is to be understood. Modern critics are equally at variance. Jacob
(Stud, in Arab. Dichteni, Heft III, p. 203) would derive the word from the
principal motive of these poems, namely, to gain a rich reward in return
for praise and flattery. Ahlwardt {Bcmcrkangcn iiber die Aechtheit deralten
Arab. Gedichte, p. 24 seq.) connects it with qasada, to break, "because it
consists of verses, every one of which is divided into two halves, with a
common end-rhyme : thus the whole poem is broken, as it were, into two
halves ;" while in the Rajas verses, as we have seen (p. 74 supra"), there
is no such break.
THE QAStDA OR ODE 77
in what, for want of a better word, may be called the classical
period of Arabic literature. The verses [ahyat^ singular bayt)
of which it is built vary in number, but are seldom
eyasi a. j^^^ than twenty-five or more than a hundred ;
and the arrangement of the rhymes is such that, while the two
halves of the first verse rhyme together, the same rhyme is
repeated once in the second, third, and every following verse
to the end of the poem. Blank-verse is alien to the Arabs,
who regard rhyme not as a pleasing ornament or a " trouble-
some bondage," but as a vital organ of poetry. The rhymes
are usually feminine, e.g.^ sakhind, tu//«^, muhlnd ,• mukh//W/,
yadlj '■\ivfwadi ; xydmuhd^ sxldmuhd^ hardmuhd. To surmount
the difficulties of the monorhyme demands great technical
skill even in a language of which the peculiar formation
renders the supply of rhymes extraordinarily abundant. The
longest of the Mu^allaqdt, the so-called ' Long Poems,' is
considerably shorter than Gray's Elegy. An Arabian Homer
or Chaucer must have condescended to prose. With respect
to metre the poet may choose any except Rajaz^ which is
deemed beneath the dignity of the Ode, but his liberty does
not extend either to the choice of subjects or to the method of
handling them : on the contrary, the course of his ideas is
determined by rigid conventions which he durst not overstep.
" I have heard," says Ibn Qutayba, "from a man of learning that
the composer of Odes began by mentioning the deserted dwelling-
places and the relics and traces of habitation. Then
^'^c uiu oMhe ^^ wept and complained and addressed the desolate
contents and encampment, and begged his companion to make a
ivisions^o e ^^^^^^ .^ Order that he might have occasion to speak
of those who had once lived there and afterwards
departed ; for the dwellers in tents were different from townsmen or
villagers in respect of coming and going, because they moved from
one water-spring to another, seeking pasture and searching out the
places where rain had fallen. Then to this h linked the erotic
prelude (nasib), and bewailed the violence of his love and the
anguish of separation from his mistress and the extremity of his
passion and desire, so as to win the hearts of his hearers and divert
78 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
their eyes towards him and invite their ears to Hsten to him, since
the song of love touches men's souls and takes hold of their hearts,
God having'put it in the constitution of His creatures to love dalliance
and the society of women, in such wise that we find very few but
are attached thereto by some tie or have some share therein, whether
lawful or unpermitted. Now, when the poet had assured himself of
an attentive hearing, he followed up his advantage and set forth his
claim : thus he went on to complain of fatigue and want of sleep
and travelling by night and of the noonday heat, and how his camel
had been reduced to leanness. And when, after representing all the
discomfort and danger of his journey, he knew that he had fully
justified his hope and expectation of receiving his due meed from
the person to whom the poem was addressed, he entered upon the
panegyric (madih), and incited him to reward, and kindled his
generosity by exalting him above his peers and pronouncing the
greatest dignity, in comparison with his, to be little." '
Hundreds of Odes answer exactly to this description, which
must not, however, be regarded as the invariable model. The
erotic prelude is often omitted, especially in elegies ; or if it
does not lead directly to the main subject, it may be followed
by a faithful and minute delineation of the poet's horse or
camel which bears him through the wilderness with a speed
like that of the antelope, the wild ass, or the ostrich : Bedouin
poetry abounds in fine studies of animal life.^ The choice of
a motive is left open. Panegyric, no doubt, paid better than
any other, and was therefore the favourite ; but in Pre- islamic
times the poet could generally please himself. The qasida
is no organic whole : rather its unity resembles that of a series
of pictures by the same hand or, to employ an Eastern trope,
of pearls various in size and quality threaded on a necklace.
The ancient poetry may be defined as an illustrative criti-
' Kitdbu 'l-Shi'r wa-'l-Shu'ard, p. 14, 1. 10 sqq.
^ Noldeke (Filnf Mo'allaqdt, i, p. 3 sqq.) makes the curious observation,
which illustrates the highly artificial character of this poetry, that certain
animals well known to the Arabs (e.g., the panther, the jerboa, and the
hare) are seldom mentioned and scarcely ever described, apparently for
no reason except that they were not included in the conventional
repertory.
SHANFARA 79
cism of Pre-islamic life and thought. Here the Arab has
drawn himself at full length without embellishment or ex-
tenuation.
It is not mere chance that Abu Tammam's famous
anthology is called the Hamasa^ i.e., * Fortitude,' from the
title of its first chapter, which occupies nearly a half of the
book. ' Hamasa ' denotes the virtues most highly prized by
the Arabs — bravery in battle, patience in misfortune, persist-
ence in revenge, protection of the weak and defiance of the
strong ; the will, as Tennyson has said,
" To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
As types of the ideal Arab hero we may take Shanfard of
Azd and his comrade in foray, Ta'abbata Sharr^".
^^^ htro.^'^^^ Both were brigands, outlaws, swift runners, and
excellent poets. Of the former
" it is said that he was captured when a child from his tribe by the
Banu Saldman, and brought up among them : he did not learn his
origin until he had grown up, when he vowed vengeance against
his captors, and returned to his own tribe. His oath was that he
would slay a hundred men of Salaman ; he slew ninety-eight, when
an ambush of his enemies succeeded in taking him prisoner. In
the struggle one of his hands was hewn off by a sword
Shanfara
stroke, and, taking it in the other, he flung it in the
face of a man of Salaman and killed him, thus making ninet3'-nine.
Then he was overpowered and slain, with one still wanting to make
up his number. As his skull lay bleaching on the ground, a man
of his enemies passed by that way and kicked it with his foot ; a
splinter of bone entered his foot, the wound mortified, and he died,
thus completing the hundred." '
The following passage is translated from Shanfard's splendid
Ode named Lamiyyatu U-^Arab (the poem rhymed in / of the
' Ancient Arabian Poetry, p. 83.
8o PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
Arabs), in which he describes his own heroic character and
the hardships of a predatory life: — ^
" Somewhere the noble find a refuge afar from scathe,
The outlaw a lonely spot where no kin with hatred burn.
Oh, never a prudent man, night-faring in hope or fear,
Hard pressed on the face of earth, but still he hath room to
turn.
To me now, in your default, are comrades a wolf untired,
A sleek leopard, and a fell hyena with shaggy mane :^
True comrades, who yield not up the secret consigned to them,
Nor basely forsake their friend because that he brought them
bane.
And each is a gallant heart and ready at honour's call,
Yet I, when the foremost charge, am bravest of all the brave ;
But if they with hands outstretched are seizing the booty won,
The slowest am I whenas most quick is the greedy knave.
By naught save my generous will I reach to the height of worth
Above them, and sure the best is he with the will to give.
Yea, well I am rid of those who pay not a kindness back.
Of whom I have no delight though neighbours to me they live.
Enow are companions three at last : an intrepid soul,
A glittering trenchant blade, a tough bow of ample size.
Loud-twanging, the sides thereof smooth-polished, a handsome
bow
Hung down from the shoulder-belt by thongs in a comely wise,
That groans, when the arrow slips away, like a woman crushed
By losses, bereaved of all her children, who wails and cries."
' Verses 3-13. I have attempted to imitate the ' Long' (Tawil) metre of
the original, viz. : —
The Arabic text of the Ldmiyya, with prose translation and commentary,
is printed in De Sacy's Chrestoinathie Arabc (2nd ed.), vol. ii^, p. 134 sqq.,
and vol. ii, p. 337 sqq. It has been translated into English verse by
G. Hughes (London, 1896). Other versions are mentioned by Noldeke,
Beitn'ige ztir Kcnntniss d. Pocsie d. altcn Arabcr, p. 200.
= The poet, apparently, means that his three friends are like the animals
mentioned. Prof. Bevan remarks, however, that this interpretation is
doubtful, since an Arab would scarcely compare his friend to a hyena.
TA'ABBATA SHARR''^ 8i
On quitting his tribe, who cast him out when they were
threatened on all sides by enemies seeking vengeance for the
blood that he had spilt, Shanfara said : —
" Bury me not ! Me you are forbidden to bury,
But thou, O hyena, soon wilt feast and make merry.
When foes bear away mine head, wherein is the best of me,
And leave on the battle-field for thee all the rest of me.
Here nevermore I hope to live glad — a stranger
Accurst, whose wild deeds have brought his people in danger." '
Thabit b. Jabir b. Sufyan of Fahm is said to have got his
nickname, Ta'abbata Sharr*", because one day his mother, who
had seen him go forth from his tent with a sword
^sh^a'rram Under his arm, on being asked, " Where is
Thabit ? " replied, " I know not : he put a
mischief under his arm-pit (ta'abbata sharr"") and departed."
According to another version of the story, the 'mischief
was a Ghoul whom he vanquished and slew and carried home
in this manner. The following lines, which he addressed to
his cousin. Shams b. Malik, may be applied with equal justice
to the poet himself : —
" Little he complains of labour that befalls him ; much he wills ;
Diverse ways attempting, mightily his purpose he fulfils.
Through one desert in the sun's heat, through another in star-
light,
Lonely as the wild ass, rides he bare-backed Danger noon and
night.
He the foremost wind outpaceth, while in broken gusts it blows,
Speeding onward, never slackening, never staying for repose.
Prompt to dash upon the foeman, every minute watching well —
Are his eyes in slumber lightly sealed, his heart stands sentinel.
When the first advancing troopers rise to sight, he sets his
hand
From the scabbard forth to draw his sharp-edged, finely-mettled
brand.
' Hanidsa, 242.
7
._>,
82 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
When he shakes it in the breast-bone of a champion of the foe,
How the grinning Fates in open glee their flashing side-teeth
show !
Solitude his chosen comrade, on he fares while overhead
By the Mother of the mazy constellations he is led."'
These verses admirably describe the rudimentary Arabian
virtues of courage, hardness, and strength. We must now
take a wider survey of the moral ideas on which pagan society
was built, and of which Pre-islamic poetry is at once the pro-
mulgation and the record. There was no written code, no
legal or religious sanction — nothing, in effect, save the binding
force of traditional sentiment and opinion, i.e.^
The old Arabian ,._ ttt-i i i i- • r
points of Honour. What, then, are the salient points or
honour. . i-it7- i it /t \
honour in which Virtue [Muruwwa)^ as it was
understood by the heathen Arabs, consists ?
Courage has been already mentioned. Arab courage is like
that of the ancient Greeks, " dependent upon excitement and
vanishing quickly before depression and delay." ^
Hence the Arab hero is defiant and boastful, as
he appears, e.g.^ in the Mu'-allaqa of 'Amr b. Kulthum.
When there is little to lose by flight he will ride off" un-
ashamed ; but he will fight to the death for his womenfolk,
who in serious warfare often accompanied the tribe and
were stationed behind the line of battle. 3
"When I saw the hard earth hollowed
By our women's flying footprints,
And Lamis her face uncovered
Like the full moon of the skies,
Showing forth her hidden beauties —
Then the matter was grim earnest :
I engaged their chief in combat,
Seeing help no other wise." ■•
' Hamdsa, 41-43. This poem has been rendered in verse by Sir
Charles Lyall, Ancient Arabian Poetry, p. 16, and by the late Dr. A. B.
Davidson, Biblical and Literary Essays, p. 263.
- Mahaffy, Social Life in Greece, p. 21. ^ See pp. 59-60 supra.
■» Hamdsa, 82-83. The poet is 'Amr b. Ma'dikarib, a famous heathen
knight who accepted Islam and afterwards distinguished himself in the
Persian wars.
COURAGE AND LOYALTY 83
The tribal constitution was a democracy guided by its chief '
men, who derived their authority from noble blood, noble •^<^
character, wealth, wisdom, and experience. As a Bedouin j
poet has said in homely language — -^
" A folk that hath no chiefs must soon decay,
And chiefs it hath not when the vulgar sway.
Only with poles the tent is reared at last,
And poles it hath not save the pegs hold fast.
But when the pegs and poles are once combined,
Then stands accomplished that which was designed." '
The chiefs, however, durst not lay commands or penalties on
their fellow-tribesmen. Every man ruled himself, and was
free to rebuke presumption in others. '•^ If you are our lord''''
{i.e.f if you act discreetly as a sayyid should), " you will lord
over uSy but if you are a prey to pride^ go and be proud ! " (/.^., we
will have nothing to do with you).^ Loyalty in the mouth of
a pagan Arab did not mean allegiance to his superiors, but
faithful devotion to his equals ; and it was closely
connected with the idea of kinship. The family
and the tribe, which included strangers living in the tribe
under a covenant of protection — to defend these, individually
and collectively, was a sacred duty. Honour required that
a man should stand by his own people through thick and
thin.
" I am of Ghaziyya : if she be in error, then I will err ;
And if Ghaziyya be guided right, I go right with her ! "
sang Durayd b. Simma, who had followed his kin, against his
better judgment, in a foray which cost the life of his brother
'Abdullah. 3 If kinsmen seek help it should be given promptly,
without respect to the merits of the case ; if they do wrong
' Al-Afwah al-Awdi in Noldeke's Delectus, p. 4, 11. 8-10. The poles and
pegs represent lords and commons.
' Hamdsa, 122. 3 Ibid., 378.
^ PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
it should be suffered as long as possible before resorting to
violence. I The utilitarian view of friendship is often em-
phasised, as in these verses : —
"Take for thy brother whom thou wilt in the days of peace,
But know that when fighting comes thy kinsman alone is near.
Thy true friend thy kinsman is, who answers thy call for aid
With good will, when deeply drenched in bloodshed are sword
and spear.
Oh, never forsake thy kinsman e'en tho' he do thee wrong.
For what he hath marred he mends thereafter and makes
sincere." -
At the same time, notwithstanding their shrewd common
sense, nothing is more characteristic of the Arabs — heathen
and Muhammadan alike — than the chivalrous devotion and
disinterested self-sacrifice of which they are capable on behalf
of their friends. In particular, the ancient poetry affords
proof that they regarded with horror any breach of the solemn
covenant plighted between patron and client or host and guest.
This topic might be illustrated by many striking examples, but
one will suffice : —
The Arabs say: '' Awfa mina 'l-Samaw'ali"— "More loyal than
al-Samaw'al " ; or Wafd"" ka-wafd'i 'l-Samaw'ali"—" A loyalty like
that of al-Samaw'al." These proverbs refer to
'^^mf°Z b Samaw'al b. 'Adiya, an Arab of Jewish descent and
'Adiya. J^^^ ^Y religion, who lived in his castle, called al-Ablaq
(The Piebald), at Tayma, some distance north of
Medina. There he dug a well of sweet water, and would entertain
the Arabs who used to alight beside it ; and they supplied them-
selves with provisions from his castle and set up a market. It is
related that the poet Imru'u '1-Qays, while fleeing, hotly pursued by
his enemies, towards Syria, took refuge with Samaw'al, and before
proceeding on his way left in charge of his host five coats of mail
which had been handed down as heirlooms by the princes of his
family. Then he departed, and in due course arrived at Constanti-
nople, where he besought the Byzantine emperor to help him to
' Cf. the verses by al-Find, p. 58 supra. = Hamdsa, 327.
SAMAW'AL B. 'Al)/YA 85
recover his lost kingdom. His appeal was not unsuccessful, but he
died on the way home. Meanwhile his old enemy, the King of Hira,
sent an army under Harith b. Zalim against Samaw'al, demanding
that he should surrender the coats of mail. Samaw'al refused to
betray the trust committed to him, and defended himself in his
castle. The besiegers, however, captured his son, who had gone
out to hunt. Harith asked Samaw'al : " Dost thou know this
lad?" "Yes, he is my son." "Then wilt thou deliver what is
in thy possession, or shall I slay him ? " Samaw'al answered : " Do
with him as thou wilt. I will never break my pledge nor give up
the property of my guest-friend." So Harith smote the lad with his
sword and clove him through the middle. Then he raised the siege.
And Samaw'al said thereupon : —
" / was true with the mail-coats of the Kindite,^
I am true though many a one is blamed for treason.
Once did 'Adiyd, my father, exhort me :
' O Samaw'al, ne'er destroy what I have buildedJ
For me built 'Adiyd a strong-walled castle
With a well where I draw water at pleasure;
So high, the eagle slipping back is baffled.
When wrong befalls me I endure not tamely ^
The Bedouin ideal of generosity and hospitality is personified
in Hdtim of Tayyi', of whom many anecdotes are told. We
may learn from the following one hoyv extravagant are an
Arab's notions on this subject : —
When Hatim's mother was pregnant she dreamed that she was
asked, "Which dost thou prefer ? — a generous son called Hatim, or
ten Hke those of other folk, lions in the hour of battle,
yatim of Tayyi'. brave lads and strong of limb ?" and that she answered,
" Hatim." Now, when Hatim grew up he was wont
to take out his food, and if he found any one to share it he
would eat, otherwise he threw it away. His father, seeing that
' Imru'u '1-Qays was one of the princes of Kinda, a powerful tribe in
Central Arabia.
^ Aghdni, xix, 99. The last two lines are wanting in the poem as there
cited, but appear in the Selection from the Aghdni published at Beyrout in
1888, vol. ii, p. 18.
86 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
he wasted his food, gave him a slave-girl and a mare with her
foal and sent him to herd the camels. On reaching the pasture,
Hatim began to search for his fellows, but none was in sight ;
then he came to the road, but found no one there. While he
was thus engaged he descried a party of riders on the road and
went to meet them. " O youth," said they, " hast thou aught to
entertain us withal ? " He answered : " Do ye ask me of enter-
tainment when ye see the camels ? " Now, these riders were
'Abid b. al-Abras and Bishr b. Abi Khazim and Nabigha al-
Dhubyani, and they were on their way to King Nu'man.' Hatim
slaughtered three camels for them, whereupon 'Abid said : " We
desired no entertainment save milk, but if thou must needs charge
thyself with something more, a single young she-camel would have
sufficed us." Hatim replied : " That I know, but seeing different
faces and diverse fashions I thought ye were not of the same
country, and I wished that each of you should mention what ye
saw, on returning home." So they spoke verses in praise of him
and celebrated his generosity, and Hatim said : " I wished to bestow
a kindness upon you, but your bounty is greater than mine. I
swear to God that I will hamstring every camel in the herd unless
ye come forward and divide them among yourselves." The poets
did as he desired, and each man received ninety-nine camels ; then
they proceeded on their journey to Nu'man. When Hatim's father
heard of this he came to him and asked, "Where are the camels ? "
" O my father," repHed Hatim, " by means of them I have conferred
on thee everlasting fame and honour that will cleave to thee like the
ring of the ringdove, and men will always bear in mind some verse
of poetry in which we are praised. This is thy recompense for the
camels." On hearing these words his father said, " Didst thou with
my camels thus ? " " Yes." " By God, I will never dwell with thee
again." So he went forth with his family, and Hatim was left alone
with his slave-girl and his mare and the mare's foal.*
We are told that Hdtim's daughter was led as a captive
before the Prophet and thus addressed him : " ' O Muhammad,
my sire is dead, and he who would have come to plead for me
is gone. Release me, if it seem good to thee, and do not let the
Arabs rejoice at my misfortune ; for I am the daughter of
the chieftain of my people. My father was wont to free the
captive, and protect those near and dear to him, and entertain
' See p. 45 sqq. == Aghdni, xvi, 98, 11. 5-22.
liATIM OF TAYYF 87
the guest, and satisfy the hungry, and console the afflicted, and
give food and greeting to all ; and never did he turn away
any who sought a boon. 1 am Hatim's daugh-
daughter before tcr.' The Prophct (on whom be the blessing
and peace of God) answered her: 'O maiden,
the true believer is such as thou hast described. Had thy
father been an Islamite, verily we should have said, " God have
mercy upon him!" Let her go,' he continued, 'for her sire
loved noble manners, and God loves them likewise.' " ^
Hatim was a poet of some repute.^ The following lines are
addressed to his wife, Mawiyya : —
" O daughter of 'Abdullah and Malik and him who wore
The two robes of Yemen stuff — the hero that rode the roan,
When thou hast prepared the meal, entreat to partake thereof
A guest — I am not the man to eat, like a churl, alone — :
Some traveller thro' the night, or house-neighbour ; for in
sooth
I fear the reproachful talk of men after I am gone.
The guest's slave am I, 'tis true, as long as he bides with me,
Although in my nature else no trait of the slave is shown." 3
Here it will be convenient to make a short digression in
order that the reader may obtain, if not a complete view, at
least some glimpses of the position and influence
^women.°^ of womcn in Pre-islamic society. On the whole,
their position was high and their influence great.
They were free to choose their husbands, and could return, if
ill-treated or displeased, to their own people ; in some cases
• Aghdni, xvi, 97, 1. 5 sqq.
= His Diwdn has been edited with translation and notes by F. Schulthess
(Leipzig, 1897).
3 Hamdsa, 729. The hero mentioned in the first verse is 'Amir b,
Uhaymir of Bahdala. On a certain occasion, when envoys from the
Arabian tribes were assembled at Hira, King Mundhir b. Ma' al-sama
produced two pieces of cloth of Yemen and said, " Let him whose tribe
is noblest rise up and take them." Thereupon 'Amir stood forth, and
wrapping one piece round fiis waist and the other over his shoulders,
carried off the prize unchallenged.
88 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
they even offered themselves in marriage and had the right of
divorce. They were regarded not as slaves and chattels, but as
equals and companions. They inspired the poet to sing and
the warrior to fight. The chivalry of the Middle Ages is,
perhaps, ultimately traceable to heathen Arabia. " Knight-
errantry, the riding forth on horseback in search of adventures,
the rescue of captive maidens, the succour rendered everywhere
to women in adversity — all these were essentially Arabian
ideas, as was the very name of chivalry^ the connection of
honourable conduct with the horse-rider, the man of noble
blood, the cavalier." i But the nobility of the women is not
only reflected in the heroism and devotion of the men ; it
stands recorded in song, in legend, and in history. Fdtima,
the daughter of Khurshub, was one of three noble matrons
who bore the title al-Munjibdt^ ' the Mothers
heroines. ^^ Hcroes.' She had seven sons, three of whom,
viz., Rabi' and *■ Umara and Anas, were called
*the Perfect' [al-Kamala). One day Hamal b. Badr the
Fazdrite raided the Banu 'Abs, the tribe to which Fdtima
belonged, and made her his prisoner. As he led away the
camel on which she was mounted at the time, she cried :
" Man, thy wits are wandering. By God, if thou take me
captive, and if we leave behind us this hill which is now
in front of us, surely there will never be peace
daughter'of between thee and the sons of Ziyad " (Ziydd was
Khurshub. ^\ n \ ^ mi
the name of her husband), " because people will
say what they please, and the mere suspicion of evil is
enough." " I will carry thee off," said he, " that thou mayest
herd my camels." When Fatima knew that she was certainly
his prisoner she threw herself headlong from her camel and
died ; so did she fear to bring dishonour on her sons.^ Among
the names which have become proverbial for loyalty we find
' Lady Anne and Mr. Wilfrid Blunt, The Seven Golden Odes of Pagan
Arabia, Introduction, p. 14.
^ Aghdni xvi, 22, 11. 10-16.
WOMEN OF THE HEROIC AGE 89
those of two women, Fukayha and Umm Jamil. As to
Fulcayha, it is related that her clansmen, having been raided by
the brigand Sulayk b. Sulaka, resolved to attack
him ; but since he was a famous runner, on the
advice of one of their shaykhs they waited until he had gone
down to the water and quenched his thirst, for they knew that
he would then be unable to run. Sulayk, however, seeing
himself caught, made for the nearest tents and sought refuge
with Fukayha. She threw her smock over him, and stood
with drawn sword between him and his pursuers ; and as they
still pressed on, she tore the veil from her hair and shouted for
help. Then her brothers came and defended Sulayk, so that
his life was saved. ^ Had space allowed, it would have been a
pleasant task to make some further extracts from the long
Legend of Noble Women. I have illustrated their keen
sense of honour and loyalty, but I might equally well have
chosen examples of gracious dignity and quick intelligence and
passionate affection. Many among them had the gift of
poetry, which they bestowed especially on the dead ; it is
a final proof of the high character and position of women in
Pre-islamic Arabia that the hero's mother and sisters were
deemed most worthy to mourn and praise him. The praise of
living women by their lovers necessarily takes a different tone ;
the physical charms of the heroine are fully described, but we
seldom find any appreciation of moral beauty. One notable
exception to this rule occurs at the beginning of an ode by
Shanfara. The passage defies translation. It is, to quote Sir
Charles Lyall, with whose faithful and sympathetic rendering
of the ancient poetry every student of Arabic literature should
be acquainted, " the most lovely picture of womanhood which
heathen Arabia has left us, drawn by the same hand that has
given us, in the unrivalled Ldmiyah, its highest ideal of heroic
hardness and virile strength." 2
' Aghdni, xviii, 137, 11. 5-10. Freytag, Arabutn Proverbia, vol. ii, p. 834.
" Ancient Arabian Poetry, p. 81.
90 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
UMAYMA.
" She charmed me, veiling bashfully her face,
Keeping with quiet looks an even pace ;
Some lost thing seem to seek her downcast eyes :
Aside she bends not — softly she replies.
Ere dawn she carries forth her meal — a gift
To hungry wives in days of dearth and thrift.
No breath of blame up to her tent is borne,
While many a neighbour's is the house of scorn.
Her husband fears no gossip fraught with shame,
For pure and holy is Umayma's name.
Joy of his heart, to her he need not say
When evening brings him home — ' Where passed the day ?
Slender and full in turn, of perfect height,
A very fay were she, if beauty might
Transform a child of earth into a fairy sprite ! " '
Only in the freedom of the desert could the character thus
exquisitely delineated bloom and ripen. These verses, taken
by themselves, are a sufficient answer to any one who would
maintain that Islam has increased the social influence of
Arabian women, although in some respects it may have raised
them to a higher level of civilisation. 2
There is, of course, another side to all this. In a land
where might was generally right, and where
" the simple plan
' That he should take who has the power
And he should keep who can,"
was all but universally adopted, it would have been strange it
the weaker sex had not often gone to the wall. The custom
which prevailed in the ydhtliyya of burying female infants
alive, revolting as it appears to us, was due partly to the
frequent famines with which Arabia is afflicted through lack
of rain, and partly to a perverted sense of honour. Fathers
' Mufaddaliyydt, ed. Thorbecke, p. 23.
See Goldziher, Miihammedanische Studien, Part II, p. 295 sqq.
THE CUSTOM OF INFANTICIDE 91
feared lest they should have useless mouths to feed, or lest
they should incur disgrace in consequence of their daughters
being; made prisoners of war. Hence the birth of
Infanticide. , , , , i • J
a daughter was reckoned calamitous, as we read
in the Koran : " They attribute daughters unto God— far be
it from Him ! — and for themselves they desire them not. When
a female child is announced to one of them, his face darkens
wrathfully : he hides himself from his people because of the bad
news, thinking — ^ Shall I keep the child to my disgrace or cover
it away in the dust ? ''"''' '^ It was said proverbially, "The
despatch of daughters is a kindness" and "The burial of
daughters is a noble deed," 2 Islam put an end to this
barbarity, which is expressly forbidden by the Koran : " Kill
not your children in fear of impoverishment : we will provide for
them and for you : verily their killing was a great sin." 3 Perhaps
the most touching lines in Arabian poetry are those in which a
father struggling with poverty wishes that his daughter may
die before him and thus be saved from the hard mercies of
her relatives : —
THE POOR MAN'S DAUGHTER.
" But for Umayma's sake I ne'er had grieved to want nor
braved
Night's blackest horror to bring home the morsel that she
craved.
Now my desire is length of days because I know too well
The orphan girl's hard lot, with kin unkind enforced to dwell.
I dread that some day poverty will overtake my child,
And shame befall her when exposed to every passion wild."
' Koran, xvi, 59-61.
^ Freytag, Arabnm Proverbia, vol. i, p. 229.
3 Koran, xvii, 33. Cf. Ixxxi, 8-9 (a description of the Last Judgment):
" When the girl buried alive shall be asked for what crime she was killed."
* Literally : " And tear the veil from (her, as though she were) flesh on
a butcher's board," i.e., defenceless, abandoned to the first-comer.
02 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
She wishes me to live, but I must wish her dead, woe's me :
Death is the noblest wooer a helpless maid can see.
I fear an uncle may be harsh, a brother be unkind,
When I would never speak a word that rankled in her mind."'
And another says : —
"Were not my little daughters
Like soft chicks huddling by me,
Through earth and all its waters
To win bread would I roam free.
Our children among us going,
Our very hearts they be ;
The wind upon them blowing
Would banish sleep from me." *
" Odi et amo " : these words of the poet might serve as an
epitome of Bedouin ethics. For, if the heathen Arab was, as
we have seen, a good friend to his friends, he had
^"nem1es°* ^^ ^^c Same degree an intense and deadly feeling
of hatred towards his enemies. He who did not
strike back when struck was regarded as a coward. No
honourable man could forgive an injury or fail to avenge
it. An Arab, smarting under the loss of some camels driven
off by raiders, said of his kin who refused to help him : —
" For all their numbers, they are good for naught,
My people, against harm however light :
They pardon wrong by evildoers wrought,
Malice with lovingkindness they requite." ^
The last verse, which would have been high praise in the
' Hamdsa, 140. Although these verses are not Pre-islamic, and belong
in fact to a comparatively late period of Islam, they are sufficiently pagan
in feeling to be cited in this connection. The author, Ishaq b. Khalaf,
lived under the Caliph Ma'mun (813-833 a.d.). He survived his adopted
daughter— for Umayma was his sister's child— and wrote an elegy on her,
which is preserved in the Kdmil of al-Mubarrad, p. 715, 1. 7 sqq., and has
been translated, together with the verses now in question, by Sir Charles
Lyall, Ancient Arabian Poetry, p. 26.
' Hamdsa, 142. Lyall, op. cii., p. 28. 3 Hamdsa, 7.
BLOOD-REVENGE 93
mouth of a Christian or Muhammadan moralist, conveyed
to those who heard it a shameful reproach. The approved
method of dealing with an enemy is set forth plainly enough
in the following lines : —
" Humble him who humbles thee, close the' be your kindred-
ship :
If thou canst not humble him, wait till he is in thy grip.
Friend him while thou must ; strike hard when thou hast him
on the hip." '
Above all, blood called for blood. This obligation lay
heavy on the conscience of the pagan Arabs. Vengeance,
with them, was "almost a physical necessity.
Blood-revenge. ... . . .
which if it be not obeyed will deprive its
subject of sleep, of appetite, of health." It was a tormenting
thirst which nothing would quench except blood, a disease
of honour which might be described as madness, although
it rarely prevented the sufferer from going to work with
coolness and circumspection. Vengeance was taken upon
the murderer, if possible, or else upon one of his fellow-
tribesmen. Usually this ended the matter, but in some cases
it was the beginning of a regular blood-feud in which the
entire kin of both parties were involved ; as, e.g.^ the murder of
Kulayb led to the Forty Years' War between Bakr and
Taghlib.2 The slain man's next of kin might accept a
blood-wit {diya\ commonly paid in camels — the coin of
the country — as atonement for him. If they did so, however,
it was apt to be cast in their teeth that they preferred milk
(/.(?., she-camels) to blood. 3 The true Arab feeling is
expressed in verses like these : —
" With the sword will I wash my shame away.
Let God's doom bring on me what it may ! " ■»
' Hamdsa, 321. ^ See p. 55 sqq.
3 Cf. Riickert's Hamdsa, vol. i, p. 61 seq. ■* Hamdsa, 30.
94 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
It was believed that until vengeance had been taken for
the dead man, his spirit appeared above his tomb in the
shape of an owl {hama or sadd), crying " hquni " (" Give
me to drink "). But pagan ideas of vengeance were bound up
with the Past far more than with the Future. The shadowy
after-life counted for little or nothing beside the deeply-rooted
memories of fatherly affection, filial piety, and brotherhood
in arms.
Though liable to abuse, the rough-and-ready justice of
the vendetta had a salutary effect in restraining those who
would otherwise have indulged their lawless instincts without
fear of punishment. From our point of view, however, its
interest is not so much that of a primitive institution as of a
pervading element in old Arabian life and literature. Full, or
even adequate, illustration of this topic would carry me far
beyond the limits of my plan. I have therefore selected from
the copious material preserved in the Book of Songs a character-
istic story which tells how Qays b. al-Khatim took vengeance
on the murderers of his father and his grandfather.^
It is related on the authority of Abu 'Ubayda that 'Adi b. 'Amr,
the grandfather of Qays, was slain by a man named Malik belong-
ing to the Banu 'Amr b. 'Amir b. Rabi'a b. 'Amir b,
^vengeSJicfof"^ Sa'sa'a ; and his father, Khatim b. 'Adi, by one of
Qaysb. ai- the Banu 'Abd al-Qays who were settled in Hajar.
Khatim died before avenging his father, 'Adi, when
Qays was but a young lad. The mother of Qays, fearing that he
would sally forth to seek vengeance for the blood of his father and
his grandfather and perish, went to a mound of dust beside the
door of their dwelling and laid stones on it, and began to say to
Qays, " This is the grave of thy father and thy grandfather ; " and
Qays never doubted but that it was so. He grew up strong in
the arms, and one day he had a tussle with a youth of the Banu
Zafar, who said to him : " By God, thou would'st do better to
turn the strength of thine arms against the slayers of thy father and
grandfather instead of putting it forth upon me." " And who are
their slayers ? " " Ask thy mother, she will tell thee." So Qays
» Aghdni, ii, i6o, 1. 11-162, 1. i = p. 13 sqq. of the Beyrout Selection.
QAYS IBN AL-KHATtM 95
took his sword and set its hilt on the ground and its edge between
his two breasts, and said to his mother : " Who killed my father and
my grandfather ? " " They died as people die, and these are their
graves in the camping-ground." " By God, verily thou wilt tell me
who slew them or I will bear with my whole weight upon this sword
until it cleaves through my back." Then she told him, and Qays
swore that he would never rest until he had slain their slayers. " O
my son," said she, " Malik, who killed thy grandfather, is of the
same folk as Khidash b. Zuhayr, and thy father once bestowed
a kindness on Khidash, for which he is grateful. Go, then, to him
and take counsel with him touching thine affair and ask him to help
thee." So Qays set out immediately, and when he came to the
garden where his water-camel was watering his date-palms, he
smote the cord (of the bucket) with his sword and cut it, so that the
bucket dropped into the well. Then he took hold of the camel's
head, and loaded the beast with two sacks of dates, and said :
"Who will care for this old woman" (meaning his mother) " in my
absence ? If I die, let him pay her expenses out of this garden, and
on her death it shall be his own ; but if I live, my property will
return to mc, and he shall have as many of its dates as he wishes to
eat." One of his folk cried, " I am for it," so Qays gave him the
garden and set forth to inquire concerning Khidash. He was told
to look for him at Marr al-Zahran, but not finding him in his tent, he
alighted beneath a tree, in the shade of which the guests of Khidash
used to shelter, and called to the wife of Khidash, " Is there any
food ? " Now, when she came up to him, she admired his comeli-
ness— for he was exceeding fair of countenance — and said : " By
God, we have no fit entertainment for thee, but only dates." He
replied, " I care not, bring out what thou hast." So she sent to him
dates in a large measure (qubd'), and Qays took a single date and
ate half of it and put back the other half in the qubd', and gave
orders that the qubd' should be brought in to the wife of Khidash ;
then he departed on some business. When Khidash returned and
his wife told him the news of Qays, he said, " This is a man who
would render his person sacred."' While he sat there with his wife
eating fresh ripe dates, Qays returned on camel-back ; and Khidash,
when he saw the foot of the approaching rider, said to his wife, "Is
this thy guest ? " " Yes." " 'Tis as though his foot were the foot of
' The Bedouins consider that any one who has eaten of their food or
has touched the rope of their tent is entitled to claim their protection.
Such a person is called dakhil. See Burckhardt, Notes on the Bedouins and
Wahdbys (London, 1831), vol. i, p. 160 sqq. and 329 sqq.
96 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
my good friend, Khatim the Yathribite." Qays drew nigh, and struck
the tent-rope with the point of his spear, and begged leave to come
in. Having obtained permission, he entered to Khidash and told
his lineage and informed him of what had passed, and asked him to
help and advise him in his affair. Khidash bade him welcome, and
recalled the kindness which he had of his father, and said, "As to
this affair, truly I have been expecting it of thee for some time.
The slayer of thy grandfather is a cousin of mine, and I will
aid thee against him. When we are assembled in our meeting-
place, I will sit beside him and talk with him, and when I strike his
thigh, do thou spring on him and slayihim." Qays himself relates :
" Accompanied by Khidash, I approached him until I stood over his
head when Khidash sat with him, and as soon as he struck the man's
thigh I smote his head with a sword named Dhu 'l-Khitrsayii" (the
Two-ringed). " His folk rushed on me to slay me, but Khidash came
between us, crying, ' Let him alone, for, by God, he has slain none
but the slayer of his grandfather.' " Then Khidash called for one of
his camels and mounted it, and started with Qays to find the
'Abdite who killed his father. And when they were near Hajar
Khidash advised him to go and inquire after this man, and to say to
him when he discovered him : " I encountered a brigand of thy
people who robbed me of some articles, and on asking who was the
chieftain of his people I was directed to thee. Go with me, then,
that thou mayest take from him my property. If," Khidash
continued, " he follow thee unattended, thou wilt gain thy desire of
him ; but should he bid the others go with thee, laugh, and if he
ask why thou laughest, say, 'With us, the noble does not as thou
dost, but when he is called to a brigand of his people, he goes forth
alone with his whip, not with his sword ; and the brigand when he
sees him gives him everything that he took, in awe of him.' If he
shall dismiss his friends, thy course is clear ; but if he shall refuse
to go without them, bring him to me nevertheless, for I hope that
thou wilt slay both him and them." So Khidash stationed himself
under the shade of a tree, while Qays went to the 'Abdite and
addressed him as Khidash had prompted ; and the man's sense of
honour was touched to the quick, so that he sent away his friends
and went with Qays. And when Qays came back to Khidash, the
latter said to him, " Choose, O Qays ! Shall I help thee or shall I
take thy place?" Qays answered, "I desire neither of these
alternatives, but if he slay me, let him not slay thee ! " Then he
rushed upon him and wounded him in the flank and drove his lance
through the other side, and he fell dead on the spot. When Qays
had finished with him, Khidash said, " If we flee just now, his folk
SONGS OF REVENGE 97
will pursue us ; but let us go somewhere not far off, for they will
never think that thou hast slain him and stayed in the neighbour-
hood. No ; they will miss him and follow his track, and when they
find him slain they will start to pursue us in every direction, and will
only return when they have lost hope." So those two entered some
hollows of the sand, and after staying there several days (for it
happened exactly as Khidash had foretold), they came forth when
the pursuit was over, and did not exchange a word until they
reached the abode of Khidash. There Qays parted from him and
returned to his own people.
The poems relating to blood-revenge show all that is best and
much that is less admirable in the heathen Arab — on the one
hand, his courage and resolution, his contempt of death and
fear of dishonour, his single-minded devotion to the dead as to
the living, his deep regard and tender affection for the men of
his own flesh and blood ; on the other hand, his implacable
temper, his perfidious cruelty and reckless ferocity in hunting
down the slayers, and his savage, well-nigh inhuman exultation
over the slain. The famous Song or Ballad of Vengeance that
I shall now attempt to render in English verse is usually attri-
buted to Ta'abbata Sharr^i although some pro-
vengeance Houncc it to be a forgcry by Khalaf al-Ahmar,
Sharran. ' the reputed author of Shanfard's masterpiece, and
beyond doubt a marvellously skilful imitator of
the ancient bards. Be that as it may, the ballad is utterly
pagan in tone and feeling. Its extraordinary merit was de-
tected by Goethe, who, after reading it in a Latin translation,
, published a German rendering, with some fine criticism of the
poetry, in his West-oestlkher Divan.^ I have endeavoured to
suggest as far as possible the metre and rhythm of the original,
' See p. 81 supra.
* Stuttgart, 1819, p. 253 sqq. The other renderings in verse with
which I am acquainted are those of Ruckert (Hamdsa, vol. i, p. 299)
and Sir Charles Lyall (/I ?/c:e«^ Arabian Poetry, p. 48). I have adopted
Sir Charles Lyall's arrangement of the poem, and have closely followed
his masterly interpretation, from which I have also borrowed some turns
of phrase that could not be altered except for the worse.
8
98 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
since to these, in my opinion, its peculiar effect is largely due.
The metre is that known as the * Tall ' {Madld)^ viz. : —
Thus the first verse runs in Arabic : —
Inna bi'l-shi' \ bi 'lladht \ 'inda Sal''"
la-qaiil"" | damuhii | md yntallu.
Of course, Arabic prosody differs radically from English,
but mutatis mutandis several couplets in the following version
[e.g. the third, eighth, and ninth) will be found to correspond
exactly with their model. As has been said, however, my
object was merely to suggest the abrupt metre and the heavy,
emphatic cadences, so that I have been able to give variety to
the verse, and at the same time to retain that artistic freedom
without which the translator of poetry cannot hope to satisfy
either himself or any one else.
The poet tells how he was summoned to avenge his uncle,
slain by the tribesmen of Hudhayl : he describes the dead
man's heroic character, the foray in which he fell, his former
triumphs over the same enemy, and finally the terrible ven-
geance taken for him.^
" In the glen there a murdered man is lying —
Not in vain for vengeance his blood is crying.
He hath left me the load to bear and departed ;
I take up the load and bear it true-hearted.
I, his sister's son, the bloodshed inherit,
I whose knot none looses, stubborn of spirit ; ^
Glowering darkly, shame's deadly out-wiper,
Like the serpent spitting venom, the viper.
' The Arabic text will be found in the Hamdsa, p. 382 sqq.
" This and the following verse are generally taken to be a description
not of the poet himself, but of his nephew. The interpretation given
above does no violence to the language, and greatly enhances the
dramatic effect,
POEM BY T A' ABB ATA SHARK'"'' 99
Hard the tidings that befell us, heart-breaking ;
Little seemed thereby the anguish most aching.
Fate hath robbed me — still is Fate fierce and froward —
Of a hero whose friend ne'er called him coward :
As the warm sun was he in wintry weather,
'Neath the Dog-star shade and coolness together :
Spare of flank — yet this in him showed not meanness ;
Open-handed, full of boldness and keenness :
Firm of purpose, cavalier unaffrighted —
Courage rode with him and with him alighted :
In his bounty, a bursting cloud of rain-water ;
Lion grim when he leaped to the slaughter.
Flowing hair, long robe his folk saw aforetime.
But a lean-haunched wolf was he in war-time.
Savours two he had, untasted by no men :
Honey to his friends and gall to his foemen.
Fear he rode nor recked what should betide him :
Save his deep-notched Yemen blade, none beside him.
Oh, the warriors girt with swords good for slashing.
Like the levin, when they drew them, outflashing !
Through the noonday heat they fared: then, benighted.
Farther fared, till at dawning they alighted.'
Breaths of sleep they sipped ; and then, while they nodded,
Thou didst scare them : lo, they scattered and scudded.
Vengeance wreaked we upon them, unforgiving :
Of the two clans scarce was left a soul living.*
Ay, if they bruised his glaive's edge 'twas in token
That by him many a time their own was broken.
Oft he made them kneel down by force and cunning —
Kneel on jags where the foot is torn with running.
Many a morn in shelter he took them napping ;
After kilhng was the rieving and rapine.
They have gotten of me a roasting — I tire not
Of desiring them till me they desire not.
First, of foemen's blood my spear deeply drinketh.
Then a second time, deep in, it sinketh.
' In the original this and the preceding verse are transposed.
' Although the poet's uncle was killed in this onslaught, the surprised
party suffered severely. " The two clans " belonged to the great tribe of
Hudhayl, which is mentioned in the penultimate verse.
100 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
Lawful now to me is wine, long forbidden :
Sore my struggle ere the ban was o'erridden.'
Pour me wine, O son of 'Amr ! I would taste it,
Since with grief for mine uncle I am wasted.
O'er the fallen of Hudhayl stands screaming
The hyena ; see the wolf's teeth gleaming !
Dawn will hear the flap of wings, will discover
Vultures treading corpses, too gorged to hover."
All the virtues which enter into the Arabian conception
of Honour were regarded not as personal qualities inherent
or acquired, but as hereditary possessions which a
ferred b " man derived from his ancestors, and held in trust
e ances y. ^^^ j^^ might transmit them untarnished to his
descendants. It is the desire to uphold and emulate the
fame of his forbears, rather than the hope of winning
immortality for himself, that causes the Arab " to say the
say and do the deeds of the noble." Far from sharing the
sentiment of the Scots peasant — " a man's a man for a' that '*
— he looks askance at merit and renown unconsecrated by
tradition.
"The glories that have grown up with the grass
Can match not those inherited of old." =
Ancestral renown (hasab) is sometimes likened to a strong
castle built by sires for their sons, or to a lofty mountain
which defies attack.3 The poets are full of boastings
[mafakhir) and revilings (mathaltb) in which they loudly pro-
claim the nobility of their own ancestors, and try to blacken
those of their enemy without any regard to decorum.
It was my intention to add here some general remarks on
Arabian poetry as compared with that of the Hebrews, the
* It was customary for the avenger to take a solemn vow that he
would drink no wine before accomplishing his vengeance.
' Hamdsa, 679.
3 Cf. the lines translated below from the Mii'allaqa of Harith.
THE MU'ALLAQAT ioi
Persians, and our own, but since example is better than precept
I will now tuim directly to those celebrated odes which are
well known by the title of Mu^allaqdt^ or ' Suspended Poems,'
to all who take the slightest interest in Arabic literature.'
Mu'allaqa (plural, Mu'-allaqat') "is most likely derived from
the word '/7^, meaning 'a precious thing or a thing held in
high estimation,' either because one ' hangs on ' tenaciously to
it, or because it is ' hung up ' in a place of honour, or in a
conspicuous place, in a treasury or store-house." 2 In course
of time the exact signification of Mu'-allaqa was forgotten, and
it became necessary to find a plausible explanation.
or%uspended' Hcnce arose the legend, which frequent repetition
has made familiar, that the * Suspended Poems '
were so called from having been hung up in the Ka'ba on
account of their merit ; that this distinction was awarded
by the judges at the fair of 'Ukaz, near Mecca, where
poets met in rivalry and recited their choicest productions ;
and that the successful compositions, before being affixed
to the door of the Ka'ba, were transcribed in letters of
gold upon pieces of fine Egyptian linen. 3 Were these state-
' The best edition of the Mu'altaqdt is Sir Charles Lyall's {A Commentary
on Ten Ancient Arabic Poems, Calcutta, 1894), which contains in addition
to the seven Mu^allaqdt three odes by A'sha, Nabigha, and 'Abid b. al-Abras.
Noldeke has translated five Mu'allaqas (omitting those of Imru' u'
1-Qays and Tarafa) with a German commentary, Sitzungsberichtc der
Kais. Akad. der Wissenschaftcn in Wicn, Phil.-Histor. Klassc, vols. 140-144
(1899-1901) ; this is by far the best translation for students. No satis-
factory version in English prose has hitherto appeared, but I may call
attention to the fine and original, though somewhat free, rendering into
English verse by Lady Anne Blunt and Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (The Seven
Golden Odes of Pagan Arabia, London, 1903).
* Ancient Arabian Poetry, Introduction, p. xHv. Many other interpre-
tations have been suggested — e.g., ' The Poems written down from oral
dictation' (Von Kremer), 'The richly bejewelled' (Ahlwardt), 'The
Pendants,' as though they were pearls strung on a necklace (A. Miiller).
3 The belief that the Mu'allaqut were written in letters of gold seems
to have arisen from a misunderstanding of the name Mndhhabdt or
Mudhahhabdt (i.e., the Gilded Poems) which is sometimes given to them
in token of their excellence, just as the Greeks gave the title xp^(^«« t^v
102 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
ments true, we should expect them to be confirmed by some
allusion in the early literature. But as a matter of fact nothing
of the kind is mentioned in the Koran or in religious tradition,
in the ancient histories of Mecca, or in such works as the
Kitdbu U-Jghdnl^ which draw their information from old and
trustworthy sources.^ Almost the first authority who refers to
the legend is the grammarian Ahmad al-Nahhds (f 949 a.d.),
and by him it is stigmatised as entirely groundless. Moreover,
although it was accepted by scholars like Reiske, Sir W. Jones,
and even De Sacy, it is incredible in itself. Hengstenberg, in
the Prolegomena to his edition of the Mu'-allaqa of Imru'u
'1-Qays (Bonn, 1823) asked some pertinent questions : Who
were the judges, and how were they appointed ? Why were
only these seven poems thus distinguished ? His further
objection, that the art of writing was at that time a rare accom-
plishment, does not carry so much weight as he attached to
it, but the story is sufficiently refuted by what we know of
the character and customs of the Arabs in the sixth century
and afterwards. Is it conceivable that the proud sons of the
desert could have submitted a matter so nearly touching their
tribal honour, of which they were jealous above all things, to
external arbitration, or meekly acquiesced in the partial verdict
of a court sitting in the neighbourhood of Mecca, which would
certainly have shown scant consideration for competitors
belonging to distant clans ? 2
However Mu'-allaqa is to be explained, the name is not
contemporary with the poems themselves. In all probability
they were so entitled by the person who first chose them
to a poem falsely attributed to Pythagoras. That some of the Mu'allaqdt
were recited at 'Ukaz is probable enough and is definitely affirmed in the
case of 'Amr b. Kulthiim {Aghdni, ix, 182).
' The legend first appears in the 'Iqd al-Farid (ed. of Cairo, 1293 A.H.,
vol. iii, p. 116 seq.) of Ibn 'Abdi Rabbihi, who died in 940 A.D.
" See the Introduction to Noldeke's Beitn'ige zur Kcnntniss der Poesie
deralten Arabcr (Hannover, 1864), p. xvii sqq.,and his article 'Mo'allakat '
in the Encyclopcvdia Britannica.
THE MU'ALLAQAT 103
out of innumerable others and embodied them in a separate
collection. This is generally allowed to have been Hammad
al-Rawiya, a famous rhapsodist who flourished in
°cliiection'' *^^ latter days of the Umayyad dynasty, and
died about 772 a.d., in the reign of the *Abbasid
Caliph Mahdf. What principle guided Hammad in his choice
we do not know. Noldeke conjectures that he was influenced
by the fact that all the Mu'-allaqat are long poems — they are
sometimes called *The Seven Long Poems' [al-Sab'- al-Tiwdl)
— for in Hammdd's time little of the ancient Arabian poetry
survived in a state even of relative completeness.
It must be confessed that no rendering of the Mu''allaqat
can furnish European readers with a just idea of the originals,
a literal version least of all. They contain much
t'rSatuig^ that only a full commentary can make intelligible,
the Mu-aiiaqat. ^^^^j^ ^j^^^ ^^ modem tastc is absolutely incon-
gruous with the poetic style. Their finest pictures of Bedouin
life and manners often appear uncouth or grotesque, because
without an intimate knowledge of the land and people it is
impossible for us to see what the poet intended to convey, or
to appreciate the truth and beauty of its expression ; while the
artificial framework, the narrow range of subject as well as
treatment, and the frank realism of the whole strike us at
once. In the following pages I shall give some account of
the Mu'-allaqat and their authors, and endeavour to bring out
the characteristic qualities of each poem by selecting suitable
passages for translation.^
The oldest and most famous of the Mu'-allaqat is that of
Imru'u '1-Qays, who was descended from the ancient kings of
Yemen. His grandfather was King Harith of Kinda, the
antagonist of Mundhir III, King of Hira, by whom he was
' It is well known that the order of the verses in the Mu'allaqdt, as they
have come down to us, is frequently confused, and that the number of
various readings is very large. I have generally followed the text and
arrangement adopted by Noldeke in his German translation.
104 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
defeated and slain. ^ On Harith's death, the confederacy
which he had built up split asunder, and his sons divided among
themselves the different tribes of which it was
'i^Tys. composed. Hujr, the poet's father, ruled for some
time over the Banii Asad in Central Arabia, but
finally they revolted and put him to death. " The duty of
avenging his murder fell upon Imru'u '1-Qays, who is repre-
sented as the only capable prince of his family ; and the
few historical data which we have regarding him relate to his
adventures while bent upon this vengeance." 2 They are told
at considerable length in the Kitibu U-Aghdnl^ but need not
detain us here. Suffice it to say that his efforts to punish the
rebels, who were aided by Mundhir, the hereditary foe of his
house, met with little success. He then set out for Constan-
tinople, where he was favourably received by the Emperor
Justinian, who desired to see the power of Kinda re-established
as a thorn in the side of his Persian rivals. The emperor
appointed him Phylarch of Palestine, but on his way thither he
died at Angora (about 540 a.d.). He is said to have perished,
like Nessus, from putting on a poisoned robe sent to him as a
gift by Justinian, with whose daughter he had an intrigue.
Hence he is sometimes called ' The Man of the Ulcers '
{Dim U-Qurhh).
Many fabulous traditions surround the romantic figure of
Imru'u 'l-Qays.3 According to one story, he was banished by
his father, who despised him for being a poet and was enraged
by the scandals to which his love adventures gave rise.
Imru'u '1-Qays left his home and wandered from tribe to tribe
with a company of outcasts like himself, leading a wild life,
which caused him to be known as ' The Vagabond Prince '
{al-Malik al-D'dlil). When the news of his father's death
' See p. 42 supra. * Ancient Arabian Poetry, p. 105.
3 See the account of his life (according to the Kitdbu' l-Aghdnt) in
Le Diwan d'Ainro'lkals, edited with translation and notes by Baron
MacGuckin de Slane (Paris, 1837), pp. 1-51 ; and in Amrilkais, der Dichter
und Koiiig by Friedrich Riickert {Stuttgart and Tubingen, 1843).
IMRU'U 'L-QAYS 105
reached him he cried, " My father wasted my youth, and now
that I am old he has laid upon me the burden of blood-revenge.
Wine to-day, business to-morrow ! " Seven nights he con-
tinued the carouse ; then he swore not to eat flesh, nor drink
wine, nor use ointment, nor touch woman, nor wash his
head until his vengeance was accomplished. In the valley
of Tabala, north of Najran, there was an idol called Dhu
'1-Khalasa much reverenced by the heathen Arabs. Imru'u
'1-Qays visited this oracle and consulted it in the ordinary way,
by drawing one of three arrows entitled ' the Commanding,'
'the Forbidding,' and 'the Waiting.' He drew the second,
whereupon he broke the arrows and dashed them on the face
of the idol, exclaiming with a gross imprecation, "If thy
father had been slain, thou would'st not have hindered me ! "
Imru'u 'I-Qays is almost universally reckoned the greatest
of the Pre-islamic poets. Muhammad described him as ' their
leader to Hell-fire,' while the Caliphs 'Umar and 'All,
odium theologicum notwithstanding, extolled his genius and origin-
ality.i Coming to the Mu^allaqa itself, European critics have
vied with each other in praising its exquisite diction and
splendid images, the sweet flow of the verse, the charm and
variety of the painting, and, above all, the feeling by which it
is inspired of the joy and glory of youth. The passage trans-
lated below is taken from the first half of the poem, in which
love is the prevailing theme : — 2
" Once, on the hill, she mocked at me and swore,
' This hour I leave thee to return no more,'
' That he was not, however, the inventor of the Arabian qasida as
described above (p. 76 sqq.) appears from the fact that he mentions in one
of his verses a certain Ibn Humam or Ibn Khidham who introduced, or at
least made fashionable, the prelude with which almost every ode begins :
a lament over the deserted camping-ground (Ibn Qutayba, A". al-Shi'rwa-
'l-Shii^ard, p. 52).
' The following lines are translated from Arnold's edition of the
Mn'aUaqdt (Leipsic, 1850), p. 9 sqq., vv. 18-35.
io6 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
Soft ! if farewell is planted in thy mind,
Yet spare me, Fatima, disdain unkind.
Because my passion slays me, wilt thou part ?
Because thy wish is law unto mine heart ?
Nay, if thou so mislikest aught in me.
Shake loose my robe and let it fall down free.
But ah, the deadly pair, thy streaming eyes !
They pierce a heart that all in ruin lies.
How many a noble tent hath oped its treasure
To me, and I have ta'en my fill of pleasure.
Passing the warders who with eager speed
Had slain me, if they might but hush the deed.
What time in heaven the Pleiades unfold
A belt of orient gems distinct with gold.
I entered. By the curtain there stood she,
Clad lightly as for sleep, and looked on me.
' By God,' she cried, ' what recks thee of the cost ?
I see thine ancient madness is not lost.'
I led her forth — she trailing as we go
Her broidered skirt, lest any footprint show —
Until beyond the tents the valley sank
With curving dunes and many a piled bank.
Then with both hands I drew her head to mine.
And lovingly the damsel did incline
Her slender waist and legs more plump than fine ; —
A graceful figure, a complexion bright,
A bosom like a mirror in the light ;
Her face a pearl where pale contends with rose ;
For her, clear water from the untrodden fountain flows.
Now she bends half away : two cheeks appear.
And such an eye as marks the frighted deer
Beside her fawn ; and lo, the antelope-neck
Not bare of ornament, else without a fleck ;
While from her shoulders in profusion fair.
Like clusters on the palm, hangs down her jet-black hair."
In strange contrast with this tender and delicate idyll are
the wild, hard verses almost immediately following, in which
the poet roaming through the barren waste hears the howl of a
starved wolf and hails him as a comrade : —
IMRU'U 'L-QAVS 107
" Each one of us what thing he finds devours :
Lean is the wretch whose living is like ours." '
The noble qualities of his horse and its prov^^ess in the
chase are described, and the poem ends vi'ith a magnificent
picture of a thunder-storm among the hills of Najd.
Tarafa b. al-'Abd was a member of the great tribe of Bakr.
The particular clan to which he belonged was settled in
Bahrayn on the Persian Gulf. He early developed
Tarafa. * .
a talent for satire, which he exercised upon friend
and foe indifferently ; and after he had squandered his
patrimony in dissolute pleasures, his family chased him away
as though he were 'a mangy camel.' At length a recon-
ciliation was effected. He promised to mend his ways, re-
turned to his people, and took part, it is said, in^ the War of
Basus. In a little while his means were dissipated once more
and he was reduced to tend his brother's herds. His Mu^allaqa
composed at this time won for him the favour of a rich kins-
man and restored him to temporary independence. On the
conclusion of peace between Bakr and Taghlib the youthful
poet turned his eyes in the direction of Hira, where 'Amr b.
Hind had lately succeeded to the throne (554 A.D.). He was
well received by the king, who attached him, along with his
uncle, the poet Mutalammis, to the service of the heir-apparent.
But Tarafa's bitter tongue was destined to cost him dear.
Fatigued and disgusted by the rigid ceremony of the court, he
improvised a satire in which he said —
"Would that we had instead of 'Amr
A milch-ewe bleating round our tent ! "
Shortly afterwards he happened to be seated at table opposite
the king's sister. Struck with her beauty, he exclaimed —
' The native commentators are probably right in attributing this and
the three preceding verses (48-51 in Arnold's edition) to the brigand-poet,
Ta'abbata Sharr^*".
io8 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
"Behold, she has come back to me,
My fair gazelle whose ear-rings shine ;
Had not the king been sitting here,
I would have pressed her hps to mine !"
' Amr b. Hind was a man of violent and implacable temper.
Tarafa's satire had already been reported to him, and this new
impertinence added fuel to his wrath. Sending for Tarafa and
Mutalammis, he granted them leave to visit their homes, and
gave to each of them a sealed letter addressed to the governor
of Bahrayn. When they had passed outside the city the
suspicions of Mutalammis were aroused. As neither he nor
his companion could read, he handed his own letter to a boy
of Hira^ and learned that it contained orders to bury him
alive. Thereupon he flung the treacherous missive into the
stream and implored Tarafa to do likewise. Tarafa refused
to break the royal seal. He continued his journey to Bahrayn,
where he was thrown into prison and executed.
Thus perished miserably in the flower of his youth — accord-
ing to some accounts he was not yet twenty — the passionate
and eloquent Tarafa. In his Mu'-allaqa he has drawn a
spirited portrait of himself. The most striking feature of
the poem, apart from a long and, to us who are not Bedouins,
painfully tedious description of the camel, is its insistence on
sensual enjoyment as the sole business of life : —
" Canst thou make me immortal, O thou that blamest me so
For haunting the battle and loving the pleasures that fly ?
If thou kast not the power to ward mc from Death, let me go
To meet him and scatter the wealth in my hand, ere I die.
Save only for three things in which noble youth take delight,
I care not how soon rises o'er me the coronach loud :
Wine that bubbles when water is poured on it, ruddy and
bright,
Red wine that I quaff stol'n away from the cavilling crowd ;
' We have already (p. 39) referred to the culture of the Christian Arabs
of Hira.
TARAFA 109
"And second, my charge at the cry of distress on a steed
Bow-legged Hke the wolf you have startled when thirsty he
cowers ;
And third, on a wet day — oh, wet days are pleasant indeed ! —
'Neath a propped leathern tent with a girl to beguile the slow
hours." '
Keeping, as far as possible, the chronological order, we have
now to mention two Mu^allaqas which, though not directly
related to each other, ^ are of the same period — the reign of
'Amr b. Hind, King of Hira (554-568 a.d.). Moreover,
their strong mutual resemblance and their difference from the
other Mu^allaqas^ especially from typical qasldas like those of
*Antara and Labid, is a further reason for linking them
together. Their distinguishing mark is the abnormal space
devoted to the main subject, which leaves little room for
the subsidiary motives.
'Amr b. Kulthum belonged to the tribe of Taghlib. His
mother was Layla, a daughter of the famous poet and warrior
Muhalhil. That she was a woman of heroic
Kuithuni mould appears from the following anecdote, which
records a deed of prompt vengeance on the part
of 'Amr that gave rise to the proverb, " Bolder in onset than
'Amr b. Kulthum " 3 :—
One day 'Amr. b. Hind, the King of Hira, said to his boon-com-
panions, " Do ye know any Arab whose mother would disdain to
serve mine ? " They answered, " Yes, the mother of ' Amr b.
' Vv. 54-59 (Lyall) ; 56-61 (Arnold).
* See Noldeke, Fiinf Mu'allaqdf, i, p. 51 seq. According to the
traditional version (Aghdni, ix, 179), a band of Taghlibites went raiding,
lost their way in the desert, and perished of thirst, having been refused
water by a sept of the Banu Bakr. Thereupon Taghlib appealed to King
'Amr to enforce payment of the blood-money which they claimed, and
chose 'Amr b. Kulthum to plead their cause at Hira. So 'Amr recited his
Mu'allaqa before the king, and was answered by Harith on behalf of
Bal^r.
3 Freytag, Arabum Provcrbia, vol. ii, p. 233,
no PRE'ISLAMIC POETRY
Kulthum." " Why so ? " asked the king. " Because," said they, " her
father is Muhalhil b, Rabi'a and her uncle is Kulayb b. Wa'il, the
most puissant of the Arabs, and her husband is
aveiJ^edTn Kulthum b. Malik, the knightliest, and her son is 'Amr,
insult to his the chieftain of his tribe." Then the king sent to 'Amr
b. Kulthum, inviting him to pay a visit to himself, and
asking him to bring his mother, Layla, to visit his own mother,
Hind. So 'Amr came to Hira with some men of Taghlib, and
Layla came attended by a number of their women ; and while
the king entertained 'Amr and his friends in a pavilion which he
had caused to be erected between Hira and the Euphrates, Layla
found quarters with Hind in a tent adjoining. Now, the king had
ordered his mother, as soon as he should call for dessert, to dismiss
the servants, and cause Layla to wait upon her. At the pre-arranged
signal she desired to be left alone with her guest, and said, " O Layla,
hand me that dish," Layla answered, " Let those who want anything
rise up and serve themselves." Hind repeated her demand, and
would take no denial. " O shame ! " cried Layla. " Help ! TaghUb,
help ! " When 'Amr heard his mother's cry the blood flew to his
cheeks. He seized a sword hanging on the wall of the pavilion —
the only weapon there — and with a single blow smote the king
dead, •
*Amr's Mu^allaqa is the work of a man who united in
himself the ideal qualities of manhood as these were under-
stood by a race which has never failed to value, even too
highly, the display of self-reliant action and decisive energy.
And if in 'Amr's poem these virtues are displayed with an
exaggerated boastfulness which offends our sense of decency
and proper reserve, it would be a grave error to conclude that
all this sound and fury signifies nothing. The Bedouin poet
deems it his bounden duty to glorify to the utmost himself, his
family, and his tribe ; the Bedouin warrior is never tired of
proclaiming his unshakable valour and recounting his brilliant
feats of arms : he hurls menaces and vaunts in the same breath,
but it does not follow that he is a Miles Gloriosus. 'Amr
certainly was not : his Mu'-allaqa leaves a vivid impression of
conscious and exultant strength. The first eight verses seem
' Aghdni, ix, 182.
'AMR IBM KULTHOM hi
to have been added to the poem at a very early date, for out of
them arose the legend that *Amr drank himself to death with
unmixed wine. It is likely that they were included in the
original collection of the Mu^allaqdt^ and they are worth
translating for their own sake : —
" Up, maiden ! Fetch the morning-drink and spare not
The wine of Andarin,
Clear wine that takes a saffron hue when water
Is mingled warm therein.
The lover tasting it forgets his passion,
His heart is eased of pain ;
The stingy miser, as he lifts the goblet,
Regardeth not his gain.
Pass round from left to right ! Why let'st thou, maiden.
Me and my comrades thirst ?
Yet am I, whom thou wilt not serve this morning,
Of us three not the worst !
Many a cup in Baalbec and Damascus
And Qasirin I drained,
Howbeit we, ordained to death, shall one day
Meet death, to us ordained." '
In the next passage he describes his grief at the departure
of his beloved, whom he sees in imagination arriving at her
journey's end in distant Yamdma : —
"And oh, my love and yearning when at nightfall
I saw her camels haste.
Until sharp peaks uptowered like serried sword-blades.
And me Yamama faced !
Such grief no mother-camel feels, bemoaning
Her young one lost, nor she.
The grey-haired woman whose hard fate hath left her
Of nine sons graves thrice three."-
Now the poet turns abruptly to his main theme. He
' Vv. 1-8 (Arnold) ; in Lyall's edition the penultimate verse is omitted,
^ Vv. 15-18 (Lyall) ; 19-22 (Arnold).
112 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
addresses the King of Hira, 'Amr b. Hind, in terms of defiance,
and warns the foes of Taghlib that they will meet more than
their match : —
" Father of Hind/ take heed and ere thou movest
Rashly against us, learn
That still our banners go down white to battle
And home blood-red return.
And many a chief bediademed, the champion
Of the outlaws of the land,
Have we o'erthrown and stripped him, while around him
Fast-reined the horses stand.
Our neighbours lopped like thorn-trees, snarls in terror
Of us the demon-hound ; ^
Never we try our hand-mill on the foemen
But surely they are ground.
We are the heirs of gloiy, all Ma'add knows, ^
Our lances it defend,
And when the tent-pole tumbles in the foray,
Trust us to save our friend ! *
O 'Amr, what mean'st thou ? Are we, we of Taghlib,
Thy princeHng's retinue ?
O 'Amr, what mean'st thou, rating us and hearkening
To tale-bearers untrue ?
O 'Amr, ere thee full many a time our spear-shaft
Has baffled foes to bow ; s
Nipped in the vice it kicks like a wild camel
That will no touch allow —
Like a wild camel, so it creaks in bending
And splits the bender's brow !"^
The Mu^allaqa ends with a eulogy, superb in its extravagance,
of the poet's tribe : —
• The Arabs use the term kunya to denote this familiar style of address
in which a person is called, not by his own name, but 'father of So-and-
so ' (either a son or, as in the present instance, a daughter).
= I.e., even ihe jinn (genies) stand in awe of us.
3 Here Ma'add signifies the Arabs in general.
♦ Vv. 20-30 (Lyall), omitting vv. 22, 27, 28.
5 This is a figurative way of saying that Taghlib has never been subdued
6 Vv. 46-51 (Lyall), omitting v. 48.
'AMR IBN KULTHtjM 113
"Well wot, when our tents rise along their valleys,
The men of every clan
That we give death to those who durst attempt us,
To friends what food we can ;
That staunchly we maintain a cause we cherish.
Camp where we choose to ride,
Nor will we aught of peace, when we are angered,
Till we are satisfied.
We keep our vassals safe and sound, but rebels
We soon bring to their knees ;
And if we reach a well, we drink pure water.
Others the muddy lees.
Ours is the earth and all thereon : when we strike,
There needs no second blow ;
Kings lay before the new-weaned boy of Taghlib
Their heads in homage low.
We are called oppressors, being none, but shortly
A true name shall it be ! '
We have so filled the earth 'tis narrow for us.
And with our ships the sea ! '
Less interesting is the Mu^allaqa of Harith b. Hilliza of
Bakr. Its inclusion among the Mu'-allaqat is probably due, as
Noldeke suggested, to the fact that Hammad,
Hirithb.^iUiza. , . ,- ?.° r xi , • , , n , •
himself a client of Bakr, wished to flatter his
patrons by selecting a counterpart to the Mu'-allaqa of 'Amr
b. Kulthum, which immortalised their great rivals, the Banu
Taghlib. Harith's poem, however, has some historical im-
portance, as it throws light on feuds in Northern Arabia
connected with the antagonism of the Roman and Persian
Empires. Its purpose is to complain of unjust accusations
made against the Banu Bakr by a certain group of the Banii
Taghlib known as the Araqim : —
' I.e., we will show our enemies that they cannot defy us with impunity.
This verse, the 93rd in Lyall's edition, is omitted by Arnold.
» Vv. 94-104 (Arnold), omitting vv. 100 and loi. If the last words are
anything more than a poetic fiction, ' the sea ' must refer to the River
Euphrates.
9
114 PRE-ISLAMTC POETRY
"Our brothers the Araqim let their tongues
Against us rail unmeasuredly.
The innocent with the guilty they confound :
Of guilt what boots it to be free ?
They brand us patrons of the vilest deed,
Our clients in each miscreant see.'' '
A person whom Harith does not name was ' blackening '
the Banu Bakr before the King of Hira. The poet tells him
not to imagine that his calumnies will have any lasting effect :
often had Bakr been slandered by their foes, but (he finely
adds) : —
" Maugre their hate we stand, by firm-based might
Exalted and by ancestry —
Might which ere now hath dazzled men's eyes : thence scorn
To yield and haughty spirit have we.
On us the Days beat as on mountain dark
That soars in cloudless majesty,
Compact against the hard calamitous shocks
And buffetings of Destiny." =
He appeals to the offenders not wantonly to break the peace
which ended the War of Basus : —
" Leave folly and error 1 If ye blind yourselves,
Just therein lies the malady.
Recall the oaths of Dhu 'l-Majaz^ for which
Hostages gave security,
Lest force or guile should break them : can caprice
Annul the parchments utterly ? *
'Antara b. Shaddad, whose father belonged to the tribe of
'Abs, distinguished himself in the War of Dahis.S In modern
times it is not as a poet that he is chiefly remem-
bered, but as a hero of romance — the Bedouin
Achilles. Goddess-born, however, he could not be called by
' Vv. 16-18. - Vv. 23-26.
3 A place in the neighbourhood of Mecca.
* Vv. 40-42 (Lyall) ; 65-67 (Arnold).
s See 'Antarah, cin vorislamischer Dichter, by H. Thorbecke (Leipzig,
1867).
HARITH AND 'ANTARA 115
any stretch of imagination. His mother was a black slave,
and he must often have been taunted with his African blood,
which showed itself in a fiery courage that gained the respect
of the pure-bred but generally less valorous Arabs. 'Antara
loved his cousin 'Abla, and following the Arabian custom by
which cousins have the first right to a girl's hand, he asked
her in marriage. His suit was vain — the son of a slave mother
being regarded as a slave unless acknowledged by his father —
until on one occasion, while the 'Absitcs were hotly engaged
with some raiders who had driven off their camels, *Antara
refused to join in the melee, saying, " A slave does not under-
stand how to fight ; his work is to milk the camels and bind
their udders." " Charge ! " cried his father, " thou art free."
Though 'Antara uttered no idle boast when he sang —
" On one side nobly born and of the best
Of 'Abs am I : my sword makes good the rest ! "
his contemptuous references to 'jabbering barbarians,' and to
' slaves with their ears cut off, clad in sheepskins,' are charac-
teristic of the man who had risen to eminence in spite of the
stain on his scutcheon. He died at a great age in a foray
against the neighbouring tribe of Tayyi'. His Mu^allaqa is
famous for its stirring battle-scenes, one of which is translated
here : — ^
" Learn, Malik's daughter, how
I rush into the fray,
And how I draw back only
At sharing of the prey.
I never quit the saddle,
My strong steed nimbly bounds ;
Warrior after warrior /
Have covered him with wounds.
' I have taken some liberties in this rendering, as the reader may see
by referring to the verses (44 and 47-52 in Lyall's edition) on which it is
based.
ii6 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
Full-armed against me stood
One feared of fighting men :
He fled not oversoon
Nor let himself be ta'en.
With straight hard-shafted spear
I dealt him in his side
A sudden thrust which opened
Two streaming gashes wide,
Two gashes whence outgurgled
His life-blood : at the sound
Night-roaming ravenous wolves
Flock eagerly around.
So with my doughty spear
I trussed his coat of mail —
For truly, when the spear strikes,
The noblest man is frail —
And left him low to banquet
The wild beasts gathering there ;
They have torn off his fingers.
His wrist and fingers fair ! "
While *Antara's poem belongs to the final stages of the
War of Dahis, the Mu'-allaqa of his contemporary, Zuhayr b.
Abf Sulma, of the tribe of Muzayna, celebrates
an act of private munificence which brought
about the concludon of peace. By the self-sacrificing inter-
vention of two chiefs of Dhubyan, Harim b. Sindn and
Harith b. 'Awf, the whole sum of blood-money to which
the 'Absites were entitled on account of the greater number
of those who had fallen on their side, was paid over to them.
Such an example of generous and disinterested patriotism — for
Harim and Hdrith had shed no blood themselves — was a fit
subject for one of whom it was said that he never praised men
but as thev deserved : —
ZUHAYR 117
Noble pair of Ghayz ibn Murra/ well ye laboured to restore
Ties of kindred hewn asunder by the bloody strokes of war.
Witness now mine oath the ancient House in Mecca's hallowed
bound,^
Which its builders of Quraysh and Jurhum solemnly went
round,3
That in hard or easy issue never wanting were ye found !
Peace ye gave to 'Abs and Dhubyan when each fell by other's
hand
And the evil fumes they pestled up between them filled the
land." -•
At the end of his panegyric the poet, turning to the lately
reconciled tribesmen and their confederates, earnestly warns
them against nursing thoughts of vengeance : —
" Will ye hide from God the guilt ye dare not unto Him dis-
close ?
Verily, what thing soever ye would hide from God, He knows.
Either it is laid up meantime in a scroll and treasured there
For the day of retribution, or avenged all unaware.^
War ye have known and war have tasted : not by hearsay are
ye wise.
Raise no more the hideous monster ! If ye let her raven, she
cries
Ravenously for blood and crushes, like a mill-stone, all below,
And from her twin-conceiving womb she brings forth woe on
woe." ®
After a somewhat obscure passage concerning the lawless
deeds of a certain Husayn b. Damdam, which had well-nigh
' Ghayz b. Murra was a descendant of Dhubyan and the ancestor of
Harim and Harith.
=" The Ka'ba.
s This refers to the religious circumambulation {tawdj).
* Vv. 16-19 (Lyall).
5 There is no reason to doubt the genuineness of this passage, which
affords evidence of the diffusion of Jewish and Christian ideas in pagan
Arabia. Ibn Qutayba observes that these verses indicate the poet's belief
in the Resurrection (K. al-ShVr isja-'l-Shu'ard, p. 58, 1. 12).
* Vv. 27-31.
ii8 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
caused a fresh outbreak of hostilities, Zuhayr proceeds, with a
natural and touching allusion to his venerable age, to en-
force the lessons of conduct and morality suggested by the
situation : —
" I am weary of life's burden : well a man may weary be
After eighty years, and this much now is manifest to me :
Death is like a night-blind camel stumbling on : — the smitten
die
But the others age and wax in weakness whom he passes by.
He that often deals with folk in unkind fashion, underneath
They will trample him and make him feel the sharpness of
their teeth.
He that hath enough and over and is niggard with his pelf
Will be hated of his people and left free to hug himself.
y He alone who with fair actions ever fortifies his fame
Wins it fully : blame will find him out unless he shrinks from
blame.
He that for his cistern's guarding trusts not in his own stout
arm
Sees it ruined : he must harm his foe or he must suffer harm.
He that fears the bridge of Death across it finally is driven,
Though he bridges with a ladder all the space 'twixt earth and
heaven.
He that will not take the lance's butt-end while he has the
chance
Must thereafter be contented with the spike-end of the lance.
He that keeps his word is blamed not ; he whose heart re-
paireth straight
To the sanctuary of duty never needs to hesitate.
He that hies abroad to strangers doth account his friends his
foes ;
He that honours not himself lacks honour wheresoe'er he goes.
Be a man's true nature what it will, that nature is revealed
To his neighbours, let him fancy as he may that 'tis con-
cealed." '
The ripe sententious wisdom and moral earnestness of
Zuhayr's poetry are in keeping with what has been said
* The order of these verses in Lyall's edition is as follows : 56, 57, 54,
50, 55, 53, 49, 47, 4^, 52, 58.
ZUHAYR 119
above concerning his religious ideas and, from another point
of view, with the tradition that he used to compose a qasida
in four months, correct it for four months, submit it to the
poets of his acquaintance during a like period, and not
make it public until a year had expired.
Of his life there is little to tell. Probably he died before
Islam, though it is related that when he was a centenarian he
met the Prophet, who cried out on seeing him, "O God,
preserve me from his demon ! " ^ The poetical gifts which
he inherited from his uncle Bashama he bequeathed to his
son Ka'b, author of the famous ode, Bdnat Su^dd.
Labid b. Rabi'a, of the Band 'Amir b. Sa'sa'a, was born in the
latter half of the sixth century, and is said to have died soon
after Mu'awiya's accession to the Caliphate, which
took place in a.d. 661. He is thus the youngest
of the Seven Poets. On accepting Islam he abjured poetry,
saying, "God has given me the Koran in exchange for it."
Like Zuhayr, he had, even in his heathen days, a strong vein
of religious feeling, as is shown by many passages in his
Diwan.
Labid was a true Bedouin, and his Mu^allaqa^ with its
charmingly fresh pictures of desert life and scenery, must be
considered one of the finest examples of the Pre-islamic qastda
that have come down to us. The poet owes something to his
predecessors, but the greater part seems to be drawn from his
own observation. He begins in the conventional manner by
describing the almost unrecognisable vestiges of the camping-
ground of the clan to which his mistress belonged : —
"Waste lies the land where once alighted and did wone
The people of Mina ; Rijdm and Ghawl are lone.
' Reference has been made above to the old Arabian belief that poets
owed their inspiration to the jinn (genii), who are sometimes called
shaydtin (satans). See Goldziher, Abhand. ziir arab. Philologic, Part I,
pp. 1-14.
120 PRE'ISLAMIC POETRY
The camp in Rayyan's vale is marked by relics dim
Like weather-beaten script engraved on ancient stone.
Over this ruined scene, since it was desolate,
Whole years with secular and sacred months had flown.
In spring 'twas blest by showers 'neath starry influence shed,
And thunder-clouds bestowed a scant or copious boon.
Pale herbs had shot up, ostriches on either slope
Their chicks had gotten and gazelles their young had thrown ;
And large-eyed wild-cows there beside the new-born calves
Reclined, while round them formed a troop the calves half-
grown.
Torrents of rain had swept the dusty ruins bare.
Until, as writing freshly charactered, they shone.
Or like to curved tattoo-lines on a woman's arm.
With soot besprinkled so that every line is shown.
I stopped and asked, but what avails it that we ask
Dumb changeless things that speak a language all unknown?"'
After lamenting the departure of his beloved the poet bids
himself think no more about her : he will ride swiftly away
from the spot. Naturally, he must praise his camel, and he
introduces by way of comparison two wonderful pictures of
animal life. In the former the onager is described racing at
full speed over the backs of the hills when thirst and hunger
drive him with his mate far from the barren solitudes into
which they usually retire. The second paints a wild-cow,
whose young calf has been devoured by wolves, sleeping
among the sand-dunes through a night of incessant rain. At
daybreak " her feet glide over the firm wet soil." For a
whole week she runs to and fro, anxiously seeking her calf,
when suddenly she hears the sound of hunters approaching and
makes off in alarm. Being unable to get within bowshot, the
hunters loose their dogs, but she turns desperately upon them,
wounding one with her needle-like horn and killing another.
Then, once more addressing his beloved, the poet speaks
complacently of his share in the feasting and revelling, on
which a noble Arab plumes himself hardly less than on his
bravery : —
' Vv. i-io (Lyallj, omitting v. 5.
LABtD 121
" Know'st thou not, O Nawdr, that I am wont to tie
The cords of love, yet also snap them without fear ?
That I abandon places when I like them not,
Unless Death chain the soul and straiten her career ?
Nay, surely, but thou know'st not I have passed in talk
Many a cool night of pleasure and convivial cheer,
And often to a booth, above which hung for sign
A banner, have resorted when old wine was dear.
For no light price I purchased many a dusky skin
Or black clay jar, and broached it that the juice ran clear ;
And many a song of shrill-voiced singing-girl I paid,
And her whose fingers made sweet music to mine ear." '
Continuing, he boasts of dangerous service as a spy in the
enemy's country, when he watched all day on the top of
a steep crag ; of his fearless demeanour and dignified assertion
of his rights in an assembly at Hira, to which he came as
a delegate, and of his liberality to the poor. The closing
verses are devoted, in accordance with custom, to matters
of immediate interest and to a panegyric on the virtues of the
poet's kin.
Besides the authors of the Mu^allaqdt three poets may be
mentioned, of whom the two first-named are universally
acknowledged to rank with the greatest that Arabia has
produced — NAbigha, A'shd, and *Alqama.
Ndbigha 2 — his proper name is Ziydd b. Mu'dwiya, ot the
tribe Dhubydn — lived at the courts of Ghassdn and Hfra
during the latter half of the century before
Sbyln.^ Islam. His chief patron was King Nu'mdn b.
Mundhir Abii Qabus of Hira. For many years
he basked in the sunshine of royal favour, enjoying every
privilege that Nu'mdn bestowed on his most intimate friends.
The occasion of their falling out is differently related.
According to one story, the poet described the charms of
' Vv. 55-60 (Lyall).
" The term ndbigha is applied to a poet whose genius is slow in de-
claring itself but at last^" jets forth vigorously and abundantly " (nabagha).
122 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
Queen Mutajarrida, which Nu*mdn had asked him to
celebrate, with such charm and liveliness as to excite her
husband's suspicion ; but it is said — and Ndbigha's own words
make it probable — that his enemies denounced him as the
author of a scurrilous satire against Nu'man which had been
forged by themselves. At any rate he had no choice but to
quit Hi'ra with all speed, and ere long we find him in Ghassan,
welcomed and honoured, as the panegyrist of King 'Amr b.
Hdrith and the noble house of Jafna. But his heart was in
Hira still. Deeply wounded by the calumnies of which he
was the victim, he never ceased to affirm his innocence and to
lament the misery of exile. The following poem, which he
addressed to Nu'man, is at once a justification and an appeal
for mercy ^ : —
" They brought me word, O King, thou blamedst me ;
For this am I o'erwhelmed with grief and care.
I passed a sick man's night : the nurses seemed,
Spreading my couch, to have heaped up briars there.
Now (lest thou cherish in thy mind a doubt)
Invoking our last refuge, God, I swear
That he, whoever told thee I was false,
Is the more lying and faithless of the pair.
Exiled perforce, I found a strip of land
Where I could live and safely take the air :
Kings made me arbiter of their possessions.
And called me to their side and spoke me fair —
Even as thou dost grace thy favourites
Nor deem'st a fault the gratitude they bear.^
O leave thine anger ! Else, in view of men
A mangy camel, smeared with pitch, I were.
Seest thou not God hath given thee eminence
Before which monarchs tremble and despair ?
' Diwdn, ed. by Derenbourg, p. 83 ; Noldeke's Delectus, p. 96.
^ He means to say that Nu'mdn has no reason to feel aggrieved because
he (Nabigha) is grateful to the Ghassanids for their munificent patronage ;
since Nu'man does not consider that his own favourites, in showing grati-
tude to himself, are thereby guilty of treachery towards their former
patrons.
NABIGHA of DHUBYAN 123
All other kings are stars and thou a sun :
When the sun rises, lo, the heavens are bare !
A friend in trouble thou wilt not forsake ;
I may have sinned : in sinning all men share.
If I am wronged, thou hast but wronged a slave,
And if thou spar'st, 'tis like thyself to spare."
It is pleasant to record that Ndbigha was finally reconciled
to the prince whom he loved, and that Hfra again became his
home. The date of his death is unknown, but it certainly
took place before Islam was promulgated. Had the oppor-
tunity been granted to him he might have died a Moslem : he
calls himself * a rehgious man' {dhu wwotc/'"), ^ and although
the tradition that he was actually a Christian lacks authority,
his long residence in Syria and 'Iraq must have made him
acquainted with the externals of Christianity and with some,
at least, of its leading ideas.
The grave and earnest tone characteristic of NAbigha's poetry
seldom prevails in that of his younger contemporary, Maymun
b. Days, who is generally known by his surname,
al-A'sha — that is, ' the man of weak sight.' A
professional troubadour, he roamed from one end of Arabia to
the other, harp in hand, singing the praises of those who
rewarded him; and such was his fame as a satirist that few
ventured to withhold the bounty which he asked. By common
consent he stands in the very first rank of Arabian poets.
Abu '1-Faraj, the author of the Kitdbu H-Aghani^ declares him
to be superior to all the rest, adding, however, " this opinion is
not held unanimously as regards A'shd or any other." His
' Diwdn, ed. by Derenbourg, p. 76, ii, 21. In another place (p. 81,
vi, 6) he says, addressing his beloved : —
" Wadd give thee greeting ! for dalliance with women is lawful to me
no more,
Since Religion has become a serious matter."
Wadd was a god worshipped by the pagan Arabs. Derenbourg's text
has rabbi, i.e., Allah, but see Noldeke's remarks in Z.D.M.G., vol. xli
(1887), p. 708.
124 PRE'ISLAMIC POETRY
wandering life brought him into contact with every kind of
culture then existing in Arabia. Although he was not an
avowed Christian, his poetry shows to what an extent he was
influenced by the Bishops of Najrdn, with whom he was
intimately connected, and by the Christian merchants of
Hfra who sold him their wine. He did not rise above
the pagan level of morality.
It is related that he set out to visit Muhammad for the purpose
of reciting to him an ode which he had composed in his honour.
When the Ouraysh heard of this, they feared lest their adversary's
reputation should be increased by the panegyric of a bard so famous
and popular. Accordingly, they intercepted him on his way, and
asked whither he was bound. " To your kinsman," said he, " that I
may accept Islam.'' " He will forbid and make unlawful to thee
certain practices of which thou art fond." " What are these ?" said
A'sha. "Fornication," said Abu Sufyan. "I have not abandoned it,"
he replied, " but it has abandoned me. What else ? " " Gambling."
" Perhaps I shall obtain from him something to compensate me for
the loss of gambling. What else ? " " Usury." " I have never
borrowed nor lent. What else ? " " Wine." " Oh, in that case I will
drink the water I have left stored at al-Mihras." Seeing that A'shd
was not to be deterred, Abu Sufyan offered him a hundred camels
on condition that he should return to his home in Yamama
and await the issue of the struggle between Muhammad and
the Quraysh. " I agree," said A'sha. " O ye Quraysh," cried Abu
Sufyan, " this is A'sha, and by God, if he becomes a follower of
Muhammad, he will inflame the Arabs against you by his poetry.
Collect, therefore, a hundred camels for him. " '
A*shd excels in the description of wine and wine-parties.
One who visited Manfuha in Yamama, where the poet was
buried, relates that revellers used to meet at his grave and pour
out beside it the last drops that remained in their cups. As an
example of his style in this genre I translate a few lines from
the most celebrated of his poems, which is included by some
critics among the Muf-allaqit : —
' Aghdni, viii, 85, last Iine-86, 1. 10.
A'SHA and 'ALQAMA 125
" Many a time I hastened early to the tavern — while there ran
At my heels a ready cook, a nimble, active serving-man —
'Midst a gallant troop, like Indian scimitars, of mettle high ;
Well they know that every mortal, shod and bare alike, must
die.
Propped at ease I greet them gaily, them with myrtle-boughs I
greet,
Pass among them wine that gushes from the jar's mouth bitter-
sweet.
Emptying goblet after goblet — but the source may no man
drain —
Never cease they from carousing save to cry, ' Fill up again ! '
Briskly runs the page to serve them : on his ears hang pearls :
below.
Tight the girdle draws his doublet as he bustles to and fro.
'Twas the harp, thou mightest fancy, waked the lute's respon-
sive note.
When the loose-robed chantress touched it and sang shrill with
quavering throat.
Here and there among the party damsels fair superbly glide :
Each her long white skirt lets trail and swings a wine-skin at
her side." '
Very little is known of the life of 'Alqama b. 'Abada, who
was surnamed al-Fahl (the Stallion). His most famous poem
is that which he addressed to the Ghassdnid Harith
'Alqama. 1 * • r 1 -r* 1
al-A'raj after the Battle of Halima, imploring him
to set free some prisoners of Tamfm — the poet's tribe —
among whom was his own brother or nephew, Shas. The
following lines have almost become proverbial : —
" Of women do ye ask me ? I can spy
Their ailments with a shrewd physician's eye.
The man whose head is grey or small his herds
No favour wins of them but mocking words.
Are riches known, to riches they aspire.
And youthful bloom is still their heart's desire." '
' Lyall, Ten Ancient Arabic Poems, p. 146 seq., vv. 25-31.
• Ahlwardt, The Divans, p. 106, w. 8-10.
126 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
In view of these slighting verses it is proper to observe that
the poetry of Arabian vi^omen of the Pre-islamic period is dis-
tinctly masculine in character. Their songs are
legiacpoery. ^^jj^^^ ^^ Love, but often of Death. Elegy
{ritha or marthiya) vi^as regarded as their special province.
The oldest form of elegy appears in the verses chanted on
the death of Ta'abbata Sharr*" by his sister : —
"O the good knight ye left low at Rakhmdn,
Thabit son of Jabir son of Sufyan !
He filled the cup for friends and ever slew his man." '
u
As a rule the Arabian dirge is very simple. The poetess
begins with a description of her grief, of the tears that she
cannot quench, and then she shows how worthy to be deeply
mourned was he whom death has taken away. He is described
as a pattern of the two principal Arabian virtues, bravery and
liberality, and the question is anxiously asked, * Who will now
make high resolves, overthrow the enemy, and in time of want
feed the poor and entertain the stranger ?' If the hero of the
dirge died a violent death we find in addition a burning lust of
revenge, a thirst for the slayer's blood, expressed with an
intensity of feeling of which only women are capable."^
Among Arabian women who have excelled in poetry the
place of honour is due to Khansd — her real name was
Tumadir — who flourished in the last years before
Islam. By far the most famous of her elegies
are those in which she bewailed her valiant brothers, Mu'dwiya
and Sakhr, both of whom were struck down by sword or
spear. It is impossible to translate the poignant and vivid
emotion, the energy of passion and noble simplicity of style
which distinguish the poetry of Khansa, but here are a
few verses : —
' Hamdsa, p. 382, 1. 17.
» Noldeke, Beitrilge zur Kenntniss dcv Poesie dcraltcn Arabcr, p. 152.
WOMEN AS ELEGISTS 127
Death's messenger cried aloud the loss of the generous one,
So loud cried he, by my life, that far he was heard and wide.
Then rose I, and scarce my soul could follow to meet the
news.
For anguish and sore dismay and horror that Sakhr had died.
In my misery and despair I seemed as a drunken man,
Upstanding awhile— then soon his tottering limbs subside." '
Yudhakkiriini tuln'u H-shamsi Sakhr"""
wa-adhkuruhu likulli ghun'ibi shatnsi.
"Sunrise awakes in me the sad remembrance
Of Sakhr, and I recall him at every sunset."
To the poets who have been enumerated many might be
added — e.g.^ Hassan b. Thabit, -who vi^as ' retained ' by the
Prophet and did useful work on his behalf ; Ka*b
The last poets
born in the Age b. Zuhayr, author of the famous panegyric on
Muhammad beginning " Banat Su'-dd" (Su'ad has
departed) ; Mutammim b. Nuwayra, who, like Khansa,
mourned the loss of a brother ; Abii Mihjan, the singer or
wine, whose devotion to the forbidden beverage was punished
by the Caliph 'Umar with imprisonment and exile ; and
al-Hutay'a (the Dwarf), who was unrivalled in satire. All
these belonged to the class of Mukhadramuny i.e.y they were
born in the Pagan Age but died, if not Moslems, at any rate
after the proclamation of Islam.
The grammarians of Basra and Kufa, by whom the remains
of ancient Arabian poetry were rescued from oblivion, arranged
and collected their material according to various
Collections of ... !-> • i i r • i • • i i
ancient poetry, principles. iLither the poems or an individual or
those of a number of individuals belonging to the
same tribe or class were brought together — such a collection
was called Dlwdrij plural Dawdw'tn ; or, again, the compiler
edited a certain number of qasidas chosen for their fame or
' Noldeke, ibid., p. 175.
128 PRE-tSLAMIC POETRY
excellence or on other grounds, or he formed an anthology of
shorter pieces or fragments, which were arranged under dif-
ferent heads according to their subject-matter.
Among Dlwdns mention may be made of The Dtwans oj
the Six PoetSy viz. Ndbigha, 'Antara, Tarafa, Zuhayr, 'Alqama,
, , and Imru'u '1-Qays, edited with a full commen-
Diwans. -Kj J ^ , , •
tary by the Spanish philologist al-A'lam
(11083 A.D.) and published in 1870 by Ahlwardt ; and of
The Poems of the Hudhaylites {Ash^aru U-Hudhaliyyin) collected
by al-Sukkari (t 888 a.d.), which have been published by
Kosegarten and Wellhausen.
The chief Anthologies, taken in the order of their composi-
tion, are : —
1. The Mu^allaqat^ which is the title given to a collection
of seven odes by Imru'u '1-Qays, Tarafa, Zuhayr, Labid,
'Antara, 'Amr b. Kulthiim, and Harith b. Hilliza ;
i.Vhe°KL- to these two odes by Nabigha and A'shd are
''*'■ sometimes added. The compiler was probably
Hammad al-Rawiya, a famous rhapsodist of Persian descent,
who flourished under the Umayyads and died in the second
half of the eighth century of our era. As the Mu'-allaqat have
been discussed above, we may pass on directly to a much
larger, though less celebrated, collection dating from the same
period, viz. : —
2. The Mufaddaliyyat^^ by which title it is generally known
after its compiler, Mufaddal al-Dabbl (f circa 786 a.d.), who
made it at the instance of the Caliph Mansur for
^■'^'^\lyyit^°" the instruction of his son and successor, Mahdl.
It comprises 128 odes and is extant in two
recensions, that of Anbari (f 916 a.d.), which derives from
Ibnu '1-A'rdbi, the stepson of Mufat^dal, and that of Marzuq{
( 11030 A.D.). About a third of the Mufaddaliyydt was pub-
%..' The original title is al-Mukhtdrdt (The Selected Odes) or al-lkhtiydrdt
(The Selections).
THE PRINCIPAL COLLECTIONS 129
lished in 1885 by Thorbecke, and Sir Charles Lyall is now
preparing a complete edition. ^
All students of Arabian poetry are familiar with —
3. The Hamdsa of Abu Tammam Habib b. Aws, himself a
distinguished poet, who flourished under the Caliphs Ma'mun
and Mu'tasim, and died about 850 a. d. Towards
of Jb^uTa^mm^n"! the end of his life he visited ^Abdullah b. Tdhir, the
powerful governor of Khurasan, who was virtually
an independent sovereign. It was on this journey, as Ibn
Khallikan relates, that Abu Tammdm composed the Hamasa ;
for on arriving at Hamadhan (Ecbatana) the winter had set in,
and as the cold was excessively severe in that country, the
snow blocked up the road and obliged him to stop and await
the thaw. During his stay he resided with one of the most
eminent men of the place, who possessed a library in which
were some collections of poems composed by the Arabs of the
desert and other authors. Having then sufficient leisure, he
perused those works and selected from them the passages out of
which he formed his Hamdsa.'^ The work is divided into ten
sections of unequal length, the first, from which it received its
name, occupying (together with the commentary) 360 pages
in Freytag's edition, while the seventh and eighth require only
thirteen pages between them. These sections or chapters
bear the following titles : —
I. The Chapter of Fortitude {Bdbu 'l-Hamdsa).
II. The Chapter of Dirges {Bdbu 'l-Mardtht).
III. The Chapter of Good Manners {Bdbu H-Adab).
IV. The Chapter of Love-songs {Bdbu 'l-Nasib).
V. The Chapter of Satire {Bdbu 'l-Hijd).
VI. The Chapter of Guests (HospitaHty) and Panegyric {Bdbu
'l-Adydf wa'-l-Madih).
' A Projected Edition of the Mufaddaliydt, by Sir Charles Lyall.
J.R.A.S. for 1904, p. 315 sqq.
= Ibn Khallikan, ed. by Wiistenfeld, No. 350 = De Slane's translation,
vol. ii, p. 51.
10
130 PRE'ISLAMIC POETRY
VII. The Chapter of Descriptions {Bdbu 'l-Sifdt).
VIII. The Chapter of Travel and Repose {Bdbu 'l-Sayr wa-
•l-Nu'ds).
IX. The Chapter of Facetiae {Bdbu 'l-Mulah).
X. The Chapter of Vituperation of Women {Bdbu Madhammati
'l-Nisd).
The contents of the Hamdsa include short poems complete
in themselves as w^ell as passages extracted from longer poems;
of the poets represented, some of vv^hom belong to the Pre-
islamic and others to the early Islamic period, comparatively
fevv^ are celebrated, while many are anonymous or only Icnow^n
by the verses attached to their names. If the high level of
excellence attained by these obscure singers show^s, on the one
hand, that a natural genius for poetry was widely diffused and
that the art was successfully cultivated among all ranks of
Arabian society, we must not forget how much is due to the
fine taste of Abu Tammam, who, as the commentator
Tibrizi has remarked, "is a better poet in his Hamdsa than
in his poetry."
4. The Hamdsa of Buhturi (f 897 a.d.), a younger con-
temporary of Abu Tammdm, is inferior to its model. ^ How-
ever convenient from a practical standpoint, the
'*' of Buiiturr'' division into a great number of sections, each
illustrating a narrowly defined topic, seriously
impairs the artistic value of the work ; moreover, Buljturl
seems to have had a less catholic appreciation of the beauties
of poetry — he admired, it is said, only what was in harmony
with his own style and ideas.
5. The Jamharatu Ash^dri U-^Arab^ a collection of forty-
nine odes, was put together probably about
5- '^)^J^"'- 1000 A.D. by Abu Zayd Muhammad al-Qurashi,
of whom we find no mention elsewhere.
' See Nbldeke, Bettriige, p. 183 sqq. There would seem to be com-
paratively few poems of Pre-islamic date in Buhturi's anthology.
ORAL TRADITION 131
Apart from the Dlwdns and anthologies, numerous Pre-
islamic verses are cited in biographical, philological, and other
works, <?.?-., the Kitabu '/-Js[hdnl by Abu '1-Farai
Prose sources. j o j o y j
of Isfahan (t 967 A.D.), the ^Iqd al-Farld by Ibn
*Abdi Rabbihi of Cordova (f 940 a.d.), the TTrtw/V of Mubarrad
(t 898 A.D.), and the Khizdnatu U-Aclah of 'Abdu '1-Qadir of
Baghdad (f 1682 A.D.).
We have seen that the oldest existing poems date from the
beginning of the fifth century of our era, whereas the art of
writing did not come into general use among the
The tradition aim 111 r 1
of Pre-isiamic Arabs Until somc two hundred years afterwards.
poetry.
Pre-islamic poetry, therefore, was preserved by
oral tradition alone, and the question arises. How was this
possible ? What guarantee have we that songs living on
men's lips for so long a period have retained their original
form, even approximately ? No doubt many verses, e.g.^ those
which glorified the poet's tribe or satirised their enemies,
were constantly being recited by his kin, and in this way
short occasional poems or fragments of longer ones might be
perpetuated. Of whole qasldas like the Mvl'aUaqdt^ however,
none or very few would have reached us if their survival
had depended solely on their popularity. What actually saved
them in the first place was an institution resembling that of
the Rhapsodists in Greece. Every professed poet
Tlie Rawis. . ^ ^ . . .
had his Rdwi (reciter), who accompanied him
everywhere, committed his poems to memory, and handed
them down, as well as the circumstances connected with
them, to others. The characters of poet and rdwi were
often combined ; thus Zuhayr was the rdwi of his step-
father, Aws b. Hajar, while his own rdwi was al-Hutay'a.
If the tradition of poetry was at first a labour of love, it
afterwards became a lucrative business, and the Rdwls^
instead of being attached to individual poets, began to form
an independent class, carrying in their memories a prodigious
132 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
stock of ancient verse and miscellaneous learning. It is
related, for example, that Hammad once said to the Caliph
Walid b. Yazid : " I can recite to you, for each letter of
the alphabet, one hundred long poems rhyming in that
letter, without talcing into count the short pieces, and all
that composed exclusively by poets who lived before the
promulgation of Islamism." He commenced and continued
until the Caliph, having grown fatigued, withdrew, after
leaving a person in his place to verify the assertion and
hear him to the last. In that sitting he recited two
thousand nine hundred qasidas by poets who flourished
before Muhammad. Walid, on being informed of the fact,
ordered him a present of one hundred thousand dirhems.^
Thus, towards the end of the first century after the Flight,
i.e.^ about 700 a.d., when the custom of writing poetry
began, there was much of Pre-islamic origin still in circula-
tion, although it is probable that far more had already been
irretrievably lost. Numbers of Rdwis perished in the wars,
or passed away in the course of nature, without leaving any
one to continue their tradition. New times had brought
new interests and other ways of life. The great majority
of Moslems had no sympathy whatever with the ancient
poetry, which represented in their eyes the unregenerate
spirit of heathendom. They wanted nothing beyond the
Koran and the Hadith. But for reasons which will be
stated in another chapter the language of the Koran and
the Hadith was rapidly becoming obsolete as a spoken
idiom outside of the Arabian peninsula : the * perspicuous
Arabic' on which Muhammad prided himself had ceased
to be fully intelligible to the Moslems settled in 'Iraq
and Khurdsan, in Syria, and in Egypt. It was essen-
tial that the Sacred Text should be explained, and this
necessity gave birth to the sciences of Grammar and Lexi-
' Ibn Khallikan, ed. by Wiistenfeld, No. 204 = De Slane's translation,
vol. i, p. 470.
THE rAwIs or RHAPSODISTS 133
cography. The Philologists, or, as they have been aptly
designated, the Humanists of Basra and Kufa, where these
studies were prosecuted with peculiar zeal, natu-
The Humanists. '^ , , t> • i •
rally found their best material m the Fre-islamic
poems — a well of Arabic undefiled. At first the ancient
poetry merely formed a basis for philological research, but
in process of time a literary enthusiasm was awakened. The
surviving Rdwis were eagerly sought out and induced to
yield up their stores, the compositions of famous poets were
collected, arranged, and committed to writing, and as the
demand increased, so did the supply. ^
In these circumstances a certain amount of error was in-
evitable. Apart from unconscious failings of memory, there
can be no doubt that in many cases the Rdwls
Corrupt .... , . ,-r->i
tradition of tiie actcd With mtent to deceive. 1 he temptation
old poetry. r • U
to father their own verses, or centos which
they pieced together from sources known only to them-
selves, upon some poet of antiquity was all the stronger
because they ran little risk of detection. In knowledge of
poetry and in poetical talent they were generally far more
than a match for the philologists, who seldom possessed any
critical ability, but readily took whatever came to hand. The
stories which are told of Hammad al-Rawiya,
aY.R4\'^t^. clearly show how unscrupulous he was in his
methods, and we have no reason to suppose
that he was an exception to the rule. His contemporary,
Mufaddal al-Dabbi, is reported to have said that the corrup-
tion which poetry suffered through Hammad could never be
repaired, " for," he added, " Hammdd is a man skilled in the
language and poesy of the Arabs and in the styles and ideas of
the poets, and he is always making verses in imitation of some
' Many interesting details concerning the tradition of Pre-islamic
poeU^y by the Rdwis and the Philologists will be found in Ahlwardt's
Bemcrkungcn ncbcr die Acchthcit dcr alien Arabisclicn Gcdiclitc (Greifs-
vvald, 1872), which has supplied materials for the present sketch.
134 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
one and introducing them into genuine compositions by the
same author, so that the copy passes everywhere for part of the
original, and cannot be distinguished from it except by critical
scholars — and where are such to be found ? " ^ This art
of forgery was brought to perfection by Khalaf
ai-Ah'm^. al-Ahmar (f about 800 a.d.), who learned it in
the school of Hammdd. If he really composed
the famous Ldmiyya ascribed to Shanfara, his own poetical
endowments must have been of the highest order. In his
old age he repented and confessed that he was the author
of several poems which the scholars of Basra and Kiifa had
accepted as genuine, but they laughed him to scorn, saying,
" What you said then seems to us more trustworthy than
your present assertion."
Besides the corruptions due to the Rdwls^ others have been
accumulated by the philologists themselves. As the Koran
and the Hadith were, of course, spoken and
^'rorrupton."^ afterwards written in the dialect of Quraysh, to
whom Muhammad belonged, this dialect was
regarded as the classical standard ; 2 consequently the varia-
tions therefrom which occurred in the ancient poems were,
for the most part, ' emended ' and harmonised with it.
Many changes were made under the influence of Islam,
e.g.^ ' Allah ' was probably often substituted for the pagan
goddess 'al-Ldt.' Moreover, the structure of the qasida^
its disconnectedness and want of logical cohesion, favoured
the omission and transposition of whole passages or single
verses. All these modes of depravation might be illus-
trated in detail, but from what has been said the reader
can judge for himself how far the poems, as they now
stand, are likely to have retained the form in which they
were first uttered to the wild Arabs of the Pre-islamic Age.
' Agluint, V, 172, 1. 16 sqq.
* This view, however, is in accordance neither with the historical facts
nor with the public opinion of the 1 Pre-islamic Arabs (see Noldeke, Die
Seviitischen Spracheii, p. 47).
INFLUENCE OF RELIGION 135
Religion had so little influence on the lives of the Pre-
islamic Arabs that we cannot expect to find much trace
of it in their poetry. They believed vaguely
Religion. r / } i r • i
in a supreme God, Allah, and more dehnitely
in his three daughters — al-Lat, Manat, and al-'Uzzd — who
were venerated all over Arabia and whose intercession was
graciously accepted by Allah. There were also numerous
idols enjoying high favour while they continued to bring
good luck to their worshippers. Of real piety the ordinary
Bedouin knew nothing. He felt no call to pray to his
gods, although he often found them convenient to swear
by. He might invoke Allah in the hour of need, as a
drowning man will clutch at a straw ; but his faith in
superstitious ceremonies was stronger. He did not take his
religion too seriously. Its practical advantages he was quick
to appreciate. Not to mention baser pleasures, it gave him
rest and security during the four sacred months, in which
war was forbidden, while the institution of the Meccan
Pilgrimage enabled him to take part in a national fete.
Commerce went hand in hand with religion.
^'"'Uklz'^"^ Great fairs were held, the most famous being
that of 'Ukdz, which lasted for twenty days.
These fairs were in some sort the centre of old Arabian
social, political, and literary life. It was the only occasion
on which free and fearless intercourse was possible between
the members of different clans.^
Plenty of excitement was provided by poetical and oratorical
displays — not by athletic sports, as in ancient Greece and
modern England. Here rival poets declaimed their verses
and submitted them to the judgment of an acknowledged
master. Nowhere else had rising talents such an oppor-
tunity of gaining wide reputation : what 'Ukaz said to-day
all Arabia would repeat to-morrow. At 'Ukdz, we are told,
the youthful Muhammad listened, as though spellbound, to
' See Wellhausen, Rate Arab. Heidcniitms (2nd ed.), p. 88 seq.
136 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
the persuasive eloquence of Ouss b. Sa'ida, Bishop of Najran ;
and he may have contrasted the discourse of the Christian
preacher with the brilliant odes chanted by heathen bards.
The Bedouin vievi^ of life was thoroughly hedonistic. Love,
wine, gambling, hunting, the pleasures of song and romance,
the brief, pointed, and elegant expression of wit and wisdom —
these things he knew to be good. Beyond them he saw only
the grave,
" Roast meat and wine : the swinging ride
On a camel sure and tried,
Which her master speeds amain
O'er low dale and level plain : >
Women marble-white and fair
Trailing gold-fringed raiment rare :
Opulence, luxurious ease,
With the lute's soft melodies —
Such delights hath our brief span ;
Time is Change, Time's fool is Man.
Wealth or want, great store or small.
All is one since Death's are all." '
It would be a mistake to suppose that these men always,
or even generally, passed their lives in the aimless pursuit
of pleasure. Some goal they had — earthly, no doubt — such as
the accumulation of wealth or the winning of glory or the ful-
filment of blood-revenge. " God forhid^'' says one, " that I
should die while a grievous longing^ as it were a mountain^
weighs on my breast / " 2 A deeper chord is touched by
Imru'u '1-Qays '.'"'• If I strove for a hare livelihood^ scanty
means would suffice me and I would seek no more. But I
strive for lasting renown^ and *tis men like me that some-
times attain lasting renown. Never^ while life endures^ does
a man reach the summit of his ambition or cease from toil.'''' Z
' ^amdsa, 506. = Ibid., 237.
3 Diwdn of Imru'u '1-Qays, ed. by De Slane, p. 22 of the Arabic text,
1. 17 sqq- = N'^' 52) 11' 57-59 (P- 154) '" Ahlwardt's Divans of the Six Poets.
JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY \Z7
These are noble sentiments nobly expressed. Yet one hears
the sigh of weariness, as if the speaker were struggling against
the conviction that his cause is already lost, and would welcome
the final stroke of destiny. It was a time of wild uproar and
confusion. Tribal and family feuds filled the land, as Zuhayr
says, with evil fumes. No wonder that earnest and thoughtful
minds asked themselves — What worth has our life, what mean-
ing ? Whither does it lead ? Such questions paganism could
not answer, but Arabia in the century before Muhammad was
not wholly abandoned to paganism. Jewish colonists had long
been settled in the Hijaz. Probably the earliest settlements
date from the conquest of Palestine by Titus or Hadrian. In
their new home the refugees, through contact
Judaism and i , • . i .
Christianity in With a people nearly akm to themselves, became
Arabia. .... ^ .
fully Arabicised, as the few extant specimens of
their poetry bear witness. They remained Jews, however,
not only in their cultivation of trade and various industries, but
also in the most vital particular — their religion. This, and
the fact that they lived in isolated communities among the
surrounding population, marked them out as the salt of the
desert. In the Hijaz their spiritual predominance was not
seriously challenged. It was otherwise in Yemen. We may
leave out of account the legend according to which Judaism
was introduced into that country from the Hijaz by the
Tubba' As'ad Kamil. What is certain is that towards the
beginning of the sixth century it was firmly planted there
side by side with Christianity, and that in the person of
the Himyarite monarch Dhu Nuwas, who adopted the Jewish
faith, it won a short-lived but sanguinary triumph over its
rival. 'But in Yemen, except among the highlanders of
Najran, Christianity does not appear to have flourished as it
did in the extreme north and north-east, where the Roman and
With the last line, however, cf. the words of Qays b. al-Khatim on accom-
plishing his vengeance : " When this death comes, there will not be found ■
any need of my soul that I have not satisfied " (Hamdsa, 87).
138 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
Persian frontiers were guarded by the Arab levies of Ghassan
and Hfra. We have seen that the latter city contained a large
Christian population who were called distinctively
'^of'nira!* 'Ibdd, i.e., Servants (of God). Through them
the Aramaic culture of Babylonia was transmitted
to all parts of the peninsula. They had learned the art of
writing long before it was generally practised in Arabia, as is
shown by the story of Tarafa and Mutalammis, and they pro-
duced the oldest written poetry in the Arabic language — a
poetry very different in character from that which forms
the main subject of this chapter. Unfortunately the bulk
of it has perished, since the rhapsodists, to whom we owe
the preservation of so much Pre-islamic verse, were devoted to
the traditional models and would not burden their memories
with anything new-fashioned. The most famous of the 'Ibadi
poets is 'Adi b. Zayd, whose adventurous career as a politician
has been sketched above. He is not reckoned by Muhamma-
dan critics among the Fuhiil or poets of the first rank, because
he was a townsman (qarawl). In this connec-
'Adib.Zayd. . , r u ■ j • • • ^u
tion the roilowmg anecdote is mstructive. 1 ne
poet al-'Ajjaj (f about 709 a.d.) said of his contemporaries
al-Tirimmah and al-Kumayt : "They used to ask me concern-
ing rare expressions in the language of poetry, and I informed
them, but afterwards I found the same expressions wrongly
applied in their poems, the reason being that they were
townsmen who described what they had not seen and mis-
applied it, whereas I who am a Bedouin describe what I
have seen and apply it properly." ^ 'Adi is chiefly remembered
for his wine-songs. Oriental Christianity has always been
associated with the drinking and selling of wine. Christian
ideas were carried into the heart of Arabia by 'Ibddl wine
merchants, who are said to have taught their religion to the
celebrated A'shd. 'Adl drank and was merry like the rest, but
the underlying thought, * for to-morrow we die,' repeatedly
' Aghciiii, ii, 18, 1. 23 sqq.
RELIGIOUS IDEAS 139
makes itself heard. He walks beside a cemetery, and the
voices of the dead call to him — ^
" Thou who seest us unto thyself shalt say,
' Soon upon me comes the season of decay.'
Can the soUd mountains evermore sustain
Time's vicissitudes and all they bring in train ?
Many a traveller lighted near us and abode,
Quaffing wine wherein the purest water flowed —
Strainers on each flagon's mouth to clear the wine,
Noble steeds that paw the earth in trappings fine !
For a while they lived in lap of luxury.
Fearing no misfortune, dallying lazily.
Then, behold. Time swept them all, Uke chaff, away :
Thus it is men fall to whirling Time a prey.
Thus it is Time keeps the bravest and the best
Night and day still plunged in Pleasure's fatal quest."
It is said that the recitation of these verses induced Nu'man
al-Akbar, one of the mythical pagan kings of Hira, to accept
Christianity and become an anchorite. Although the story
involves an absurd anachronism, it is ben trovato in so far as it
records the impression which the graver sort of Christian
poetry was likely to make on heathen minds.
The courts of Hira and Ghassdn were well known to the
wandering minstrels of the time before Muhammad, who
flocked thither in eager search of patronage and remuneration.
We may be sure that men like Ndbigha, Labid, and A*sha did
not remain unaffected by the culture around them, even if it
seldom entered very deeply into their lives. That considerable
traces of religious feeling are to be found in Pre-islamic poetry
admits of no denial, but the passages in question were formerly
explained as due to interpolation. This view no longer pre-
vails. Thanks mainly to the arguments of Von
poe?;yn^«- Kremct, Sir Charles Lyall, and Wellhausen, it
""irsenument!" ^^^ come to be recogniscd (i) that in many cases
the above-mentioned religious feeling is not
Islamic in tone ; (2) that the passages in which it occurs
' Aglidfii, ii, 34, 1. 22 sqq.
140 PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
are not of Islamic origin ; and (3) that it is the natural and
necessary result of the widely spread, though on the whole
superficial, influence of Judaism, and especially of Christianity. ^
It shows itself not only in frequent allusions, e.g.^ to the monk
in his solitary cell, whose lamp serves to light belated travellers
on their way, and in more significant references, such as that
of Zuhayr already quoted, to the Heavenly Book in which evil
actions are enscrolled for the Day of Reckoning, but also in
the tendency to moralise, to look within, to meditate on death,
and to value the life of the individual rather than the continued
existence of the family. These things are not characteristic
of old Arabian poetry, but the fact that they do appear at
times is quite in accord with the other facts which have been
stated, and justifies the conclusion that during the sixth century
religion and culture were imperceptibly extending their sphere
of influence in Arabia, leavening the pagan masses, and
gradually preparing the way for Islam.
' See Von Kremer, Ucbcr die Gedichtc dcs Labyd in S.B.W.A.^
Phil.-Hist. Klassc (Vienna, 1881), vol. 98, p. 555 sqq. Sir Charles Lj'all,
Ancient Arabian Poetry, ■pp. 92 and 119. VJ eWhdinsen, Restc Arabischcn
Heidentums (2nd ed.), p. 224 sqq.
CHAPTER IV
THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
With the appearance of Muhammad the almost impenetrable
veil thrown over the preceding age is suddenly lifted and we
find ourselves on the solid ground of historical tradition. In
order that the reasons for this change may be understood, it is
necessary to give some account of the principal sources from
which our knowledge of the Prophet's life and teaching is
derived.
There is first, of course, the Koran," consisting " exclusively
of the revelations or commands which Muhammad professed,
from time to time, to receive through Gabriel as
matTon:°i'The' a message direct from God ; and which, under an
^°""" alleged Divine direction, he delivered to those
about him. At the time of pretended inspiration, or shortly
after each passage was recited by Muhammad before the
Companions or followers who happened to be present, and was
generally committed to writing by some one amongst them
upon palm-leaves, leather, stones, or such other rude material
as conveniently came to hand. These Divine messages con-
tinued throughout the three-and-twenty years of his prophetical
life so that the last portion did not appear till the year of his
death. The canon was then closed ; but the contents were
' I prefer to retain the customary spelling instead of Qur'an, as it is
correctly transliterated by scholars. Arabic words naturalised in English,
like Koran, Caliph, Vizier, &c., require no apology.
141
142 THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
never, during the Prophet's lifetime, systematically arranged,
or even collected together." i They were preserved, hov^-
ever, in fragmentary copies and, especially, by oral
How it was recitation until the sanguinary wars which fol-
presen'ed. g j
lowed Muhammad's death had greatly dimmished
the number of those who could repeat them by heart.
Accordingly, after the battle of Yamama (633 a.d.) 'Umar
b. al-Khattdb came to Abu Bakr, who was then Caliph, and
said : " I fear that slaughter may wax hot among the
Reciters on other battle-fields, and that much of the Koran
may be lost ; so in my opinion it should be collected without
delay." Abu Bakr agreed, and entrusted the task to Zayd
b. Thabit, one of the Prophet's amanuenses, who collected
the fragments with great difficulty " from bits of parchment,
thin white stones, leafless palm-branches, and the bosoms of
men." The manuscript thus compiled was deposited with
Abii Bakr during the remainder of his life, then with 'Umar,
on whose death it passed to his daughter Hafsa. Afterwards,
in the Caliphate of 'Uthman, Hudhayfa b. aUYaman, observ-
ing that the Koran as read in Syria was seriously at variance
with the text current in 'Irdq, warned the Caliph to interfere,
lest the Sacred Book of the Moslems should become a subject
of dispute, like the Jewish and Christian scriptures. In the
year 651 a.d. 'Uthman ordered Zayd b. Thdbit to prepare a
Revised Version with the assistance of three Qurayshites,
saying to the latter, "If ye differ from Zayd regarding any
word of the Koran, write it in the dialect of Quraysh ; for it
was revealed in their dialect." 2 This has ever since remained
the final and standard recension of the Koran. " Transcripts
were multiplied and forwarded to the chief cities in the empire,
and all previously existing copies were, by the Caliph's com-
» Muir's Life of Mahomet, Introduction, p. 2 seq. I may as well say at
once that I entirely disagree with the view suggested in this passage that
Muhammad did not believe himself to be inspired.
* The above details are taken from the FiJirisf, ed. by G. Fluegel, p. 24,
1, 14 sqq.
HISTORICAL VALUE OF THE KORAN 143
mand, committed to the flames." ^ In the text as it has come
down to us the various readings are few and unimportant, and
its genuineness is above suspicion. We shall see,
Koran°asan moreover, that the Koran is an exceedingly
on y. j^uman document, reflecting every phase of
Muhammad's personality and standing in close relation to the
ontward events of his life, so that here we have materials of
unique and incontestable authority for tracing the origin and j
early development of Islam — such materials as do not exist in I
the case of Buddhism or Christianity or any other ancient \
religion. Unfortunately the arrangement of the Koran can
only be described as chaotic. No chronological sequence is
observed in the order of the Suras (chapters), which is deter-
mined simply by their length, the longest being placed first.^
Again, the chapters themselves are sometimes made up of
disconnected fragments having nothing in common except the
rhyme ; whence it is often impossible to discover the original
context of the words actually spoken by the Prophet, the
occasion on which they were revealed, or the period to which
they belong. In these circumstances the Koran must be
supplemented by reference to our second main source of in-
formation, namely, Tradition.
Already in the last years of Muhammad's life (writes Dr.
Sprenger) it was a pious custom that when two Moslems met, \
one should ask for news {hadlth) and the other
2- Tradition should relate a saying or anecdote of the Prophet.
After his death this custom continued, and the
name Hadlth was still applied to sayings and stories which
were no longer new.3 In the course of time an elaborate
system of Tradition was built up, as the Koran — originally the
sole criterion by which Moslems were guided alike in the
' Muir, op. cit., Introduction, p. 14.
' With the exception of the Opening Sura {al-Fdtiha), which is a short
prayer.
3 Sprenger, Uebcr das Traditionswesen bet den Araberu, Z,D.M.G.,
vol. X, p. 2.
144 THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
greatest and smallest matters of public and private interest —
was found insufficient for the complicated needs of a rapidly
extending empire. Appeal was made to the sayings and
practice (sunna) of Muhammad, which now acquired "the
force of law and some of the authority of inspiration." The
Prophet had no Boswell, but almost as soon as he began to
preach he was a marked man whose obiter dicta could not fail
to be treasured by his Companions, and whose actions were
attentively watched. Thus, during the first century of Islam
there was a multitude of living witnesses from whom traditions
were collected, committed to memory, and orally handed down.
Every tradition consists of two parts : the text [?7iatn) and the
authority [sanad^ or isnad)^ e.g.^ the relater says, " I was told
by yf, who was informed by 5, who had it from C, that the
Prophet (God bless him !) and Abii Bakr and 'Umar used to
open prayer with the words ' Praise to God, the Lord of all
creatures.' " Written records and compilations were com-
paratively rare in the early period. Ibn Ishaq (f 768 a.d.)
composed the oldest extant Biography of the Prophet, which
we do not possess, however, in its original shape
Biographies of ^ut oiilv in the rcccusion of Ibn Hishdm
Muhammad. -'
(f 833 A.D.). Two important and excellent
works of the same kind are the Kitabu U-Maghdzl (' Book of
the Wars') by Waqidi (f 822 a.d.) and the Kitabu U-Tabaqat
al-Kahir (' The Great Book of the Classes,' z>., the different
classes of Muhammad's Companions and those who came after
them) by Ibn Sa'd (t 844 a.d.). Of miscellaneous traditions
intended to serve the Faithful as a model and rule of life in
every particular, and arranged in chapters according to the
subject-matter, the most ancient and authoritative
General cniiec- collcctions are those of Bukhari (t 870 A.D.) and
tions. ^ [ '
Muslim (t 874 A.D.), both of which bear the
same title, viz., al-SaJi'ih^ 'The Genuine.' It only remains to
speak of Commentaries on the Koran. Some passages were
explained by Muhammad himself, but the real founder of
THE TRADITIONS OF MUHAMMAD 145
Koranic Exegesis was 'Abdullah b. 'Abbas, the Prophet's
cousin. Although the writings of the early interpreters have
entirely perished, the gist of their researches is
on UiTKcfran^ embodied in the great commentary of Tabari (t 922
A.D.), a man of encyclopaedic learning who
absorbed the whole mass of tradition existing in his time.
Subsequent commentaries are largely based on this colossal .
work, which has recently been published at Cairo in thirty
volumes. That of Zamalchshari (t 1143 a.d.), which is
entitled the Kashshdf^ and that of Baydawi (t 1286 a.d.) are
the best known and most highly esteemed in the Muhammadan
East. A work of wider scope is the Itqdn of Suyiiti (t 1505
A.D.), which takes a general survey of the Koranic sciences,
and may be regarded as an introduction to the critical study
of the Koran.
While every impartial student will admit the justice of
Ibn Qutayba's claim that no religion has such historical attesta-
tions as Islam — laysa /i-ummat'" mina ^l-umami
Moslem tra- asudd""' ka-asndclihim ^ — he must at the same
time cordially assent to the observation made by
another Muhammadan : " In nothing do we see pious men
more given to falsehood than in Tradition " {lam nara
H-sdlihlna ft shay"' akdhaba minhum fi ' l-hadith).'^ Of this
severe judgment the reader will find ample confirmation in the
Second ^diVtoi Go\<i2A\\tx''s Muhammedanische Studien.2, During
the first century of Islam the forging of Traditions became a
recognised political and religious weapon, of which all parties
availed themselves. Even men of the strictest piety practised
this species of fraud {tadlis)^ and maintained that the end
justified the means. Their point of view is well expressed in
the following words which are supposed to have been spoken
by the Prophet : " You must compare the sayings attributed
' Quoted by Sprenger, loc. cit., p. I.
^ Quoted by Noldeke in the Introduction to his Geschichte des Qordtis,
p. 22. 3 See especially pp. 28-130.
T I
146 THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
to me with the Koran ; what agrees therewith is from me,
whether I actually said it or no ; " and again, " Whatever
good saying has been said, I myself have said it." ^ As the
result of such principles every new doctrine took the fotm of
an Apostolic Hadlth ; every sect and every system defended
itself by an appeal to the authority of Muhammad. We may
see how enormous was the number of false Traditions in circu-
lation from the fact that when Bukhari (t 870 a.d.) drew up
his collection entitled ' The Genuine ' {al-SahUi)^ he limited
it to some 7,000, which he picked out of 600,000.
The credibility of Tradition, so far as it concerns the life of
the Prophet, cannot be discussed in this place. ^ The oldest
and best biography, that of Ibn Ishaq, undoubtedly contains a
great deal of fabulous matter, but his narrative appears to be
honest and fairly authentic on the whole.
If we accept the traditional chronology, Muhammad, son of
^Abdullah and Amina, of the tribe of Quraysh, was born at
Mecca on the 12th of Rabf al-Awwal, in the
u^S^nL. Year of the Elephant (570-571 a.d.). His
descent from Qusayy is shown by the following
table : —
Qusayy.
'Abd Manaf. v
'Abd Shams. Hashim.
I I
Umayya. 'Abdu '1-Muttalib.
'Abbas. 'Abdullah. Abu Tdlib.
I
Muhammad.
' Miihamm. Stiulicn, Part IT, p. 48 seq.
- The reader may consult Muir's Introduction to his Life 0/ Mahomet,
pp. 28-87.
MUHAMMAD'S BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD 147
Shortly after his birth he was handed over to a Bedouin
nurse — Halima, a woman of the Banu Sa'd — so that until he
IT- uMJu . was five years old he breathed the pure air and
Hia childhood. ■' ^
learned to speak the unadulterated language of
the desert. One marvellous event which is said to have
happened to him at this time may perhaps be founded on
fact : —
" He and his foster-brother " (so Halima relates) " were among the
cattle behind our encampment when my son came running to us
Muhammad ^"*^ Cried, ' My brother, the Qurayshite ! two men clad
and the in white took him and laid him on his side and cleft
wo ange s. j^j^ belly ; and they were stirring their hands in it.'
When my husband and I went out to him we found him standing
with his face turned pale, and on our asking, ' What ails thee, child ? '
he answered, ' Two men wearing white garments came to me and
laid me on my side and cleft my belly and groped for something,
I know not what.' We brought him back to our tent, and my
husband said to me, ' O Halima, I fear this lad has been smitten
(usiba) ; so take him home to his family before it becomes evident.'
When we restored him to his mother she said, ' What has brought
thee, nurse ? Thou wert so fond of him and anxioiJs that he should
stay with thee.' I said, ' God has made him grow up, and I have
done my part. I feared that some mischance would befall him, so
I brought him back to thee as thou wishest.' ' Thy case is not thus,'
said she ; ' tell me the truth,' and she gave me no peace until I told
her. Then she said, ' Art thou afraid that he is possessed by the
Devil ? ' I said, ' Yes.' ' Nay, by God,' she repHed, ' the Devil
cannot reach him ; my son hath a high destiny.' " '
Other versions of the story are more explicit. The angels,
it is said, drew forth Muhammad's heart, cleansed it, and
removed the black clot — i.^., the taint of original sin.2 If
these inventions have any basis at all beyond the desire to
glorify the future Prophet, we must suppose that they refer
' Ibn Hisham, p. 105, 1. 9 sqq.
^ This legend seems to have arisen out of a literal interpretation of
Koran, xciv, i, "Did wc not open thy breast?" — /.e., give thee comfort
or enlightenment.
148 THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
to some kind of epileptic fit. At a later period he was
subject to such attacks, which, according to the unanimous
voice of Tradition, often coincided with the revelations sent
down from heaven.
'Abdullah had died before the birth of his son, and when, in
his sixth year, Muhammad lost his mother also, the charge of
the orphan was undertaken first by his grandfather, the aged
'Abdu '1-Muttalib, and then by his uncle, Abu Talib, a poor
but honourable man, who nobly fulfilled the duties of a
guardian to the last hour of his life. Muhammad's small
patrimony was soon spent, and he was reduced to herding
sheep — a despised employment which usually fell to the lot
of women or slaves. In his twelfth year he accompanied
Abu Talib on a trading expedition to Syria, in the course of
which he is said to have encountered a Christian
with the monk called Bahira, who discovered the Seal of
monk Ba^iira. * » i i i j u •! J
Prophecy between the boy s shoulders, and hailed
him as the promised apostle. Such anticipations deserve no
credit whatever. The truth is that until Muhammad assumed
the prophetic role he was merely an obscure Qurayshite ; and
scarcely anything related of him anterior to that event can be
deemed historical except his marriage to Khadija, an elderly
widow of considerable fortune, which took place when he was
about twenty-five years of age.
During the next fifteen years of his life Muhammad was
externally a prosperous citizen, only distinguished from those
around him by an habitual expression of thoughtful melan-
choly. What was passing in his mind may be conjectured
with some probability from his first utterances when he came
forward as a preacher. It is certain, and he himself has
acknowledged, that he formerly shared the idolatry of his
countrymen. " Did not He find thee astray and lead thee
aright f^ (Kor. xciii, 7). When and how did the process of
conversion begin ? These questions cannot be answered, but
it is natural to suppose that the all-important result, on which
THE HANiFS 149
Muhammad's biographers concentrate their attention, was pre-
ceded by a long period of ferment and immaturity. The idea
of monotheism was represented in Arabia by the Jews, who
were particularly numerous in the Hijdz, and by several
Christian sects of an ascetic character — e.g.^ the Sdbians^
and the Rakusians. Furthermore, " Islamic tradition knows
of a number of religious thinkers before Muhammad who are
described as Hanifs,"^ and of whom the best known are
Waraqa b. Nawfal of Quraysh ; Zayd b. *Amr
b. Nufayl, also of Quraysh ; and Umayya b. Abi
'1-Salt of Thaqif. They formed no sect, as Sprenger imagined ;
and more recent research has demonstrated the baselessness of
the same scholar's theory that there was in Pre-islamic times a
widely-spread religious movement which Muhammad organised,
directed, and employed for his own ends. His Arabian pre-
cursors, if they may be so called, were merely a few isolated
individuals. We are told by Ibn Ishdq that Waraqa and
Zayd, together with two other Qurayshites, rejected idolatry
and left their homes in order to seek the true religion of
Abraham, but whereas Waraqa is said to have become a Christian,
Zayd remained a pious dissenter unattached either to Christianity
or to Judaism ; he abstained from idol-worship, from eating
that which had died of itself, from blood, and from the flesh
of animals offered in sacrifice to idols ; he condemned the
barbarous custom of burying- female infants alive, and said,
' This name, which signifies 'Baptists,' was applied by the heathen
Arabs to Muhammad and his followers, probably in consequence of the
ceremonial ablutions which are incumbent upon every Moslem before the
live daily prayers (see Wellhausen, Rcstc Arab. Hcid., p. 237).
"^ Sir Charles Lyall, The Words ' Hanif and 'Muslim,' J.R.A.S. for
1903, p. 772. The original meaning of hajiif is no longer traceable, but it
may be connected with the Hebrew l/ancf, ' profane.' In the Koran it
generally refers to the religion of Abraham, and sometimes appears to be
nearly synonymous with Muslim. Further information concerning the
Hanifs will be found in Sir Charles Lyall's article cited above ; Sprenger,
Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammed, vol. i, pp. 45-134 ; Wellhausen,
Reste Arab. Heid., p. 238 sqq. ; Caetani, Annali dell' Islam, vol. i,
pp. 181-192.
150 THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
" I worship the Lord of Abraham." ^ As regards Umayya b.
Abi '1-Salt, according to the notice of him in the Aghan'i^ he
had inspected and read the Holy Scriptures ; he wore sack-
cloth as a mark of devotion, held wine to be unlawful, was
inclined to disbelieve in idols, and earnestly sought the true
religion. It is said that he hoped to be sent as a prophet to
the Arabs, and therefore when Muhammad appeared he
envied and bitterly opposed him.^ Umayya's verses, some
of which have been translated in a former chapter,3 are
chiefly on religious topics, and show many points of resem-
blance with the doctrines set forth in the early Suras of the
Koran. With one exception, all the Hanifs whose names are
recorded belonged to the Hijaz and the west of the Arabian
peninsula. No doubt Muhammad, with whom most of them
were contemporary, came under their influence, and he may
have received his first stimulus from this quarter.4 While
they, however, were concerned only about their own salvation,
Muhammad, starting from the same position, advanced far
beyond it. His greatness lies not so much in the sublime ideas
by which he was animated as in the tremendous force and
enthusiasm of his appeal to the universal conscience of mankind.
In his fortieth year, it is said, Muhammad began to dream
dreams and see visions, and desire solitude above all things else.
He withdrew to a cave on Mount Hira, near
Muhammad's Mccca, and engap-cd in religious austerities (/fi/2fl«-
vision. ' o o o V. •
nuth). One night in the month of Ramadan 5
the Angel 6 appeared to him and said, "Read!" {iqra). He
' Ibn Hisham, p. 143, 1. 6 sqq.
^ Aghdni, iii, 187, 1. 17 sqq. ^ See p. 69 stipra.
4 Tradition associates him especially with Waraqa, who was a cousin
of his first wife, Khadija, and is said to have hailed him as a prophet
while Muhammad himself was still hesitating (Ibn Hisham, p. 153,
1. 14 sqq.).
s This is the celebrated ' Night of Power ' (Laylahi 'l-Qadr) mentioned
in the Koran, xcvii, i.
6 The Holy Ghost {Rnhu'l-Quds],lov whom in the Medina Suras Gabriel
(Jibril) is substituted,
THE FIRST REVELATION 151
answered, "I am no reader" (wc ana bi-qari^'").'^ Then the
Angel seized him with a strong grasp, saying, "Read !" and,
as Muhammad still refused to obey, gripped him once more
and spoke as follows : —
THE SURA OF COAGULATED BLOOD (XCVI).
(i) Read in the name of thy Lord^" who created,
(2) Who created Man of blood coagulated.
(3) Read ! Thy Lord is the most beneficent,
(4) Who taught by the Pen,3
(5) Taught that which they knew not unto men.
On hearing these words Muhammad returned, trembling,
to Khadija and cried, "Wrap me up! wrap me up!" and
remained covered until the terror passed away from him. 4
Another tradition relating to the same event makes it clear
' But another version (Ibn Hisham, p. 152, 1. 9 sqq.) represents Muhammad
as replying to the Angel, "What am I to read ? " (vui aqra'n or vui dhd
aqra'n). Professor Bevan has pointed out to me that the tradition in this '
form bears a curious resemblance, which can hardly be accidental, to the
words of Isaiah xl. 6 : " The voice said, Cry. And he said. What
shall I cry ? " The question whether the Prophet could read and
write is discussed by Noldeke [Gcschichtc dcs Qoniiis, p. 7 sqq.), who
leaves it undecided. According to Noldeke (loc. cit., p. 10), the
epithet itmmi, which is applied to Muhammad in the Koran, and is
commonly rendered by ' illiterate,' does not signify that he was
ignorant of reading and writing, but only that he was unacquainted with
the ancient Scriptures ; cf. ' Gentile.' However this may be, it appears that
he wished to pass for illiterate, with the object of confirming the belief in
his inspiration : " Thou " (Muhammad) " didst not use to read any book
before this ' (the Koran) " nor to write it with thy right hand ; else the liars
would have doubted (Koran, xxi.x, 47).
= The meaning of these words (iqra' bismi rabbika) is disputed. Others
translate, " Preach in the name of thy Lord " (Noldeke), or " Proclaim the
name of thy Lord " (Hirschfeld). I see no sufficient grounds for abandon-
ing the traditional interpretation supported by verses 4 and 5. Muhammad
dreamed that he was commanded to read the Word of God inscribed in
the Heavenly Book which is the source of all Revelation.
3 Others render, "who taught (the use of) the Pen."
■» This account of Muhammad's earliest vision (Bukhari, ed. by Krehi,
vol. iii, p. 380, 1. 2 sqq.) is derived from 'A'isha, his favourite wife, whom
he married after the death of Khadija.
152 THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
that the revelation occurred in a dream. i "I awoke," said
the Prophet, " and methought it was written in my heart."
If we take into account the notions prevalent among the
Arabs of that time on the subject of inspiration,^ it will not
appear surprising that Muhammad at first beheved himself to
be possessed, like a poet or soothsayer, by one of the spirits
called collectively yinn. Such was his anguish of mind that
he even meditated suicide, but Khadija comforted and
reassured him, and finally he gained the unalterable convic-
tion that he was not a prey to demoniacal influences, but a
prophet divinely inspired. For some time he received no
further revelation.3 Then suddenly, as he afterwards related,
he saw the Angel seated on a throne between earth and
heaven. Awe-stricken, he ran into his house and bade them
wrap his limbs in a warm garment {dithar). While he lay
thus the following verses were revealed : —
THE SURA OF THE ENWRAPPED (LXXIV).
(i) O thou who enwrapped dost lie !
(2) Arise and prophesy/
(3) And thy Lord magnify,
(4) And thy raiment purify,
(5) And the abomination fly ! s
Muhammad no longer doubted that he had a divinely
ordained mission to preach in public. His feelings of relief
and thankfulness are expressed in several Suras of this period,
e.g.—
THE SURA OF THE MORNING (XCIII).
(i) By the Morning bright
(2) And the softly falling Night,
(3) Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee, neither art thou hateful
in His sight.
' Ibn Hisham, p. 152, 1. 9 sqq. "^ See p. 72 supra.
3 This interval is known as the Fatra. ■» Literally, ' warn.'
5 ' The abomination ' [al-rujz) probably refers to idolatry.
EARLY CONVERTS 153
(4) Verily, the Beginning is hard unto thee, but the End shall be
light.'
(5) Thou shalt be satisfied, the Lord shall thee requite.
(6) Did not He shelter thee when He found thee in orphan's
plight ?
(7) Did not He find thee astray and lead thee aright?
(8) Did not He find thee poor and make thee rich by His
might ?
(9) Wherefore, the orphan betray not,
(10) And the beggar turn away not,
(11) And tell of the bounty of thy Lord.
According to his biographers, an interval of three years
elapsed between the sending of Muhammad and his appearance
as a public preacher of the faith that was in him. Naturally,
he would first turn to his own family and friends, but it is
difficult to accept the statement that he made no proselytes
openly during so long a period. The contrary is asserted in an
ancient tradition related by al-Zuhri (f 742 a.d.), where
we read that the Prophet summoned the people to embrace
Islam 2 both in private and public ; and that those who
responded to his appeal were, for the most part, young men
belonging to the poorer class.3 He found, however, some
influential adherents. Besides Khadija, who was
Moslems. ^^^ ^^^^ to believe, there were his cousin 'Ali,
his adopted son, Zayd b. Haritha, and, most im-
portant of all, Abu Baler b. Abi Ouhafa, a leading merchant of
the Ouraysh, universally respected and beloved for his integrity,
wisdom, and kindly disposition. At the outset Muhammad
seems to have avoided everything calculated to offend the
heathens, confining himself to moral and religious generalities,
» Literally, " The Last State shall be better for thee than the First,"
referring either to Muhammad's recompense in the next world or to the
ultimate triumph of his cause in this world.
2 Islam is a verbal noun formed from Aslama, which means ' to
surrender ' and, in a religious sense, ' to surrender one's self to the will
of God.' The participle, Muslim (Moslem), denotes one who thus sur-
renders himself.
3 Sprenger, Lcbcn des Mohammad, vol. i, p. 356.
1 54 THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
so that many believed, and the Meccan aristocrats themselves
regarded him with good-humoured toleration as a harmless
oracle-monger. " Look ! " they said as he passed by, " there
goes the man of the Banu 'Abd al-Muttalib who tells of
heaven." But no sooner did he begin to emphasise the Unity
of God, to fulminate against idolatry, and to preach
"°Qu«ys°h.'^' the Resurrection of the dead, than his followers
melted away in face of the bitter antagonism
which these doctrines excited amongst the Ouraysh, who saw
in the Ka'ba and its venerable cult the mainspring of their
commercial prosperity, and were irritated by the Prophet's
declaration that their ancestors were burning in hell-fire.
The authority of Abu Talib secured the personal safety of
Muhammad ; of the little band who remained faithful some
were protected by the strong family feeling characteristic of old
Arabian society, but many were poor and friendless ; and these,
especially the slaves, whom the levelling ideas of Islam had
attracted in large numbers, were subjected to cruel persecution. ^
Nevertheless Muhammad continued to preach. "I will not
forsake this cause" (thus he is said to have answered Abu
Talib, who informed him of the threatening attitude of the
Ouraysh and begged him not to lay on him a greater burden
than he could bear) " until God shall make it manifest or until
I shall perish therein — not though they should set the sun on
my right hand and the moon on my left ! " ^ But progress
' It must be remembered that this branch of Muhammadan tradition
derives from the pietists of the first century after the FHght, who were
profoundly dissatisfied with the reigning dynasty (the Umayyads), and
revenged themselves by painting the behaviour of the Meccan ancestors of
the Umayyads towards Muhammad in the blackest colours possible. The
facts tell another story. It is significant that hardly any case of real
persecution is mentioned in the Koran. Muhammad was allowed to
remain at Mecca and to carry on, during many years, a religious
propaganda which his fellow-citizens, with few exceptions, regarded as
detestable and dangerous. We may well wonder at the moderation of
the Quraysh, which, however, was not so much deliberate policy as the
result of their indifference to religion and of Muhammad's failure to make
appreciable headway in Mecca. = Ibn Hisham, p. t68, 1. 9. sqq.
FAILURE OF THE MISSION AT MECCA 155
was slow and painful : the Meccans stood obstinately aloof,
deriding both his prophetic authority and the Divine chastise-
ment with which he sought to terrify them. Moreover, they
used every kind of pressure short of actual violence in order to
seduce his followers, so that many recanted, and in the fifth
year of his mission he saw himself driven to the necessity of
commanding a general emigration to the Christian
^Abfss'inia.*" kingdom of Abyssinia, where the Moslems would
be received with open arms ^ and would be with-
drawn from temptation.2 About a hundred men and women
went into exile, leaving their Prophet with a small party of
staunch and devoted comrades to persevere in a struggle that
was daily becoming more difficult. In a moment of weakness
Muhammad resolved to attempt a compromise
Temporary • '■ '
'^'^wHh'the"" w'^h ^'^ countrymen. One day, it is said, the
Quraysh. chief men of Mecca, assembled in a group beside
the Ka'ba, discussed as was their wont the affairs of the city,
when Muhammad appeared and, seating himself by them in
a friendly manner, began to recite in their hearing the 53rd
Sura of the Koran. When he came to the verses (19-20) —
" Do ye see Al-Ldt and Al-'Uzza, and Manat, the third and last ? "
Satan prompted him to add : —
"These are the most exalted Cranes (or Swans),
And verily their intercession is to be hoped for."
The Ouraysh were surprised and delighted with this
acknowledgment of their deities ; and as Muhammad wound
up the Sura with the closing words —
"Wherefore bow down before God and serve Him,"
' At this time Muhammad believed the doctrines of Islam and
Christianity to be essentially the same.
2 Tabari, i, 1180, 8 sqq. Cf. Caetani, Annali ddV Islam, vol. i,
p. 267 sqq.
156 THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
the whole assembly prostrated themselves with one accord
on the ground and worshipped. ^ But scarcely had Muhammad
returned to his house when he repented of the sin into
which he had fallen. He cancelled the idolatrous verses
and revealed in their place those which now stand in the
Koran —
"Shall yours be the male and his the female?'
This were then an unjust division !
They are naught but names which ye and your fathers
have named."
We can easily comprehend why Ibn Hishim omits all
mention of this episode from his Biography, and why the fact
itself is denied by many Moslem theologians. 3
Muhammnd's T-»i»r i itil-
concession to The Frophct s friends were scandalised, his
the idolaters. , .
enemies laughed him to scorn. It was probably
no sudden lapse, as tradition represents, but a calculated
endeavour to come to terms with the Ouraysh ; and so far
from being immediately annulled, the reconciliation seems
to have lasted long enough for the news of it to reach the
emigrants in Abyssinia and induce some of them to return to
Mecca. While putting the best face on the matter,
Muhammad felt keenly both his own disgrace and the public
discredit. It speaks well for his sincerity that, as soon as
he perceived any compromise with idolatry to be impossible —
to be, in fact, a surrender of the great principle by which he
was inspired — he frankly confessed his error and delusion.
' Muir, Life of Mahomet, vol. ii, p. 151.
* We have seen (p. 91 supra) that the heathen Arabs disliked female
offspring, yet they called their three principal deities the daughters of
Allah.
3 It is related by Ibn Ishaq (Tabari, i, 1192, 4 sqq.). In his learned work,
Annali delV Islam, of which the first volume appeared in 1905, Prince Caetani
impugns the authenticity of the tradition and criticises the narrative in
detail (p. 279 sqq.), but his arguments do not touch the main question.
As Muir says, " it is hardly possible to conceive how the tale, if not
founded in truth, could ever have been invented."
BACKSLIDING AND REPENTANCE 157
Henceforth he " wages mortal strife with images in every
shape" — there is no god but Allah.
The further course of events which culminated in
Muhammad's Flight to Medina may be sketched in a few
words. Persecution now waxed hotter than ever, as the
Prophet, rising from his temporary vacillation like a giant
refreshed, threw his whole force into the denunciation of
idolatry. The conversion of 'Umar b. al-Khattab, the future
Caliph, a man of * blood and iron,' gave the signal for open
revolt. " The Moslems no longer concealed their worship
within their own dwellings, but with conscious strength and
defiant attitude assembled in companies about the Ka'ba, per-
formed their rites of prayer and compassed the Holy House.
Their courage rose. Dread and uneasiness seized the
Quraysh." The latter retaliated by cutting off all relations
with the Hashimites, who were pledged to defend their kins-
man, whether they recognised him as a prophet or no. This
ban or boycott secluded them in an outlying quarter of the city,
where for more than two years they endured the utmost
privations, but it only cemented their loyalty to Muhammad,
and ultimately dissensions among the Quraysh themselves caused
it to be removed. Shortly afterwards the Prophet suffered
a double bereavement — the death of his wife,
of Khadija and Khadija, was foUowed by that of the noble Abu
ITahb, who, though he never accepted Islam,
stood firm to the last in defence of his brother's son. Left
alone to protect himself, Muljammad realised that he must take
some decisive step. The situation was critical. Events had
shown that he had nothing to hope and everything to fear from
the Meccan aristocracy. He had warned them again and
again of the wrath to come, yet they gave no heed. He was
now convinced that they would not and could not believe,
since God in His inscrutable wisdom had predestined them to
eternal damnation. Consequently he resolved on a bold and,
according to Arab ways of thinking, abominable expedient,
158 THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
namely, to abandon his fellow-tribesmen and seek aid from
strangers.i Having vainly appealed to the inhabitants of
Ta'if, he turned to Medina, where, among a population
largely composed of Jews, the revolutionary ideas of Islam
might more readily take root and flourish than in the
Holy City of Arabian heathendom. This time he was not
disappointed. A strong party in Medina hailed him as the
true Prophet, eagerly embraced his creed, and swore to defend
him at all hazards. In the spring of the year 622 a.d. the
Moslems of Mecca quietly left their homes and journeyed
northward. A few months later (September, 622) Muhammad
himself, eluding the vigilance of the Ouraysh, entered Medina
in triumph amidst the crowds and acclamations due to a
conqueror.
This is the celebrated Flight or Hegira (properly H'tjra)
which marks the end of the Barbaric Age [al-ydhiliyya) and
the beginning; of the Muhammadan Era. It also
TheHijraov ^ & , • u r> u > u- i.
Flight to Medina marJcs a uew epoch in the r rophet s history : but
(622A.D.). 5 . .
before attempting to indicate the nature of the
change it will be convenient, in order that we may form
a juster conception of his character, to give some account of
his early teaching and preaching as set forth in that portion of
the Koran which was revealed at Mecca.
' The Meccan view of Muhammad's action may be gathered from the
words uttered by Abii Jahl on the field of Badr — " O God, bring woe upon
him who more than any of us hath severed the ties of kinship and
dealt dishonourably ! " (Tabari, i, 1322, 1. 8 seq.). Alluding to the
Moslems who abandoned their native city and fled with the Prophet to
Medina, a Meccan poet exclaims (Ibn Hisham, p. 519, 11. 3-5) : —
They (the Quraysh slain at Badr) fell in hoiionr. They did not sell their
kinsmen for strangers living in a far land and of remote lineage ;
Unlike yon, who have made friends ofGhassdn (the people of Medina), taking
them instead of us — 0,iuhat a shameful deed !
Tis an impiety and a manifest crime and a cutting of all ties of blood :
your iniquity therein is discerned by men of judgment and under-
standing.
THE FLIGHT TO MEDINA 159
Koran (Our'an) is derived from the Arabic root qara'a^ >
' to read,' and means ' reading aloud ' or * chanting.' This I \
term may be applied either to a single Revelation
The Koran. , . , , • • i
or to several recited together or, m its usual accep-
tation, to the whole body of Revelations which are thought
by Moslems to be, actually and literally, the Word of God ; so
that in quoting from the Koran they say qala Ulahu^ i.e.,
' God said.' Each Revelation forms a separate Sura
(chapter) ^ composed of verses of varying length which have
no metre but are generally rhymed. Thus, as regards its
external features, the style of the Koran is modelled upon the
5(2/',2 or rhymed prose, of the pagan soothsayers, but with such
freedom that it may fairly be described as original. Since it
was not in Muhammad's power to create a form that should
be absolutely new, his choice lay between SaJ^ and poetry, the
only forms of elevated style then known to the Arabs. He
himself declared that he was no poet,3 and this is true in the
sense that he may have lacked the technical accomplishment of
verse-making. It must, however, be borne in
^^^^'^^poeT"'"^'^ mind that his disavowal does not refer primarily
to the poetic art, but rather to the person and
character of the poets themselves. He, the divinely inspired
Prophet, could have nothing to do with men who owed their
inspiration to demons and gloried in the ideals of paganism
which he was striving to overthrow. " /ind the poets do
those follow who go astray ! Dost thou not see that they
wander distraught in every vale F and that they say that which
they do not?''' (Kor. xxvi, 224-226). Muhammad was not
of these ; although he was not so unlike them as he pretended.
His kinship with the pagan Shamir is clearly shown, for example,
in the 113th and 114th Siiras, which are charms against magic
and diablerie, as well as in the solemn imprecation calling down
destruction upon the head of his uncle, 'Abdu 'l-'Uzza, nick-
named Abu Lahab (Father of Flame).
' St'ira is properly a row of stones or bricks in a wall.
' See p. 74 supra, 3 Koran, Ixix, 41.
i6o THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
THE SURA OF ABU LAHAB (CXI).
(i) Perish the hands of Abu Lahab and perish he !
(2) His wealth shall not avail him nor all he hath gotten in
fee.
(3) Burned in blazing fire he shall be !
(4) And his wife, the faggot-bearer, also she :
(5) Upon her neck a cord of fibres of the palm-tree.
If, then, we must allow that Muhammad's contemporaries had
some justification for bestowing upon him the title of poet
against which he protested so vehemently, still less can his plea
be accepted by the modern critic, whose verdict will be that
the Koran is not poetical as a whole ; that it contains many
pages of rhetoric and much undeniable prose ; but that,
although Muhammad needed " heaven-sent moments for this
skill," in the early Meccan Suras frequently, and fitfully else-
where, his genius proclaims itself by grand lyrical outbursts
which could never have been the work of a mere rhetorician.
" Muhammad's single aim in the Meccan Siiras," says N61deke,"is to
convert the people, by means of persuasion, from their false gods to
the One God. To whatever point the discourse is
^Suras!^^" directed, this always remains the ground-thought ; but
instead of seeking to convince the reason of his
hearers by logical proofs, he employs the arts of rhetoric to
work upon their minds through the imagination. Thus he glorifies
God, describes His working in Nature and History, and ridicules
on the other hand the impotence of the idols. Especially
important are the descriptions of the everlasting bliss of the pious
and the torments of the wicked : these, particularly the latter, must
be regarded as one of the mightiest factors in the propagation of
Islam, through the impression which they make on the imagination
of simple men who have not been hardened, from their youth up, by
similar theological ideas. The Prophet often attacks his heathen
adversaries personally and threatens them with eternal punishment ;
but while he is living among heathens alone, he seldom assails the
Jews who stand much nearer to him, and the Christians scarcely
ever." '
' Noldeke, Geschichte des Qordns, p. 56.
THE MECCAN StlRAS i6i
The preposterous arrangement of the Koran, to which I have
already adverted, is mainly responsible for the opinion almost
unanimously held by European readers that it is obscure, tire-
some, uninteresting ; a farrago of long-winded narratives and
prosaic exhortations, quite unworthy to be named in the same
breath with the Prophetical Books of the Old Testament.
One may, indeed, peruse the greater part of the volume,
beginning with the first chapter, and find but a few passages of
genuine enthusiasm to relieve the prevailing dulness. It is in
the short Suras placed at the end of the Koran that we must
look for evidence of Muhammad's prophetic gift. These are the
earliest of all ; in these the flame of inspiration burns purely
and its natural force is not abated. The following versions,
like those which have preceded, imitate the original form as
closely, I think, as is possible in English. They cannot, of
course, do more than faintly suggest the striking effect of the
sonorous Arabic when read aloud. The Koran was designed
for oral recitation, and it must be heard in order to be justly
appraised.
THE SURA OF THE SEVERING (LXXXH).
(i) When the Sky shall be severed,
(2) And when the Stars shall be shivered,
(3) And when the Seas to mingle shall be suffered,
(4) And when the Graves shall be uncovered —
(5) A soul shall know that which it hath deferred or delivered.'
(6) O Man, what beguiled thee against thy gracious Master to rebel,
(7) Who created thee and fashioned thee right and thy frame did
fairly build ?
(8) He composed thee in whatever form He willed.
(9) Nay, but ye disbelieve in the Ordeal ! ^
(10) Verily over you are Recorders honourable,
(ii) Your deeds inscribing without fail :3
* I.e., what it has done or left undone.
"" The Last Judgment.
3 Moslems believe that every man is attended by two Recording Angels
who write down his good and evil actions.
12
i62 THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
(12) What ye do they know well.
(13) Surely the pious in delight shall dwell,
(14) And surely the wicked shall be in Hell,
(15) Burning there on the Day of Ordeal ;
(16) And evermore Hell-fire they shall feel !
(17) What shall make thee to understand what is the Day of
Ordeal ?
(18) Again, what shall make thee to understand what is the Day
of Ordeal ? —
(19) A Day when one soul shall not obtain anything for another
soul, but the command on that Day shall be with God
alone.
THE SURA OF THE SIGNS (LXXXV).
(i) By the Heaven in which Signs are set,
(2) By the Day that is promised,
(3) By the Witness and the Witnessed : —
(4) Cursed be the Fellows of the Pit, they that spread
(5) The fire with fuel fed,
(6) When they sate by its head
(7) And saw how their contrivance against the Believers sped ; '
(8) And they punished them not save that they believed on God,
the Almighty, the Glorified,
(9) To whom is the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth, and He
seeth every thing beside.
(10) Verily, for those who afflict believing men and women and
repent not, the torment of Gehenna and the torment of
burning is prepared,
(11) Verily, for those who believe and work righteousness are
Gardens beneath which rivers flow : this is the great
Reward.
(12) Stern is the vengeance of thy Lord.
(13) He createth the living and reviveth the dead :
(14) He doth pardon and kindly entreat :
(15) The majestic Throne is His seat:
(16) That he wiUeth He doeth indeed.
(17) Hath not word come to thee of the multitude
(18) Of Pharaoh, and of Thamiid?^
' This is generally supposed to refer to the persecution of the Christians
of Najran by Dhii Nuwas (see p. 26 supra). Geiger takes it as an allusion
to the three men who were cast into the fiery furnace (Daniel, ch. iii).
* See above, p. 3.
THE MECCAN SCRAS 163
(19) Nay, the infidels cease not from falsehood,
(20) But God encompasseth them about
(21) Surely, it is a Sublime Koran that ye read,
(22) On a Table inviolate.'
THE SURA OF THE SMITING (CI).
(i) The Smiting ! What is the Smiting ?
(2) And how shalt thou be made to understand what is the
Smiting ?
(3) The Day when Men shall be as flies scattered,
(4) And the Mountains shall be as shreds of wool tattered.
(5) One whose Scales are heavy, a pleasing life he shall spend,
(6) But one whose Scales are light, to the Abyss he shall descend.
(7) What that is, how shalt thou be made to comprehend ?
(8) Scorching Fire without end !
THE SURA OF THE UNBELIEVERS (CIX).
(i) Say : 'O Unbelievers,
(2) I worship not that which ye worship,
(3) And ye worship not that which I worship.
(4) Neither will I worship that which ye worship,
(5) Nor will ye worship that which I worship.
(6) Ye have your religion and I have my religion.'
To summarise the cardinal doctrines preached by Muhammad
during the Meccan period : —
I. There is no god but God.
Muijammad at 2. Muhammad is the Apostle of God, and the
Koran is the Word of God revealed to His Apostle.
3. The dead shall be raised to life at the Last Judgment,
when every one shall be judged by his actions in the present life.
4. The pious shall enter Paradise and the wicked shall go
down to Hell.
Taking these doctrines separately, let us consider a little
more in detail how each of them is stated and by what argu-
ments it is enforced. The time had not yet come for drawing
' According to Muhammadan belief, the archetype of the Koran and of
ail other Revelations is written on the Guarded Table (al-Laivh al-Mahfuz]
in heaven.
i64 THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
the sword : Muhammad repeats again and again that he is only
a Warner [nadhir) invested with no authority to compel where
he cannot persuade.
I. The Meccans acknowledged the supreme position of
Allah, but in ordinary circumstances neglected him in favour
of their idols, so that, as Muhammad complains.
The Unity of « JVhen danger befalls you on the sea^ the gods
•whom ye invoke are forgotten except Him alone ;
yet when He brought you safe to landy ye turned your hacks on
Him^ for Man is ungrateful.'''' ^ They were strongly attached
to the cult of the Ka'ba, not only by self-interest, but also by
the more respectable motives of piety towards their ancestors
and pride in their traditions. Muhammad himself regarded
Allah as Lord of the Ka'ba, and called upon the Quraysh
to worship him as such (Kor. cvi, 3). When they refused to
do so on the ground that they were afraid lest the Arabs should
rise against them and drive them forth from the land, he
assured them that Allah was the author of all their prosperity
(Kor. xxviii, 57). His main argument, however, is drawn
from the weakness of the idols, which cannot create even a
fly, contrasted with the wondrous manifestations of Divine
power and providence in the creation of the heavens and the
earth and all living things.^
It was probably towards the close of the Meccan period that
Muhammad summarised his Unitarian ideas in the following
emphatic formula : —
THE SURA OF PURIFICATION (CXII).3
(i) Say: 'God is One;
(2) God who liveth on ;
(3) Without father and without son ;
(4) And like to Him there is none!'
' Koran, xvii, 69.
= See, for example, the passages translated by Lane in his Selections
from the Kur-dn (London, 1843), pp. 100-113.
3 Ikhlds means ' purifying one's self of belief in any god except Allah,'
CARDINAL DOCTRINES 165
2. We have seen that when Muhammed first appeared as
a prophet he was thought by all except a very i&w to
be majnun^ i.e.^ possessed by a jinnl^ or genie,
Muhammad, the •/- y i i • i mi i i i
Apostle of ir i may use a word which will send the reader
back to his Arabian Nights. The heathen Arabs
regarded such persons — soothsayers, diviners, and poets — with
a certain respect ; and if Muhammad's ' madness ' had taken a
normal course, his claim to inspiration would have passed
unchallenged. What moved the Quraysh to oppose him was
not disbelief in his inspiration — it mattered little to them
whether he was under the spell of Allah or one of the jfinn —
but the fact that he preached doctrines which wounded their
sentiments, threatened their institutions, and subverted the
most cherished traditions of old Arabian life. But in order
successfully to resist the propaganda for which he alleged a
Divine warrant, they were obliged to meet him on his own
ground and to maintain that he was no prophet at all, no
Apostle of Allah, as he asserted, but " an insolent liar," "a
schooled madman," " an infatuated poet," and so forth ; and
that his Koran, which he gave out to be the Word of Allah,
was merely "old folks' tales" [asdtiru U-aw'waUn)y or the
invention of a poet or a sorcerer. " Is not he," they cried, " a
man like ourselves, who wishes to domineer over us ? Let
him show us a miracle, that we may believe." Muhammad
could only reiterate his former assertions and warn the infidels
that a terrible punishment was in store for them either in this
world or the next. Time after time he compares himself to
the ancient prophets — Noah, Abraham, Moses, and their
successors — who are represented as employing exactly the
same arguments and receiving the same answers as Muham-
mad ; and bids his people hearken to him lest they utterly
perish like the ungodly before them. The truth of the Koran
is proved, he says, by the Pentateuch and the Gospel, allbeing
Revelations of the One God, and therefore identical in
substance. He is no mercenary soothsayer, he seeks no
i66 THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
personal advantage : his mission is solely to preach. The
demand for a miracle he could not satisfy except by pointing
to his visions of the Angel and especially to the Koran itself,
every verse of which was a distinct sign or miracle {^ayat^.'^ If
he has forged it, why are his adversaries unable to produce any-
thing similar ? " &ay : ' If men and genies united to bring the
like of this Koran^ they could not bring the like although they
sho2ild back each other up'''''' (Kor. xvii, 90).
3. Such notions of a future life as were current in Pre-
islamic Arabia never rose beyond vague and barbarous super-
stition, e.g.^ the fancy that the dead man's tomb
Md ' was haunted by his spirit in the shape of a
screeching owl.^ No wonder, then, that the
ideas of Resurrection and Retribution, which are enforced by
threats and arguments on almost every page of the Koran,
appeared to the Meccan idolaters absurdly ridiculous and
incredible. '■^ Does Ibn Kabsha promise us that we shall live F"
said one of their poets. " How can there be life for the sadd
and the hdma ? Dost thou omit to ward me from deathy and wilt
thou revive me when my bones are rotten ? " 3 God provided His
Apostle with a ready answer to these gibes : " Say : ' He shall
revive them who produced them at first^ for He knoweth every
' The Prophet's confession of his inability to perform miracles did not
deter his followers from inventing them after his death. Thus it was said
that he caused the infidels to see " the moon cloven asunder " (Koran,
liv, i), though, as is plain from the context, these words refer to one of
the signs of the Day of Judgment.
= I take this opportunity of calling the reader's attention to a most
interesting article by my friend and colleague, Professor A. A. Bevan,
entitled The Beliefs of Early Mohammedans respecting a Future Existence
(Journal of Theological Studies, October, 1904, p. 20 sqq.), where the
whole subject is fully discussed.
3 Shaddad b. al-Aswad al-Laythi, quoted in the Risdlatu 'l-Ghufrdn of
Abu 'l-'Ala al-Ma'arri (see my article in the J.R.A.S. for 1902, pp. 94 and
818) ; cf. Ibn Hisham, p. 530, last line. Ibn (Abi) Kabsha was a nickname
derisively applied to Muhammad. Sadd and hdma refer to the death-bird
which was popularly supposed to utter its shriek from the skull (hdma) of
the dead, and both words may be rendered by ' soul ' or ' wraith.'
CONCEPTIONS OF THE FUTURE LIFE 167
creation " (Kor. xxxvi, 79). This topic is eloquently illustrated,
but Muhammad's hearers were probably less impressed by the
creative power of God as exhibited in Nature and in Man
than by the awful examples, to which reference has been
made, of His destructive power as manifested in History. To
Muhammad himself, at the outset of his mission, it seemed an
appalling certainty that he must one day stand before God and
render an account ; the overmastering sense of his own re-
sponsibility goaded him to preach in the hope of saving his
countrymen, and supplied him, weak and timorous as he was,
with strength to endure calumny and persecution. As Noldeke
has remarked, the grandest Suras of the whole Koran are those
in which Muhammad describes how all Nature trembles and
quakes at the approach of the Last Judgment. " It is as
though one actually saw the earth heaving, the mountains
crumbling to dust, and the stars hurled hither and thither in
wild confusion." ^ Suras Ixxxii and ci, which have been
translated above, are specimens of the true prophetic style. 2
4. There is nothing spiritual in Muhammad's pictures of
Heaven and Hell. His Paradise is simply a glorified pleasure-
garden, where the pious repose in cool shades,
Muhammadan quaffing spicy winc and diverting themselves with
the Houris [Hiir)^ lovely dark-eyed damsels like
pearls hidden in their shells,3 This was admirably calculated
to allure his hearers by reminding them of one of their chief
enjoyments — the gay drinking parties which occasionally
broke the monotony of Arabian life, and which are often
described in Pre-islamic poetry ; indeed, it is highly probable
that Muhammad drew a good deal of his Paradise from this
source. The gross and sensual character of the Muhammadan
Afterworld is commonly thought to betray a particular weak-
' Noldeke, Geschichte des Oonhts, p. 78.
" Cf. also Koran, xviii, 45-47 ; xx, 102 sqq. ; xxxix, 67 sqq. ; Ixix, 13-37.
3 The famous freethinker, Abu 'l-'Ala al-Ma'arri, has cleverly satirised
Muhammadan notions on this subject in his Risdlatu 'l-Ghiifrdn {J.R.A.S.
for October, 1900, p. 637 sqq.).
1 68 THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
ness of the Prophet or is charged to the Arabs in general, but
as Professor Bevan has pointed out, "the real explanation
seems to be that at first the idea of a future retribution was
absolutely new both to Muhammad himself and to the public
which he addressed. Paradise and Hell had no traditional
associations, and the Arabic language furnished no religious
terminology for the expression of such ideas ; if they were to
be made comprehensible at all, it could only be done by means
of precise descriptions, of imagery borrowed from earthly
aflPairs." i
Muhammad was no mere visionary. Ritual observances,
vigils, and other austerities entered largely into his religion,
endowing it with the formal and ascetic character
Prsyer.
which it retains to the present day. Prayer was
introduced soon after the first Revelations : in one of the oldest
(Sura Ixxxvii, 14-15) we read, " Prosperous is he who purines
himself (or gives alms) and repeats the name of his Lord and
prays." Although the five daily prayers obligatory upon every
true believer are nowhere mentioned in the Koran, the opening
chapter (Suratu U-Fdtiha\ which answers to our Lord's
Prayer, is constantly recited on these occasions, and is seldom
omitted from any act of public or private devotion. Since the
Fdtiha probably belongs to the latest Meccan period, it may
find a place here.
THE OPENING SURA (I).
(i) In the name of God, the Merciful, who forgiveth aye !
(2) Praise to God, the Lord of all that be,
(3) The Merciful, who forgiveth aye,
(4) The King of Judgment Day !
(5) Thee we worship and for Thine aid we pray.
(6) Lead us in the right way,
(7) The way of those to whom thou hast been gracious, against
whom thou hast not waxed wroth, and who go not
astray !
' Journal of Theological Studies for October, 1904, p. 22.
MUHAMMAD'S ASCENSION 169
About the same time, shortly before the Flight, Muhammad
dreamed that he was transported from the Ka'ba to the Temple
at Jerusalem, and thence up to the seventh heaven.
journey'lnd The former part of the vision is indicated in the
ofMuraid. Koran (xvii, i): ''Glory to him who took His
servant a journey by night from the Sacred Mosque
to the Farthest Mosque^ the precinct whereof we have blessed^
to show hitn of our signs ! " Tradition has wondrously em-
bellished the Mi'raj, by which name the Ascension of the
Prophet is generally known throughout the East ; while in
Persia and Turkey it has long been a favourite theme for the
mystic and the poet. According to the popular belief, which
is also held by the majority of Moslem divines, Muhammad
was transported in the body to his journey's end, but he
himself never countenanced this literal interpretation, though
it seems to have been current in Mecca, and we are told that
it caused some of his incredulous followers to abandon their
faith.
Possessed and inspired by the highest idea of which man
is capable, fearlessly preaching the truth revealed to him,
leading almost alone what long seemed to be a forlorn hope
against the impregnable stronghold of superstition, yet facing
these tremendous odds with a calm resolution which yielded
nothing to ridicule or danger, but defied his enemies to do their
worst — Muhammad in the early part of his career presents a
spectacle of grandeur which cannot fail to win our sympathy
and admiration. At Medina, whither we must
^"Med^a!'^' now rctum, he appears in a far less favourable
light : the days of pure religious enthusiasm have
passed away for ever, and the Prophet is overshadowed by the
Statesman. The Flight was undoubtedly essential to the
establishment of Islam. It was necessary that Muhammad
should cut himself off from his own people in order that he
might found a community in which not blood but religion
formed the sole bond that was recognised. This task he
I/O THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
accomplished with consummate sagacity and skill, but the
unscrupulous methods in which he indulged have left a dark
stain on his reputation. As the supreme head of the Moslem
theocracy both in spiritual and temporal matters — for Islam
allows no distinction between Church and State — he exercised
all the authority of a mediaeval Pope, and he did not hesitate
to justify by Divine mandate acts of which the heathen Arabs,
cruel and treacherous as they were, would have been ashamed
to be guilty. We need not inquire how much was due to
self-deception and how much to pious fraud. Although his
vices, which were those of his age and country, may be con-
doned or at least palliated, it revolts us to see him introducing
God Almighty in the role of devil's advocate.
The conditions prevailing at Medina were singularly adapted
to his design. Ever since the famous battle of Bu'ath (about
615 A.D.), in which the Band Aws, with the help
predfsp'csed to ^^ their Jewish allies, the Banu Qurayza and the
Muhammad as Banu Nadir, inflicted a crushing defeat upon the
^Prophet" Banu Khazraj, the city had been divided into two
hostile camps ; and if peace had hitherto been
preserved, it was only because both factions were too exhausted
to renew the struggle. Wearied and distracted by earthly
calamities, men's minds willinp;lv admit the consolations of
religion. We find examples of this tendency at Medina even
before the Flight. Abu 'Amir, whose ascetic life gained for
him the title of ' The Monk ' [al-Rdhib)^ is numbered among
the Hanifs.^ He fought in the ranks of the Quraysh at
Uhud, and finally went to Syria, where he died an outlaw.
Another Pre-islamic monotheist of Medina, Abu Qays b. Abl
Anas, is said to have turned Moslem in his old age.^
" The inhabitants of Medina had no material interest in idol-
worship and no sanctuary to guard. Through uninterrupted
contact with the Jews of the city and neighbourhood, as also
with the Christian tribes settled in the extreme north of Arabia on
' Ibn Hisham, p. 411, 1. 6 sqq. ^ Ibid., p. 347.
FRIENDS AND FOES AT MEDINA 171
the confines of the Byzantine Empire, they had learned, as it were
instinctively, to despise their inherited belief in idols and to respect
the far nobler and purer faith in a single God ; and lastly, they had
become accustomed to the idea of a Divine revelation by means of a
special scripture of supernatural origin, like the Pentateuch and the
Gospel. From a religious standpoint paganism in Medina offered
no resistance to Islam : as a faith, it was dead before it was attacked ;
none defended it, none mourned its disappearance. The pagan
opposition to Muhammad's work as a reformer was entirely political,
and proceeded from those who wished to preserve the anarchy of
the old heathen life, and who disliked the dictatorial rule of
Muhammad." '
There were in Medina four principal parties, consisting of
those who either warmly supported or actively opposed the
Prophet, or who adopted a relatively neutral
Partjesm attitude, viz., the Refugees [Muhajlrun\ the
Helpers (Jnsdr), the Hypocrites [Munafiqiin)^
and the Jews {Tahud).
The Refugees were those Moslems who left their homes
at Mecca and accompanied the Prophet in his Flight [Hijra)
— whence their name, Muhdjirun — to Medina in
the year 622. Inasmuch as they had lost every-
thing except the hope of victory and vengeance, he could
count upon their fanatical devotion to himself.
The Helpers were those inhabitants of Medina who had
accepted Islam and pledged themselves to protect Muhammad
in case of attack. Together with the Refugees
The Helpers. , . i r • j l i j
they constituted a formidable and ever-increasing
body of true believers, the first champions of the Church
militant.
" Many citizens of Medina, however, were not so well disposed
towards Muhammad, and neither acknowledged him as a Prophet
nor would submit to him as their Ruler ; but since
ypocn es. ^^^^ durst not comc forward against him openly on
account of the multitude of his enthusiastic adherents, they met him
with a passive resistance which more than once thwarted his plans :
* L. Caetani, Annali dell' Islam, vol. i, p. 389.
172 THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
their influence was so great that he, on his part, did not venture to
take decisive measures against them, and sometimes even found it
necessary to give way.'"
'> t
These are the Hypocrites whom Muhammad describes in
the follow^ing verses of the Koran : —
THE SURA OF THE HEIFER (II).
(7) And there are those among men who say, ' We beheve in God
and in the Last Day ' ; but they do not believe.
(8) They would deceive God and those who do believe ; but they
deceive only themselves and they do not perceive.
(9) In their hearts is a sickness, and God has made them still more
sick, and for them is grievous woe because they lied.'
Their leader, 'Abdullah b. Ubayy, an able man but of w^eak
character, was no match for Muhammad, whom he and his
partisans only irritated, without ever becoming really
dangerous.
The Jews, on the other hand, gave the Prophet serious
trouble. At first he cherished high hopes that they would
accept the new Revelation which he brought to
The Jews. , , • • . • • 1
them, and which he maintained to be the ongmal
Word of God as it was formerly revealed to Abraham and
Moses ; but when the Jews, perceiving the absurdity of this
idea, plied him with all sorts of questions and made merry
over his ignorance, Muhammad, keenly alive to the damaging
effect of the criticism to which he had exposed himself, turned
upon his tormentors, and roundly accused them of having
falsified and corrupted their Holy Books. Henceforth he
pursued them with a deadly hatred against which their
political disunion rendered them helpless. A few sought
refuge in Islam ; the rest were either slaughtered or driven
into exile.
It is impossible to detail here the successive steps by which
' Noldeke, Geschichte des Qordns, p. 122.
« Translated by E. H. Palmer.
MUHAMMAD AS LEGISLATOR 173
Muhammad in the course of a few years overcame all
opposition and established the supremacy of Islam from
one end of Arabia to the other. I shall notice the out-
standing events very briefly in order to make room for
matters which are more nearly connected with the subject
of this History.
Muhammad's first care was to reconcile the desperate
factions within the city and to introduce law and order
among the heterogeneous elements which have
Beginnings of , , m i /c tt i
the Moslem been described. "He drew up m writing a
state
charter between the Refugees and the Helpers,
in which charter he embodied a covenant with the Jews,
confirming them in the exercise of their religion and in the
possession of their properties, imposing upon them certain
obligations, and granting to them certain rights." ^ This
remarkable document is extant in Ibn Hisham's Biography of
Muhammad^ pp. 341-344. Its contents have been analysed
in masterly fashion by Wellhausen,^ who observes with justice
that it was no solemn covenant, accepted and duly ratified by
representatives of the parties concerned, but merely a decree
of Muhammad based upon conditions already existing which
had developed since his arrival in Medina. At the same time
no one can study it without being impressed by the political
genius of its author. Ostensibly a cautious and tactful reform,
it was in reality a revolution. Muhammad durst not strike
openly at the independence of the tribes, but he destroyed it,
in effect, by shifting the centre of power from the tribe to the
community ; and although the community included Jews and
pagans as well as Moslems, he fully recognised, what his
opponents failed to foresee, that the Moslems were the active,
and must soon be the predominant, partners in the newly
founded State.
' Ibn Hisham, p. 341, 1. 5.
^ Muhainmad'sGemeiiideordimngvonMedinainSkizzen und Vorarbeiteii,
Heft IV, p. 67 sqq.
174 THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
All was now ripe for the inevitable struggle with the
Quraysh, and God revealed to His Apostle several verses of
the Koran in which the Faithful are commanded to wage a
Holy War against them : " Permission is given to those who
fight because they have been wronged^ — and verily God to help
them has the might, — who have been driven forth from their
homes undeservedly, only for that they said, ' Our Lord is
God'" (xxii, 40-41). '■''Kill them wherever ye find them,
and drive them out from whence they drive you out" (ii, 187).
" Fight them that there be no sedition and that the religion
may he God's'' (ii, 189). In January, 624 a.d., the Moslems,
some three hundred strong, won a glorious victory at Badr
over a greatly superior force which had marched
January, 624 A-i). out from Mecca to relieve a rich caravan that
Muhammad threatened to cut off. The Quraysh
fought bravely, but were borne down by the irresistible onset
of men who had learned discipline in the mosque and looked
upon death as a sure passport to Paradise. Of the Moslems
only fourteen fell ; the Quraysh lost forty-nine killed and
about the same number of prisoners. But the importance of
Muhammad's success cannot be measured by the material
damage which he inflicted. Considering the momentous issues
involved, we must allow that Badr, like Marathon, is one of
the greatest and most memorable battles in all history. Here,
at last, was the miracle which the Prophet's enemies demanded
of him : " Te have had a sign in the two parties who met ;
one party fighting in the way of God, the other misbelieving ;
these saw twice the same number as themselves to the eye-
sight, for God aids with His help those whom He pleases.
Verily in that is a lesson for those who have perception "
(Kor. iii, 11). And again, " Te slew them not, but God slew
them" (Kor. viii, 17). The victory of Badr turned all eyes
upon Muhammad. However little the Arabs cared for his
religion, they could not but respect the man who had humbled
the lords of Mecca. He was now a power in the land —
TRIUMPH OF THE PROPHET I75
" Muhammad, King of the HijAz." ^ In Medina his cause
flourished mightily. The zealots were confirmed in their
faith, the waverers convinced, the disaffected overawed. He
sustained a serious, though temporary, check in the following
year at Uhud, where a Moslem army was routed
Batueofuhud, by the Quraysh under Abu Sufyan, but the
victors were satisfied with having taken vengeance
for Badr and made no attempt to follow up their advantage ;
while Muhammad, never resting on his laurels, never losing
sight of the goal, proceeded with remorseless calculation to
crush his adversaries one after the other, until in January,
630 A.D., the Meccans themselves, seeing the futility of
further resistance, opened their gates to the
Submission of Proohet and acknowledged the omnipotence of
Mecca, 630 a.d. r o t
Allah. The submission of the Holy City left
Muhammad without a rival in Arabia. His work was almost
done. Deputations from the Bedouin tribes poured into
Medina, offering allegiance to the conqueror of the Quraysh,
and reluctantly subscribing to a religion in which they saw
nothing so agreeable as the prospect of plundering its enemies.
Muhammad died, after a brief illness, on the 8th of June,
632 A.D. He was succeeded as head of the Moslem com-
munity by his old friend and ever-loyal supporter,
MSjtmmad, Abu Bakr, who thus became the first Khalifa^ or
632 AD. Caliph. It only remains to take up our survey of
the Koran, which we have carried down to the close of the
Meccan period, and to indicate the character and contents of
the Revelation during the subsequent decade.
The Medina Suras faithfully reflect the marvellous change
in Muhammad's fortunes, which began with his flight from
Mecca. He was now recognised as the Prophet and Apostle
of God, but this recognition made him an earthly potentate
and turned his religious activity into secular channels. One
■ Ibn Hisham, p. 763, 1. 12.
176 THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
who united in himself the parts of prince, legislator, politician,
diplomatist, and general may be excused if he sometimes neg-
lected the Divine injunction to arise and preach,
^'^Su«s^''^^ or at any rate interpreted it in a sense very dif-
ferent from that which he formerly attached to it.
The Revelations of this time deal, to a large extent, with
matters of legal, social, and political interest ; they promulgate
religious ordinances — e.g.^ fasting, alms-giving, and pilgrimage —
expound the laws of marriage and divorce, and comment upon
the news of the day ; often they serve as bulletins or mani-
festoes in which Muhammad justifies what he has done, urges
the Moslems to fight and rebukes the laggards, moralises on a
victory or defeat, proclaims a truce, and says, in short, whatever
the occasion seems to require. Instead of the Meccan idolaters,
his opponents in Medina — the Jews and Hypocrites — have
become the great rocks of offence ; the Jews especially are
denounced in long passages as a stiff-necked generation who
never hearkened to their own prophets of old. However
valuable historically, the Medina Suras do not attract the
literary reader. In their flat and tedious style they resemble
those of the later Meccan period. Now and again the ashes
burst into flame, though such moments of splendour are
increasingly rare, as in the famous 'Throne-verse' [Ayatu
U-Kursi) :—
"God, there is no god but He, the living, the self-subsistent.
Slumber takes Him not, nor sleep. His is what is in the heavens
and what is in the earth. Who is it that intercedes
The 'Throne- ^vith Him save by His permission ? He knows what
is before them and what behind them, and they com-
prehend not aught of His knowledge but of what He pleases. His
throne extends over the heavens and the earth, and it tires Him not
to guard them both, for He is high and grand." '
The Islam which Muhammad brought with him to Medina
was almost entirely derived by oral tradition from Christianity
' Koran, ii, 256, translated by E. H. Palmer.
THE MEDINA SORAS 177
and Judaism, and just for this reason it made little impression
on the heathen Arabs, whose religious ideas were generally
of the most primitive kind. Notwithstanding its foreign
character and the absence of anything which appealed to
Arabian national sentiment, it spread rapidly in Medina,
where, as we have seen, the soil was already prepared for it ;
but one may well doubt whether it could have extended its
sway over the peninsula unless the course of events had deter-
mined Muhammad to associate the strange doctrines of Islam
with the ancient heathen sanctuary at Mecca, the Ka'ba,
which was held in universal veneration by the Arabs and
formed the centre of a worship that raised no difficulties in
their minds. Before he had lived many months
^"tionoSm.' i" Medina the Prophet realised that his hope of
converting the Jews was doomed to disappoint-
ment. Accordingly he instructed his followers that they
should no longer turn their faces in prayer towards the
Temple at Jerusalem, as they had been accustomed to do
since the Flight, but towards the Ka'ba ; while, a year or two
later, he incorporated in Islam the superstitious ceremonies of
the pilgrimage, which were represented as having been origi-
nally prescribed to Abraham, the legendary founder of the
Ka'ba, whose religion he professed to restore.
These concessions, however, were far from sufficient to
reconcile the free-living and free-thinking people of the
desert to a religion which restrained their pleasures, forced
them to pay taxes and perform prayers, and stamped with the
name of barbarism all the virtues they held most dear. The
teaching of Islam ran directly counter to the ideals and
traditions of heathendom, and, as Goldziher has remarked,
its originality lies not in its doctrines, which are Jewish and
! Christian, but in the fact that it was Muhammad who first
maintained these doctrines with persistent energy against the
Arabian view of life.^ While we must refer the reader to Dr.
' Muhamm. Studieii, Part I, p. 12.
13
' See Goldziher's introductory chapter entitled Muniwwa und Dm
(ibid., pp. 1-39).
178 THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
Goldziher's illuminating pages for a full discussion of the con-
flict between the new Religion {Din) and the old Virtue
{Muruwwa)^ it will not be amiss to summarise the
isiamrc^s^d chief points at which they clashed with each
other.i In the first place, the fundamental idea of
Islam was foreign and unintelligible to the Bedouins. " It
was not the destruction of their idols that they opposed so
much as the spirit of devotion which it was sought to implant I
in them : the determination of their whole lives by the '
thought of God and of His pre-ordaining and retributive
omnipotence, the prayers and fasts, the renouncement of
coveted pleasures, and the sacrifice of money and property
which was demanded of them in God's name." In spite of
the saying, La dlna ilia hi U-muruwwati ("There is no
religion without virtue"), the Bedouin who accepted Islam
had to unlearn the greater part of his unwritten moral code.
As a pious Moslem he must return good for evil, forgive his
enemy, and find balm for his wounded feelings in the assurance
of being admitted to Paradise (Kor. iii, 128). Again, the
social organisation of the heathen Arabs was based on the
tribe, whereas that of Islam rested on the equality and
fraternity of all believers. The religious bond cancelled all
distinctions of rank and pedigree ; it did away, theoretically,
with clannish feuds, contests for honour, pride of race — things
that lay at the very root of Arabian chivalry. " Zo," cried
Muhammad, " the noblest of you in the sight of God is he who
most doth fear Him" (Kor. xlix, 13). Against such doctrine
the conservative and material instincts of the desert people
rose in revolt ; and although they became Moslems en masse^
the majority of them neither believed in Islam nor knew what
it meant. Often their motives were frankly utilitarian : they
expected that Islam would bring them luck ; and so long as
they were sound in body, and their mares had fine foals, and
I
THE ARABS AND ISLAM 179
their wives bore well-formed sons, and their wealth and herds
multiplied, they said, " We have been blessed ever since we
adopted this religion," and were content ; but if things
went ill they blamed Islam and turned their backs on it.i
That these men were capable of religious zeal is amply
proved by the triumphs which they won a short time after-
wards over the disciplined armies of two mighty empires ; but
what chiefly inspired them, apart from love of booty, was
the conviction, born of success, that Allah was fighting on
their side.
We have sketched, however barely and imperfectly, the
progress of Islam from Muhammad's first appearance as a
preacher to the day of his death. In these twenty years the
seeds were sown of almost every development which occurs
in the political and intellectual history of the Arabs during the
ages to come. More than any man that has ever lived,
Muhammad shaped the destinies of his people ; and though
they left him far behind as they moved along the path of civi-
lisation, they still looked back to him for guidance and autho-
rity at each step. This is not the place to attempt an estimate
of his character, which has been so diversely judged. Per-
sonally, I feel convinced that he was neither a shameless
impostor nor a neurotic degenerate nor a socialistic reformer,
but in the beginning, at all events, a sincere religious enthu-
siast, as truly inspired as any prophet of the Old Testament.
" We find in him," writes De Goeje, " that sober understanding
which distinguished his fellow-tribesmen : dignity, tact, and equi-
librium ; qualities which are seldom found in people
Mu"amraa°d. of morbid constitution : self-control in no small
degree. Circumstances changed him from a Prophet
to a Legislator and a Ruler, but for himself he sought nothing beyond
the acknowledgment that he was Allah's Apostle, since this acknow-
' Baydawi on Koran, xxii, 11.
iSo THE PROPHET AND THE KORAN
ledgment includes the whole of Islam. He was excitable, like
every true Arab, and in the spiritual struggle which preceded his
call this quality was stimulated to an extent that alarmed even him-
self ; but that does not make him a visionary. He defends himself,
by the most solemn asseveration, against the charge that what
he had seen was an illusion of the senses. Why should not we
believe him ? " '
' Die Berufung Mohammed's, by M. J. de Goeje in Noldeke-Festschrift
(Giessen, 1906), vol. i, p. 5.
CHAPTER V
THE ORTHODOX CALIPHATE AND THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
The Caliphate — /.^., the period of the Caliphs or Successors of
Muhammad — extends over six centuries and a quarter (632—
1258 A.D.), and falls into three clearly-marked divisions of
very unequal length and diverse character.
The first division begins with the election of Abu Bakr, the
first Caliph, in 632, and comes to an end with the assassina-
tion of 'All, the Prophet's son-in-law and fourth
The Orthodox • /■ r 't->l r /^ i- l i
Caliphate (632- succcssor, m 001. i hcse rour Caliphs are known
as the Orthodox [al-Rdshidun]^ because they trod
faithfully in the footsteps of the Prophet and ruled after his
example in the holy city of Medina, with the assistance of his
leading Companions, who constituted an informal Senate.
The second division includes the Caliphs of the family of
Umayya, from the accession of Mu'awiya in 66 1 to the great
battle of the Zdb in 750, when Marwan II, the
iCaiiphate^(66V last of his line, was defeated by the 'Abbasids,
7ooA.D.). •^\^Q claimed the Caliphate as next of kin to the
Prophet. According to Moslem notions the Umayyads were
kings by right. Caliphs only by courtesy. They had, as we
shall see, no spiritual title, and little enough religion of any
sort. This dynasty, which had been raised and was upheld by
the Syrian Arabs, transferred the seat of government from
Medina to Damascus.
181
i82 THE ORTHODOX CALIPHATE
The third division is by far the longest and most important.
Starting in 750 with the accession of Abu 'l-'Abbas al-SafFah,
it presents an unbroken series of thirty-seven
The 'Abbasid /^i-iri tt ii- r
Caliphate (750- L.alipns OF the same Jrlouse, and culmmates, arter
the lapse of half a millennium, in the sack of
Baghddd, their magnificent capital, by the Mongol Hiilagu
(January, 1258). The 'Abbdsids were no less despotic than
the Umayyads, but in a more enlightened fashion ; for, while
the latter had been purely Arab in feeling, the 'Abbdsids
owed their throne to the Persian nationalists, and were
imbued with Persian ideas, which introduced a new and
fruitful element into Moslem civilisation.
From our special point of view the Orthodox and Umayyad
Caliphates, which form the subject of the present chapter, are
somewhat barren. The simple life of the pagan Arabs found
full expression in their poetry. The many-sided life of the
Moslems under 'Abbasid rule may be studied in a copious
literature which exhibits all the characteristics of the age ; but
of contemporary documents illustrating the intel-
^literito?"^ lectual history of the early Islamic period com-
paratively little has been preserved, and that little,
being for the most part anti-Islamic in tendency, gives only
meagre information concerning what excites interest beyond
anything else — the religious movement, the rise of theology,
and the origin of those great parties and sects which emerge,
at various stages of development, in later literature.
Since the Moslem Church and State are essentially one,
it is impossible to treat of politics apart from religion, nor can
religious phenomena be understood without con-
""andltalT'"' tinual reference to political events. The follow-
ing brief sketch of the Orthodox Caliphate will
show how completely this unity was realised, and what far-
reaching consequences it had.
That Muhammad left no son was perhaps of less moment
than his neglect or refusal to nominate a successor. The
ABl) BAKR 183
Arabs were unfamiliar with the hereditary descent of kingly-
power, while the idea had not yet dawned of a Divine right
resident in the Prophet's family. It was thoroughly in accord
with Arabian practice that the Moslem community should
elect its own leader, just as in heathen days the tribe chose its
own chief. The likeliest men — all three belonged to Quraysh
— were Abii Bakr, whose daughter 'A'isha had been Muham-
mad's favourite wife, 'Umar b. al-Khattab, and All, Abu
Talib's son and Fatima's husband, who was thus connected
with the Prophet by blood as well as by marriage. Abu Bakr
was the eldest, he was supported by 'Umar, and
elected Caliph on him the choicc ultimately fell, though not
(June, 632 A.D.). . , . ,,,... -r A
Without an ominous ebullition or party stnre. A
man of simple tastes and unassuming demeanour, he had earned
the name al-Siddlq^ i.e.^ the True, by his unquestioning faith
in the Prophet ; naturally gentle and merciful, he stood firm
when the cause of Islam was at stake, and crushed with iron
hand the revolt which on the news of Muhammad's death
spread like wildfire through Arabia. False prophets arose, and
the Bedouins rallied round them, eager to throw off the burden
of tithes and prayers. In the centre of the penin-
Musayiimathe ^^^z, the Band Hanlfa were led to battle by
Musaylima, who imitated the early style of the
Koran with ludicrous effect, if we may judge from the sayings
ascribed to him, e.g.^ " The elephant, what is the elephant, and
who shall tell you what is the elephant ? He has a poor tail,
and a long trunk: and is a trifling part of the creations of thy
God." Moslem tradition calls him the Liar [al-Kadhdhdb)^ and
represents him as an obscene miracle-monger, which can hardly
be the whole truth. It is possible that he got some of his
doctrines from Christianity, as Professor Margoliouth has sug-
gested,! but we know too little about them to arrive at any
conclusion. After a desperate struggle Musaylima was defeated
' On the Origin and Import of the Names Muslim and Hanif\J.R.A.S.
for 1903, p. 491).
1 84 THE ORTHODOX CALIPHATE
and slain by ' the Sword of Allah,' Khdlid b. Walid. The
Moslem arms were everywhere victorious. Arabia bowed
in sullen submission.
Although Muir and other biographers of Muhammad have
argued that Islam was originally designed for the Arabs alone,
and made no claim to universal acceptance, their
^^'rdigiM°'^''^ assertion is contradicted by the unequivocal testi-
mony of the Koran itself. In one of the oldest
Revelations (Ixviii, 51-52), we read : " It wanteth little but that
the unbelievers dash thee to the ground with their looks (of anger)
when they hear the Warning [i.e.y the Koran) ; and they say^
* He is assuredly rnad^ : but it (the Koran) is no other than a
Warning unto all creatures" (dhikr"" li 'l-^alam{n)J The
time had now come when this splendid dream was to be, in
large measure, fulfilled. The great wars of
Conquest of • • i i i r> i » •
Persia and Syria couqucst Were Hispircd by the rrophet s mis-
(633-643 A.D.). . 1 J • .•£: J u u- 1 o-
sionary zeal and justmed by his example, rious
duty coincided with reasons of state. "It was certainly good
policy to turn the recently subdued tribes of the wilderness
towards an external aim in which they might at once satisfy
their lust for booty on a grand scale, maintain their warlike
feeling, and strengthen themselves in their attachment to the
new faith." 2 The story of their achievements cannot be set
down here. Suffice it to say that within twelve years after
the Prophet's death the Persian Empire had been reduced to a
tributary province, and Syria, together with Egypt, torn away
from Byzantine rule. It must not be supposed that the fol-
lowers of Zoroaster and Christ in these countries
^^°^^u^n°^^"' were forcibly converted to Islam. Thousands
embraced it of free will, impelled by various
motives which we have no space to enumerate ; those who
clung to the religion in which they had been brought up
' See T. W. Arnold's The Preaching of Islam, p. 23 seq., where several
passages of like import are collected.
' Noldeke, Sketches from Eastern History, translated by J. S. Black,
p. 73.
MOSLEM CONQUESTS 185
secured protection and toleration by payment of a capitation-
tax (jizya)j
The tide of foreign conquest, which had scarce begun to
flow before the death of Abu Bakr, swept with amazing
rapidity over Syria and Persia in the Caliphate of
'Umar (634-644 'Umar b. al-Khattab (634-644), and continued to
advance, though with diminished fury, under the
Prophet's third successor, 'Uthmdn. We may dwell for a little
on the noble figure of 'Umar, who was regarded by good
Moslems in after times as an embodiment of all the virtues
which a Caliph ought to possess. Probably his character has
been idealised, but in any case the anecdotes related of him
give an admirable picture of the man and his age. Here are
a few, taken almost at random from the pages of Tabari.
One said : " I saw 'Umar coming to the Festival. He walked
with bare feet, using both hands (for he was ambidextrous) to draw
round him a red embroidered cloth. He towered above the people,
as though he were on horseback." ^ A client of (the Caliph)
'Uthman b. 'Affan relates that he mounted behind his patron and
they rode together to the enclosure for the beasts which were
delivered in payment of the poor-tax. It was an
His simple exceedingly hot day and the simoom was blowing
manners. a j j o
fiercely. They saw a man clad only in a loin-cloth
and a short cloak (ridd), in which he had wrapped his head,
-driving the camels into the enclosure. 'Uthman said to his
companion, " Who is this, think you ? " When they came up
to him, behold, it was 'Umar b. al-Khattab. " By God," said
'Uthman, " this is the strong, the trusty." 3 — 'Umar used to go
round the markets and recite the Koran and judge between
disputants wherever he found them. — When Ka'bu '1-Aljbar, a
well-known Rabbin of Medina, asked how he could obtain access
to the Commander of the Faithful,'* he received this answer : " There
' See Professor Browne's Literary History of Persia^ vol. i, p. 200 sqq.
= Tabari, i, 2729, 1. 15 sqq.
3 Ibid., i, 2736, 1. 5 sqq. The words in italics are quoted from Koran,
xxviii, 26, where they are applied to Moses.
* 'Umar wz^s the first to assume this title (Atniru 'l-Mu'minin), by which
the Caliphs after him were generally addressed.
i86 THE ORTHODOX CALIPHATE
is no door nor curtain to be passed ; he performs the rites of prayer,
then he takes his seat, and any one that wishes may speak to him." '
'Umar said in one of his public orations : " By Him who sent
His sense of Muhammad with the truth, were a single camel to die
personal of neglcct on the bank of the Euphrates, I should fear
^' lest God should call the family of al-Khattab " (meaning
himself) " to account therefor." ^ — " If I live," he is reported to have
said on another occasion, " please God, I will assuredly spend a
whole year in travelling among my subjects, for I know they have
wants which are cut short ere they reach my ears : the governors
do not bring the wants of the people before me, while the
people themselves do not attain to me. So I will journey
to Syria and remain there two months, then to Mesopotamia and
remain there two months, then to Egypt and remain there two
months, then to Bafcirayn and remain there two months, then to
Kufa and remain there two months, then to Basra and remain there
two months; and by God, it will be a year well spent l"^ — One
night he came to the house of 'Abdu '1-Rahmanb. 'Awf and knocked
at the door, which was opened by 'Abdu '1-Rahman's wife. " Do
not enter," said she, " until I go back and sit in my place ; " so he
waited. Then she bade him come in, and on his asking, " Have
you anything in the house ? " she fetched him some food. Mean-
while 'Abdu '1-Rahman was standing by, engaged in prayer. " Be
quick, man ! " cried 'Umar. 'Abdu '1-Rahman immediately pro-
nounced the final salaam, and turning to the Caliph said : " O Com-
mander of the Faithful, what has brought you here at this hour ? "
'Umar replied : " A party of travellers who alighted in the neigh-
bourhood of the market : I was afraid that the thieves
^ poUceman*^ ^ °^ Medina might fall upon them. Let us go and keep
watch." So he set off with 'Abdu '1-Rahman, and
when they reached the market-place they seated themselves on
some high ground and began to converse. Presently they descried,
far away, the ilight of a lamp. " Have not I forbidden lamps after
bedtime ? " "• exclaimed the Caliph. They went to the spot and
found a company drinking wine. " Begone," said 'Umar to 'Abdu
'1-Rahman ; " I know him," Next morning he sent for the culprit
and said, addressing him by name, " Last night you were drinking
wine with your friends." " O Commander of the Faithful, how did
' Tabari, i, 2738, 7 sqq. = Ibid., i, 2739, 4 sqq. 3 /ft/rf.^ i^ 2737, 4 sqq.
"* It is explained that 'Umar prohibited lamps because rats used to take
the lighted wick and set fire to the house-roofs, which at that time were
made of palm-branches.
'UMAR IBNU 'L-KHATTAB 187
you ascertain that ? " "I saw it with my own eyes." " Has not God
forbidden you to play the spy?" 'Umar made no answer and
pardoned his offence.' — When 'Umar ascended the pulpit for the
purpose of warning the people that they must not do something, he
„. ^ . , gathered his family and said to them : " I have for-
towards his own bidden the people to do so-and-so. Now, the people
family. j^q,, ^j. y^^ ^^ \m<X<, look at flesh, and I swear
by God that if I find any one of you doing this thing, I will
double the penalty against him." ^—Whenever he appointed a
governor he used to draw up in writing a certificate of investiture,
which he caused to be witnessed by some of the
Instructions to Refugees or Helpers. It contained the following
his governors. o ^
instructions : That he must not ride on horseback, nor
eat white bread, nor wear fine clothes, nor set up a door between
himself and those who had aught to ask of him. 3— It was 'Umar's
custom to go forth with his governors, on their appointment, to bid
them farewell. " I have not appointed you," he would say, " over
the people of Muhammad (God bless him and grant him peace !)
that you may drag them by their hair and scourge their skins, but
in order that you may lead them in prayer and judge between them
with right and divide (the public money) amongst them with equity.
I have not made you lords of their skin and hair. Do not flog the
Arabs lest you humiliate them, and do not keep them long on foreign
service lest you tempt them to sedition, and do not neglect them
lest you render them desperate. Confine yourselves to the Koran,
write few Traditions of Muhammad (God bless him and grant him
peace !), and I am your ally." He used to permit retahation against
his governors. On receiving a complaint about any one of them he
confronted him with the accuser, and punished him if his guilt were
proved.''
It w^as 'Umar who first made a Register [Diwan) of the
_^ „ . , , Arabs in Islam and entered them therein accord-
The Register of
'Umar. jj^g ^-q {.^eir tribes and assigned to them their
stipends. The following account of its institution is extracted
from the charming history entitled al-Fakhri : —
In the fifteenth year of the Hijra (636 a.d.) 'Umar, who was then
CaHph, seeing that the conquests proceeded without interruption
' Tabari, i, 2742, 13 sqq. - Ibid., i, 2745, 15 sqq.
3 Ibid., i, 2747, 7 sqq. •♦ Ibid., i, 2740, last line and foil.
i88 THE ORTHODOX CALIPHATE
and that the treasures of the Persian monarchs had been taken as
spoil, and that load after load was being accumulated of gold and
silver and precious jewels and splendid raiment, resolved to enrich
the Moslems by distributing all this wealth amongst them ; but he
did not know how he should manage it. Now there was a Persian
satrap {marzuhiin) at Medina who, when he saw 'Umar's bewilder-
ment, said to him, " O Commander of the Faithful, the Persian kings
have a thing they call a Diwdn, in which is kept the whole of their
revenues and expenditures without exception ; and therein those
who receive stipends are arranged in classes, so that no confusion
occurs." 'Umar's attention was aroused. He bade the satrap
describe it, and on comprehending its nature, he drew up the
registers and assigned the stipends, appointing a specified allow-
ance for every Moslem ; and he allotted fixed sums to the wives of
the Apostle (on whom be God's blessing and peace !) and to his
concubines and next-of-kin, until he exhausted the money in hand.
He did not lay up a store in the treasury. Some one came to him
and said : " O Commander of the Faithful, you should have left
something to provide for contingencies." 'Umar rebuked him, say-
ing, " The devil has put these words into your mouth. May God
preserve me from their mischief ! for it were a temptation to my
successors. Come what may, I will provide naught except obedience
to God and His Apostle. That is our provision, whereby we have
gained that which we have gained." Then, in respect of the
stipends, he deemed it right that precedence should be according
to priority of conversion to Islam and of service rendered to the
Apostle on his fields of battle.'
Affinity to Muhammad was also considered. " By God,"
exclaimed 'Umar, " we have not won superiority in this world,
nor do we hope for recompense for our works from
The^^aristocracy Qq^j hereafter, save through Muhammad (God bless
him and grant him peace !). He is our title to
nobility, his tribe are the noblest of the Arabs, and after them
those are the nobler that are nearer to him in blood. Truly,
the Arabs are ennobled by God's Apostle. Peradventure some
of them have many ancestors in common with him, and we
ourselves are only removed by a few forbears from his line of
descent, in which we accompany him back to Adam. Notwith-
standing this, if the foreigners bring good works and
" k>l5e"eood°^'^ ^"^ bring none, by God, they are nearer to Muhammad
on the day of Resurrection than we. Therefore let no
man regard affinity, but let him work for that which is in God's
» Al-Fakhri, ed. by Derenbourg, p. ii6, 1. i to p. 117, 1. 3-
'UMAR IBNU 'L-KHATTAB 189
hands to bestow. He that is retarded by his works will not be sped
by his lineage." '
It may be said of 'Umar, not less appropriately than of
Cromwell, that he
"cast the kingdoms old
Into another mould ; "
and he too justified the poet's maxim —
" The same arts that did gain
A power, must it maintain."
Under the system which he organised Arabia, purged of
infidels, became a vast recruiting-ground for the standing
armies of Islam : the Arabs in the conquered territories formed
an exclusive military class, living in great camps and supported
by revenues derived from the non-Mubammadan population.
Out of such camps arose two cities destined to make their
mark in literary history — Basra (Bassora) on the
Basra and Kiifa delta of the Tigris and Euphrates, and Kufa,
' (638 A.D.). , . , ^1,1 , • 1
which was founded about the same time on the
western branch of the latter stream, not far from Hira.
'Umar was murdered by a Persian slave named Firuz while
^^ ,^^^ leading the prayers in the Great Mosque. With
(644 A.D.) Yns death the military theocracy and the palmy
days of the Patriarchal Caliphate draw to a close. The broad
lines of his character appear in the anecdotes translated above,
though many details might be added to complete the picture.
Simple and frugal ; doing his duty without fear or favour ;
energetic even to harshness, yet capable of tenderness towards
the weak ; a severe judge of others and especially of himself,
he was a born ruler and every inch a man. Looking back on
» Tabari, i, 2751, 9 sqq.
190 THE ORTHODOX CALIPHATE
the turmoils which followed his death one is inclined to agree
with the opinion of a saintly doctor who said, five centuries
afterwards, that " the good fortune of Islam was shrouded in
the grave-clothes of 'Umar b. al-Khattdb." i
When the Meccan aristocrats accepted Islam, they only
yielded to the inevitable. They were now to have an oppor-
tunity of revenging themselves. 'Uthmdn b.
'caUpM6 ^'a^d ? *Affdn, who succeeded 'Umar as Caliph, belonged
to a distinguished Meccan family, the Umayyads or
descendants of Umayya, which had always taken a leading part
in the opposition to Muhammad, though 'Uthman himself was
among the Prophet's first disciples. He was a pious, well-
meaning old man — an easy tool in the hands of his ambitious
kinsfolk. They soon climbed into all the most lucrative and
important offices and lived on the fat of the land, while too
often their ungodly behaviour gave point to the question whether
these converts of the eleventh hour were not still heathens at
heart. Other causes contributed to excite a general
General disaftec- discontent. The rapid growth of luxury and
immorality in the Holy Cities as well as in the
new settlements was an eyesore to devout Moslems. The
true Islamic aristocracy, the Companions of the Prophet, headed
by 'AH, Talha, and Zubayr, strove to undermine the rival
nobility which threatened them with destruction. The
factious soldiery were ripe for revolt against Umayyad arrogance
'Uthman mur- ^^^ greed. Rebellion broke out, and finally the
dered (656 A.D.). ^ggj Caliph, after enduring a siege of several
weeks, was murdered in his own house. This event marks an
epoch in the history of the Arabs. The ensuing civil wars
rent the unity of Islam from top to bottom, and the wound
has never healed.
*AIi, the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law, who had hitherto
' Ibn Khallikan (ed. by Wustenfeld), No. 68, p. 96, 1. 3 ; De Slane's
translation, vol. i, p. 152.
'UTHMAN and 'ALf 191
remained in the background, was now made Caliph. Al-
though the suspicion that he was in league with the
murderers may be put aside, he showed cul-
CaiiphSseAl)). P^ble weakness in leaving 'Uthman to his fate
without an effort to save him. But 'Ali had
almost every virtue except those of the ruler : energy,
decision, and foresight. He was a gallant warrior, a wise
counsellor, a true friend, and a generous foe.
Character of fjg excelled in poetry and in eloquence; his
verses and sayings are famous throughout the
Muhammadan East, though few of them can be considered
authentic. A fine spirit worthy to be compared with
Montrose and Bayard, he had no talent for the stern
realities of statecraft, and was overmatched by unscrupulous
rivals who knew that "war is a game of deceit." Thus
his career was in one sense a failure : his authority as
Caliph was never admitted, while he lived, by the whole
community. On the other hand, he has exerted, down to
the present day, a posthumous influence only
isapo eosis. g^^^j^j ^^ ^^^ ^f Muhammad himself. Within
a century of his death he came to be regarded as the
Prophet's successor jure divino ; as a blessed martyr, sinless
and infallible ; and by some even as an incarnation of God.
The 'All of Shi'ite legend is not an historical figure glori-
fied : rather does he symbolise, in purely mythical fashion,
the religious aspirations and political aims of a large section
of the Moslem world.
To return to our narrative. No sooner was 'Ali pro-
claimed Caliph by the victorious rebels than Mu'awiya b.
Abi Sufyan, the governor of Syria, raised the
•AH against cj-v of vcngeance for 'Uthmdn and refused to
Muawiya. •' o
take the oath of allegiance. As head of the
Umayyad family, Mu'awiya might justly demand that the
murderers of his kinsman should be punished, but the con-
192 THE ORTHODOX CALIPHATE
test between him and *Ali was virtually for the Caliphate.
A great battle was fought at Siffi'n, a village on the
Euphrates. 'Ali had well-nigh gained the day
BaWeof§iffm vv^hcn Mu'awiya bethought him of a stratagem.
He ordered his troops to fix Korans on the
points of their lances and to shout, " Here is the Book ot
God : let it decide between us ! " The miserable trick
succeeded. In 'All's army there were many pious fanatics
to whom the proposed arbitration by the Koran appealed
with irresistible force. They now sprang forward
clamorously, threatening to betray their leader unless he
would submit his cause to the Book. Vainly did 'All
remonstrate with the mutineers, and warn them of the
trap into which they were driving him, and this too at
the moment when victory was within their grasp. He
had no choice but to yield and name as his
umpire a man of doubtful loyalty, Abu Musd
al-Ash'ari, one of the oldest surviving Companions of the
Prophet. Mu'dwiya on his part named 'Amr b. al-'As,
whose cunning had prompted the decisive manoeuvre.
When the umpires came forth to give judgment, Abu
Musa rose and in accordance with what had been arranged
at the preliminary conference pronounced that both 'AH
and Mu'awiya should be deposed and that the
people should elect a proper Caliph in their
stead. " Lo," said he, laying down his sword, " even thus
do I depose 'All b. Abi Talib." Then 'Amr advanced and
spoke as follows : " O people ! ye have heard the judgment
of my colleague. He has called you to witness that he
deposes 'AH. Now I call you to witness that I confirm
Mu'dwiya, even as I make fast this sword of mine," and
suiting the action to the word, he returned it to its sheath.
It is characteristic of Arabian notions of morality that this
impudent fraud was hailed by Mu'awiya's adherents as a
diplomatic triumph which gave him a colourable pretext
CIVIL WAR 193
for assuming the title of Caliph. Both sides prepared to
renew the struggle, but in the meanwhile 'AH found his
hands full nearer home. A numerous party among his
troops, including the same zealots who had forced arbitra-
tion upon him, now cast him off because he had accepted
it, fell out from the ranks, and raised the
revolt against Standard of revolt. These * Outeoers,' or
'AIL . . o J
Kharijites, as they were called, maintained
their theocratic principles with desperate courage, and
though often defeated took the field again and again.
*Ali's plans for recovering Syria were finally abandoned
in 660, when he concluded peace with
■ ^'(66iTdT^^ Mu'dwiya, and shortly afterwards he was struck
down in the Mosque at Kufa, which he had
made his capital, by Ibn Muljam, a Kharijite conspirator.
With 'All's fall our sketch of the Orthodox Caliphate
may fitly end. It was necessary to give some account of
these years so vital in the history of Islam, even at the
risk of wearying the reader, who will perhaps wish that
less space were devoted to political affairs.
The Umayyads came into power, but, except in Syria and
Egypt, they ruled solely by the sword. As descendants and
representatives of the pagan aristocracy, which
''^\^^lil'^^ strove with all its might to defeat Muhammad,
they were usurpers in the eyes of the Moslem
community which they claimed to lead as his successors.^
We shall see, a little further on, how this opposition ex-
pressed itself in two great parties : the Shi'ites or followers
of 'AH, and the radical sect of the Kharijites, who have
been mentioned above ; and how it was gradually rein-
forced by the non-Arabian Moslems until it overwhelmed
' Mu'awiya himself said : " I am the first of the kings " (Ya'qubi, ed. by
Houtsma, vol. ii, p. 276, 1, 14).
14
£94 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
the Umayyad Government and set up the 'Abbisids in their
place. In estimating the character of the Umayyads one
must bear in mind that the epitaph on the fallen
Moslem tradi- , j l ^l • • j
tion hostile to dynasty was composed by their enemies, and can
may>a . ^^ niore be considered historically truthful than
the lurid picture which Tacitus has drawn of the Emperor
Tiberius. Because they kept the revolutionary forces in
check with ruthless severity, the Umayyads pass for blood-
thirsty tyrants ; whereas the best of them at any rate were
strong and singularly capable rulers, bad Moslems and good
men of the world, seldom cruel, plain livers if not high
thinkers ; who upon the whole stand as much above the
*Abbdsids in morality as below them in culture and intel-
lect. Mu'dwiya's clemency was proverbial, though he too
could be stern on occasion. When members of the house
of 'All came to visit him at Damascus, which was now
the capital of the Muhammadan Empire, he gave them
honourable lodging and entertainment and was anxious to
do what they asked ; but they (relates the his-
demency^ torian approvingly) used to address him in the i
rudest terms and affront him in the vilest
manner : sometimes he would answer them with a jest, and
another time he would feign not to hear, and he always
dismissed them with splendid presents and ample donations.^
" I do not employ my sword," he said, " when my whip
suffices me, nor my whip when my tongue suffices me ; and
were there but a single hair (of friendship) between me and
my subjects, I would not let it be snapped." 2 After the
business of the day he sought relaxation in books.
"'\tudy^ °^ " ^^ consecrated a third part of every night to
the history of the Arabs and their famous battles ;
the history of foreign peoples, their kings, and their govern-
ment ; the biographies of monarchs, including their wars
' Al-Fakhrl, ed. by Derenbourg, p, 145
== Ya'qiibi, vol. ii, p, 283, 1. 8 seq.
MU'AlVIYA 195
and stratagems and methods of rule ; and other matters
connected with Ancient History." i
Mu'iwiya's chief henchman was Ziydd, the son of Sumayya
(Sumayya being the name of his mother), or, as he is generally
called, Ziydd ibn Abihi, i.e.^ <Ziydd his father's
^Shh" SO"/ ^^^ "O"^ •^"ew who was his sire, though
rumour pointed to Abu Sufyin ; in which case
Ziydd would have been Mu^awiya's half-brother. Mu'dwiya,
instead of disavowing the scandalous imputation, acknowledged
him as such, and made him governor of Basra, where he ruled
the Eastern provinces with a rod of iron.
Mu'awiya was a crafty diplomatist — he has been well com-
pared to Richelieu — whose profound knowledge of human
Jiature enabled him to gain over men of moderate opinions in
all the parties opposed to him. Events were soon to prove the
hollowness of this outward reconciliation. Yazid, who suc-
ceeded his father, was the son of Maysun, a
(68oJ83"i.D.). Bedouin lady whom Mu'awiya married before he
rose to be Caliph. The luxury of Damascus had
no charm for her wild spirit, and she gave utterance to her
feeling of homesickness in melancholy verse : —
"A tent with rustling breezes cool
Delights me more than palace high,
And more the cloak of simple wool
Than robes in which I learned to sigh.
The crust I ate beside my tent
Was more than this fine bread to me ;
The wind's voice where the hill-path went
Was more than tambourine can be.
And more than purr of friendly cat
I love the watch-dog's bark to hear;
And more than a barbarian fat
A cousin brave and gaunt is dear."'
' Mas'iidi, Muruju 'l-Dliahab (ed. by Barbier de Meynard), vol. v. p. 77.
' Noldeke's Delectus, p. 25, 1. 3 sqq., omitting 1. 8.
b
196 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
Mu'dwiya, annoyed by the contemptuous allusion to him-
self, took the dame at her word. She returned to her own
family, and Yazld grew up as a Bedouin, with the instincts
and tastes which belong to the Bedouins — love of pleasure,
hatred of piety, and reckless disregard for the laws of religion.
The beginning of his reign was marked by an event of
which even now few Moslems can speak without a thrill
of horror and dismay. The facts are briefly these : In the
autumn of the year 680 Husayn, the son of 'AH, claiming
to be the rightful Caliph in virtue of his descent from the
Prophet, quitted Mecca with his whole family and a number
of devoted friends, and set out for Kufa, where he expected
the population, which was almost entirely ShI'ite, to rally
to his cause. It was a foolhardy adventure.
marcheson The poct Farazdaq, who knew the fickle tem-
per of his fellow-townsmen, told Husayn that |
although their hearts were with him, their swords would be
with the Umayyads ; but his warning was given in vain.
Meanwhile *Ubaydullah b. Ziydd, the governor of Kufa,
having overawed the insurgents in the city and beheaded
their leader, Muslim b. *Aqil, who was a cousin of Husayn,
sent a force of cavalry with orders to bring the arch-rebel
to a stand. Retreat was still open to him. But his followers
cried out that the blood of Muslim must be avenged, and
Husayn could not hesitate. Turning northward along the
Euphrates, he encamped at Karbala with his little band,
which, including the women and children, amounted to
some two hundred souls. In this hopeless situation he
offered terms which might have been accepted if Shamir b.
Dhi '1-Jawshan, a name for ever infamous and accursed, had
not persuaded 'Ubaydullah to insist on unconditional sur-
render. The demand was refused, and Husayn drew up
his comrades — a handful of men and boys — for battle
against the host which surrounded them. All the harrow-
ing details invented by grief and passion can scarcely
BATTLE OF KARBALA 197
heighten the tragedy of the closing scene. It would appear
that the Umayyad officers themselves shrank from the
odium of a general massacre, and hoped to
5usayn"nd°his take the Prophet's grandson alive. Shamir,
Karb^rfiot^h however, had no such scruples. Chafing at
61 A!H^=Toth delay, he urged his soldiers to the assault. The
'^A.Do' unequal struggle was soon over. Husayn fell,
pierced by an arrow, and his brave followers
were cut down beside him to the last man.
Muhammadan tradition, which with rare exceptions is
uniformly hostile to the Umayyad dynasty, regards Husayn
as a martyr and Yazfd as his murderer ; while
(rfMuhammaran modem histoHaus, for the most part, agree with
^"'^wdteT^" Sir W. Muir, who points out that Husayn,
"having yielded himself to a treasonable, though
impotent design upon the throne, was committing an
offence that endangered society and demanded swift suppres-
sion." This was naturally the view of the party in power,
and the reader must form his own conclusion as to how
far it justifies the action which they took. For Moslems
the question is decided by the relation of the Umayyads to
Islam. Violators of its laws and spurners of its
The Umayyads •11, i 1 . t • 1
judged ideals, they could never be anythmg but tyrants;
and being tyrants, they had no right to slay
believers who rose in arms against their usurped authority.
The so-called verdict of history, when we come to examine
: it, is seen to be the verdict of religion, the judgment of
theocratic Islam on Arabian Imperialism. On this ground
the Umayyads are justly condemned, but it is well to re-
member that in Moslem eyes the distinction between
Church and State does not exist. Yazid was a
•' Character of ^^j Churchman : therefore he was a wicked
Yazid.
tyrant ; the one thing involves the other.
From our unprejudiced standpoint, he was an amiable
prince who inherited his mother's poetic talent, and infin-
198 THE UMAVYAD DYNASTY
itely preferred wine, music, and sport to the drudgery
of public affairs. The Syrian Arabs, who recognised the
Umayyads as legitimate, thought highly of him : "Jucun-
dissimus," says a Christian writer, " et cunctis nationibus
regni ejus subditis vir gratissime habitus, qui nullam unquam,
ut omnibus moris est, sibi regalis fastigii causa gloriam
appetivit, sed communis cum omnibus civiliter vixit." ^ He
deplored the fate of the women and children of Husayn's
family, treated them with every mark of respect, and sent
them to Medina, where their account of the tragedy added
fresh fuel to the hatred and indignation with which its
authors were generally regarded.
The Umayyads had indeed ample cause to rue the day
of Karbala. It gave the ShI'ite faction a rallying-cry —
" Vengeance for Husayn ! " — which was taken up on all
sides, and especially by the Persian Alawd/i, or Clients, who
longed for deliverance from the Arab yoke. Their amalga-
mation with the Shi'a — a few years later they flocked in
thousands to the standard of Mukhtdr — was an event of
the utmost historical importance, which will be discussed
when we come to speak of the Shi'ites in particular.
The slaughter of Husayn does not complete the tale of
Yazfd's enormities. Medina, the Prophet's city, having
expelled its Umayyad governor, was sacked by
^^^ueccT^ a Syrian army, while Mecca itself, where
eS^rS. *Abdulldh b. Zubayr had set up as rival Caliph,
was besieged, and the Ka'ba laid in ruins. These
outrages, shocking to Moslem sentiment, kindled a flame of
rebellion. Husayn was avenged by Mukhtir,
Mukhtdr'^ who seized Kufa and executed some three hun-
dred of the guilty citizens, including the mis-
creant Shamir. His troops defeated and slew 'UbayduUah b.
Ziyad, but he himself was slain, not long afterwards, by
' The Contimiatio of Isidore of Hispalis, § 27, quoted by Wellhausen,
Das Arabische Reich und scin Sturz, p. 105.
VAZtD 199
Mus'ab, the brother of Ibn Zubayr, and seven thousand of
his followers were massacred in cold blood. On Yazld's
death (683) the Umayyad Empire threatened to fall to
pieces. As a contemporary poet sang —
"Now loathed of all men is the Fury blind
Which blazeth as a fire blown by the wind.
They are split in sects : each province hath its own
Commander of the Faithful, each its throne."'
Fierce dissensions broke out among the Syrian Arabs, the
backbone of the dynasty. The great tribal groups of Kalb and
Qays, whose coalition had hitherto maintained
?eJev^d' the Umayyads in power, fought on opposite sides
at Marj Rahit (684), the former for Marwan and
the latter for Ibn Zubayr. Marwan's victory secured the
allegiance of Syria, but henceforth Qays and Kalb were
always at daggers drawn.2 This was essentially a feud between
the Northern and the Southern Arabs— a feud which rapidly
extended and developed into a permanent racial enmity.
They carried it with them to the farthest ends
Northern and of the world, SO that, for example, after the
Southern Arabs, ^^j^^^^g^ of gp^jn precautions had to be taken
against civil war by providing that Northerners and Southerners
should not settle in the same districts. The literary history of
this antagonism has been sketched by Dr. Goldziher with his
wonted erudition and acumen.3 Satire was, of course, the
' Hamdsa, 226. The word translated 'throne' is in Arabic miiibar,
i.e., the pulpit from which the Caliph conducted the public prayers and
addressed the congregation.
^ Kalb was properly one of the Northern tribes (see Robertson Smith s
Kinship and Marriage, 2nd ed., p. 8 seq.— a reference which I owe to
Professor Bevan), but there is evidence that the Kalbites were regarded
as ' Yemenite ' or ' Southern ' Arabs at an early period of Islam. C/.
Goldziher, Muhammcdanische Studien, Part I, p. 83, 1. 3 sqq.
3 Miihammedanische Studicu, i, 78 sqq.
200 THE UMAVYAD DYNASTY
principal weapon of both sides. Here is a fragment by a
Northern poet which belongs to the Umayyad period : —
" Negroes are better, when they name their sires,
Than Qahtan's sons,' the uncircumcised cowards :
A folk whom thou mayst see, at war's outflame.
More abject than a shoe to tread in baseness ;
Their women free to every lecher's lust,
Their clients spoil for cavaliers and footmen." ^
Thus the Arab nation was again torn asunder by the old
tribal pretensions which Muhammad sought to abolish. That
they ultimately proved fatal to the Umayyads is no matter for
surprise ; the sorely pressed dynasty was already tottering, its
enemies were at its gates. By good fortune it produced at
this crisis an exceptionally able and vigorous ruler, 'Abdu
'1-Malik b. Marwan, who not only saved his house from
destruction, but re-established its supremacy and inaugurated
a more brilliant epoch than any that had gone before.
'Abdu '1-Malik succeeded his father in 685, but required
seven years of hard fighting to make good his claim to the
Caliphate. When his most formidable rival, Ibn
and his Zubayr, had fallen in battle (692), the eastern
successors.
provinces were still overrun by rebels, who offered
a desperate resistance to the governor of 'Iraq, the iron-
handed Hajjaj. But enough of bloodshed. Peace also had
her victories during the troubled reign of *Abdu '1-Malik and
the calmer sway of his successors. Four of the next five
Caliphs were his own sons — Walid (705-715), Sulayman
(715-717), Yazid II (720-724), and Hisham (724-743) ;
the fifth, *Umar II, was the son of his brother, 'Abdu 'l-'Aziz.
For the greater part of this time the Moslem lands enjoyed a
well-earned interval of repose and prosperity, which mitigated,
though it could not undo, the frightful devastation wrought by
* Qahtan is the legendary ancestor of the Southern Arabs.
' Aghdni, xiii, 51, cited by Goldziher, ibid., p. 82.
'ABDU 'L-MALIK 201
twenty years of almost continuous civil war. Many reforms
were introduced, some wholly political in character, while
others inspired by the same motives have, none the less, a
direct bearing on literary history. 'Abdu '1-Malik
'Abdu°i!lia°ik Organised an excellent postal service, by means of
relays of horses, for the conveyance of despatches
and travellers ; he substituted for the Byzantine and Persian
coins, which had hitherto been in general use, new gold and
silver pieces, on which he caused sentences from the Koran
to be engraved ; and he made Arabic, instead of Greek or
Persian, the official language of financial administration.
Steps were taken, moreover, to improve the extremely
defective Arabic script, and in this way to provide a sound
basis for the study and interpretation of the Koran as well
as for the collection of hadlths or sayings of the Prophet,
which form an indispensable supplement thereto. The Arabic
alphabet, as it was then written, consisted entirely
^^'^ATabic.^ °^ °^ consonants, so that, to give an illustration from
English, bnd might denote band^ bend^ bind, or
bond ; crt might stand for cart, carat, curt, and so on. To
an Arab this ambiguity mattered little ; far worse confusion
arose from the circumstance that many of the consonants
themselves were exactly alike : thus, e.g., it was possible to
read the same combination of three letters as bnt, nbt, byt, tnb,
ntb, nyb, and in various other ways. Considering the difficul-
ties of the Arabic language, which are so great that a European
aided by scientific grammars and unequivocal texts will often
find himself puzzled even when he has become tolerably
familiar with it, one may imagine that the Koran was virtually
a sealed book to all but a few among the crowds of foreigners
who accepted Islam after the early conquests. 'Abdu'l-Malik's
viceroy in 'Iraq, the famous Hajjaj, who began life as a school-
master, exerted himself to promote the use of vowel-marks
(borrowed from the Syriac) and ot the diacritical points placed
above or below similar consonants. This extraordinary man
202 THE UMAVYAD DYNASTY
deserves more than a passing mention. A stern disciplinarian,
who could be counted upon to do his duty without any regard
to public opinion, he was chosen by 'Abdu '1-Malik
■ (t 714 a.d")" to besiege Mecca, which Ibn Zubayr was holding
as anti-Caliph. Hajjaj bombarded the city, defeated
the Pretender, and sent his head to Damascus. Two years
afterwards he became governor of 'Iraq. Entering the
Mosque at Kufa, he mounted the pulpit and introduced
himself to the assembled townsmen in these memorable
words : —
"I am he who scattereth the darkness and climbeth o'er the
summits.
When I lift the turban from my face, ye will know me.*
O people of Kiifa ! I see heads that are ripe for cutting,
and I am the man to do it ; and methinlcs, I see blood between
the turbans and beards." 2 The rest of his speech was in
keeping with the commencement. He used no idle threats,
as the malcontents soon found out. Rebellion, which had
been rampant before his arrival, was rapidly extinguished.
" He restored order in 'Iraq and subdued its people." 3 For
twenty years his despotic rule gave peace and security to
the Eastern world. Cruel he may have been, though the
tales of his bloodthirstiness are beyond doubt grossly exaggerated,
but it should be put to his credit that he estab-
"lfteratire.*° Hshcd and maintained the settled conditions which
afford leisure for the cultivation of learning.
Under his protection the Koran and Traditions were diligently
studied both in Kiifa and Basra, where many Companions of
the Prophet had made their home : hence arose in Basra the
science of Grammar, with which, as we shall see in a subse-
quent page, the name of that city is peculiarly associated.
* A verse of the poet Suhaym b. Wathil.
2 The Kdmil of al-Mubarrad, ed. by W. Wright, p. 215, 1. 14 sqq.
3 Ibn Qutayba, Kihibu 'l-Ma'arif, p. 202.
HAJjAj IBN YlJrSUF 203
Hajjaj shared the literary tastes of his sovereign ; he admired
the old poets and patronised the new ; he was a master of
terse eloquence and plumed himself on his elegant Arabic
style. The most hated man of his time, he lives in history as
the savage oppressor and butcher of God-fearing Moslems.
He served the Umayyads well and faithfully, and when he
died in 714 a.d. he left behind him nothing but his Koran, his
arms, and a few hundred pieces of silver.
It was a common saying at Damascus that under Walld
people talked of fine buildings, under Sulayman of cookery
and the fair sex, while in the reign of 'Umar b.
(yo^^^fj'^i,) *Abd al-'Aziz the Koran and religion formed
favourite topics of conversation. ^ Of Walid's
passion for architecture we have a splendid monument in the
Great Mosque of Damascus (originally the Cathedral of
St. John), which is the principal sight of the city to this
day. He spoke Arabic very incorrectly, and though his
father rebuked him, observing that " in order to rule the
Arabs one must be proficient in their language," he could
never learn to express himself with propriety.2 The unbroken
peace which now prevailed within the Empire enabled Walid
to resume the work of conquest. In the East his armies
invaded Transoxania, captured Bokhdra and Samarcand, and
pushed forward to the Chinese frontier. Another
conqueTts^in the force crosscd the Indus and penetrated as far as
Multan, a renowned centre of pilgrimage in the
Southern Punjaub, which fell into the hands of the Moslems
after a prolonged siege. But the most brilliant advance, and
the richest in its results, was that in the extreme West, which
decided the fate of Spain. Although the Moslems had obtained
a footing in Northern Africa some thirty years before this
time, their position was always precarious, until in 709 Miisa
« Al-Fakhrt, p. 173 ; Ibnu '1-Athir, ed. by Tornberg, v,S-
' Ibid., p. 174. Cf, Mas'iidi, Mtirujii l-Dhahab, v, 412.
204 THE UMAYVAD DYNASTY
b. Nusayr completely subjugated the Berbers, and extended not
only the dominion but also the faith of Islam to the Atlantic
Ocean. Two years later his freedman Tariq
Conquest of , , • i i ■ <- i
Spain crossed the straits and took possession or the
commanding height, called by the ancients Calpe,
but henceforth known as Jabal Tariq (Gibraltar). Roderic,
the last of the West Gothic dynasty, gathered an army in
defence of his kingdom, but there were traitors in the camp,
and, though he himself fought valiantly, their defection turned
the fortunes of the day. The king fled, and it was never
ascertained what became of him. Tdriq, meeting with feeble
resistance, marched rapidly on Toledo, while Musa, whose
jealousy was excited by the triumphal progress of his lieu-
tenant, now joined in the campaign, and, storming city after
city, reached the Pyrenees. The conquest of Spain, which is
told by Moslem historians with many romantic circumstances,
marks the nearest approach that the Arabs ever made to
World-Empire. Their advance on French soil was finally
hurled back by Charles the Hammer's great victory at Tours
(732 A.D.).
Before taking leave of the Umayyads we must not forget to
mention 'Umar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz, a ruler who stands out in
singular contrast with his predecessors, and whose
ai-'Aziz brief reign is regarded by many Moslems as the
(717-720 A.D.). I , • , • r Ji J Li J
sole bright spot in a century or godless and blood-
stained tyranny. There had been nothing like it since the
days of his illustrious namesake and kinsman, ^ 'Umar b.
al-Khattab, and we shall find nothins like it in the future
history of the Caliphate. Plato desired that every king should
be a philosopher : according to Muhammadan theory every
Caliph ought to be a saint. 'Umar satisfied these aspirations.
When he came to the throne the following dialogue is said to
have occurred between him and one of his favourites, Salim
al-Suddi : —
' His mother, Umm 'Asim, was a granddaughter of 'Umar I.
'UMAR B. 'ABD AL-'AZfZ 205
'Umar : " Are you glad on account of my accession, or sorry ? "
Sdlim : " I am glad for the people's sake, but sorry for yours."
'Umar : " I fear that I have brought perdition upon my soul,"
Salim : " If you are afraid, very good. I only fear that you may
cease to be afraid."
'Umar : " Give me a word of counsel."
Sdlim : " Our father Adam was driven forth from Paradise because
of one sin." '
Poets and orators found no favour at his court, which was
thronged by divines and men of ascetic life.2 He warned his
governors that they must either deal justly or go. He would
not allow political considerations to interfere with his ideal of
righteousness, but, as Wellhausen points out, he had practical
ends in view : his piety made him anxious for the common
weal no less than for his own salvation. Whether he
administered the State successfully is a matter of dispute.
It has been generally supposed that his financial reforms
were Utopian in character and disastrous to the Exchequer.3
However this may be, he showed wisdom in seeking to bridge
the menacing chasm between Islam and the Imperial house.
Thus, e.g.^ he did away with the custom which had long
prevailed of cursing 'All from the pulpit at Friday prayers.
The policy of conciliation was tried too late, and for too short
a space, to be effective ; but it was not entirely fruitless.
When, on the overthrow of the Umayyad dynasty, the tombs
of the hated * tyrants ' were defiled and their bodies dis-
interred, 'Umar's grave alone was respected, and Mas'iidi
' Mas'udi, Mw-iljn 'l-Dhahab, v, 419 seq.
^ Ibnu 'l-Athi'r, ed. by Tornberg, v, 46. Cf. Aghdni, xx, p. 119, 1. 23.
'Umar made an exception, as Professor Bevan reminds me, in favour of
the poet Jarir. See Brockelmann's Gesch. der Arab. Lifteratur, vol. i, p. 57.
3 The exhaustive researches of Wellhausen, Das Arabische Reich mid
scin Sturz (pp. 169-192) have set this complicated subject in a new light.
He contends that 'Umar's reform was not based on purely ideal grounds,
but was demanded by the necessities of the case, and that, so far from
introducing disorder into the finances, his measures were designed to
remedy the confusion which already existed.
2o6 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
(t956 A.D.) tells us that in his time it was visited by
crowds of pilgrims.
The remaining Umayyads do not call for particular notice.
Hisham ranks as a statesman with Mu*dwiya and *Abdu
'l-Mahk : the great 'Abbasid Caliph, Mansur, is
"wSidiL^ said to have admired and imitated his methods
of government.! Walid II was an incorrigible
libertine, whose songs celebrating the forbidden delights of
wine have much merit. The eminent poet and freethinker,
Abu 'l-*Ala al-Ma'arrf, quotes these verses by him 2 : —
"The Imam Walid am I ! In all my glory
Of trailing robes I listen to soft lays.
Walid II When proudly I sweep on towards her chamber,
(743-4 A.D.). J ^^g j^Q^ ^j^Q inveighs.
There's no true joy but lending ear to music,
Or wine that leaves one sunk in stupor dense.
Houris in Paradise I do not look for :
Does any man of sense ? "
Let us now turn from the monarchs to their subjects.
In the first place we shall speak of the political and religious
parties, whose opposition to the Umayyad House gradually
undermined its influence and in the end brought
re^ig^us^movi- ^^out its fall. Some account will be given of the
'"^period.*''^ ideas for which these parties fought and of the
causes of their discontent with the existing
regime. Secondly, a few words must be said of the theological
and more purely religious sects — the Mu'tazilites, Murjites, and
Sufis ; and, lastly, of the extant literature, which is almost
exclusively poetical, and its leading representatives.
' Mas'iidi, Murnjii 'l-Dhahab, v, 479.
^ The Arabic text and literal translation of these verses will be found in
my article on Abu 'l-'Ala's Risdlatu 'l-Ghufrdn (J.R.A.S. for 1902, pp. 829
and 342).
OPPOSITION PARTIES 207
The opposition to the Umayyads was at first mainly a
question of politics. Mu'awiya's accession announced the
triumph of Syria over 'Irdq, and Damascus,
The Arabs of instead of Kufa, became the capital of the
Empire. As Wellhausen observes, "the most
powerful risings against the Umayyads proceeded from
*Iraq, not from any special party, but from the whole mass
of the Arabs settled there, who were united in resenting the
loss of their independence [Selbstherrlkhkeit) and in hating
those into whose hands it had passed." ^ At the same time
these feelings took a religious colour and identified them-
selves with the cause of Islam. The new government fell
lamentably short of the theocratic standard by which it was
judged. Therefore it was evil, and (according to the
Moslem's conception of duty) every right-thinking man
must work for its destruction.
Among the myriads striving for this consummation, and so
far making common cause with each other, we can distinguish
four principal classes.
totheVn^a'yyad (i) The rcligious Moslems, or Pietists, in
government ^^^^^^^^ ^ho formed z wing of the Orthodox
Party.2
(2) The Khdrijites, who may be described as the Puritans
and extreme Radicals of theocracy.
(3) The ShI'ites, or partisans of 'All and his House.
(4) The Non- Arabian Moslems, who were called Maw All
(Clients).
It is clear that the Pietists — including divines learned in the
law, reciters of the Koran, Companions of the Prophet and
' Wellhausen, Das Arabische Reich und sein Sturz, p. 38.
* I.e., the main body of Moslems — S2(« Mi's, followers of the Sunna, as
they were afterwards called — who were neither Shi'ites nor Kharijites,
but held (I) that the Caliph must be elected by the Moslem community,
and (2) that he must be a member of Quraysh, the Prophet's tribe. All
these parties arose out of the struggle between 'Ali and Mu'awiya, and
their original difference turned solely on the question of the Caliphate.
208 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
their descendants — could not but abominate the secular autho-
rity which they were now compelled to obey. The convic-
tion that Might, in the shape of the tyrant and
The Pietists. . . , , r> • , , ,
his mmions, trampled on Right as represented by
the Koran and the Sunna (custom of Muhammad) drove many
into active rebellion : five thousand are said to have perished
in the sack of Medina alone. Others again, like Hasan of
Basra, filled with profound despair, shut their eyes on the
world, and gave themselves up to asceticism, a tendency
which had important consequences, as we shall see.
When 'AH, on the field of Siffin, consented that the claims
of Mu'awiya and himself to the Caliphate should be decided
by arbitration, a large section of his army accused
The Kharijites. , •; ^ , . , , , • tt 1 ,1
him of having betrayed his trust. He, the duly
elected Caliph — so they argued — should have maintained the
dignity of his high office inviolate at all costs. On the home-
ward march the malcontents, some twelve thousand in number,
broke away and encamped by themselves at Hariird, a village
near Kufa. Their cry was, "God alone can decide" [Id
hukma ilia lillahi) : in these terms they protested against the
arbitration. 'AH endeavoured to win them back, but without
any lasting success. They elected a Caliph from among them-
selves, and gathered at Nahrawdn, four thousand
^win^6-8A^D)^ strong. On the appearance of 'All with a vastly
superior force many of the rebels dispersed, but
the remainder — about half — preferred to die for their faith.
Nahrawan was to the Khdrijites what Karbala afterwards
became to the Shi'ites, who from this day were regarded by
the former as their chief enemies. Frequent Khdrijite risings
took place during the early Umayyad period, but
Khdrijite risings. , 1 i • • 1 • 1 r
the movement reached its zenith in the years or
confusion which followed Yazid's death. The Azraqites, so
called after their leader, Ndfi' b. al-Azraq, overran 'Iraq and
Southern Persia, while another sect, the Najdites, led by
THE KHARIJITES 209
T
Najda b. 'Amir, reduced the greater part of Arabia to sub-
mission. The insurgents held their ground for a long time
against 'Abdu '1-Malik, and did not cease from troubling until
the rebellion headed by Shabi'b was at last stamped out by
Hajjaj in 697.
It has been suggested that the name Khariji (plural, Khawdrij)
refers to a passage in the Koran ( iv, 1 0 1 ) where mention is made
of" those who go forth [yakhruj) from their homes
•Khirijfte.' as emigrants {tnuhdjir"") to God and His Mes-
senger"; so that *Kharijite' means 'one who
leaves his home among the unbelievers for God's sake,' and
corresponds to the term Muhdjir^ which was applied to the
Meccan converts who accompanied the Prophet in his flight
to Medina. I Another name by which they are often desig-
nated is likewise Koranic in origin, viz., Shurdt (plural of
Shdr'") : literally 'Sellers' — that is to say, those who sell
their lives and goods in return for Paradise. 2 The Kharijites
were mostly drawn from the Bedouin soldiery who settled in
Basra and Kufa after the Persian wars. Civil life wrought
little change in their unruly temper. Far from
theoHes'.'^^ acknowledging the peculiar sanctity of a
Qurayshite, they desired a chief of their own
blood whom they might obey, in Bedouin fashion, as long
as he did not abuse or exceed the powers conferred upon
him.3 The mainspring 01 the movement, however, was
pietistic, and can be traced, as Wellhausen has shown, to
the Koran-readers who made it a matter of conscience
that 'AH should avow his contrition for the fatal error
which their own temporary and deeply regretted infatuation
had forced him to commit. They cast off 'All for the same
' Brxinnovv, Die Charidschiten untcr den erstcn Oinayyaden (Leiden,
1884), p. 28. It is by no means certain, however, that the Kharijites
called themselves by this name. In any case, the term implies seces-
sion (khurtij) from the Moslem community, and may be rendered by
'Seceder' or 'Nonconformist.'
' Cf. Koran, ix, 112. 3 Brunnovv, op. cit,, p. 8.
15
2IO THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
reason which led them to strike at *Uthman : in both cases
they were maintaining the cause of God against an unjust
Caliph. I It is important to remember these facts in view of
the cardinal Kharijite doctrines (i) that every free Arab was
eligible as Caliph,^ and (2) that an evil-doing Caliph must be
deposed and, if necessary, put to death. Mustawrid b. 'Ullifa,
the Kharijite ' Commander of the Faithful,' wrote to Simak
b. 'Ubayd, the governor of Ctesiphon, as follows : " We call
you to the Book of God Almighty and Glorious, and to the
Sunna (custom) of the Prophet — on whom be peace ! — and to
the administration of Abu Bakr and 'Umar — may God be
well pleased with them ! — and to renounce 'UthmAn and
*Ali because they corrupted the true religion and abandoned
the authority of the Book." 3 From this it appears that the
Kharijite programme was simply the old Islam of equality and
fraternity, which had never been fully realised and was now
irretrievably ruined. Theoretically, all devout Moslems shared
in the desire for its restoration and condemned the existing
Government no less cordially than did the Khdrijites. What
distinguished the latter party was the remorseless severity with
which they carried their principles into action. To them it
was absolutely vital that the Imam, or head of the com-
' Wellhausen, Die vcligids-polilischcu Opfosilionsparteien im alien Islam
(Abhaiidlungen der Koiiigl. GescUschaft der Wisscnschafteu zii Gottingen,
Phil.-Hist. Klasse, 1901), p. 8 sqq. The writer argues against Briinnovv
that the oldest Khaiijites were not true Bedouins (A't'dbi), and were, in
fact, even further removed than the rest of the military colonists of Kufa
and Basra from their Bedouin traditions. He points out that the extreme
piety of the Readers — their constant prayers, vigils, and repetitions of the
Koran — exactly agrees with what is related of the Kharijites, and is
described in similar language. Moreover, among the oldest Kharijites
we find mention made of a company clad in long cloaks (bardnis, pi. of
burnus), which were at that time a special mark of asceticism. Finally,
the earliest authority (Abu Mikhnaf in Tabarl, i, 3330, 1. 6 sqq.) regards
the Kharijites as an offshoot from the Readers, and names individual
Readers who afterwards became rabid Kharijites.
' Later, when many non-Arab Moslems joined the Kharijite ranks the
field of choice was extended so as to include foreigners and even slaves.
3 Tabari, ii, 40, 13 sqq.
THE KHARIJITES 211
munity, should rule in the name and according to the will
of God : those who followed any other sealed their doom in
the next world : eternal salvation hung upon the choice of
a successor to the Prophet. Moslems who refused to execrate
'Uthman and 'Ali were the worst of infidels ; it was the duty
of every true believer to take part in the Holy War against
such, and to kill them, together with their wives and children.
These atrocities recoiled upon the insurgents, who soon found
themselves in danger of extermination. Milder counsels began
to prevail. Thus the Ibadites (followers of 'Abdullah b. Ibdd)
held it lawful to live amongst the Moslems and mix with
them on terms of mutual tolerance. But compromise was
in truth incompatible with the rahon d'etre of the Khdrijites,
namely, to establish the kingdom of God upon the earth.
This meant virtual anarchy : " their unbending logic shattered
every constitution which it set up." As 'Ali remarked, " they
say, 'No government' [Id imara)^ but there must be a govern-
ment, good or bad." I Nevertheless, it was a noble ideal for
which they fought in pure devotion, having, unlike the other
political parties, no worldly interests to serve.
The same fierce spirit of fanaticism moulded their religious
views, which were gloomy and austere, as befitted the chosen
few in an ungodly world. Shahrastani, speaking
of the ori2:inal twelve thousand who rebelled
O
against 'All, describes them as ' people of fasting and
prayer ' {ahlu sjydm'" wa-saldf").'^ The Koran ruled their
lives and possessed their imaginations, so that the history
of the early Church, the persecutions, martyrdoms, and
triumphs of the Faith became a veritable drama which was
being enacted by themselves. The fear of hell kindled in
them an inquisitorial zeal for righteousness. They scrupu-
lously examined their own belief as well as that of their
neighbours, and woe to him that was found wanting ! A
• Shahrastani, ed. by Cureton, Part I, p. 88, 1. 12.
" Ibid., p. 86, 1. 3 from foot.
212 THE UMAYVAD DYNASTY
single false step involved excommunication from the pale oi
Islam, and though the slip might be condoned on proof of
sincere repentance, any Moslem who had once committed a
mortal sin {kabira) was held, by the stricter Kharijites at
least, to be inevitably damned with the infidels in everlast-
ing fire.
Much might be written, if space allowed, concerning the
wars of the Kharijites, their most famous chiefs, the points on
which they quarrelled, and the sects into which they split.
Here we can only attempt to illustrate the general character of
the movement. We have touched on its political and religious
aspects, and shall now conclude with some reference to its
literary side. The Kharijites did not produce a Milton or
a Bunyan, but as Arabs of Bedouin stock they had a natural
gift of song, from which they could not be
^oc"ry.^ weaned ; although, according to the strict letter
of the Koran, poetry is a devilish invention
improper for the pious Moslem to meddle with. But these
are poems of a different order from the pagan odes, and
breathe a stern religious enthusiasm that would have
gladdened the Prophet's heart. Take, for example, the follow-
ing verses, which were made by a Kharijite in prison : — ^
" 'Tis time, O ye Sellers, for one who hath sold himself
To God, that he should arise and saddle amain.
Fools ! in the land of miscreants will ye abide,
To be hunted down, every man of you, and to be slain ?
O would that I were among you, armed in mail.
On the back of my stout-ribbed galloping war-horse again !
And would that I were among you, fighting your foes.
That me, first of all, they might give death's beaker to drain !
It grieves me sore that ye are startled and chased
Like beasts, while I cannot draw on the wretches profane
My sword, nor see them scattered by noble knights
Who never yield an inch of the ground they gain,
' Tabari, ii, 36, 11. 7, 8, Ii-l6.
THE KHARIJITES 213
But where the struggle is hottest, with keen blades hew
Their strenuous way and deem 'twere base to refrain.
Ay, it grieves me sore that ye are oppressed and wronged,
While I must drag in anguish a captive's chain."
Qatari b. al-Fuja'a, the intrepid Khirijite leader who routed
army after army sent against him by Hajjaj, sang almost as
well as he fought. The verses rendered below
S-^Fu/a''a. are included in the Hamasa^ and cited by Ibn
Khallikan, who declares that they would make
a brave man of the greatest coward in the world. " I
know of nothing on the subject to be compared with them ;
they could only have proceeded from a spirit that scorned
disgrace and from a truly Arabian sentiment of valour." 2
" I say to my soul dismayed —
' Courage ! Thou canst not achieve,
With praying, an hour of life
Beyond the appointed term.
Then courage on death's dark field,
Courage ! Impossible 'tis
To live for ever and aye.
Life is no hero's robe
Of honour : the dastard vile
Also doffs it at last.' "
The murder of 'Uthmdn broke the Moslem community,
which had hitherto been undivided, into two shl^'as^ or parties
• — one for 'Ali and the other for Mu'awiya. When
the latter became Caliph he was no longer a party
leader, but head of the State, and his shi'-a ceased to exist.
Henceforth ' the Shi'a ' par excellence was the party of 'All,
which regarded the House of the Prophet as the legitimate
heirs to the succession. Not content, however, with uphold-
• Hamcisa, 44.
' Ibn Khallikan, ed. by Wustenfeld, No. 555, p. 55, 1. 4 seq. ; De Slape's
translation, vol. ii, p, 523.
The Shi'ites.
214 THE UMAYVAD DYNASTY
ing *Ali, as the worthiest of the Prophet's Companions and the
duly elected Caliph, against his rival, Mu'dwiya, the bolder
spirits took up an idea, which emerged about
liviSht this time, that the Caliphate belonged to 'AH
and his descendants by Divine right. Such is
the distinctive doctrine of the Shi'ites to the present day. It
is generally thought to have originated in Persia, where the
Sasdnian kings used to assume the title of 'god' (Pahiavi
bagh) and were looked upon as successive incarnations of the
Divine majesty.
"Although the Shi'ites," says Dozy, "often found themselves
under the direction of Arab leaders, who utilised them in order
to gain some personal end, they were nevertheless a
^ontloriekT* Persian sect at bottom; and it is precisely here that
the difference most clearly showed itself between the
Arab race, which loves liberty, and the Persian race, accustomed
to slavish submission. For the Persians, the principle of electing
the Prophet's successor was something unheard of and incom-
prehensible. The only principle which they recognised was that of
inheritance, and since Muhammad left no sons, they thought that
his son-in-law 'All should have succeeded him, and that the
sovereignty was hereditary in his family. Consequently, all the
Caliphs except 'Ali— i.e., Abu Bakr, 'Umar, and 'Uthman, as well
as the Umayyads — were in their eyes usurpers to whom no
obedience was due. The hatred which they felt for the Govern-
ment and for Arab rule confirmed them in this opinion ; at the
same time they cast covetous looks on the wealth of their masters.
Habituated, moreover, to see in their kings the descendants of the
inferior divinities, they transferred this idolatrous veneration to 'Ali
andihis posterity. Absolute obedience to the Imam of 'All's House
was in their eyes the most important duty ; if that were fulfilled all
the rest might be interpreted allegorically and violated without
scruple. For them the Imam was everything; he was God made
man. A servile submission accompanied by immorality was the
basis of their system."'
• Dozy, Essai stir Vhistoire de Vlslamisme (French translation by Victor
Chauvin), p. 219 sqq.
THE SHPITES 215
Now, the Shi'ite theory of Divine Right certainly har-
monised with Persian ideas, but was it also of Persian
oriein ? On the contrary, it seems first to have
The Saba'ites. .° , » 1 • 1
arisen among an obscure Arabian sect, the
Saba'ites, whose founder, 'Abdullah b. Sabd (properly, Saba'),
was a native of San'd in Yemen, and is said to have been a
Jew.i In 'UthmAn's time he turned Moslem and became,
apparently, a travelling missionary. " He went from place to
place," says the historian, " seeking to lead the Moslems into
error." ^ Wehearof him in the Hijaz, then in Basra and Kufa,
then in Syria. Finally he settled in Egypt, where he preached
the doctrine of palingenesis [raj^a). " It is strange indeed," he
exclaimed, " that any one should believe in the
ibnsabi return of Jesus (as Messias), and deny the return
of Muhammad, which God has announced
(Kor. xxviii, 85). 3 Furthermore, there are a thousand
Prophets, every one of whom has an executor {wasl)^ and
the executor of Muhammad is 'Ali.4 Muhammad is the last
of the Prophets, and 'AH is the last of the executors." Ibn
Saba, therefore, regarded Abu Bakr, 'Umar, and 'Uthman as
usurpers. He set on foot a widespread conspiracy in favour
of 'All, and carried on a secret correspondence with the
disaffected in various provinces of the Empire. 5 According
' Wellhausen thinks that the dogmatics of the Shi'ites are derived from
Jewish rather than from Persian sources. See his account of the Saba'ites
in his most instructive paper, to which I have ah-eady referred, Die
religios-poUtischcn Oppositionspartcicn im alien Islam (Abh. dcr Koiiig.
Ges. dcr Wissenschaften zu Gottiiigcn, Phil.-Hist. Klasse, 1901), p. 89 sqq.
^ Tabari, i, 2942, 2.
3 " Verily, He lolio hath ordained the Koran for thee (i.e., for
Muhammad) laill bring thee back to a place of return " (i.e., to Mecca).
The ambiguity of the word meaning ' place of return ' (nia'dd) gave
some colour to Ibn Saba's contention that it alluded to the return of
Muhammad at the end of the world. The descent of Jesus on earth is
reckoned by Moslems among the greater signs which will precede the
Resurrection.
■♦ This is a Jewish idea. 'Ali stands in the same relation to Muhammad
as Aaron to Moses. s Tabari, loc. cit.
2i6 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
to Shahrastanf, he was banished by *AH for saying, " Thou
art thou" {anta anta), i.e., ^'^ Thou art God." i This refers
to the doctrine taught by Ibn Sabd and the extreme Shi'ites
{Ghuldt) who derive from him, that the Divine Spirit which
dwells in every prophet and passes successively from one to
another was transfused, at Muhammad's death, into 'All, and
from 'All into his descendants who succeeded him in the
Imamate. The Saba'ites also held that the Imam might suffer
a temporary occultation {ghayba), but that one day he would
return and fill the earth with justice. They believed the
millennium to be near at hand, so that the number of Imams
was at first limited to four. Thus the poet Kuthayyir
(f 723 A.D.) says : —
" Four complete are the Imams of Quraysh, the lords of Right :
'All and his three good sons, each of them a shining light.
One was faithful and devout ; Karbala hid one from sight ;
One, until with waving flags his horsemen he shall lead to
fight,
Dwells on Mount Radwa, con- honey he drinks and water
cealed : bright." ^
The Messianic idea is not peculiar to the ShI'ites, but was
brought into Islam at an early period by Jewish and Christian
converts, and soon established itself as a part of Muhammadan
belief. Traditions ascribed to the Prophet began to circulate,
declaring that the approach of the Last Judgment would be
heralded by a time of tumult and confusion, by the return of
Jesus, who would slay the Antichrist [al-Dajjal),
or Messiah! and finally by the coming of the Mahdi, i.e.,
' the God-guided one,' who would fill the earth
with justice even as it was then filled with violence and
iniquity. This expectation of a Deliverer descended from the
' Shahrastani, ed. by Cureton, p. 132, 1. 15.
2 Aghdnt, viii, 32, 1. 17 sqq. The three sons of 'All are Hasan, Husayn,
and Muhammad Ibnu '1-Hanafiyya.
THE SHf'ITES 217
Prophet runs through the whole history of the ShI'a. As
we have seen, their supreme religious chiefs were the Imams of
'All's House, each of whom transmitted his authority to his
successor. In the course of time disputes arose as to the
succession. One sect acknowledged only seven legitimate
Imams, while another carried the number to twelve. The
last ImAm of the ' Seveners ' {al-Sah''iyya)^ who are com-
monly called Isma'ilis, was Muhammad b. Ismd'il, and of the
* Twelvers ' {al- Ithnd-^ashariyya) Muhammad b. al-Hasan.i
Both those personages vanished mysteriously about 770 and
870 A.D., and their respective followers, refusing to believe
that they were dead, asserted that their Imam had withdrawn
himself for a season from mortal sight, but that he would
surely return at last as the promised Mahdi. It would take a
long while to enumerate all the pretenders and fanatics who
have claimed this title.2 Two of them founded the Fdtimid
and Almohade dynasties, which we shall mention elsewhere,
but they generally died on the gibbet or the battle-field. The
ideal which they, so to speak, incarnated did not perish with
them. Mahdiism, the faith in a divinely appointed revolution
which will sweep away the powers of evil and usher in a
Golden Age of justice and truth such as the world has never
known, is a present and inspiring fact which deserves to be well
weighed by those who doubt the possibility of an Islamic
Reformation.
The Shi'a began as a political faction, but it could not
remain so for any length of time, because in Islam politics
always tend to take religious ground, just as the successful
religious reformer invariably becomes a ruler. The Saba'ites
furnished the Shl'ite movement with a theological basis ; and
' Concerning the origin of these sects see Professor Browne's Lit. Hist,
of Persia, vol. i, p. 295 seq.
' See Darmesteter's interesting essay, Lc Mahdi depuis les origines de
I'Isiam jusqu'h nos jours (Paris, 1885). The subject is treated more scien-
tifically by Snouck Hurgronje in his paper Der Mahdi, reprinted from the
Revile colonialc Internationale (1886).
2i8 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
the massacre of Husayn, followed by Mukhtar's rebellion,
supplied the indispensable element of enthusiasm. Within a
few years after the death of Husayn his grave at
gatherings at Karbald was already a place of pilgrimage for the
Shi'ites. When the 'Penitents' {al-Tawwablin)
revolted in 684 they repaired thither and lifted their voices
simultaneously in a loud wail, and wept, and prayed God that
He would forgive them for having deserted the Prophet's
grandson in his hour of need. " O God 1 " exclaimed their
chief, "have mercy on Husayn, the Martyr and the son of a
Martyr, the Mahdi and the son of a Mahdi, the §iddiq and
the son of a Siddiq ! ^ O God ! we bear witness that we follow
their religion and their path, and that we are the foes of their
slayers and the friends of those who love them." 2 Here is the
germ of the ta^ziyas, or Passion Plays, which are acted every
year on the loth of Muharram, wherever Shi'ites are to be
found.
But the Moses of the Sh{*a, the man who showed them the
way to victory although he did not lead them to it, is un-
doubtedly Mukhtdr. He came forward in the
name of 'All's son, Muhammad, generally known
as Ibnu '1-Hanafiyya after his mother. Thus he gained the
support of the Arabian ShiMtes, properly so called, who were
devoted to 'AH and his House, and laid no stress upon the
circumstance of descent from the Prophet, whereas the
Persian adherents of the Shl'a made it a vital matter, and held
accordingly that only the sons of 'All by his wife FAtima were
fully qualified Imams. Raising the cry of vengeance for
Husayn, Mukhtar carried this party also along with him. In
686 he found himself master of Kufa. Neither the result of
his triumph nor the rapid overthrow of his power concerns us
' Siddiq means ' veracious.' Professor Bevan remarks that in this root
the notion of ' veracity ' easily passes into that of ' endurance/ ' fortitude.'
" Tabari, ii, 546. These ' Penitents ' were free Arabs of Kufa, a fact
which, as Wellhausen has noticed, would seem to indicate that the
ta'ziya is Semitic in origin.
THE SHPITES 219
here, but something must be said about the aims and character
of the movement which he headed.
" More than half the population of Kufa was composed of Mawdli
(Clients), who monopolised handicraft, trade, and commerce. They
were mostly Persians in race and language ; they
The ^?«g"" had come to Kiifa as prisoners of war and had there
passed over to Islam : then they were manumitted by
their owners and received as cHents into the Arab tribes, so that
they now occupied an ambiguous position {Z-wiiterstelliing), being
no longer slaves, but still very dependent on their patrons ; needing
their protection, bound to their service, and forming their retinue in
peace and war. In these Mawdli, who were entitled by virtue of
Islam to more than the ' dominant Arabism ' allowed them, the hope
now dawned of freeing themselves from clientship and of rising to
full and direct participation in the Moslem state." '
Muichtdr, though himself an Arab of noble family, trusted
the Mawdli and treated them as equals, a proceeding vi^hich
was bitterly resented by the privileged class.
the^'Sa^A "You have taken away our clients who are the
booty which God bestowed upon us together with
this country. We emancipated them, hoping to receive the
Divine recompense and reward, but you would not rest until
you made them sharers in our booty." ^ Mukhtar was only
giving the Mawdli their due — they were Moslems and had
the right, as such, to a share in the revenues. To the haughty
Arabs, however, it appeared a monstrous thing that the
despised foreigners should be placed on the same level with
themselves. Thus Mukhtar was thrown into the arms of the
Mawdli^ and the movement now became not so
^onSth"^"." much anti-Umayyad as anti-Arabian. Here is
the turning-point in the history of the Shi'a. Its
ranks were swelled by thousands of Persians imbued with
the extreme doctrines of the Saba'ites which have been
' Wellhausen, Die religids-politischen Oppositionsfaiicien, p. 79.
= Tabari, ii, 650, 1. 7 sqq.
220 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
sketched above, and animated by the intense hatred of a down-
trodden people towards their conquerors and oppressors.
Consequently the Shl'a assumed a religious and enthusiastic
character, and struck out a new path which led it farther and
farther from the orthodox creed. The doctrine of * Interpre-
tation ' {Ta'wU') opened the door to all sorts of extravagant
ideas. One of the principal Shi'ite sects, the Hashimiyya, held
that " there is an esoteric side to everything external, a spirit
to every form, a hidden meaning (^c'z^//) to every revelation,
and to every similitude in this world a corresponding reality in
the other world ; that 'AH united in his own person the
knowledge of all mysteries and communicated it to his son
Muhammad Ibnu '1-Hanafiyya, who passed it on to his son
Abu Hashim ; and that the possessor of this universal know-
ledge is the true Imdm." ^ So, without ceasing to be Moslems
in name, the Shi'ites transmuted Islam into whatever shape
they pleased by virtue of a mystical interpretation based on the
infallible authority of the House of Muhammad, and out of the
ruins of a political party there gradually arose a great religious
organisation in which men of the most diverse opinions could
work together for deliverance from the Umayyad yoke. The
first step towards this development was made by Mukhtar, a
versatile genius who seems to have combined the parts of
political adventurer, social reformer, prophet, and charlatan.
He was crushed and his Persian allies were decimated, but the
seed which he had sown bore an abundant harvest when, sixty
years later, Abu Muslim unfurled the black standard of the
*Abbasids in Khurasan.
Concerning the origin of the oldest theological sects in
Islam, the Murjites and the Mu'tazilites, we possess too little
contemporary evidence to make a positive statement. It is
probable that the latter at any rate arose, as Von Kremer
has suggested, under the influence of Greek theologians,
' Shahrastdni, Haarbriicker's translation, Part I, p. 169.
THE MURJITES 221
especially John of Damascus and his pupil, Theodore Abucara
(Abu Qurra), the Bishop of Harran.i Christians were freely
admitted to the Umayyad court. The Christian
theoiogrcailects. al-Akhtal was poet-laureate, while many of his
co-religionists held high offices in the Government.
Moslems and Christians exchanged ideas in friendly discussion
or controversially. Armed with the hair-splitting weapons of
Byzantine theology, which they soon learned to use only too
well, the Arabs proceeded to try their edge on the dogmas of
Islam.
The leading article of the Murjite creed was this, that no
one who professed to believe in the One God could be
declared an infidel, whatever sins he might
TheMurjites. ^qj^j^j^, until God Himself had given judgment
against him.2 The Murjites were so called because they
deferred {arja'a = to defer) their decision in such cases and
left the sinner's fate in suspense, so long as it was doubtful.3
This principle they applied in different ways. For example,
they refused to condemn *Ali and 'Uthman outright, as the
Kharijites did. "Both 'All and 'Uthman," they said, "were
servants of God, and by God alone must they be judged ; it is
not for us to pronounce either of them an infidel, notwith-
standing that they rent the Moslem people asunder." 4 On
the other hand, the Murjites equally rejected the pretensions
' Von Kremer, Culturgcschichf. Strcifziige, p. 2 sqq.
= The best account of the early Murjites that has hitherto appeared is
contained in a paper by Van Vloten, entitled Irdjd (Z.D.M.G., vol. 45,
p. 161 sqq.). The reader may also consult Shahrastani, Haarbriicker's
trans., Part I, p. 156 sqq. ; Goldziher, M nhammcdanischc Studien, Part II,
p. 89 sqq. ; Van Vloten, La doviination Avabc, p. 31 seq.
3 Van Vloten thinks that in the name ' Murjite ' (murji') there is an
allusion to Koran, ix, 107 : "And others are remanded (murjawna) until
God shall decree ; whether He shall punish them or take fity on them— for
God is knowing and wise."
4 Cf. the poem of Thabit Qutna {Z.D.M.G., loc. cit., p. 162), which states
the whole Murjite doctrine in popular form. The author, who was
himself a Murjite, lived in Khurasan during the latter half of the first
century .■\.H.
222 THE UMAVYAD DYNASTY
made by the Shi'ites on behalf of 'All and by the Umayyads
on behalf of Mu'awiya. For the most part they maintained
a neutral attitude towards the Umayyad Government : they
were passive resisters, content, as Wellhausen puts it, " to
stand up for the impersonal Law." Sometimes, however, they
turned the principle of toleration against their rulers. Thus
Harith b. Surayj and other Arabian Murjites joined the
oppressed Mawdll of KhurasAn to whom the Government
denied those rights which they had acquired by con-
version.^ According to the Murjite view, these Persians,
having professed Islam, should no longer be treated as tax-
paying infidels. The Murjites brought the same tolerant
spirit into religion. They set faith above works, emphasised
the love and goodness of God, and held that no Moslem would
be damned everlastingly. Some, like Jahm b. Safwdn, went so
far as to declare that faith [imdn) was merely an inward con-
viction : a man might openly profess Christianity or Judaism
or any form of unbelief without ceasing to be a good Moslem,
provided only that he acknowledged Allah with his heart.^
The moderate school found their most illustrious representative
in Abu Hanifa (f 767 a.d.), and through this great divine —
vv^hose followers to-day are counted by millions — their liberal
doctrines were diffused and perpetuated.
During the Umayyad period Basra was the intellectual
capital of Islam, and in that city we find the first traces of a
sect which maintained the principle that thought
must be free in the search for truth. The origin
of the Mu'tazilites {al-MuHazila)^ as they are generally called,
takes us back to the famous divine and ascetic, Hasan of
Basra (1728 a.d.). One day he was asked to give his opinion
on a point regarding which the Murjites and the Kharijites
held opposite views, namely, whether those who had committed
' Van Vloten, La domination Arabc, p. 29 sqq.
» Ibn Hazm, cited in Z.D.M.G., vol. 45, p. 169, n. 7. Jahm (t about
747 A.D.) was a Persian, as might be inferred from the boldness of his
speculations.
THE MU'TAZILITES 223
a great sin should be deemed believers or unbelievers. While
Hasan was considering the question, one of his pupils, Wasil b.
'Ata (according to another tradition, *Amr b. 'Ubayd) replied
that such persons were neither believers nor unbelievers, but
should be ranked in an intermediate state. He then turned
aside and began to explain the grounds of his assertion to a
group which gathered about him in a different part of the
mosque. Hasan said : " Wasil has separated himself from us "
{jHaxala ^annd) ; and on this account the followers of Wasil
were named ' Mu'tazilites,' i.e,^ Schismatics. Although the
story may not be literally true, it is probably safe to assume
that the new sect originated in Basra among the pupils of
Hasan,! who was the life and soul of the religious movement
of the first century a.h. The Mu'tazilite heresy, in its
earliest form, is connected with the doctrine of Predestination.
On this subject the Koran speaks with two voices. Muham-
mad was anything but a logically exact and consistent thinker.
He was guided by the impulse of the moment, and neither he
nor his hearers perceived, as later Moslems did, that the lan-
guage of the Koran is often contradictory. Thus in the
present instance texts which imply the moral responsibility of
man for his actions — e.g.y " Every soul is in pledge (with
God) for what it hath wrought " 2 ; " IVhoso does good
benefits himself and whoso does evil does it against himself" 3 —
stand side by side with others which declare that God leads men
aright or astray, as He pleases ; that the hearts of the wicked
are sealed and their ears made deaf to the truth ; and that
they are certainly doomed to perdition. This fatalistic view
prevailed in the first century of Islam, and the dogma of Pre-
destination was almost universally accepted. Ibn Qutayba,
' Hasan himself inclined for a time to the doctrine of free-will, but after-
wards gave it up (Ibn Qutayba, Kitdbii 'l-Ma'drif, p. 225). He is said to
have held that everything happens by fate, except sin (Al-Mn'fazilah, ed.
by T. W. Arnold, p. 12, 1. 3 from foot). See, however, Shahrastani, Haar-
briicker's trans., Part I, p. 46.
= Koran, Ixxiv, 41. 3 Ibid., xli, 46.
224 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY \
however, mentions the names of twenty-seven persons who held
the opinion that men's actions are free.i Two among them, j
Ma'bad al-Juhani and Abii Marwan Ghaylan, who were put to |
death by *Abdu '1-Malik and his son Hisham, do not appear to |
have been condemned as heretics, but rather as enemies of the
Umayyad Government.^ The real founder of the Mu'tazilites
was Wdsil b. 'Atd (j 748 a.d.),3 who added a second cardinal
doctrine to that of free-will. He denied the existence of the
Divine attributes — Power, Wisdom, Life, &c. — on the ground
that such qualities, if conceived as eternal, would destroy the
Unity of God. Hence the Mu'tazilites called themselves
' the partisans of Unity and Justice ' ( Ahlu l-tawhld wa- l-^adl) :
of Unity for the reason which has been explained, and of
Justice, because they held that God was not the author of evil
and that He would not punish His creatures except for actions
within their control. The further development of these
Rationalistic ideas belongs to the *Abbasid period and will be
discussed in a subsequent chapter.
The founder of Islam had too much human nature and
common sense to demand of his countrymen such mortifying
austerities as were practised by the Jewish Essenes
?sc°eTidsm. ^"^ ^^^ Christian monks. His religion was not
without ascetic features, e.g.^ the Fast of Ramaddn,
the prohibition of wine, and the ordinance of the pilgrimage,
but these can scarcely be called unreasonable. On the other
hand Muhammad condemned celibacy not only by his personal
■ Kitdhu 'l-MaUinf, p. 301. Those who held the doctrine of free-will
were called the Qadarites (al-Qadariyya), from qadar (power), which may
denote (i) the power of God to determine human actions, and (2) the
power of man to determine his own actions. Their opponents asserted
that men act under compulsion {jabr) ; hence they were called the
Jabarites (al-Jabariyya).
' As regards Ghaylan see Al-Mu'tazilah, ed. by T. W. Arnold, p. 15,
I. l6 sqq.
3 Ibn Khallikan, De Slane's translation, vol. iii, p. 642 ; Shahrastdni,
trans, by Haarbriicker, Part I, p. 44.
THE ASCETIC MOVEMENT 225
example but also by precept. "There is no monkery in
Islam," he is reported to have said, and there was in fact
nothing of the kind for more than a century after his death.
During this time, however, asceticism made great strides. It
was the inevitable outcome of the Muhammadan conception
of Allah, in which the attributes of mercy and love are over-
shadowed by those of majesty, awe, and vengeance. The
terrors of Judgment Day so powerfully described in the Koran
were realised with an intensity of conviction which it is
difficult for us to imagine. As Goldziher has observed, an
exaggerated consciousness of sin and the dread of Divine punish-
ment gave the first impulse to Moslem asceticism. Thus we
read that Tamlm al-Dari, one of the Prophet's Companions,
who was formerly a Christian, passed the whole night until
daybreak, repeating a single verse of the Koran (xlv, 20) —
" Do those who work evil think that We shall make them even
as those who believe and do good^ so that their life and death
shall be equal? Ill do they judge !'' i Abu '1-Darda, another
of the Companions, used to say : " If ye knew what ye shall
see after death, ye would not eat food nor drink water from
appetite, and I wish that I were a tree which is lopped and
then devoured." 2 There were many who shared these views,
and their determination to renounce the world and to live
solely for God was strengthened by their disgust with a
tyrannical and impious Government, and by the almost unin-
terrupted spectacle of bloodshed, rapine, and civil war. Hasan
of Basra (1728) — we have already met him in
Hasan of Basra. . ., , -^ ir t •^■ ^ • ..
connection with the Mu'tazilites — is an out-
standing figure in this early ascetic movement, which
proceeded on orthodox lines.3 Fear of God seized on him
so mightily that, in the words of his biographer, " it seemed
' Sha'rani, Lawdqihu 'l-Anwdr (Cairo, 1299 a.h.), p. 31. ' Ibid.
3 See Von Kremer, Hcrrschende Ideen, p. 52 sqq. ; Goldziher, Materialien
zur Entwickelungsgesch. des Sufismus {Vienna Oriental Journal, vol. 13,
P- 35 sqq.).
16
226 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
as though Hell-fire had been created for him alone." ^ All who
looked on his face thought that he must have been recently
overtaken by some great calamity .^ One day a friend saw him
weeping and asked him the cause. " I weep," he replied, 1|
" for fear that I have done something unwittingly and
unintentionally, or committed some fault, or spoken some
word which is unpleasing to God : then He may have said,
' Begone, for now thou hast no more honour in My court,
and henceforth I will not receive anything from thee.' " 3 j
Al-Mubarrad relates that two monks, coming from Syria,
entered Basra and looked at Hasan, whereupon one said to the
other, " Let us turn aside to visit this man, whose way of life
appears like that of the Messiah." So they went, and they
found him supporting his chin on the palm of his hand, while
he was saying — " How I marvel at those who have been
ordered to lay in a stock of provisions and have been
summoned to set out on a journey, and yet the foremost of
them stays for the hindermost ! Would that I knew what
they are waiting for ! " 4 The following utterances are
characteristic : —
" God hath made fasting a hippodrome (place or time of training)
for His servants, that they may race towards obedience to Him.s
Some come in first and win the prize, while others are left behind
and return disappointed ; and by my life, if the lid were removed,
the well-doer would be diverted by his well-doing, and the evil-
doer by his evil-doing, from wearing new garments or from anoint-
ing his hair."*
' Sha'rani, Lawdqih, p. 38.
' Qushayri's Risdla (1287 a.h.), p. 77, 1. 10.
3 Tadhkiratu 'l-Awliyd of Faridu'ddin 'Attar, Part I, p. 37, 1. 8 of my
edition.
4 Kdmil (ed. by Wright), p. 57, 1. 16.
5 The point of this metaphor lies in the fact that Arab horses were put
on short commons during the period of training, which usually began
forty days before the race.
* Kdmil, p. 57, last line.
HASAN OF BASRA 227
" You meet one of them with white skin and delicate complexion,
speeding along the path of vanity : he shaketh his hips and clappeth
his sides and saith, ' Here am I, recognise me ! ' Yes, we recognise
thee, and thou art hateful to God and hateful to good men." '
"The bounties of God are too numerous to be acknowledged
unless with His help, and the sins of Man are too numerous for him
to escape therefrom unless God pardon them." '
" The wonder is not how the lost were lost, but how the saved
were saved." ^
" Cleanse ye these hearts (by meditation and remembrance of
God), for they are quick to rust ; and restrain ye these souls, for
they desire eagerly, and if ye restrain them not, they will drag you
to an evil end," •*
The Sufis, concerning whom we shall say a few words
presently, claim Hasan as one of themselves, and with justice
in so far as he attached importance to spiritual
^asan of Basra . . ~ . .
not a genuine riffhtcousness, and was not satisfied with merely
§u£i. ° ' . . . -^
external acts of devotion. "A grain of genuine
piety," he declared, " is better than a thousandfold weight of
fasting and prayer." 5 But although some of his sayings which
are recorded in the later biographies lend colour to the fiction
that he was a full-blown Siifi, there can be no doubt that his
mysticism — if it deserves that name — was of the most moderate
type, entirely lacking the glow and exaltation which we find
in the saintly woman, Rabi'a al-*Adawiyya, with whom legend
associates him.^
The origin of the name * Siifi ' is explained by the Sufis
themselves in many different ways, but of the derivations
' Kdmil, p. 58, 1. 14. ^ Ihid., p. 67, 1. 9.
3 Ihid., p. 91, 1. 14. * Ihid., p. 120, 1. 4.
5 Qushayri's Risdla, p. 63, last line.
^ It is noteworthy that Qushayri (t 1073 A.D.), one of the oldest authori-
ties on Siifiism, does not include Hasan among the Sufi Shaykhs whose
biographies are given in the Risala (pp. 8-35), and hardly mentions him
above half a dozen times in the course of his work. The sayings of
Hasan which he cites are of the same character as those preserved in the
Kcimil.
228 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
which have been proposed only three possess any claim to con-
sideration, viz., those which connect it with o-o^oc (wise) or
with \afa (purity) or with mf (wool).i The
^^or^sdf1;°'^ first two are inadmissible on linguistic grounds,
into which we need not enter, though it may be
remarked that the derivation from safa is consecrated by the
authority of the Sufi Saints, and is generally accepted in the
East.2 The reason for this preference appears in such defini-
tions as " The Sufi is he who keeps his heart pure [safi) with
God," 3 "Sufiism is 'the being chosen for purity' {istifd) :
whoever is thus chosen and made pure from all except God
is the true Sufi." 4 Understood in this sense, the word had a .
lofty significance which commended it to the elect. Never- *
theless it can be tracked to a quite humble source. Woollen
garments were frequently worn by men of ascetic life in the
early times of Islam in order (as Ibn Khaldun says) that they
might distinguish themselves from those who affected a more
luxurious fashion of dress. Hence the name ' Siifi,' which
denotes in the first instance an ascetic clad in wool (suf), just
as the Capuchins owed their designation to the hood (cappuccio)
which they wore. According to Qushayri, the term came
into common use before the end of the second century of the
Hijra ( = 815 a.d.). By this time, however, the ascetic move-
ment in Islam had to some extent assumed a new character,
and the meaning of ' Sufi,' if the word already existed, must
have undergone a corresponding change. It seems to me not
unlikely that the epithet in question marks the point of
' See Noldeke's article, ' Sufi,' in Z.D.M.G., vol. 48, p. 45.
' An allusion to safd occurs in thirteen out of the seventy definitions of
Siifi and Sufiism (Tasawwiif) which are contained in the Tadhkiratu
'l-Awliyd, or ' Memoirs of the Saints,' of the well-known Persian mystic,
Faridu'ddin 'Attar (t circa 1230 a.d.), whereas siif is mentioned only
twice.
3 Said by Bishr al-Hafi (the bare-footed), who died in 841-842 a.d.
* Said by Junaydof Baghdad (t 909-910 A.D.), one of the most celebrated
Siifi Shaykhs.
EARLY SiypIISM 229
departure from orthodox asceticism and that, as J^mf states,
it was first applied to Abii Hdshim of Kufa {ob. before 800 a.d.),
who, in defiance of the Prophet's injunction,
of Sufiism"^^ founded a monastery [Khdnaqdh) for Sufis at Ramla
in Palestine. Be that as it may, the distinction
between asceticism {zuhd) and Sufiism — a distinction which
answers, broadly speaking, to the via purgativa and the via
illuminativa of Western mediaeval mysticism — begins to show
itself before the close of the Umayyad period, and rapidly
develops in the early 'Abbasid age under the influence of
foreign ideas and, in particular, of Greek philosophy. Leaving
this later development to be discussed in a subsequent chapter,
we shall now briefly consider the origin of Sufiism properly so
called and the first manifestation of the peculiar tendencies on
which it is based.
As regards its origin, we cannot do better than quote the
observations with which Ibn Khaldun (t 1406 a.d.) intro-
duces the chapter on Sufiism in the Prolegomena to his great
historical work : —
"This is one of the religious sciences which were born in Islam.
The way of the Sufis was regarded by the ancient Moslems and
Ibn Khaidiin's their iUustrious men — the Companions of the Prophet
account of the (al-Sahdba), the Successors (al-Tdbi'un), and the
origin of Sufiism. ,. , . , -x j.i_ iu c
generation which came alter them — as the way of
Truth and Salvation. To be assiduous in piety, to give up all else
for God's sake, to turn away from worldly gauds and vanities, to
renounce pleasure, wealth, and power, which are the general
objects of human ambition, to abandon society and to lead in
seclusion a life devoted solely to the service of God —these were the
fundamental principles of §ufiism which prevailed among the
Companions and the Moslems of old time. When, however, in
the second generation and afterwards worldly tastes became widely
spread, and men no longer shrank from such contamination, those
who made piety their aim were distinguished by the title of Sufis
or Mutasawwifa (aspirants to Sufiism).'
• Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddima (Beyrout, 1900), p. 467 = vol. iii, p. 85 seq.
of tiie French translation by De Slane. The same things are said at greater
230 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
From this it is clear that Sufiism, if not originally identical
with the ascetic revolt of which, as we have seen, Hasan of
Basra was the most conspicuous representative,
The earliest form r , t
ofsdflism. at any rate arose out or that movement. It was
not a speculative system, like the Mu'tazilite
heresy, but a practical religion and rule of life. " We derived
Sufiism," said Junayd, " from fasting and taking leave of the
world and breaking familiar ties and renouncing what men
deem good ; not from disputation " {^qil wa-qal).^ The oldest
Sufis were ascetics and hermits, but they were also something
more. They brought out the spiritual and mystical element in
Islam, or brought it in, if they did not find it there already.
" Sufiism," says Suhrawardi,^ " is neither ' poverty ' [faqr)
nor asceticism {%uhd)^ but a term which comprehends the ideas
of both, together with something besides. With-
^'^between"'^^ out thcsc Superadded qualities a man is not a Sufi,
ands^fifsm. though he may be an ascetic {zdhid) or a fakir
{faqtr). It is said that, notwithstanding the ex-
cellence of ' poverty,' the end thereof is only the beginning
of Sufiism." A little further on he explains the difference
thus: —
" The fakir holds fast to his ' poverty ' and is profoundly con-
vinced of its superior merit. He prefers it to riches because he
longs for the Divine recompense of which his faith assures him . . .
and whenever he contemplates the everlasting reward, he abstains
from the fleeting joys of this world and embraces poverty and
indigence and fears that if he should cease to be 'poor' he will lose
both the merit and the prize. Now this is absolutely unsound
according to the doctrine of the Siifis, because he hopes for recom-
pense and renounces the world on that account, whereas the Sufi does
not renounce it for the sake of promised rewards but, on the contrary,
length by Suhrawardi in his 'Awdiifu 'l-Ma'drif (printed on the margin
of Ghazali's Ihyd, Cairo, 1289 a.h.), vol. i, p. 172 et seqq. Cf. also the
passage from Qushayri translated by Professor E. G. Browne on
pp. 2^7-298 of vol. i. of his Literary History of Persia.
' Suhrawardi, loc. cit., p. 136 seq. ' Loc. cit., p. 145.
EARLY Sl)FIISM 231
for the sake of present 'states,' for he is the ' son of his time.' . . . '
The theory that ' poverty ' is the foundation of Sufiism signifies that
the diverse stages of Sufiism are reached by the road of 'poverty' ;
it does not imply that the Sufi is essentially a fakir."
The keynote of Sufiism is disinterested, selfless devotion,
in a word, Love. Though not wholly strange, this idea
was very far from being familiar to pious Muhammadans,
who were more deeply impressed by the power and ven-
geance of God than by His goodness and mercy. The
Koran generally represents Allah as a stern, unapproach-
able despot, requiring utter submission to His arbitrary will,
but infinitely unconcerned with human feelings and aspira-
tions. Such a Being could not satisfy the religious instinct,
and the whole history of Sufiism is a protest against the
unnatural divorce between God and Man which this concep-
tion involves. Accordingly, I do not think that we need look
•beyond Islam for the origin of the Sufi doctrines, although it
would be a mistake not to recognise the part which Christian
influence may have had in shaping their early development.
The pantheistic tendency with which they gradually became
imbued, and which in the course of time completely transformed
them, was more or less latent during the Umayyad period and
for nearly a century after the accession of the House of
'Abbas. The early Sufi's are still on orthodox ground : their
relation to Islam is not unlike that of the
The early .u IS. j^^^jj^g^^^ Spanish mystics to the Roman Catholic
Church. They attach extraordinary value to certain points
in Muhammad's teaching and emphasise them so as to leave
the others almost a dead letter. They do not indulge in
extravagant speculation, but confine themselves to matters
bearing on practical theology. Self-abandonment, rigorous
self-mortification, fervid piety, and quietism carried to the
verge of apathy form the main features of their creed.
' I.e., he yields himself unreservedly to the spiritual ' states ' (ahwdl)
which pass over him, according as God wills.
232 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
A full and vivid picture of early Sufiism might be drawn
from the numerous biographies in Arabic and Persian, w^hich
supply abundant details concerning the manner
Ibrahim b. of Jifg of thcse Muhammadan Saints, and faith-
Adham. • ' .
fully record their austerities, visions, miracles,
and sayings. Here we have only space to add a few lines
about the most important members of the group — Ibrdhim
b. Adham, Abu 'Ali Shaqiq, Fudayl b. 'lyad, and Rabi'a—
all of whom died between the middle and end of the second
century after the Flight (767-815 a.d.). Ibrahim belonged
to the royal family of Balkh. Forty scimitars of gold and
forty maces of gold were borne in front of him and behind.
One day, while hunting, he heard a voice which cried,
" Awake ! wert thou created for this ? " He exchanged
his splendid robes for the humble garb and felt cap of a
shepherd, bade farewell to his kingdom, and lived for ninej
years in a cave near Naysabur.i His customary prayer J
was, " O God, uplift me from the shame of disobedience
to the glory of submission Unto Thee ! "
"O God !" he said, "Thou knowest that the Eight Paradises are
little beside the honour which Thou hast done unto me, and beside
Thy love, and beside Thy giving me intimacy with the praise of Thy
name, and beside the peace of mind which Thou hast given me
when I meditate on Thy majesty." And again: "You will not
attain to righteousness until you traverse six passes {'aqabdi) : the
first is that you shut the door of pleasure and open the door of
hardship ; the second, that you shut the door of eminence and open
the door of abasement ; the third, that you shut the door of ease and
open the door of affliction ; the fourth, that you shut the door of
sleep and open the door of wakefulness ; the fifth, that you shut the
door of riches and open the door of poverty ; and the sixth, that
you shut the door of expectation and open the door of making your-
self ready for death."
• Possibly Ibrahim was one of the Shikaftiyya or ' Cave-dwellers ' of
Khurasan [shikaft means ' cave ' in Persian), whom the people of Syria
called al-Ju'iyya, i.e., ' the Pasters.' See Suhrawardi, loc. cit., p. 171.
THE OLDEST SUF/S 233
Shaqfq, also of Balkh, laid particular stress on the duty
of leaving one's self entirely in God's hands [tawakkul)^ a
term which is practically synonymous with
^^B^Si^^ passivity ; e.g., the mutawakkil must make no
effort to obtain even the barest livelihood, he
must not ask for anything, nor engage in any trade : his
business is with God alone. One of Shaqfq's sayings was,
" Nine-tenths of devotion consist in flight from mankind,
the remaining tenth in silence." Similarly,
Fudayl b. 'lyad. ° . ■' /
Fudayl b. 'lyad, a converted captain of banditti,
declared that "to abstain for men's sake from doing any-
thing is hypocrisy, while to do anything for men's sake
is idolatry." It may be noticed as an argument against
the Indian origin of Sufiism that although the three
Siifls who have been mentioned were natives of Khurasdn
or Transoxania, and therefore presumably in touch with
Buddhistic ideas, no trace can be found in their sayings of
the doctrine of self-annihilation [fand), which plays a great
part in subsequent Sufiism, and which Von Kremer and
others have identified with Nirvana. We now come to a
more interesting personality, in whom the ascetic and
quietistic type of Sufiism is transfigured by emotion and
begins clearly to reveal its pantheistic sympathies. Every
one knows that women have borne a distinguished part in
the annals of European mysticism : St. Teresa, Madame
Guyon, Catharine of Siena, and Juliana of Norwich, to men-
tion but a few names at random. And notwithstanding
the intellectual death to which the majority of Moslem
women are condemned by their Prophet's ordinance, the
Sufis, like the Roman Catholics, can boast a goodly number
of female saints. The oldest of these, and by
ai-'Adawfyya ^^^ ^^^ most renowned, is Rdbi'a, who belonged
to the tribe of 'Adi, whence she is generally
called Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya. She was a native of Basra
and died at Jerusalem, probably towards the end of the
234 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
second century of Islam : her tomb was an object of
pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, as we learn from Ibn
Khallikdn (t 1282 a.d.). Although the sayings and verses
attributed to her by Sufi writers may be of doubtful
authenticity, there is every reason to suppose that they
fairly represent the actual character of her devotion, which
resembled that of all feminine mystics in being inspired by
tender and ardent feeling. She was asked : " Do you love
God Almighty ? " " Yes." " Do you hate the Devil ? "
"My love of God," she replied, "leaves me no leisure to
hate the Devil. I saw the Prophet in a dream. He said,
'O Rabi'a, do you love me?' I said, 'O Apostle of God,
who does not love thee ? — but love of God hath so absorbed
me that neither love nor hate of any other thing remains
in my heart.' " Rdbi'a is said to have spoken the following
verses : —
" Two ways I love Thee ; selfishly,
And next, as worthy is of Thee.
'Tis selfish love that I do naught
Save think on Thee with every thought ;
'Tis purest love when Thou dost raise
The veil to my adoring gaze.
Not mine the praise in that or this,
Thine is the praise in both, I wis."'
Whether genuine or not, these lines, with their mixture
of devotion and speculation — the author distinguishes the
illuminative from the contemplative life and manifestly
regards the latter as the more excellent way — serve to
mark the end of orthodox Sufiism and the rise of a new
theosophical system which, under the same name and still
professing to be in full accord with the Koran and the
Sunna^ was really founded upon pantheistic ideas of
extraneous origin — ideas irreconcilable with any revealed
' Ghazali, Ihyd (Cairo, 1289 A.H.), vol. iv, p. 298.
MUHAMMADAN POETRY 235
religion, and directly opposed to the severe and majestic
simplicity of the Muhammadan articles of faith.
The opening century of Islam was not favourable to litera-
ture. At first conquest, expansion, and organisation, then
civil strife absorbed the nation's energies ; then,
litTra^f^ under the Umayyads, the old pagan spirit
asserted itself once more. Consequently the
literature of this period consists almost exclusively of poetry,
which bears few marks of Islamic influence. I need scarcely
refer to the view which long prevailed in Europe that
Muhammad corrupted the taste of his countrymen by setting
up the Koran as an incomparable model of poetic style,
and by condemning the admired productions of the heathen
bards and the art of poetry itself ; nor remind my readers
that in the first place the Koran is not poetical in form (so
that it could not serve as a model of this
A«bfa*n'poet^ kind), and secondly, according to Muhammadan
Muhamma°d. belief, is the actual Word of God, therefore %m
generis and beyond imitation. Again, the poets
whom the Prophet condemned were his most dangerous
opponents : he hated them not as poets but as propagators
and defenders of false ideals, and because they ridiculed his
teaching, while on the contrary he honoured and rewarded
those who employed their talents in the right way. If the
nomad minstrels and cavaliers who lived, as they sang, the
free life of the desert were never equalled by the brilliant
laureates of imperial Damascus and Baghdad, the causes of
the decline cannot be traced to Muhammad's personal atti-
tude, but are due to various circumstances for which he is
only responsible in so far as he founded a religious and
political system that revolutionised Arabian society. The
poets of the period with which we are now dealing follow
slavishly in the footsteps of the ancients, as though Islam
had never been. Instead of celebrating the splendid victories
236 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
and heroic deeds of Moslem warriors, the bard living in a
great city still weeps over the relics of his beloved's encamp-
ment in the wilderness, still rides away through
^'^^ p^ets.^^^'^ the sandy waste on the peerless camel, whose
fine points he particularly describes ; and if he
should happen to be addressing the Caliph, it is ten to
one that he will credit that august personage with all the
virtues of a Bedoui-> 'ihaykh. " Fortunately the imitation
of the antique qasida^ at any rate with the greatest Umay-
yad poets, is to some extent only accessory another form
of art that excites our historical interest in a high degree :
namely, the occasional poems (very numerous in almost
all these writers), which are suggested by the mood of
the moment and can shed a vivid light on contemporary
history." i
The conquests made by the successors of the Prophet
brought enormous wealth into Mecca and Medina, and
when the Umayyad aristocracy gained the
Music and song , ,. -ttl '>/^i-i l
in the upper hand m 'Uthmans Caliphate, these towns
Holy Cities. , , . , , ,• , ,-r , • .
developed a voluptuous and dissolute life which
broke through every restriction that Islam had imposed.
The increase of luxury produced a corresponding refine-
ment of the poetic art. Although music was not unknown
to the pagan Arabs, it had hitherto been cultivated chiefly
by foreigners, especially Greek and Persian singing-girls.
But in the first century after the Flight we hear of several
Arab singers,^ natives of Mecca and Medina, who set favourite
passages to music : henceforth the words and the melody
are inseparably united, as we learn from the Kitabu 'l-Aghdni
or ' Book of Songs,' where hundreds of examples are to be
found. Amidst the gay throng of pleasure-seekers women
naturally played a prominent part, and love, which had
' Brockelmann, Gesch. d. Arab. Littetatur, vol. i, p. 45.
' E.g., Ma'bad, Gharid, Ibn Surayj, Tuways, and Ibn 'A'isha.
'UMAR IBN ABI RABPA 237
hitherto formed in most cases merely the conventional pre-
lude to an ode, now began to be sung for its own sake.
In this Peninsular school, as it may be named in contrast
with the bold and masculine strain of the great Provincial
poets w^hom we are about to mention, the palm unquestion-
ably belongs to 'Umar b. Abi Rabi'a (t 719 a.d.),
'Umar b. Abi (-j^g son of a rich Meccan merchant. He passed
Rabi'a. _ ^
the best part of his life in the pursuit of noble
dames, who alone inspired him to sing. His poetry was so
seductive that it was regarded by devout Moslems as " the
grp^test crime 8ver committed against God," and so charm-
ing withal that 'Abdullah b. 'Abbas, the Prophet's cousin and
a famous authority on the Koran and the Traditions, could
not refrain from getting by heart some erotic verses which
*Umar recited to him.i The Arabs said, with truth, that
the tribe of Quraysh had won distinction in every field
save poetry, but we must allow that 'Umar b. Abi Rabi'a
is a clear exception to this rule. His diction, like that of
Catullus, has all the unaffected ease of refined conversation.
Here are a few lines : —
" Blame me no more, O comrades ! but to-day
Quietly with me beside the howdahs stay.
Blame not my love for Zaynab, for to her
And hers my heart is pledged a prisoner.
Ah, can I ever think of how we met
Once at al-Khayf, and feel no fond regret ?
My song of other women was but jest :
She reigns alone, eclipsing all the rest.
Hers is my love sincere, 'tis she the flame
Of passion kindles — so, a truce to blame ! " ^
We have no space to dwell on the minor poets of the same
school, al-'Arji (a kinsman of the Umayyads), al-Ahwas, and
many others. It has been pointed out by Dr. C. Brockelmann
' Kdmil of Mubarrad, p. 570 sqq.
' Aghdnf, i, 43, 1. 15 sqq. ; Noldeke's Delectus, p. 17, last line and foil.
(
238 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
that the love-poetry of this epoch is largely of popular origin ;
e.g.^ the songs attributed to Jamil, in which Buthayna is
addressed, and to Majnun — the hero of countless
Persian and Turkish romances which celebrate
his love for Layld — are true folk-songs such as occur in the
Arabian Nights^ and may be heard in the streets of Beyrout
or on the banks of the Tigris at the present day. Many
of them are extremely beautiful. I take the following
verses from a poem which is said to have been composed
by Jamil : —
" Oh, might it flower anew, that youthful prime,
And restore to us, Buthayna, the bygone time !
And might we again be blest as we wont to be,
When thy folk were nigh and grudged what thou gavest me !
Shall I ever meet Buthayna alone again,
Each of us full of love as a cloud of rain ?
Fast in her net was I when a lad, and till
This day my love is growing and waxing still.
I have spent my lifetime, waiting for her to speak,
And the bloom of youth is faded from off my cheek ;
But I will not suffer that she my suit deny.
My love remains undying, though all things die ! " '
The names of al-Akhtal, al-Farazdaq, and Jarir stand out
pre-eminently in the list of Umayyad poets. They were men
of a very different stamp from the languishing
^°rov^nc '^^^ Minnesingers and carpet-knights who, like Jamil,
refused to battle except on the field of love. It is
noteworthy that all three were born and bred in Mesopotamia.
The motherland was exhausted ; her ambitious and enter-
prising youth poured into the provinces, which now become
the main centres of intellectual activity.
Farazdaq and Jarir are intimately connected by a peculiar
rivalry — " Arcades amho — id est^ blackguards both." For many
years they engaged in a public scolding-match {muhajdt)^ and
' Noldeke's Delectus, p. 9, 1. n sqq., omitting 1. 13.
THE NAQAID 239
as neither had any scruples on the score of decency, the foulest
abuse was bandied to and fro between them — abuse, however,
which is redeemed from vulgarity by its literary excellence,
1 and by the marvellous skill which the satirists display in
manipulating all the vituperative resources of the Arabic
language. Soon these 'Fly tings' {Naqaid)
%ril^rnd ° were recited everywhere, and each poet had
i; ^"^ ^'^' thousands of enthusiastic partisans who main-
tained that he was superior to his rival. ^ One day
I Muhallab b. Abi Sufra, the governor of Khurasan, who
I was marching against the Azariqa, a sect of the Kharijites,
heard a great clamour and tumult in the camp. On
inquiring its cause, he found that the soldiers had been
fiercely disputing as to the comparative merits of Jarir and
Farazdaq, and desired to submit the question to his decision.
" Would you expose me," said Muhallab, " to be torn in
pieces by these two dogs ? I will not decide between them,
but I will point out to you those who care not a whit for
either of them. Go to the Azariqa ! They are Arabs
who understand poetry and judge it aright."
General interest Next dav, when the armies faced each other,
in poetry. J ' '
an Azraqite named 'Abida b. Hilal stepped
forth from the ranks and offered single combat. One of
Muhallab's men accepted the challenge, but before fighting
he begged his adversary to inform him which was the
better poet — Farazdaq or Jarir ? " God confound you ! "
cried 'Abida, " do you ask me about poetry instead of
studying the Koran and the Sacred Law ? " Then he
quoted a verse by Jarfr and gave judgment in his favour.^
This incident affords a striking proof that the taste for
poetry, far from being confined to literary circles, was
diffused throughout the whole nation, and was cultivated
• An edition of the Naqd'id by Professor A. A. Bevan is now being
published at Leyden.
' Aghdiit, vii, 55, 1. 12 sqq.
240 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
even amidst the fatigues and dangers of war. Parallel
instances occur in the history of the Athenians, the most
gifted people of the West, and possibly elsewhere, but
imagine British soldiers discussing Tennyson and Browning
over the camp-fires !
Akhtal joined in the fray. His sympathies were with
Farazdaq, and the naqaid which he and Jarfr composed
against each other have come down to us. All these poets,
like their Post-islamic brethren generally, were professional
encomiasts, greedy, venal, and ready to revile any one who
would not purchase their praise. Some further account of
them may be interesting to the reader, especially as the
anecdotes related by their biographers throw many curious
sidelights on the manners of the time.
The oldest of the trio, Akhtal (Ghiyath b. Ghawth) of
Taghlib, was a Christian, like most of his tribe — they had
long been settled in Mesopotamia — and remained
Akhtal. . ° . ^ . .
in that faith to the end of his life, though the
Caliph 'Abdu '1-Malik is said to have offered him a pension
and 10,000 dirhems in cash if he would turn Moslem. His
religion, however, was less a matter of principle than of
convenience, and to him the supreme virtue of Christianity
lay in the licence which it gave him to drink wine as often
as he pleased. The stories told of him suggest grovelling
devoutness combined with very easy morals, a phenomenon
familiar to the student of mediaeval Catholicism. It is
related by one who was touring in Syria that he found
Akhtal confined in a church at Damascus, and pleaded his
cause with the priest. The latter stopped beside Akhtal and
raising the staff on which he leaned — for he was an aged man
— exclaimed : " O enemy of God, will you again defame
people and satirise them and caluminate chaste women ? "
while the poet humbled himself and promised never to repeat
the offence. When asked how it was that he, who was
honoured by the Caliph and feared by all, behaved so
AKHTAL 241
submissively to this priest, he answered, "It is religion, it
is religion." ^ On another occasion, seeing the Bishop pass,
he cried to his wife who was then pregnant, " Run after
him and touch his robe." The poor woman only succeeded
in touching the tail of the Bishop's ass, but Alchtal consoled
her with the remark, " He and the tail of his ass, there's
no difference ! " 2 It is characteristic of the anti-Islamic
spirit which appears so strongly in the Umayyads that their
chosen laureate and champion should have been a Christian
who was in truth a lineal descendant of the pagan bards.
Pious Moslems might well be scandalised when he burst
unannounced into the Caliph's presence, sumptuously attired
in silk and wearing a cross of gold which was suspended
from his neck by a golden chain, while drops of
wine trickled from his beard,3 but their protests went
unheeded at the court of Damascus, where nobody cared
whether the author of a fine verse was a Moslem or a
Christian, and where a poet was doubly welcome whose
religion enabled him to serve his masters without any
regard to Muhammadan sentiment ; so that, for example,
when Yazi'd I wished to take revenge on the people of
Medina because one of their poets had addressed amatory
verses to his sister, he turned to Akhtal, who branded the
Ansar^ the men who had brought about the triumph of
Islam, in the famous lines —
" Quraysh have borne away all the honour and glory,
And baseness alone is beneath the turbans of the Ansar."''
We must remember that the poets were leaders of public
opinion ; their utterances took the place of political pamphlets
or of party oratory for or against the Government of the day.
' Aghdni, vii, 182, 1. 25 sqq. = Ibid., vii, 183, 1. 6 sqq.
3 Ibid., p. 178, 1. I seq, " Ibid., xiii, 148, 1. 23.
17
242 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
On hearing Akhtal's ode in praise of the Umayyad dynasty,^
'Abdu '1-Malik ordered one of his clients to conduct the
author through the streets of Damascus and to cry out,
" Here is the poet of the Commander of the Faithful ! Here
is the best poet of the Arabs ! " 2 No wonder that he was
a favourite at court and such an eminent personage that
the great tribe of Bakr used to invite him to act as arbitrator
whenever any controversy arose among them. 3 Despite the
luxury in which he lived, his wild Bedouin nature pined
for freedom, and he frequently left the capital to visit his
home in the desert, where he not only married and divorced
several wives, but also threw himself with ardour into the
feuds of his clan. We have already noticed the part which
he played in the literary duel between Jarfr and Farazdaq.
From his deathbed he sent a final injunction to Farazdaq
not to spare their common enemy.
Akhtal is commended by Arabian critics for the number and
excellence of his long poems, as well as for the purity, polish,
and correctness of his style. Abii 'Ubayda put him first among
the poets of Islam, while the celebrated collector of Pre-
islamic poetry, Abu 'Amr b, al-'Ala, declared that if Akhtal
had lived a single day in the Pagan Age he would not have
preferred any one to him. His supremacy in panegyric was
acknowledged by Farazdaq, and he himself claims to have
surpassed all competitors in three styles, viz., panegyric,
satire, and erotic poetry ; but there is more justification for
the boast that his satires might be recited virginibus — he
does not add puerisque — without causing a blush.4
Hammdm b. Ghdlib, generally known as Farazdaq, belonged
to the tribe of Tamlm, and was born at Basra towards the end
of 'Umar's Caliphate. His grandfather, Sa*sa'a, won renown
» Encomium Omayadanim, ed. by Houtsma (Leyden, 1878).
' Aghdni, vii, 172, 1. 27 sqq. 3 Ibid., p. 179, 1. 25 sqq.
* Ibid., p. 178, 1. 26 seq.
FARAZDAQ 243
in Pre-islamic times by ransoming the lives of female infants
whom their parents had condemned to die (on account of
which he received the title, Muhiyyu ''l-Mavfiidat^
'He who brings the buried girls to life'), and
his father was likewise imbued with the old Bedouin traditions
of liberality and honour, which were rapidly growing obsolete
among the demoralised populace of 'Iraq. Farazdaq was a
mauva'is sujet of the type represented by Francois Villon,
reckless, dissolute, and thoroughly unprincipled : apart from
his gift of vituperation, we find nothing in him to admire
save his respect for his father's memory and his constant
devotion to the House of 'Ali, a devotion which he scorned
to conceal ; so that he was cast into prison by the Caliph
Hisham for reciting in his presence a glowing panegyric on
'All's grandson, Zaynu 'l-'Abidin. The tragic fate of Husayn
at Karbala affected him deeply, and he called on his com-
patriots to acquit themselves like men —
" If ye avenge not him, the son of the best of you,
Then fling, fling the sword away and naught but the spindle
ply-'"
While still a young man, he was expelled from his native
city in consequence of the lampoons which he directed against
a noble family of Basra, the Band Nahshal. Thereupon he
fled to Medfna, where he plunged into gallantry and dissipa-
tion until a shameless description of one of his intrigues
again drew upon him the sentence of banishment. His
poems contain many references to his cousin Nawar, whom,
by means of a discreditable trick, he forced to marry him
when she was on the point of giving her hand to another.
The pair were ever quarrelling, and at last Farazdaq con-
sented to an irrevocable divorce, which was witnessed by
Hasan of Basra, the famous theologian. No sooner was
» Aghdni, xix, 34, 1. 18.
244 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
the act complete than Farazdaq began to wish it undone,
and he spoke the following verses : — ^
" I feel repentance like al-Kusa'i,*
Now that Nawar has been divorced by me.
She was my Paradise which I have lost,
Like Adam when the Lord's command he crossed.
I am one who wilfully puts out his eyes,
Then dark to him the shining day doth rise ! "
'The repentance or Farazdaq,' signifying bitter regret or
disappointment, passed into a proverb. He died a few
months before Jarlr in 728 a.d., a year also made notable
by the deaths of two illustrious divines, Hasan of Basra and
Ibn Sirln.
Jarir b. 'Atiyya belonged to Kulayb, a i branch of the same
tribe, Tamim, which produced Farazdaq. He was the court-
poet of Hajjaj, the dreaded governor of 'Irdq, and
eulogised his patron in such extravagant terms as
to arouse the jealousy of the Caliph 'Abdu 'l-Malilc, who
consequently received him, on his appearance at Damascus,
with marked coldness and hauteur. But when, after several
repulses, he at length obtained permission to recite a poem
which he had composed in honour of the prince, and came
to the verse —
"Are not ye the best of those who on camel ride,
More open-handed than all in the world beside?" —
the Caliph sat up erect on his throne and exclaimed : " Let
' Kdmil of Mubarrad, p. 70, 1. 17 sqq.
= Al-Kusa'i broke an excellent bow which he had made for himself.
See The Assemblies of Hariri, trans, by Chenery, p. 351. Professor Bevan
remarks that this half-verse is an almost verbal citation from a verse
ascribed to 'Adi b. Marina of Hira, an enemy of 'Adi b. Zayd the poet
(Aghdni, ii, 24, 1. 5).
JARlR
245
us be praised like this or in silence ! " ^ Jarfr's fame as a
satirist stood so high that to be worsted by him was reckoned
a greater distinction than to vanquish any one else. The
blind poet, Bashshdr b. Burd (t 783 a.d.), said : "I satirised
Jarir, but he considered me too young for him to notice.
Had he answered me, I should have been the finest poet
in the world." 2 The following anecdote shows that
vituperation launched by a master like Jarir was a deadly
and far-reaching weapon which degraded its victim in the
eyes of his contemporaries, however he might deserve their
esteem, and covered his family and tribe with lasting
disgrace.
There was a poet of repute, well known by the name of Ra'i '1-ibiI
(Camel-herd), who loudly published his opinion that Farazdaq was
superior to Jarir, although the latter had lauded his tribe, the Banii
Numayr, whereas Farazdaq had made verses against them. One
day Jarir met him and expostulated with him but got no reply.
Ra'i was riding a mule and was accompanied by his son, Jandal,
who said to his father : " Why do you halt before this dog of the
Banu Kulayb, as though you had anything to hope or fear from
him?" At the same time he gave the mule a lash with his whip.
The animal started violently and kicked Jarir, who was standing by,
so that his cap fell to the ground. Ra'i took no heed and went on
his way. Jarir picked up the cap, brushed it, and replaced it on his
head. Then he exclaimed in verse : —
" 0 Jandal ! what will say Numayr of you
When my dishonouring shaft has pierced thy sire?"
He returned home full of indignation, and after the evening prayer,
having called for a jar of date- wine and a lamp, he set about his
work. An old woman in the house heard him muttering, and
mounted the stairs to see what ailed him. She found him crawling
naked on his bed, by reason of that which was within him ; so she
ran down, crying " He is mad," and described what she had seen to
the people of the house. " Get thee gone," they said, " we know
' Ibn Khallikdn (ed. by Wiistenfeld), No. 129 ; De Slane's translation
vol. i, p. 298.
* Aghdm, iii, 23, 1. 13.
246 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
what he is at." By daybreak Jarir had composed a satire of eighty
verses against the Banii Numayr. When he finished the poem, he
shouted triumphantly, "Allah Akbar!" and rode away to the place
where he expected to find Ra'i '1-ibil and Farazdaq and their friends.
He did not salute Ra'i but immediately began to recite. While he
was speaking Farazdaq and Ra'i bowed their heads, and the rest of
the company sat listening in silent mortification. When Jarir uttered
the final words —
" Cast down thine eyes for shame ! for thou art of
Numayr — no peer of Ka'b nor yet Kildb " —
Ra'i rose and hastened to his lodging as fast as his mule could carry
him. "Saddle! Saddle!" he cried to his comrades; "you cannot
stay here longer, Jarir has disgraced you all." They left Basra with-
out delay to rejoin their tribe, who bitterly reproached Ra'i for the
ignominy which he had brought upon Numayr ; and hundreds of
years afterwards his name was still a byword among his people.'
Next, but next at a long interval, to the three great poets of
this epoch conies Dhu '1-Rumma (Ghaylan b. 'Uqba), who
imitated the odes of the desert Arabs with tire-
Dhu'i-Rumma. ^^^^ ^^^ ridiculous fidelity. The philologists
of the following age delighted in his antique and difficult
style, and praised him far above his merits. It was said
that poetry began with Imru'u '1-Qays land ended with
Dhu '1-Rumma ; which is true in the sense that he is the
last important representative of the pure Bedouin school.
Concerning the prose writers of the period we can make
only a few general observations, inasmuch as their works
have almost entirely perished.^ In this branch
^thfu^ai^ad" of literature the same secular, non-Muhammadan
^^"° ' spirit prevailed which has been mentioned as
characteristic of the poets who flourished under the Umay-
yad dynasty, and of the dynasty itself. Historical studies
' Aghdni, vii, 49, 1. 8 sqq.
' The following account is mainly derived from Goldziher's Muhamm.
Studien, Part II, p. 203 sqq.
PROSE WRITERS 247
were encouraged and promoted by the court of Damascus.
We have referred elsewhere to 'Abid b. Sharya, a native of
Yemen, whose business it was to dress up the old legends
and purvey them in a readable form to the public. Another
Yemenite of Persian descent, Wahb b. Munabbih, is respon-
sible for a great deal of the fabulous lore belonging to the
domain of Awail (Origins) which Moslem chroniclers
commonly prefix to their historical works. There seems to
have been an eager demand for narratives of the Early
Wars of Islam (maghdzi). It is related that the Caliph
*Abdu 'l-Malik, seeing one of these books in the hands of
his son, ordered it to be burnt, and enjoined him to study
the Koran instead. This anecdote shows on the part of
'Abdu 'l-Malik a pious feeling with which he is seldom
credited, I but it shows also that histories of a legendary
and popular character preceded those which were based,
like the Maghdzi of Miisa b. 'Uqba (t 758 A.D.) and Ibn
Ishaq's 'Biography of the Prophet^ upon religious tradition.
No work of the former class has been preserved. The
strong theological influence which asserted itself in the
second century of the Hijra was unfavourable to the develop-
ment of an Arabian prose literature on national lines. In
the meantime, however, learned doctors of divinity began
to collect and write down the Hadiths. We have a solitary
relic of this sort in the Kitdbu U-Zuhd (Book of Asceticism)
by Asad b. Miisa (t 749 a.d.). The most renowned
traditionist of the Umayyad age is Muhammad b. Muslim
b. Shihab al-Zuhri (t 742 a.d.), who distinguished himself by
accepting judicial office under the tyrants ; an act of com-
plaisance to which his more stiflF-necked and conscientious
brethren declined to stoop.
It was the lust of conquest even more than missionary zeal
that caused the Arabs to invade Syria and Persia and to settle
' Cf. Browne's Lit. Hist, of Persia, vol. i, p. 230.
248 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
on foreign soil, where they lived as soldiers at the expense of
the native population whom they inevitably regarded as
an inferior race. If the latter thought to win
^^^Mosiems*^'^" tcspect by embracing the religion of their con-
querors, they found themselves sadly mistaken.
The new converts were attached as clients {Mawali^ sing.
Maivla) to an Arab tribe : they could not become Moslems
on any other footing. Far from obtaining the equal rights
which they coveted, and which, according to the principles
of Islam, they should have enjoyed, the Maw alt were treated
by their aristocratic patrons with contempt, and had to submit
to every kind of social degradation, while instead of being
exempted from the capitation-tax paid by non-Moslems,
they still remained liable to the ever-increasing exactions of
Government officials. And these ' Clients,' be it remem-
bered, were not ignorant serfs, but men whose culture was
acknowledged by the Arabs themselves — men who formed
the backbone of the influential learned class and ardently
prosecuted those studies. Divinity and Jurisprudence, which
were then held in highest esteem. Here was a situation
full of danger. Against Shi'ites and Kharijites the Umayyads
might claim with some show of reason to represent the cause
of law and order, if not of Islam ; against the bitter cry of the
oppressed Mawdlt they had no argument save the sword.
We have referred above to the universal belief of Moslems
in a Messiah and to the extraordinary influence of that belief
on their religious and political history. No
^Revllution.'^* wonder that in this unhappy epoch thousands
of people, utterly disgusted with life as they
found it, should have indulged in visions of 'a good time
coming,' which was expected to coincide with the end of
the first century of the Hijra. Mysterious predictions, dark
sayings attributed to Muhammad himself, prophecies of war
and deliverance floated to and fro. Men pored over apocry-
THE MAWALI or 'CLIENTS' 249
phal books, and asked whether the days of confusion and
slaughter {al-harj\ which, it is known, shall herald the
appearance of the Mahdf, had not actually begun.
The final struggle was short and decisive. When it closed,
the Umayyads and with them the dominion of the Arabs
had passed away. Alike in politics and literature, the Persian
race asserted its supremacy. We shall now relate the story
of this Revolution as briefly as possible, leaving the results
to be considered in a new chapter.
While the ShlMte missionaries {du^'at^ sing, da^t) were
actively engaged in canvassing for their party, which, as we
have seen, recognised in 'AH and his descendants
^' ' the only legitimate successors to Muhammad,
another branch of the Prophet's family — the 'Abbasids — had
entered the field with the secret intention of turning the
labours of the 'Alids to their own advantage. From their
ancestor, 'Abbas, the Prophet's uncle, they inherited those
qualities of caution, duplicity, and worldly wisdom which
ensure success in political intrigue. 'Abdullah, the son of
'Abbas, devoted his talents to theology and interpretation
of the Koran. He " passes for one of the strongest pillars
of religious tradition ; but, in the eyes of unprejudiced
European research, he is only a crafty liar." His descen-
dants " lived in deep retirement in Humayma, a little place
to the south of the Dead Sea, seemingly far withdrawn
from the world, but which, on account of its proximity to
the route by which Syrian pilgrims went to Mecca, afforded
opportunities for communication with the remotest lands
of Islam. From this centre they carried on
propaganda in the propaganda in their own behalf with the
urasan. ^j-j^Qgj. gj^jj^^ They had genius enough to see
that the best soil for their efforts was the distant Khurasan
— that is, the extensive north-eastern provinces of the old
Persian Empire." ^ These countries were inhabited by a
' Noldeke, Sketches from Eastern History, tr. by J. S. Black, p. 108 seq.
250 THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY
brave and high-spirited people who in consequence of their
intolerable sufferings under the Umayyad tyranny, the
devastation of their homes and the almost servile condition
to v^^hich they had been reduced, vs^ere eager to join in any
desperate enterprise that gave them hope of relief. More-
over, the Arabs in Khurasan w^ere already to a large extent
Persianised : they had Persian wives, wore trousers, drank
wine, and kept the festivals of Nawriiz and Mihrgan ;
while the Persian language was generally understood and
even spoken among them.^ Many interesting details as to
the methods of the 'Abbasid emissaries will be found in
Van Vloten's admirable work.^ Starting from Kiifa, the
residence of the Grand Master who directed the whole
agitation, they went to and fro in the guise of merchants
or pilgrims, cunningly adapting their doctrine to the intelli-
gence of those whom they sought to enlist. Like the
Shi'ites, they canvassed for ' the House of the Prophet,' an
ambiguous expression which might equally well be applied
to the descendants of 'AH or of 'Abbas, as is shown by the
following table : —
Hashim.
'Abdu '1-Muttalib.
I I I ,
'Abdullah. Abii Talib. 'Abbas.
Muhammad (the Prophet). 'Ali (married to Fatima, daughter of
the Prophet).
It was, of course, absolutely essential to the 'Abbdsids that
they should be able to count on the support of the powerful
Shi'ite organisation, which, ever since the abortive
join hands with rebellion headed by Mukhtdr (see p. 2i8 supra)
had drawn vast numbers of Persian Mawdll
into its ranks. Now, of the two main parties of the Shf'a,
' Wellhausen, Das Arabische Reich, p. 307.
' Kecherchcs sur la domination Arabc, p. 46 sqq.
THE 'ABB A SID PROPAGANDA 251
viz., the Hdshimites or followers of Muhammad Ibnu
'1-Hanafiyya, and the Imamites, who pinned their faith to
the descendants of the Prophet through his daughter Fatima,
the former had virtually identified themselves with the
'Abbasids, inasmuch as the Imdm Abu Hashim, who died
in 716 A.D., bequeathed his hereditary rights to Muhammad
b. 'All, the head of the House of 'Abbas. It only remained
to hoodwink the Imamites. Accordingly the 'Abbasid
emissaries were instructed to carry on their propaganda in
the name of Hashim, the common ancestor of 'Abbas and
'All. By means of this ruse they obtained a free hand in
Khurasan, and made such progress that the governor of that
province, Nasr b. Sayyar, wrote to the Umayyad Caliph,
Marwan, asking for reinforcements, and informing him that
two hundred thousand men had sworn allegiance to Abu
Muslim, the principal 'Abbasid agent. At the foot of his
letter he added these lines : —
" I see the coal's red glow beneath the embers,
And 'tis about to blaze !
The rubbing of two sticks enkindles fire,
And out of words come frays.
'Oh! is Umayya's House awake or sleeping?'
I cry in sore amaze." '
We have other verses by this gallant and loyal officer in
which he implores the Arab troops stationed in Khurdsan, who
were paralysed by tribal dissensions, to turn their swords
against " a mixed rabble without religion or nobility " : —
"'Death to the Arabs'— that is all their creed." =
These warnings, however, were of no avail, and on
June 9th, A.D. 747, Abu Muslim displayed the black banner
' Dinawari, ed. by Guirgass, p. 356.
' Ihid., p. 360, 1. 15. The whole poem has been translated by Professor
Browne in his Literary History of Persia, vol. i, p. 242.
252 THE UMAYVAD DYNASTY
of the 'Abbdsids at Siqadanj, near Merv, which city he
occupied a few months later. The triumphant advance
of the armies of the Revolution towards
Declaration of Qamascus recalls the celebrated campaign of
Caesar, when after crossing the Rubicon he
marched on Rome. Nor is Abii Muslim, though a freed-
man of obscure parentage — he was certainly no Arab —
unworthy to be compared with the great patrician. " He
united," says Noldeke, " with an agitator's adroitness and
perfect unscrupulosity in the choice of means the energy
and clear outlook of a general and statesman,
Abii Muslim. , ^ \ ti t^ • l i
and even or a monarch. ^ Urim, ruthless,
disdaining the pleasures of ordinary men, he possessed the
faculty in which Caesar excelled of inspiring blind obedience
and enthusiastic devotion. To complete the parallel, we may
mention here that Abii Muslim was treacherously murdered
by Mansiir, the second Caliph of the House which he had
raised to the throne, from motives exactly resembling those
which Shakespeare has put in the mouth of Brutus —
" So Cssar may :
Then, lest he may, prevent. And since the quarrel
Will bear no colour for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus : that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities ;
And therefore think him as a serpent's egg
Which, hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous,
And kill him in the shell."
The downfall of the Umayyads was hastened by the perfidy
and selfishness of the Arabs on whom they relied : the old
feud between Mudar and Yemen broke out afresh, and while
the Northern group remained loyal to the dynasty, those of
Yemenite stock more or less openly threw in their lot with
the Revolution. We need not attempt to trace the course
' Sketches from Eastern History, p. iii.
ABlJ MUSLIM 253
of the unequal contest. Everywhere the Arabs, disheartened
and divided, fell an easy prey to their adversaries, and all w^as
lost when Marwan, the last Umayyad Caliph, sustained a
crushing defeat on the River Zab in Babylonia (January,
A.D. 750). Meanwhile Abu 'l-'Abbds, the head of the
rival House, had already received homage as Caliph
(November, 749 a.d.). In the inaugural address which he
delivered in the great Mosque of Kufa, he called
Accession of
Abu 'i-'Abbas himself al-Saffah. i.e.. '■ the Blood-shedder ' ^ and
al-Saffah. , • • i , , „ ,
this title has deservedly stuck to him, though
it might have been assumed with no less justice by his
brother Mansur and other members of his family. All
Umayyads were remorselessly hunted down and massacred
in cold blood — even those who surrendered only on the
strength of the most solemn pledges that they had nothing
to fear. A small remnant made their escape, or managed
to find shelter until the storm of fury and vengeance,
which spared neither the dead nor the living,^ had blown
over. One stripling, named 'Abdu '1-Rahman, fled to North
Africa, and after meeting with many perilous adventures
founded a new Umayyad dynasty in Spain.
' Professor Bevan, to whose kindness I owe the following observations,
points out that this translation of al-Sajfdh, although it has been generally
adopted by European scholars, is very doubtful. According to Professor
De Goeje, al-Saffdh means ' the munificent ' (literally, ' pouring out ' gifts,
&c.). In any case it is important to notice that the name was given to
certain Pre-islamic chieftains. Thus Salama b. Khalid, who commanded
the Banu Taghlib at the first battle of al-Kulab (Ibnu 'l-Athi'r, ed. by
Tornberg, vol. i, p. 406, last line), is said to have been called al-Saffdh
because he ' emptied out ' the skin bottles (mazdd) of his army before a
battle (Ibn Durayd, ed. by Wiistenfeld, p. 203, 1. i§) ; and we find mention
of a poet named al-Saffah b. 'Abd Manat (ibid., p. 277, penult, line).
' See p. 205.
CHAPTER VI
THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD
The annals of the 'Abbdsid dynasty from the accession of
Saffdh (a.d. 749) to the death of Musta'sim, and the destruc-
tion of Baghdad by the Mongols (a.d. 1258) make a round
sum of five centuries. I propose to sketch the history of this
long period in three chapters, of which the first will offer a
general view of the more important literary and political
developments so far as is possible in the limited space at my
command ; the second will be devoted to the great poets,
scholars, historians, philosophers, and scientists who flourished
in this, the Golden Age of Muhammadan literature ; while in
the third some account will be given of the chief religious
movements and of the trend of religious thought.
The empire founded by the Caliph *Umar and administered
by the Umayyads was essentially, as the reader will have
gathered, a military organisation for the benefit of the
paramount race. In theory, no doubt, all Moslems were
equal, but in fact the Arabs alone ruled — a privilege which
national pride conspired with personal interest to maintain.
We have seen how the Persian Moslems asserted their right
to a share in the government. The Revolution
Political results i i ^ a i i r • i i i i
of the which enthroned the 'Abbasids marks the begin-
Revolution. . r n /r i i a i •
ning or a Moslem, as opposed to an Arabian,
Empire. The new dynasty, owing its rise to the people of
Persia, and especially of Khurdsdn, could exist only by
254
'ABbAsid policy 255
establishing a balance of power between Persians and Arabs.
That this policy was not permanently successful will surprise
no one who considers the widely diverse characteristics of the
two races, but for the next fifty years the rivals worked
\ together in tolerable harmony, thanks to the genius of
Mansur and the conciliatory influence of the Barmecides,
I by whose overthrow the alliance was virtually dissolved. In
the ensuing civil war between the sons of Harun al-Rashid
the Arabs fought on the side of Amin while the Persians
supported Ma'mun, and henceforth each race began to follow
an independent path. The process of separation, however,
was very gradual, and long before it was completed the
religious and intellectual life of both nationalities had
become inseparably mingled in the full stream of Moslem
I civilisation.
The centre of this civilisation was the province of 'Irdq
(Babylonia), with its renowned metropolis, Baghdad, 'the
City of Peace ' {Madinatu 'l-Saldm). Only here
^n^ewStai/ ^ould the 'Abbasids feel themselves at home.
" Damascus, peopled by the dependants of the
Omayyads, was out of the question. On the one hand it
was too far from Persia, whence the power of the Abbasids
was chiefly derived ; on the other hand it was dangerously
near the Greek frontier, and from here, during the troublous
reigns of the last Omayyads, hostile incursions on the part of
the Christians had begun to avenge former defeats. It was
also beginning to be evident that the conquests of Islam
would, in the future, lie to the eastward towards Central
Asia, rather than to the westward at the further expense of
the Byzantines. Damascus, on the highland of Syria, lay, so
to speak, dominating the Mediterranean and looking west-
ward, but the new capital that was to supplant it must face
east, be near Persia, and for the needs of commerce have water
communication with the sea. Hence everything pointed to a
256 THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD
site on either the Euphrates or the Tigris, and the Abbasids
were not slow to make their choice." ^ After carefully
examining various sites, the Caliph Mansur fixed on a little
Persian village, on the west bank of the Tigris, called
Baghdad, which, being interpreted, means
^°Baghi2r' 'given (or < founded ') by God'; and in
A.D. 762 the walls of the new city began to
rise. Mansur laid the first brick with his own hand, and
the work was pushed forward with astonishing rapidity under
his personal direction by masons, architects, and surveyors,
whom he gathered out of different countries, so that ' the
Round City,' as he planned it, was actually finished within
the short space of four years.
The same circumstances which caused the seat of empire
to be transferred to Baghddd brought about a corresponding
change in the whole system of government. Whereas the
Umayyads had been little more than heads of a turbulent
Arabian aristocracy, their successors reverted to the old type
of Oriental despotism with which the Persians had been
familiar since the days of Darius and Xerxes. Surrounded
by a strong bodyguard of troops from Khurdsan, on whose
devotion they could rely, the 'Abbasids ruled
character of with absolutc authority over the lives and pro-
* Ahh^sid rule
perties of their subjects, even as the Sdsaniaii
monarchs had ruled before them. Persian fashions were
imitated at the court, which was thronged with the Caliph's
relatives and freedmen (not to mention his womenfolk), besides
a vast array of uniformed and decorated officials. Chief amongst
these latter stood two personages who figure prominently in
the Arabian Nights — the Vizier and the Executioner. The
office of Vizier is probably of Persian origin, although in Pro-
fessor De Goeje's opinion the word itself is Arabic.^ The first
' G. Le Strange, Baghdad under the Abbasid Caliphate, p. 4 seq.
^ Professor De Goeje has kindly given me the following references : —
Tabari, ii, 78, 1. 10, where Ziyad is called the Wazir of Mu'awiya ; Ibn
THE NEW GOVERNMENT 257
who bore this title in 'Abbasid times was Abii Salama, the
minister of Saffah : he was called Wa-Liru Alt Muhammad"\
'the Vizier of Muhammad's Family.' It
The Vizier. " . . •'
was the duty of the Vizier to act as inter-
mediary between the omnipotent sovereign and his people,
to counsel him in affairs of State, and, above all, to keep His
Majesty in good humour. He wielded enormous power, but
was exposed to every sort of intrigue, and never knew when
he might be interned in a dungeon or despatched in the
twinkling of an eye by the grim functionary presiding over
the ««/', or circular carpet of leather, which lay beside the
throne and served as a scaffold.
We can distinguish two periods in the history of the
*Abbasid House : one of brilliant prosperity inaugurated by
Mansur and including the reigns of Mahdi,
Two periods Tt t i iT-»iri n/r»^ ii ir r
of'Abbdsid Harun al-Kashid, Ma mun, Mu'tasim, and
history. ti?-' u- i •
Wathiq — that is to say, nearly a hundred years
in all (754-847 A.D.) ; the other, more than four times
as long, commencing with Mutawakkil (847-861 a.d.)
— a period of decline rapidly sinking, after a brief interval
which gave promise of better things, into irremediable
decay.i
Sa'd, iii, 121, 1. 6 (Abu Bakr the Wazir of the Prophet). The word occurs
in Pre-islamic poetry (Ibn Qutayba, K. al-Shi'r wa-l-Shu'ard, p. 414, 1. i).
Professor De Goeje adds that the 'Abbasid CaHphs gave the name Wazir
as title to the minister who was formerly called Kdtib (Secretary). Thus
it would seem that the Arabic Wazir (literally ' burden-bearer '), who was
at first merely a 'helper' or 'henchman,' afterwards became the repre-
sentative and successor of the Dapir (official scribe or secretary) of the
Sasanian kings.
' This division is convenient, and may be justified on general grounds.
In a strictly political sense, the period of decline begins thirty years
earlier with the Caliphate of Ma'miin (813-833 a.d.). The historian
Abu '1-Mahasin (f 1469 a.d.) dates the decline of the Caliphate from the
accession of Muktafi in 902 a.d. {al-Nujiim al-Zdhira, ed. by Juynboll,
vol. ii, p. 134).
18
258 THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD
Cruel and treacherous, like most of his family, Abu Ja'far
Mansur was perhaps the greatest ruler whom the *Abbasids
produced. I He had to fight hard for his throne.
^(ts™!^.? The 'Alids, who deemed themselves the true
heirs of the Prophet in virtue of their descent
from Fatima, rose in rebellion against the usurper, surprised
him in an unguarded moment, and drove him to such straits
that during seven weeks he never changed his dress except for
public prayers. But once more the 'Alids proved incapable
of grasping their opportunity. The leaders, Muhammad and
his brother Ibrahim, who was known as * The Pure Soul '
{al-Nafs al-zakiyya)^ fell on the battlefield. Under Mahdf
and Harun members of the House of 'All continued to
'come out,' but with no better success. In Eastern Persia,
where strong national feelings interwove themselves with
Pre-Muhammadan religious ideas, those of Mazdak and
Zoroaster in particular, the 'Abbasids encountered a for-
midable opposition which proclaimed its vigour
°"persia^'" ^^^ tenacity by the successive revolts of Sinbadh
the Magian (755-756 a.d.), Ustadhsis (766-
768), Muqanna', the 'Veiled Prophet of Khurasan' (780-
786), and Babak the Khurramite (8i6-838).2
Mansur said to his son Mahdi, "O Abu 'Abdalldh, when
you sit in company, always have divines to converse with you ;
for Muhammad b. Shihab al-Zuhri said, ' The
^^''tlMah^^'" ^oxd hadtth (Apostolic Tradition) is masculine :
only virile men love it, and only effeminate men
dislike it ' 5 and he spoke the truth." 3
On one occasion a poet came to Mahdf, who was then
heir-apparent, at Rayy, and recited a panegyric in his honour.
' See Noldeke's essay, Caliph Man^ilr, in his Sketches from Eastern
History, trans, by J. S. Black, p. 107 sqq.
"^ Professor Browne has given an interesting account of these ultra-
Shi'ite insurgents in his Lit. Hist, of Persia, vol. i, ch. ix.
3 Tabari, iii, 404, 1. 5 sqq.
MANSI^R 259
The prince gave him 20,000 dirhems. Thereupon the
postmaster of Rayy informed Mansur, who wrote to his son
reproaching him for such extravagance. " What
^^IfeToet"^ you should have done," he said, " was to let him
wait a year at your door, and after that time
bestow on him 4,000 dirhems." He then caused the poet
to be arrested and brought into his presence. "You went
to a heedless youth and cajoled him?" "Yes, God save
the Commander of the Faithful, I went to a heedless,
generous youth and cajoled him, and he suffered himself to
be cajoled." " Recite your eulogy of him." The poet
obeyed, not forgetting to conclude his verses with a com-
pliment to Mansur, " Bravo ! " cried the Caliph, " but they
are not worth 20,000 dirhems. Where is the money ? " On
its being produced he made him a gift of 4,000 dirhems and
confiscated the remainder." ^
Notwithstanding irreconcilable parties — 'Alids, Persian
extremists, and (we may add) Kharijites — the policy of
rapprochement was on the whole extraordinarily
The Barmecides. ■* •" . . _ ■'
effective. In carrying it out the Caliphs re-
ceived powerful assistance from a noble and ancient Persian
family, the celebrated Barmakites or Barmecides. According
to Mas'udi,2 Barmak was originally a title borne by the High
Priest {sddin) of the great Magian fire- temple at Balkh.
Khalid, the son of one of these dignitaries — whence he an<d
his descendants were called Barmakites {Bardmtka) — held the
most important offices of state under Saffah and Man§ur.
Yahya, the son of Khalid, was entrusted with the educa-
tion of Harun al-Rashid, and on the accession of the young
prince he was appointed Grand Vizier. "Mv
Yahya b. Khalid. , ^
dear father ! " said the Caliph, " it is through
the blessings and the good fortune which attend you, and
through your excellent management, that I am seated on the
' Tabari, iii, 406, 1. i sqq.
= Miiruju 'l-DIiahab, ed. by Barbier de Meynard, vol. iv, p. 47 seq.
26o THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD
throne ; ^ so I commit to you the direction of affairs." He then
handed to him his signet-ring. Yahya was distinguished (says
the biographer) for wisdom, nobleness of mind, and elegance of
language.2 Although he took a truly Persian delight in philo-
sophical discussion, for which purpose free-thinking scholars
and eminent heretics used often to meet in his house, he was
careful to observe the outward forms of piety. It may be said
of the *Abbdsids generally that, whatever they might do or
think in private, they wore the official badge of Islam osten-
tatiously on their sleeves. The following verses which Yahy^
addressed to his son Fadl are very characteristic : — 3
■ " Seek glory while 'tis day, no effort spare,
And patiently the loved one's absence bear ;
But when the shades of night advancing slow
O'er every vice a veil of darkness throw.
Beguile the hours with all thy heart's delight :
The day of prudent men begins at night.
Many there be, esteemed of life austere.
Who nightly enter on a strange career.
Night o'er them keeps her sable curtain drawn.
And merrily they pass from eve to dawn.
Who but a fool his pleasures would expose
To spying rivals and censorious foes ? "
For seventeen years Yahyd and his two sons, Fadl and
Ja'far, remained deep in Hdrun's confidence and virtual rulers
of the State until, from motives which have been
Barmecides variously explained, the Caliph resolved to rid
(803A.D.). j^jjj^self of the whole family. The story is too
well known to need repetition.4 Ja^far alone was put to
death : we may conclude, therefore, that he had specially
' When the Caliph Had! wished to proclaim his son Ja'far heir-apparent
instead of Harun, Yahya pointed out the danger of this course and dis-
suaded him (al-Fakhri, ed. by Derenbourg, p. 281).
= Ibn Khallikan, De Slane's translation, vol. iv, p. 105.
3 Mas'udi, Mun'iju 'l-Dhahab, vol. vi, p. 364.
■* See, for example, Haroun Alraschid, by E. H. Palmer, in the New
Plutarch Series, p. 81 sqq.
HARUN and the BARMECIDES 261
excited the Caliph's anger ; and those who ascribe the
catastrophe to his romantic love-affair with Harun's sister,
'Abbdsa, are probably in the right.i Harun himself seems
to have recognised, when it was too late, how much he
owed to these great Persian barons whose tactful adminis-
tration, unbounded generosity, and munificent patronage of
literature have shed immortal lustre on his reign. Afterwards,
if any persons spoke ill of the Barmecides in his presence, he
would say (quoting the verse of Hutay'a) : — 2
" O slanderers, be your sire of sire bereft ! 3
Give o'er, or fill the gap which they have left."
Hdrun's orthodoxy, his liberality, his victories over the
Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus, and last but not least the
literary brilliance of his reign have raised him in popular
estimation far above all the other Caliphs : he is the Charle-
magne of the East, while the entrancing pages of the Thousand
and One Nights have made his name a household word in every
country of Europe. Students of Moslem history will soon ^
discover that " the good Haroun Alraschid " was |
"786^8^" a^dV"^ i" ^^^^ ^ perfidious and irascible tyrant, whose •
fitful amiability and real taste for music and
letters hardly entitle him to be described either as a great
monarch or a good man. We must grant, however, that he
thoroughly understood the noble art of patronage. The
poets Abu Nuwds, Abu 'l-'Atdhiya, Di'bil, Muslim b. Walld,
and 'Abbds b. Ahnaf; the musician Ibrahim of Mosul and
his son Ishdq ; the philologists Abu 'Ubayda, Asma'l, and
Kisd'i ; the preacher Ibnu '1-Sammdk ; and the historian
Waqidi — these are but a few names in the galaxy of talent
which he gathered around him at Baghddd.
■ Cf. A. Miiller, Der Islam, vol. i, p. 481 seq.
= Ibn Khallikan, De Slane's translation, vol. iv, p. 112.
3 Literally, " No father to your father ! " a common form of imprecation.
262 THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD
The fall of the Barmecides revived the spirit of racial
antagonism vi^hich they had done their best to lay, and an
open rupture was rendered inevitable by the
lAmin and • i i ^• r rt ■- ^
Mamiin short-si2:hted policy of Harun with regard to
(809-833 A.D.). . -^ ,
the succession. He had two grown-up sons,
Amin, by his wife and cousin Zubayda, and Ma'mun, whose
mother was a Persian slave. It was arranged that the
Caliphate should pass to Amln and after him to his brother,
but that the Empire should be divided between them. Amin
was to receive *Iraq and Syria, Ma'mun the eastern pro-
vinces, where the people would gladly welcome a ruler of
their own blood. The struggle for supremacy which began
almost immediately on the death of Hariin was in the main
one of Persians against Arabs, and by Ma'mun's triumph the
Barmecides were amply avenged.
The new Caliph was anything but orthodox. He favoured
the Shi'ite party to such an extent that he even nominated
the 'Alid, 'AH b. Musa b. Ja'far al-Rida, as heir-
*her^?"s.^ apparent — a step which alienated the members of
his own family and led to his being temporarily
deposed. He also adopted the opinions of the Mu'tazilite sect
and established an Inquisition to enforce them. Hence the
Sunnite historian, Abu '1-Mahdsin, enumerates three principal
heresies of which Ma'mun was guilty : ( i ) His wearing of the
Green {Jabsu U-Khudra) ^ and courting the 'Alidsand repulsing
the 'Abbasids ; (2) his affirming that the Koran was created
[al-qawl bi-Khalqi U-Qur''dn) ; and (3) his legalisation of the
mufa^ a loose form of marriage prevailing amongst the
Shl'ites.2 We shall see in due course how keenly and with
what fruitful results Ma'mun interested himself in literature
and science. Nevertheless, it cannot escape our attention
that in this splendid reign there appear ominous signs of political
decay. In 822 a.d. Tdhir, one of Ma'mun's generals, who
' Green was the party colour of the 'Alids, black of the 'Abbasids.
== Al-Nujt'im al-Zdhira, ed. by Juynboll, vol. i, p. 631.
MA'Ml)N 263
\ had been appointed governor of Khurasin, omitted the
customary mention of the Caliph's name from the Friday-
sermon (khutba), thus founding the Tahirid
independent dynasty, which, though professing allegiance to
ynasies. ^^^ Caliphs, was practically independent. Tahir
was only the first of a long series of ambitious governors and
bold adventurers who profited by the weakening authority of
the Caliphs to carve out kingdoms for themselves. Moreover,
the Moslems of 'Iraq had lost their old warlike spirit : they
were fine scholars and merchants, but poor soldiers. So it
came about that Ma'mun's successor, the Caliph Mu'tasim
(833-842 A.D.), took the fatal step of surround-
mercenaries ing himsclf with z Practorian Guard chiefly
composed of Turkish recruits from Transoxania.
At the same time he removed his court from Baghdad sixty
miles further up the Tigris to Samarra, which suddenly grew
into a superb city of palaces and barracks — an Oriental Ver-
sailles.i Here we may close our brief review of the first and
flourishing period of the 'Abbdsid Caliphate. During the
next four centuries the Caliphs come and go faster than
ever, but for the most part their authority is precarious, if
not purely nominal. Meanwhile, in the provinces of the
Empire petty dynasties arise, only to eke out
^caifplate*^^ an obscure and troubled existence, or powerful
states are formed, which carry on the traditions
of Muhammadan culture, it may be through many genera-
tions, and in some measure restore the blessings of peace and
settled government to an age surfeited with anarchy and
bloodshed. Of these provincial empires we have now princi-
pally to speak, confining our view, for the most part, to the
political outlines, and reserving the literary and religious
aspects of the period for fuller consideration elsewhere.
' The court remained at Samarra for fifty-six years (836-892 a.d.). The
official spelling of Samarra was Surra-man-ra'd, which may be freely
rendered ' The Spectator's Joy.'
i64 THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD
The reigns of Mutawakkil (847-861 a.d.) and his immediate
successors exhibit all the well-known features of Praetorian rule.
Enormous sums were lavished on the Turkish
The Second
'Abbasid Period Soldiery, who elected and deposed the Caliph just
as they pleased, and enforced their insatiable
demands by mutiny and assassination. For a short time
(869-907 A.D.) matters improved under the able and energetic
MuhtadI and the four Caliphs who followed him ; but the
Turks soon regained the upper hand. From this date every
vestige of real power is centred in the Generalissimo [Jmiru
U~Umara) who stands at the head of the army, while the
once omnipotent Caliph must needs be satisfied with the
empty honour of having his name stamped on the coinage
and celebrated in the public prayers. The terrorism of the
Turkish bodyguard was broken by the Buwayhids, a Persian
dynasty, who ruled in Baghdad from 945 to 1055 a.d. Then
the Seljuq supremacy began with Tughril Beg's entry into the
capital and lasted a full century until the death of Sanjar
(1157 A.D.). The Mongols who captured Baghdad in
1258 A.D. brought the pitiable farce of the Caliphate to
an end.
" The empire of the Caliphs at its widest," as Stanley Lane-Poole
observes in his excellent account of the Muhammadan dynasties,
" extended from the Atlantic to the Indus, and from
early 'Abbasid the Caspian to the cataracts of the Nile. So vast a
^^^' dominion could not long be held together. The first
step towards its disintegration began in Spain, where 'Abdu '1-Rah-
man, a member of the suppressed Umayyad family, was acknow-
ledged as an independent sovereign in a.d. 755, and the 'Abbasid
Caliphate was renounced for ever. Thirty years later Idris, a
great-grandson of the Caliph *Ali, and therefore equally at variance
with 'Abbasids and Umayyads, founded an 'Alid dynasty in
Morocco. The rest of the North African coast was practically lost
to the Caliphate when the Aghlabid governor established his
authority at Qayrawan in a.d. 800."
Amongst the innumerable kingdoms which supplanted the
DYNASTIES OF THE PERIOD 265
decaying Caliphate only a few of the most important can be
singled out for special notice on account of their literary or
religious interest. ^ To begin with Persia : in
^condPedod.' 872 A.D. KhurAsdn, which was then held by the
Tahirids, fell into the hands of Ya'qub b. Layth
the Coppersmith [al-Saffar)^ founder of the Saffarids, who for
thirty years stretched their sway over a great part of Persia,
» until they were dispossessed by the Samanids.
?874-^A"iff T"he latter dynasty had the seat of its power in
Transoxania, but during the first half of the
tenth century practically the whole of Persia submitted to the
authority of Isma'il and his famous successors, Nasr II and
Niih I. Not only did these princes warmly encourage and
foster the development, which had already begun, of a national
literature in the Persian language — it is enough to recall here
the names of Rudagi, the blind minstrel and poet ; Daqiqi,
whose fragment of a Persian Epic was afterwards incorporated
by Firdawsi in his Shahnama ; and Bal'ami, the Vizier of
Mansur I, who composed an abridgment of Tabari's great
history, which is one of the oldest prose works in Persian that
have come down to us — but they extended the same favour to
poets and men of learning who (though, for the most part, of
Persian extraction) preferred to use the Arabic language.
Thus the celebrated Rhazes (Abu Baler al-Rdzi) dedicated to
the Samanid prince Abu Salih Mansur b. Ishdq a treatise on
medicine, which he entitled al-Kitab al-Mansurl (the Book of
Mansur) in honour of his patron. The great physician and
philosopher, Abu ^Ali b. Sina (Avicenna) relates that, having
been summoned to BukhArd by King Nuh, the second of that
name (976-997 a.d.), be obtained permission to visit the
' My account of these dynasties is necessarily of the briefest and barest
character. The reader will find copious details concerning most of them
in Professor Browne's Literary History of Persia : Saffarids and Samanids
in vol. i, p. 346 sqq. ; Fatimids in vol. i, pp. 391-400 and vol. ii, p. 196
sqq. ; Ghaznevids in vol. ii, chap, ii ; and Seljuqs, ibid., chaps, iii to v.
O
266 THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD
royal library. " I found there," he says, " many rooms filled
with books which were arranged in cases row upon row. One
room was allotted to works on Arabic philology and poetry ;
another to jurisprudence, and so forth, the books on each par-
ticular science having a room to themselves. I inspected the
catalogue of ancient Greek authors and looked for the books
which I required : I saw in this collection books of which few
people have heard even the names, and which I myself have
never seen either before or since." ^
The power of the Sdmanids quickly reached its zenith, and
about the middle of the tenth century they were confined to
Khurdsin and Transoxania, while in Western
(S^^ioss^a^dS Persia their place was taken by the Buwayhids.
Abu Shujd' Buwayh, a chieftain of Daylam, the
mountainous province lying along the southern shores of the
Caspian Sea, was one of those soldiers of fortune whom we
meet with so frequently in the history of this period. His three
sons, 'AU, Ahmad, and Hasan, embarked on the same adven-
turous career with such energy and success, that in the course
of thirteen years they not only subdued the provinces of Fdrs
and Khuzistdn, but in 945 a.d. entered Baghdad at the head
of their Daylamite troops and assumed the supreme command,
receiving from the Caliph Mustakfi the honorary titles of
'Imddu '1-Dawla, Mu'izzu '1-Dawla, and Ruknu '1-Dawla.
Among the princes of this House, who reigned over Persia and
*Irdq during the next hundred years, the most eminent was
*Adudu '1-Dawla, of whom it is said by Ibn Khallikdn that
none of the Buwayhids, notwithstanding their great power
and authority, possessed so extensive an empire and held sway
over so many kings and kingdoms as he. The chief poets
of the day, including Mutanabbi, visited his court at Shfrdz
and celebrated his praises in magnificent odes. He also built
a great hospital in Baghddd, the Bimdristin al-'Adudi, which
' Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, Tabaqdtu 'l-Atibbd, ed. by A. Miiller, vol. ii, p. 4,
1. 4 sqq. Avicenna was at this time scarcely eighteen years of age.
»
{
THE BUWAYHIDS 267
was long famous as a school ot medicine. The Viziers of the
Buwayhid family contributed in a quite unusual degree to its
literary renown. Ibnu 'l-'Amid, the Vizier of Ruknu'l-Dawla,
surpassed in philology and epistolary composition all his
contemporaries ; hence he was called ' the second Jdhiz,' and
it was a common saying that " the art of letter-writing began
with 'Abdu '1-Hamid and ended with Ibnu VAmid." ^
His friend, the Sahib Isma'il b. 'Abbad, Vizier to Mu'ayyidu
'1-Dawla and Fakhru '1-Dawla, was a distinguished savant,
whose learning was only eclipsed by the liberality of his
patronage. In the latter respect Sabiir b. Ardashir, the prime
minister of Abii Nasr Baha'u '1-Dawla, vied with the illustrious
Sahib. He had so many encomiasts that Tha'alibl devotes to
!?• them a whole chapter of the Tatima. The Academy which
he founded at Baghdad, in the Karkh quarter, and generously
endowed, was a favourite haunt of literary men, and its
members seem to have enjoyed pretty much the same privi-
leges as belong to the Fellows of an Oxford or Cambridge
College.2
Like most of their countrymen, the Buwayhids were
Shi'ites in religion. We read in the Annals of Abu '1-Mahasin
under the year 341 a.h. = 952 a.d. : —
" In this year the Vizier al-Muhallabi arrested some persons
who held the doctrine of metempsychosis [tandsukh). Among
1 of the them were a youth who declared that the spirit of
Buwayhids for 'All b. Abi Talib had passed into his body, and a
Shi'ite principles. ^^^^^ who" claimed that the spirit of Fatima was
dwelling in her ; while another man pretended to be Gabriel. On
being flogged, they excused themselves by alleging their relationship
to the Family of the Prophet, whereupon Mu'izzu '1-Dawla ordered
them to be set free. This he did because of his attachment to
' 'Abdu '1-Hamid flourished in the latter days of the Umayyad dynasty.
See Ibn Khallikan, De Slane's translation, vol. ii, p. 173 ; Mas'udi, Muriiju
'l-Dhahab, vol. vi, p. 81.
' See Professor Margoliouth's Introduction to the Letters of Abu 'l-'Ald
al-Ma^arri, p. xxiv.
268 THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD
Shi'ism. Itis well known," says the author in conclusion, "that the
Buwayhids were Shi'ites and Rafidites." '
Three dynasties contemporary with the Buwayhids have
still to be mentioned : the Ghaznevids in Afghanistan, the
Hamdanids in Syria, and the Fatimids in Egypt.
^76-^186^0!? Sabuktagin, the founder of the first-named
dynasty, was a Turkish slave. His son, Mahmud,
who succeeded to the throne of Ghazna in 998 A.D., made
short work of the already tottering Samdnids, and then sweep-
ing far and wide over Northern India, began a series of con-
quests which, before his death in 1030 a.d., reached from
Lahore to Samarcand and Isfahdn. Although the Persian and
Transoxanian provinces of his huge empire were soon torn
away by the Seljiiqs, Mahmud's invasion of India, which was
undertaken with the object of winning that country for Islam,
permanently established Muhammadan influence, at any rate
in the Panjdb. As regards their religious views, the Turkish
Ghaznevids stand in sharp contrast with the Persian houses of
Saman and Buwayh. It has been well said that the true
genius of the Turks lies in action, not in speculation. When
Islam came across their path, they saw that it was a simple
and practical creed such as the soldier requires ; so they
accepted it without further parley. The Turks have always
remained loyal to Islam, the Islam of Abii Bakr and 'Umar,
which is a very different thing from the Islam of Shi'ite
Persia. Mahmud proved his orthodoxy by banishing the
Mu'tazilites of Rayy and burning their books together with
the philosophical and astronomical works that fell into his
hands ; but on the same occasion he carried off a hundred
camel-loads of presumably harmless literature to his capital.
That he had no deep enthusiasm for letters is shown, for
' Abu '1-Mahasin, al-Niijt'im al-Zdhira, ed. by Juynboll, vol. ii, p. 333.
The original Rafidites were those schismatics who rejected (rafada) the
Caliphs Abu Bakr and 'Umar, but the term is generally used as synony-
mous with Shi'ite.
GHAZNEVIDS AND HAMDANIDS 269
example, by his shabby treatment of the poet Firdawsi.
Nevertheless, he ardently desired the glory and prestige
accruing to a sovereign v/hose court formed the rallying-point
of all that was best in the literary and scientific culture of the
day, and such was Ghazna in the eleventh century. Besides
the brilliant group of Persian poets, with Firdawsi at their
head, we may mention among the Arabic-writing authors
who flourished under this dynasty the historians al-'Utbi and
al-Blruni.
While the Eastern Empire of Islam was passing into the
hands of Persians and Turks, we find the Arabs still holding
their own in Syria and Mesopotamia down to
^(?2^i^j^S ^*^^ ^"'^ ^'^ ^^^ ^^"^^ century. These Arab and
generally nomadic dynasties were seldom of much
account. The Hamddnids of Aleppo alone deserve to be
noticed here, and that chiefly for the sake of the peerless
Sayfu '1-Dawla, a worthy descendant of the tribe of Taghlib,
which in the days of heathendom produced the poet-warrior,
'Amr b. Kulthum. 'Abdullah b. Hamdan was appointed
governor of Mosul and its dependencies by the Caliph
Muktafi in 905 a.d., and in 942 his sons Hasan and 'AH
received the complimentary titles of Nasiru '1-Dawla (Defender
of the State) and Sayfu '1-Dawla (Sword of the State).
Two years later Sayfu '1-Dawla captured Aleppo and brought
the whole of Northern Syria under his dominion. During a
reign of twenty-three years he was continuously engaged in
harrying the Byzantines on the frontiers of Asia Minor, but
although he gained some glorious victories, which his laureate
Mutanabbi has immortalised, the fortune of war went in the
long run steadily against him, and his successors were unable
to preserve their little kingdom from being crushed between the
Byzantines in the north and the Fatimids in the south. The
Hamdanids have an especial claim on our sympathy, because
they revived for a time the fast-decaying and already almost
broken spirit of Arabian nationalism. It is this spirit that
270 THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD
speaks with a powerful voice in Mutanabbi and declares itself,
for example, in such verses as these : — ^
" Men from their kings alone their worth derive,
But Arabs ruled by aliens cannot thrive :
Boors without culture, without noble fame,
Who know not loyalty and honour's name.
Go where thou wilt, thou seest in every land
Folk driven like cattle by a servile band."
The reputation which Sayfu '1-Dawla's martial exploits and
his repeated triumphs over the enemies of Islam richly earned
for him in the eyes of his contemporaries was
The circle of , i i ,i ■ j • c.
Sayfu '1-Dawia. enhanced by the conspicuous energy and munm-
cence with which he cultivated the arts of peace.
Considering the brevity of his reign and the relatively small
extent of his resources, we may well be astonished to con-
template the unique assemblage of literary talent then
mustered in Aleppo. There was, first of all, Mutanabbi, in
the opinion of his countrymen the greatest of Moslem poets ;
there was Sayfu '1-Dawla's cousin, the chivalrous Abu Firas,
whose war-songs are relieved by many a touch of tender and
true feeling ; there was Abu '1-Faraj of Isfahan, who on
presenting to Sayfu '1-Dawla his Kitdhu U-Aghani^ one of the
most celebrated and important works in all Arabic literature,
received one thousand pieces of gold accompanied with an
expression of regret that the prince was obliged to remunerate
him so inadequately ; there was also the great philosopher,
Abu Nasr al-Farabl, whose modest wants were satisfied by a
daily pension of four dirhems (about two shillings) from the
public treasury. Surely this is a record not easily surpassed
even in the heyday of 'Abbasid patronage. As for the writers
of less note whom Sayfu '1-Dawla attracted to Aleppo, their
name is legion. Space must be found for the poets Sari al-
RaflFa, Abu 'l-'Abbas al-Nami, and Abu '1-Faraj al-Babbagha j
' Mutanabbi, ed. by Dieterici, p. 148, last line and foil.
SAYFU 'L-BAWLA ' 271
for the preacher {khatlb) Ibn Nubata, who would often rouse
the enthusiasm of his audience while he urged the duty of
zealously prosecuting the Holy War against Christian Byzan-
tium; and for the philologist Ibn Khalawayh, whose lectures
were attended by students from all parts of the Muhammadan
world. The literary renaissance which began at this time
in Syria was still making its influence felt when Tha'alibi
wrote his Tatimay about thirty years after the death of Sayfu
'1-Dawla, and it produced in Abu 'l-'Ala al-Ma'arri (born
973 A.D.) an original and highly interesting personality, to
whom we shall return on another occasion.
The dynasties hitherto described were political in their
origin, having generally been founded by ambitious governors
or vassals. These upstarts made no pretensions
(909-1 i7i"a!do. to spiritual authority, which they left in the
hands of the Caliph even while they forced
him at the sword's point to recognise their political independ-
ence. The Sdmdnids and Buwayhids, Shi'ites as they were,
paid the same homage to the Pontiff in Baghdad as did the
Sunnite Ghaznevids. But in the beginning of the tenth
century there arose in Africa a great Shi'ite power, that
of the Fatimids, who took for themselves the title and
spiritual prerogatives of the Caliphate, which they asserted
to be theirs by right Divine. This event was only the
climax of a deep-laid and skilfully organised plot — one of
the most extraordinary in all history. It had been put in
train half a century earlier by a certain 'Abdullah the son
of Maymun, a Persian oculist [qaddah) belonging to Ahwaz.
Filled with a fierce hatred of the Arabs and with a free-
thinker's contempt for Islam, 'Abdullah b. Maymun con-
ceived the idea of a vast secret society which should be all
things to all men, and which, by playing on the strongest
passions and tempting the inmost weaknesses of human
nature, should unite malcontents of every description in a
272 THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD
conspiracy to overthrow the existing regime. Mode rn
readers may find a parallel for this romantic project in the
pages of Dumas, although the Aramis of Twenty Years After
is a simpleton beside 'Abdulldh. He saw that the movement,
in order to succeed, must be started on a religious basis, and
he therefore identified himself with an obscure
proplgaVdL^ Shi'ite sect, the Isma'ilis, who were so called
because they regarded Muhammad, son of Isma'il,
son of Ja'far al-§adiq, as the Seventh Imdm. Under 'Abdullah
the Isma'ilis developed their mystical and antinomian doc-
trines, of which an excellent account has been given by
Professor Browne in the first volume of his Literary History of
Persia (p. 405 sqq.). Here we can only refer to the ingenious
and fatally insidious methods which he devised for gaining
proselytes on a gigantic scale, and with such amazing success
that from this time until the Mongol invasion — a period of
almost four centuries — the Isma'ilites (Fatimids, Carmathians,
and Assassins) either ruled or ravaged a great part of the
Muhammadan Empire. It is unnecessary to discuss the
question whether 'Abdulldh b. Maymun was, as Professor
Browne thinks, primarily a religious enthusiast, or whether,
according to the view commonly held, his real motives were
patriotism and personal ambition. The history of Islam
shows clearly enough that the revolutionist is nearly always
disguised as a religious leader, while, on the other hand,
every founder of a militant sect is potentially the head of a
state. 'Abdullah may have been a fanatic first and a politician
afterwards ; more probably he was both at once from the
beginning. His plan of operations was briefly as follows : —
The dd'i or missionary charged with the task of gaining adherents
for the Hidden Imam (see p. 216 seq.), in whose name allegiance was
demanded, would settle in some place, representing himself to be a
merchant, Sufi, or the like. By renouncing worldly pleasures,
making a show of strict piety, and performing apparent miracles, it
was easy for him to pass as a saint with the common folk. As soon
THE ISMA'lLfS 273
as he was assured of his neighbours' confidence and respect, he
began to raise doubts in their minds. He would suggest difficult
problems of theology or dwell on the mysterious significance
of certain passages of the Koran. May there not be (he would ask)
in religion itself a deeper meaning than appears on the surface ?
Then, having excited the curiosity of his hearers, he suddenly breaks
off. When pressed to continue his explanation, he declares that
such mysteries cannot be communicated save to those who take a
binding oath of secrecy and obedience and consent to pay a fixed
sum of money in token of their good faith. If these conditions
were accepted, the neophyte entered upon the second of the nine
degrees of initiation. He was taught that mere observance of the
laws of Islam is not pleasing to God, unless the true doctrine be
received through the Imams who have it in keeping. These Imams
(as he next learned) are seven in number, beginning with 'All ; the
seventh and last is Muhammad, son of Isma'il. On reaching the
fourth degree he definitely ceased to be a Moslem, for here he was
taught the Isma'ilite system of theology in which Muhammad b.
Isma'il supersedes the founder of Islam as the greatest and last of
all the Prophets. Comparatively few initiates advanced beyond
this grade to a point where every form of positive religion was
allegorised away, and only philosophy was left. " It is clear what
a tremendous weapon, or rather machine, was thus created. Each
man was given the amount of light which he could bear and which
was suited to his prejudices, and he was made to believe that the
end of the whole work would be the attaining of what he regarded
as most desirable." ' Moreover, the Imam Muhammad b. Isma'il
having disappeared long ago, the veneration which sought a visible
object was naturally transferred to his successor and representative
on earth, viz., 'Abdullah b. Maymun, who filled the same office in
relation to him as Aaron to Moses and 'Ali to Muhammad.
About the middle of the ninth century the state or the
Moslem Empire was worse, if possible, than it had been in the
latter days of Umayyad rule. The peasantry of 'Iraq were
impoverished by the desolation into which that flourishing
province was beginning to fall in consequence of the frequent
and prolonged civil wars. In 869 a.d. the negro slaves {Zanj)
employed in the saltpetre industry, for which Basra was
famous, took up arms at the call of an *AHd Messiah, and
' D. B. Macdonald, Muslim Theology, p. 43 seq.
19
274 THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD
during fourteen years carried fire and sword through Khuzistan
and the adjacent territory. We can imagine that all this
misery and discontent was a godsend to the Isma'ilites. The
old cry, "A deliverer of the Prophet's House," which served
the 'Abbdsids so well against the Umayyads, was now raised
with no less effect against the 'Abbasids themselves.
'Abdullah b. Maymun died in 875 A.D., but the agitation
went on, and rapidly gathered force. One of the leading
spirits was Hamdan Qarmat, who gave his name to the Car-
mathian branch of the Ismd'ilis, These Carmathians ( Qaram'ita^
sing. Qirm'iti) spread over Southern Persia and Yemen, and
in the tenth century they threatened Baghdad, repeatedly
waylaid the pilgrim-caravans, sacked Mecca and bore away
the Black Stone as a trophy ; in short, established a veritable
reign of terror. We must return, however, to the main
Ismd'ilite faction headed by the descendants of 'Abdullah b.
Maymun. Their emissaries discovered a promising field of
work in North Africa among the credulous and fanatical
Berbers. When all was ripe, Sa'i'd b. Husayn, the grandson of
'Abdulldh b. Maymun, left Salamiyya in Syria, the centre
from which the wires had hitherto been pulled, and
crossing over to Africa appeared as the long-expected
Mahdi under the name of 'Ubaydu'llah. He
The Fatimid , . , . ,
dynasty founded ravc himself out to be a ^reat-p-randson of the
by the Mahdi ° .
'Ubaydu'llah Imam Muhammad b. Isma'il and therefore in the
(909 A.D.).
direct line of descent from 'AH b. Abi Tdlib and
Fdtima the daughter of the Prophet. We need not stop to
discuss this highly questionable genealogy from which the
Fdjimid dynasty derives its name. In 910 a.d. 'Ubaydu'Ildh
entered Raqqdda in triumph and assumed the title of Com-
mander of the Faithful. Tunis, where the Aghlabites had
ruled since 800 a.d., was the cradle of Fdtimid power, and
here they built their capital, Mahdiyya, near the ancient
Thapsus. Gradually advancing eastward, they conquered
Egypt and Syria as far as Damascus (969-970 a.d.). 'At this
THE FA TIMID S AND THE SELJiyQS 275
time the seat of government was removed to the nev^^ly-founded
city of Cairo (a/-Qdhira), which remained for two centuries
the metropoh's of the Fatimid Empire.^
The Shi'ite Anti-Caliphs maintained themselves in Egypt
until 1171 A.D., when the famous Saladin (Salahu '1-Din b.
Ayyub) took possession of that country and
{ii7^i^i?so A.a). '■^stored the Sunnite faith. He soon added Syria
to his dominions, and "the fall of Jerusalem (in
1 187) roused Europe to undertake the Third Crusade." The
Ayyubids were strictly orthodox, as behoved the champions of
Islam against Christianity. They built and endowed many
theological colleges. The Sufi pantheist, Shihabu '1-Din Yahya
al-Suhrawardi, was executed at Aleppo by order of Saladin's
son, Malik al-Zahir, in 1191 a.d.
The two centuries preceding the extinction of the 'Abbasid
Caliphate by the Mongols witnessed the rise and decline of
the Seljuq Turks, who "once more re-united
(io37-i3ooA^D.). Muhammadan Asia from the western frontier
of Afghanistan to the Mediterranean under one
sovereign." Seljuq b. Tuqaq was a Turcoman chief.
Entering Transoxania, he settled near Bukhara and went
over with his whole people to Islam. His descendants
Tughril Beg and Chagar Beg, invaded Khurasan, annexed
the western provinces of the Ghaznevid Empire, and finally
absorbed the remaining dominions of the Buwayhids.
Baghdad was occupied by Tughril Beg in 1055 a.d. It
has been said that the Seljuqs contributed almost nothing to
culture, but this perhaps needs some qualification. Althouo-h
Alp Arslan, who succeeded Tughril, and his son Malik Shah
devoted their energies in the first place to military affairs, the
' I regret that lack of space compels me to omit the further history of
the Fatimids. Readers who desire information on this subject may
consult Stanley Lane- Poole's History of Egypt in the Middle Ages;
Wiistenfeld's Geschichte dcr Fatimiden-Chalifen (Gottingen, 1881) ; and
Professor Browne's Lit. Hist, of Persia, vol. ii, p. 196 sqq.
276 THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD
latter at least was an accomplished and enlightened monarch.
*' He exerted himself to spread the benefits of civilisation : he
dug numerous canals, walled a great number of cities, built
bridges, and constructed ribap in the desert places." ^ He
was deeply interested in astronomy, and scientific as well as
theological studies received his patronage. Any shortcomings
of Alp Arslan and Malik Shah in this respect were amply
repaired by their famous minister, Hasan b. *Ali, the Nizamu
'l-Mulic or * Constable of the Empire,' to give him the title
which he has made his own. Like so many great Viziers, he
was a Persian, and his achievements must not detain us here,
but it may be mentioned that he founded in Baghdad and
Naysabur the two celebrated academies which were called in
his honour al-Nizamiyya.
We have now taken a general, though perforce an extremely
curtailed and disconnected, view of the political conditions
which existed during the 'Abbasid period in most
^'^SpLln^"^ parts of the Muhammadan Empire except Arabia
and Spain. The motherland of Islam had long
sunk to the level of a minor province : leaving the Holy
Cities out of consideration, one might compare its inglorious
destiny under the Caliphate to that of Macedonia in the
empire which Alexander bequeathed to his successors, the
Ptolemies and Seleucids. As regards the political history of
Spain a few words will conveniently be said in a subsequent
chapter, where the literature produced by Spanish Moslems
will demand our attention. In the meantime we shall pass on
to the characteristic literary developments of this period, which
correspond more or less closely to the historical outlines.
The first thing that strikes the student of mediaeval Arabic
literature is the fact that a very large proportion of the leading
writers are non-Arabs, or at best semi-Arabs, men whose fathers
' Ibn Khallikan, De Slane's translation, vol. iv, p. 441.
FOREIGNERS WHO WROTE IN ARABIC 277
or mothers were of foreign, and especially Persian, race. They
wrote in Arabic, because down to about looo a.d. that
language was the sole medium of literary expression in the
Muhammadan world, a monopoly which it retained in
scientific compositions until the M^iigol Invasion of the
thirteenth century. I have already referred to the question
whether such men as Bashshar b. Burd, Abu Nuwas, Ibn
Qutayba, Tabari, Ghazali, and hundreds of others should be
included in a literary history of the Arabs, and have given
reasons, which I need not repeat in this place, for considering
their admission to be not only desirable but fully justified on
logical grounds. I The absurdity of treating them as Persians —
and there is no alternative, if they are not to be reckoned as
Arabs — appears to me self-evident.
"It is strange," says Ibn Khaldun, "that most of the learned
among the Moslems who have excelled in the religious or
intellectual sciences are non- Arabs [^Ajam) with rare excep-
tions ; and even those savants who claimed Arabian descent
spoke a foreign language, grew up in foreign lands, and
studied under foreign masters, notwithstanding that the com-
munity to which they belonged was Arabian and the author
of its religion an Arab." The historian proceeds to explain
the cause of this singular circumstance in an interesting
passage which may be summarised as follows : —
The first Moslems were entirely ignorant of art and science, all
their attention being devoted to the ordinances of the Koran, which
they "carried in their breasts," and to the practice
lx"iMaaoi"of {sunna) of the Prophet. At that time the Arabs knew
the fact that nothing of the way by which learning is taught, of the
chiefl^cufti^afed art of Composing books, and of the means whereby
^^MosTeins^" knowledge is enregistered. Those, however, who
could repeat the Koran and relate the Traditions of
Muhammad were called Readers {qurni). This oral transmission
continued until the reign of Harun al-Rashid, when the need of
' See the Introduction.
278 THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD
securing the Traditions against corruption or of preventing their
total loss caused them to be set down in writing ; and in order to
distinguish the genuine Traditions from the spurious, every isndd
(chain of witnesses) was carefully scrutinised. Meanwhile the
purity of the Arabic tongue had gradually become impaired : hence
arose the science of grammar ; and the rapid development of Law
and Divinity brought it about that other sciences, e.g., logic and
dialectic, were professionally cultivated in the great cities of the
Muhammadan Empire. The inhabitants of these cities were chiefly
Persians, freedmen and tradesmen, who had been long accustomed
to the arts of civilisation. Accordingly the most eminent of the
early grammarians, traditionists, and scholastic theologians, as
well as of those learned in the principles of Law and in the interpre-
tation of the Koran, were Persians by race or education, and the
saying of the Prophet was verified — " If Knowledge were attached to
the ends of the sky, some amongst the Persians would have reached it."
Amidst all this intellectual activity the Arabs, who had recently
emerged from a nomadic life, found the exercise of military and
administrative command too engrossing to give them leisure for
literary avocations which have always been disdained by a ruling
caste. They left such studies to the Persians and the mixed race
{al-muwalladi'in), which sprang from intermarriage of the con-
querors with the conquered. They did not entirely look down
upon the men of learning but recognised their services — since after
all it was Islam and the sciences connected with Islam that profited
thereby/
Even in the Umayyad period, as we have seen, the maxim
that Knowledge is Power was strikingly illustrated by the
immense social influence which Persian divines exerted in the
Muhammadan community .2 Nevertheless, true Arabs of the
old type regarded these Mawdlt and their learning with
undisguised contempt. To the great majority of Arabs, who
prided themselves on their noble lineage and were content to
know nothing beyond the glorious traditions of heathendom
and the virtues practised by their sires, all literary culture
seemed petty and degrading. Their overbearing attitude
' Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddima (Beyrout, 1900), p. 543 seq. = De Slane,
Prolegomena, vol iii, p. 296 sqq.
^ Cf. Goldziher, Muhatmn. Studien, Part I, p. 114 seq.
ARABS AND NON-ARABS 279
towards the Mawalt^ which is admirably depicted in the first
part of Goldziher's Muhammedanische Studien^ met with a
vigorous response. Non-Arabs and Moslem pietists alike
appealed to the highest authority — the Koran ; and since they
required a more definite and emphatic pronouncement than
was forthcoming from that source, they put in the mouth of
the Prophet sayings like these : " He that speaks Arabic is
thereby an Arab " ; " whoever of the people of Persia accepts
Islam is (as much an Arab as) one of Quraysh." This
doctrine made no impression upon the Arabian aristocracy, but
with the downfall of the Umayyads the political and social
equality of the Mawali became an accomplished fact. Not
that the Arabs were at all disposed to abate their pretensions.
They bitterly resented the favour which the foreigners enjoyed
and the influence which they exercised. The national in-
dignation finds a voice in many poems of the early 'Abbasid
period, e.g. : —
" See how the asses which they used to ride
They have unsaddled, and sleek mules bestride !
No longer kitchen-herbs they buy and sell, '
But in the palace and the court they dwell ;
Against us Arabs full of rage and spleen,
Hating the Prophet and the Moslem's din.'^
The side of the non-Arabs in this literary quarrel was
vehemently espoused by a party who called themselves the
Shu'ubites {al-Shu'-ubiyya)^2 while their opponents gave them
* Read mashdrdti 'l-buqtU (beds of vegetables), not mushdnit as my
rendering implies. The change makes little difference to the sense, but
mashdrat, being an Aramaic word, is peculiarly appropriate here.
^ Agluini, xii, 177, 1. 5 sqq ; Von Kremer, Ciilturgcsch. Streifziigc, p. 32.
These lines are aimed, as has been remarked by S. Khuda Bukhsh
[Contributions to the History 0/ Islamic Civilisation, Calcutta, 1905, p. 92),
against Nabatieans who falsely claimed to be Persians.
3 The name is derived from Koran, xlix, 13 : "0 Men, We have created
you of a male and a female and have made you into peoples (shu'ubs^)
and tribes, that ye might know one another. Verily the noblest of you in
28o THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD
the name of Levellers {Ahlu ^l-Taswiya)^ because they contended
for the equality of all Moslems without regard to distinctions
of race. I must refer the reader who seeks inform-
The Shu'iibites. . . , , . ^ ,
ation concernmg the history or the movement to
Goldziher's masterly study, ^ where the controversial methods
adopted by the Shu'iibites are set forth in ample detail. He
shows how the bolder spirits among them, not satisfied with
claiming an equal position, argued that the Arabs were abso-
lutely inferior to the Persians and other peoples. The question
was hotly debated, and many eminent writers took part in the
fray. On the Shu'ubite side Abii 'Ubayda, Biruni, and
Hamza of Isfahan deserve mention, Jahiz and Ibn Durayd
were the most notable defenders of their own Arabian
nationality, but the 'pro-Arabs' also included several men
of Persian origin, such as Ibn Qutayba, Baladhuri, and
Zamakhshari. The Shu'iibites directed their attacks princi-
pally against the racial pride of the Arabs, who were fond of
boasting that they were the noblest of all mankind and spoke
the purest and richest language in the world. Consequently
the Persian genealogists and philologists lost no opportunity ot
; bringing to light scandalous and discreditable circumstances
I connected with the history of the Arab tribes or of particular
' families. Arabian poetry, especially the vituperative pieces
(mathd/ib), furnished abundant matter of this sort, which was
adduced by the Shu'iibites as convincing evidence that the
claims of the Arabs to superior nobility were absurd. At the
same time the national view as to the unique and incomparable
excellence of the Arabic language received some rude criticism.
So acute and irreconcilable were the racial differences
between Arabs and Persians that one is astonished to see how
thoroughly the latter became Arabicised in the course of a
s
the sight of God are they that do most fear Him." Thus the designation
' Shu'ubite ' emphasises the fact that according to Muhammad's teaching
the Arab Moslems are no better than their non-Arab brethren.
' Miihamm. Siudien, Part I, p. 147 sqq.
^
THE SHU'U BITES 281
tew generations. As clients affiliated to an Arab tribe, they
assumed Arabic names and sought to disguise their foreign ex-
traction by fair means or foul. Many provided
Aobs^and ° themselves w^ith fictitious pedigrees, on the strength
of w^hich they passed for Arabs. Such a pretence
could have deceived nobody if it had not been supported by a
complete assimilation in language, manners, and even to some
extent in character. On the neutral ground of Muhammadan
science animosities were laid aside, and men of both races
laboured enthusiastically for the common cause. When at
length, after a century of bloody strife and engrossing political
agitation, the great majority of Moslems found themselves
debarred from taking part in public affairs, it was only natural
that thousands of ardent and ambitious souls should throw
their pent-up energies into the pursuit of wealth or learning.
We are not concerned here with the marvellous development
of trade under the first 'Abbasid Caliphs, of which Von
Kremer has given a full and entertaining description in his
Culturgeschichte des Orients. It may be recalled, however, that
many commercial terms, e.g.^ tariff, names of fabrics (muslin,
tabby, &c.), occurring in English as well as in most European
languages are of Arabic origin and were brought to Europe
by merchants from Baghdad, Mosul, Basra, and other cities of
Western Asia. This material expansion was accompanied by
an outburst of intellectual activity such as the East
Enthusiasm for j^^ never witnessed before. It seemed as if all
learning in the
^"'period.^'''^ the world from the Caliph down to the humblest
citizen suddenly became students, or at least
patrons, of literature. In quest of knowledge men travelled
over three continents and returned home, like bees laden with
honey, to impart the precious stores which they had accumu-
lated to crowds of eager disciples, and to compile with
incredible industry those works of encyclopaedic range and
erudition from which modern Science, in the widest sense of
the word, has derived far more than is generally supposed.
282 THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD
The Revolution which made the fortune of the 'Abbasid
House was a triumph for Islam and the party of religious
reform. While under the worldly Umayyads the
Development of ,_,,.. . , , ,.
the Moslem studies of Law and Tradition met with no public
sciences
encouragement and were only kept alive by the
pious zeal of oppressed theologians, the new dynasty drew its
strength from the Muhammadan ideas which it professed to
establish, and skilfully adapted its policy to satisfying the ever-
increasing claims of the Church. Accordingly the Moslem
sciences which arose at this time proceeded in the first instance
from the Koran and the Hadi'th. The sacred books offered
many difficulties both to provincial Arabs and especially to
Persians and other Moslems of foreign extraction. For their
right understanding a knowledge of Arabic grammar and
philology was essential, and this involved the study of the
ancient Pre-islamic poems which supplied the most authentic
models of Arabian speech in its original purity. The study of
these poems entailed researches into genealogy and history,
which in the course of time became independent branches of
learning. Similarly the science of Tradition was systemati-
cally developed in order to provide Moslems with practical
rules for the conduct of life in every conceivable particular,
and various schools of Law sprang into existence.
Muhammadan writers usually distinguish the sciences which
are connected with the Koran and those which the Arabs
learned from foreign peoples. In the former
ciassTficition ^^^^^ ^^^7 include the Traditional or Religious
Sciences [al-^Ulum al-Naqliyya awi U-Shar^iyya)
and the Linguistic Sciences {'■Ulumu U-Li$dni ^I-^Jrabt) ; in
the latter the Intellectual or Philosophical Sciences [al-^Uliim
al-^Aqliyya awi ^l-Hikmiyya\ which are sometimes called ' The
Sciences of the Foreigners' {^ Ulumu 'I-^Jjam) or 'The Ancient
Sciences' (a/-^U/um al-Qadhna).
The general scope of this division may be illustrated by the
following table : —
J
THE SCIENTIFIC MOVEMENT 283
I. The Native Sciences.
1. Koranic Exegesis {'Ilmu 'l-Tafsir).
2. Koranic Criticism {'limit ' l-Qird' at).
The Science of Apostolic Tradition {'Ilmu 'l-Hadith).
4. Jurisprudence {Fiqh).
5. Scholastic Theology {'Ilmu 'l-Kaldm).
6. Grammar {Nahw).
7. Lexicography {Lugha).
8. Rhetoric {Baydn).
9. Literature {Adab).
IL The Foreign Sciences.
1. Philosophy {Falsafa).^
2. Geometry {Handasa).-
3. Astronomy {'Ilmu 'l-Nujum).
4. Music {Miisiqi).
5. Medicine {Tibb).
6. Magic and Alchemy {al-Sihr wa-l-Kimiya).
The religious phenomena of the Period will be discussed in
I separate chapter, and here I can only allude cursorily to their
general character. We have seen that during the
'Abb:bid period wholc Umayyad epoch, except in the brief reign of
fithought 'Umar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz, the professors of religion
w^ere out of sympathy with the court, and that
nany of them withdrew from all participation in public affairs.
[t was otherwise when the *Abbasids established themselves in
Dower. Theology now dwelt in the shadow of the throne
md directed the policy of the Government. Honours were
>howered on eminent jurists and divines, who frequently held
Dfficial posts of high importance and stood in the most confi-
dential and intimate relations to the Caliph ; a classical example
s the friendship of the Cadi Abu Yusuf and Hariin al-Rashid.
The century after the Revolution gave birth to the four great
>chools of Muhammadan Law, which are still called by the
' The term Falsafa properly includes Logic, Metaphysics, Mathematics
Medicine, and the Natural Sciences.
=* Here we might add the various branches of Mathematics, such as
i^rithmetic, Algebra, Mechanics, &c.
284 THE CALIPHS OF BAGHDAD
names of their founders — Mdlik b. Anas, Abu Hanifa, Shafi'i,
and Ahmad b. Hanbal. At this time the scientific and intellec-
tual movement had free play. The earlier Caliphs usually en-
couraged speculation so long as it threatened no danger to the
existing regime. Under Ma'mun and his successors the
Mu'tazilite Rationalism became the State religion, and Islam
seemed to have entered upon an era of enlightenment. Thus
the first 'Abbasid period (750-847 a. d.) with its new learning
and liberal theology may well be compared to the European
Renaissance ; but in the words of a celebrated Persian poet —
Kliil'aii has fdkhir dmad 'umr 'aybash kilfakist.'
*' Life is a very splendid robe : its fault is brevity."
The Caliph Mutawakkil (847-861 a.d.) signalised his
accession by declaring the Mu'tazilite doctrines to be heretical
and by returning to the traditional faith. Stern
The triumph of nieasures were taken against dissenters. Hence-
orthodoxy. °
forth there was little room in Islam for indepen-
dent thought. The populace regarded philosophy and natural
science as a species of infidelity. Authors of works on these
subjects ran a serious risk unless they disguised their true
opinions and brought the results of their investigations into
apparent conformity with the text of the Koran. About the
middle of the tenth century the reactionary spirit assumed a
dogmatic shape in the system of Abu '1-Hasan al-Ash'arf, the
father of Muhammadan Scholasticism, which is essentially
opposed to intellectual freedom and has maintained its petrify-
ing influence almost unimpaired down to the present time.
I could wish that this chapter were more worthy of the
title which I have chosen for it, but the foregoing pages will
have served their purpose if they have enabled my readers to
form some idea of the politics of the Period and of the broad
features marking the course of its literary and religious history.
' 'Abdu '1-Ratiman Jami (t 1492 a.d.).
CHAPTER VII
POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE IN THE 'aBbAsID PERIOD
Pre-islamic poetry was the natural expression of nomad life.
We might therefore have expected that the new conditions
and ideas introduced by Islam would rapidly work a
poets^egaiXd Corresponding revolution in the poetical literature
as classical ,- i r 1 1 • , oil
of the following century, auch, however, was
far from being the case. The Umayyad poets clung tena-
ciously to the great models of the Heroic Age and even took
credit for their skilful imitation of the antique odes. The
early Muhammadan critics, who were philologists by profession,
held fast to the principle that Poetry in Pre-islamic times had
reached a perfection which no modern bard could hope to
emulate, and which only the lost ideals of chivalry could
inspire.! To have been born after Islam was in itself a proof
of poetical inferiority.^ Linguistic considerations, of course,
entered largely into this prejudice. The old poems were
studied as repositories of the pure classical tongue and were
estimated mainly from a grammarian's standpoint.
These ideas gained wide acceptance in literary circles
and gradually biassed the popular taste to such an extent
that learned pedants could boast, like Khalil b. Ahmad,
* I am deeply indebted in the following pages to Goldziher's essay
entitled Altc unci Nenc Poesic im Urthcilc der Arabischen Kritiker in his
Abhand. znr Arab. Pliilologie, Part I, pp. 122-174.
* Cf. the remark made by Abu 'Amr b. al-'Ala about the poet Akhtal
(p. 242 supra).
285
286 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
the inventor of Arabic prosody, that it lay in their
power to make or mar the reputation of a rising poet
as they deemed fit. Originality being condemned in
advance, those who desired the approval of this self-consti-
tuted Academy were obliged to waste their time and talents
upon elaborate reproduction of the ancient masterpieces, and
to entertain courtiers and citizens with borrowed pictures of
Bedouin life in which neither they nor their audience took the
slightest interest. Some, it is true, recognised the absurdity of
the thing. Abii Nuwas (f circa 8io a.d.) often
Abii Nuwas as a ridicules the custom, to which reference has
critic, '
been made elsewhere, of apostrophising the
deserted encampment [atlal or tulul) in the opening lines
of an ode, and pours contempt on the fashionable glorifica-
tion of antiquity. In the passage translated below he gives
a description of the desert and its people which recalls some
of Dr. Johnson's sallies at the expense of Scotland and
Scotsmen : —
" Let the south-wind moisten with rain the desolate scene
And Time efface what once was so fresh and green !
Make the camel-rider free of a desert space
Where high-bred camels trot with unwearied pace ;
Where only mimosas and thistles flourish, and where,
For hunting, wolves and hyenas are nowise rare !
Amongst the Bedouins seek not enjoyment out :
What do they enjoy ? They live in hunger and drought. .
Let them drink their bowls of milk and leave them alone,
To whom life's finer pleasures are all unknown." '
Ibn Qutayba, who died towards the end of the ninth
century a.d., was the first critic of importance to declare that
ancients and moderns should be judged on their merits without
regard to their age. He writesj as follows in the Introduction
» Diwan des Abu Nowas, Die iWeinlieder, ed. by Ahlwardt, No. lo,
vv. 1-5.
ANCIENT AND MODERN POETS 287
to his 'Book of Poetry and Poets' {Kltabu 'I-Shi^r wa-l-
Shu^ara) : — ^
"In citing extracts from the works of the poets I have been
guided by my own choice and have refused to admire anything
merely because others thought it admirable. I have
ancien?and'" not regarded any ancient with veneration on account
modern poets, ^j j^j^ antiquity nor any modern with contempt on
account of his being modern, but I have taken an impartial view
of both sides, giving every one his due and amply acknowledging
his merit. Some of our scholars, as I am aware, pronounce a feeble
poem to be good, because its author was an ancient, and include
it among their chosen pieces, while they call a sterling poem bad
though its only fault is that it was composed in their own time or
that they have seen its author. God, however, did not restrict
learning and poetry and rhetoric to a particular age nor appropriate
them to a particular class, but has always distributed them in
common amongst His servants, and has caused everything old to be
new in its own day and every classic work to be an upstart on its
first appearance,"
The inevitable reaction in favour of the new^ poetry and of
contemporary literature in general was hastened by various
circumstances which combined to overthrow^ the
^clalsiclm"^' prevalent theory that Arabian heathendom and
the characteristic pagan virtues — honour, courage,
liberality, &c. — were alone capable of producing poetical
genius. Among the chief currents of thought tending in
this direction, which are lucidly set forth in Goldziher's
essay, pp. 148 sqq., we may note [a] the pietistic and theo-
logical spirit fostered by the 'Abbasid Government, and {b) the
influence of foreign, pre-eminently Persian, culture. As to
the former, it is manifest that devout Moslems would not be
at all disposed to admit the exclusive pretensions made on
behalf of the Jdhi/iyya or to agree with those who exalted
chivalry [mUruwiva) above religion [din). Were not the
language and style of the Koran incomparably excellent ?
Surely the Holy Book was a more proper subject for study
' Ed. by De Goeje, p. 5, 11. 5-15.
288 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
than heathen verses. But if Moslems began to call Pre-
islamic ideals in question, it was especially the Persian
ascendancy resulting from the triumph of the 'Abbasid
House that shook the old arrogant belief of the Arabs in
the intellectual supremacy of their race. So far from glory-
ing in the traditions of paganism, many people thought it
grossly insulting to mention an 'Abbasid Caliph in the same
breath with heroes of the past like Hatim of Tayyi' and
Harim b. Sindn. The philosopher al-Kind{ (f about
850 A.D.) rebuked a poet for venturing on such odious
comparisons. "Who are these Arabian vagabonds" [sa^aliku
U~^Jrab\ he asked, " and what worth have they ? " ^
While Ibn Qutayba was content to urge that the modern
poets should get a fair hearing, and should be judged not
chronologically or philologically, but astheti-
Critics in favour ,, r 1 i- • • 1
of the callyy some or the greatest literary critics who
modern school. r 1 • 1 1 1 • • •
came arter him do not conceal their opinion
that the new poetry is superior to the old. Tha'alibl
(t 1038 A.D.) asserts that in tenderness and elegance the
Pre-islamic bards are surpassed by their successors, and that
both alike have been eclipsed by his contemporaries. Ibn
Rashiq (f circa 1070 a.d.), whose ^Umda on the Art of
Poetry is described by Ibn Khaldun as an epoch-making
work, thought that the superiority of the moderns would
be acknowledged if they discarded the obsolete conventions
of the Ode. European readers cannot but sympathise with
him when he bids the poets draw inspiration from nature and
truth instead of relating imaginary journeys on a camel which
they never owned, through deserts which they never saw, to a
patron residing in the same city as themselves. This seems
to us a very reasonable and necessary protest, but it must be
remembered that the Bedouin qasida was not easily adaptable
to the conditions of urban life, and needed complete remould-
ing rather than modification in detail. 2
' Cf. the story told of Abu Tammam by Ibn Khallikdn (De Slane's
translation, vol. i, p. 350 seq.). ' See Noldeke, Beitrdge, p. 4.
THE CLASSICS OUT OF FAVOUR 289
"In the fifth century," says Goldziher — i.e.^ from about
1000 A.D. — "the dogma of the unattainable perfection of
the heathen poets may be regarded as utterly
^Zdernpoets'!^ demolished." Henceforth popular taste ran
strongly in the other direction, as is shown by
the immense preponderance of modern pieces in the antho-
logies— a favourite and characteristic branch of Arabic
literature — which were compiled during the 'Abbasid period
and afterwards, and by frequent complaints of the neglect
into which the ancient poetry had fallen. But although, for
Moslems generally, Imru'u '1-Qays and his fellows came to
be more or less what Chaucer is to the average Englishman,
the views first enunciated by Ibn Qutayba met with bitter
opposition from the learned class, many of whom clung
obstinately to the old philological principles of criticism,
and even declined to recognise the writings of Mutanabbi
and Abu 'l-'Ala al-Ma'arri as poetry, on the ground that
those authors did not observe the classical 'types' [asdlib).^
The result of such pedantry may be seen at the present day
in thousands of qasidas^ abounding in archaisms and allusions
to forgotten far-oflF things of merely antiquarian interest,
but possessing no more claim to consideration here than the
Greek and Latin verses of British scholars in a literary history
of the Victorian Age.
Passing now to the characteristics of the new poetry which
followed the accession 01 the 'Abbasids, we have to bear in
mind that from first to last (with very few excep-
^''oithe '" tions) it flourished under the patronage of the
new poetry. (,Qm.j.^ There was no organised book trade, no
wealthy publishers, so that poets were usually dependent for
their livelihood on the capricious bounty ot the Caliphs and
his favourites whom they belauded. Huge sums were paid
' Ibn Khaldiin, Muqaddima (Beyrout, 1900), p. 573, 1. 21 seq. ; Prolego-
mena of Ibn K., translated by De Slane, vol. iii, p. 380.
20
290 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
for a successful panegyric, and the bards vied with each
other in flattery of the most extravagant description. Even
in writers of real genius this prostitution of their art gave rise
to a great deal of the false glitter and empty bombast which
are often erroneously attributed to Oriental poetry as a whole.i
These qualities, however, are absolutely foreign to Arabian
poetry of the best period. The old Bedouins who praised a
man only for that which was in him, and drew their images
directly from nature, stand at the opposite pole to Tha'alibi's
contemporaries. Under the Umayyads, as we have seen, little
change took place. It is not until after the enthronement of
the ^Abbasids, when Persians filled the chief offices at court,
and when a goodly number oi poets and eminent men of
learning had Persian blood in their veins, that an unmis-
takably new note makes itself heard. One might be
tempted to surmise that the high-flown, bombastic, and
ornate style of which Mutanabbi is the most illustrious
exponent, and which is so marked a teature in later
Muhammadan poetry, was first introduced by the Persians and
Perso-Arabs who gathered round the Caliph in Baghdad and
celebrated the triumph of their own race in the person of a
noble Barmecide ; but this would scarcely be true. The
style in question is not specially Persian ; the earliest Arabic-
writing poets of Iranian descent, like Bashshdr b. Burd and
Abu Nuwas, are (so far as I can see) without a trace of it.
What the Persians brought into Arabian poetry was not a
grandiose style, but a lively and graceful fancy, elegance of
diction, depth and tenderness of feeling, and a rich store
of ideas. , -M
The process oi transformation was aided by other causes
besides the influx of Persian and Hellenistic culture : for
example, by the growing importance of Islam in public life
and the diffusion of a strong religious spirit among the com-
munity at large — a spirit which attained its most perfect
' See Professor Browne's Literary History of Persia, vol. ii, p. 14 sqq.
THE NEW POETRY 291
expression in the reflective and didactic poetry of Abu
'l-'Atahiya. Every change of many-coloured life is depicted
in the brilliant pages of these modern poets, where the reader
may find, according to his mood, the maddest gaiety and the
shamefullest frivolity ; strains of lofty meditation mingled
with a world-weary pessimism ; delicate sentiment, unforced
pathos, and glowing rhetoric ; but seldom the manly self-
reliance, the wild, invigorating freedom and inimitable
freshness of Bedouin song.
It is of course impossible to do justice even to the principal
*Abbasid poets within the limits of this chapter, but the fol-
lowing five may be taken as fairly representative :
polts^of'the Mud' b. lyas, Abu Nuwds, Abu 'l-'Atahiya,
Abbasid period, ^yj^^^^^^^j^.^ ^^^ ^^^ ^l.c^^ al-Ma'arri. The
first three were in close touch with the court of Baghdad,
while Mutanabbl and Abu 'l-'Ala flourished under the
Hamddnid dynasty which ruled in Aleppo.
Mud' b. lyds only deserves notice here as the earliest poet
of the New School. His father was a native of Palestine, but
he himself was born and educated at Kufa. He
Muti' b. lyas. i i tt
began his career under the Umayyads, and was
devoted to the Caliph Walid b. Yazid, who found in him a
fellow after his own heart, "accomplished, dissolute, an agree-
able companion and excellent wit, reckless in his effrontery
and suspected in his religion." ^ When the 'Abbdsids came
into power Mud' attached himself to the Caliph Mansur.
Many stories are told of the debauched life which he led
in the company of zindlqs^ or free-thinkers, a class of men
whose opinions we shall sketch in another chapter. His
songs of love and wine are distinguished by their lightness
and elegance. The best known is that in which he laments
his separation from the daughter of a Dihqan (Persian landed
' Aghdni, xii, 80, 1. 3.
292 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
proprietor), and invokes the two palm-trees of Hulwan, a
town situated on the borders of the Jibdl province between
Hamadhdn and Baghdad. From this poem arose the
proverb, " Faster friends than the two palm-trees of
Hulwan." i
THE YEOMAN'S DAUGHTER.
"O ye two palms, palms of Hulwan,
Help me weep Time's bitter dole !
Know that Time for ever parteth
Life from every living soul.
Had ye tasted parting's anguish,
Ye would weep as I, forlorn.
Help me ! Soon must ye asunder
By the same hard fate be torn.
Many are the friends and loved ones
Whom I lost in days before.
Fare thee well, O yeoman's daughter ! —
Never grief like this I bore.
Her, alas, mine eyes behold not,
And on me she looks no more ! "
By Europeans who know him only through the Thousand
and One Nights Abu Nuwas is remembered as the boon-com-
panion and court jester of "the good Haroun
(+ drca ^iT^D) Alraschid," and as the hero of countless droll
adventures and facetious anecdotes — an Oriental
Howleglass or Joe Miller. It is often forgotten that he was
a great poet who, in the opinion of those most competent to
iudo-e, takes rank above all his contemporaries and successors,
including even Mutanabbl, and is not surpassed in poetical
genius by any ancient bard.
" Freytag, Arabuin Proverbia, vol. i, p. 46 seq., where the reader will
find the Arabic text of the verses translated here. Riickert has given a
German rendering of the same verses in his Hamiisa, vol. i, p. 311. A
fuller text of the poem occurs in Aghdni, xii, 107 seq.
ABU NUWAS 293
Hasan b. Hani' gained the familiar title of Abu Nuwas
(Father of the lock of hair) from two locks which hung
down on his shoulders. He was born of humble parents,
about the middle of the eighth century, in Ahwaz, the
capital of Khuzistan. That he was not a pure Arab the
name of his mother, Jallaban, clearly indicates, while the fol-
lowing verse affords sufficient proof that he was not ashamed
of his Persian blood ; —
" Who are Tamim and Qays and all their kin ?
The Arabs in God's sight are nobody." '
He received his education at Basra, of which city he calls
himself a native,2 and at Kufa, where he studied poetry and
philology under the learned Khalaf al-Ahmar. After passing
a * Wanderjahr ' among the Arabs of the desert, as was the
custom of scholars at that time, he made his way to Baghdad
and soon eclipsed every competitor at the court of Hariin the
Orthodox. A man of the most abandoned character, which
he took no pains to conceal, Abu Nuwas, by his flagrant
immorality, drunkenness, and blasphemy, excited the Caliph's
anger to such a pitch that he often threatened the culprit with
death, and actually imprisoned him on several occasions ; but
these fits of severity were brief. The poet survived both
Harun and his son, Amin, who succeeded him in the
Caliphate. Age brought repentance — " the Devil was sick,
the Devil a monk would be." He addressed the following
lines from prison to Fadl b. al-RabI', whom Hdriin appointed
Grand Vizier after the fall ot the Barmecides : —
" Fadl, who hast taught and trained me up to goodness
(And goodness is but habit), thee I praise.
Now hath vice fled and virtue me revisits,
And I have turned to chaste and pious ways.
Diwdn, ed. by Ahlwardt, Die Weinlieder, No. 26, v, 4.
Ibn Qutayba, K. al-Shrr wa-'l-Shu'ard, p. 502, 1. 13.
294 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
To see me, thou would'st think the saintly Basrite,
Hasan, or else Qatada, met thy gaze,'
So do I deck humiUty with leanness,
While yellow, locust-like, my cheek o'erlays.
Beads on my arm ; and on my breast the Scripture,
Where hung a chain of gold in other days."^
The Dfwan of Abu Nuwas contains poems in many dif-
ferent styles — e.g.^ panegyric [niadih)^ satire {hijd), songs or
the chase {tardiyydt), elegies [?nardth{)y and religious poems
{zuhdiyydt) ; but love and wine were the two motives by
which his genius was most brilliantly inspired. His wine-
songs {khamriyydt) are generally acknowledged to be incom-
parable. Here is one of the shortest : —
"Thou scolder of the grape and me,
I ne'er shall win thy smile !
Because against thee I rebel,
'Tis churlish to revile.
Ah, breathe no more the name of wine
Until thou cease to blame.
For fear that thy foul tongue should smirch
Its fair and lovely name !
Come, pour it out, ye gentle boys,
A vintage ten years old.
That seems as though 'twere in the cup
A lake of liquid gold.
And when the water mingles there.
To fancy's eye are set
Pearls over shining pearls close strung
As in a carcanet."3
' For the famous ascetic, Hasan of Basra, see pp. 225-227. Qatada was
a learned divine, also of Basra and contemporary with Hasan. He died
in 735 A.D.
' These verses are quoted by Ibn Qutayba, op. at., p. 507 seq. ' The
Scripture ' (al-mashaf) is of course the Koran.
3 Die Weinlieder, ed. by Ahlwardt, No. 47.
ABl) NUWAS 295
Another poem begins —
" Ho ! a cup, and fill it up, and tell me it is wine,
For I will never drink in shade if I can drink in shine !
Curst and poor is every hour that sober I must go.
But rich am I whene'er well drunk I stagger to and fro.
Speak, for shame, the loved one's name, let vain disguise
alone :
No good there is in pleasures o'er which a veil is thrown." '
Abu Nuwas practised vv^hat he preached, and hypocrisy at
any rate cannot be laid to his charge. The moral and
religious sentiments which appear in some of his poems are
not mere cant, but should rather be regarded as the utterance
of sincere though transient emotion. Usually he felt and
avowed that pleasure vi^as the supreme business of his life,
and that religious scruples could not be permitted to stand
in the way. He even urges others not to shrink from any
excess, inasmuch as the Divine mercy is greater than all the
sins of which a man is capable : —
" Accumulate as many sins thou canst :
The Lord is ready to relax His ire.
When the day comes, forgiveness thou wilt find
Before a mighty King and gracious Sire,
And gnaw thy fingers, all that joy regretting
Which thou didst leave thro' terror of Hell-fire ! " =
We must now bid farewell to Abu Nuwas and the
licentious poets [al-shu^ard al-mujjan) who reflect so admir-
ably the ideas and manners prevailing in court circles and
in the upper classes of society which were chiefly influenced
by the court. The scenes of luxurious dissipation and refined
debauchery which they describe show us, indeed, that Persian
culture was not an unalloyed blessing to the Arabs any more
' Ibid., No. 29, vv. 1-3.
= Ibn Khallikan, ed. by Wiistenfeld, No. 169, p. 100 ; De Slane's
translation, vol. i, p. 393.
296 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
than were the arts of Greece to the Romans ; but this is only
the darker side of the picture. The works of a contempo-
rary poet furnish evidence of the indignation which the
libertinism fashionable in high places called forth among
the mass of Moslems who had not lost faith in morality and
religion.
Abu 'l-'Atahiya, unlike his great rival, came of Arab stock.
He was bred in Kiifa, and gained his livelihood as a young
man by selling earthenware. His poetical talent,
(748-828 A.D^X however, promised so well that he set out to
present himself before the Caliph Mahdi, who
richly rewarded him ; and Harun al-Rashid afterwards be-
stowed on him a yearly pension of 50,000 dirhems (about
j^2,ooo), in addition to numerous extraordinary gifts. At
Baghdad he fell in love with 'Utba, a slave-girl belonging to
Mahdi, but she did not return his passion or take any notice of
the poems in which he celebrated her charms and bewailed the
sufferings that she made him endure. Despair of winning her
affection caused him, it is said, to assume the woollen garb of
Muhammadan ascetics,^ and henceforth, instead of writing vain
and amatorious verses, he devoted his powers exclusively to
those joyless meditations on mortality which have struck a deep
chord in the hearts of his countrymen. Like Abu 'l-'Ala
al-Ma'arri and others who neglected the positive precepts of
Islam in favour of a moral philosophy based on experience and
reflection, Abu 'l-'Atahiya was accused of being a freethinker
{zindiq).^ It was alleged that in his poems he often spoke of
' Cf. Diwdn (ed. of Beyrout, 1886), p. 279, 1. 9, where he reproaches one
of his former friends who deserted him because, in his own words, " I
adopted the garb of a dervish " {sirtu fi ziyyi miskini). Others attribute
his conversion to disgust with the immorality and profanity of the court-
poets amongst whom he lived.
= Possibly he alludes to these aspersions in the verse (ibid., p. 153, 1. 10):
^^ Men have become corrupted, and if they see any one who is sound in
his religion, they call him a heretic" (mubtadi').
ABU 'L-'ATAHIYA 297
death but never of the Resurrection and the Judgment —
a calumny which is refuted by many passages in his Dlwdn.
According to the literary historian al-Siili (t 946 A.D.), Abu
'l-'Atihiya believed in One God who formed the universe out of
two opposite elements which He created from nothing ; and
held, further, that everything would be reduced to these same
elements before the final destruction of all phenomena. Know-
ledge, he thought, was acquired naturally {i.e.^ without Divine
Revelation) by means of reflection, deduction, and research,^
He believed in the threatened retribution {al-wa''ld) and in the
command to abstain from commerce with the world {tahrlmu
^ l-makjinb)."^ He professed the opinions or the Butrites,3 a
subdivision of the Zaydites, as that sect of the Shi*a was named
which followed Zayd b. All b. Husayn b. 'All b. Abl TOib.
He spoke evil or none, and did not approve of revolt against the
Government. He held the doctrine of predestination {jabr)A
Abu 'l-'Atahiya may have secretly cherished the Manichasan
views ascribed to him in this passage, but his poems contain
little or nothinp; that could offend the most orthodox Moslem.
The following verse, in which Goldziher finds an allusion to
Buddha,S is capable of a different interpretation. It rather
• Abu 'l-'Atahiya declares that knowledge is derived from three sources,
logical reasoning [qiyds), examination {^iyar), and oral tradition {sanuV).
See his Diwdn, p. 158, 1. 11.
^ Cf. Mdni, seine Lehre und seine Schriftcn, by G. Fliigel, p. 281, 1. 3 sqq.
Abu 'l-'Atahiya did not take this extreme view {Diwdn, p. 270, 1. 3 seq.).
3 See Shahrastani, Haarbriicker's translation, Part I, p. 181 sqq. It
appears highly improbable that Abu 'l-'Atahiya was a Shi'ite. Cf. the
verses (JDiwdn, p. 104, 1. 13 seq.), where, speaking of the prophets and the
holy men of ancient Islam, he says : —
" Reckon first among them Abii Bakt, the veracious,
And exclaim 'O ^Umar !' in the second place of honour.
And reckon the father of Hasan after 'Uthmdn,
For the merit of them both is recited and celebrated,"
* Aghdni, iii, 128, 1. 6 sqq.
s Tramactions of the Ninth Congress 0* Orientalists, vol, ii. p. 114.
298 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
seems to me to exalt the man of ascetic life, without particular
reference to any individual, above all others : —
" If thou would' st see the noblest of mankind,
Behold a monarch in a beggar's garb." '
But while the poet avoids positive heresy, it is none the less
true that much of his Diwan is not strictly religious in the
Muhammadan sense and may fairly be called 'philosophical.'
This was enough to convict him of infidelity and atheism in
the eyes of devout theologians who looked askance on moral
teaching, however pure, that was not cast in the dogmatic
mould. The pretended cause of his imprisonment by Harun
al-Rashid — namely, that he refused to make any more love-
songs — is probably, as Goldziher has suggested, a popular version
of the fact that he persisted in writing religious poems which
were supposed to have a dangerous bias in the direction of
free-thought.
His poetry breathes a spirit of profound melancholy and hope-
less pessimism. Death and what comes after death, the frailty
and misery of man, the vanity of worldly pleasures and the duty
of renouncing them — these are the subjects on which he
dwells with monotonous reiteration, exhorting his readers to live
the ascetic life and fear God and lay up a store of good
works against the Day of Reckoning. The simplicity, ease,
and naturalness of his style are justly admired. Religious
' Diwdn, p. 274, 1. 10. Cf. the verse (p. 199, penultimate line) : —
" When I gained contentment, I did not cease {thereafter)
To be a king, regarding riches as poverty."
The ascetic " lives the life of a king" {ibid., p. 187, 1. 5). Contented men
are the noblest of all (p, 148, 1. 2). So the great Persian mystic, Jalalu
'1-Din Rumi, says in reference to the perfect Sufi (Divdn-i Shatns-i Tabriz,
No. viii, v. 3 in my edition) : Mard-i khudd shdh buvad zir-i dalq, " the
man of God is a king 'neath dervish-cloak ; " and eminent spiritualists
are frequently described as " kings of the (mystic) path." I do not deny,
however, that this metaphor may have been originally suggested by the
story of Buddha.
ABU 'L-'ATANIVA 299
poetry, as he himself confesses, was not read at court or by-
scholars who demanded rare and obscure expressions, but only
by pious folk, traditionists and divines, and especially by the
vulgar, " who like best what they can understand." ^
Abu 'l-*Atahiya wrote for 'the man in the street.' Discarding
conventional themes tricked out with threadbare artifices, he
appealed to common feelings and matters of universal ex-
perience. He showed for the first and perhaps for the last
time in the history of Arabic literature that it was possible to
use perfectly plain and ordinary language without ceasing to
be a poet.
Although, as has been said, the bulk of Abu 'l-'Atahiya's
poetry is philosophical in character, there remains much
specifically Islamic doctrine, in particular as regards the
Resurrection and the Future Life. This combination may
be illustrated by the following ode, which is considered one
of the best that have been written on the subject of religion,
or, more accurately, of asceticism [zuhd) : —
" Get sons for death, build houses for decay !
All, all, ye wend annihilation's way.
For whom build we, who must ourselves return
Into our native element of clay ?
0 Death, nor violence nor flattery thou
Dost use, but when thou com'st, escape none may.
Methinks, thou art ready to surprise mine age.
As age surprised and made my youth his prey.
What ails me, World, that every place perforce
1 lodge thee in, it galleth me to stay ?
And, O Time, how do I behold thee run
To spoil me ? Thine own gift thou tak'st away !
O Time ! inconstant, mutable art thou.
And o'er the realm of ruin is thy sway.
' Diwdn, p. 25, 1. 3 sqq. Abu 'l-'Atahiya took credit to himself for
introducing 'the language of the market-place' into his poetry (ibid.,
p. 12, 1. 3 seq.).
300 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
What ails me that no glad result it brings
Whene'er, O World, to milk thee I essay?
And when I court thee, why dost thou raise up
On all sides only trouble and dismay ?
Men seek thee every wise, but thou art like
A dream ; the shadow of a cloud ; the day
Which hath but now departed, nevermore
To dawn again ; a glittering vapour gay.
This people thou hast paid in full : their feet
Are on the stirrup — let them not delay !
But those that do good works and labour well
Hereafter shall receive the promised pay.
As if no punishment I had to fear,
A load of sin upon my neck I lay;
And while the world I love, from Truth, alas.
Still my besotted senses go astray.
I shall be asked of all my business here :
What can I plead then ? What can I gainsay ?
What argument allege, when I am called
To render an account on Reckoning-Day ?
Dooms twain in that dread hour shall be revealed,
When I the scroll of these mine acts survey :
Either to dwell in everlasting bliss,
Or suffer torments of the damned for aye ! " '
I w^ill novvr add a few^ verses culled from the Diwan which
bring the poet's pessimistic view of life into clearer outline,
and also some examples of those moral precepts and sententious
criticisms which crowd his pages and have contributed in no
small degree to his popularity.
"The world is like a viper soft to touch that venom spits. ^"
"Men sit like revellers o'er their cups and drink.
From the world's hand, the circling wine of death." ^
" Call no man living blest for aught you see
But that for which you blessed call the dead." <
* Dtwdn (Beyrout, 1886), p. 23, 1. 13 et seqq.
" Ibid., p. 51, 1. 2. 3 Ibid., p. 132, I. 3.
* Ibid., p. 46, 1. 16.
ABU 'L-'ATAHIYA 301
FALSE FRIENDS.
'"Tis not the Age that moves my scorn,
But those who in the Age are born,
I cannot count the friends that broke
Their faith, tho' honied words they spoke ;
In whom no aid I found, and made
The Devil welcome to their aid.
May I — so best we shall agree —
Ne'er look on them nor they on me ! " '
"If men should see a prophet begging, they would turn and
scout him.
Thy friend is ever thine as long as thou canst do without him ;
But he will spew thee forth, if in thy need thou come about
him." ^
THE WICKED WORLD.
"'Tis only on the culprit sin recoils,
The ignorant fool against himself is armed.
Humanity are sunk in wickedness ;
The best is he that leaveth us unharmed. " 3
"'Twas my despair of Man that gave me hope
God's grace would find me soon, I know not how. " ^
LIFE AND DEATH.
" Man's life is his fair name, and not his length of years ;
Man's death is his ill-fame, and not the day that nears.
Then life to thy fair name by deeds of goodness give :
So in this world two lives, O mortal, thou shalt live. " s
', MAXIMS AND RULES OF LIFE.
" Mere falsehood by its face is recognised,
But Truth by parables and admonitions,"*
• Diwdn, p. 260, 1. II et scqq. "^ Ibid., p. 295, 1. 14 et scqq.
3 Ibid., p. 287, 1. 10 seq. " Ibid., p. 119, 1. 11.
5 Ibid., p. 259, penultimate line etscq. * Ibid., p. 115, I. 4.
302 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
" I keep the bond of love inviolate
Towards all humankind, for I betray
Myself, if I am false to any man."'
" Far from the safe path, hop'st thou to be saved ?
Ships make no speedy voyage on dry land. " *
"Strip off the world from thee and naked live, j
For naked thou didst fall into the world. " 3
" Man guards his own and grasps his neighbours' pelf.
And he is angered when they him prevent ;
But he that makes the earth his couch will sleep
No worse, if lacking silk he have content. " "
"Men vaunt their noble blood, but I behold
No lineage that can vie with righteous deeds. "^
" If knowledge lies in long experience.
Less than what I have borne suffices me. " *
" Faith is the medicine of every grief.
Doubt only raises up a host of cares. " ?
" Blame me or no, 'tis my predestined state :
If I have erred, infallible is Fate. "^
Abu 'l-'Atdhiya found little favour w^ith his contemporaries,
who seem to have regarded him as a miserly hypocrite. He
died, an aged man, in the Caliphate of Ma'mun.9 Von
» Diwdn, p. 51, 1. 10. = Ibid., p. 133, 1. 5.
3 Ibid., p. 74, 1. 4. " Ibid., p. 149, 1. 12 seq.
s Ibid., p. 195, 1. 9. Cf. p. 243, 1. 4 seq.
6 Ibid., p. 274, 1. 6. 7 ihid., p. 262, 1. 4.
3 Ibid., p. 346, 1. II. Cf. p. 102, 1. II ; p. 262, 1. I seq. ; p. 267,1. 7. This
verse is taken from Abu 'l-'Atahiya's famous didactic poem composed in
rhyming couplets, which is said to have contained 4,000 sentences of
morality. Several of these have been translated by Von Kremer in his ■
Cnltnrgcschichtc des Orients, vol. ii, p. 374 sqq.
9 In one of his poems (Diwdn, p. 160, 1. 11), he says that he has lived :
ninety years, but if this is not a mere exaggeration, it needs to be
corrected. The words for ' seventy ' and ' ninety' are easily confused in
Arabic writing. ^
ABU 'L-'ATAHIYA 303
Kremer thinks that he had a truer genius for poetry than
Abii Nuwas, an opinion in which I am unable to concur.
Both, however, as he points out, are distinctive types of their
time. If Abu Nuwas presents an appalling picture of a corrupt
and frivolous society devoted to pleasure, we learn from Abu
'l-'Atahiya something of the religious feelings and beliefs which
pervaded the middle and lower classes, and which led them to
take a more earnest and elevated view of life.
With the rapid decline and disintegration of the 'Abbasid
Empire which set in towards the middle of the ninth century,
numerous petty dynasties arose, and the hitherto unrivalled
splendour of Baghdad was challenged by more than one pro-
vincial court. These independent or semi-independent princes
were sometimes zealous patrons of learning — it is well known,
for example, that a national Persian literature first came into
being under the auspices of the Samanids in Khurasan and the
Buwayhids in 'Iraq — but as a rule the anxious task of main-
taining, or the ambition of extending, their power left them
small leisure to cultivate letters, even if they wished to do so.
None combined the arts of war and peace more brilliantly
than the Hamdanid Sayfu '1-Dawla, who in 944 a.d. made
himself master of Aleppo, and founded an independent king-
dom in Northern Syria.
"The Hamdanids," says Tha'alibi, "were kings and princes,
comely of countenance and eloquent of tongue, endowed with
open-handedness and gravity of mind. Sayfu '1-DawIa
Tha'aiibi's js famed as the chief amongst them all and the centre-
Sayfu '1-Dawia. pearl of their necklace. He was — may God be pleased
with him and grant his desires and make Paradise his
abode ! — the brightest star of his age and the pillar of Islam : by
hira the frontiers were guarded and the State well governed. His
attacks on the rebellious Arabs checked their fury and blunted
their teeth and tamed their stubbornness and secured his subjects
against their barbarity. His campaigns exacted vengeance from
the Emperor of the Greeks, decisively broke their hostile onset,
304 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
and had an excellent effect on Islam. His court was the goal of
ambassadors, the dayspring of liberality, the horizon-point of hope,
the end of journeys, a place where savants assembled and poets
competed for the palm. It is said that after the Caliphs no prince
gathered around him so many masters of poetry and men illustrious
in literature as he did ; and to a monarch's hall, as to a market,
people bring only what is in demand. He was an accomplished
scholar, a poet himself and a lover of fine poetry ; keenly sus-
ceptible to words of praise." '
Sayfu '1-Dawla's cousin, Abii Firas al-Hamdani, was a
gallant soldier and a poet of some mark, who if space per-
mitted would receive fuller notice here.^ He, however, I
though superior to the common herd of court poets, is ,
overshadowed by one who with all his faults — and they are i
not inconsiderable — made an extraordinary impression upon
his contemporaries, and by the commanding influence of his
reputation decided what should henceforth be the standard of j
poetical taste in the Muhammadan world.
Abu '1-Tayyib Ahmad b. Husayn, known to fame as
al-Mutanabbi, was born and bred at Kufa, where his father
is said to have been a water-carrier. Following
(9is^^65\.D.). the admirable custom by which young men of
promise were sent abroad to complete their
education, he studied at Damascus and visited other towns
in Syria, but also passed much of his time among the
Bedouins, to whom he owed the singular knowledge
and mastery of Arabic displayed in his poems. Here he
came forward as a prophet (from which circumstance he
was afterwards entitled al-Mutanabbi, i.e.^ ' the pretender to
prophecy '), and induced a great multitude to believe in him ;
but ere long he was captured by Lulu, the governor of Hims
(Emessa), and thrown into prison. After his release he
' Tha'alibi, Yatiniatu 'l-Dahr (Damascus, 1304 a.h.), vol. i, p. 8 seq.
' See Von Kramer's Culturgcschichtc, vol. ii, p. 381 sqq. ; Ahlwardt,
Poesie unci Poctik der Araber, p. 37 sqq. ; R. Dvorak, Abu Finis, cin
arabischer Dichter nnd Held (Leyden, 1895).
MUTANABBI 305
wandered to and fro chanting the praises of all and sundry,
until fortune guided him to the court of Sayfu '1-Dawla at
Aleppo. For nine years (948-957 a.d.) he stood high in
the favour of that cultured prince, whose virtues he celebrated
in a series of splendid eulogies, and with whom he lived as an
intimate friend and comrade in arms. The liberality of Sayfu
'1-Dawla and the ingenious impudence of the poet are well
brought out by the following anecdote : —
Mutanabbi on one occasion handed to his patron the copy of an
ode which he had recently composed in his honour, and retired,
leaving Sayfu '1-Dawla to peruse it at leisure. The prince began to
read, and came to these lines —
Aqil anil aqti' ihmil 'alii salli a'id
zid haslishi bashshi tafad^al adni surra sili,^
"Pardon, bestow, endow, mount, raise, console, restore.
Add, laugh, rejoice, bring nigh, show favour, gladden, give!"
Far from being displeased by the poet's arrogance, Sayfu '1-Dawla
was so charmed with his artful collocation of fourteen imperatives
in a single verse that he granted every request. Under pardon he
wrote ' we pardon thee ' ; under bestow, ' let him receive such and
such a sum of money ' ; under endow, ' we endow thee with an
estate,' which he named (it was beside the gate of Aleppo) ; under
mount, ' let such and such a horse be led to him ' ; under raise, ' we
do so ' ; under console, 'we do so, be at ease'; under restore, 'we
restore thee to thy former place in our esteem' ; under add, 'let him
have such and such in addition ' ; under bring nigh, ' we admit thee
to our intimacy ' ; under show favour, ' we have done so ' ; under
gladden, ' we have made thee glad ' = ; under give, ' this we have
already done.' Mutanabbi's rivals envied his good fortune, and
one of them said to Sayfu '1-Dawla — "Sire, you have done all that
he asked, but when he uttered the words laugh, rejoice, why did not
you answer, ' Ha, ha, ha ' ? " Sayfu '1-Dawla laughed, and said, " You
too, shall have your wish," and ordered him a donation.
' Mutanabbi, ed. by Dieterici, p. 493. Wahidi gives the whole story in
his commentary on this verse.
= Mutanabbi, it is said, explained to Sayfu '1-Dawla that by surra
(gladden) he meant surriyya ; whereupon the good-humoured prince
presented him with a slave -girl.
21
3o6 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
Mutanabbi was sincerely attached to his generous master,
and this feeling inspired a purer and loftier strain than we
find in the fulsome panegyrics which he afterwards addressed
to the negro Kafiir. He seems to have been occasionally in
disgrace, but Sayfu '1-Dawla could deny nothing to a poet
who paid him such magnificent compliments. Nor was he
deterred by any false modesty from praising himself : he was
fully conscious of his power and, like Arabian bards in
general, he bragged about it. Although the verbal leger-
demain which is so conspicuous in his poetry cannot be
reproduced in another language, the lines translated below
may be taken as a favourable and sufficiently characteristic
specimen of his style.
" How glows mine heart for him whose heart to me is cold,
Who liketh ill my case and me in fault doth hold !
Why should I hide a love that hath worn thin my frame ?
To Sayfu '1-Dawla all the world avows the same.
Tho' love of his high star unites us, would that we
According to our love might so divide the fee !
Him have I visited when sword in sheath was laid.
And I have seen him when in blood swam every blade :
Him, both in peace and war the best of all mankind,
Whose crown of excellence was still his noble mind.
Do foes by flight escape thine onset, thou dost gain
A chequered victory, half of pleasure, half of pain.
So puissant the fear thou strik'st them with, it stands
Instead of thee, and works more than thy warriors' hands.
Unfought the field is thine : thou need'st not further strain
To chase them from their holes in mountain or in plain.
What ! 'fore thy fierce attack whene'er an army reels.
Must thy ambitious soul press hot upon their heels ?
Thy task it is to rout them on the battle-ground :
No shame to thee if they in flight have safety found.
Or thinkest thou perchance that victory is sweet
Only when scimitars and necks each other greet ?
O justest of the just save in thy deeds to me !
Thou, art accused and thou, O Sire, must judge the plea.
MUTANABBt 307
Look, I implore thee, well ! Let not thine eye cajoled
See fat in empty froth, in all that glisters gold ! '
What use and profit reaps a mortal of his sight,
If darkness unto him be indistinct from light ?
My deep poetic art the blind have eyes to see,
My verses ring in ears as deaf as deaf can be.
They wander far abroad while I am unaware.
But men collect them watchfully with toil and care.
Oft hath my laughing mien prolonged the insulter's sport,
Until with claw and mouth I cut his rudeness short.
Ah, when the lion bares his teeth, suspect his guile,
Nor fancy that the lion shows to you a smile.
I have slain the man that sought my heart's blood many a
time.
Riding a noble mare whose back none else may climb,
Whose hind and fore-legs seem in galloping as one \
Nor hand nor foot requireth she to urge her on.
And O the days when I have swung my fine-edged glaive
Amidst a sea of death where wave was dashed on wave !
The cavaliers, the night, the desert know me ; then.
The battle and the sword, the paper and the pen ! " ^
Finally an estrangement arose between Mutanabbi and
Sayfu '1-Dawla, in consequence of which he fled to Egypt
and attached himself to the Ikhshidite Kafur. Disappointed
in his new patron, a negro who had formerly been a slave, the
poet set off for Baghdad, and afterwards visited the court of
the Buwayhid 'Adudu '1-Dawla at Shiraz. While travelling
through Babylonia he was attacked and slain by brigands in
965 A.D.
The popularity of Mutanabbi is shown by the numerous
commentaries 3 and critical treatises on his Diwdn. By his
countrymen he is generally regarded as one of the greatest of
Arabian poets, while not a few would maintain that he ranks
' Literally, " Do not imagine fat in one whose (apparent) fat is (really) a
tumour."
^ Diwdn, ed. by Dieterici, pp. 481-484.
3 The most esteemed commentary is that of Wahidi (f 1075 A.D.), which
has been published by Fr. Dieterici in his edition of Mutanabbi (Berlin,
1858-1861).
3o8 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
absolutely first. Abu 'l-'Ala al-Ma'arri, himself an illustrious
poet and man of letters, confessed that he had sometimes
wished to alter a word here and there in Mutanabbi's verses,
but had never been able to think of any improvement. " As
to his poetry," says Ibn Khalliican, " it is perfection."
European scholars, with the exception of Von Hammer,^
have been far from sharing this enthusiasm, as may be seen by
referring to what has been said on the subject by Reiske,^ De
Sacy,3 Bohlen,4 Brockelmann,5 and others. No doubt, accord-
ing to our canons of taste, Mutanabbi stands immeasurably
below the famous Pre-islamic bards, and in a later age must
yield the palm to Abu Nuwas and Abu 'l-'Atahiya. Lovers
of poetry, as the term is understood in Europe, cannot derive
much aesthetic pleasure from his writings, but, on the contrary, :
will be disgusted by the beauties hardly less than by the faults I
which Arabian critics attribute to him. Admitting, however,
that only a born Oriental is able to appreciate Mutanabbi at j
his full worth, let us try to realise the Oriental point of view
and put aside, as far as possible, our preconceptions of what
constitutes good poetry and good taste. Fortunately we
possess abundant materials for such an attempt in the in-
valuable work of Tha'alibi, which has been already mentioned.^
Tha'alibf (961-1038 a.d.) was nearly contemporary with
Mutanabbi. He began to write his Tatbna about thirty
years after the poet's death, and while he bears witness to
* Motenebbi, der grosste arabische Dichter (Vienna, 1824).
* Abulfedce Annales Muslemici (Hafniae, 1789, &c.), vol. ii, p. 774. Cf.
his notes on Tarafa's Mu^allaqa, of which he pubHshed an edition in
1742.
3 Chrestomafhie Arabe (2nd edition), vol. iii, p. 27 sqq. Journal des
Savans, January, 1825, p. 24 sqq.
* Coinmcniatio dc Motcnabbio (Bonn, 1824).
s Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur (Weimar, iSgS, &c.), vol. i, p. 86.
^ I have made free use of Dieterici's excellent work entitled Mutanabbi
und Scifuddaida aus der Edclperle dcs Tsadlibi (Leipzig, 1847), which
contains on pp. 49-74 an abstract of Tha'alibi's criticism in the fifth
chapter of the First Part of the Yatlma.
MUTANABBt 309
the unrivalled popularity of the Dlwan amongst all classes
of society, he observes that it was sharply criticised as well as
rapturously admired. Tha'Alibi himself claims to hold the
balance even. " Now," he says, " I will mention the faults
and blemishes which critics have found in the poetry of
Mutanabbi ; for is there any one whose qualities give entire
satisfaction ? —
Kafa 'l-mar'a fadl^'^ an tu'adda ma'dyibiih.
'Tis the height of merit in a man that his faults can be
numbered.
Then I will proceed to speak of his beauties and to set forth
in due order the original and incomparable characteristics of
his style.
The radiant stars with beauty strike our eyes
Because midst gloom opaque we see them rise."
It was deemed of capital importance that the opening
couplet [mat/a^) of a poem should be perfect in form and
meaning, and that it should not contain anything likely
to offend. Tha'dlibi brings forward many instances in which
Mutanabbi has violated this rule by using words of bad omen,
such as ' sickness ' or ' death,' or technical terms of music
and arithmetic which only perplex and irritate the hearer
instead of winning his sympathy at the outset. He complains
also that Mutanabbi's finest thoughts and images are too often
followed by low and trivial ones : " he strings pearls and
bricks together " (jama^a bayna U-durrati wa-^l-djurrati),
" While he moulds the most splendid ornament, and threads
the loveliest necklace, and weaves the most exquisite stuff of
mingled hues, and paces superbly in a garden of roses,
suddenly he will throw in a verse or two verses disfigured
by far-fetched metaphors, or by obscure language and con-
fused thought, or by extravagant affectation and excessive
310 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
profundity, or by unbounded and absurd exaggeration, or
by vulgar and commonplace diction, or by pedantry and
grotesqueness resulting from the use of unfamiliar words."
We need not follow Tha'alibi in his illustration of these
and other weaknesses with which he justly reproaches
Mutanabbi, since we shall be able to form a better idea
of the prevailing taste from those points which he singles
out for special praise.
In the first place he calls attention to the poet's skill in
handling the customary erotic prelude (naslb), and particularly
to his brilliant descriptions of Bedouin women, which were
celebrated all over the East. As an example of this kind he
quotes the following piece, which " is chanted in the salons on
account of the extreme beauty of its diction, the choiceness of
its sentiment, and the perfection of its art " : —
" Shame hitherto was wont my tears to stay,
But now by shame they will no more be stayed,
So that each bone seems through its skin to sob,
And every vein to swell the sad cascade.
She uncovered : pallor veiled her at farewell :
No veil 'twas, yet her cheeks it cast in shade.
So seemed they, while tears trickled over them,
Gold with a double row of pearls inlaid.
She loosed three sable tresses of her hair.
And thus of night four nights at once she made ;
But when she lifted to the moon in heaven
Her face, two moons together I surveyed." '
The critic then enumerates various beautiful and original
features of Mutanabbi's style, e.g. —
I. His consecutive arrangement of similes in brief symmetri-
cal clauses, thus : —
" She shone forth Hke a moon, and swayed like a moringa-
bough.
And shed fragrance like ambergris, and gazed like a gazelle."
Mutanabbi, ed. by Dieterici, p. 182, vv. 3-9, omitting v. 5.
MUTANABBl 311
2. The novelty of his comparisons and images, as when he
indicates the rapidity with which he returned to his patron and
the shortness of his absence in these lines : —
" I was merely an arrow in the air,
Which falls back, finding no refuge there."
3. The laus duplex or ' two-sided panegyric ' [ai-madh
al-muwajjah\ which may be compared to a garment having
two surfaces of different colours but of equal beauty, as in
the following verse addressed to Sayfu '1-Dawla : —
" Were all the lives thou hast ta'en possessed by thee,
Immortal thou and blest the world would be ! "
Here Sayfu '1-Dawla is doubly eulogised by the mention or
his triumphs over his enemies as well as of the joy which all
his friends felt in the continuance of his life and fortune.
4. His manner of extolling his royal patron as though he
were speaking to a friend and comrade, whereby he raises
himself from the position of an ordinary encomiast to the same
level with Icings.
5. His division of ideas into parallel sentences : —
"We were in gladness, the Greeks in fear,
The land in bustle, the sea in confusion."
From this summary of Tha'alibi's criticism the reader will
easily perceive that the chief merits of poetry were then con- y
sidered to lie in elegant expression, subtle combination or
words, fanciful imagery, witty conceits, and a striking use of
rhetorical figures. Such, indeed, are the views which prevail
to this day throughout the whole Muhammadan world, and it
is unreasonable to denounce them as false simply because they
do not square with ours. Who shall decide when nations
disagree ? If Englishmen rightly claim to be the best judges
of Shakespeare, and Italians of Dante, the almost unanimous
312 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
verdict of Mutanabbi's countrymen is surely not less authorita-
tive— a verdict which places him at the head of all the poets
born or made in Islam. And although the peculiar excellences
indicated by Tha'alibl do not appeal to us, there are few poets
that leave so distinct an impression oi greatness. One might
call Mutanabbi the Victor Hugo of the East, for he has the
grand style whether he soars to sublimity or sinks to fustian.
In the masculine vigour of his verse, in the sweep and
splendour of his rhetoric, in the luxuriance and reckless
audacity of his imagination we recognise qualities which
inspired the oft-quoted lines of the elegist : —
" Him did his mighty soul supply
With regal pomp and majesty.
A Prophet by his diction known ;
But in the ideas, all must own,
His miracles were clearly shown." '
One feature of Mutanabbi's poetry that is praised by
Tha'alibi should not be left unnoticed, namely, his fondness
for sententious moralising on topics connected with human
life ; wherefore Reiske has compared him to Euripides. He
is allowed to be a master of that proverbial philosophy in
which Orientals delight and which is characteristic of the
modern school beginning with Abu 'l-'Atahiya, though some
of the ancients had already cultivated it with success [cf.
the verses of Zuhayr, p. Ii8 supra). The following examples
are among those cited by Bohlen {op. cit., p. 86 sqq.) : —
" When an old man cries ' Ugh ! ' he is not tired
Of life, but only tired of feebleness." '
"He that hath been familiar with the world
A long while, in his eye 'tis turned about
Until he sees how false what looked so fair." ^
» The author of these lines, which are quoted by Ibn Khallikan in his
article on Mutanabbi, is Abu '1-Qasim b. al-Muzaffar b. 'Ali al-Tabasi.
' Mutanabbi, ed. by Dieterici, p. 581, v. 27. 3 Ibid., p. 472, v. 5.
MUTANABBt 313
"The sage's mind still makes him miserable
In his most happy fortune, but poor fools
Find happiness even in their misery."'
The sceptical and pessimistic tendencies of an age of social
decay and political anarchy are unmistakably revealed in the
writings of the poet, philosopher, and man of
ai-Ma"arri (973- letters, Abu 'l-'Ala al-Ma'arri, who was born
in 973 A.D. at Ma'arratu '1-Nu'mdn, a Syrian
town situated about twenty miles south of Aleppo on the
caravan road to Damascus. While yet a child he had an
attack of small-pox, resulting in partial and eventually in
complete blindness, but this calamity, fatal as it might seem
to literary ambition, was repaired if not entirely made good
by his stupendous powers of memory. After being educated
at home under the eye of his father, a man of some culture
and a meritorious poet, he proceeded to Aleppo, which was
still a flourishing centre of the humanities, though it could no
longer boast such a brilliant array of poets and scholars as
were attracted thither in the palmy days of Sayfu '1-Dawla.
Probably Abu 'l-'Ala did not enter upon the career of a
professional encomiast, to which he seems at first to have
inclined : he declares in the preface to his ^aqtu U-Zand that
he never eulogised any one with the hope of gaining a reward,
but only for the sake of practising his skill. On the termina-
tion of his ' Wanderjahre ' he returned in 993 A.D. to
Ma'arra, where he spent the next fifteen years of his life,
with no income beyond a small pension of thirty dinars (which
he shared with a servant), lecturing on Arabic poetry, antiqui-
ties, and philology, the subjects to which his youthful studies
had been chiefly devoted. During this period his reputation
was steadily increasing, and at last, to adapt what Boswell
wrote of Dr. Johnson on a similar occasion, " he thought of
trying his fortune in Baghddd, the great field of genius and
• Mutanabbi, ed. by Dieterici, p. 341, v. 8.
314 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
exertion, where talents of every kind had the fullest scope
and the highest encouragement," Professor Margoliouth in
the Introduction to his edition of Abu '1-' Ala's
^agMid° correspondence supplies many interesting particu-
lars of the literary society at Baghdad in which the
poet moved. " As in ancient Rome, so in the great Muham-
madan cities public recitation was the mode whereby men of
letters made their talents known to their contemporaries.
From very early times it had been customary to employ the
mosques for this purpose ; and in Abu 'l-'Ala's time poems
were recited in the mosque of al-Mansur in Baghdad. Better
accommodation was, however, provided by the Maecenates
who took a pride in collecting savants and litterateurs in their
houses." I Such a Maecenas was the Sharif al-Radi, himself
a celebrated poet, who founded the Academy called by his
name in imitation, probably, of that founded some years
before by Abu Nasr Sdbiir b. Ardashir, Vizier to the Buwayhid
prince, Bahd'u '1-Dawla. Here Abu 'l-'Ala met a number of
distinguished writers and scholars who welcomed him as one
of themselves. The capital of Islam, thronged with travellers
and merchants from all parts of the East, harbouring followers
of every creed and sect — Christians and Jews, Buddhists and
Zoroastrians, Sabians and Sufis, Materialists and Rationalists —
must have seemed to the provincial almost like a new world.
It is certain that Abu 'l-'Ald, a curious observer who set no
bounds to his thirst for knowledge, would make the best use
of such an opportunity. The religious and philosophical ideas
with which he was now first thrown into contact gradually
took root and ripened. His stay in Baghdad, though it lasted
only a year and a half (1009-1010 a.d.), decided the whole
bent of his mind for the future.
Whether his return to Ma'arra was hastened, as he says, by
want of means and the illness of his mother, whom he
tenderly loved, or by an indignity which he suffered at the
* Margoliouth's Introduction to the Letters of Abu 'l-'Ald, p. xxii.
ABU 'L-'ALA AL-MA'ARRI 315
hands of an influential patron,i immediately on his arrival he
shut himself in his house, adopted a vegetarian diet and other
ascetic practices, and passed the rest of his long life in com-
parative seclusion : —
" Methinks, I am thrice imprisoned— ask not me
Of news that need no telling —
By loss of sight, confinement to my house,
And this vile body for my spirit's dwelling." ^
We can only conjecture the motives w^hich brought about this
sudden change of habits and disposition. No doubt his mother's
death affected him deeply, and he may have been disappointed
by his failure to obtain a permanent footing in the capital. It
is not surprising that the blind and lonely man, looking back
on his faded youth, should have felt vi'eary of the world and
its ways, and found in melancholy contemplation of earthly
vanities ever fresh matter for the application and development
of these philosophical ideas which, as we have seen, were
probably suggested to him by his recent experiences. While
in the collection of early poems, entitled Saqtu U-Zand or *The
Spark of the Fire-stick ' and mainly composed before his visit
to Baghdad, he still treads the customary path of his pre-
decessors,3 his poems written after that time and generally
known as the Luziimiyyat ^ arrest attention by their boldness
and originality as well as by the sombre and earnest tone which
pervades them. This, indeed, is not the view of most Oriental
critics, who dislike the poet's irreverence and fail to appreciate
the fact that he stood considerably in advance of his age ; but
in Europe he has received full justice and perhaps higher
' Ibid., p. xxvii seq.
= Luzumiyydt (Cairo, 1891), vol. i, p. 201.
3 I.e., his predecessors of the modern school. Like Mutanabbi, he
ridicules the conventional types (asalib) in which the old poetry is cast
Cf. Goldziher, Abhand. zur Arab. Philologie, Part 1, p. 146 seq.
* The proper title is Luziimn md Id yalzam, referring to a technical
difficulty which the poet unnecessarily imposed on himself with regard
to the rhyme.
3i6 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
praise than he deserves. Reiske describes him as ' Arabice
callentissimum, vasti, subtilis, sublimis et audacis ingenii ' ; ^
Von Hammer, who ranks him as a poet with Abu Tammam,
Buhturf, and Mutanabbi, also mentions him honourably as a
philosopher ; 2 and finally Von Kremer, who made an exhaustive
study of the Luziimiyy at zndi examined their contents in a masterly
essay,3 discovered in Abu 'l-*Ala, one of the greatest moralists
of all time whose profound genius anticipated much that is
commonly attributed to the so-called modern spirit of en-
lightenment. Here Von Kremer's enthusiasm may have
carried him too far ; for the poet, as Proressor Margoliouth
says, was unconscious of the value of his suggestions, unable
to follow them out, and unable to adhere to them consistently.
Although he builded better than he knew, the constructive
side of his philosophy was overshadowed by the negative and
destructive side, so that his pure and lofty morality leaves but a
faint impression which soon dies away in louder, continually
recurring voices of doubt and despair.
Abu 'l-'Ala is a firm monotheist, but his belief in God
amounted, as it would seem, to little beyond a conviction that
all things are governed by inexorable Fate, whose mysteries
none may fathom and from whose omnipotence there is no
escape. He denies the Resurrection of the dead, e.g. : —
" We laugh, but inept is our laughter ;
We should weep and weep sore,
Who are shattered like glass, and thereafter
Re-moulded no more ! " ■*
' Abnlfcda; Annalcs Mnslcmici, ed. by Adler (1789-1794), vol. iii, p. 677.
= Liter attirgesch. dcr Araber, vol. vi, p. 900 sqq.
3 Sitzungsberichtc der Philosophisch-Historischen Classe der Kaiserlichen
Akademie der Wissenschafteii, vol. cxvii, 6th Abhandlung (Vienna, 1889).
Select passages admirably rendered by Von Kremer into German verse
will be found in the Z.D.M.G., vol. 29, pp. 304-312 ; vol. 30, pp. 40-52 ;
vol. 31, pp. 471-483 ; vol. 38, pp. 499-529-
t Z.D.M.G., vol. 38, p. 507 ; Margoliouth, op. cit, p. 131, 1- i5 of the
Arabic text.
ABU 'L-'ALA AL-MA'ARRf Zi?
Since Death is the ultimate goal of mankind, the sage will
pray to be delivered as speedily as possible from the miseries of
life and refuse to inflict upon others what, by no fault of his
own, he is doomed to suffer : —
"Amends are richly due from sire to son :
What if thy children rule o'er cities great ?
That eminence estranges them the more
From thee, and causes them to wax in hate,
Beholding one who cast them into Life's
Dark labyrinth whence no wit can extricate." '
There are many passages to the same effect, showing that
Abu 'l-'Ala regarded procreation as a sin and universal anni-
hilation as the best hope for humanity. He acted in accord-
ance with his opinions, for he never married, and he is said to
have desired that the following verse should be inscribed on
his grave : —
"This wrong was by my father done
To me, but ne'er by me to one." -
'; Hating the present life and weary of its burdens, yet seeing
I no happier prospect than that of return to non-existence, Abu
I' 'l-'Ala can scarcely have disguised from himself what he might
% shrink openly to avow — that he was at heart, not indeed an
atheist, but wholly incredulous of any Divine revelation.
Religion, as he conceives it, is a product of the human mind,
in which men believe through force of habit and education,
never stopping to consider whether it is true.
" Sometimes you may find a man skilful in his trade, perfect in
sagacity and in the use of arguments, but when he comes to
religion he is found obstinate, so does he follow the old groove.
Piety is implanted in human nature ; it is deemed a sure refuge.
' Z.D.M.G., vol. 29, p. 308.
' Margoliouth, op. cit., p. 133 of the Arabic text.
3i8 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
To the growing child that which falls from his elders' lips is a
lesson that abides with him all his Hfe. Monks in their cloisters and
devotees in the mosques accept their creed just as a story is handed
down from him who tells it, without distinguishing between a true
interpreter and a false. If one of these had found his kin among
the Magians, he would have declared himself a Magian, or among
the Sabians, he would have become nearly or quite like them." '
Religion, then, is " a fable invented by the ancients,"
worthless except to those unscrupulous persons who prey upon
human folly and superstition. Islam is neither better nor
worse than any other creed : —
^ " Hanifs are stumbling,- Christians all astray,
Jews wildered, Magians far on error's way.
We mortals are composed of two great schools —
j Enlightened knaves or else religious fools." ^
Not only does the poet emphatically reject the proud claim
of Islam to possess a monopoly of truth, but he attacks most
of its dogmas in detail. As to the Koran, Abu 'l-'Ala could
not altogether refrain from doubting if it was really the Word
of God, but he thought so well of the style that he accepted
the challenge flung down by Muhammad and produced a rival
work [al-Fusul wa- l-Ghayat)^ which appears to have been a
somewhat frivolous parody of the sacred volume, though in the
author's judgment its inferiority was simply due to the fact
that it was not yet polished by the tongues of four centuries or
readers. Another work which must have sorely offended
orthodox Muhammadans is the Risdiatu U-Ghufrdn (Epistle or
Forgiveness). 4 Here the Paradise of the Faithful becomes
' This passage occurs in Abu '1- 'Ala's Risdiatu 'l-Gliufrdn (see infra),
J.R.A.S. for 1902, p. 351. Cf. the verses translated by Von Kremer in
his essay on Abu 'l-'Ala, p. 23.
^ For the term ' Hanif ' see p. 149 supra. Here it is synonymous with
' Muslim.' ' 3 Z.D.M.G., vol. 38, p. 513.
* This work, of which only two copies exist in Europe — one at Con-
stantinople and another in my collection — has been described and partially
translated in the J.R.A.S. for 1900, pp. 637-720, and for 1902, pp. 75-101,
337-362, and 813-847.
ABU 'L-'ALA AL-MA'ARRt 3I9
a glorified salon tenanted by various heathen poets who have
been forgiven — hence the title — and received among the Blest.
This idea is carried out with much ingenuity and in a spirit
of audacious burlesque that reminds us of Lucian. The poets
are presented in a series of imaginary conversations with a
certain Shaykh 'Ali b. Mansur, to whom the work is addressed,
reciting and explaining their verses, quarrelling with one
another, and generally behaving as literary Bohemians. The
second part contains a number of anecdotes relating to the
7.indiqs or freethinkers of Islam interspersed with quotations
from their poetry and reflections on the nature of their belief,
which Abu '1- 'Ala condemns while expressing a pious hope
that they are not so black as they paint themselves. At this
time it may have suited him — he was over sixty — to assume
the attitude of charitable orthodoxy. Like so many wise men
of the East, he practised dissimulation as a fine art —
"I lift my voice to utter lies absurd,
I* But when I speak the truth, my hushed tones scarce are
fc heard." '
B In the Luzumiyyat^ however, he often unmasks. Thus he
describes as idolatrous relics the two Pillars of the Ka'ba and
the Black Stone, venerated by every Moslem, and calls the
Pilgrimage itself ' a heathen's journey ' (rihlatu jahiliyy'").
The following sentiments do him honour, but they would
have been rank heresy at Mecca : —
" Praise God and pray,
Walk seventy times, not seven, the Temple round—
And impious remain !
Devout is he alone who, when he may
Feast his desires, is found
With courage to abstain." =
' Margoliouth, op. cit., p. 132, last line of the Arabic text.
' Z.D.M.G, vol. 31, p. 483.
320 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
It is needless to give further instances of the poet's contempt
for the Muhammadan articles of faith. Considering that he
assailed persons as well as principles, and lashed with bitter
invective the powerful class of the '■Ulama^ the clerical and
legal representatives of Islam, we may wonder that the accu-
sation of heresy brought against him was never pushed home
and had no serious consequences. The question was warmly
argued on both sides, and though Abu 'l-'Ald was pronounced
by the majority to be a freethinker and materialist, he did not
lack defenders who quoted chapter and verse to prove that he
was nothing of the kind. It must be remembered that his
works contain no philosophical system ; that his opinions have
to be gathered from the ideas which he scatters incoherently,
and for the most part in guarded language, through a long
succession of rhymes ; and that this task, already arduous
enough, is complicated by the not inrrequent occurrence of
sentiments which are blamelessly orthodox and entirely con-
tradictory to the rest. A brilliant writer, familiar with
Eastern ways of thinking, has observed that in general the
conscience of an Asiatic is composed of the following in-
gredients : (i) an almost bare religious designation; (2) a
more or less lively belief in certain doctrines of the creed
which he professes; (3) a resolute opposition to many of its
doctrines, even if they should be the most essential ; (4) a
fund of ideas relating to completely alien theories, which
occupies more or less room ; (5) a constant tendency to get
rid of these ideas and theories and to replace the old by new.^
Such phenomena will account for a great deal of logical incon-
sistency, but we should beware of invoking them too con-
fidently in this case. Abu '1- *Ala with his keen intellect and
unfanatical temperament was not the man to let himself be
mystified. Still lamer is the explanation offered by some
Muhammadan critics, that his thoughts were decided by the
' De Gobineau, Lcs religions et les philosophies dans I'Asie centrale,
p. II seq.
ABU 'L-'ALA AL-MA'ARR/ 321
necessities of the difficult metre in which he wrote. It is
conceivable that he may sometimes have doubted his own
doubts and given Islam the benefit, but Von Kremer's con-
clusion is probably near the truth, namely, that where the
poet speaks as a good Moslem, his phrases if they are not
purely conventional are introduced of set purpose to foil his
pious antagonists or to throw them off the scent. Although
he was not without religion in the larger sense or the word,
unprejudiced students of the later poems must recognise that
from the orthodox standpoint he was justly branded as an
infidel. The following translations will serve to illustrate the
negative side of his philosophy : —
" Falsehood hath so corrupted all the world
That wrangling sects each other's gospel chide ;
But were not hate Man's natural element,
Churches and mosques had risen side by side." '
"What is Religion? A maid kept close that no eye may view
her ;
The price of her wedding-gifts and dowry baffles the wooer.
Of all the goodly doctrine that I from the pulpit heard
My heart has never accepted so much as a single word ! " -
"The pillars of this earth are four,
Which lend to human life a base ;
God shaped two vessels. Time and Space,
The world and all its folk to store.
That which Time holds, in ignorance
It holds — why vent on it our spite ?
Man is no cave-bound eremite.
But still an eager spy on Chance
He trembles to be laid asleep,
Tho' worn and old and weary grown.
We laugh and weep by Fate alone,
Time moves us not to laugh or weep ;
' \Z.D.M.C., vol. 31, p. 477. * Ibid., vol. 29, p. 311.
22
322 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
Yet we accuse it innocent,
Which, could it speak, might us accuse,
Our best and worst, at will to choose,
United in a sinful bent.'
" ' The stars' conjunction comes, divinely sent,
And lo, the veil o'er every creed is rent.
No realm is founded that escapes decay,
The firmest structure soon dissolves away.'"*
With sadness deep a thoughtful mind must scan
Religion made to serve the pelf of Man.
Fear thine own children : sparks at random flung
Consume the very tinder whence they sprung.
Evil are all men ; I distinguish not
That part or this : the race entire I blot.
Trust none, however near akin, tho' he
A perfect sense of honour show to thee.
Thy self is the worst foe to be withstood :
Be on thy guard in hours of solitude.
;,< ^ -,» *j-.
Desire a venerable shaykh to cite
Reason for his doctrine, he is gravelled quite.
What ! shall I ripen ere a leaf is seen ?
The tree bears only when 'tis clad in green. '^
" How have I provoked your enmity ?
Christ or Muhammad, 'tis one to me.
No rays of dawn our path illume.
We are sunk together in ceaseless gloom.
Can blind perceptions lead aright.
Or blear eyes ever have clear sight ?
Well may a body racked with pain
Envy mouldering bones in vain ;
Yet comes a day when the weary sword
Reposes, to its sheath restored.
' Z.D.M.G. vol. 38, p. 522.
= According to De Goeje, Memoires stir les Carmathes dii Bahrain,
p. 197, n. I, these lines refer to a prophecy made by the Carmathians'
that the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, which took place in 1047 a.d.
would herald the final triumph of the Fatimids over the 'Abbasids.
3 Z.D.M.G., vol. 38, p. 504.
ABU 'L-'ALA AL-MA'ARR/ 323
Ah, who to me a frame will give
As clod or stone insensitive ? —
For when spirit is joined to flesh, the pair
Anguish of mortal sickness share.
O Wind, be still, if wind thy name,
O Flame, die out, if thou art flame ! " '
Pessimist and sceptic as he was, Abu 'l-'Ala denies more
than he affirms, but although he rejected the dogmas of
positive religion, he did not fall into utter unbelief; for he
found within himself a moral law to which he could not
refuse obedience.
"Take Reason for thy guide and do what she
Approves, the best of counsellors in sooth.
Accept no law the Pentateuch lays down :
Not there is what thou seekest — the plain truth."'
He insists repeatedly that virtue is its own reward.
" Oh, purge the good thou dost from hope of recompense
Or profit, as if thou wert one that sells his wares." ^
His creed is that of a philosopher and ascetic. Slay no
living creature, he says ; better spare a flea than give alms.
Yet he prefers active piety, active humanity, to fasting and
prayer. " The gist of his moral teaching is to inculcate as
the highest and hoHest duty a conscientious fulfilment of
one's obligations with equal warmth and affection towards
all living beings." 4
Abu 'l-'Ald died in 1057 ^'^-> ^^ ^^e age of eighty-four.
About ten years before this time, the Persian poet and
traveller, Nasir-i Khusraw, passed through Ma'arra on his
way to Egypt. He describes Abu 'l-'Ala as the chief
man in the town, very rich, revered by the inhabitants,
and surrounded by more than two hundred students who
came from all parts to aitend his lectures on literature and
' Z.D.M.G., vol. 31, p. 474. ' Luzumiyydt (Cairo, 1891), i, 394.
3 Ibid., i, 312. 4 Von Kremer, op. cit., p. 38.
324 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
poetry.i We may set this trustworthy notice against the
doleful account which Abu 'l-'Ald gives of himself in his
letters and other works. If not among the greatest Muham-
madan poets, he is undoubtedly one of the most original
and attractive. After Mutanabbf, even after Abu 'l-'Atahiya,
he must appear strangely modern to the European reader.
It is astonishing to reflect that a spirit so unconventional, so
free from dogmatic prejudice, so rational in spite of his
pessimism and deeply religious notwithstanding his attacks
on revealed religion, should have ended his life in a Syrian
country-town some years before the battle of Senlac. Al-
though he did not meddle with politics and held aloof from
every sect, he could truly say of himself, " I am the son or
my time " {ghadawtu ''hna waqti).'^ His poems leave no
aspect of the age untouched, and present a vivid picture :
of degeneracy and corruption, in which tyrannous rulers,
venal judges, hypocritical and unscrupulous theologians, ,
swindling astrologers, roving swarms of dervishes and god-
less Carmathians occupy a prominent place.3
Although the reader may think that too much space has
been already devoted to poetry, I will venture by way ofj
concluding the subject to mention very briefly a few well-i
known names which cannot be altogether omitted from a,
work of this kind. I
Abu Tammam (Habib b. Aws) and Buhturi, both of whomj
flourished in the ninth century, were distinguished court poets!
of the same type as Mutanabbl, but their reputa-!
Ind^B^u^ri" ^i<^" ^^^^^ more securely on the anthologies which'
they compiled under the title of Hamasa (see,
p. 129 seq.). I
• Safar-ndma, ed. by Schefer, p. 10 seq. = pp. 35-36 of the translation.
= Luznmiyydt, ii, 280. The phrase does not mean " I am the child oil
my age," but " I live in the present," forgetful of the past and carelesi'
what the future may bring.
3 See Von Kremer, op. cif., p. 46 sqq. 1
IBNU 'L-MU'TAZZ AND IBNU 'L-FARID 325
Abu 'l-<Abbas 'Abdullah, the son of the Caliph al-Mu'tazz,
was a versatile poet and man of letters, who showed his
originality by the works which he produced in
(86r-^8^A.DT ^^° novel styles of composition. It has often
been remarked that the Arabs have no great
epos like the Iliad or the Persian Shdhndma^ but only prose
narratives which, though sometimes epical in tone, are better
described as historical romances. Ibnu '1-Mu'tazz could not
supply the deficiency. He wrote, however, in praise of his
cousin, the Caliph Mu'tadid, a metrical epic in miniature,
commencing with a graphic delineation of the wretched state
to which the Empire had been reduced by the rapacity and
tyranny of the Turkish mercenaries. He composed also,
besides an anthology of Bacchanalian pieces, the first impor-
tant work on Poetics {Kitdbu U-Badi'-). A sad destiny was
in store for this accomplished prince. On the death of the
Caliph Muktari he was called to the throne, but a few hours
after his accession he was overpowered by the partisans of
Muqtadir, who strangled him as soon as they discovered his
hiding-place. Picturing the scene, one thinks almost inevit-
ably of Nero's dying words. Qua/is artifex pereo !
The mystical poetry of the Arabs is far inferior, as a whole,
to that of the Persians. Fervour and passion it has in the
highest degree, but it lacks range and substance,
'Umar Ibnu , - . . . , , .
i-Farid not to speaK OF imagmativc and speculative
power. 'Umar Ibnu '1-Farid, though he is
undoubtedly the poet of Arabian mysticism, cannot sustain a
comparison with his great Persian contemporary, Jalalu'1-Din
Rumi (t 1273 A.D.) ; he surpasses him only in the intense
glow and exquisite beauty of his diction. It will be con-
venient to reserve a further account of Ibnu '1-Farid for the
next chapter, where we shall discuss the development of
Sufiism during this period.
Finally two writers claim attention who owe their reputa-
326 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
tion to single poems — a by no means rare phenomenon in
the history of Arabic literature. One of these universally
celebrated odes is the Ldmiyyatu U-'-Jjam (the ode rhyming
in / of the non-Arabs) composed in the year iiii a.d. by
Tughraf ; the other is the Burda (Mantle Ode) of Busiri,
which I take the liberty of mentioning in this chapter,
although its author died some forty years after the Mongol
Invasion.
Hasan b. 'AH al-Tughrd'i was of Persian descent and a
native of Isfahan. ^ He held the offices of katih (secretary)
and munshi or tughrai (chancellor) under the
a a"»la'^ii2o great Seljuq Sultans, Malikshdh and Muham-
* mad, and afterwards became Vizier to the
Seljiiqid prince Ghiyathu '1-Dln Mas'ud 2 in Mosul. He
derived the title by which he is generally known from the
royal signature [tughrd) which it was his duty to indite on
all State papers over the initial Bismil/dh. The Ldmiyyatu
U-^Ajam is so called with reference to Shanfara's renowned
poem, the Ldmiyyatu U-'-Arab (see p. 79 seq.), which rhymes
in the same letter ; otherwise the two odes have only this
in common,3 that whereas Shanfara depicts the hardships of
an outlaw's life in the desert, Tughra']", writing in Baghdad,
laments the evil times on which he has fallen, and complains
that younger rivals, base and servile men, are preferred to
him, while he is left friendless and neglected in his old age.
The Qasidatu 'l-Burda (Mantle Ode) of al-Busiri4 is a
' See the article on Tughra'i in Ibn Khallilidn, De Slane's translation,
vol. i, p. 462.
^ Ibid., vol. iii, p. 355.
3 The spirit of fortitude and patience (hamdsa) is exhibited by both
poets, but in a very different manner. Shanfara describes a man of
heroic nature. Tughra'i wraps himself in his virtue and moralises like
a Muhammadan Horace. Safadi, however, says in his commentary on
Tughra'i's ode (I translate from an MS. copy in my possession) : " It is
named Ldmiyyatti. 'l-'Ajam by way of comparing it with the Ldmiyyatu
'1-' Arab, because it resembles the latter in its wise sentences and maxims."
* I.e., the native of Abiisir (Biisir), a village in Egypt.
tughrA'/ and BUSlRi 327
hymn in praise of the Prophet. Its author was born in
Egypt in 121 2 a.d. We know scarcely anything con-
cerning his life, which, as he himself declares,
^"1296 A.D.^'^ was passed in writing poetry and in paying court
to the great ^ ; but his biographers tell us that
he supported himself by copying manuscripts, and that he
was a disciple of the eminent Sufi, Abu 'l-'Abbas Ahmad
al-Marsi. It is said that he composed the Burda while
suffering from a stroke which paralysed one half of his
body. After praying God to heal him, he began to recite
the poem. Presently he fell asleep and dreamed that he
saw the Prophet, who touched his palsied side and threw his
mantle {burda) over him.^ "Then," said al-Busiri, " I awoke
and found myself able to rise." However this may be, the
Mantle Ode is held in extraordinary veneration by Muham-
madans. Its verses are often learned by heart and inscribed
in golden letters on the walls of public buildings ; and not
only is the whole poem regarded as a charm against evil,
but some peculiar magical power is supposed to reside in
each verse separately. Although its poetical merit is no more
than respectable, the Burda may be read with pleasure on
account of its smooth and elegant style, and with interest as
setting forth in brief compass the mediaeval legend of the
Prophet — a legend full of prodigies and miracles in which
the historical figure of Muhammad is glorified almost beyond
recognition.
Rhymed prose [saj^) long retained the religious associations
which it possessed in Pre-islamic times and which were
consecrated, for all Moslems, by its use in the Koran.
About the middle of the ninth century it began to appear
' The Burda, ed. by C. A. Ralfs (Vienna, i860), verse 140 ; La Bordah
traduite et commentee par Rene Basset (Paris, 1894), verse 151.
^ This appears to be a reminiscence of the fact that Muhammad gave
his own mantle as a gift to Ka'b b. Zuhayr, when that poet recited his
famous ode, Bdnat Su'dd (see p. 127 supra).
328 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
in the public sermons [khutab^ sing, khutba) of the Caliphs
and their viceroys, and it was still further developed by pro-
fessional preachers, like Ibn Nubata (t 984 a.d.),
Rhymed prose. rr ■ ^ • ^•^ ^^ r\ t ^ tt-i n
and by official secretaries, like ibrahim b. Hilai
al-Sab{ (t 994 A.D.). Henceforth rhyme becomes a distinctive
and almost indispensable feature of rhetorical prose.
The credit of inventing, or at any rate of making popular, a
new and remarkable form of composition in this style belongs
to al-Hamadhdnl (t 1007 a.d.), on whom pos-
ai-Hamadham" tcrity Conferred the title Badi^u U-Xaman^ i.e.^
* the Wonder or the Age.' Born in Hamadhan
(Ecbatana), he left his native town as a young man and
travelled through the greater part of Persia, living by his
wits and astonishing all whom he met by his talent for
improvisation. His Maqcundt may be called a romance or
literary Bohemianism. In the maqdma we find some ap-
proach to the dramatic style, which has never been culti-
vated by the Semites.^ Hamadhdnl imagined as his hero a
witty, unscrupulous vagabond journeying from place to place
and supporting himself by the presents which his impromptu
displays of rhetoric, poetry, and learning seldom failed to
draw from an admiring audience. The second character is
the rdwl or narrator, " who should be continually meeting
with the other, should relate his adventures, and repeat his
excellent compositions." 2 The Maqdmdt 01 Hamadhanl
' Maqdma (plural, maqdmdt) is properly ' a place of standing ' ; hence,
an assembly where people stand listening to the speaker, and in particular,
an assembly for literary discussion. At an early period reports of such
conversations and discussions received the name of maqdmdt (see Brockel-
mann, Gesch. der Arab. Littcratur, vol. i, p. 94). The word in its literary
sense is usually translated by ' assembly,' or by the French ^seance'
^ The Assemblies of al-Harln, translated from the Arabic, with an intro-
duction and notes by T. Chenery (1867), vol. i, p. 19. This excellent work
contains a fund of information on diverse matters connected with Arabian
history and literature. Owing to the author's death it was left unfinished,
but a second volume (including Assemblies 27-50) by F. Steingass
appeared in 1898.
BADPU 'L-ZAMAN AL-HAMADHANf 329
became the model for this kind of writing, and the types
which he created survive unaltered in the more elaborate
work of his successors. Each maqama forms an independent
whole, so that the complete series may be regarded as a
novel consisting of detached episodes in the hero's life, a
medley of prose and verse in which the story is nothing,
the style everything.
Less original than Badi'u '1-Zaman, but far beyond him in
variety of learning and copiousness of language, Abu
Muhammad al-Qasim al-Hariri of Basra pro-
(ios4hci22"a.d.). duced in his Maqamat a masterpiece which for
eight centuries " has been esteemed as, next to
the Koran, the chief treasure of the Arabic tongue." In the
Preface to his work he says that the composition of maqamit
was suggested to him by " one whose suggestion is a command
and whom it is a pleasure to obey." This was the distin-
guished Persian statesman, Anushirwan b. Khalid,i who
afterwards served as Vizier under the Caliph Mustarshid
BilMh (1118-1135 A.D.) and Sultan Mas'iid, the Seljuq
(1133-1152 A.D.) ; but at the time when he made Hariri's
acquaintance he was living in retirement at Basra and devot-
ing himself to literary studies. Hariri begged to be excused
on the score that his abilities were unequal to the task, " for
the lame steed cannot run like the strong courser. "^ Finally,
however, he yielded to the request of Anushirwan, and, to
quote his own words —
" I composed, in spite of hindrances that I suffered
From dullness of capacity and dimness of intellect,
And dryness of imagination and distressing anxieties,
Fifty Maqdmdt, which contain serious language and lightsome,
' A full account of his career will be found in the Preface to Houtsma's
Recucil dc texies rclatifs a I'histoirc dcs Seldjoucides, vol. ii, p. 11 sqq.
C/. Browne's Lit. Hist, of Persia, vol. ii, p. 360.
' This is a graceful, but probably insincere, tribute to the superior
genius of Hamadhani.
330 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
And combine refinement with dignity of style,
And brilliancies with jewels of eloquence,
And beauties of literature with its rarities,
Beside verses of the Koran wherewith I adorned them,
And choice metaphors, and Arab proverbs that I interspersed.
And literary elegancies and grammatical riddles.
And decisions based on the (double) meaning of words.
And original discourses and highly-wrought orations.
And affecting exhortations as well as entertaining jests :
The whole of which I have indited as by the tongue of Abu
Zayd of Sariij,
The part of narrator being assigned to Harith son of Hammam
of Basra.'"
Hariri then proceeds to argue that his Maqamat are not
mere frivolous stories such as strict Moslems are bound to
reprobate in accordance w^ith a well-lcnov^^n passage of the
Koran referring to Nadr b. Harith, w\\o mortally offended
the Prophet by amusing the Quraysh with the old Persian
legends of Rustam and Isfandiyar (Koran, xxxi, 5-6) :
" There is one that buyeth idle tales that he may seduce men
from the way of God^ without knowledge^ and make it a laughing-
"" stock : these shall suffer a shameful punishment. And when Our
signs are read to him, he turneth his back in disdain as though he
heard them not^ as though there were in his ears a deafness :
give him joy of a grievous punishment ! " Hariri insists that
the Assemblies have a moral purpose. The ignorant and
malicious, he says, will probably condemn his v^^ork, but
intelligent readers will perceive, if they lay prejudice aside,
that it is as useful and instructive as the fables of beasts, &c., 2
to which no one has ever objected. That his fears of hostile
criticism were not altogether groundless is shown by the
' The above passage is taken, with some modification, from the version
of Hariri published in 1850 by Theodore Preston, Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge, who was afterwards Lord Almoner's Professor of
Arabic (1855-1871).
= Moslems had long been familiar with the fables of Bidpai, which
were translated from the Pehlevi into Arabic by Ibnu '1-Muqaffa' (t circa
760 A.D.).
HAR/Rf 331
following remarks of the author of the popular history
entitled al-Fakhri (f circa 1300 a.d.). This writer, after
claiming that his own book is more useful than the Hamdsa
of Abu Tammam, continues : —
" And, again, it is more profitable than the Maqdmdt on which
men have set their hearts, and which they eagerly commit to
„ . ., memory : because the reader derives no benefit from
criticised as Maqamat cxccpt familiarity with elegant composition
immora . ^^^ knowledge of the rules of verse and prose. Un-
doubtedly they contain maxims and ingenious devices and expe-
riences ; but all this has a debasing effect on the mind, for it is
founded on begging and sponging and disgraceful scheming to
acquire a few paltry pence. Therefore, if they do good in one
direction, they do harm in another ; and this point has been
noticed by some critics of the Maqdmdt of Hariri and Badi'u
'1-Zaman." '
Before pronouncing on the justice of this censure, we must
consider for a moment the character of Abii Zayd, the hero
of Hariri's work, whose adventures are related by
^"^ Ablf^ay^ °^ ^ certain Harith b. Hammam, under which name
the author is supposed to signify himself. Accord-
ing to the general tradition, Hariri was one day seated with a
number of savants in the mosque of the Banu Haram at Basra,
when an old man entered, footsore and travel-stained. On
being asked who he was and whence he came, he answered
that his name of honour was Abu Zayd and that he came
from Saruj.2 He described in eloquent and moving terms
how his native town had been plundered by the Greeks,
who made his daughter a captive and drove him forth to
exile and poverty. Hariri was so struck with his wonderful
powers of improvisation that on the same evening he began to
compose the Maqdma of the Banu Hardm^'i where Abu Zayd
' Al-Fakhri, ed. by Derenbourg, p. 18, 1. 4 sqq.
= A town in Mesopotamia, not far from Edessa. It was taken by the
Crusaders in iioi a.d. (Abu '1-Fida, ed. by Reiske, vol. iii, p. 332),
3 The 48th Maqdma of the series as finally arranged.
332 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
is introduced in his invariable character : " a crafty old man,
full of genius and learning, unscrupulous of the artifices which
he uses to effect his purpose, reckless in spending in forbidden
indulgences the money he has obtained by his wit or deceit,
but with veins of true feeling in him, and ever yielding to
unfeigned emotion when he remembers his devastated home
and his captive child." ^ If an immoral tendency has been
attributed to the Assemblies of Hariri it is because the author
does not conceal his admiration for this unprincipled and
thoroughly disreputable scamp. Abu Zayd, indeed, is made
so fascinating that we can easily pardon his knaveries for the
sake of the pearls of wit and wisdom which he scatters in
splendid profusion — excellent discourses, edifying sermons,
and plaintive lamentations mingled with rollicking ditties
and ribald jests. Modern readers are not likely to agree
with the historian quoted above, but although they may
deem his criticism illiberal, they can hardly deny that it has
some justification.
Hariri's rhymed prose might be freely imitated in English,
but the difficulty of rendering it in rhyme with tolerable
fidelity has caused me to abandon the attempt to produce
a version of one of the Assemblies in the original form.^ I
will translate instead three poems which are put into the
mouth of Abu Zayd. The first is a tender elegiac strain
recalling far-off days of youth and happiness in his native
land : —
"Ghassan is my noble kindred, Saruj is my land of birth,
Where I dwelt in a lofty mansion of sunlike glory and worth,
A Paradise for its sweetness and beauty and pleasant mirth !
' Chenery, op. cit., p. 23.
= This has been done with extraordinary skill by the German poet,
Friedrich Riickert {Die Verwandlimgen dcs Abu Seid von Serug, 2nd ed.
1837), whose work, however, is not in any sense a translation.
HARtRt 333
And oh, the life that I led there abounding in all delight !
I trailed my robe on its meadows, while Time flew a careless
flight,
Elate in the flower of manhood, no pleasure veiled from my
sight.
Now, if woe could kill, I had died of the troubles that haunt
me here,
Or could past joy ever be ransomed, my heart's blood had not
been dear.
Since death is better than living a brute's life year after year,
Subdued to scorn as a lion whom base hyenas torment.
But Luck is to blame, else no one had failed of his due
ascent :
If she were straight, the conditions of men would never be
bent." '
The scene of the eleventh Assembly is laid in Sdwa, a
city lying midway between Hamadhan (Ecbatana) and
Rayy (Rhages). " Harith, in a fit of religious zeal, betakes
himself to the public burial ground, for the purpose of con-
templation. He finds a funeral in progress, and when it is
over an old man, with his face muffled in a cloak, takes his
stand on a hillock, and pours forth a discourse on the certainty
of death and judgment. ... He then rises into poetry and
declaims a piece which is one of the noblest productions of
Arabic literature. In lofty morality, in religious fervour, in
beauty of language, in power and grace of metre, this
magnificent hymn is unsurpassed." 2
" Pretending sense in vain, how long, O light of brain, wilt thou
heap sin and bane, and compass error's span ?
Thy conscious guilt avow ! The white hairs on thy brow
admonish thee, and thou hast ears unstopt, O man !
' A literal translation of these verses, which occur in the sixth Assembly,
is given by Chenery, op.cit.,p. 138.
= Ibid., p. 163.
334 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
Death's call dost thou not hear ? Rings not his voice full
clear ? Of parting hast no fear, to make thee sad and
wise
?
How long sunk in a sea of sloth and vanity wilt thou play
heedlessly, as though Death spared his prize ?
Till when, far wandering from virtue, wilt thou cling to evil
ways that bring together vice in brief ?
For thy Lord's anger shame thou hast none, but let maim
o'ertake thy cherished aim, then feel'st thou burning
grief.
Thou hail'st with eager joy the coin of yellow die, but if a
bier pass by, feigned is thy sorry face ;
Perverse and callous wight ! thou scornest counsel right to
follow the false light of treachery and disgrace.
Thy pleasure thou dost crave, to sordid gain a slave, forgetting
the dark grave and what remains of dole ;
Were thy true weal descried, thy lust would not misguide nor
thou be terrified by words that should console.
Not tears, blood shall thine eyes pour at the great Assize,
when thou hast no aUies, no kinsman thee to save ;
Straiter thy tomb shall be than needle's cavity : deep, deep
thy plunge I see as diver's 'neath the wave.
There shall thy limbs be laid, a feast for worms arrayed, till
utterly decayed are wood and bones withal,
Nor may thy soul repel that ordeal horrible, when o'er the
Bridge of Hell she must escape or fall.
Astray shall leaders go, and mighty men be low, and sages
shall cry, ' Woe like this was never yet.'
Then haste, my thoughtless friend, what thou hast marred to
mend, for life draws near its end, and still thou art in
the net.
Trust not in fortune, nay, though she be soft and gay ; for she
will spit one day her venom, if thou dote ;
Abate thy haughty pride ! lo. Death is at thy side, fastening,
whate'er betide, his fingers on thy throat.
When prosperous, refrain from arrogant disdain, nor give thy
tongue the rein : a modest tongue is best.
Comfort the child of bale and listen to his tale : repair thine
actions frail, and be for ever blest.
Feather the nest once more of those whose little store has
vanished : ne'er deplore the loss nor miser be ;
With meanness bravely cope, and teach thine hand to ope, and
spurn the misanthrope, and make thy bounty free.
HARtRf 335
Lay up provision fair and leave what brings thee care : for
sea the ship prepare and dread the rising storm.
This, friend, is what I preach expressed in lucid speech. Good
luck to all and each who with my creed conform ! "
In the next Maqama — that of Damascus — we find Abu
Zayd, gaily attired, amidst casks and vats of wine, carousing
and listening to the music of lutes and singing —
" I ride and I ride through the waste far and wide, and I fling
away pride to be gay as the swallow ;
Stem the torrent's fierce speed, tame the mettlesome steed,
that wherever I lead Youth and Pleasure may follow.
I bid gravity pack, and I strip bare my back lest liquor I lack
when the goblet is lifted :
Did I never incline to the quaffing of wine, I had ne'er been
with fine wit and eloquence gifted.
Is it wonderful, pray, that an old man should stay in a well-
stored seray by a cask overflowing ?
Wine strengthens the knees, physics every disease, and from
sorrow it frees, the oblivion-bestowing !
Oh, the purest of joys is to live sans disguise unconstrained
by the ties of a grave reputation.
And the sweetest of love that the lover can prove is when
fear and hope move him to utter his passion.
Thy love then proclaim, quench the smouldering flame, for
'twill spark out thy shame and betray thee to laughter :
Heal the wounds of thine heart and assuage thou the smart
by the cups that impart a delight men seek after ;
While to hand thee the bowl damsels wait who cajole and
enravish the soul with eyes tenderly glancing,
And singers whose throats pour such high-mounting notes,
when the melody floats, iron rocks would be dancing !
Obey not the fool who forbids thee to pull beauty's rose when
in full bloom thou'rt free to possess it ;
Pursue thine end still, tho' it seem past thy skill : let them say
what they will, take thy pleasure and bless it !
Get thee gone from thy sire, if he thwart thy desire ; spread
thy nets nor enquire what the nets are receiving ;
But be true to a friend, shun the miser and spend, ways of
charity wend, be unwearied in giving.
He that knocks enters straight at the Merciful's gate, so repent
or e'er Fate call thee forth from the living 1 "
336 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
The reader may judge from these extracts whether the
Assemblies of Harirf are so deficient in matter as some critics
have imagined. But, of course, the celebrity of the work is
mainly due to its consummate literary form — a point on
which the Arabs have always bestowed singular attention.
Hariri himself was a subtle grammarian, living in Basra, the
home of philological science ; ^ and though he wrote to please
rather than to instruct, he seems to have resolved that his
work should illustrate every beauty and nicety of which the
Arabic language is capable. We Europeans can see as little
merit or taste in the verbal conceits — equivoques, paronoma-
sias, assonances, alliterations, &c. — with which his pages are
thickly studded, as in tours de force of composition which may
be read either forwards or backwards, or which consist entirely
of pointed or of unpointed letters ; but our impatience of such
things should not blind us to the fact that they are intimately
connected with the genius and traditions of the Arabic tongue,^
and therefore stand on a very different footing from those
euphuistic extravagances which appear, for example, in
English literature of the Elizabethan age. By Hariri's
countrymen the Maqamat are prized as an almost unique
monument of their language, antiquities, and culture. One
of the author's contemporaries, the famous Zamakhsharl, has
expressed the general verdict in pithy verse —
" I swear by God and His marvels,
By the pilgrims' rite and their shrine :
Hariri's Assemblies are worthy
To be written in gold each line."
* Two grammatical treatises by Hariri have come down to us. In one
of these, entitled Diirratu 'l-Ghawwds ('The Pearl of the Diver') and
edited by Thorbecke (Leipzig, 1871), he discusses the solecisms which
people of education are wont to commit.
= See Chenery, op. cit., pp. 83-97.
THE CANONICAL BOOKS 337
Concerning some of the specifically religious sciences, such
as Dogmatic Theology and Mysticism, we shall have more to say
in the following chapter, while as to the science
The religious . . .
literature of the of ApostoHc Tradition [Hadith) we must refer the
reader to what has been already said. All that
can be attempted here is to take a passing notice of the most
eminent writers and the most celebrated works of this epoch in
the field of religion.
The place of honour belongs to the Imam Malik b. Anas
of Medina, whose Muwatta is the first great corpus of
Muhammadan Law. He was a partisan of the
(^-'^795^ 'A^^'is, and was flogged by command of the
Caliph Mansur in consequence of his declaration
that he did not consider the oath of allegiance to the 'Abbasid
dynasty to have any binding effect.
The two principal authorities for Apostolic Tradition are
Bukhari (f 870 a.d.) and Muslim (f 875 a.d.), authors of the
collections entitled Sahih. Compilations of a
^"MusUm"^ narrower range, embracing only those traditions
which bear on the Sunna or custom of the Pro-
phet, are the Sunan of Abii Dawiid al-Sijistani (t 889 a.d.),
the ydmi'' of Abu 'Isa Muhammad al-Tirmidhi
(t 892 A.D. ), the Sunan of al-Nasa'i (t 915 a.d.),
and the Sunan of Ibn Maja (t 896 a.d.). These, together
with the Sah'ths of Bukhari and Muslim, form the Six Canoni-
• • • 7
cal Books [al-kutuh al-sitta)^ which are held in the highest
veneration. Amongst the innumerable works of a similar
kind produced in this period it will suffice to mention the
Masdbihu U-Sunna by al-Baghawi (t circa 11 20 a.d.). A
later adaptation called Mishkdtu U-Masdblh has been often
printed, and is still extremely popular.
Omitting the great manuals of Moslem Jurisprudence,
which are without literary interest in the larger sense, we
may pause for a moment at the name of al-Mawardi, a
Shafi'ite lawyer, who wrote a well-known treatise on politics —
23
338 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
the Kitabu U-Ahkam al-Sultdniyya, or ' Book of the Prin-
ciples of Government.' His standpoint is purely theoretical.
Thus he lays down that the Caliph should be
(t ^10^58 Y.D.)- elected by the body of learned, pious, and orthodox
divines, and that the people must leave the adminis-
tration of the State to the Caliph absolutely, as being its
representative. Mawardi lived at Baghdad during the period
of Buvs^ayhid ascendancy, a period described by Sir W. Muir
in the following words : " The pages of our annalists are now
almost entirely occupied with the political events of the day,
in the guidance of which the Caliphs had seldom any concern,
and which therefore need no mention here." ^ Under the
'Abbasid dynasty the mystical doctrines of the Siifi's were
systematised and expounded. The most important Arabic
works of reference on Sufiism are the ^htu U-Quluby or
'Food of Hearts,' by Abd Talib al-Makki
tteTonlufem: (+ 996 A.D.) ; the KMbu U-Ta'arruf li-Madhhahl
ahli '/- Ta\awwuj\ or ' Book of Enquiry as to the
Religion of the Sufis,' by Muhammad b. Ishaq al-Kalabadhl
(t circa lOOO A.D.) ; the Tabaqdtu U-Sufiyya^ or 'Classes of the
Sutis,' by Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami (t I02i A.D.) ; the
Hilyatu H-Awl'iya^ or ' Adornment of the Saints,' by Abu
Nu'aym al-Isfahani (t 1038 a.d.) ; the RisalatuU-Qushayriyya^
or ' Qushayrite Tract,' by Abu '1-Qasim al-Oushayri of
Naysabur ( t 1074 a.d.) ; the Ihyau '■JJlum al-Din, or ' Revivifi-
cation of the Religious Sciences,' by Ghazali (t mi a.d.) ;
and the ^Jwdrifu ^l-Ma'-drif^ or ' Bounties of Knowledge,' by
Shihabu '1-Din Abu Hafs 'Umar al-Suhrawardf (t 1234 a.d.)
— a list which might easily be extended. In Dogmatic
Theology there is none to compare with!
Ghazali ^\^^ Hamid al-Ghazdli, surnamed ' the Proofr
(t IIII A.D.). • ' I
of Islam' [Hujjatu U-Isldm). He is a figure
of such towering importance that some detailed account ofi
his life and opinions must be inserted in a book like this,
' The Caliphate, its Rise, Decline, and Fall, p. 573.
GHAZAlI 339
which professes to illustrate the history of Muhammadan
thought. Here, however, we shall only give an outline of his
biography in order to pave the way for discussion of his intel-
lectual achievements and his far-reaching influence.
" In this year (505 a.h. = iiii a.d.) died the Imam, who was the
Ornament of the Faith and the Proof of Islam, Abu Hamid
Muhammad ... of Tus, the Shafi'ite. His death
acc^rdfnglf fhl took place on the 14th of the Latter Jumada at Taba-
(shadharatu ran, a village near Tus. He was then fifty-five
t-Dhahab. , i^i '1' • • . , , ^1 ', ...
years 01 age. Ghazzali is equivalent to Ghazzal, like
'Attari (for 'Attar) and Khabbazi (for Khabbaz), in the dialect of the
people of Khurasan ' : so it is stated by the author of the 'Ibar.'
Al-Isnawi says in his Tabaqdt^: — Ghazzali is an Imam by whose ,,
name breasts are dilated and souls are revived, and in whose literary |
productions the ink-horn exults and the paper quivers with joy ; and j
at the hearing thereof voices are hushed and heads are bowed. He
was born at Tiis in the year 450 a.h. = 1058-1059 a.d. His father
used to spin wool {yaghzilu 'l-si'if) and sell it in his shop. On his death-
bed he committed his two sons, Ghazzali himself and his brother
Abmad, to the care of a pious Siifi, who taught them writing and
educated them until the money left him by their father was all spent.
' Then,' says Ghazzali, ' we went to the college to learn divinity
{fiqh) so that we might gain our livelihood.' After studying there
for some time he journeyed to Abu Nasr al-Isma'ili in Jurjan, then
1 to the Imamu '1-Haramayn'* at Naysabur, under whom he studied
with such assiduity that he became the best scholastic of his
) .contemporaries {sdra anzara ahli zamdnihi), and he lectured ex
" ' Another example is 'Umar al-Khayyami for 'Umar Khayyam. The
spelling Ghazzali (with a double 2^) was in general use when Ibn
: Khallikan wrote his Biographical Dictionary in 1256 a.d. (see De Slane's
translation, vol. i, p. 80), but according to Sam'ani the name is derived
from Ghazala, a village near Tus ; in which case Ghazali is the correct
form of the nisba, I have adopted ' Ghazali ' in deference to Sam'ani's
authority, but those who write ' Ghazzali ' can at least claim that they err
; in very good company.
I ' Shamsu '1-Din al-Dhahabi (t 1348 A.D.).
3 'Abdu '1-Rahim al-Isnawi (f 1370 a.d.), author of a biographical
work on the Shafi'ite doctors. See Brockelmann, Gesch. der Arab. Litt.,
ivol. ii, p. 90.
* Abu '1-Ma'ali al-Juwayni, a famous theologian of Naysabur (t 1085 a.d.),
received this title, which means ' Imam of the Two Sanctuaries,' because
he taug ht for several years at Mecca and Medina.
340 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
cathedra in his master's lifetime, and wrotei books. . . . And on the
death of his master he set out for the Camp ' and presented himself
to the Nizamu '1-Mulk, whose assembly was the alighting-place of
the learned and the destination of the leading divines and savants ;
and there, as was due to his high merit, he enjoyed the society of the
principal doctors, and disputed with his opponents and rebutted
them in spite of their eminence. So the Nizamu '1-Mulk inclined to
him and showed him great honour, and his name Hew through the
world. Then, in the year '84 (1091 a.d.) he was called to a professor-
ship in the Nizamiyya College at Baghdad, where a splendid
reception awaited him. His words reached far and wide, and his
influence soon exceeded that of the Emirs and Viziers. But at last
his lofty spirit recoiled from worldly vanities. He gave himself up
to devotion and dervishhood, and set out, in the year '88 (1095 a.d.),
for the Flijaz.^ On his return from the Pilgrimage he journeyed to
Damascus and made his abode there for ten years in the minaret of
the Congregational Mosque, and composed several works, of which
the Ihyd is said to be one. Then, after visiting Jerusalem and
Alexandria, he returned to his home at Tus, intent on writing and
worship and constant recitation of the Koran and dissemination of
knowledge and avoidance of intercourse with men. The Vizier
Fakhru '1-Mulk,3 son of the Nizamu '1-Mulk, came to see him, and
urged him by every means in his power to accept a professorship in
the Nizamiyya College at Naysabur.'' Ghazzali consented, but after
teaching for a time, resigned the appointment and returned to end
his days in his native town."
Besides his jnagnum opus^ the already-mentioned Ihyd^ in
which he expounds theology and the ethics of religion fromi
the standpoint of the moderate Sufi school,j
His principal Qhazali wrotc a great number of important!
works. ° _ _ ^1
works, such as the Munqidh mina U-Dalal^ oi\
* Deliverer from Error,' a sort of ' Apologia pro Vita Sua'; thcj
Kimiyau '/-Sa^adaty or 'Alchemy of Happiness,' which was
• I.e., the camp-court of the Seljuq monarch Malikshah, son of
Alp Arslan.
* According to his own account in the Munqidh, Ghazali on leaving
Baghdad went first to Damascus, then to Jerusalem, and then to Mecca,
The statement that he remained ten years at Damascus is inaccurate.
3 The MS. has Fakhru '1-Din.
4 Ghazall's return to public life took place in 1106 a.d.
SHAHRASTAnI 341
originally written in Persian ; and the Tahafutu U-Falasifa^ or
' Collapse of the Philosophers,' a polemical treatise designed to
refute and destroy the doctrines of Moslem philosophy. This
work called forth a rejoinder from the celebrated Ibn Rushd
(Averroes), who died at Mwog€o in 1198-1199 a.d. h-itAAa,Vi*.:*t>,
Here we may notice two valuable works on the history ot
religion, both of which bear the same title, Kitdbu U-Milal wa-
U-NihaL that is to say, ' The Book of Religions
Shahrastani's * ' -^ ' . ^ \
■Bookof Reii- and Sects ' by Ibn Hazm of Cordova (t 1064 a.d.)
gions and Sects.' i J • \ , /
and Abu '1-Fath al-Shahrastani (t 1153 a.d.).
Ibn Hazm we shall meet with again in the chapter which
deals specially with the history and literature of the Spanish
Moslems. Shahrastani, as he is named after his birthplace,
belonged to the opposite extremity of the Muhammadan
Empire, being a native of Khurasan, the huge Eastern
[ province bounded by the Oxus. Cureton, who edited the
. Arabic text of the Kitdbu '/-Mi/a/ wa-'/-Niha/ {London, 1842-
. 1846), gives the following outline of its contents : —
I
After five introductory chapters, the author proceeds to arrange
i his book into two great divisions ; the one comprising the Religious,
I the other the Philosophical Sects. The former of these contains an
account of the various Sects of the followers of Muhammad, and
likewise of those to whom a true revelation iiad been made (the
Ahlu 'l-Kitdb, or ' People of the Scripture '), that is, Jews and
' Christians ; and of those who had a doubtful or pretended revelation
. {man lahi'i shubhatu l-Kitdb), such as the Magi and the Manichasans.
; The second division comprises an account of the philosophical
opinions of the Sabaeans (Sabians), which are mainly set forth in a
' very interesting dialogue between a Sabaean and an orthodox
■ Muhammadan ; of the tenets of various Greek Philosophers and
■ some of the Fathers of the Christian Church ; and also of the
Muhammadan doctors, more particularly of the system of Ibn Sina
or Avicenna, which the author explains at considerable length.
The work terminates with an account of the tenets of the Arabs
; before the commencement of Islamism, and of the religion of the
' people of India.
The science of grammar took its rise in the cities of Basra
342 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
and Kufa, which were founded not long after Muhammad's
death, and which remained the chief centres of Arabian life
and thought outside the peninsula until they
^"wioiogy"** were eclipsed by the great 'Abbasid capital. In
both towns the population consisted of Bedouin
Arabs, belonging to different tribes and speaking many
different dialects, while there were also thousands of artisans
and clients who spoke Persian as their mother-tongue, so that
the classical idiom was peculiarly exposed to corrupting '
influences. If the pride and delight of the Arabs in their
noble language led them to regard the maintenance of its
purity as a national duty, they were equally bound by their
religious convictions to take decisive measures for ensuring the
correct pronunciation and interpretation of that " miracle of
Divine eloquence," the Arabic Koran. To this latter motive
the invention of grammar is traditionally ascribed. The
inventor is related to have been Abu '1-Aswad al-Du'ali, who
died at Basra during theUmayyad period. " Abu
Theinvention , ", • i 111 1 ■ ,
of Arabic 1-Aswad, havmg been asked where he had
grammar. • j i_ • r 11
acquired the science or grammar, answered that
he had learned the rudiments of it from 'AH b. Abi Tdlib. It
is said that he never made known any of the principles which
he had received from 'Ali till Ziyad^ sent to him the order to
compose something which might serve as a guide to the
public and enable them to understand the Book of God. He
at first asked to be excused, but on hearing a man recite the .
following passage out of the Koran, anna Ulaha bar¥^^ m'lna
^I-mushrikina wa-rasuluhu^^ which last word the reader pro-
nounced rasUlihi^ he exclaimed, ' I never thought that things
would have come to this.' He then returned to Ziyad and
' See p. 195 supra.
* Kor. ix, 3. The translation runs (" This is a declaration) that God is
clear of the idolaters, and His Apostle likewise." With the reading
rasiUihi it means that God is clear of the idolaters and also of His
Apostle.
THE ARAB GRAMMARIANS 343
said, ' I will do what you ordered.' " i The Basra school of
grammarians which Abu '1-Aswad is said to have founded is
older than the rival school of Kufa and surpassed it
^'^^o^'fiasrl.'^'^ in fame. Its most prominent representatives were
Abu 'Amr b. al-'Ald (t 770 a.d.), a diligent
and profound student of the Koran, who on one occasion
burned all his collections of old poetry, &c., and abandoned
himself to devotion ; Khalil b. Ahmad, inventor of the Arabic
system of metres and author of the first Arabic lexicon (the
Kitdbu ^l-^Ayn\ which, however, he did not live to complete ;
the Persian Sibawayhi, whose Grammar, entitled 'The Book
of Sibawayhi,' is universally celebrated ; the great Humanists
al-Asma'i and Abu 'Ubayda who flourished under Hdrun
al-Rashid ; al-Mubarrad, about a century later, whose best-
I known work, the Kamil^ has been edited by Professor William
Wright ; his contemporary al-Sukkari, a renowned collector
and critic of old Arabian poetry ; and Ibn Durayd ( t 934 a.d.),
a distinguished philologist, genealogist, and poet, who re-
ceived a pension from the Caliph Muqtadir in recognition of
his services on behalf of science, and whose principal works,
in addition to the famous ode known as the Maqsura^ are a
voluminous lexicon {al-'Jamhara fi U-Lugha) and a treatise on
the genealogies of the Arab tribes (^Kitdbu H-hhtiqdq),
Against these names the school of Kiifa can set al-Kisd'i,
a Persian savant who was entrusted by Hdrun al-Rashfd
with the education of his sons Amin and
^""'ofKUf'a.^'"' Ma'mdn; al-Farra (t 822 a.d.), a pupil and
compatriot of al-Kisd'i ; al-Mufaddal al-Dabbi,
a favourite of the Caliph Mahdi, for whom he compiled an
excellent anthology of Pre-islamic poems {al-Mufaddaliyydt)^
which has already been noticed 2 ; Ibnu '1-Sikkit, whose out-
spoken partiality for the House of 'Ali b. Abi X^lib caused
him to be brutally trampled to death by the Turkish
' Ibn Khallikan, De Slane's translation, vol. i, p. 663.
* See p. 128.
344 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
guards of the tyrant Mutawakkil (858 a.d.) ; and Tha'lab,
head of the Kufa school in his time (f 904 a.d.), of whose
rivalry with al-Mubarrad many stories are told, A con-
temporary, Abu Bakr b. Abi '1-Azhar, said in one of his
poems : —
"Turn to Mubarrad or to Tha'lab, thou
That seek'st with learning to improve thy mind !
Be not a fool, like mangy camel shunned :
All human knowledge thou with them wilt find.
The science of the whole world, East and West,
In these two single doctors is combined." '
Reference has been made in a former chapter to some ot
the earliest Humanists, e.g.^ Hammad al-Rawiya (t 776 a.d.)
and his slightly younger contemporary, Khalaf al-Ahmar, to
their inestimable labours in rescuing the old poetry from
oblivion, and to the unscrupulous methods which they some-
times employed. 2 Among their successors, who flourished in
the Golden Age of Islam, under the first 'Abbdsids, the place
of honour belongs to Abii 'Ubayda (t about 825 a.d.) and
al-Asma'i (f about 830 a.d.).
Abii 'Ubayda Ma'mar b. al-Muthannd was or Jewish-
Persian race, and maintained in his writings the cause of the
Shu'ubites against the Arab national party, for
Abu 'Ubayda. ^ -u .
which reason he is erroneously described as a
Khdrijite.3 The rare expressions of the Arabic language, the
history of the Arabs and their conflicts were his predominant
study — " neither in heathen nor Muhammadan times," he
once boasted, " have two horses met in battle but that I
possess information about them and their riders " 4 ; yet, with
all his learning, he was not always able to recite a verse with-
out mangling it ; even in reading the Koran, with the book
" Ibn Khallikan,No. 608 ; De Slane's translation, vol. iii, p. 31.
"^ See pp. 131-134, supra.
3 Goldziher, Mtihammedanische Studien, Part I, p. 197.
4 Ibid., p. 195.
ABU U BAY DA AND ASMA'l 345
before his eyes, he made mistakes.^ Our knowledge of
Arabian antiquity is drawn, to a large extent, from the
traditions collected by him which are preserved in the Kitabu
U-Aghant and elsewhere. He left nearly two hundred works,
of which a long but incomplete catalogue occurs in the Fihrist
(pp. 53-54). Abu 'Ubayda was summoned by the Caliph
Hariin al-Rashid to Baghdad, where he became acquainted
, ,, with Asma'i. There was a standing feud be-
Asma 1. • °
tween them, due in part to difference of character^
and in part to personal jealousies. 'Abdu '1-Malik b, Qurayb
al-Asma'i was, like his rival, a native of Basra. Although he
may have been excelled by others of his contemporaries in certain
branches of learning, none exhibited in such fine perfection
the varied literary culture which at that time was so highly
prized and so richly rewarded. Whereas Abu 'Ubayda was
dreaded for his sharp tongue and sarcastic humour, Asma'i
had all the accomplishments and graces of a courtier. Abu
Nuwas, the first great poet 01 the 'Abbasid period, said that
Asma'i was a nightingale to charm those who heard him
with his melodies. In court circles, where the talk often
turned on philological matters, he was a favourite guest, and
the Caliph would send for him to decide any abstruse question
connected with literature which no one present was able to
answer. Of his numerous writings on linguistic and anti-
quarian themes several have come down to us, e.g.^ 'The Book
of Camels ' {Kitabu U-Ihil), 'The Book of Horses' {Kitabu
'l-Khayl\ and 'The Book of the Making of Man' [Kitabu
Khalqi U-Insdn\ a treatise which shows that the Arabs of the
desert had acquired a considerable knowledge of human
anatomy. His work as editor, commentator, and critic ot
Arabian poetry forms (it has been said) the basis of nearly all
that has since been written on the subject.
' Ibn Qutayba, Kitabu H-Ma'drif, p. 269.
^ While Abu 'Ubayda was notorious for his free-thinking prodivities,
Asma'i had a strong vein of pietism. See Goldziher, loc. cit., p. 199
and Abh. zur Arab. Philologie, Part I, p. 136.
346 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
Belles-lettres [A dab) and literary history are represented by
a whole series of valuable works. Only a few of the most
important can be mentioned here, and that in a
Ibnu '1-Muqaf£a' t-v, t-v . n ^ i -i
(tcjVca76oA.D,). very summary manner. 1 he rersian Kuzbih,
better known as 'Abdullah Ibnu '1-Muqaffa', who
was put to death by order of the Caliph Mansiir, m.ade several
translations from the Pehlevi or Middle-Persian literature into
Arabic. We possess a specimen of his powers in the famous
^ook of Kali la and D'lmna^ which is ultimately derived from
the Sanscrit Fables of Bidpai. The Arabic version is one of
the oldest prose works in that language, and is justly regarded
as a model of elegant style, though it has not the pungent
brevity which marks true Arabian eloquence. Ibn
(t'ssgA.a).^ Qutayba, whose family came from Merv, held for
a time the office of Cadi at Dinawar, and lived at
Baghdad in the latter half of the ninth century. We have more
than once cited his ' Book of General Knowledge ' [Kitdhu
H-Ma^arifY and his ' Book of Poetry and Poets,' [Kitahu
^l-Shi'-r wa- l-Shu^ard)^ and may add here the Adabu 'l-Kdtib^ or
'Accomplishments of the Secretary,' 2 a manual of stylistic,
dealing with orthography, orthoepy, lexicography, and the
like ; and the ^Uyunu U-Akhbdr^ or ' Choice Histories,' 3 a work
in ten chapters, each of which is devoted to a special theme
such as Government, War, Nobility, Friendship, Women, &c.
'Amr b. Bahr al-Jdhiz of Basra was a celebrated
(t 8^4^A^D )• freethinker, and gave his name to a sect of the
Mu'tazilites {al-Jdhlztyya)A He composed
numerous books of an anecdotal and entertaining character.
Ibn Khallikan singles out as his finest and most instructive
works the Kitdbu U-Hayawdn (' Book of Animals '), and the
' Professor Browne has given a resume of the contents in his Lit. Hist,
of Persia, vol. i, p. 387 seq.
^ Ed. by Max Griinert (Leyden, 1900).
3 An edition by C. Brockelmann is in course of pubHcation.
* The epithet /a/»? means 'goggle-eyed.'
BELLES-LETTRES 347
Kitdbu U-Bayan wa-l-Tabyin (' Book of Eloquence and
Exposition '), which is a popular treatise on rhetoric. It so
happens — and the fact is not altogether fortuitous — that
extremely valuable contributions to the literary history of the
Arabs were made by two writers connected with the
Umayyad House. Ibn 'Abdi Rabbihi of Cordova,
bihufglfd A a), who was descended from an enfranchised slave of
the Spanish Umayyad Caliph, Hishdm b. 'Abd
al-Rahmdn (788-796 a.d.), has left us a miscellaneous
anthology entitled al-'-Iqd al-Farid^ or ' The Unique Neck-
lace,' which is divided into twenty-five books, each bearing
the name of a different gem, and "contains something on
every subject." Though Abu '1-Faraj 'Ali, the
i?fahani ' author of the Kitabu "'l-Aghant, was born at
(\ 067 A D ^
Isfahan, he was an Arab of the Arabs, being a
member of the tribe Quraysh and a lineal descendant of
Marwdn, the last Umayyad Caliph. Coming to Baghdad,
he bent all his energies to the study of Arabian antiquity,
and towards the end of his life found a generous patron in
al-Muhallab{, the Vizier of the Buwayhid sovereign, Mu'izzu
'1-Dawla. His minor works are cast in the shade by his
great 'Book of Songs.' This may be described as a history of
all the Arabian poetry that had been set to music down to
the author's time. It is based on a collection of one hundred
melodies which was made for the Caliph Harun al-Rashld,
but to these Abu '1-Faraj has added many others chosen by
himself. After giving the words and the airs attached to
them, he relates the lives of the poets and musicians by whom
they were composed, and takes occasion to introduce a vast
quantity of historical traditions and anecdotes, including much
ancient and modern verse. It is said that the Sahib Ibn
*Abbad,i when travelling, used to take thirty camel-loads of
books about with him, but on receiving the Aghdni he con-
' See p. 267.
348 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
tented himself with this one book and dispensed with all the
rest.i The chief man of letters of the next generation was
Abu Mansur al-Tha'alibi (the Furrier) of Nay-
(+To3^7^A.D.). sabur. Notwithstanding that most of his works
are unscientific compilations, designed to amuse
the public rather than to impart solid instruction, his famous
anthology of recent and contemporary poets — the Tatlmatu
*l-Dahr^ or ' Solitaire of the Time ' — supplies indubitable
proof of his fine scholarship and critical taste. Successive
continuations of the Tatima were written by al-Bakharzi
(t 1075 A.D.) in the Dumyatu U-Qasr^ or 'Statue of the
Palace'; by Abu '1-Ma'AU al-Haziri (t 1172 a.d.) in the
Zlnatu U-Dahr^ or ' Ornament of the Time ' ; and by the
favourite of Saladin, 'Imadu '1-Din al-Katib al-Isfahani
(t 1201 A.D.), in the Kharidatu ^l-Qast\ or ' Virgin Pearl of the
Palace.' From the tenth century onward the study of philology
proper began to decline, while on the other hand those sciences
which formerly grouped themselves round philology now
became independent, were cultivated with brilliant success,
and in a short time reached their zenith.
The elements of History are found (i) in Pre-islamic tra-
ditions and (2) in the Hadlth of the Prophet, but the idea or
historical composition on a grand scale was prob-
ably suggested to the Arabs by Persian models
such as the Pehlevi Khuday-nama^ or ' Book of Kings,' which
Ibnu '1-Muqaffa' turned into Arabic in the eighth century
of our era under the title of Siyaru Muluki U-*-Ajam^ that is,
' The History of the Kings of Persia.'
Under the first head Hishdm Ibnu '1-KalW (t 819 a.d.)
and his father Muhammad deserve particular mention as pains-
taking and trustworthy recorders.
Historical traditions relating to the Prophet were put in
' Ibn Khallikan, De Slane's translation, vol. ii, p. 250.
ti<
BIOGRAPHERS AND HISTORIANS 349
writing at an early date (see p. 247). The first biography of
Muhammad [Siratu Rasiili Ulah\ compiled by Ibn Ishaq,
who died in the reign of Mansiir (768 a.d.),
Histories of the , , i ■ u • „
Prophet and his has come down to us only m the recension
Companions. ^^^^ by Ibn Hisham (t 834 a.d.). This work
as well as those of al-Waqidi (t 823 a.d.) and Ibn Sa'd
(t 845 A.D.) have been already noticed.
Other celebrated historians of the 'Abbasid period are the
following.
Ahmad b. Yahya al-Baladhuri (t 892 a.d.), a Persian, wrote
an account of the early Muhammadan conquests [Kitdbu
Futiihi U-Buldan\ which has been edited by
De Goeje, and an immense chronicle based on
genealogical principles, ' The Book of the Lineages of the
Nobles ' {K'ltdbu Amdb'i U-Ashrdf)^ of which two volumes are
extant.i
Abu Hanifa Ahmad al-Dinawari (t 895 a.d.) was also or
Iranian descent. His ' Book of Long Histories ' {Kitdbu
U-Akhbdr al-Tiwdl) deals largely with the
Dmawan. • ' • i i_
national legend of Persia, and is written through-
out from the Persian point of view.
Ibn Wadih al-Ya'qiibi, a contemporary of Dinawarl, pro-
duced an excellent compendium of universal history, which
is specially valuable because its author, being a
Yaqu I. follower of the House of 'All, has preserved the
ancient and unfalsified Shi'ite tradition. His work has been
edited in two volumes by Professor Houtsma (Leyden, 1883).
The Annals of Tabari, edited by De Goeje and other
European scholars (Leyden, 1879-1898), and the Golden
Meadows 2 [Muruju U-Dhahab) of Mas'udi, which Pavet de
' One of these, the eleventh of the complete work, has been edited by
Ahlwardt : Anonymc Arabischc Clironik (Greifsvvald, 1883). It covers part
of the reign of the Umayyad Caliph, 'Abdu '1-Malik (685-705 a.d.).
'' The French title is Les Prairies d'Or. Brockelmann, in his shorter
350 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
Courteille and Barbier de Meynard published with a French
translation (Paris, 1861-1877), have been frequently cited in
the foregoing pages ; and since these two authors are not only
the greatest historians of the Muhammadan East but also
(excepting, possibly, Ibn Khaldun) the most eminent of all
who devoted themselves to this branch of Arabic literature,
we must endeavour to make the reader more closely ac-
quainted with them,
Abu Ja'far Muhammad b. Jarlr was born in 838-839 a.d. at
Amul in Tabaristan, the mountainous province lying along
the south coast of the Caspian Sea ; whence the
^^Q^A^D^)" name, Tabari, by which he is usually known. ^
At this time 'Iraq was still the principal focus of
Muhammadan culture, so that a poet could say : —
" I see a man in whom the secretarial dignity is manifest,
One who displays the brilliant culture of 'Iraq." ^
Thither the young Tabari came to complete his education.
He travelled by way of Rayy to Baghdad, visited other
neighbouring towns, and extended his tour to Syria and
Egypt. Although his father sent him a yearly allowance, it did
not always arrive punctually, and he himself relates that on one
occasion he procured bread by selling the sleeves of his shirt.
Fortunately, at Baghdad he was introduced to 'UbayduUah b.
Yahya, the Vizier of Mutawakkil, who engaged him as tutor for
his son. How long he held this post is uncertain, but he was only
twenty-three years of age when his patron went out of office.
Fifteen years later we find him, penniless once more, in Cairo
Hist, of Arabic Literature (Leipzig, 1901), p. no, states that the correct
translation of Muriiju 'l-Dhahab is 'Goldvvaschen.'
' Concerning Tabari and his work the reader should consult De Goeje's
Introduction (published in the supplementary volume containing the
Glossary) to the Leyden edition, and his excellent article on Tabari and
early Arab Historians in the Encyclopcedia Britannica.
= Abu '1-Mahasin, ed. by Juynboll, vol. i, p. 608.
TABARf 351
(876-877 A.D.). He soon, however, returned to Baghdad,
where he passed the remainder of his life in teaching and
writing. Modest, unselfish, and simple in his habits, he diffused
his encyclopaedic knowledge with an almost superhuman
industry. During forty years, it is said, he wrote forty leaves
every day. His great works are the Tarlkhu U-Rusul wa-
'l-Muluk, or ' Annals of the Apostles and the Kings,' and his
Tafslr^ or ' Commentary on the Koran.' Both, even in their
present shape, are books of enormous extent, yet it seems
likely that both were originally composed on a far larger
scale and were abbreviated by the author for general use. His
pupils, we are told, flatly refused to read the first editions with
him, whereupon he exclaimed : " Enthusiasm for learning is
dead ! " The History of Tabari, from the Creation to the
year 302 A.H.r=9i5 a.d., is distinguished by "completeness of
detail, accuracy, and the truly stupendous learning of its author
that is revealed throughout, and that makes the Annals a vast
storehouse of valuable information for the historian as well as
I for the student of Islam." ^ It is arranged chronologically,
the events being tabulated under the year (of the Muhammadan
era) in which they occurred. Moreover, it has a very peculiar
form. "Each important fact is related, if possible, by an
eye-witness or contemporary, whose account came down
through a series of narrators to the author. If he has obtained
more than one account of a fact, with more or less important
modifications, through several series of narrators, he com-
municates them all to the reader in extenso. Thus we are
enabled to consider the facts from more than one point of
view, and to acquire a vivid and clear notion of them." ^
According to modern ideas, Tabari's compilation is not so
much a history as a priceless collection of original documents
placed side by side without any attempt to construct a critical
• Selection from the Annals of Tabari, ed. by M. J. de Goeje (Leyden,
1902), p. xi.
' De Goeje's Introduction to Tabari, p. xxvii.
352 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
and continuous narrative. At first sight one can hardly see the
wood for the trees, but on closer study the essential features
gradually emerge and stand out in bold relief from amidst the
multitude of insignificant circumstances which lend freshness
and life to the whole. Tabari suffered the common fate of
standard historians. His work was abridged and popularised,
the isndds or chains of authorities were suppressed, and the
various parallel accounts were combined by subsequent writers
into a single version. ^ Of the Annals, as it left the author's
hands, no entire copy exists anywhere, but many odd volumes
are preserved in different parts of the world. The Leyden
edition is based on these scattered MSS., which luckily com-
prise the whole work with the exception of a few not very
serious lacunae.
*A1{ b. Husayn, a native of Baghdad, was called Mas'udf
after one of the Prophet's Companions, 'Abdullah b. Mas'iid,
to whom he traced his descent. Although we
tg56A.D.). possess only a small remnant of his voluminous
writings, no better prooi can be desired of the
vast and various erudition which he gathered not from books
alone, but likewise from long travel in almost every part of
Asia. Among other places, he visited Armenia, India, Ceylon,
Zanzibar, and Madagascar, and he appears to have sailed in
Chinese waters as well as in the Caspian Sea. " My journey,"
he says, " resembles that of the sun, and to me the poet's verse
is applicable : —
"'We turn our steps toward each different clime,
Now to the Farthest East, then West once more ;
Even as the sun, which stays not his advance
O'er tracts remote that no man durst explore.' " ^
' Al-Bal'ami, the Vizier of Mansiir I, the Samanid, made in 963 a.d. a
Persian epitome of which a French translation by Dubeux and Zotenberg
was published in 1867-1874.
' Murujii 'l-Dliahab, ed. by Barbier de Meynard, vol. i, p. 5 seq.
MAS'tlDJt 353
He spent the latter years of his life chiefly in Syria and Egypt
— for he had no settled abode — compiling the great historical
works,! of which the Muruju U-Dhahab is an epitome. As
regards the motives which urged him to write, Mas'udi
declares that he wished to follow the example of scholars and
sages and to leave behind him a praiseworthy memorial and
imperishable monument. He claims to have taken a wider
view than his predecessors. " One who has never quitted his
hearth and home, but is content with the knowledge which
he can acquire concerning the history of his own part of the
world, is not on the same level as one who spends his life in
travel and passes his days in restless wanderings, and draws
forth all manner of curious and precious information from its
hidden mine." 2
Mas'udi has been named the * the Herodotus of the Arabs,'
and the comparison is not unjust.3 His work, although it
lacks the artistic unity which distinguishes that
'^^^Dhahat'' ^^ ^^^ Greek historian, shows the same eager
spirit of enquiry, the same open-mindedness and
disposition to record without prejudice all the marvellous things
that he had heard or seen, the same ripe experience and large
outlook on the present as on the past. It is professedly a
universal history beginning with the Creation and ending at
the Caliphate of Mud', in 947 a.d., but no description can
cover the immense range of topics which are discussed and
the innumerable digressions with which the author delights
or irritates his readers, as the case may be.4 Thus, to pick
' The Akhbdru 'l-Zamdn in thirty volumes (one volume is extant at
Vienna) and the Kitdb al-Awsat. * Muruju 'l-Dhahab, p. gseq.
3 It may be noted as a coincidence that Ibn Khaldun calls Mas'udi
imdm"'' lil-mu' arrikhin, "an, Imam for all the historians," which
resembles, though it does not exactly correspond to, " the Father of
History."
* Mas'udi gives a summary of the contents of his historical and religious
works in the Preface to the Tanbih wa-'l-Ishrdf, ed. by De Goeje, p. 2 sqq.
A translation of this passage by De Sacy will be found in Barbier de
Meynard's edition of the Mutiiju H-Dhahab, vol. ix, p. 302 sqq.
24
3S4 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
a few examples at random, we find a dissertation on tides
(vol. i, p. 244) ; an account of the t'lnnin or sea-serpent [ihid.y
p. 267) ; of pearl-fishing in the Persian Gulf {ihid.^ p. 328) ;
and of the rhinoceros {ibid.^ p. 385). Mas'udi was a keen
student and critic of religious beliefs, on which subject he
wrote several books.^ The Muruju U-Dhahab supplies many
valuable details regarding the Muhammadan sects, and also
regarding the Zoroastrians and Sabians. There is a particularly
interesting report of a meeting which took place between
Ahmad b. Tuliin, the governor of Egypt (868-877 a.d.),
and an aged Copt, who, after giving his views as to the source
of the Nile and the construction of the Pyramids, defended his
faith (Christianity) on the ground of its manifest errors and con-
tradictions, arguing that its acceptance, in spite of these, by
so many peoples and kings was decisive evidence of its truth.2
Mas'udi's account of the Caliphs is chiefly remarkable for
the characteristic anecdotes in which it abounds. Instead
of putting together a methodical narrative he has thrown oft
a brilliant but unequal sketch of public affairs and private
manners, of social life and literary history. Only considerations
of space have prevented me from enriching this volume with
not a few pages which are as lively and picturesque as any in
Suetonius. His last work, the Kitabu U-Tanblh wo-l-hhraf
(' Book of Admonition and Recension' ),3 was intended to take
a general survey of the field which had been more fully
traversed in his previous compositions, and also to supplement
them when it seemed necessary.
We must pass over the minor historians and biographers
of this period — for example, 'Utbi (t 1036 a.d.), whose
• See Muruju vol. i, p. 201, and vol. iii, p. 268.
= Ihid.^ vol. ii, p. 372 sqq.
3 De Sacy renders the title by ' Le Livre de 1' Indication et de 1' Ad-
monition ou rindicateur et le Moniteur ' ; but see De Goeje's edition of
the text (Leyden, 1894), p. xxvii.
OTHER HISTORICAL WRITERS 355
Kitdb aI-Tam{n{ celebrates the glorious reign of Sultan
Mahmud of Ghazna ; Khatib of Baghdad (t 1071 a.d.),
who composed a history of the eminent men of
hSans. that city; 'Imadu '1-Din of Isfahan (t 120 1
A.D.), the biographer of Saladin ; Ibnu '1-Qifti
(t 1248 A.D.), born at Qi^ft (Coptos) in Upper Egypt, whose
lives of the philosophers and scientists have only come down
to us in a compendium entitled Ta''rikhu U-Hukamd ; Ibnu
'I-Jawzi (t 1200 A.D.), a prolific writer in almost every branch
of literature, and his grandson, Yusuf(t 1257 a.d.) — generally
called Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi — author of the Mirdtu U-Zamdn, or
* Mirror of the Time'; Ibn Abi Usaybia (t 1270 a.d.),
whose history of physicians, the '■Uyunu U-Anbd^ has been
edited by A. Miiller (1884) ; and the Christian, Jirjis (George)
al-Makin (t 1273 a.d.), compiler of a universal chronicle —
named the Majmu'' al-Mubdrak — of which the second part,
from Muhammad to the end of the 'Abbdsid dynasty, was
rendered into Latin by Erpenius in 1625,
A special notice, brief though it must be, is due to 'Izzu
'1-Dln Ibnu '1-Athir (ti234 a.d.). He was brought up at
Mosul in Mesopotamia, and after finishing his
(HzjiAD)"^ studies in Baghdad, Jerusalem, and Syria, he
returned home and devoted himself to reading
and literary composition. Ibn Khallikan, who knew him
personally, speaks of him in the highest terms both as a man
and as a scholar. " His great work, the Kdmil^^ embracing
the history of the world from the earliest period to the year
628 of the Hijra (1230-1231 a.d.), merits its reputation as
one of the best productions of the kind." 2 Down to the
year 302 a.h. the author has merely abridged the Annals
of Tabarl with occasional additions from other sources. In
• The full title is Kitdbu 'l-Kdmil fi 'l-Ta'rikh, or ' The Perfect Book
of Chronicles.' It has been edited by Tornberg in fourteen volumes
(Leyden, 1851-1876).
' Ibn Khallikan, De Slane's translation, vol. ii, p. 289.
356 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
the first volume he gives a long account of the Pre-islamic
battles [Ayydmu U-^Jrab) which is not found in the present
text of Tabarl ; but De Goeje, as I learn from Professor
Bevan, thinks that this section was included in Tabari's
original draft and was subsequently struck out. Ibnu '1-Athir
was deeply versed in the science of Tradition, and his Usdu
*l-Ghdba ('Lions of the Jungle') contains biographies of 7,500
Companions of the Prophet.
An immense quantity of information concerning the various
countries and peoples of the 'Abbasid Empire has been pre-
served for us by the Moslem geographers, who
Geographers. . j m i i n •
m many cases describe what they actually wit-
nessed and experienced in the course of their travels,
although they often help themselves liberally and without
acknowledgment from the works of their predecessors.
The following list, which does not pretend to be exhaustive,
may find a place here.i
1. The Persian Ibn Khurdadbih (first half of ninth century)
was postmaster in the province of Jibal, the Media of
the ancients. His Kitabu U-Masdlik wa-l-Mamdlik
('Book of the Roads and Countries'), an official
guide-book, is the oldest geographical work in Arabic that
has come down to us.
2. Abu Ishdq al-Farisi, a native of Persepolis (Istakhr) —
on this account he is known as Istakhri — wrote a book called
Masdliku H-Mamdlik ('Routes of the Provinces'),
i6n'sawq"^. which was aftcrwards revised and enlarged by
Ibn Hawqal. Both works belong to the second
half of the tenth century and contain " a careful description
* An excellent account of the Arab geographers is given by Guy Le
Strange in the Introduction to his Palestine under the Moslems (London,
1890). De Goeje has edited the works of Ibn Khurdadbih, Istakhri, Ibn
Hawqal, and Muqaddasi in the Bihliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum
(Leyden, 1870, &c.)
THE MOSLEM GEOGRAPHERS 357
of each province in turn of the Muslim Empire, with the
chief cities and notable places."
3. Al-Muqaddasi (or al-Maqdisi), i.e.^ * the native of the
Holy City ', was born at Jerusalem in 946 a.d. In his
delightful book entitled Ahsanu U-Taqdslm fi
Muqaddasf. ^^^c^y^^^- '/.^^j//^ he has gathered up the fruits
of twenty years' travelling through the dominions of the
Caliphate.
4. Omitting the Spanish Arabs, BakrI, Idrlsf, and Ibn
Jubayr, all of whom flourished in the eleventh century,
we come to the greatest of Moslem geographers,
^^'^^^' Yaqiitb. 'Abdallah ( 1 179-1229 A.D.). A Greek
by birth, he was enslaved in his childhood and sold to
a merchant of Baghdad. His master gave him a good
education and frequently sent him on trading expeditions
to the Persian Gulf and elsewhere. After being enfranchised
in consequence of a quarrel with his benefactor, he supported
himself by copying and selling manuscripts. In 1219-1220 a.d.
he encountered the Tartars, who had invaded Khwarizm, and
"fled as naked as when he shall be raised from the dust of
the grave on the day of the resurrection." Further details of
his adventurous life are recorded in the interesting notice
by Ibn Khallikan.i His great Geographical Dictionary
{Mu'-jamu U-Bulddn) has been edited in six volumes by
Wiistenfeld (Leipzig, 1866), and is described by Mr. Le
Strange as "a storehouse of geographical information, the
value of which it would be impossible to over-estimate," We
possess a useful epitome of it, made about a century later, viz.,
the Mardsidu U-Ittild^. Among the few other extant works
of Yaqiit, attention may be called to the Mushtarik — a lexicon
of places bearing the same name — and the Mu^jamu 'l-UdabA,
or ' Dictionary of Litterateurs,' of which the first volume is now
being edited by Professor Margoliouth for the Trustees
of the Gibb Memorial Fund.
' De Slane's translation, vol. iv, p. 9 sqq.
358 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
As regards the philosophical and exact sciences the Moslems
naturally derived their ideas and material from Greek culture,
which had established itself in Egypt, Syria, and
^^til^^Jc^" Western Asia since the time of Alexander's
conquests. When the Syrian school of Edessa
was broken up by ecclesiastical dissensions towards the end
of the fifth century of our era, the expelled savants took refuge
in Persia at the Sasanian court, and Khusraw Anilshirwan, or
Nushlrwan (531-578 a.d.) — the same monarch who welcomed
the Neo-platonist philosophers banished from Athens by Jus-
tinian— founded an Academy at Junde-shapur in Khuzistdn,
where Greek medicine and philosophy continued to be taught
down to 'Abbasid days. Another centre of Hellenism was the
city of Harran in Mesopotamia. Its inhabitants, Syrian heathens
who generally appear in Muhammadan history under the name
of *Sabians,' spoke Arabic with facility and contributed in
no small degree to the diffusion of Greek wisdom. The work
of translation was done almost entirely by Syrians. In the
monasteries of Syria and Mesopotamia the
Translations .. r*-i/^i ni ii
from the wHtmgs of Anstotle, Galen, rtoiemy, and other
Greek. . .
ancient masters were rendered with slavish fidelity.
and these Syriac versions were afterwards retranslated
into Arabic. A beginning was made under the Umayyads,
who cared little for Islam but were by no means in-
different to the claims of literature, art, and science. An
Umayyad prince, Khalid b. Yazid, procured the translation
of Greek and Coptic works on alchemy, and himself wrote
three treatises on that subject. The accession of the 'Abbdsids
gave a great impulse to such studies, which found an en-
lightened patron in the Caliph Mansur. Works on logic and
medicine were translated from the Pehlevi by Ibnu '1-MuqafFa'
(t about 760 A.D.) and others. It is, however, the splendid
reign of Ma'mun (813-833 a.d.) that marks the full vigour
of this Oriental Renaissance. Ma'mun was no ordinary man.
Like a true Persian, he threw himself heart and soul into
TRANSLATIONS OF SCIENTIFIC WORKS 359
theological speculations and used the authority of the Caliphate
to enforce a liberal standard of orthodoxy. His interest in
science was no less ardent. According to a story told in the
Fihristy^ he dreamed that he saw the venerable figure of
Aristotle seated on a throne, and in consequence
enTOu"ee"ment ^^ ^^'^ vision he Sent a deputation to the Roman
°l^v^n^ Emperor (Leo the Armenian) to obtain scientific
books for translation into Arabic. The Caliph's
example was followed by private individuals. Three brothers,
Muhammad, Ahmad, and Hasan, known collectively as the
Band Miisa, " drew translators from distant countries by the
offer of ample rewards 2 and thus made evident the marvels
of science. Geometry, engineering, the movements of the
heavenly bodies, music, and astronomy were the principal
subjects to which they turned their attention ; but these were
only a small number of their acquirements."3 Ma'mun in-
stalled them, with Yahyd b. Abi Mansur and other scientists,
in the House of Wisdom {Baytu U-Hikma) at Baghdad, an
institution which comprised a well-stocked library and an
astronomical observatory. Among the celebrated translators
of the ninth century, who were themselves conspicuous workers
in the new field, we can only mention the Christians QustA b.
Luqa and Hunayn b. Ishaq, and the Sabian Thabit b. Qurra.
It does not fall within the scope of this volume to consider
in detail the achievements of the Moslems in science and
philosophy. That in some departments they made valuable
additions to existing knowledge must certainly be granted,
but these discoveries count for little in comparison with the
debt which we owe to the Arabs as pioneers of learning and
bringers of light to mediaeval Europe.4 Meanwhile it is only
' P. 243.
= The translators employed by the Banu Musa were paid at the rate
of about 500 dinars a month [ibid., p. 43, 1. 18 sqq.).
3 Ibid., p. 271 ; Ibn Khallikan, De Slane's translation, vol. iii, p. 315.
* A chapter at least would be required in order to set forth adequately
the chief material and intellectual benefits which European civilisation
36o POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
possible to enumerate a few of the most eminent philosophers
and scientific men who lived during the 'Abbdsid age. The
reader will observe that with rare exceptions they were of
foreign origin.
The leading spirits in philosophy were : —
1. Ya*qub b. Ishaq al-Kindi, a descendant of the princely
family of Kinda (see p. 42). He was distinguished by his
contemporaries with the title Faylasufu H-^Arab^
c 'pj^g Philosopher of the Arabs.' He flourished
in the first half of the ninth century.
2. Abu Nasr al-Fdrdbf (t 950 a.d.), of Turkish race, a
native of FArdb in Transoxania. The later years of his life
were passed at Aleppo under the patronage of
Sayfu '1-Dawla. He devoted himself to the study
of Aristotle, whom Moslems agree with Dante in regarding
as "il maestro di color che sanno."
3. Abii 'All Ibn SlnA (Avicenna), born of Persian parents
at Kharmaythan, near Bukhara, in the year 980 a.d. As
a youth he displayed extraordinary talents, so
that "in the sixteenth year of his age physicians
of the highest eminence came to read medicine with him
and to learn those modes of treatment which he had
discovered by his practice." ^ He was no quiet student,
like Fardbl, but a pleasure-loving, adventurous man of the
world who travelled from court to court, now in favour, now
in disgrace, and always writing indefatigably. His system
of philosophy, in which Aristotelian and Neo-platonic theories
are combined with Persian mysticism, was well suited to
has derived from the Arabs. The reader may consult Von Kremer's
Culturgeschichte dcs Orients, vol. ii, chapters 7 and 9 ; Diercks, Die
Araber im Mittelalter (Leipzig, 1882) ; Sedillot, Histoire generate des
Arabes; Schack, Pocsie und Kunst der Araber in Spanien und Sicilien ;
Munk, Melanges de Philosophie Juive et Arabe ; and Krehl's article,
'Arabische Sprache und Literatur' in Brockhaus' Conv.-Lexicon.
' Ibn Khallikan, De Slane's translation, vol. i, p. 440.
PHILOSOPHERS AND SCIENTISTS 361
the popular taste, and in the East it still reigns supreme. His
chief works are the ^hifa (Remedy) on physics, meta-
physics, &c,, and a great medical encyclopaedia entitled the
^nun (Canon). Avicenna died in 1037 a.d.
4. The Spanish philosophers, Ibn Bajja (Avempace), Ibn
Tufayl, and Ibn Rushd (Averroes), all of whom flourished in
the twelfth century after Christ.
The most illustrious name beside Avicenna in the history
of Arabian medicine is Abii Bakr al-Raz{ (Rhazes), a native of
Rayy, near Teheran (t 923 or 932 a.d.). Jabir
Astronomy, b. Hayyan of Tarsus (t about 780 a.d.) — the
Geber of European writers — won equal renown
as an alchemist. Astronomy went hand in hand with astrology.
The reader may recognise al-Farghdni, Abu Ma'shar of Balkh
(t 885 A.D.) and al-Battanl, a Sabian of Harran (t 929 A.D.),
under the names of Alfraganus, Albumaser, and Albategnius,
by which they became known in the West. Abu 'Abdaliah
al-Khwarizmi, who lived in the Caliphate of Ma'mun, was
the first of a long line of mathematicians. In this science, as
also in Medicine and Astronomy, we see the influence of
India upon Muhammadan civilisation — an influence, however,
which, in so far as it depended on literary sources, was more
restricted and infinitely less vital than that of Greece. Only
a passing reference can be made to Abil Rayhan al-Blruni, a
native of Khwarizm (Khiva), whose knowledge of the
sciences, antiquities, and customs of India was
Biruni973- such as no Moslcm had ever equalled. His two
1048 A.D.) . ^
principal works, the Athdr al-Bdqiya^ or * Sur-
viving Monuments,' and the Ta'rikhu U-Hind^ or 'History of
India,' have been edited and translated into English by Dr.
Sachau.^
Some conception of the amazing intellectual activity of the
' The Chronology of Ancient Nations (London, 1879) and Alberuni's
India (London, 1888).
362 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
Moslems during the earlier part of the 'Abbasid period, and
also of the enormous losses which Arabic literature has suf-
fered through the destruction of thousands of books that are
known to us by nothing beyond their titles and the names of
their authors, may be gained from the Fihrist^
or * Index' of Muhammad b. IsWq b. Abi Ya'qub
al-Nadim al-Warraq al-Baghdadi (t 995 A.D.). Regarding
the compiler we have no further information than is conveyed
in the last two epithets attached to his name : he was
a copyist of MSS., and was connected with Baghdad either
by birth or residence ; add that, according to his own state-
ment (p. 349, 1. 14 sqq.), he was at Constantinople {Ddru
U-Rum) in 988 A.D., the same year in which his work was
composed. He may possibly have been related to the famous
musician, Ishaq b. Ibrahim al-Nadim of Mosul (t 849-850 a.d.), ,
but this has yet to be proved. At any rate we owe to his
industry a unique conspectus of the literary history of the
Arabs to the end of the fourth century after the Flight. The
Fihrist (as the author explains in his brief Preface) is "am
Index of the books of all nations, Arabs and foreigners alike, ,
which are extant in the Arabic language and script, on every
branch of knowledge ; comprising information as to their
compilers and the classes of their authors, together with the ,
genealogies of those persons, the dates of their birth, the length [
of their lives, the times of their death, the places to which i
they belonged, their merits and their faults, since the begin- j
ning or every science that has been invented down to the !
present epoch : namely, the year 377 of the Hijra." As the ,
contents of the Fihrist (which considerably exceed the above |
description) have been analysed in detail by G. Fliigel
{Z.D.M.G., vol. 13, p. 559 sqq.) and set forth in tabular I
form by Professor Browne in the first volume of his Literary '
History of Persia^^ 1 need only indicate the general arrange- |
ment and scope of the work. It is divided into ten
' P. 384 sqq. ,
THE FIHRIST 363
I discourses {maqdlat)^ which are subdivided into a varying
number of sections {funun). Ibnu '1-Nadim discusses, in
the first place, the languages, scripts, and sacred books of
i the Arabs and other peoples, the revelation of the Koran, the
order of its chapters, its collectors, redactors, and commen-
tators. Passing next to the sciences which, as we have seen,
arose from study of the Koran and primarily served as hand-
maids to theology, he relates the origin of Grammar, and
' gives an account of the different schools of grammarians with
the treatises which they wrote. The third discourse embraces
History, Belles-Lettres, Biography, and Genealogy ; the fourth
treats of Poetry, ancient and modern. Scholasticism {Kaldm)
forms the subject of the following chapter, which contains
a valuable notice of the Isma'flis and their founder, *AbdulUh
b. Maymun, as also of the celebrated pantheist, Husayn b.
Mansur al-Halldj. From these and many other names redo-
lent of heresy the author returns to the orthodox schools of
Law— the Malikites, Hanafites, Shafi'ites and Zahirites ; then
to the jurisconsults of the Shi'a, &c. The seventh discourse
deals with Philosophy and ' the Ancient Sciences,' under which
head we find some curious speculations concerning their
origin and introduction to the lands of Islam ; a list of trans-
' lators and the books which they rendered into Arabic ; an
account of the Greek philosophers from Thales to Plutarch,
with the names of their works that were known to the Mos-
lems ; and finally a literary survey of the remaining sciences,
such as Mathematics, Music, Astronomy, and Medicine.
Here, by an abrupt transition, we enter the enchanted domain
of Oriental fable — the Ha%dr Afsan^ or Thousand Tales,
KaHla and Dimna, the Book of Sindbad, and the legends of
Rustam and Isfandiydr ; works on sorcery, magic, conjuring,
amulets, talismans, and the like. European savants have long
recognised the importance of the ninth discourse,^ which is
' The passages concerning the Sabians were edited and translated, with
copious annotations, by Chwolsohn in his Ssabier und Ssabismus (St.
364 POETRY, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
devoted to the doctrines and writings of the Sabians and the
Dualistic sects founded by Manes, Bardesanes, Marcion, Maz-
dak, and other heresiarchs. The author concludes his work
with a chapter on the Alchemists [al-Kimiyaun).
Petersburg, 1856), vol. ii, p. 1-365, while Fliigel made similar use of the
Manichaean portion in Maui, seine Lehre und seine Schriften (Leipzig,
1862).
1
CHAPTER VIII
ORTHODOXY, FREE-THOUGHT, AND MYSTICISM
We have already given some account of the great political
revolution which took place under the 'Abbasid dynasty, and
w^e have now to consider the no less vital influence
'^and^iS!'' of the new era in the field of religion. It will be
remembered that the House of 'Abbds came
forward as champions of Islam and of the oppressed and
persecuted Faithful. Their victory was a triumph for the
Muhammadan over the National idea. "They wished, as
they said, to revive the dead Tradition of the Prophet. They
brought the experts in Sacred Law from Medina, which had
hitherto been their home, to Baghdad, and always invited
their approbation by taking care that even political questions
should be treated in legal form and decided in accordance with
the Koran and the Sunna. In reality, however, they used Islam
only to serve their own interest. They tamed the divines at
their court and induced them to sanction the most objection-
able measures. They made the pious Opposition harmless by
leading it to victory. With the downfall of the Umayyads it
had gained its end and could now rest in peace." ^ There
is much truth in this view of the matter, but notwithstanding
the easy character of their religion, the 'Abbdsid Caliphs were
sincerely devoted to the cause of Islam and zealous to maintain
its principles in public life. They regarded themselves as the
' Wellhausen, Das Arabische Reich, p. 350 seq.
365
366 ORTHODOXY AND FREE-THOUGHT
supreme pontiflFs of the Moslem Church ; added the Prophet's
mantle [al-burda) to those emblems of Umayyad royalty, the
sceptre and the seal ; delighted in the pompous titles which
their flatterers conferred on them, e.g.^ ' Vicegerent of God,'
* Sultan of God upon the Earth,' ' Shadow of God,' &c. ;
and left no stone unturned to invest themselves with the
attributes of theocracy, and to inspire their subjects with
veneration.i Whereas the Umayyad monarchs ignored or
crushed Muhammadan sentiment, and seldom made any
attempt to conciliate the leading representatives
\heorogian°s^ of Iskm, the 'Abbdsids, on the other hand, not
only gathered round their throne all the most
celebrated theologians of the day, but also showed them every
possible honour, listened respectfully to their counsel, and
allowed them to exert a commanding influence on the admin-
istration of the State.2 When Malik b. Anas was summoned
by the Caliph Hdnin al-Rashid, who wished to hear him
recite traditions, Malik replied, " People come to seek know-
ledge." So Hdrun went to Mdlik's house, and leaned against
the wall beside him. Mdlik said, " O Prince of the Faithful,
whoever honours God, honours knowledge." Al-Rashid arose
and seated himself at Malik's feet and spoke to him and heard
him relate a number of traditions handed down from the
Apostle of God. Then he sent for Sufyan b. 'Uyayna, and
Sufyan came to him and sat in his presence and recited
traditions to him. Afterwards al-Rashid said, "O Malik, we
humbled ourselves before thy knowledge, and profited thereby,
but Sufydn's knowledge humbled itself to us, and we got no
good from it." 3 Many instances might be given of the high
favour which theologians enjoyed at this time, and of the
lively interest with which religious topics were debated by the
» See Goldziher, Mtihamm. Studten, Part II, p. 53 sqq.
' Ibid., p. 70 seq.
3 Fragmenta Historicorum Arabicortim, ed. by De Goeje and De Jong,
p. 298.
1
ill
I
I
!
THE DIVINES AND THE GOVERNMENT 367
Caliph and his courtiers. As the Caliphs gradually lost their
temporal sovereignty, the influence of the ^-Ulamd — the
doctors of Divinity and Law — continued to increase, so that
ere long they formed a privileged class, occupying in Islam
a position not unlike that of the priesthood in mediaeval
Christendom.
It will be convenient to discuss the religious phenomena of
the 'Abbasid period under the following heads : —
I. Rationalism and Free-thought.
II. The Orthodox Reaction and the rise of Scholastic
Theology.
III. The Silfl Mysticism.
I. The first century of 'Abbasid rule was marked, as we
have seen, by a great intellectual agitation. All sorts of new
ideas were in the air. It was an age of discovery
Free^uiought! and awakening. In a marvellously brief space
the diverse studies of Theology, Law, Medicine,
Philosophy, Mathematics, Astronomy, and Natural Science
attained their maturity, if not their highest development.
Even if some pious Moslems looked askance at the foreign
learning and its professors, an enlightened spirit generally
prevailed. People took their cue from the court, which
patronised, or at least tolerated,^ scientific research as well as
theological speculation.
These circumstances enabled the Mu'tazilites (see p. 222 sqq.)
to propagate their liberal views without hindrance, and finally
to carry their struggle against the orthodox party
The Mu'tazilites ^ c ^ • T^ ^u a- ^
and their to a successful issue. it was the same conflict
opponen s. ^^^^ divided Nominalists and Realists in the days
of Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and Occam. As often
happens when momentous principles are at stake, the whole
' There are, of course, some partial exceptions to this rule, e.g., Mahdi
and Harun al-Rashid.
368 ORTHODOXY AND FREE-THOUGHT
controversy between Reason and Revelation turned on a
single question — " Is the Koran created or uncreated ? " In
other terms, is it the work of God or the Word of God ?
According to orthodox belief, it is uncreated and has existed
with God from all eternity, being in its present form merely
a transcript of the heavenly archetype. ^ Obviously this con-
ception of the Koran as the direct and literal Word of
God left no room for exercise of the understanding, but
required of those who adopted it a dumb faith and a blind
fatalism. There were many to whom the sacrifice did noti
seem too great. The Mu'tazilites, on the contrary, asserted
their intellectual freedom. It was possible, they said, to know
God and distinguish good from evil without any Revelation at
all. They admitted that the Koran was God's work, in the
sense that it was produced by a divinely inspired Prophet, but
they flatly rejected its deification. Some went so far as to
criticise the ' inimitable ' style, declaring that it could be
surpassed in beauty and eloquence by the art of man. 2
The Mu'tazilite controversy became a burning question in
the reign of Ma'mun (813-833 a.d.), a Caliph whose scien-
tific enthusiasm and keen interest in religious matters we have
already mentioned. He did not inherit the orthodoxy of hisi
father, Hariin al-Rashid ; and it was believed that he
was at heart a zindiq. His liberal tendencies would have been
wholly admirable if they had not been marred by excessive
intolerance towards those who held opposite views to his
own. In 833 A.D., the year of his death, he promul-
gated a decree which bound all Moslems to accept the
Mu'tazilite doctrine as to the creation of the Koran on pain
of losing their civil rights, and at the same time he estab-
blished an inquisition [mihna) in order to obtain the assent of
* See p. 163, note.
= Several freethinkers of this period attempted to rival the Koran with I
their own compositions. See Goldziher, Mtihamm. Sttidicn, Part IljlJiHi
p. 401 seq.
)
THE MU'TAZILITES IN POWER 369
the divines, judges, and doctors of law. Those who would
not take the test were flogged and threatened with the sword.
After Ma'mun's death the persecution still went on,
adopted"and'^ut although it was Conducted in a more moderate
Caiiph^ia^m^n. fashion. Popular feeling ran strongly against the
Mu'tazilites. The most prominent figure in the
orthodox camp was the Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal, who firmly
resisted the new dogma from the first. "But for him," says
the Sunnite historian, Abu '1-Mahasin, "the beliefs of a great
number would have been corrupted." ^ Neither threats nor
entreaties could shake his resolution, and when he was
scourged by command of the Caliph Mu'tasim, the palace
was in danger of being wrecked by an angry mob which had
assembled outside to hear the result of the trial. The Mu'ta-
zilite dogma remained officially in force until it was abandoned
by the Caliph Wathiq and once more declared
Mutawakkil ■' • , , , , , , .
returns to heretical by the cruel and bigoted Mutawakkil
orthodoxy. . .
(847 A.D.). From that time to this the victorious
party have sternly suppressed every rationalistic movement in
Islam.
According to Steiner, the original Mu'tazilite heresy arose
in the bosom of Islam, independently of any foreign influence,
but, however that may be, its later development
M^taziutes.* was largely affected by Greek philosophy. We
need not attempt to follow the recondite specula-
tions of Abii Hudhayl al-'Allaf (t about 840 a.d.) of his
contemporaries, al-Nazzam, Bishr b. al-Mu'tamir, and others,
and of the philosophical schools of Basra and Baghdad in which
the movement died away. Vainly they sought to replace the
Muhammadan idea of God as will by the Aristotelian concep-
tion of God as law. Their efforts to purge the Koran of
anthropomorphism made no impression on the faithful, who
ardently hoped to see God in Paradise face to face. What
they actually achieved was little enough. Their weapons of
' Al-Nujum al-Zdhira, ed. by Juynboll, vol. i, p. 639.
25
370 ORTHODOXY AND FREE-THOUGHT
logic and dialectic were turned against them with triumphant
success, and scholastic theology was founded on the ruins of
Rationalism. Indirectly, however, the Mu'tazilite principles
leavened Muhammadan thought to a considerable extent and
cleared the way for other liberal movements, like the Fraternity
of the Ikhwanu U-Safa, which endeavoured to harmonise
authority with reason, and to construct a universal system of
religious philosophy.
These ' Brethren of Purity,' i as they called themselves, com-
piled a great encyclopaedic work in fifty tractates (Rasd'i/). Of
the authors, who flourished at Basra towards the
^''■i-s'a'fZ^"" end of the tenth century, five are known to us
by name : viz., Abu Sulaymdn Muhammad b.
Ma'shar al-Bayusti or al-Muqaddasi (Maqdisl), Abu 'I-Hasan ,
*A1{ b. Hdrun al-Zanjdnl, Abu Ahmad al-Mihrajdni, aPAwff, !
and Zayd b. Rifd'a. " They formed a society for the pursuit j
of holiness, purity, and truth, and established amongst them- |
selves a doctrine whereby they hoped to win the approval of '
God, maintaining that the Religious Law was defiled by i
ignorance and adulterated by errors, and that there was no ji
means of cleansing and purifying it except philosophy, which ii
united the wisdom of faith and the profit of research. They j
held that a perfect result would be reached if Greek philosophy '
were combined with Arabian religion. Accordingly they com-
posed fifty tracts on every branch of philosophy, theoretical as
well as practical, added a separate index, and entitled them the
* Tracts of the Brethren of Purity' {Rasatlu Ikhwdn al-Safa).
The authors of this work concealed their names, but circulated
it among the booksellers and gave it to the public. They
filled their pages with devout phraseology, religious parables,
metaphorical expressions, and figurative turns of style." 2
' This is the hteral translation of Ikhwanu 'l-Safd, but according to
Arabic idiom ' brother of purity ' (akiiu 'l-safd) simply means ' one who is
pure or sincere,' as has been shown by Goldziher, Muhamm. Shidien,
Part I, p. 9, note. The term does not imply any sort of brotherhood.
» Ibnu '1-Qifti, Ta'rtkhu 'l-Hukamd (ed, by Lippert), p. 83, 1. 17 sqq.
THE BRETHREN OF PURITY 371
Nearly all the tracts have been translated into German by
Dieterici, who has also drawn up an epitome of the whole
encyclopaedia in his Philosophie der Araher im X yahrhundert.
It would take us too long to describe the system of the Ikhwdn^
but the reader will find an excellent account of it in Stanley
Lane- Poole's Studies in a Mosque^ 2nd ed., p. 176 sqq. The
view has recently been put forward that the Brethren of Purity
were in some way connected with the Isma'ili propaganda, and
that their eclectic idealism represents the highest teaching of
the Fatimids, Carmathians, and Assassins. Strong evidence in
support of this theory is supplied by a MS. of the Bibliotheque
Nationale (No. 2309 in De Slane's Catalogue), which contains,
together with fragments of the Rasail^ a hitherto unknown
tract entitled the Jdmi'-a or ' Summary.' i The latter purports
to be the essence and crown of the fifty RascCil^ it is manifestly
Isma'ilite in character, and, assuming that it is genuine, we
may, I think, agree with the conclusions which its discoverer,
M. P. Casanova, has stated in the following passage : —
" Surtout je crois etre dans le vrai en affirmant que les doctrines
philosophiques des Ismailiens sent contenues tout entieres dans les
Epitres des Freres de la Purete. Et c'est ce qui
The doctrines of explique ' la seduction extraordinaire que la doctrine
Purity Ide^nticai exergait sur des hommes serieux.' ' En y ajoutant la
wth the esoteric crovance en r imam cache (al-imdm al-mastur) qui doit
philosophy of the -^ ^ . / , ■' . ,
isma'ilis. apparaitre un jour pour etablir le bonheur universel,
elle realisait la fusion de toutes les doctrines idealistes,
du messianisme et du platonisme. Tant que 1' imam restait cache,
il s'y melait encore une saveur de mystere qui attachait les esprits
les plus eleves. ... En tous cas, on peut affirmer que les Carmathes
et les Assassins ont ete profondement calomnies quand ils ont ete
accuses par leurs adversaires d'atheisme et de debauche. Le fetwa
d' Ibn Taimiyyah, que j'ai cite plus haut, pretend que leur dernier
degre dans 1' initiation {al-baldgh al-akbar) est la negation meme du
Createur. Mais la djdmi'at que nous avons decouverte est, comme
' Notice sur un manuscrit de la secte des Assassins, by P. Casanova in the
Journal Asiatique for 1898, p. 151 sqq.
' De Goeje, Memoire sur les Carmathes, p. 172.
372 ORTHODOXY AND FREE-THOUGHT
tout rindique, le dernier degre de;la science des Freres de la Purete
et des Ismai'liens ; il n'y a rien de fonde dans une telle accusation.
La doctrine apparait tres pure, tres elevee, tres simple meme : je
repete que c'est une sorte de pantheisme mecaniste et esthetique qui
est absolument oppose au scepticisme et au materialisme, car il repose
sur r harmonic generate de toutes les parties du monde, harmonic
voulue par le Createur parce qu'elle est la beaute meme.
" Ma conclusion sera que nous avons la un exemple de plus dans
I'histoire d' une doctrine tres pure et tres elevee en theorie, devenue,
entre les mains des fanatiques et des ambitieux, une source d'actes
monstrueux et meritant I'infamie qui est attachee a ce nom historique
d' Assassins."
Besides the Mu'tazilites, we hear much of another class of
heretics who are commonly grouped together under the name
of Xindtqs.
" It is well known," says Goldziher,i " that the earliest
persecution was directed against those individuals who man-
aged more or less adroitly to conceal under
The Zindigs. ° , , r» • i- •
the veil of Islam old Persian religious ideas.
Sometimes indeed they did not consider any disguise to be
necessary, but openly set up dualism and other Persian or
Manichasan doctrines, and the practices associated therewith,
against the dogma and usage of Islam. Such persons were
called ZindiqSj a term which comprises different shades of
heresy and hardly admits of simple definition. Firstly, there
are the old Persian families incorporated in Islam who, following
the same path as the Shu'ubites, have a national interest in the
revival of Persian religious ideas and traditions, and from this
point of view react against the Arabian character of the
Muhammadan system. Then, on the other hand, there are
freethinkers, who oppose in particular the stubborn dogma i
of Islam, reject positive religion^ and acknowledge only the
moral law. Amongst the latter there is developed a monkish
» Sdlih b. 'Abd al-Quddus und das Zindikthum wiihrend der Rcgicrung
des Chalifen al-Mahdi in Transactions of the Ninth Congress of Orientalists,
vol. ii, p. 105 seq.
THE ZINDlQS 373
asceticism extraneous to Islam and ultimately traceable to
Buddhistic influences."
The 'Abbasid Government, which sought to enforce an
official standard of belief, was far less favourable to religious
liberty than the Umayyads had been. Orthodox and heretic
alike fell under its ban. While Ma'mun harried pious Sunnites,
his immediate predecessors raised a hue and cry against Zindiqs.
The Caliph Mahdi distinguished himself by an organised perse-
cution of these enemies of the faith. He appointed a Grand In-
quisitor [Sdhibu U-Zanadiqa ^ or ^Arifu U-Zanddiqa)
^"Iinrf5"°^ to discover and hunt them down. If they would
not recant when called upon, they were put to
death and crucified, and their books 2 were cut to pieces with
knives. 3 Mahdi's example was followed by Hddl and Hdrun
al-Rashld. Some of the 'Abbdsids, however, were less severe.
Thus Khasib, Mansiir's physician, was a Zindlq who professed
Christianity, 4 and in the reign of Ma'mun it became the mode
to affect Manichaean opinions as a mark of elegance and re-
finement.5
The two main types of "zandaqa which have been described
above are illustrated in the contemporary poets, Bashshar b.
Burd and Salih b. 'Abd al-Quddiis. Bashshdr
^^^Bur"''' ^^^ ^°''" stone-blind. The descendant of a noble
Persian family — though his father, Burd, was a
slave — he cherished strong national sentiments and did not
attempt to conceal his sympathy with the Persian clients
{Mawdli)^ whom he was accused of stirring up against their
Arab lords. He may also have had leanings towards Zoroastri-
anism, but Professor Bevan has observed that there is no real
' Tabari, iii, 522, i.
'' I.e. the sacred books of the Manichaeans, which were often splendidly
illuminated. See Von Kremer, Culturgesch. Streifziige, p. 39.
3 Cf. Tabari, iii, 499, 8 sqq.
* Ibid., iii, 422, 19 sqq.
s Cf. the saying " Azrafii mina 'l-Zindiq " (Freytag, Arabum Proverbia,
vol. i, p. 214).
374 ORTHODOXY AND FREE-THOUGHT
evidence for this statement,^ which is improbable in view of
the fact that Bashshdr was a thorough sceptic and used to
dispute with a number of noted freethinkers in Basra, e.g.^ with
Wasil b. 'Atd, who started the Mu'tazilite heresy, and 'Amr
b. 'Ubayd. He and Salih b. 'Abd al-Quddus were put to
death by the Caliph Mahdi in the same year (783 a.d.).
This Salih belonged by birth or affiliation to the Arab tribe
of Azd. Of his life we know little beyond the circumstance
that he was for some time a street-preacher at
^ai-QuddUs'^ Basra, and afterwards at Damascus. It is possible
that his public doctrine was thought dangerous,
although the preachers as a class were hand in glove with the
Church and did not, like the Lollards, denounce religious
abuses.2 His extant poetry contains nothing heretical, but is
wholly moral and didactic in character. We have seen, how-
ever, in the case of Abu 'l-'Atdhiva, that Muhammadan I
orthodoxy was apt to connect ' the philosophic mind ' with
positive unbelief ; and Salih appears to have fallen a victim to
this prejudice. He was accused of being a dualist [thanawi)^
i.e., a Manichaean. Mahdi, it is said, conducted his examination
in person, and at first let him go free, but the poet's fate was
sealed by his confession that he was the author ot the following
verses : —
"The greybeard will not leave what in the bone is bred
Until the dark tomb covers him with earth o'erspread ;
For, the' deterred awhile, he soon returns again
To his old folly, as the sick man to his pain." ^
' As Professor Bevan points out, it is based solely on the well-known
verse {Aghdni, iii, 24, 1. 11), which has come down to us without the
context : —
" Earth is dark and Fire is bright,
And Fire has been worshipped ever since Fire existed."
* These popular preachers (qussds) are admirably described by Gold-
ziher, Muhamm. Studien, Part II, p. 161 sqq.
3 The Arabic text of these verses will be found in Goldziher's mono-
graph, p. 122, 11. 6-7. ■
THE ZINDIQS 375
Abu 'l-'AM al-Ma'arri, himself a bold and derisive critic of
Muhammadan dogmas, devotes an interesting section of his
Risdlatu ^l-Ghufrdn to the Zindlqs^ and says
ai-Maarri on the many hard things about them, which were no
doubt intended to throw dust in the eyes of a
suspicious audience. The wide scope of the term is shown
by the fact that he includes under it the pagan chiefs of
Quraysh ; the Umayyad Caliph Walid b. Yazid ; the poets
Di^bil, Abu Nuwas, Bashshar, and Salih b. 'Abd al-Quddus ;
Abu Muslim, who set up the 'Abbasid dynasty ; the Persian
rebels, Babak and Mazyar ; Afshin, who after conquering
Bdbak was starved to death by the Caliph Mu'tasim ; the
Carmathian leader al-Jannabi ; Ibnu '1-Rawandi, whose work
entitled the Ddmigh was designed to discredit the ' miraculous '
style of the Koran ; and Husayn b. Man§ur al-Hallaj, the
Sufi martyr. Most of these, one may admit, fall within Abu
'l-'Ald's definition of the Zindiqs : " they acknowledge neither
prophet nor sacred book." The name Zindlq^ which is applied
by Jahiz (t 868 a.d.) to the Buddhists,^ seems in the first
instance to have been used of Manes [Mdni) and his followers,
and is no doubt derived, as Professor Bevan has suggested, from
the xaddiqs^ who formed an elect class in the Manichaean
hierarchy. 2
II. The official recognition of Rationalism as the State
religion came to an end on the accession of Mutawakkil
in 847 A.D. The new Caliph, who owed his throne to the
' See a passage from the Kitdbu 'l-Hayawdn, cited by Baron V. Rosen
in Zapiski, vol. vi, p. 337.
= Zaddtq is an Aramaic word meaning 'righteous.' Its etymological
equivalent in Arabic is siddiq, which has a different meaning, namely,
'veracious.' Zaddiq passed into Persian in the form Zandik, which was
used by the Persians before Islam, and Zindiq is the Arabicised form of
the latter word. For some of these observations I am indebted to Professor
Bevan. Further details concerning the derivation and meaning of Zindiq
are given in Professor Browne's Literary Hist, of Persia (vol. i, p. 159 sqq.),
where the reader will also find a lucid account of the Manichaean doctrines.
3/6 ORTHODOXY AND FREE-THOUGHT
Turkish Praetorians, could not have devised a surer means
of making himself popular than by standing forward as the
avowed champion of the faith of the masses. He
The Orthodox persecuted impartially Jews, Christians, Mu't-
azilites, Shi'ites, and Sufis — every one, in short,
who diverged from the narrowest Sunnite orthodoxy. The
Vizier Ibn Abf Du'ad, who had shown especial zeal in his
conduct of the Mu'tazilite Inquisition, was disgraced, and the
bulk of his wealth was confiscated. In Baghdad the followers of
Ahmad b. Hanbal went from house to house terrorising the
citizens,! and such was their fanatical temper that when Tabari,
the famous divine and historian, died in 923 a.d., they would not
allow his body to receive the ordinary rites of burial. ^ Finally,
in the year 935 a.d., the Caliph Radi issued an edict denouncing
them in these terms : " Ye assert that your ugly, ill-favoured
faces are in the likeness of the Lord of Creation, and that your
vile exterior resembles His, and ye speak of the hand, the fingers,
the feet, the golden shoes, and the curly hair (of God), and of
His going up to Heaven and of His coming down to Earth. . . .
The Commander of the Faithful swears a binding oath that
unless ye refrain from your detestable practices and perverse
tenets he will lay the sword to your necks and the fire to your
dwellings." 3 Evidently the time was ripe for a system which
should reconcile the claims of tradition and reason, avoiding
the gross anthropomorphism of the extreme Hanbalites on the
one side and the pure rationalism of the advanced Mu'tazilites
(who were still a power to be reckoned with) on the other.
It is a frequent experience that great intellectual or religious
movements rising slowly and invisibly, in response, as it were,
to some incommunicable want, suddenly find a distinct inter-
preter with whose name they are henceforth associated for
ever. The man, in this case, was Abu '1-Hasan al-Ash'arf.
He belonged to a noble and traditionally orthodox family of
' Ibnu '1-Athir, vol. viii, p. 229 seq. (anno 323 A.H. = 934-935 a.d.).
^ Ihid., p. 98. 3 Ihid., p. 230 seq.
ABU 'L-HASAN AL-ASH'ARl 2>77
Yemenite origin. One of his ancestors was Abu Musd
al-Ash*ari, who, as the reader will recollect, played a somewhat
inglorious part in the arbitration between 'AH and
^^"-ASr Mu'awiya after the battle of Siffin.i Born in 873-
874 A.D. at Basra, a city renowned for its scientific
and intellectual fertility, the young Abu '1-Hasan deserted the
faith of his fathers, attached himself to the freethinking school,
and until his fortieth year was the favourite pupil and intimate
friend of al-Jubba'i (t 915 a.d.), the head of the Mu'tazilite
party at that time. He is said to have broken with his teacher
in consequence of a dispute as to whether God always does
what is best {asjah) for His creatures. The story is related as
follows by Ibn Khallikan (De Slane's translation, vol. ii,
p. 669 seq.) : —
Ash'ari proposed to Jubba'i the case of three brothers, one of
whom was a true believer, virtuous and pious ; the second an infidel,
a debauchee and a reprobate ; and the third an infant :
thre°/brothers. ^hey all died, and Ash'ari wished to know what had
become of them. To this Jubba'i answered : " The
virtuous brother holds a high station in Paradise ; the infidel
is in the depths of Hell, and the child is among those who
have obtained salvation." ^ " Suppose now," said Ash'ari, " that
the child should wish to ascend to the place occupied by his virtuous
brother, would he be allowed to do so?" "No," replied Jubba'i,
" it would be said to him : ' Thy brother arrived at this place through
his numerous works of obedience towards God, and thou hast no
such works to set forward.' " " Suppose then," said Ash'ari, " that the
child say : ' That is not my fault ; you did not let me live long
enough, neither did you give me the means of proving my obedi-
ence.'" "In that case," answered Jubba'i, " the Almighty would
say : ' I knew that if I had allowed thee to live, thou wouldst have
been disobedient and incurred the severe punishment (of Hell) ;
I therefore acted for thy advantage.' " "Well," said Ash'ari, "and
suppose the infidel brother were to say : ' O God of the universe !
since you knew what awaited him, you must have known what
' See p. 192.
' I.e., he is saved from Hell but excluded from Paradise.
3/8 ORTHODOXY AND FREE-THOUGHT
awaited me ; why then did you act for his advantage and not for
mine ? " Jubba'i had not a word to offer in reply.
Soon afterwards Ash'ari made a public recantation. One
Friday, while sitting (as his biographer relates) in the chair
from which he taught in the great mosque of
conversion to Basra, he cried out at the top of his voice : " They
o oxy. ^^^ know me know who I am : as for those
who do not know me I will tell them. I am 'All b.
Ismd'il al-Ash'ari, and I used to hold that the Koran was
created, that the eyes of men shall not see God, and that we
ourselves are the authors of our evil deeds. Now I have
returned to the truth ; I renounce these opinions, and I under-
take to refute the Mu'tazilites and expose their infamy and
turpitude." ^
These anecdotes possess little or no historical value, but
illustrate the fact that Ash'arl, having learned all that the
Mu'tazilites could teach him and having thoroughly mastered
their dialectic, turned against them with deadly force the
weapons which they had put in his hands. His doctrine on
the subject of free-will may serve to exemplify the method of
Kalam (Disputation) by which he propped up the orthodox
creed.2 Here, as in other instances, Ash'ari took
^founder of"^ the Central path — medio tutissimus — between two
Theoio^! extremes. It was the view of the early Moslem
Church — a view justified by the Koran and the
Apostolic Traditions — that everything was determined in
advance and inscribed, from all eternity, on the Guarded Tablet
(al-Lawh al-Mahfuz.\ so that men had no choice but to commit
the actions decreed by destiny. The Mu'tazilites, on the
' Ibn Khallikan, ed. by Wustenfeld, No. 440 ; De Slane's translation,
vol. ii, p. 228.
* The clearest statement of Ash'ari's doctrine with which I am acquainted
is contained in the Creed published by Spitta, Zur Geschichtc Abu 'l-Hasan
al-Ash'ari's (Leipzig, 1876), p. 133, 1. 9 sqq. ; German translation, p. 95 sqq.
It has been translated into English by D. B. Macdonald in his Muslim
Theology, p. 293 and foil.
MOSLEM SCHOLASTICISM 379
contrary, denied that God could be the author of evil and
insisted that men's actions were free. Ash'ari, on his part,
declared that all actions are created and predestined by God,
but that men have a certain subordinate power which enables
them to acquire the actions previously created, although it
produces no effect on the actions themselves. Human agency,
therefore, was confined to this process of acquisition (kasb).
With regard to the anthropomorphic passages in the Koran,
Ash'ari laid down the rule that such expressions as " The
Merciful has settled himse/f upon His throne^^'' ^^ Both His hands
are spread out^"* &c., must be taken in their obvious sense without
asking 'How?' {bila kayfa). Spitta saw in the system of
Ash'ari a successful revolt of the Arabian national spirit against
the foreign ideas which were threatening to overwhelm Islam,i
a theory which does not agree with the fact that most of the
leading Ash'arites were Persians.^ Von Kremer came nearer
the mark when he said " Ash'ari's victory was simply a clerical
triumph," 3 but it was also, as Schreiner has observed, "a
victory of reflection over unthinking faith."
The victory, however, was not soon or easily won.4 Many
of the orthodox disliked the new Scholasticism hardly less than
the old Rationalism. Thus it is not surprising to read in the
^fl;;z//of Ibnu '1-Athir under the year 456 a.h. = 1046 a.d.,
that Alp Arsldn's Vizier, 'Amidu '1-Mulk al-Kunduri, having
obtained his master's permission to have curses pronounced
against the Rafidites (Shi'ites) from the pulpits of Khurdsdn,
included the Ash'arites in the same malediction, and that
the famous Ash'arite doctors, Abu '1-Qdsim al-Qushayri
and the Imdmu '1-Haramayn Abu '1-Ma'ali al-Juwaynl, left
the country in consequence. The great Nizamu '1-Mulk
' Op. ctt., p. 7 seq.
* Schreiner, Zur Geschichte des Ash'aritenthums in the Proceedings of the
Eighth International Congress of Orientalists (1889), p. 5 of the tirage a part.
3 Z.D.M.G., vol. 31, p. 167.
* See Goldziher in Z.D.M.G., vol. 41, p. 63 seq., whence the following
details are derived.
38o ORTHODOXY AND FREE-THOUGHT
exerted himself on behalf of the Ash'arites, and the Nizdmiyya
College, which he founded in Baghdad in the year 1067 a.d.,
was designed to propagate their system of theology. But the
man who stamped it with the impression of his own powerful
genius, fixed its ultimate form, and established it as the
universal creed of orthodox Islam, was Abu Hamid al-Ghazali
(1058-1111 A.D.). We have already sketched the outward
course of his life, and need only recall that he lectured at Baghddd
in the Nizamiyya College for four years (1091-1095 a.d.).^
At the end of that time he retired from the world as a Suti, and
so brought to a calm and fortunate close the long spiritual
travail which he has himself described in the Munqidh m'lna
''l-Dalal^ or ' Deliverer from Error.' 2 We must now attempt
to give the reader some notion of this work, both on account of
its singular psychological interest and because Ghazdli's search
for religious truth exercised, as will shortly appear, a profound
and momentous influence upon the future history of Muham-
madan thought. It begins with these words : —
" In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Praise
be to God by the praise of whom every written or spoken discourse
is opened ! And blessings on Muhammad, the Elect,
autobiography, the Prophet and Apostle, as well as on his family and
his companions who lead us forth from error ! To
proceed : You have asked me, O my brother in religion, to explain
to you the hidden meanings and the ultimate goal of the sciences,
and the secret bane of the different doctrines, and their inmost
depths. You wish me to relate all that I have endured in seeking
to recover the truth from amidst the confusion of sects with diverse
ways and paths, and how I have dared to raise myself from the
abyss of bhnd belief in authority to the height of discernment. You
desire to know what benefits I have derived in the first place from
Scholastic Theology, and what I have appropriated, in the second
' See p. 339 seq.
* I have used the Cairo edition of 1309 a.h. A French translation by
Barbier de Meynard was published in the Journal Asiatique (January,
1877). pp. 9-93-
I
GHAZAU 381
place, from the methods of the Ta'limites ' who think that truth can
be attained only by submission to the authority of an Imam ; and
thirdly, my reasons for spurning the systems of philosophy ; and,
lastly, why I have accepted the tenets of Sufiism : you are anxious,
in short, that I should impart to you the essential truths which I
have learned in my repeated examination of the (religious) opinions
of mankind."
In a very interesting passage, which has been translated by
Professor Browne, Ghazdli tells how from his youth upward he
was possessed with an intense thirst for knowledge, which
impelled him to study every form of religion and philosophy,
and to question all whom he met concerning the nature and
meaning of their belief.^ But when he tried to distinguish
the true from the false, he found no sure test. He could not
trust the evidence of his senses. The eye sees a shadow and
declares it to be without movement ; or a star, and deems it
no larger than a piece of gold. If the senses thus deceive,
may not the mind do likewise ? Perhaps our life is a dream
full of phantom thoughts which vi^e mistake for realities — until
the awakening comes, either in moments of ecstasy or at
death. "For two months," says Ghazali, "I was actually,
though not avowedly, a sceptic." Then God gave him light,
so that he regained his mental balance and was able to think
soundly. He resolved that this faculty must guide him to the
truth, since blind faith once lost never returns. Accordingly,
he set himself to examine the foundations of belief in four
classes of men who were devoted to the search for truth,
namely. Scholastic Theologians, Esoterics {Batiniyya\
Philosophers, and Sufis. For a long while he had to be content
with wholly negative results. Scholasticism was, he admitted,
an excellent purge against heresy, but it could not cure the
disease from which he was suffering. As for the philosophers,
all of them — Materialists {Dahriyyun\ Naturalists {Tahl^iyyun),
' These are the Isma'ilis or Batinis (including the Carmathians and
Assassins). See p. 271 sqq.
^ A Literary History of Persia, vol. ii, p. 295 seq.
382 ORTHODOXY AND FREE-THOUGHT
and Theists [Ilihiyyun) — "are branded with infidelity and
impiety." Here, as often in his discussion of the philosophical
schools, Ghazdli's religious instinct breaks out. We cannot
imagine him worshipping at the shrine of pure reason any
more than we can imagine Herbert Spencer at Lourdes.
He next turned to the Ta^imites (Doctrinists) or Batinites
(Esoterics), who claimed that they knew the truth, and that its
unique source was the infallible Imam. But when he came to
close quarters with these sectaries, he discovered that they
could teach him nothing, and their mysterious Imam vanished
into space. Sufiism, therefore, was his last hope. He carefully
studied the writings of the mystics, and as he read it became
clear to him that now he was on the right path. He saw
that the higher stages of Sufiism could not be learned by
study, but must be realised by actual experience, that is, by
rapture, ecstasy, and moral transformation. After a painful
struggle with himself he resolved to cast aside all his worldly
ambition and to live for God alone. In the month of Dhu
'1-Qa'da, 488 a.h. (November, 1095 a.d.), he left Baghddd
and wandered forth to Syria, where he found in the Siifi disci-
pline of prayer, praise, and meditation the peace which his
soul desired.
Mr. Duncan B. Macdonald, to whom we owe the best and
fullest life of Ghazali that has yet been written, sums up his
work and influence in Islam under four heads ^ : —
First^ he led men back from scholastic labours upon theo-
logical dogmas to living contact with, study and exegesis of,
the Word and the Traditions.
Second^ in his preaching and moral exhortations be re-intro-
duced the element of fear.
Third, it was by his influence that Sufiism attained a firm
and assured position within the Church of Islam.
' The Life of al-Ghazzall in the Journal of the American Oriental
Society, vol. xx (1899), p. 122 sqq.
ghazAlI 383
Fourth^ he brought philosophy and philosophical theology
within the range of the ordinary mind.
I " Of these four phases of al-Ghazzall's work," says Macdonald, " the
first and third are undoubtedly the most important. He made his
mark by leading Islam back to its fundamental and his-
Ghazairs work torical facts, and by giving a place in its system to the
emotional religious life. But it will have been noticed
that in none of the four phases was he a pioneer. He was not a
scholar who struck out a new path, but a man of intense personahty
who entered on a path already trodden and made it the common
highway. We have here his character. Other men may have
been keener logicians, more learned theologians, more gifted
saints ; but he, through his personal experiences, had attained so
overpowering a sense of the divine realities that the force of his
character — once combative and restless, now narrowed and intense
—swept all before it, and the Church of Islam entered on a new era
of its existence."
I
• III. We have traced the history of Mysticism in Islam from
the ascetic movement of the first century, in vi'hich it originated,
to a point where it begins to pass beyond the
-IS^ 'period, sphere of Muhammadan influence and to enter
on a strange track, of which the Prophet assuredly
never dreamed, although the Sufi's constantly pretend that they
alone are his true followers. I do not think it can be main-
tained that Sufiism of the theosophical and pantheistic type,
which we have now to consider, is merely a development of the
older asceticism and quietism which have been described in a
former chapter. The diflFerence between them is essential and
must be attributed, as Von Kremer saw,i to the intrusion of
some extraneous, non-Islamic, element. As to the nature of
this new element there are several conflicting theories, which
have been so clearly and fully stated by Professor Browne in
his Literary History of Persia (vol. i, p. 418 sqq.) that I need
not dwell upon them here. Briefly it is claimed —
' Herrschendc Ideen, p. 67.
384 MYSTICISM
[a) That Sufiism owes its inspiration to Indian philosophy,
and especially to the Vedanta.
{})) That the most characteristic ideas in Sufiism are of
Persian origin.
(c) That these ideas are derived from Neo-platonism.
Instead of arguing for or against any of the above theories,
all of u^hich, in my opinion, contain a measure of truth, I
propose in the following pages to sketch the historical evolution
of the Sufi doctrine as far as the materials at my disposal will
permit. This, it seems to me, is the only possible method by
which we may hope to arrive at a definite conclusion as to its
origin. Since mysticism in all ages and countries is funda-
mentally the same, however it may be modified by its peculiar
environment, and by the positive religion to which it clings
for support, we find remote and unrelated systems showing
an extraordinarily close likeness and even coinciding in many
features of verbal expression. Such resemblances can prove
little or nothing unless they are corroborated by evidence
based on historical grounds. Most writers on Sufiism have
disregarded this principle ; hence the confusion which exists at
present. The first step in the right direction was made by
Adalbert Merx, ^ who derived valuable results from a chrono-
logical examination of the sayings of the early Siifis. He did
not, however, carry his researches beyond Abii Sulayman
al-Ddrani (f 830 A.D.), and confined his attention almost
entirely to the doctrine, which, according to my view, should
be studied in connection with the lives, character, and nation-
ality of the men who taught it.^ No doubt the origin and
growth of mysticism in Islam, as in all other religions, ultimately
depended on general causes and conditions, not on external
' Idee und Grundlinien ciner allgcmciner Geschichte dcr Mystik, an
academic oration delivered on November 22, 1892, and published at
Heidelberg in 1893.
' The following sketch is founded on my paper, A Histoncal Enquiry
coticerning the Origin and Development of Sufiism (J.R.A.S., April, 1906,
p. 303 sqq).
I
PRINCIPLES OF INVESTIGATION 385
circumstances. For example, the political anarchy of the
Umayyad period, the sceptical tendencies of the early ' Ab-
bisid age, and particularly the dry formalism or Moslem
theology could not fail to provoke counter-movements towards
quietism, spiritual authority, and emotional faith. But although
Siifiism was not called into being by any impulse from without
(this is too obvious to require argument), the influences or
which I am about to speak have largely contributed to make
it what it is, and have coloured it so deeply that no student of
the history of Sufiism can afford to neglect them.
Towards the end of the eighth century of our era the
influence or new ideas is discernible in the sayings of Ma'rui
al-Karkhi (t 815 a.d.), a contemporary of Fudayl
Ma'ruf^a^KMkhi ^^ cj^^^ ^^^ Shaqiq of Balkh. He was born in
the neighbourhood of Wdsit, one of the great
cities of Mesopotamia, and the name of his father, Ffruz, or
Firuzan, shows that he had Persian blood in his veins. MaVut
was a client [mawla) of the Shi'ite Imdm, *Ali b. Musd
al-Ridd, in whose presence he made profession of Islam ; for he
had been brought up as a Christian (such is the usual account),
or, possibly, as a Mandaean. He lived during the reign
of Hariin al-Rashid in the Karkh quarter of Baghdad, where
he gained a high reputation for saintliness, so that his tomb in
that city is still an object of veneration. He is described as a
God-intoxicated man, but in this respect he is not to be com-
pared with many who came after him. Nevertheless, he
deserves to stand at the head of the theosophical as opposed
to the ascetic school of Sufis. He defined Sufiism as " the
apprehension of Divine realities and renunciation of human
possessions." I Here are a few of his sayings : —
" Love is not to be learned from men ; it is one of God's gifts and
comes of His grace.
' This, so far as I know, is the oldest extant definition of Sufiism,
26
386 MYSTICISM
" The Saints of God are known by three signs : their thought is of
God, tlieir dwelling is with God, and their business is in God.
" If the gnostic {'drif) has no bliss, yet he himself is in every bliss.
"When you desire anything of God, swear to Him by me."
From these last words, which Ma*ruf addressed to his pupil
Sarf al-Saqatf, it is manifest that he regarded himself as being
in the most intimate communion with God.
Abii Sulaymdn (t 830 a.d.), the next great name in the
Sufi biographies, was also a native of Wasit, but afterwards
emigrated to Syria and settled at Ddrayd (near
ai-Darani^" Damascus), whencc he is called * al-Darani.' He
developed the doctrine of gnosis (;wflVzy^^). Those
who are familiar with the language of European mystics —
illuminatioy oculus cordis^ Sec. — will easily interpret such sayings
as these : —
" None refrains from the lusts of this world save him in whose
heart there is light that keeps him always busied with the next
world.
"When the gnostic's spiritual eye is opened, his bodily eye is shut :
they see nothing but Him.
" If Gnosis were to take visible form, all that looked thereon would
die at the sight of its beauty and loveliness and goodness and grace,
and every brightness would become dark beside the splendour
thereof.'
" Gnosis is nearer to silence than to speech."
We now come to Dhu '1-Nun al-Misri (t 860 a.d.), whom
the Suris themselves consider to be the primary author ot their
doctrine.2 That he at all events contributed
Dhu 'l-Niin , ...
al-Misri morc than any one else to give it permanent
shape is a fact which is amply attested by the
collection of his sayings preserved in 'Attdr's Memoirs of the
' It is impossible not to recognise the influence of Greek philosophy in
this conception of Truth as Beauty.
= Jami says [Nafahdtu 'l-Uns, ed. by Nassau Lees, p. 36) : " He is the
head of this sect : they all descend from, and are related to, him."
DHU 'L-NUN AL-MISRt 38;
faints and in other works of the same Icind.i It is clear that
the theory of gnosis, with which he deals at great length, was
the central point in his system ; and he seems to have intro-
duced the doctrine that true knowledge of God is attained only
by means of ecstasy [wajd), "The man that knows God
best," he said, " is the one most lost in Him." Like Dionysius,
he refused to make any positive statements about the Deity.
" Whatever you imagine, God is the contrary of that."
Divine love he regarded as an ineffable mystery which must
not be revealed to the profane. All this is the very essence
of the later Sufiism. It is therefore supremely important
to ascertain the real character of Dhu '1-Nun and the in-
fluences to which he was subjected. The following account
gives a brief summary of what I have been able to discover ;
fuller details will be found in the article mentioned above.
His name was Abu '1-Fayd Thawbdn b. Ibrahim, Dhu
'1-Nun (He of the Fish) being a sobriquet referring to one
of his miracles, and his father was a native of Nubia, or of
Ikhmlm in Upper Egypt. Ibn Khallikan describes Dhu
'1-Nun as ' the nonpareil or his age ' for learning, devotion,
communion with the Divinity {Ml), and acquaintance with
literature [adab) ; adding that he was a philosopher {hakim)
and spoke Arabic with elegance. The people of Egypt,
among whom he lived, looked upon him as a zindlq (free-
thinker), and he was brought to Baghddd to answer this
charge, but after his death he was canonised. In the Fihrist
he appears among "the philosophers who discoursed on
alchemy," and Ibnu '1-Qifti brackets him with the famous
occultist Jdbir b. Hayydn. He used to wander (as we learn
from Mas'ud{)2 amidst the ruined Egyptian monuments,
studying the inscriptions and endeavouring to decipher the
mysterious figures which were thought to hold the key to the
' See 'Attar's Tadhkiratu 'l-Awliyd, ed. by Nicholson, Parti, p. 114;
Jami's Nafahdt, p. 35 ; Ibn Khallikan, De Slane's translation, vol. i, p. 291.
2 Murujii 'l-Dhahab, vol. ii, p. 401 seq.
388 MYSTICISM
lost sciences of antiquity. He also dabbled in medicine, which,
like Paracelsus, he combined with alchemy and magic.
Let us see what light these facts throw upon the origin or
the Suff theosophy. Did it come to Egypt from India, Persia,
or Greece ?
Considering the time, place, and circumstances in which it
arose, and having regard to the character of the man who bore
the chief part in its development, we cannot
theosop^mcai hesitate, I think, to assert that it is mainly a
■" '^™' product of Greek speculation. Ma'ruf al-Karkhi,
Abu Sulaymdn al-Ddrdnf, and Dhu '1-Nun al-MisrI all three
lived and died in the period (786-861 a.d.) which begins with
the accession of Hdrun al-Rashid and is terminated by the
death of Mutawakkil. During these seventy-five years the
stream of Hellenic culture flowed unceasingly into the Moslem
world. Innumerable works of Greek philosophers, physicians,
and scientists were translated and eagerly studied. Thus the
Greeks became the teachers of the Arabs, and the wisdom o£
ancient Greece formed, as has been shown in a preceding
chapter, the basis of Muhammadan science and philosophy.
The results are visible in the Mu'tazilite rationalism as well aS;
in the system of the Ikhwdnu U-Safd. But it was not through
literature alone that the Moslems were imbued with Hellenism,
In Syria and Egypt they found themselves on its native soil,; ,|
which yielded, we may be sure, a plentiful harvest of ideas — ►
Neo-platonistic, Gnostical, Christian, mystical, pantheistic, and
what not ? In Mesopotamia, the heart of the 'Abbasid Empire,
dwelt a strange people, who were really Syrian heathens, but ill
who towards the beginning ot the ninth century assumed the|
name of Sdbians in order to protect themselves from the per-
secution with which they were threatened by the Caliph
Ma'mun. At this time, indeed, many of them accepted j^!
Islam or Christianity, but the majority clung to their old '
pagan beliefs, while the educated class continued to profess a i
religious philosophy which, as it is described by Shahrastdni and
ORIGIN OF StlFI THEOSOPHY 389
i{ other Muhammadan writers, is simply the Neo-platonism of
Proclus and lamblichus. To return to Dhu '1-Nun, it is
incredible that a mystic and natural philosopher living in the
II first half of the ninth century in Egypt should have derived his
doctrine directly from India. There may be Indian elements
in Neo-platonism and Gnosticism, but this possibility does not
affect my contention that the immediate source of the Sufi
theosophy is to be sought in Greek and Syrian speculation.
To define its origin more narrowly is not, I think, practicable
in the present state of our knowledge. Merx, however, would
trace it to Dionysius, the Pseudo-Areopagite, or rather to his
master, a certain " Hierotheus," whom Frothingham has
identified with the Syrian mystic, Stephen bar Sudaili {circa
500 A.D.). Dionysius was of course a Christian Neo-platonist.
His works certainly laid the foundations of mediaeval mysticism
in Europe, and they were also popular in the East at the time
when Sufiism arose.
When speaking of the various current theories as to the
; origin of Sufiism, I said that in my opinion they all contained
a measure of truth. No single cause will account
^olied^f m^' for a phenomenon so widely spread and so diverse
elements. •" i^^ manifestations. Sufiism has always been
thoroughly eclectic, absorbing and transmuting
whatever ^broken lights' fell across its path, and consequently
it gained adherents amongst men of the most opposite views —
theists and pantheists, Mu'tazilites and Scholastics, philosophers
and divines. We have seen what it owed to Greece, but the
Perso-Indian elements are hardly less important. Although
the theory " that it must be regarded as the reaction of the
Aryan mind against a Semitic religion imposed on it by force "
is inadmissible — Dhu '1-Nun, for example, was a Copt or
Nubian — the fact remains that there was at the time a powerful
anti-Semitic reaction, which expressed itself, more or less con-
sciously, in Sufi's of Persian race. Again, the literary in-
fluence of India upon Muhammadan thought before lOOO a.d.
390 MYSTICISM
was greatly inferior to that of Greece, as any one can see
by turning over the pages of the Fihrist ; but Indian religious
ideas must have penetrated into Khurdsdn and Eastern Persia
at a much earlier period.
These considerations show that the question as to the origin
of Sufiism cannot be answered in a definite and exclusive way.
None of the rival theories is completely true, nor is any of
them without a partial justification. The following words of
Dr. Goldziher should be borne in mind by all who are
interested in this subject : —
"§ufiisin cannot be looked upon as a regularly organised sect within
Islam. Its dogmas cannot be compiled into a regular system. It
manifests itself in different shapes in different
character"f ^ Countries. We find divergent tendencies, according
siifiism. J.Q j.j^g spirit of the teaching of distinguished theoso-
phists who were founders of different schools, the followers of
which may be compared to Christian monastic orders. The influ-
ence of different environments naturally affected the development
of Sufiism. Here we find mysticism, there asceticism the prevailing
thought." '
The four principal sources of Sufiism are undoubtedly
Christianity, Neo-platonism, Gnosticism, and Buddhism. I
shall not attempt in this place to estimate their comparative
importance, but it should be clearly understood that the specu-
lative and theosophical side of Sufiism, which, as we have seen,
was first elaborated in Egypt and Syria, bears unmistalcable
signs of Hellenistic influence.
There is a strong pantheistic tendency in the sayings or
Dhu '1-Nun and his two predecessors who have been men-
tioned, yet none of them can fairly be called a pantheist in
the true sense. The step from theosophy to pantheism was
' The Influence of Buddhism upon Islam, by I. Goldziher (Budapest,
1903). As this essay is written in Hungarian, I have not been able to con-
sult it at first hand, but have used the excellent translation by Mr. T.
Duka, which appeared in the J.K.A.S. for January, 1904, pp. 125-141.
bAyazid of BIST Am 391
first openly made by a Persian, the celebrated Abu Yazld, or
Bdyazid (t 874-875 a.d.), of Bistdm, a town in the province
of Qumis situated near the south-eastern corner
Bdyazi'dand gf the Caspian Sea. His grandfather, Suru-
Sufi pantheism. ^ ° . j u •
shdn, or Sharwasan, was a Zoroastrian, and his
master in Sufiism a Kurd. The genuineness of all the
sayings ascribed to him is not above suspicion, but they
probably represent his character accurately enough. Bayazid
introduced the doctrine of self-annihilation {fand) — perhaps
a reflection of the Buddhistic Nirvana — and his language
is tinged with the peculiar poetic imagery which was after-
wards developed by the great Siifi of Khurasan, Abii Sa'id
b. Abi '1-Khayr (t 1049 a.d.). I can only give a few
specimens of his sayings. They show that, if the theo-
sophical basis of Sufiism is distinctively Greek, its pantheistic
extravagances are no less distinctively Oriental.
"Creatures are subject to ' states' {ahwdl), but the gnostic has no
'state,' because his vestiges are effaced and his essence is annihilated
by the essence of another, and his traces are lost in another's traces.
" I went from God to God until they cried from me in me, ' O
Thou I !'
" Nothing is better for Man than to be without aught, having no
asceticism, no theory, no practice. When he is without all, he is
with all.
" Verily I am God, there is no God except me, so worship me !
"Glory to me ! how great is my majesty !
" I came forth from Bayazid-ness as a snake from its skin. Then
I looked. I saw that lover, beloved, and love are one, for in the
world of unification all can be one.
" I am the wine-drinker and the wine and the cup-bearer."
Thus, in the course of a century, Sufiism, which at first
was little more than asceticism, became in succession mystical
and theosophical, and finally advanced to extreme pantheism.
Henceforward the term Tasawwuf unites all these varying
shades. With the exception of Bdyazid, however, the great
Sufis of the third century a.h. (815-912 a.d.) keep the
392 . MYSTICISM
doctrine of fana in the background. Most of them agreed
with Junayd of Baghdad (t 909 a.d.), the leading theosophist
of his time, in preferring " the path of sobriety," and in seeking
to reconcile the Law {shart'-at) with the Truth [haqiqat).
" Our principles," said Sahl b. 'Abdulldh al-Tustari (t 896
A.D.), "are six : to hold fast by the Book of God, to model
ourselves upon the Apostle (Muhammad), to eat only what is
lawful, to refrain from hurting people even though they hurt
us, to avoid forbidden things, and to fulfil obligations without
delay." To these articles the strictest Moslem might cheer-
fully subscribe. Siifiism in its ascetic, moral, and devotional
aspects was a spiritualised Islam, though it was a very different
thing essentially. While doing lip-service to the established
religion, it modified the dogmas of Islam in such a way as to
deprive them of all significance. Thus Allah, the God of
mercy and wrath, was depersonalised and worshipped as an
abstract idea under the title of ' The Truth ' {Al-Haqq).
Here the Suffs betray their kinship with the Mu'tazilites, but
the two sects have little in common except the Greek philo-
sophy.i It must never be forgotten that Siifiism was the
expression of a profound religious feeling — "hatred of the
world and love of the Lord." 2 " Tasawwuf^' said Junayd, " is
this : that God should make thee die from thyself and should
make thee live in Him."
The further development of Siifiism may be indicated in a
few words.
What was at first a form of religion adopted by individuals
and communicated to a small circle of companions gradually
became a monastic system, a school for saints, with rules
of discipline and devotion which the novice {murid) learned
from his spiritual director {pir or mtadh\ to whose guidance he
' It was recognised by the Sufis themselves that in some points their
doctrine was apparently based on Mu'tazilite principles. See Sha'rani,
Laiviiqihu 1-Anwdr (Cairo, 1299 A.H.), p. 14, 1- 21 sqq.
» This definition is by Abu 1-Husayn al-Niiri (f 907-908 A.U.).
DEVELOPMENT OF SUFIISM 393
submitted himself absolutely. Already in the third century after
Muhammad it is increasingly evident that the typical Sufi adept
of the future will no longer be a solitary ascetic
^''"otsufiism.^"' shunning the sight of men, but a great Shaykh and
hierophant, who appears on ceremonial occasions
attended by a numerous train of admiring disciples. Soon the
doctrine began to be collected and embodied in books. Some
of the most notable Arabic works of reference on Sufiism have
been mentioned already. The oldest is the Qiitu U-Qulub, by
Abu Talib al-Makki, who died in 996 a.d. The twelfth
century saw the rise of the Dervish Orders. *Adi al-Hakkari
(t 1 163 A.D.) and 'Abdu '1-Qadir al-Jili (t 1166 a.d.) founded
the fraternities which are called 'Adawis and Qddirls, after
their respective heads. These were followed in rapid suc-
cession by the Rifa'is, the Shadhills, and the Mevlevls, of whom
the last named owe their origin to the Persian poet and mystic,
Jalalu '1-Dln Rumi (t 1273 a.d.). By this time, mainly
through the influence of Ghazali, Sufiism had won for itself a
secure and recognised position in the Muhammadan Church.
Orthodoxy was forced to accept the popular Saint-worship and
to admit the miracles ot the Awliyd^ although many Moslem
puritans raised their voices against the superstitious veneration
which was paid to the tombs of holy men, and against the
prayers, sacrifices, and oblations offered by the pilgrims who
assembled. Ghazdll also gave the Sufi doctrine a metaphysical
basis. For this purpose he availed himself of the terminology,
which P'arabi (also a Sufi) and Avicenna had already borrowed
from the Neo-platonists. From his time forward we find in
§uf{ writings constant allusions to the Plotinian theories of
emanation and ecstasy.
Sufiism was more congenial to the Persians than to the
Arabs, and its influence on Arabic literature is not to be
compared with the extraordinary spell which it has cast
over the Persian mind since the eleventh century of the
394 MYSTICISM
Christian era to the present day. With few exceptions, the
great poets of Persia (and, we may add, of Turkey) speak the
allegorical language and use the fantastic imagery of which
the quatrains of the Sufi pantheist, Abu Sa'Id b. Abi '1-Khayr,i
afford almost the first literary example. The Arabs have only
one mystical poet worthy to stand beside the Persian masters.
This is Sharafu '1-DIn 'Umar Ibnu '1-F^rid, who
^T-Fadd!" was born in Cairo (ii8l a.d.) and died there in
1235. His Dlwdn was edited by his grandson
*AH, and the following particulars regarding the poet's life
are extracted from the biographical notice prefixed to this
edition 2 : —
" The Shaykh 'Umar Ibnu '1-Fdrid was of middle stature ; his face
was fair and comely, with a mingling of visible redness ; and
when he was under the influence of music {samd') and rapture
(wajd), and overcome by ecstasy, it grew in beauty and brilli-
ancy, and sweat dropped from his body until it ran on the
ground under his feet. I never saw (so his son relates)
among Arabs or foreigners a figure equal in beauty to his, and
I am the likest of all men to him in form. . . . And when he
walked in the city, the people used to press round him asking his
blessing and trying to kiss his hand, but he would not allow any one
to do so, but put his hand in theirs. . . . 'Umar Ibnu '1-Farid said :
' In the beginning of my detachment {tajrid) from the world I used
to beg permission of my father and go up to the Wadi '1-Mustad'afin
on the second mountain of al-Muqattam. Thither I would resort
and continue in this hermit life (siydha) night and day ; then I would
return to my father, as bound in duty to cherish his affection. My
father was at that time Lieutenant of the High Court {khalifaiu
'l-hukmi 'l-'aziz) in Qahira and Misr,3 the two guarded cities, and was
one of the men most eminent for learning and affairs. He was
wont to be glad when I returned, and he frequently let me sit with
him in the chambers of the court and in the colleges of law. Then
I would long for " detachment," and beg leave to return to the life of
' See Professor Browne's Lit. Hist of Persia, vol. ii, p. 261 sqq.
^ The Diwdn of 'Umar Ibnu 'l-Fdrid, ed. by Rushayd al-Dahdalj
(Marseilles, 1853).
3 I.e., New and Old Cairo.
'UMAR IBNU 'L-FARW 395
a wandering devotee, and thus I was doing repeatedly, until my
father was asked to fill the office of Chief Justice {Qddi 'l-Quddi), hut
refused, and laid down the post which he held, and retired from
society, and gave himself entirely to God in the preaching-hall
{qd'aiu 'l-khitdba) of the Mosque al-Azhar. After his death I
resumed my former detachment, and solitary devotion, and travel
in the way of Truth, but no revelation was vouchsafed to me. One
day I came to Cairo and entered the Sayfiyya College. At the gate
I found an old grocer performing an ablution which was not
prescribed. First he washed his hands, then his feet ; then he wiped
his head and washed his face. " O Shaykh," I said to him, " do you,
after all these years, stand beside the gate of the college among the
Moslem divines and perform an irregular ablution ?" He looked at
me and said, " O 'Umar, nothing will be vouchsafed to thee in Egypt,
but only in the Hijaz, at Mecca (may God exalt it !) ; set out thither,
for the time of thy illumination hath come." Then I knew that the
man was one of God's saints and that he was disguising himself by
his manner of livelihood and by pretending to be ignorant of the
irregularity of the ablution. I seated myself before him and said
to him, " O my master, how far am I from Mecca ! and I cannot find
convoy or companions save in the months of Pilgrimage." He looked
at me and pointed with his hand and said, " Here is Mecca in front
of thee" ; and as I looked with him, I saw Mecca (may God exalt
it !) ; and bidding him farewell, I set off to seek it, and it was always
in front of me until I entered it. At that moment illumination came
to me and continued without any interruption. ... I abode in a
valley which was distant from Mecca ten days' journey for a hard
rider, and every day and night I would come forth to pray the five
prayers in the exalted Sanctuary, and with me was a wild beast of
huge size which accompanied me in my going and returning, and
knelt to me as a camel kneels, and said, " Mount, O my master," but
I never did so.' "
When fifteen years had elapsed, 'Umar Ibnu '1-Farid
returned to Cairo. The people venerated him as a saint,
and the reigning monarch, Malik al-Kdmil, wished to visit
him in person, but 'Umar declined to see him, and rejected his
bounty. " At most times," says the poet's son, " the Shaykh
was in a state of bewilderment, and his eyes stared fixedly.
He neither heard nor saw any one speaking to him. Now he
would stand, now sit, now repose on his side, now lie on his
396 MYSTICISM
back wrapped up like a dead man ; and thus would he pass
ten consecutive days, more or less, neither eating nor drinking
nor speaking nor stirring." In 1231 a.d. he made the
pilgrimage to Mecca, on which occasion he met his famous
contemporary, Shihabu' 1-Dln Abu Hafs 'Umar al-Suhrawardi.
He died four years later, and was buried in the Oarafa
cemetery at the foot of Mount Muqattam.
His Diwan of mystical odes, which were first collected and
published by his grandson, is small in extent compared with
similar works in the Persian language, but of no
ibnuU-Farid. unusual brevity when regarded as the production
of an Arabian poet.i Concerning its general
character something has been said above (p. 325). The com-
mentator, Hasan al-Burlni (t 1615 a.d.), praises the easy
flow {insijdm) of the versification, and declares that Ibnu
'1-Farid " is accustomed to play with ideas in ever-changing
forms, and to clothe them with splendid garments." ^ His
style, full of verbal subtleties, betrays the influence of
Mutanabbi.3 The longest piece in the Diwdn is a Hymn of
Divine Love, entitled Nazmu U-Suluk (' Poem on the Mystic's
Progress '), and often called al-Taiyyatu U-Kubrd (' The Greater
Ode rhyming in t '), which has been edited with a German
verse-translation by Hammer-Purgstall (Vienna, 1854). On
account of this poem the author was accused of favouring the
doctrine of hulid^ i.e.^ the incarnation of God in human beings.
Another celebrated ode is the Khamriyya, or Hymn of Wine.4
' The Diwdn, excluding the Td'tyyatu 'l-Kubrd, has been edited by
Rushayd al-Dahdah (Marseilles, 1853).
= Diwdn, p. 219, 1. 14 and p. 213, 1. 18.
3 Ibnu '1-Farid, like Mutanabbi, shows a marked fondness for diminu-
tives. As he observes {Diwdn, p. 552) : —
md qultti hubayyibi tnina 'l-tahqiri
bal ya^dhubu 'smu 'l-shakhsi bi-l-tasghiri.
"Not in contempt I say 'my darling.' No !
By ' diminution' names do sweeter grow."
* Diwdn, p. 472 sqq. A French rendering will be found at p. 41 of
Grangeret de Lagrange's Anthologie Arabe (Paris, 1828).
'UMAR IBNU 'L-FARW 397
The following versions will perhaps convey to English readers
some faint impression of the fervid rapture and almost ethereal
exaltation which give the poetry of Ibnu '1-Fdrid a unique
place in Arabic literature : —
" Let passion's swelling tide my senses drown !
Pity love's fuel, this long-smouldering heart,
Nor answer with a frown.
When I would fain behold Thee as Thou art,
' Thou Shalt not see Me! ' O my soul, keep fast
The pledge thou gav'st : endure unfaltering to the last !
For Love is life, and death in love the Heaven
Where all sins are forgiven.
To those before and after and of this day.
That witnesseth my tribulation, say,
' By me be taught, me follow, me obey,
And tell my passion's story thro' wide East and West.'
With my Beloved I alone have been
When communings more sweet than evening airs
Passed, and the Vision blest
Was granted to my prayers,
That crowned me, else obscure, with endless fame.
The while amazed between
His beauty and His majesty
I stood in silent ecstasy,
Revealing that which o'er my spirit went and came.
Lo ! in His face commingled
Is every charm and grace ;
The whole of Beauty singled
Into a perfect face
Beholding Him would cry,
' There is no God but He, and He is the most High 1 '" ^
Here are the opening verses of the Taiyyatu 'l-Sughrd^ or
'The Lesser Ode rhyming in f,' which is so called in order to
distinguish it from the Ta'iyyatu U-Kuhrd : —
" Yea, in me the Zephyr kindled longing, O my loves, for you ;
Sweetly breathed the balmy Zephyr, scattering odours when it
blew ;
' The words of God to Moses (Kor. vii, 139)- ' Diwdn, p. 257 sqq.
398 MYSTICISM
Whispering to my heart at morning secret tales of those who
dwell
(How my fainting heart it gladdened !) nigh the water and the
well ;
Murmuring in the grassy meadows, garmented with gentleness,
Languid love-sick airs diffusing, healing me of my distress.
When the green slopes wave before thee, Zephyr, in my loved
Hij^z,
Thou, not wine that mads the others, art my rapture's only
cause.
Thou the covenant eternal ' callest back into my mind,
For but newly thou hast parted from my dear ones, happy
Wind !
Driver of the dun-red camels that amidst acacias bide,
Soft and sofa-like thy saddle from the long and weary ride !
Blessings on thee, if descrying far-off Tiidih at noon-day,
Thou wilt cross the desert hollows where the fawns of Wajra
play.
And if from 'Urayd's sand-hillocks bordering on stony ground
Thou wilt turn aside to Huzwa, driver for Suwayqa bound,
And Tuwayli"s willows leaving, if to Sal' thou thence wilt ride —
Ask, I pray thee, of a people dweUing on the mountain-side !
Halt among the clan I cherish (so may health attend thee still !)
And deliver there my greeting to the Arabs of the hill.
For the tents are basking yonder, and in one of them is She
That bestows the meeting sparely, but the parting lavishly.
Spears and arrows make the rampart of her maiden puissance.
Yet my glances stray towards her when on me she deigns to
glance.
Girt about with double raiment — soul and heart of mine, no
less —
She is guarded from beholders, veiled by her unveiledness.
Death to me, in giving loose to my desire, she destineth ;
Ah, how goodly seems the bargain, and how cheap is Love for
Death ! ^
Ibnu '1-Farid came or pure Arab stock, and his poetry
is thoroughly Arabian both in form and spirit. This is not
' This refers to Kor. vii, 171. God drew forth from the loins of Adam
all future generations of men and addressed them, saying, " Am not I your
Lord?" They answered, " Yes," and thus, according to the Sufi inter-
pretation, pledged themselves to love God for evermore.
' Diwdn, p. 142 sqq.
MUHIYVU 'L'D/N IBNU 'L-'ARABf 399
the place to speak of the great Persian Suffs, but Husayn
b. Mansiir al-Hallaj, a wild antinomian pantheist who was
executed in the Caliphate of Muqtadir (922 a.d.), could not
have been altogether omitted but for the fact that Professor
Browne has already given a most admirable account of him,
to which I am unable to add anything of importance.^
The Arabs, however, have contributed to the history of
Sufiism another memorable name — Muhiyyu '1-Dln Ibnu
'l-'Arabl, whose life falls within the final century of the
'Abbdsid period, and will therefore fitly conclude the present
chapter. 2
Muhiyyu '1-Dfn Muhammad b. 'AH Ibnu 'l-'Arabf (or Ibn
'Arabi) 3 was born at Mursiya (Murcia) in Spain on the 17th
of Ramaddn, 560 a.h. = July 20, 116^ a.d.
Ibnu 'l-'Arabi. • t J j j y) j
l*rom 1 173 to 1202 he resided in Seville. He
then set out for the East, travelling by way of Egypt to the
Hijdz, where he stayed a long time, and after visiting Baghddd,
Mosul, and Asia Minor, finally settled at Damascus, in which
city he died (638 a.h. = 1240 a.d.). His tomb below Mount
Qdsiyun was thought to be " a piece of the gardens of
Paradise," and was called the Philosophers' Stone.4 It is
now enclosed in a mosque which bears the name of
Muhiyyu '1-Din, and a cupola rises over it.S We know hardly
anything concerning the events of his life, which seems to
have been passed in quiet meditation and in the composition
' See A Literary History of Persia, vol. i, p. 428 sqq.
= The best known biography of Ibnu 'l-'Arabi occurs in Maqqari's
Nafhu 'l-Tib, ed. by Dozy and others, vol. i, pp. 567-583. Much additional
information is contained in a lengthy article, which I have extracted from
a valuable MS. in my collection, the Shadharatu 'l-Dhakab, and published
in the J.R.A.S. for 1906, pp. 806-824. Cf. also Von Kremer's Herrschende
Idcen, pp. 102-109.
3 Muhiyyu '1-Din means ' Reviver of Religion.' In the West he was
called Ibnu 'l-'Arabi, but the Moslems of the East left out the definite
article [al) in order to distinguish him from the Cadi Abu Bakr Ibnu
'l-'Arabi of Seville (f 1151 a.d.).
'' Al-Kibrit al-ahmar (literally, ' the red sulphur ').
s See Von Kremer, op. cit, p. 108 seq.
400 MYSTICISM
of his voluminous writings, more than two hundred and fifty
in number according to his own computation. Two of these
works are especially celebrated, and have caused Ibnu 'l-'Arab{
to be regarded as the greatest of all Muhammadan mystics —
the Fiituhdt al-Makkiyya^ or ' Meccan Revelations,' and the
Fususii 'l-Hikam^ or ' Bezels of Philosophy.' The Futuhdt is
a huge treatise in five hundred and sixty chapters, containing a
complete system of mystical science. The author relates that
he saw Muhammad in the World of Real Ideas, seated on a
throne amidst angels, prophets, and saints, and received his
command to discourse on the Divine mysteries. At another
time, while circumambulating the Ka'ba, he met a celestial
spirit wearing the form of a youth engaged in the same holy
rite, who showed him the living esoteric Temple which is
concealed under the lifeless exterior, even as the eternal
substance of the Divine Ideas is hidden by the veils of popular
religion — veils through which the lofty mind must penetrate,
until, having reached the splendour within, it partakes of the
Divine character and beholds what no mortal eye can endure
to look upon. Ibnu 'l-'Arabi immediately fell into a swoon.
When he came to himself he was instructed to contemplate
the visionary form and to write down the mysteries which it
would reveal to his gaze. Then the youth entered the Ka'ba
with Ibnu 'l-*Arab{, and resuming his spiritual aspect, appeared
to him on a three-legged steed, breathed into his breast the
knowledge of all things, and once more bade him describe the
heavenly form in which all mysteries are enshrined. i Such is
the reputed origin of the ' Meccan Revelations,' of which the
greater portion was written in the town where inspiration
descended on Muhammad six hundred years before. The
author believed, or pretended to believe, that every word
of them was dictated to him by supernatural means. The
' The above particulars are derived from an abstract of the Futuhdt
made by 'Abdu '1-Wahhab al-Sha'rani (t 1565 a.d.), of which Fleischer has
given a full description in the Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Leipzig
Univ. Library (1838), pp. 490-495.
I"
MUHIYYU 'L-DlN IBNU 'L-'ARABf 401
Fuius^ a short work in twenty-seven chapters, each of which
is named after one of the prophets, is no less highly esteemed,
and has been the subject of numerous commentaries in Arabic,
Persian, and Turkish.
We cannot here attempt to summarise the abstruse, fantastic,
and interminable speculations which Ibnu 'l-'Arabi presents to
his readers in the guise of Heavenly Truth, nor would it be
easy to sketch even the outlines of his theosophical system
until the copious materials at our disposal have been more
thoroughly studied by some European scholar interested in
Sufiism. The following sayings and verses may be taken as
samples : —
" Prayer (rfw'a) is the marrow of devotion. As the marrow gives
strength to the limbs, so the devotion of devotees is strengthened
by prayer.
" The Sufi is he that drops the three f's, saying neither ' to me ' (}i)
nor 'beside me' {'indi) nor 'my property' {niatd'i), that is, he does
not attribute anything to himself.
" It is no fault in the gnostic to say to his disciple, ' Receive this
knowledge which you will not find in any one except me,' and
to use like terms of self-glorification, because his intention is to
encourage the pupil to learn. ■*
" When a man is truly grounded in Unification (tawhid), every false
pretence, such as hypocrisy and conceit, departs from him, for he
feels that all praiseworthy qualities belong to God, not to himself.
" Do not let doubt enter into the mysteries of theosophy : its place
is only in the speculative sciences.
" The whole sect (of Sufis) are agreed that knowledge of God is
utter ignorance of Him.
" I know the greatest name of God and I know the Philosophers'
Stone {al-Kimiyd}."
" O Pearl Divine, white Pearl that in a shell
Of dark mortahty art made to dwell !
Alas, while common gems we prize and hoard,
Thy worth inestimable is still ignored ! " '
Maqqari, vol. i, p. 570, 1. 7.
27
402 MYSTICISM
" My heart is capable of every form :
A cloister for the monk, a fane for idols,
A pasture for gazelles, the votary's Ka'ba,
The tables of the Torah, the Koran.
Love is the creed I hold : wherever turn
His camels. Love is still my creed and faith." '
Curiously enough, Ibnu 'l-'Arabf combined the most extrava-
gant mysticism vs^ith the straitest orthodoxy. " He vi^as a
Zahirite (literalist) in his devotions and a Batinite (spiritualist)
in his beliefs." 2 He rejected all authority {taql'id). "I am
not one of those who say, ' Ibn Hazm said so-and-so, Ahmad 3
said so-and-so, al-Nu'man 4 said so-and-so,' " he declares in
one of his poems. But although he insisted on punctilious
observance of the sacred law, we may suspect that his
refusal to follow any human authority, analogy, or opinion
was simply the overweening presumption of the seer who
regards himself as divinely illuminated and infallible. Many
theologians were scandalised by the apparently blasphemous
expressions which occur in his writings, and taxed him
with holding heretical doctrines, e.g.^ the incarnation ot God
in man {hulul) and the identification of man with God
[ittihdd). Centuries passed, but controversy continued to
rage over him. He found numerous and enthusiastic partisans,
who urged that the utterances of the saints must not be inter-
preted literally nor criticised at all. It was recognised, how-
ever, that such high mysteries were unsuitable for the weaker
brethren, so that many even of those who firmly believed in
his sanctity discouraged the reading of his books. They were
read nevertheless, publicly and privately, from one end of the
Muhammadan world to the other ; people copied them for the
sake of obtaining the author's blessing, and the manuscripts
were eagerly bought. Among the distinguished men who
' These lines are quoted by 'Abdu '1-Ghani al-Ndbulusi in his Com-
mentary on the Td'iyyatu 'l-Kiibrd of Ibnu '1-Farid (MS. in the British
Museum, 7564 Rich.).
^ Maqqari, i, 569, 11. 3 Aljmad b, Hanbal. * Abii Hanifa.
MUHIYYU 'L-DIN IBNU 'L-'ARABI 403
wrote in his defence we can mention here only Majdu '1-Din
al-Firiizabddi (t 1414 a.d.), the author of the great Arabic
lexicon entitled al-Qamiis ; Jalalu '1-Din al-Suyiiti (t 1445
A.D.); and 'Abdu '1-Wahhab al-Sha'rani (t 1565 a.d.). From
the last-named we learn that Ibnu 'l-'Arabi's opponents
accused him of having asserted ^ —
{a) That the Muhammadan confession of faith, " There is
no god except God " [Id ildha ilia Uldhu)^ is mischievous.
[b) That nothing exists except God.
{c) That Pharaoh was a true believer.
(<^ That the saint is superior to the apostle.
Sadru '1-Din of Qonya (t 1273 a.d.), a famous pupil of
Ibnu 'l-'Arabi, is reported to have said : " Our Shaykh,
Ibnu 'l-'Arabi, had the power of uniting himself with the
spirit of any of the Prophets or Saints of old, in three
ways : if God willed, he drew down the spirituality of the
holy personage into this world and possessed him corporeally
in an ideal form, resembling the sensible and temporal form
which he had in life ; or if God willed, he summoned him to
His presence during sleep ; or if God willed, he became
disembodied and united himself with Him." 2
Ibnu 'l-'Arabi appears to have set his face against the extreme
pantheistic tendencies which characterise Persian Sufiism. With
all his marvellous visions and revelations, his prophetic enthu-
siasm, and a luxuriant fancy which delighted in Pythagorean
theories of numbers and letters, he did not allow himself to
forget that the human and Divine natures are essentially
different : even Muhammad, as he points out, remained at
two bow-lengths' distance from God.3 The true union is
• Yawdqit (Cairo, 1277 A.H.), p. 15 seq.
= J.R.A.S. for 1906, p. 816.
3 On the occasion of the Prophet's Night-Journey to Heaven (which is
called by Moslems his Mi'mj, or ' Ascension ') " he approached and drew nigh
until he was at the distance of two bow-lengths or nearer" (Kor. liii, 8-g).
These words in their original context do not refer to Muhammad, although
they are frequently applied to him by Sufi writers.
404 MYSTICISM
one of will, not of essence. He illustrates this by the
following apologue : —
"A diver essayed to bring to shore the red jacinth of Deity hidden
in its resplendent shell, but he emerged from that ocean empty-
handed, with broken arms, blind, dumb, and dazed. When he
regained his breath and when his senses were no longer obscured,
he was asked, " What hath disturbed thee, and what is this thing
that hath befallen thee ? " He answered, " Far is that which ye
seek ! Remote is that which ye desire ! None ever attained unto
God, and neither spirit nor body conceived the knowledge of Him.
He is the Glorious One who is never reached, the Being who
possesses but is not possessed. Inasmuch as before His attributes
the mind is distraught and the reason totters, how can they attaiia to
His very essence ? " '
As I have said, however, it would be rash to make positive
statements regarding Ibnu 'l-*Arabi's theosophy without more
evidence than is yet available. His true character is equally
in suspense. Perhaps he was a charlatan to some extent, but
the genuineness of his enthusiasm cannot, I think, be ques-
tioned. The title of ' The Grand Master ' {al-Shaykh
al-Akhar)^ by which he is commonly designated, bears witness
to his acknowledged supremacy in the world of Arabian
mysticism. In Persia and Turkey his influence has been
enormous, and through his pupil, §adru '1-Din of Qonya,
he is linked with the greatest of all Siifi poets, Jalalu '1-Din
Rumi, the author of the Mathnawi^ who died some thirty
years after him.
' See Fleischer, of. cit., p. 493.
CHAPTER IX
THE ARABS IN EUROPE
It will be remembered that before the end of the first century
of the Hijra, in the reign of the Umayyad Caliph, Walid b.
'Abd al-Malik (705-715 a.d.), the Moslems under Tdriq
and Musd b. Nusayr, crossed the Mediterranean, and having
defeated Roderic the Goth in a great battle near Cadiz,
rapidly brought the whole of Spain into subjection. The
fate of the new province was long doubtful. The Berber
insurrection which raged in Africa (734-742 a.d.) spread to
Spain and threatened to exterminate the handful of Arab
colonists ; and no sooner was this danger past than the
victors began to rekindle the old feuds and jealousies which
they had inherited from their ancestors of Qays and Kalb.
Once more the rival factions of Syria and Yemen flew to
arms, and the land was plunged in anarchy.
Meanwhile 'Abdu '1-Rahmdn b. Mu'awiya, a grandson or
the Caliph Hishdm, had escaped from the general massacre
with which the 'Abbasids celebrated their triumph
'i-Rahman, the ovcr the House of Umayya, and after five years
mayya . ^^ wandering adventure, accompanied only by
his faithful freedman, Badr, had reached the neighbourhood
of Ceuta, where he found a precarious shelter with the
Berber tribes. Young, ambitious, and full of confidence in
his destiny, *Abdu '1-Rahman conceived the bold plan of
405
4o6 THE ARABS IN EUROPE
throwing himself into Spain and of winning a kingdom
with the help of the Arabs, amongst whom, as he well
knew, there were many clients of his own family. Accord-
ingly in 755 A.D. he sent Badr across the sea on a secret
mission. The envoy accomplished even more than was
expected of him. To gain over the clients was easy, for
*Abdu '1-Rahman was their natural chief, and in the event
of his success they would share with him the prize. Their
number, however, was comparatively small. The pretender
could not hope to achieve anything unless he were supported
by one of the great parties, Syrians or Yemenites. At this
time the former, led by the feeble governor, Yusuf b.
*Abd al-Rahman al-Fihrl, and his cruel but capable lieutenant,
Sumayl b. Hatim, held the reins of power and were pursuing
their adversaries with ruthless ferocity. The Yemenites,
therefore, hastened to range themselves on the side of 'Abdu
'1-Rahman, not that they loved his cause, but inspired solely
by the prospect of taking a bloody vengeance upon the
Syrians. These Spanish Moslems belonged to the true
Bedouin stock !
A few months later 'Abdu '1-Rahman landed in Spain,
occupied Seville, and, routing Yusuf and Sumayl under the
walls of Cordova, made himself master of the capital. On
the same evening he presided, as Governor of Spain, over
the citizens assembled for public worship in the great Mosque
(May, 756 A.D.).
During his long reign of thirty-two years 'Abdu '1-Rahman
was busily employed in defending and consolidating the empire
which more than once seemed to be on the point of slipping
from his grasp. The task before him was arduous in the
extreme. On the one hand, he was confronted by the
unruly Arab aristocracy, jealous of their independence and
resardino- the monarch as their common foe. Between him
and them no permanent compromise was possible, and since
they could only be kept in check by an armed force stronger
'ABDU 'L-RAHMAN the UMAYYAD 407
than themselves, he was compelled to rely on mercenaries,
for the most part Berbers imported from Africa. Thus, by
a fatal necessity the Moslem Empire in the West gradually
assumed that despotic and Praetorian character which we have
learned to associate with the 'Abbasid Government in the
period of its decline, and the results were in the end hardly
less disastrous. The monarchy had also to reckon with the
fanaticism of its Christian subjects and with a formidable
Spanish national party eager to throw ofF the foreign yoke.
Extraordinary energy and tact were needed to maintain
authority over these explosive elements, and if the dynasty
founded by *Abdu '1-Rahman not only survived for two
centuries and a half but gave to Spain a more splendid era
of prosperity and culture than she had ever enjoyed, the
credit is mainly due to the bold adventurer from whom even
his enemies could not withhold a tribute of admiration. One
day, it is said, the Caliph Mansur asked his courtiers, " Who
is the Falcon of Quraysh ? " They replied, " O Prince or
the Faithful, that title belongs to you who have vanquished
mighty kings and have put an end to civil war." " No," said
the Caliph, "it is not I." "Mu'dwiya, then, or *Abdu
'1-Malik ?" "No," said Mansur, "the Falcon of Quraysh 'i*
'Abdu '1-Rahman b. Mu'dwiya, he who traversed alone the
deserts of Asia and Africa, and without an army to aid him
sought his fortune in an unknown country beyond the sea.
With no weapons except judgment and resolution he subdued
his enemies, crushed the rebels, secured his frontiers, and
founded a great empire. Such a feat was never achieved
by any one before." ^
Of the Moslems in Spain the Arabs rormed only a small
minority, and they, moreover, showed all the indifference
towards religion and contempt for the laws of Islam
' Abridged from Ibnu 'l-'Idhari, al-Baydn al-Mughrib, ed. by Dozy,
vol, ii, p. 61 seq.
408 THE ARABS IN EUROPE
which might be expected from men imbued with Bedouin
traditions whose forbears had been devotedly attached to the
world-loving Umayyads of Damascus. It was otherwise with
the Spanish converts, the so-called ' Renegades '
^spTn'° o'' Muwalladun (Affiliati) living as clients under
protection of the Arab nobility, and with the
Berbers. These races took their adopted religion very
seriously, in accordance with the fervid and sombre tempera-
ment which has always distinguished them. Hence among
the mass of Spanish Moslems a rigorous orthodoxy prevailed.
The Berber, Yahyd b. Yahya (t 849 a.d.), is a typical figure.
At the ase of twenty-eight years he travelled to the
Yahya b. Yahya. ^ , ,. , , f-rn-i i a i j- j
East and studied under Mahk.b Anas, who dictated
to him his celebrated work known as the Muwatja\ Yahyd
was one day at Malik's lecture with a number of fellow-
students, when some one said, " Here comes the elephant ! "
All of them ran out to see the animal, but Yahya did not stir.
" Why," said Malik, " do you not go out and look at it ?
Such animals are not to be seen in Spain." To this Yahya
replied, " I left my country for the purpose of seeing you
and obtaining knowledge under your guidance. I did not
come here to see the elephant." Malik was so pleased
with this answer that he called him the most intelligent
('fl^/7) of the people of Spain. On his return to Spain
Yahyd exerted himself to spread the doctrines of his
master, and though he obstinately refused, on religious
grounds, to accept any public office, his influence and
reputation were such that, as Ibn Hazm says, no Cadi was ever
appointed till Yahya had given his opinion and designated
the person whom he preferred.^ Thus the Malikite system,
based on close adherence to tradition, became the law of the
land. " The Spaniards," it is observed by a learned writer or
the tenth century, "recognise only the Koran and the
' Ibn Khallikan, ed. by Wustenfeld, No. 802 ; De Slane's translation,
vol. iv, p. 29 sqq.
BIGOTRY OF THE MOSLEM CLERGY 409
Muwattd' ; if they find a follower of Abu Hanifa or Shafi'i,
they banish him from Spain, and if they meet with a
Mu'tazilite or a Shi'ite or any one of that sort, they often put
him to death." i Arrogant, intensely bigoted, and ambitious
of power, the Muhammadan clergy were not disposed to play
a subordinate role in the State. In Hishdm (788-796 a.d.),
the successor of 'Abdu '1-Rahmdn, they had a prince after their
own heart, whose piety and devotion to their interests left
nothing to be desired. Hakam (796-822 a.d.) was less com-
plaisant. He honoured and respected the clergy, but at the
same time he let them see that he would not permit them to
interfere in political affairs. The malcontents, headed by the
fiery Yahyd b. Yahya, replied with menaces and insults, and
called on the populace of Cordova — especially the 'Renegades'
in the southern quarter {rabad) of the city — to rise against
the tyrant and his insolent soldiery. One day in Ramaddn,
198 A.H. (May, 814 A.D.), Hakam suddenly found himself cut
off" from the garrison and besieged in his palace by an infuriated
mob, but he did not lose courage, and, thanks to his coolness
and skilful strategy, he came safely out of the
^the Suburb!^ peril in which he stood. The revolutionary
suburb was burned to the ground and those
of its inhabitants who escaped massacre, some 60,000 souls,
were driven into exile. The real culprits went unpunished.
Hakam could not afford further to exasperate the divines, who
on their part began to perceive that they might obtain from
the prince by favour what they had failed to wring from him
by force. Being mostly Arabs or Berbers, they had a strong
claim to his consideration. Their power was soon restored,
and in the reign of 'Abdu '1-Rahman II (822-852 a.d.)
Yahyd himself, the ringleader of the mutiny, directed
ecclesiastical policy and dispensed judicial patronage as he
pleased.
' Muqaddasi (ed. by De Goeje), p. 236, cited by Goldziher, Die Zdhiriten
p. 114.
410 THE ARABS IN EUROPE
The Revolt of the Suburb was only an episode in the long
and sanguinary struggle between the Spaniards, Moslem or
Christian, on the one hand, and the monarchy of Cordova on
the other — a struggle complicated by the rival Arab tribes,
which sometimes patched up their own feuds in order to
defend themselves against the Spanish patriots, but never in
any circumstances gave their support to the detested Umayyad
Government. The hero of this war of inde-
^""^^"^."^^ pendence was 'Umar b. Hafsun. He belonged to
a noble family of West-Gothic origin which had
gone over to Islam and settled in the mountainous district
north-east of Malaga. Hot-blooded, quarrelsome, and ready
to stab on the slightest provocation, the young man soon fell
into trouble. At first he took shelter in the wild fastnesses
of Ronda, where he lived as a brigand until he was captured
by the police. He then crossed the sea to Africa, but in
a short time returned to his old haunts and put himself at
the head of a band of robbers. Here he held out for two
years, when, having been obliged to surrender, he accepted the
proposal of the Sultan of Cordova that he and his companions
should enlist in the Imperial army. But 'Umar was
destined for greater glory than the Sultan could confer upon
him. A few contemptuous words from a superior officer
touched his pride to the quick, so one fine day he galloped
off with all his men in the direction of Ronda. They found
an almost impregnable retreat in the castle of Bobastro, which
had once been a Roman fortress. From this moment, says
Dozy, 'Umar b. Hafsun was no longer a brigand-chief, but
leader of the whole Spanish race in the south. The lawless
and petulant free-lance was transformed into a high-minded
patriot, celebrated for the stern justice with which he punished
the least act of violence, adored by his soldiers, and regarded
by his countrymen as the champion of the national cause.
During the rest of his life (884-917 a.d.) he conducted the
guerilla with untiring energy and made himself a terror to the
'ABDU 'L-RAHMAN III 411
Arabs, but fortijne deserted him at the last, and he died —
feltx opportunitate mortis — only a few years before complete ruin
overtook his party. The Moslem Spaniards, whose enthusiasm
had been sensibly weakened by their leader's conversion to
Christianity, were the more anxious to make their peace with
the Government, since they saw plainly the hopelessness of
continuing the struggle.
In 912 A.D. 'Abdu 'l-Rahmdn III, the Defender of the
Faith [al-Ndsir li-dini 'IMh), succeeded his grandfather, the
Amir 'Abdulldh, on the throne of Cordova. The character,
genius, and enterprise of this great monarch are strikingly
depicted in the following passage from the pen of an eloquent
historian whose work, although it was published some fifty
years ago, will always be authoritative ^ : —
"Amongst the Umayyad sovereigns who have ruled Spain the
first place belongs incontestably to 'Abdu '1-Rahman III. What he
, , , accomplished was almost miraculous. He had found
■^mdn'm'^" the empire abandoned to anarchy and civil war, rent
I (912-961 A.D.). by factions, parcelled amongst a multitude of hetero-
geneous princes, exposed to incessant attacks from the Christians of
the north, and on the eve of being swallowed up either by the
Leonnese or the Africans. In spite of innumerable obstacles he
■ had saved Spain both from herself and from the foreign domination.
He had endowed her with new life and made her greater and
stronger than she had ever been. He had given her order and
prosperity at home, consideration and respect abroad. The public
treasury, which he had found in a deplorable condition, was now
overflowing. Of the Imperial revenues, which amounted annually
to 6,245,000 pieces of gold, a third sufficed for ordinary expenses ;
a third was held in reserve, and 'Abdu '1-Rahman devoted the
remainder to his buildings. It was calculated that in the year 951
he had in his coffers the enormous sum of 20,000,000 pieces of gold,
so that a traveller not without judgment in matters of finance
assures us that 'Abdu '1-Rahman and the Hamdanid (Nasiru
'1-Dawla), who was then reigning over Mesopotamia, were the
wealthiest princes of that epoch. The state of the country was in
• Dozy, Histoire des Mnstilmans d'Espagne (Leyden, 1861), vol. iii,
p. 90 sqq.
412 THE ARABS IN EUROPE
keeping with the prosperous condition of the treasury. Agriculture,
industry, commerce, the arts and the sciences, all flourished. . . .
Cordova, with its half-million inhabitants, its three thousand mosques,
its superb palaces, its hundred and thirteen thousand houses, its
three hundred bagnios, and its twenty-eight suburbs, was inferior in
extent and splendour only to Baghdad, with which city the Cordo-
vans loved to compare it. . . . The power of 'Abdu '1- Rahman was
formidable. A magnificent fleet enabled him to dispute with the
Fatimids the empire of the Mediterranean, and secured him in the
possession of Ceuta, the key of Mauritania. A numerous and well-
disciplined army, perhaps tlie finest in the world, gave him superi-
ority over the Christians of the north. The proudest sovereigns
solicited his alliance. The emperor of Constantinople, the kings of
Germany, Italy, and France sent ambassadors to him.
" Assuredly, these were brilliant results ; but what excites our
astonishment and admiration when we study this glorious reign is
not so much the work as the workman : it is the might of that com-
prehensive intelligence which nothing escaped, and which showed
itself no less admirable in the minutest details than in the loftiest
conceptions. This subtle and sagacious man, who centralises, who
founds the unity of the nation and of the monarchy, who by means
of his alliances estabhshes a sort of political equilibrium, who in his
large tolerance calls the professors of another religion into his
councils, is a modern king rather than a mediaeval Caliph." '
In short, 'Abdu '1-Rahman III made the Spanish Moslems
one people, and formed out of Arabs and Spaniards a united
Andalusian nation, which, as we shall presently see, advanced
with incredible swiftness to a height of culture that was the
envy of Europe and was not exceeded by any contemporary
State in the Muhammadan East. With his death, however, the
decline of the Umayyad dynasty began. His son, Hakam II
(t 976 A.D.), left as heir-apparent a boy eleven years old,
Hisham II, who received the title of Caliph while the govern-
ment was carried on by his mother Aurora and
Regency of •' r _
Mansdr ibn Abi ^\^^ ambitious minister Muhammad b. Abi 'Amir.
'Amir * o • j
(976-1002 A.D.). The latter was virtually monarch of Spain, and
whatever may be thought of the means by which he rose to
eminence, or of his treatment of the unfortunate Caliph whose
' 'Abdu '1-Rahman III was the first of his line to assume this title.
^i
MANSIJR IBN ABI 'AMIR 413
* mental faculties he deliberately stunted and whom he con-
demned to a life of monkish seclusion, it is impossible to deny-
that he ruled well and nobly. He was a great statesman and
a great soldier. No one could accuse him of making an
idle boast when he named himself ' Al-Mansur ' (' The
Victorious'). Twice every year he was accustomed to lead
his army against the Christians, and such was the panic which
he inspired that in the course of more than fifty campaigns
he scarcely ever lost a battle. He died in 1002 a.d. A
Christian monk, recording the event in his chronicle, adds,
"he was buried in Hell," but Moslem hands engraved the
following lines upon the tomb of their champion : —
" His story in his relics you may trace,
As tho' he stood before you face to face.
Never will Time bring forth his peer again,
Nor one to guard, like him, the gaps of Spain." '
His demise left the Praetorians masters of the situation.
Berbers and Slaves 2 divided the kingdom between them, and
' Maqqari, vol. i, p. 259. As Maqqari's work is our principal authority
for the literary history of Moslem Spain, I may conveniently give
some account of it in this place. The author, Ahmad b. Muhammad
al-Tilimsani al-Maqqari (t 1632 A.D.) wrote a biography of Ibnu '1-Khatib,
the famous Vizier of Granada, to which he prefixed a long and discursive
introduction in eight chapters : (i) Description of Spain ; (2) Conquest of
Spain by the Arabs ; (3) History of the Spanish dynasties ; (4) Cordova ;
(5) Spanish-Arabian scholars who travelled in the East ; (6) Orientals who
visited Spain ; (7) Miscellaneous extracts, anecdotes, poetical citations, &c.,
bearing on the literary history of Spain ; (8) Reconquest of Spain by the
Christians and expulsion of the Arabs. The whole work is entitled
Najhii 'l-Tib min gliusni 'l-Andalusi 'l-ratib wa-dhikri wazirihd Lisdni
'l-Din Ibni 'l-KIiatib. The introduction, which contains a fund of
curious and valuable information — " a library in little " — has been edited
by Dozy and other European Arabists under the title of Analedes sur
VHistoirc et la Literature des Arabes d'Espagnc (Leyden, 1855-1861).
= The name of Slaves (Saqdliba) was originally applied to prisoners of
war, belonging to various northern races, who were sold to the Arabs of
Spain, but the term was soon widened so as to include all foreign slaves
serving in the harem or the army, without regard to their nationality. Like
the Mamelukes and Janissaries, they formed a privileged corps under the
414 THE ARABS IN EUROPE
amidst revolution and civil vi^ar the Umayyad dynasty passed
away (1031 a.d.).
It has been said with truth that the history of Spain in the
eleventh century bears a close resemblance to that of Italy in
the fifteenth. The splendid empire of 'Abdu '1-Rahman III
was broken up, and from its ruins there emerged a fortui-
tous conglomeration of petty states governed by successful
condottieri. Of these Party Kings [Muluku
(Mubiku '/-Tawaif). as they are called by Muhammadan
writers, the most powerful were the 'Abbadids of
Seville. Although it was an age of political decay, the
material prosperity of Spain had as yet suffered little diminu-
tion, whilst in point of culture the society of this time reached
a level hitherto unequalled. Here, then, we may pause for a
moment to review the progress of literature and science
during the most fruitful period or the Moslem occupation
of European soil.
Whilst in Asia, as we have seen, the Arab conquerors
yielded to the spell of an ancient culture infinitely superior to
their own, they no sooner crossed the Straits of
Awbuf cuuure Gibraltar than the roles were reversed. As the
spania^'rds. invaders extended their conquests to every part of
the peninsula, thousands of Christians fell into their
hands, who generally continued to live under Moslem protection.
They were well treated by the Government, enjoyed religious
liberty, and often rose to high offices in the army or at court.
Many of them became rapidly imbued with Moslem civilisa-
tion, so that as early as the middle of the ninth century we find
Alvaro, Bishop of Cordova, complaining that his co-religionists
read the poems and romances of the Arabs, and studied the
writings of Muhammadan theologians and philosophers, not in
patronage of the palace, and since the reign of 'Abdu '1-Rahman III their
number and influence had steadily increased. Cf. Dozy, Hist, dcs Mus.
d'Espagne, vol. iii, p. 58 sqq.
INFLUENCE OF ARABIC CULTURE 415
order to refute them but to learn how to express themselves in
Arabic with correctness and elegance. " Where," he asks,
" can any one meet nowadays with a layman who reads the
Latin commentaries on the Holy Scriptures ? Who studies
the Gospels, the Prophets, the Apostles? Alas, all young
Christians of conspicuous talents are acquainted only with the
language and writings of the Arabs ; they read and study
Arabic books with the utmost zeal, spend immense sums or
money in collecting them for their libraries, and proclaim
everywhere that this literature is admirable. On the other
hand, if you talk with them of Christian books, they reply
contemptuously that these books are not worth their notice.
Alas, the Christians have forgotten their own language, and
amongst thousands of us scarce one is to be found who can
write a tolerable Latin letter to a friend ; whereas very many
are capable of expressing themselves exquisitely in Arabic and
of composing poems in that tongue with even greater skill than
the Arabs themselves." ^
However the good bishop may have exaggerated, it is
evident that Muhammadan culture had a strong attraction
for the Spanish Christians, and equally, let us add, for the
Jews, who made numerous contributions to poetry, philosophy,
and science in their native speech as well as in the kindred
Arabic idiom. The ' Renegades,' or Spanish converts to
Islam, became completely Arabicised in the course of a few
generations ; and from this class sprang some of the chief
ornaments of Spanish-Arabian literature.
Considered as a whole, the poetry of the Moslems in
Europe shows the same characteristics which have already
been noted in the work of their Eastern contem-
^'^oA°hl'^ poraries. The paralysing conventions from which
Spanish Ara s. ^^^ laureates of Baghdad and Aleppo could not
emancipate themselves remained in full force at Cordova and
* Dozy, o/>, c/7., vol. ii, p. 103 seq.
4i6 THE ARABS IN EUROPE
Seville. Yet, just as Arabic poetry in the East was modified
by the influences of Persian culture, in Spain also the gradual
amalgamation of Aryans with Semites introduced new
elements which have left their mark on the literature of both
races. Perhaps the most interesting features of Spanish-Arabian
poetry are the tenderly romantic feeling which not infre-
quently appears in the love-songs, a feeling that sometimes
anticipates the attitude of mediaeval chivalry ; and in the
second place an almost modern sensibility to the beauties of
nature. On account of these characteristics the poems in
question appeal to many European readers who do not easily
enter into the spirit of the Mu^allaqdt or the odes of
Mutanabbf, and if space allowed it would be a pleasant task
to translate some of the charming lyric and descriptive pieces
which have been collected by anthologists. The omission,
however, is less grave inasmuch as Von Schack has given us a
series of excellent versions in his Poesie und Kunst der Araher
in Spanien and Sicilien (2nd ed., Stuttgart, 1877).
" One of its marvels," says Qazwini, referring to the town
of Shilb (Silves) in Portugal, " is the fact, which innumerable
persons have mentioned, that the people living there, with few
exceptions, are makers of verse and devoted to belles-lettres ;
and if you passed by a labourer standing behind his plough
and asked him to recite some verses, he would at once
improvise on any subject that you might demand." ^ Of
such folk-songs the %ajal and muwashshah were
Folk-songs. ^ . -n u r • * j •
favourite types.^ Uoth forms were invented in
Spain, and their structure is very similar, consisting of several
stanzas in which the rhymes are so arranged that the master-
rhyme ending each stanza and running through the whole
poem like a refrain is continually interrupted by a various
succession of subordinate rhymes, as is shown in the following
scheme : —
' Qazwini, Athdru H-Bildd, ed. by Wustenfeld, p. 364, 1. 5 sqq.
» See Schack, op. cit, vol. ii, p. 46 sqq.
ANDALUSIAN POETRY 41?
aa
bbba
ccca
ddda.
Many of these songs and ballads were composed in the
vulgar dialect and without regard to the rules of classical
prosody. The troubadour Ibn Quzman (t 1160 a.d.) first
raised the %ajal to literary rank. Here is an example of the
muwashshah : —
" Come, hand the precious cup to me,
And brim it high with a golden sea !
Let the old wine circle from guest to guest,
While the bubbles gleam like pearls on its breast,
So that night is of darkness dispossessed.
How it foams and twinkles in fiery glee !
'Tis drawn from the Pleiads' cluster, perdie.
Pass it, to music's melting sound.
Here on this flowery carpet round,
Where gentle dews refresh the ground
And bathe my limbs deliciously
In their cool and balmy fragrancy.
Alone with me in the garden green
A singing-girl enchants the scene :
Her smile diffuses a radiant sheen.
I cast off shame, for no spy can see,
And 'Hola,' I cry, 'let us merry be !'"'
True to the traditions of their family, the Spanish
Umayyads loved poetry, music, and polite literature a great
deal better than the Koran. Even the Falcon of
^Iflffifr" Quraysh, 'Abdu '1-Rahmdn I, if the famous verses
on the Palm-tree are really by him, concealed
something of the softer graces under his grim exterior. It is
' The Arabic original occurs in the nth chapter of the Halbatu 'l-Kumayt,
a collection of poems on wine and drinking by Muhammad b. Hasan
al-Nawaji (f 1455 a.d.), and is also printed in the Anthologie Arabe of
Grangeret de Lagrange, p. 202.
28
4i8 THE ARABS IN EUROPE
said that in his gardens at Cordova there was a solitary date-
palm, which had been transplanted from Syria, and that one
day 'Abdu '1-Rahman, as he gazed upon it, remembered his
native land and felt the bitterness of exile and exclaimed : —
"O Palm, thou art a stranger in the West,
Far from thy Orient home, like me unblest.
Weep ! But thou canst not. Dumb, dejected tree,
Thou art not made to sympathise with me.
Ah, thou wouldst weep, if thou hadst tears to pour.
For thy companions on Euphrates' shore ;
But yonder tall groves thou rememberest not.
As I, in hating foes, have my old friends forgot." '
At the court of 'Abdu '1-Rahman II (822-852 a.d.) a
Persian musician was prime favourite. This was Zirydb, a
client of the Caliph Mahdi and a pupil of the
Sciln^ celebrated singer, Ishdq al-Mawsili.2 Ishaq, seeing
in the young man a dangerous rival to himself,
persuaded him to quit Baghdad and seek his fortune in Spain.
'Abdu '1-Rahman received him with open arms, gave him a
magnificent house and princely salary, and bestowed upon him
every mark of honour imaginable. The versatile and accom-
plished artist wielded a vast influence. He set the fashion in
all things appertaining to taste and manners ; he fixed the :
toilette, sanctioned the cuisine, and prescribed what dress '
should be worn in the different seasons of the year. The
kings of Spain took him as a model, and his authority was
constantly invoked and universally recognised in that country
down to the last days of Moslem rule.3 Zirydb was only one
' Al-HuUat al-Siyard of Ibnu 'l-Abbar, ed. by Dozy, p. 34. In the last
line instead of " foes " the original has " the sons of 'Abbas." Other verses
addressed by 'Abdu '1-Rahman to this palm-tree are cited by Maqqari,
vol. ii, p. 37.
" Full details concerning Ziryab will be found in Maqqari, vol. ii, p. 83
sqq. Cf. Dozy, Hist, des Mus. d'Espagne, vol. ii, p. 89 sqq.
3 Maqqari, loc. cit, p. 87, 1. 10 sqq.
CULTURE AND EDUCATION 419
of many talented and learned men who came to Spain from
the East, while the list of Spanish savants who journeyed " in
quest of knowledge" (// talabi U-Hlm) to Africa and Egypt,
to the Holy Cities of Arabia, to the great capitals of Syria and
'Iraq, to Khurasan, Transoxania, and in some cases even to
China, includes, as may be seen from the perusal of Maqqari's
fifth chapter, nearly all the eminent scholars and men of letters
whom Moslem Spain has produced. Thus a lively exchange
of ideas was continually in movement, and so little pro-
vincialism existed that famous Andalusian poets, like Ibn
Hani and Ibn Zaydun, are described by admiring Eastern
critics as the Buhturis and Mutanabbis of the West.
The tenth century of the Christian era is a fortunate
and illustrious period in Spanish history. Under *Abdu
'1-Rahman III and his successor, Hakam II, the nation,
hitherto torn asunder by civil war, bent its united energies
to the advancement of material and intellectual culture.
Hakam was an enthusiastic bibliophile. He sent his agents
in every direction to purchase manuscripts, and collected
400,000 volumes in his palace, which was
^yakLm^ii."^ thronged with librarians, copyists, and book-
binders. All these books, we are told, he had
himself read, and he annotated most of them with his own
hand. His munificence to scholars knew no bounds. He
made a present of 1,000 dinars to Abu '1-Faraj of Isfahan,
in order to secure the first copy that was published of the
great ' Book of Songs ' [Kitdbu U-Aghani)^ on which the author
was then engaged. Besides honouring and encouraging the
learned, Hakam took measures to spread the benefits of
education amongst the poorest of his subjects. With this
view he founded twenty-seven free schools in the capital
and paid the teachers out of his private purse. Whilst in
Christian Europe the rudiments of learning were confined
to the clergy, in Spain almost every one could read and
write.
420 THE ARABS IN EUROPE
" The University of Cordova was at that time one of the most
celebrated in the world. In the principal Mosque, where the
lectures were held, Abu Bakr b. Mu'awiya, the
Ti^e University Qurayshite, discussed the Traditions relating to
Muhammad. Abii 'All al-Qali of Baghdad dictated
a large and excellent miscellany which contained an immense
quantity of curious information concerning the ancient Arabs,
their proverbs, their language, and their poetry. This collection
he afterwards published under the title of Amdli, or ' Dictations.'
Grammar was taught by Ibnu '1-Qutiyya, who, in the opinion of Abu
'All al-Qali, was the leading grammarian of Spain. Other sciences
had representatives no less renowned. Accordingly the students
attending the classes were reckoned by thousands. The majority
were students of what was called fiqh, that is to say, theology and
law, for that science then opened the way to the most lucrative
posts." '
Among the notable savants of this epoch we may mention
Ibn 'Abdi Rabbihi (t 940 a.d.), laureate of 'Abdu '1- Rah-
mdn III and author of a well-known anthology entitled
al-^Iqd al-Farld i the poet Ibn Hani of Seville (t 973 a.d.),
an Isma'ill convert who addressed blasphemous panegyrics to
the Fatimid Caliph Mu'izz;2 the historians of Spain, Abii
Bakr al-Razi (t 937 a.d.), whose family belonged to Rayy in
Persia, and Ibnu 'l-Qiitiyya (t 977 a.d.), who, as his name
indicates, was the descendant of a Gothic princess ; the
astronomer and mathematician Maslama b. Ahmad of Madrid
(t 1007 a.d.) ; and the great surgeon Abu '1-Qasim al-
Zahrawl of Cordova, who died about the same time, and who
became known to Europe by the name of Albucasis.
The fall of the Spanish Umayyads, which took place in the
first half of the eleventh century, left Cordova a republic and
a merely provincial town ; and though she might still claim to
be regarded as the literary metropolis of Spain, her ancient
glories were overshadowed by the independent dynasties which
' Dozy Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne, vol. iii, p. 107 sqq.
» See the verses cited by Ibnu '1-Athir, vol. viii, p. 457.
:M|
THE 'ABBAdIDS 421
now begin to flourish in Seville, Almeria, Badajoz, Granada,
Toledo, Malaga, Valencia, and other cities. Of these rival
princedoms the most formidable in arms and the most brilliant
in its cultivation of the arts was, beyond question, the family
of the 'Abbadids, who reigned in Seville. The
(io23-io9i^AD^) foundations of their power were laid by the Cadi
Abu '1-Qasim Muhammad. " He acted towards
the people with such justice and moderation as drew on him
the attention of every eye and the love of every heart," so that
the office of chief magistrate was willingly conceded to him.
In order to obtain the monarchy which he coveted, the Cadi
employed an audacious ruse. The last Umayyad Caliph,
Hisham II, had vanished mysteriously : it was generally sup-
posed that, after escaping from Cordova when that city was
stormed by the Berbers (10 13 a.d.), he fled to Asia and died
unknown ; but many believed that he was still alive. Twenty
years after his disappearance there suddenly arose a pretender,
named Khalaf, who gave out that he was the Caliph Hishdm.
The likeness between them was strong enough to make the
imposture plausible. At any rate, the Cadi had his own
reasons for abetting it. He called on the people, who were
deeply attached to the Umayyad dynasty, to rally round their
legitimate sovereign. Cordova and several other States recog-
nised the authority of this pseudo-Caliph, whom Abu '1-Qasim
used as a catspaw. His son 'Abbad, a treacherous and blood-
thirsty tyrant, but an amateur of belles-lettres, threw off the
mask and reigned under the title of al-Mu'tadid (1042-
1069 A.D.). He in turn was succeeded by his son, al-Mu'tamid,
whose strange and romantic history reminds one of a sentence
frequently occurring in the Arabian Nights : " Were it graven
with needle-gravers upon the eye-corners, it were a warner to
whoso would be warned." He is described as " the most
liberal, the most hospitable, the most munificent, and the most
powerful of all the princes who ruled in Spain. His
court was the halting-place of travellers, the rendezvous
422 THE ARABS IN EUROPE
of poets, the point to which all hopes were directed, and
the haunt of men of talent." ^ Mu'tamid himself was a
poet of rare distinction. " He left," says Ibn
Seville Bassam, " some pieces of verse beautiful as the bud
(1069-IO91 A.D.). , . ,. , , - 1 u J U
when It opens to disclose the flower ; and had the
like been composed by persons who made of poetry a pro-
fession and a merchandise, they would still have been con-
sidered charming, admirable, and singularly original." 2
Numberless anecdotes are told of Mu'tamid's luxurious life
at Seville : his evening rambles along the banks of the
Guadalquivir ; his parties of pleasure ; his adventures when
he sallied forth in disguise, accompanied by his Vizier, the
poet Ibn 'Ammar, into the streets of the sleeping city ; and
his passion for the slave-girl I'timad, commonly known as
Rumaykiyya, whom he loved all his life with constant
devotion.
Meanwhile, however, a terrible catastrophe was approach-
ing. The causes which led up to it are related by Ibn
Khallikan as follows 3 : —
" At that time Alphonso VI, the son of Ferdinand, the sovereign
of Castile and king of the Spanish Franks, had become so powerful
that the petty Moslem princes were obliged to make
^^^i^'spafn.''^^' peace with him and pay him tribute. Mu'tamid Ibn
'Abbad surpassed all the rest in greatness of power
and extent of empire, yet he also paid tribute to Alphonso. After
capturing Toledo (May 29, 1085 a.d.) the Christian monarch sent
him a threatening message with the demand that he should sur-
render his fortresses ; on which condition he might retain the open
country as his own. These words provoked Mu'tamid to such a
degree that he struck the ambassador and put to death all those
who accompanied him. ^ Alphonso, who was marching on Cordova,
' Ibn Khallikan, No. 697 ; De Slane's translation, vol. iii, p. 186.
^^ Ibn Khallikan, loc. cit.
3 Loc. cit, p. 189. For the sake of clearness I have slightly abridged
and otherwise remodelled De Slane's translation of this passage.
* A somewhat different version of these events is given by Dozy,
Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagitc, vol. iv, p. 189 sqq.
MU'TAMID OF SEVILLE 423
no sooner received intelligence of this event than he returned to
Toledo in order to provide machines for the siege of Seville. When
the Shaykhs and doctors of Islam were informed of this project
they assembled and said : ' Behold how the Moslem cities fall into
the hands of the Franks whilst our sovereigns are engaged in warfare
against each other ! If things continue in this state the Franks
will subdue the entire country.' They then went to the Cadi (of
Cordova), 'Abdullah b. Muhammad b. Adham, and conferred with
him on the disasters which had befallen the Moslems and on the
means by which they might be remedied. Every person had some-
thing to say, but it was finally resolved that they should write to
Abii Ya'qub Yusuf b. Tashifin, the king of the Mulaihthamun ' and
sovereign of Morocco, imploring his assistance. The Cadi then
waited on Mu'tamid, and informed him of what had passed.
Mu'tamid concurred with them on the expediency of such an
application, and told the Cadi to bear the message himself to
Yusuf b. Tashifin. A conference took place at Ceuta. Yusuf
recalled from the city of Morocco the troops which he had left
there, and when all were mustered he sent them across to Spain,
and followed with a body of 10,000 men. Mu'tamid, who had also
assembled an army, went to meet him ; and the Moslems, on
hearing the news, hastened from every province for the purpose of
combating the infidels. Alphonso, who was then at Toledo, took
the field with 40,000 horse, exclusive of other troops which came to
join him. He wrote a long and threatening letter to Yusuf b.
Tashifin, who inscribed on the back of it these words : ' What will
happen thou shall see I ' and returned it. On reading the answer
Alphonso was filled with apprehension, and observed that this was a
man of resolution. The two armies met at Zallaqa,
Battle of zaiiaqa near Badaioz. The Moslems gained the victory, and
^October 2'^ <-> -^
1086 A.D.).' Alphonso fled with a few others, after witnessing the
complete destruction of his army. This year was
adopted in Spain as the commencement of a new era, and was
called the year of Zallaqa."
Mu'tamid soon perceived that he had " dug his own grave "
— to quote the words used by himself a few years afterwards —
when he sought aid from the perfidious Almoravide. Yusuf
' The term Mulaththamun, which means literally ' wearers of the
lithdm ' (a veil covering the lower part of the face), is applied to the
Berber tribes of the Sahara, the so-called Almoravides (al-Munibitiin),
who at this time ruled over Northern Africa.
424 THE ARABS IN EUROPE
could not but contrast the beauty, riches, and magnificent
resources of Spain with the barren deserts and rude civilisation
of Africa. He was not content to admire at a distance the
enchanting view which had been dangled before him. In
the following year he returned to Spain and took possession
of Granada. He next proceeded to pick a quarrel with
Mu'tamid. The Berber army laid siege to Seville, and
although Mu'tamid displayed the utmost bravery, he was
unable to prevent the fall of his capital (Septem-
Captivityand
death of ber, lOQi A.D.). 1 he unfortunate prmce was
Mu'tamid. , . . , n /r
thrown mto chams and transported to Morocco.
Yusuf spared his life, but kept him a prisoner at Aghmdt,
where he died in 1095 a.d. During his captivity he
bewailed in touching poems the misery of his state, the
sufferings which he and his family had to endure, and the
tragic doom which suddenly deprived him of friends, fortune,
and power. " Every one loves Mu'tamid," wrote an historian
of the thirteenth century, " every one pities him, and even now
he is lamented." I He deserved no less, for, as Dozy remarks,
he was " the last Spanish-born king {le dernier rot indigene)^
who represented worthily, nay, brilliantly, a nationality and
culture which succumbed, or barely survived, under the
dominion of barbarian invaders." 2
The Age of the Tyrants, to borrow from Greek history a
designation which well describes the character of this period,
yields to no other in literary and scientific
Ibn Zaydun. ■ _ •'
renown. Poetry was cultivated at every Anda-
lusian court. If Seville could point with just pride to
Mu'tamid and his Vizier, Ibn 'Ammar, Cordova claimed a
second pair almost equally illustrious — Ibn Zaydun (1003—
107 1 A.D.) and Wallada, a daughter of the Umayyad Caliph
al-Mustakfi. Ibn Zaydun entered upon a political career
and became the confidential agent of Ibn Jahwar, the chief
' Ibnu '1-Abbdr (Dozy, Loci de Abbadidis, vol. ii, p. 63).
^ Histoirc des Mustdmans d'Espagne, vol. iv, p. 287.
IBN Z A YD UN 425
magistrate of Cordova, but he fell into disgrace, probably on
account of his love for the beautiful and talented princess,
who inspired those tender melodies which have caused the
poet's European biographers to link his name with Tibullus
and Petrarch. In the hope of seeing her, although he durst
not show himself openly, he lingered in al-Zahra, the royal
suburb of Cordova built bv 'Abdu '1-Rahman III. At last,
after many wanderings, he found a home at Seville, where he
was cordially received by Mu'tadid, who treated him as an
intimate friend and bestowed on him the title of Dhu
U-Wizdratayn.^ The following verses, which he addressed
to Wallada, depict the lovely scenery of al-Zahra and may
serve to illustrate the deep feeling for nature which, as has
been said, is characteristic of Spanish-Arabian poetry in
general.2
" To-day my longing thoughts recall thee here ;
The landscape glitters, and the sky is clear.
So feebly breathes the gentle zephyr's gale,
In pity of my grief it seems to fail.
The silvery fountains laugh, as from a girl's
Fair throat a broken necklace sheds its pearls.
Oh, 'tis a day like those of our sweet prime.
When, stealing pleasures from indulgent Time,
We played midst flowers of eye-bewitching hue,
That bent their heads beneath the drops of dew.
Alas, they see me now bereaved of sleep ;
They share my passion and with me they weep.
Here in her sunny haunt the rose blooms bright,
Adding new lustre to Aurora's light ;
And waked by morning beams, yet languid still,
The rival lotus doth his perfume spill.
' I.e., ' holder of the two vizierships ' — that of the sword and that of
the pen. See De Slane's translation of Ibn Khallikan, vol. iii, p. 130,
n. I.
- The Arabic text of this poem, which occurs in the Qald'idu 'l-'Iqydn
of Ibn Khaqan, will be found on pp. 24-25 of Weyers's Specimen critictun
exliibens locos Ibn Khacanis de Ibn Zeidouno (Leyden, 1831).
426 THE ARABS IN EUROPE
All stirs in me the memory of that fire
Which in my tortured breast will ne'er expire.
Had death come ere we parted, it had been
The best of all days in the world, I ween ;
And this poor heart, where thou art every thing,
Would not be fluttering now on passion's wing.
Ah, might the zephyr waft me tenderly.
Worn out with anguish as I am, to thee !
O treasure mine, if lover e'er possessed
A treasure ! O thou dearest, queenliest !
Once, once, we paid the debt of love complete
And ran an equal race with eager feet.
How true, how blameless was the love I bore,
Thou hast forgotten ; but I still adore ! "
The greatest scholar and the most original genius of
Moslem Spain is Abu Muhammad 'All Ibn Hazm, who
was born at Cordova in 994 a.d. He came
(gg^^-lofri^D.). o^ ^ ' Renegade ' family, but he was so far from
honouring his Christian ancestors that he pretended
to trace his descent to a Persian freedman of Yazid b. Abf
Sufyan, a brother of the first Umayyad Caliph, Mu'awiya ;
and his contempt for Christianity was in proportion to his
fanatical zeal on behalf of Islam. His father, Ahmad, had
filled the office of Vizier under Mansiir Ibn Abi 'Amir, and
Ibn Hazm himself plunged ardently into politics as a client —
through his false pedigree — of the Umayyad House, to which
he was devotedly attached. Before the age of thirty he
became prime minister of 'Abdu '1-Rahman V (1023-
1024 A.D.), but on the fall of the Umayyad Government
he retired from public life and gave himself wholly to litera-
ture. Ibn Bashkuwal, author of a well-known biographical
dictionary of Spanish celebrities entitled al-Sila fi akhbari
aimmati U-Andalus^ speaks of him in these terms : " Of all
the natives of Spain Ibn Hazm was the most eminent by
the universality and the depth of his learning in the sciences
cultivated by the Moslems ; add to this his profound
acquaintance with the Arabic tongue, and his vast abilities
IBN HAZM 427
as an elegant writer, a poet, a biographer, and an historian ;
his son possessed about 400 volumes, containing nearly 80,000
leaves, which Ibn Hazm had composed and written out."i
It is recorded that he said, " My only desire in seeking
knowledge was to attain a high scientific rank in this world
and the next." 2 He got little encouragement from his con-
temporaries. The mere fact that he belonged to the
Zahirite school of theology would not have mattered, but
the caustic style in which he attacked the most venerable
religious authorities of Islam aroused such bitter hostility that
he was virtually excommunicated by the orthodox divines.
People were warned against having anything to do with
him, and at Seville his writings were solemnly committed
to the flames. On this occasion he is said to have
remarked —
"The paper ye may burn, but what the paper holds
Ye cannot burn : 'tis safe within my breast : where I
Remove, it goes with me, alights when I alight,
And in my tomb will lie." 3
After being expelled from several provinces of Spain, Ibn
Hazm withdrew to a village, of which he was the owner, and
remained there until his death. Of his numerous
Religions and writiuffs oulv a few havc escaped destruction, but
Sects.' o y
fortunately we possess the most valuable of them
all, the 'Book of Religions and Sects' {^Kitahu U-Milal
•wa-l-'Nihd\ which was recently printed in Cairo for the
first time. This work treats in controversial fashion (i) of
the non-Muhammadan religious systems, especially Judaism,
Christianity, and Zoroastrianism, and (2) of Islam and its
dogmas, which are of course regarded from the Zahirite
' Cited by Ibn Khallikan in his article on Ibn Hazm (De Slane's transla-
tion, vol. ii, p. 268).
^ Maqqari, vol. i, p. 511, 1. 21.
3 Maqqari, loc. cit, p. 515, 1. 5 seq.
428 THE ARABS IN EUROPE
standpoint, and of the four principal Muhammadan sects, viz.,
the Mu'tazilites, the Murjites, the Shi'ites, and the Khari-
jites. The author maintains that these sects owed their rise
to the Persians, who sought thus to revenge themselves
upon victorious Islam. ^
The following are some of the most distinguished Spanish
writers of this epoch : the historian,- Abu Marwan Ibn Hayyan
of Cordova (t 1075 A.D.), whose chief works are a
^s"^*nin'° colossal history of Spain in sixty volumes entitled
^''cenbl^'!*^ al- Matin and a smaller chronicle [al-Muqtahis\
both of which appear to have been almost entirely
lost ; 2 the jurisconsult and poet, Abu '1-Walid al-Baji
(f 108 1 A.D.) ; the traditionist Yusuf Ibn *Abd al-Barr
(t 1 07 1 A.D.) ; and the geographer al-Baicri, a native of
Cordova, where he died in 1094 A.D. Finally, mention
should be made of the famous Jews, Solomon Ibn Gabirol
(Avicebron) and Samuel Ha-Levi. The former, who was
born at Malaga about 1020 a.d., wrote two philosophical
works in Arabic, and his Fons Vitae played an important
part in the development of mediaeval scholasticism. Samuel
Ha-Levi was Vizier to Badis, the sovereign of
Samuel Ha-Levi. , / r, \ t i • j •
Granada (1038-1073 a.d.). In their admira-
tion of his extraordinary accomplishments the Arabs all but
forgot that he was a Jew and a prince {Naghid) in Israel.3
Samuel, on his part, when he wrote letters of State, did not
scruple to employ the usual Muhammadan formulas, " Praise
to Allah ! " " May Allah bless our Prophet Muhammad ! "
' The contents of the Kiidhii 'l-Milal wa-'l-Nihal are fully summarised
by Dozy in the Leyden Catalogue, vol. iv, pp. 230-237. Cf. also Zur
Komposition von Ibn Hazm's Milal wa'n-Nihal, by Israel Friedlaender in
the Noldeke-Fcstschrift (Giessen, 1906), vol. i, p. 267 sqq.
= So far as I am aware, the report that copies are preserved in the great
mosque at Tunis has not been confirmed.
3 His Arabic name is Isma'il b. Naghdala. See the Introduction to
Dozy's ed. of Ibnu 'I-'Idhari, p. 84, n. i.
WRITERS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY 429
and to glorify Islam quite in the manner of a good Moslem.
He had a perfect mastery of Hebrew and Arabic ; he knew
five other languages, and was profoundly versed in the
sciences of the ancients, particularly in astronomy. With
all his learning he was a supple diplomat and a man of the
world. Yet he always preserved a dignified and unassuming
demeanour, although in his days (according to Ibnu 'l-'Idhari)
" the Jews made themselves powerful and behaved arrogantly
towards the Moslems." ^
During the whole of the twelfth, and well into the first
half of the thirteenth, century Spain was ruled by two
African dynasties, the Almoravides and the Almohades,
which originated, as their names denote, in the religious
fanaticism of the Berber tribes of the Sahara. The rise
of the Almoravides is related by Ibnu '1-Athir as follows : — 2
" In this year (448 a.h. = 1056 a.d.) was the beginning of the
power of the Mulaththami'in.^ These were a number of tribes
descended from Himyar, of which the most consider-
Ataoravfdes. ^^Ic were Lamtuna, Jadala, and Lamta. . . . Now in
the above-mentioned year a man of Jadala, named
Jawhar, set out for Africa'' on his way to the Pilgrimage, for he
loved religion and the people thereof. At Qayrawan he fell in
with a certain divine — Abu 'Imran al-Fasi, as is generally sup-
posed— and a company of persons who were studying theology
under him. Jawhar was much pleased with what he saw of their
piety, and on his return from Mecca he begged Abu 'Imran to
send back with him to the desert a teacher who should instruct
the ignorant Berbers in the laws of Islam. So Abu 'Imran sent
1 An interesting notice of Samuel Ha-Levi is given by Dozy in his
Hist, des Mus. d'Espagne, vol. iv, p. 27 sqq.
2 Kdmil of Ibnu '1-Athir, ed. by Tornberg, vol. ix, p. 425 sqq. The
following nan-ative (which has been condensed as far as possible) differs
in some essential particulars from the accounts given by Ibn Khaldun
{History of the Berbers, De Slane's translation, vol. ii, p. 64 sqq.) and by
Ibn Abi Zar' (Tornberg, Annates Regiim Mauritanice, p. 100 sqq. of the
Latin version). Cf. A. Miiller, Der Islam, vol. ii, p. 611 sqq.
3 See note on p. 423. * The province of Tunis.
.^'
430 THE ARABS IN EUROPE
with him a man called 'Abdullah b. Yasin al-Kuzuli, who was an
excellent divine, and they journeyed together until they came to
the tribe of Lamtuna. Then Jawhar dismounted from his camel
and took hold of the bridle of 'Abdullah b. Yasin's camel, in
reverence for the law of Islam ; and the men of Lamtuna
approached Jawhar and greeted him and questioned him con-
cerning his companion. 'This man,' he replied, 'is the bearer
of the Sunna of the Apostle of God : he has come to teach you
what is necessary in the religion of Islam.' So they bade them
both welcome, and said to 'Abdullah, ' Tell us the law of Islam,'
and he explained it to them. They answered, ' As to what you
have told us of prayer and alms- giving, that is easy ; but when you
say, " He that kills shall be killed, and he that steals shall have his
hand cut off, and he that commits adultery shall be flogged or
stoned," that is an ordinance which we will not lay upon our-
selves. Begone elsewhere !' . . . And they came to Jadala,
Jawhar's own tribe, and 'Abdullah called on them and the neigh-
bouring tribes to fulfil the law, and some consented while others
refused. Then, after a time, 'Abdullah said to his followers, 'Ye
must fight the enemies of the Truth, so appoint a commander over
you.' Jawhar answered, ' Thou art our commander,' but 'Abdullah
declared that he was only a missionary, and on his advice the
command was offered to Abii Bakr b. 'Umar, the chief of Lamtuna,
a man of great authority and influence. Having prevailed upon
him to act as leader, 'Abdullah began to preach a holy war, and
gave his adherents the name of Almoravides (al-Murdbitiln)." '
The little community rapidly increased in numbers and
power. Yusuf b. Tashifin, who succeeded to the command
in 1069 A.D., founded the city of Morocco, and
The Almoravide .
Empire from this Centre made new conquests m every
(IO56-II47 A.D.). . . 1 ■ 1
direction, so that ere long the Almoravides ruled
over the whole of North-West Africa from Senegal to
Algeria. We have already seen how Yusuf was invited by
' Murdbit is literally ' one who lives in a ribdt,' i.e., a guardhouse or
military post on the frontier. Such buildings were often occupied, in
addition to the garrison proper, by individuals who, from pious motives,
wished to take part in the holy war {jihad) against the unbelievers. The
word murdbif, therefore, gradually got an exclusively religious significa-
tion, ' devotee ' or ' saint,' which appears in its modern form, marabout.
As applied to the original Almoravides, it still retains a distinctly military
flavour.
THE ALMORAVIDES 43 1
the 'Abbadids to lead an army into Spain, how he defeated
Alphonso VI at Zallaqa and, returning a few years later,
this time not as an ally but as a conqueror, took possession of
Granada and Seville. The rest of Moslem Spain was subdued
without much trouble : laity and clergy alike hailed in the
Berber monarch a zealous reformer of the Faith and a mighty
bulwark against its Christian enemies. The hopeful prospect
was not realised. Spanish civilisation enervated the Berbers,
but did not refine them. Under the narrow bigotry of Yusuf
and his successors free thought became impossible, culture and
science faded away. Meanwhile the country was afflicted by
famine, brigandage, and all the disorders of a feeble and corrupt
administration.
The empire of the Almoravides passed into the hands of
another African dynasty, the Almohades.i Their founder,
Muhammad Ibn Tumart, was a native of the moun-
IbnTumart. . ' ... ^ r. i i • i i- i ^u
tamous district of Sus which hes to the south-
west of Morocco. When a youth he made the Pilgrimage to
Mecca (about 1108 a.d.), and also visited Baghdad, where he
studied in the Nizdmiyya College and is said to have met
the celebrated Ghazali. He returned home with his head
full of theology and ambitious schemes. We need not dwell
upon his career from this point until he finally proclaimed
himself as the Mahdi (1121 a.d.), nor describe the familiar
methods — some of them disreputable enough — by which he
induced the Berbers to believe in him. His doctrines, how-
ever, may be briefly stated. " In most questions," says one
of his biographers,^ " he followed the system of Abu '1-Hasan
al-Ash'ari, but he agreed with the Mu'tazilites in their denial
of the Divine Attributes and in a few matters besides ; and he
' See Goldziher's article Materialien zur Kennfniss det Almohaden-
bcwegung in Nordafrika (Z.D.M.G., vol. 41, p. 30 sqq.).
- 'Abdu '1-Wahid, History of the Almohadcs, ed. by Dozy, p. 135,
1. I sqq.
432 THE ARABS IN EUROPE
was at heart somewhat inclined to Sh{'ism, although he gave it
no countenance in public." ^ The gist of his teaching is indi-
cated by the name Muwahhid (Unitarian), which he bestowed
on himself, and which his successors adopted as their dynastic
title.2 Ibn Tiimart emphasised the Unity of God ; in other
words, he denounced the anthropomorphic ideas which pre-
vailed in Western Islam and strove to replace them by a
purely spiritual conception of the Deity. To this main
doctrine he added a second, that of the Infallible Imdm
{al-Imdm a/-Ma^sum)^ and he naturally asserted that the
Imam was Muhammad Ibn Tumart, a descendant of 'AH
b. Ab{ Tdlib.
On the death of the Mahdf (1130 a.d.) the supreme
command devolved upon his trusted lieutenant, 'Abdu
'1-Mu'min, who carried on the holy war against
a^3(>^i?6°9^A'D) ^^^ Almoravides with growing success, until in
1 158 A.D. he "united the whole coast from the
frontier of Egypt to the Atlantic, together with Moorish
Spain, under his sceptre." 3 The new dynasty was far more
enlightened and favourable to culture than the Almoravides
had been. Yusuf, the son of 'Abdu '1-Mu'min, is described
as an excellent scholar, whose mind was stored with the
battles and traditions and history of the Arabs before and
after Islam. But he found his highest pleasure in the study
and patronage of philosophy. The great Aristotelian, Ibn
Tufayl, was his Vizier and court physician ; and Ibn Rushd
(Averroes) received flattering honours both from him and
from his successor, Ya'qub al-Mansur, who loved to converse
with the philosopher on scientific topics, although in a fit of
orthodoxy he banished him for a time.4 This curious mixture
' The Berbers at this time were Sunnite and anti-Fatimid.
^ Almohade is the Spanish form of al-Muwahhid.
3 Stanley Lane-Poole, The Mohammadan Dynasties, p. 46.
t Renan, Averroes et I' Averro'isme, p. 12 sqq.
THE ALMOHADES 433
of liberality and intolerance is characteristic of the Almohades.
However they might encourage speculation in its proper place,
their law and theology were cut according to the plain Zahirite
pattern. " The Koran and the Traditions of the Prophet — or
else the sword ! " is a saying of the last-mentioned sovereign,
who also revived the autos-da-fe, which had been prohibited by
his grandfather, of Malikite and other obnoxious books.i The
spirit of the Almohades is admirably reflected in Ibn Tufayl's
famous philosophical romance, named after its hero, Hayy ibn
Taqzdn^ i.e.y ' Alive, son of Awake,' ^ of which the following
summary is given by Mr. Duncan B. Macdonald in his excel-
lent Muslim Theology (p. 253) : —
" In it he conceives two islands, the one inhabited and the other
not. On the inhabited island we have conventional people living
conventional lives, and restrained by a conventional
nlyy b.^YaqzLi. religion of rewards and punishments. Two men there,
Salamdn and Asal,^ have raised themselves to a higher
level of self-rule. Salamdn adapts himself externally to the popular
religion and rules the people ; Asal, seeking to perfect himself still
further in solitude, goes to the other island. But there he finds
a man, Ha5'y ibn Yaqzan, who has lived alone from infancy and has
gradually, by the innate and uncorruptcd powers of the mind,
developed himself to the highest philosophic level and reached the
Vision of the Divine. He has passed through all the stages of
knowledge until the universe lies clear before him, and now he
finds that his philosophy thus reached, without prophet or revela-
tion, and the purified religion of Asal are one and the same. The
story told by Asal of the people of the other island sitting in
darkness stirs his soul, and he goes forth to them as a missionary.
But he soon learns that the method of Muhammad was the true one
' See a passage from 'Abdu '1-Wahid's History of the Almohades (p. 201,
1. 19 sqq.), which is translated in Goldziher's ZdlUriteii, p. 174.
= The Arabic text, with a Latin version by E. Pocock, was published in
1671, and again in 1700, under the title Philosoplms Autodidactus. An
English translation by Simon Ockley appeared in 1708, and has been
several times reprinted.
3 The true form of this name is Absal, as in Jami's celebrated poem.
Cf. De Boer, The History of Philosophy in Islam, translated by E. R.
Jones, p. 144.
29
434 THE ARABS IN EUROPE
for the great masses, and that only by sensuous allegory and
concrete things could they be reached and held. He retires to his
island again to live the solitary life."
Of the writers who flourished under the Berber dynasties
few are sufficiently important to deserve mention in a work of
this kind. The philosophers, however, stand in
t'j.^Almorrv'ldel » class by themselves. Ibn Bdjja (Avempace),
(iioo^So a'S It>n Rushd (Averroes), Ibn Tufayl, and Miisi b.
Maymiin (Maimonides) made their influence felt
far beyond the borders of Spain : they belong, in a sense, to
Europe. We have noticed elsewhere the great mystic,
Muhiyyu '1-Din Ibnu 'l-'Arabi (f 1240 a.d.) ; his fellow-
townsman, Ibn Sab'in (f 1269 a.d.), a thinker of the same
type, wrote letters on philosophical subjects to Frederick II of
Hohenstaufen. Valuable works on the literary history of Spain
were composed by Ibn Khaqan (f 1134 a.d.), Ibn Bassam
(t 1 147 A.D.), and Ibn Bashkuwal (f 1183 a.d.). The
geographer Idrisi (f 1154 a.d.) was born at Ceuta, studied
at Cordova, and found a patron in the Sicilian monarch,
Roger II ; Ibn Jubayr published an interesting account of
his pilgrimage from Granada to Mecca and of his journey
back to Granada during the years 1 1 83-1 185 a.d. ; Ibn
Zuhr (Avenzoar), who became a Vizier under the Almoravides,
was the first of a whole family of eminent physicians ; and
Ibnu '1-Baytar of Malaga (f 1248 a.d.), after) visiting Egypt,
Greece, and Asia Minor in order to extend his knowledge of
botany, compiled a Materia Medica, which he dedicated to the
Sultan of Egypt, Malik al-Kamil.
We have now taken a rapid survey of the Moslem empire
in Spain from its rise in the eighth century of our era down
to the last days of the Almohades, which saw
Reconquest of ■' i • i r>
Spain by the Christian arms everywhere triumphant. By
Ferdinand III. -' . -
1230 A.D. the Almohades had be^en driven out or
the peninsula, although they continued to rule Africa for about
i
THE NASRIDS OF GRANADA 435
forty years after this date. Amidst the general wreck one
spot remained where the Moors could find shelter. This was
Granada. Here, in 1232 A.D., Muhammad Ibnu '1-Ahmar
assumed the proud title of ' Conqueror by Grace of God '
{Ghdlib billah) and founded the Nasrid dynasty, which held the
Tu XT J Christians at bay during two centuries and a half.
The Nasrids J o
of Granada That the little Moslem kingdom survived so long
(1232-I492 A.D.). ° °
was not due to its own strength, but rather to its
almost impregnable situation and to the dissensions of the
victors. The latest bloom of Arabic culture in Europe
renewed, if it did not equal, the glorious memories of
Cordova and Seville. In this period arose the world-
renowned Alhambra, i.e.^ ' the Red Palace ' (al-Hamra) of
the Nasrid kings, and many other superb monuments of which
the ruins are still visible. We must not, however, be led
away into a digression even upon such a fascinating subject
as Moorish architecture. Our information concerning literary
matters is scantier than it might have been, on account of the
vandalism practised by the Christians when they took Granada.
It is no dubious legend (like the reputed burning of the
Alexandrian Library by order of the Caliph 'Umar),i but a well-
ascertained fact that the ruthless Archbishop Ximenez made a
bonfire of all the Arabic manuscripts on which he could lay
his hands. He wished to annihilate the record of seven
centuries of Muhammadan culture in a single day.
The names of Ibnu '1-Khatib and Ibn Khaldun represent
the highest literary accomplishment and historical comprehen-
sion of which this age was capable. The latter, indeed, has
no parallel among Oriental historians.
Lisanu '1-Din Ibnu '1-Khadb 2 played a great figure in the
' Jurji Zaydan, however, is disposed to regard the story as being not
without foundation. See his interesting discussion of the evidence in his
TaWikhu 'l-Iamaddim al-Isldmi {' History of Islamic Civilisation '),
Part III, pp. 40-46.
" The life of Ibnu '1-Khatib has been written by his friend and contem-
porary, Ibn Khaldun {Hist, of the Berbers, translated by De Slane, vol. iv.
436 THE ARABS IN EUROPE
politics of his time, and his career affords a conspicuous
example of the intimate way in which Moslem poetry and
literature are connected with public life. " The Arabs did
not share the opinion widely spread nowadays, that poetical
talent flourishes best in seclusion from the tumult of the
world, or that it dims the clearness of vision which is required
for the conduct of public affairs. On the contrary, their
princes entrusted the chief offices of State to poets, and poetry
often served as a means to obtain more brilliant results than
diplomatic notes could have procured." ^ A young
(^Sz-l'm^S.). "^^" 1^^^ I^"" '1-Khatib, who had mastered the
entire field of belles-lettres, who improvised odes
and rhyming epistles with incomparable elegance and facility,
was marked out to be the favourite of kings. He became
Vizier at the Nasrid court, a position which he held, with one
brief interval of disgrace, until 1371 a.d., when the intrigues
of his enemies forced him to flee from Granada. He sought
refuge at Fez, and was honourably received by the reigning
Sultan, 'Abdu 'l-'Aziz ; but on the accession of Abu 'l-'Abbas
in 1374 A.D. the exiled minister was incarcerated and brought to
trial on the charge of heresy [zandaqa). While the inquisition
was proceeding a fanatical mob broke into the gaol and
murdered him. Maqqari relates that Ibnu '1-Khatib suffered
from insomnia, and that most of his works were composed
during the night, for which reason he got the nickname of
Dhu U-^Umrayn^ or 'The man of two lives.' ^ He was
a prolific writer in various branches of literature, but, like so
many of his countrymen, he excelled in History. His mono-
graphs on the sovereigns ,and savants of Granada (one of
which includes an autobiography) supply interesting details
concerning this obscure period.
p, 390 sqq.), and forms the main subject of Maqqari's Naflni 'l-Tib
(vols, iii and iv of the Bulaq edition).
' Schack, op. cit., vol. i, p. 312 seq.
' Cited in the Shadhanitu 'l-Dhahab, a MS. in my collection. See
J.R.A.S. for 1899, p. 911 seq., and for 1906, p. 797.
IBNU 'L-KHATtB AND IBM KHALDtlN 437
Some apology may be thought necessary for placing Ibn
Khaldun, the greatest historical thinker of Islam, in the
present chapter, as though he were a Spaniard
(i332"-Mo6'l'?^.). ^'^^^^ '^y ^^^^^ °'' '■esidence. He descended, it
is true, from a family, the Banu Khaldiin, which
had long been settled in Spain, first at Carmona and after-
wards at Seville ; but they migrated to Africa about the
middle of the thirteenth century, and Ibn Khaldun was born
at Tunis. Nearly the whole of his life, moreover, was passed
in Africa — a circumstance due rather to accident than to
predilection ; for in 1362 a.d. he entered the service of the
Sultan of Granada, Abu ^Abdallah Ibnu '1-Ahmar, and would
probably have made that city his home had not the jealousy of
his former friend, the Vizier Ibnu '1-Khatib, decided him to
leave Spain behind. We cannot give any account of the
agitated and eventful career which he ended, as Cadi of
Cairo, in 1406 a.d. Ibn Khaldun lived with statesmen and
kings : he was an ambassador to the court of Pedro of Castile,
and an honoured guest of the mighty Tamerlane. The
results of his ripe experience are marvellously displayed in
the Prolegomena [Muqaddima\ which forms the first volume
of a huge general history entitled the Kitdbu 'l-^Ibar (' Book of
Examples ').i He himself has stated his idea of the historian's
function in the following words : —
" Know that the true purpose of history is to make us acquainted
with human society, i.e., with the civilisation of the world, and with
Ibn Khaldun as '^^ natural phenomena, such as savage life, the softening
a philosophical of manners, attachment to the family and the tribe, the
various kinds of superiority which one people gains
over another, the kingdoms and diverse dynasties which arise
in this way, the different trades and laborious occupations to
^ The Arabic text of the Prolegomena has been published by Quatre-
mere in Notices et extraits des maimscrits de la Biblioiheque Imperiale,
vols. 16-18, and at Beyrout (1879, 1886, and 1900). A French translation
by De Slane appeared in Not. et E.xtraits, vols. 19-21.
438 THE ARABS IN EUROPE ||
which men devote themselves in order to earn their livelihood,
the sciences and arts ; in fine, all the manifold conditions which
naturally occur in the development of civilisation." * :,||
Ibn Khaldun argues that History, thus conceived, is subject
to universal laws, and in these laws he finds the only sure
criterion of historical truth.
I
" The rule for distinguishing what is true from what is false in
history is based on its possibility or impossibility : that is to
say, we must examine human society (civilisation)
of historical and discriminate between the characteristics which
criticism. ^j,g essential and inherent in its nature and those
which are accidental and need not be taken into account,
recognising further those which cannot possibly belong to it. If
we do this we have a rule for separating historical truth from error
by means of a demonstrative method that admits of no doubt. . . .
It is a genuine touchstone whereby historians may verify whatever
they relate." => '|(
Here, indeed, the writer claims too much, and it must be
allowed that he occasionally applied his principles in a pedantic
fashion, and was led by purely a priori considerations to con-
clusions which are not always so warrantable as he believed.
This is a very trifling matter in comparison with the value
and originality of the principles themselves. Ibn Khaldiin
asserts, with justice, that he has discovered a new method of
writing history. No Moslem had ever taken a view at once
so comprehensive and so philosophical ; none had attempted
to trace the deeply hidden causes of events, to expose the
moral and spiritual forces at work beneath the surface, or to
divine the immutable laws of national progress and decay.
Ibn Khalddn owed little to his predecessors, although he
mentions some of them with respect. He stood far above
his age, and his own countrymen have admired rather than
followed him. His intellectual descendants are the great
' Muqaddima (Beyrout ed. of 1900), p. 35, 1. 5 sqq. = Prolegomena trans-
lated by De Slane, vol. i, p. 71.
= Muqaddima, p. 37, 1. 4 fr. foot = De Slane's translation, vol. i, p. yy.
IBN KHALDJ)N 439
mediaeval and modern historians of Europe — Machiavelli and
Vico and Gibbon.
It is worth while to sketch briefly the peculiar theory of
historical development which Ibn Khaldun puts forward in
his Prolegomena — a theory founded on the study
Ibn Khaldun's ° . . ■' . ^
theory of his- of actual conditions and events either past or
toncal evolution. _ _ * _
passing before his eyes.i He was struck, in the
first place, with the physical fact that in almost every part of
the Muhammadan Empire great wastes of sand or stony
plateaux, arid and incapable of tillage, wedge themselves
between fertile domains of cultivated land. The former
were inhabited from time immemorial by nomad tribes, the
latter by an agricultural or industrial population ; and we have
seen, in the case of Arabia, that cities like Mecca and Hira
carried on a lively intercourse with the Bedouins and exerted
a civilising influence upon them. In Africa the same contrast
was strongly marked. It is no wonder, therefore, that Ibn
Khaldun divided the whole of mankind into two classes —
Nomads and Citizens. The nomadic life naturally precedes
and produces the other. Its characteristics are simplicity and
purity of manners, warlike spirit, and, above all, a loyal
devotion to the interests of the family and the tribe. As
the nomads become more civilised they settle down, form
states, and make conquests. They have now reached their
highest development. Corrupted by luxury, and losing the
virtues which raised them to power, they are soon swept away
by a ruder people. Such, in bare outline, is the course of
history as Ibn Khaldun regards it ; but we must try to give
our readers some further account of the philosophical ideas
' Von Kremer has discussed Ibn Khaldun's ideas more fully than is
possible here in an admirably sympathetic article, Ihn Chaldun tind seine
Culturgeschichte der islamischen Rciche, contributed to the Sitz. der Kais.
Akad. der Wissenschafieti, vol. 93 (Vienna, 1879). I have profited by many
of his observations, and desire to make the warmest acknowledgment of
my debt to him in this as in countless other instances.
440 THE ARABS IN EUROPE
underlying his conception. He discerns, in the life of tribes
and nations alike, two dominant forces which mould their
destiny. The primitive and cardinal force he calls ^asabiyyay
the binding element in society, the feeling which unites
mambers of the same family, tribe, nation, or empire, and
which in its widest acceptation is equivalent to the modern
term. Patriotism. It springs up and especially flourishes
among nomad peoples, where the instinct of self-preservation
awakens a keen sense of kinship and drives men to make
common cause with each other. This ^asabiyya is the vital
energy of States : by it they rise and grow ; as it weakens
they decline ; and its decay is the signal for their fall. The
second of the forces referred to is Religion. Ibn Khaldun
hardly ascribes to religion so much influence as we might
have expected from a Moslem. He recognises, however, that
it may be the only means of producing that solidarity without
which no State can exist. Thus in the twenty-seventh
chapter of his Muqaddima he lays down the proposition that
" the Arabs are incapable of founding an empire unless they
are imbued with religious enthusiasm by a prophet or a saint."
In History he sees an endless cycle of progress and
retrogression, analogous to the phenomena of human life.
Kingdoms are born, attain maturity, and die within a definite
period which rarely exceeds three generations, i.e.^ 120 years.^
During this time they pass through five stages of development
and decay.2 It is noteworthy that Ibn Khaldun admits the
moral superiority of the Nomads. For him civilisation neces-
sarily involves corruption and degeneracy. If he did not
believe in the gradual advance of mankind towards some
higher goal, his pessimism was justified by the lessons of
experience and by the mournful plight of the Muhammadan
world, to which his view was restricted. 3
' Muqaddima, Beyrout ed., p. 170 = De Slane's translation, vol. i,
p. 347 sqq.
^ Muqaddima, p. 175 = De Slane's translation, vol. i, p. 356 sqq.
3 An excellent appreciation of Ibn Khaldun as a scientific historian will
EXPULSION OF THE MOORS 441
In 1492 A.D. the last stronghold of the European Arabs
opened its gates to Ferdinand and Isabella, and " the Cross
supplanted the Crescent on the towers of
The fall of ^^
Granada Granada." The victors showed a barbarous
(1492 A.D.).
fanaticism that was the more abominable as it
violated their solemn pledges to respect the religion and
property of the Moslems, and as it utterly reversed the
tolerant and liberal treatment which the Christians of Spain
had enjoyed under Muhammadan rule. Compelled to choose /
between apostasy and exile, many preferred the latter alterna- 1
tive. Those who remained were subjected to a terrible^
persecution, until in 1609' a.d., by order of Philip III, the
Moors were banished en masse from Spanish soil.
Spain was not the sole point whence Moslem culture spread
itself over the Christian lands. Sicily was conquered by the
Aghlabids of Tunis early in the ninth century,
^''skiiy'^'" and although the island fell into the hands of the
Normans in 1071 a.d., the court of Palermo
retained a semi-Oriental character. Here in the reign of
Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (i 194-1250 a.d.) might be
seen " astrologers from Baghddd with long beards and waving
robes, Jews who received princely salaries as translators of
Arabic works, Saracen dancers and dancing-girls, and Moors
who blew silver trumpets on festal occasions." ^ Both
Frederick himself and his son Manfred were enthusiastic
Arabophiles, and scandalised Christendom by their assumption
of 'heathen' manners as well as by the attention which they
devoted to Moslem philosophy and science. Under their
auspices Arabic learning was communicated to the neighbour-
ing towns of Lower Italy.
be found in Robert Flint's History of the Philosophy of History, vol, i,
pp. 157-171-
' Schack, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 151.
CHAPTER X
FROM THE MONGOL INVASION TO THE PRESENT DAY
Before proceeding to speak of the terrible catastrophe which
filled the whole of Western Asia with ruin and desolation,
I may offer a few preliminary remarks concerning
teristics of the the general character of the period which we
shall briefly survey in this final chapter. It
forms, one must admit, a melancholy conclusion to a glorious
history. The Caliphate, which symbolised the supremacy
of the Prophet's people, is swept away. Mongols, Turks,
Persians, all in turn build up great Muhammadan empires,
but the Arabs have lost even the shadow of a leading part and
appear only as subordinate actors on a provincial stage. The
chief centres of Arabian life, such as it is, are henceforth
Syria and Egypt, which were held by the Turkish Mame-
lukes until 15 1 7 A.D., when they passed under Ottoman
rule. In North Africa the petty Berber dynasties (Hafsids,
Ziydnids, and Marinids) gave place in the sixteenth century
to the Ottoman Turks. Only in Spain, where the Nasrids of
Granada survived until 1492 a.d., in Morocco, where the
Sharifs (descendants of 'Ali b. Abl Tdlib) assumed the
sovereignty in 1544 a.d., and to some extent in Arabia
itself, did the Arabs preserve their political independence.
In such circumstances it would be vain to look for any
large developments of literature and culture worthy to rank
with those of the past. This is an age of imitation and
44a
CHARACTER OF THE PERIOD 443
compilation. Learned men abound, whose erudition embraces
every subject under the sun. The mass of writing shows no
visible diminution, and much of it is valuable and meritorious
work. But with one or two conspicuous exceptions — e.g.
the historian Ibn Khaldiin and the mystic Sha^rani — we
cannot point to any new departure, any fruitful ideas, any
trace of original and illuminating thought. The fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries " witnessed the rise and triumph of that
wonderful movement known as the Renaissance, . . . but
no ripple of this great upheaval, which changed the whole
current of intellectual and moral life in the West, reached the
shores of Islam." ^ Until comparatively recent times, when
Egypt and Syria first became open to European civilisation,
the Arab retained his mediaeval outlook and habit of mind,
and was in no respect more enlightened than his forefathers
who lived under the 'Abbdsid Caliphate. And since the
Mongol Invasion I am afraid we must say that instead of
advancing farther along the old path he was being forced back
by the inevitable pressure of events. East of the Euphrates
the Mongols did their work of destruction so thoroughly that
no seeds were left from which a flourishing civilisation could
arise ; and, moreover, the Arabic language was rapidly
extinguished by the Persian. In Spain, as we have seen, the
power of the Arabs had already begun to decline ; Africa
was dominated by the Berbers, a rude, unlettered race, Egypt
and Syria by the blighting military despotism of the Turks.
Nowhere in the history of this period can we discern either of
the two elements which are most productive of literary
greatness : the quickening influence of a higher culture or the
inspiration of a free and vigorous national life.^
Between the middle of the eleventh century and the end
' E. J. W. Gibb, A History of Ottoman Poetry, vol. ii, p. 5.
» The nineteenth century should have been excepted, so far as the
influence of modern civilisation has reacted on Arabic literature.
444 THE MONGOL INVASION AND AFTER
of the fourteenth the nomad tribes dwelling beyond the Oxus
burst over Western Asia in three successive waves. First
came the Seljiiq Turks, then the Mongols
Th^Mongoi uj^jjej. Chingiz Khan and Hiildgu, then the
hordes, mainly Turkish, of Tfmur. Regarding
the Seljiiqs all that is necessary for our purpose has been said
in a former chapter. The conquests of Timur are a frightful
episode which I may be pardoned for omitting from this
history, inasmuch as their permanent results (apart from the
enormous damage which they inflicted) were inconsiderable ;
and although the Indian empire of the Great Moguls, which
Bdbar, a descendant of Timur, established in the first half of
the sixteenth century, ran a prosperous and brilliant course, its
culture was borrowed almost exclusively from Persian models
and does not come within the scope of the present work.
We shall, therefore, confine our view to the second wave
of the vast Asiatic migration, which bore the Mongols, led by
Chingiz Khan and HulAgu, from the steppes of China and
Tartary to the Mediterranean.
In 1 2 19 A.D. Chingiz Khan, having consolidated his power
in the Far East, turned his face westward and suddenly
advanced into Transoxania, which at that time
^ndliiiugd" formed a province of the wide dominions of the
Shdhs of Khwarizm (Khiva). The reigning
monarch, 'Ala'u '1-Din Muhammad, was unable to make an
eflFective resistance ; and notwithstanding that his son, the
gallant Jaldlu '1-Din, carried on a desperate guerilla for twelve
years, the invaders swarmed over Khurasdn and Persia,
massacring the panic-stricken inhabitants wholesale and
leaving a wilderness behind them. Hitherto Baghddd had
not been seriously threatened, but on the first day of January,
1256 A.D. — an epoch-marking date — Hiildgii, the grandson
of Chingiz Khan, crossed the Oxus, with the intention of
occupying the 'Abbasid capital. I translate the following
HI)lAGJ) at BAGHDAD 445
narrative from a manuscript in my possession of the Tarlkh
al-Khamh by Diydrbakri (f 1574 a.d.) : —
In the year 654 (a.h. = 1256 a.d.) the stubborn tyrant, Hulagu,
the destroyer of the nations (Mubidu 'l-Umani), set forth and took
the castle of Alamut from the Isma'ih's' and slew
Baghdad (1258 them and laid waste the lands of Rayy. . . . And
'^■^■^" in the year 655 there broke out at Baghdad a fear-
ful riot between the Sunni's and the Shi'ites, which led to
great plunder and destruction of property. A number of Shi'ites
were killed, and this so incensed and infuriated the Vizier Ibnu
'l-'Alqami that he encouraged the Tartars to invade 'Iraq, by which
means he hoped to take ample vengeance on the Sunnis.'' And in
the beginning of the year 656 the tyrant Hulagu b. Tiili b. Chingiz
Khan, the Moghul, arrived at Baghdad with his army, including the
Georgians (al-Kiirj) and the troops of Mosul. The Dawidars
marched out of the city and met Hulagu's vanguard, which was
commanded by Baju.'' The Moslems, being few, suffered defeat ;
whereupon Baju advanced and pitched his camp to the west of
Baghdad, while Hulagu took up a position on the eastern side.
Then the Vizier Ibnu l-'Alqami said to the Caliph Musta'sim
Billah : " I will go to the Supreme Khan to arrange peace." So the
hound s went and obtained security for himself, and on his return
said to the Caliph : " The Khan desires to marry his daughter to
your son and to render homage to you, like the Seljuq kings,
and then to depart." Musta'sim set out, attended by the nobles of
' These Isma'ilis are the so-called Assassins, the terrible sect organised
by Hasan b. Sabbah (see Professor Browne's Literary History of Persia,
vol. ii, p. 201 sqq.), and finally exterminated by Hulagu. They had many
fortresses, of which Alamut was the most famous, in the Jibal province,
near Qazwin.
^ The reader must be warned that this and the following account of the
treacherous dealings of Ibnu 'l-'Alqami are entirely contradicted by
Shi'ite historians. For example, the author of al-Fakhri (ed. by Deren-
bourg, p. 452) represents the Vizier as a far-seeing patriot who vainly
strove to awaken his feeble-minded master to the gravity of the situation.
3 Concerning the various functions of the Dawidar (literally Inkstand-
holder) or Dawadar, as the word is more correctly written, see
Quatremere, Histoirc des Sultans Mamlouks, vol. i, p. 118, n. 2.
* The MS. writes Yajiinas.
5 Al-kalb, the Arabic equivalent of the Persian sag (dog), an animal
which Moslems regard as unclean.
446 THE MONGOL INVASION AND AFTER
his court and the grandees of his time, in order to witness the
contract of marriage. The whole party were beheaded except the
CaUph, who was trampled to death. The Tartars
Baghdid. entered Baghdad and distributed themselves in bands
throughout the city. For thirty-four days the sword
was never sheathed. Few escaped. The slain amounted to 1,800,000
and more. Then quarter was called. . . . Thus it is related in
the Duwalu 'l-Isldm.^ . . . And on this wise did the Caliphate pass
from Baghdad. As the poet sings: —
" KhaJati 'l-mandbiru wa-'l-asirmfu minhumu
wa-'alayhimu hatta 'l-mamdti saldntti."
" The pulpits and the thrones are empty of them ;
I bid them, till the hour of death, farewell ! "
It seemed as if all Muhammadan Asia lay at the feet of
the pagan conqueror. Resuming his advance, Hulagu
occupied Mesopotamia and sacked Aleppo. He then
returned to the East, leaving his lieutenant, Ketbogha, to
complete the reduction of Syria. Meanwhile, however, an
Egyptian army under the Mameluke Sultan Muzaffar Qutuz
was hastening to oppose the invaders. On Friday, the 25th
of Ramadan, 658 a.h., a decisive battle was fought at 'Ayn
Jdlut (Goliath's Spring), west lof the Jordan.
Battle of 'Ayn ,_,,__ ....
jaiiit (September, 1 he i artars wcrc routed with immense
slaughter, and their subsequent attempts to
wrest Syria from the Mamelukes met with no success. The
submission of Asia Minor was hardly more than nominal, but
in Persia the descendants of Hulagu, the Il-Khans, reigned
over a great empire, which the conversion of one of their
number, Ghazan (i 295-1 304 a.d.), restored to Moslem rule.
We are not concerned here with the further history of the
Mongols in Persia nor with that of the Persians themselves.
Since the days of Hulagu the lands east and west of the Tigris
are separated by an ever-widening gulf. The two races —
Persians and Arabs — to whose co-operation the mediaeval
' By Shamsu 'l-Di'n al-Dhahabi (f 1348 a.d.).
THE MAMELUKE DYNASTY 447
world, from Samarcand to Seville, for a long time owed its
highest literary and scientific culture, have now finally dis-
solved their partnership. It is true that the
Arabic ceases to cleavage began many centuries earlier, and
be the language o o J _ • i i
of the whole before the fall of Baghdad the Persian genius had
Moslem world. ° ...
already expressed itself in a splendid national
literature. But from this date onward the use of Arabic
by Persians is practically limited to theological and philoso-
phical writings. The Persian language has driven its rival out
of the field. Accordingly Egypt and Syria will now demand
the principal share of our attention, more especially as the
history of the Arabs of Granada, which properly belongs
to this period, has been related in the preceding chapter.
The dynasty of the Mameluke ^ Sultans of Egypt was
founded in 1250 A.D. by Aybak, a Turkish slave, who
commenced his career in the service of the
The Mamelukes . ,, . , •« «■ ,.i o^i-i -kt • »i -r^^ tt-
of Egypt Ayyubid, Malik Sahh Najmu 1-Din. His
(1250-1517 A.D.). •'•' 111**- T? ^ JC-
successors ^ held sway in Egypt and byna
until the conquest of these countries by the Ottomans.
The Mamelukes were rough soldiers, who seldom indulged
in any useless refinement, but they had a royal taste for
architecture, as the visitor to Cairo may still see. Their
administration, though disturbed by frequent mutinies and
murders, was tolerably prosperous on the whole, and their
victories over the Mongol hosts, as well as the crushing
blows which they dealt to the Crusaders, gave Islam new
prestige. The ablest of them all was Baybars,
Sultan Baybars |^q richlv dcserved his title Malik al-Zahir,
(1200-I277 A.D.). J
i.e, the Victorious King. His name has passed
into the legends of the people, and his warlike exploits into
' Mameluke (Mamliik) means 'slave.' The term was applied to the
mercenary troops, Turks and Kurds for the most part, who composed the
bodyguard of the Ayyubid princes.
" There are two Mameluke dynasties, called respectively Bahri (River)
Mamelukes and Burji (Tower) Mamelukes. The former reigned from
1250 to 1390, the latter from 1382 to 1517.
3-
448 THE MONGOL INVASION AND AFTER
romances written in the vulgar dialect which are recited by
story-tellers to this day.^ The violent and brutal acts which
he sometimes committed — for he shrank from no crime
when he suspected danger — made him a terror to the
ambitious nobles around him, but did not harm his reputa-
tion as a just ruler. Although he held the throne in virtue
of having murdered the late monarch with his own hand,
he sought to give the appearance of legitimacy to his
usurpation. He therefore recognised as Caliph a certain
Abu '1-Qasim Ahmad, a pretended scion of the 'Abbasid
house, invited him to Cairo, and took the oath of allegiance
to him in due form. The Caliph on his part invested the
Sultan with sovereignty over Egypt, Syria,
Caiiphs^fE^gyt't. Arabia, and all the provinces that he might
obtain by future conquests. This Ahmad,
entitled al-Mustansir, was the first of a long series of mock
Caliphs who were appointed by the Mameluke Sultans and
generally kept under close surveillance in the citadel of
Cairo. The last of the line bequeathed his rights of succes-
sion to the Ottoman Sultan Selim I, on which ground the
Sultans of Turkey base their claim to supreme authority
over the Moslem world.
The poets of this period are almost unknown in Europe,
and until they have been studied with due attention it
would be premature to assert that none of them
Arabic poetry . ... a i
after the Mongol nses above mediocrity. At the same time my
Invasion. . . /■ , t C
own impression (based, 1 confess, on a very
desultory and imperfect acquaintance with their work) is
that the best among them are merely elegant and accom-
plished artists, playing brilliantly with words and phrases,
but doing little else. No doubt extreme artificiality may
coexist with poetical genius of a high order, provided
that it has behind it Mutanabbi's power, Ma'arri's earnest-
ness, or Ibnu '1-Fdrid's enthusiasm. In the absence of these
' See Lane, The Modem. Egyptians, ch. xxii.
POETS OF THE PERIOD 449
qualities we must be content to admire the technical skill
with which the old tunes are varied and revived. Let us
take, for example, Safiyyu '1-Din al-Hilli, who
^^'S^Hiui^'" was born at Hilla, a large town on the
Euphrates, in 1278 a.d., became laureate of
the Urtuqid dynasty at Maridin, and died in Baghdid about
1350. He is described as "the poet of his age absolutely,"
and to judge from the extracts in Kutubi's Fawdtu
U-JVafaydt^ he combined subtlety of fancy with remarkable
ease and sweetness of versification. Many of his pieces,
however, are jeux cCesprit^ like his ode to the Prophet, in
which he employs 151 rhetorical figures, or like another
poem where all the nouns are diminutives.^ The following
specimen of his work is too brief to do him justice : —
" How can I have patience, and thou, mine eye's delight,
All the livelong year not one moment in my sight ?
And with what can I rejoice my heart, when thou that art a
joy
Unto every human heart, from me hast taken flight ?
I swear by Him who made thy form the envy of the sun
(So graciously He clad thee with lovely beams of light) :
The day when I behold thy beauty doth appear to me
As tho' it gleamed on Time's dull brow a constellation bright.
O thou scorner of my passion, for whose sake I count as
naught
All the woe that I endure, all the injury and despite.
Come, regard the ways of God ! for never He at life's last
gasp
Suffereth the weight to perish even of one mite ! " 3
We have already referred to the folk-songs {muwashshah
and xajal) which originated in Spain. These simple ballads,
' Ed. of Bulaq (1283 A.H.), pp. 356-366.
= Ibid., p. 358-
3 These verses are cited in the Hadiqatu 'l-Afrdh (see Brockelmann's
Gcsch. d. Arab. Litt., ii, 502), Calcutta, 1229 A.H., p. 280. In the final
couplet there is an allusion to Kor. iv, 44 : " Verily God will not wrong
any one even the weight of a mite" (mithqala dharrat'").
30
450 THE MONGOL INVASION AND AFTER
with their novel metres and incorrect language, were despised
by the classical school, that is to say, by nearly all Moslems
with any pretensions to learning : but their
Popular poetry. ^ •' °
popularity was such that even the court poets
occasionally condescended to write in this style. To the
%ajal and muwashshalj we may add the diihayt^ the mawdliyyd,
the kdnwakdn^ and the h'tmdq^ which together with verse
of the regular form made up the 'seven kinds of poetry'
[al-funun al-saV-a). Safiyyu '1-Din al-Hillf, who wrote a
special treatise on the Arabic folk-songs, mentions two
other varieties which, he says, were invented by the people
of Baghdad to be sung in the early dawn of Ramadan, the
Moslem Lent.^ It is interesting to observe that some few
literary men attempted, though in a timid fashion, to free
Arabic poetry from the benumbing academic system by
which it was governed and to pour fresh life into its veins.
A notable example of this tendency is the Hazzu U-Quhuf^
by Shirbini, who wrote in 1687 a.d. Here we have a
poem in the vulgar dialect of Egypt, but what is still more
curious, the author, while satirising the uncouth manners
and rude language of the peasantry, makes a bitter attack
on the learning and morals of the Muhammadan divines.3
For this purpose he introduces a typical Fellah named
Abii Shaduf, whose role corresponds to that of Piers the
Plowman in Longland's f^ision. Unfortunately, we can-
not say that such isolated offshoots have gone any way to
found a living school of popular poetry. The classical
tradition remains as strong as ever. Only the future can
show whether the Arabs are capable of producing a genius
who will succeed in doing for the national folk-songs
what Burns did for the Scots ballads.
' Hartmann, Das Muwaisah (Weimar, 1897), p. 218.
^ Literally, ' The Shaking o£ the Skull-caps,' in allusion to the peasants'
dance.
3 See Vollers, Beitrdge zur Kenntniss dcr lebenden arabischen Sprache
in Acgypten, Z.D.M.G., vol. 41 (1887), p. 370,
IBN KHALLIKAN 451
Biography and History were cultivated with ardour by
the savants of Egypt and Syria. Among the numerous
compositions of this kind we can have no
(i2\\^^'t^.). hesitation in awarding the place of honour to
the Wafayatu U-A^'yan^ or ' Obituaries of Emi-
nent Men,' by Shamsu '1-Din Ibn Khallikan, a work which
has often been quoted in the foregoing pages. The author
belonged to a distinguished family descending from Yahya
b. Khalid the Barmecide (see p. 259 seq.), and was born at
Arbela in 121 1 a.d. He received his education at Aleppo
and Damascus (1229-1238) and then proceeded to Cairo,
where he finished the first draft of his Biographical
Dictionary in 1256. Five years later he was appointed by
Sultan Baybars to be Chief Cadi of Syria. He retained
this high office (with a seven years' interval, which he
devoted to literary and biographical studies) until a short time
before his death. In the Preface to the Wafayat Ibn Khallikan
observes that he has adopted the alphabetical order as more
convenient than the chronological. As regards the scope and
character of his Dictionary, he says : —
" I have not limited my work to the history of any one particular
class of persons, as learned men, princes, emirs, viziers, or poets ;
but I have spoken of all those whose names are
"'oSn^'.''^' familiar to the public, and about whom questions
are frequently asked ; I have, however, related the
facts I could ascertain respecting them in a concise manner, lest
my work should become too voluminous ; I have fixed with all
possible exactness the dates of their birth and death ; I have
traced up their genealogy as high as I could ; I have marked the
orthography of those names which are liable to be written in-
correctly; and I have cited the traits which may best serve to
characterise each individual, such as noble actions, singular anec-
dotes, verses and letters, so that the reader may derive amusement
from my work, and find it not exclusively of such a uniform cast
as would prove tiresome ; for the most effectual inducement to
reading a book arises from the variety of its style." '
' Ibn Khallikan, De Slane's translation, vol. i, p. 3.
452 THE MONGOL INVASION AND AFTER
Ibn Khallikan might have added that he was the first Muham-
madan writer to design a Dictionary of National Biography,
since none of his predecessors had thought of comprehending
the lives of eminent Moslems of every class in a single work.^
The merits of the book have been fully recognised by the
author's countrymen as well as by European scholars. It is
composed in simple and elegant language, it is extremely
accurate, and it contains an astonishing quantity of miscel-
laneous historical and literary information, not drily catalogued
but conveyed in the most pleasing fashion by anecdotes and
excerpts which illustrate every department of Moslem life.
I am inclined to agree with the opinion of Sir William
Jones, that it is the best general biography ever written ;
and allowing for the difference of scale and scope, I
think it will bear comparison with a celebrated English
work which it resembles in many ways — I mean Boswell's
yohnson.'^
To give an adequate account of the numerous and talented
historians of the Mameluke period would require far more
space than they can reasonably claim in a review
Historians of "^ , , .r-i • ti t-^i i i ^ i.
the Mameluke of this kmd. Concemmg ibn Khaldun, who
period'
held a professorship as well as the office of Cadi
in Cairo under Sultan Barquq (i 382-1 398 a.d.), we have
already spoken at some length. This extraordinary genius
discovered principles and methods which might have been
• It should be pointed out that the Wafaydt is very far from being
exhaustive. The total number of articles only amounts to 865. Besides
the Caliphs, the Companions of the Prophet, and those of the next genera-
tion (Tdbi'iin), the author omitted many persons of note because he was
unable to discover the date of their death. A useful supplement and
continuation of the Wafaydt was compiled by al-Kutubi (t 1363 a.d.)
under the title Fawdtu 'l-Wafaydt.
" The Arabic text of the Wafaydt has been edited with variants and
indices by Wiistenfeld (Gottingen, 1835-1850). There is an excellent
English translation by Baron MacGuckin de Slane in four volumes
(1842-1871).
MAQRfzt AND OTHER HISTORIANS 453
expected to revolutionise historical science, but neither was
he himself capable of carrying them into effect nor, as the
event proved, did they inspire his successors to abandon
the path of tradition. I cannot imagine any more decisive
symptom of the intellectual lethargy in which Islam was
now sunk, or any clearer example of the rule that even
the greatest writers struggle in vain against the spirit of
their own times. There were plenty of learned men, how-
ever, who compiled, local and universal histories. Considering
the precious materials which their industry has preserved for
us, we should rather admire these diligent and erudite authors
than complain of their inability to break away from the
established mode. Perhaps the most famous among them
is Taqiyyu '1-Din al-Maqrizl (1364-1442 A.D.). A native
of Cairo, he devoted himself to Egyptian history and
antiquities, on which subject he composed several standard
works, such as the Khitat ^ and the Suluk.^ Although he
was both unconscientious and uncritical, too often copying
without acknowledgment or comment, and indulging in
wholesale plaffiarism when it suited his purpose,
these faults which are characteristic of his age may
easily be excused. " He has accumulated and reduced to a
certain amount of order a large quantity of information that
would but for him have passed into oblivion. He is generally
painstaking and accurate, and always resorts to contemporary
evidence if it is available. Also he has a pleasant and lucid
style, and writes without bias and apparently with distinguished
impartiality." 3 Other well-known works belonging to this
' The full title is al-MawdHz wa-'l-Vtihdr fi dhikri 'l-Khitat wa-l-Athdr.
It was printed at Bulaq in 1270 A.H.
^ Al-Siiliik li-ma'rifati Duwali 'l-MiMk, a history of the Ayyiibids and
Mamelukes. The portion relating to the latter dynasty is accessible in the
excellent French version by Quatremere {Histoire dcs Sultans Mamlouks
de I'Egypte, Paris, 1845).
3 A. R. Guest, A List of Writers, Books, and other Authorities mentioned
by El Maqrfzl in his Khitat, f.R.A.S. for 1902, p. 106.
454 THE MONGOL INVASION AND AFTER
epoch are the Fakhrt of Ibnu '1-Tiqtaqd, a delightful manual
of Muhammadan politics i which was written at Mosul in
1302 A.D.J the epitome of universal history by Abu '1-Fida,
Prince of Hamdt (f 1331) ; the voluminous Chronicle of
Islam by DhahabI (f 1348) ; the high-flown Biography of
Tfmiir entitled ^Aja'ibu U-Maqdur, or * Marvels of Destiny,'
by Ibn *Arabshdh (t 1450) ; and the Nujiim al-Zahira
('Resplendent Stars') by Abu '1-Mahasin b. Taghribirdf
(t 1469), which contains the annals of Egypt under the
Moslems. The political and literary history of Muham-
madan Spain by Maqqari of Tilimsan (f 1632) was mentioned
in the last chapter.^
If we were asked to select a single figure who should exhibit
as completely as possible in his own person the literary
tendencies of the Alexandrian age of Arabic
Jalalu 'l-Din al- ..... , . ,,
suyuti (1445 Civilisation, our choice would assuredly fall on
1505 A.D.).
Jaldlu '1-Din al-Suyud, who was born at Suydt
(Usyuf) in Upper Egypt in 1445 a.d. His family came
originally from Persia, but, like Dhahabi, Ibn Taghribirdi, and
many celebrated writers of this time, he had, through his
mother, an admixture of Turkish blood. At the age of five
years and seven months, when his father died, the precocious
boy had already reached the Suratu U-Tahrim (Sura of For-
bidding), which is the sixty-sixth chapter of the Koran, and he
knew the whole volume by heart before he was eight years old.
He prosecuted his studies under the most renowned masters
in every branch of Moslem learning, and on finishing his
education held one Professorship after another at Cairo until
1 501, when he was deprived of his post in consequence of
malversation of the bursary monies in his charge. He died
' The Fakhri has been edited by Ahlwardt (i860) and Derenbourg
(1895). The simplicity of its style and the varied interest of its contents
have made it deservedly popular. Leaving the Koran out of account, I
do not know any book that is better fitted to serve as an introduction to
Arabic literature.
* See p. 413, n. i.
JALALU 'L-DIn AL-SUYtJTl 455
four years later in the islet of Rawda on the Nile, whither he
had retired under the pretence of devoting the rest of his life
to God. We possess the titles of more than five hundred
separate works which he composed. This number would be
incredible but for the fact that many of them are brief
pamphlets displaying the author's curious erudition on all sorts
of abstruse subjects — e.g.^ whether the Prophet wore trousers,
whether his turban had a point, and whether his parents are in
Hell or Paradise. Suyuti's indefatigable pen travelled over
an immense field of knowledge — Koran, Tradition, Law,
Philosophy and History, Philology and Rhetoric. Like some
of the old Alexandrian scholars, he seems to have taken pride
in a reputation for polygraphy, and his enemies declared that
he made free with other men's books, which he used to alter
slightly and then give out as his own. Suyiiti, on his part,
laid before the Shaykhu '1-Islam a formal accusation of
plagiarism against Qastalldni, an eminent contemporary divine.
We are told that his vanity and arrogance involved him in
frequent quarrels, and that he was ' cut ' by his learned
brethren. Be this as it may, he saw what the public wanted.
His compendious and readable handbooks were famed
throughout the Moslem world, as he himself boasts, from
India to Morocco, and did much to popularise the scientific
culture of the day. It will be enough to mention here the
Itqan on Koranic exegesis ; the Tafsiru U-Jaldlayn^ or * Com-
mentary on the Koran by the two Jalals,' which was begun
by Jaldlu '1-Din al-Mahalli and finished by his namesake,
Suydti ; the Muxhir [Mizhar\ a treatise on philology ; the
Husnu U-Muhadaroy a history of Old and New Cairo ; and
the Ta'rikhu 'l-Khulafd^ or ' History of the Caliphs.'
To dwell longer on the literature of this period would only
be to emphasise its scholastic and unoriginal character. A
passing mention, however, is due to the encyclopaedists Nuwayri
(fi332), author of the Nihdyatu 'I- Jraby znd Ibnu '1-Wardi
456 THE MONGOL INVASION AND AFTER
(fi349). Safadi (11363) compiled a gigantic biographical
dictionary, the Wafi hi ^l-JVafayat^ in twenty-six volumes, and
the learned traditionist, Ibn Hajar of Ascalon
Tfhe'pertoT (ti449), ^as left a large number of writings,
among which it will be sufficient to name the
Isaba ft tamytz al-Sahdba^ or Lives of the Companions of the
Prophet. I We shall conclude this part of our subject by
enumerating a few celebrated works which may be described
in modern terms as standard text-books for the Schools and
Universities of Islam. Amidst the host of manuals of
Theology and Jurisprudence, with their endless array of
abridgments, commentaries, and supercommentaries, possibly
the best known to European students are those by Abu
'1-Barakdt al-Nasafi (fi3io), 'Adudu '1-D(n al-Ijl (ti355),
Sldi' Khalfl al-Jund{ (ti365), TaftAzdni ({1389), Sharif
al-Jurjan{ (11413), and Muhammad b. Yusufal-Sanusi( 11486).
For Philology and Lexicography we have the Alfiyya^ a
versified grammar by Ibn Mdlik of Jaen (11273) '■> ^^
Ajurriimiyya on the rudiments of grammar, an exceedingly
popular compendium by Sanhdjf (11323); and two famous
Arabic dictionaries, the Lisanu U-^Arab by JamAlu '1-Din Ibn
Mukarram (11311), and the Qdmus by Firuzdbddl (11414).
Nor, although he was a Turk, should we leave unnoticed the
great bibliographer Hdjjl Khalifa (11658), whose Kashfu
^l-Zunun contains the titles, arranged alphabetically, of all
the Arabic, Persian, and Turkish books of which the
existence was known to him.
The Mameluke period gave final shape to the Alf Layla
wa-Layla^ or ' Thousand and One Nights,' a work which is
far more popular in Europe than the Koran or any other master-
piece of Arabic literature. The modern title, 'Arabian Nights,'
tells only a part of the truth. Mas'udl (1956 a.d.) mentions
' A Biographical Dictionary of Persons who knew Mohammad, ed. by
Sprenger and others (Calcutta, 1856- 1873).
THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS 457
an old Persian book, the Hazar Afsana ('Thousand Tales')
which " is generally called the Thousand and One Nights ; it
is the story of the King and his Vizier, and of the
'^^fX^^^^^^Jl^, Vizier's daughter and her slave-girl : Shfrazdd and
and One Nights. o ^
Dlndzdd." I The author of the Fihrist, writing
in 988 A.D., begins his chapter " concerning the Story-Tellers
and the Fabulists and the names of the books which they
composed " with the following passage (p. 304) : —
"The first who composed fables and made books of them and put
them by in treasuries and sometimes introduced animals as speaking
them were the Ancient Persians. Afterwards the
rAhe"Tholi" Parthian kings, who form the third dynasty of the
sand and One kjngs of Persia, showed the utmost zeal in this matter.
Nights. °
Then in the days of the Sasanian kings such books
became numerous and abundant, and the Arabs translated them
into the Arabic tongue, and they soon reached the hands of philo-
logists and rhetoricians, who corrected and embellished them and
composed other books in the same style. Now the first book ever
made on this subject was the Book of the Thousand Tales {Hazdr
Afsdn), on the following occasion : A certain king of Persia used
to marry a woman for one night and kill her the next morning.
And he wedded a wise and clever princess, called Shahrazad, who
began to tell him stories and brought the tale at daybreak to a point
that induced the king to spare her life and ask her on the second
night to finish her tale. So she continued until a thousand nights
had passed, and she was blessed with a son by him. . . . And the
king had a stewardess [qahramdnd) named Dinarzad, who was in
league with the queen. It is also said that this book was composed
for Humani, the daughter of Bahman, and there are various tradi-
tions concerning it. The truth, if God will, is that Alexander (the
Great) was the first who heard stories by night, and
'^^Afidn^'^ he had people to make him laugh and divert him with
tales ; although he did not seek amusement therein,
but only to store and preserve them (in his memory). The kings
who came after him used the ' Thousand Tales ' {Hazdr Afsdn) for this
' Muruju 'l-Dhahab, ed. by Barbier de Meynard, vol. iv. p. 90. The
names Shirazad and Dinazad are obviously Persian. Probably the former
is a corruption of Chihrazad, meaning ' of noble race,' while Dinazad
signifies ' of noble religion.' My readers will easily recognise the
familiar Scheherazade and Dinarzade.
458 THE MONGOL INVASION AND AFTER
purpose. It covers a space of one thousand nights, but contains
less than two hundred stories, because the telling of a single story
often takes several nights. I have seen the complete work more
than once, and it is indeed a vulgar, insipid book {kitdb"" ghathth""
bdndu'l-Jjadithy
Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad b. 'Abdus al-Jahshiyari (1942-943 A.D.),
the author of the ' Book of Viziers,' began to compile a book in
which he selected one thousand stories of the Arabs, the Persians,
the Greeks, and other peoples, every piece being independent
and unconnected with the rest. He gathered the story-tellers round
him and took from them the best of what they knew and were able
to tell, and he chose out of the fable and story-books whatever
pleased him. He was a skilful craftsman, so he put together from
this material 480 nights, each night an entire story of fifty pages,
more or less, but death surprised him before he completed the
thousand tales as he had intended."
Evidently, then, the Hazdr Jfsdn was the kernel of the
' Arabian Nights,' and it is probable that this Persian
archetype included the most finely imaginative
c^te"c"o\ieS tales in the existing collection, e.g., the ' Fisher-
man and the Genie,' * Camaralzamdn and
Budiir,' and the 'Enchanted Horse.' As time went on, the
original stock received large additions which may be divided
into two principal groups, both Semitic in character : the one
belonging to Baghddd and consisting mainly of humorous
anecdotes and love romances in which the famous Caliph
' Haroun Alraschid ' frequently comes on the scene ; the
other having its centre in Cairo, and marked by a roguish,
ironical pleasantry as well as by the mechanic supernaturalism
which is perfectly illustrated in ' Aladdin and the Wonderful
Lamp.' But, apart from these three sources, the 'Arabian
Nights ' has in the course of centuries accumulated and
absorbed an immense number of Oriental folk-tales of every
description, equally various in origin and style. The oldest
translation by Galland (Paris, 1704-17 17) is a charming
' Strange as it may seem, this criticism represents the view of nearly
all Moslem scholars who have read the ' Arabian Nights.'
THE ROMANCE OF 'ANTAR 459
paraphrase, which in some respects is more true to the spirit of
the original than are the scholarly renderings of Lane and
Burton.
The 'Romance of 'Antar' {Slratu '-Antar) is traditionally
ascribed to the great philologist, Asma'1,1 who flourished in
the reign of Hdrun al-Rashld, but this must be con-
^oV'AntTr^"" sidered as an invention of the professional reciters
who sit in front of Oriental cafes and entertain
the public with their lively declamations, 2 According to
Brockelmann, the work in its present form apparently dates
from the time of the Crusades.3 Its hero is the celebrated
heathen poet and warrior, 'Antara b. Shaddad, of whom we
have already given an account as author of one of the seven
Mu^allaqdt. Though the Romance exhibits all the
anachronisms and exaggerations of popular legend, it does
nevertheless portray the unchanging features of Bedouin life
with admirable fidelity and picturesqueness. Von Hammer,
whose notice in the Mines de V Orient (1802) was the means
of introducing the Siratu ^Antar to European readers, justly
remarks that it cannot be translated in full owing to its
portentous length. It exists in two recensions called respec-
tively the Arabian [Hijdziyya) and the Syrian {Shamiyya)y the
latter being very much curtailed. 4
While the decadent state of Arabic literature during all
• Many episodes are related on the authority of Asma'i, Abu 'Ubayda,
and Wahb b. Munabbih.
^ Those who recite the Siratu ^Antar are named 'Andtira, sing. 'Antari.
See Lane's Modern Egyptians, ch. xxiii.
3 That it was extant in some shape before 1150 a.d. seems to be beyond
doubt. Cf. the Journal Asiatiqtie for 1838, p. 383 ; Wiistenfeld, Gesch.
der Arab. Aerzte, No. 172.
* Antar, a Bedoueeti Romance, translated from the Arabic by Terrick
Hamilton (London, 1820), vol. i, p. xxiii seq. See, however, Fliigel's
Catalogue of the Kais. Kon. Bibl. at Vienna, vol. ii, p. 6. Further details
concerning the ' Romance of 'Antar ' will be found in Thorbecke's
'Antarah (Leipzig, 1867), p. 31 sqq. The whole work has been published
at Cairo in thirty-two volumes.
46o THE MONGOL INVASION AND AFTER
these centuries was immediately caused by unfavourable social
and political conditions, the real source of the malady lay
deeper, and must, I think, be referred to the spiri-
^m'^^idsm"'^ tual paralysis which had long been creeping over
Islam and which manifested itself by the com-
plete victory of the Ash'arites or Scholastic Theologians about
1200 A.D. Philosophy and Rationalism were henceforth as
good as dead. Two parties remained in possession of the field
— the orthodox and the mystics. The former were naturally
intolerant of anything approaching to free-thought, and in
their principle of z/W, t.e.^ the consensus of public opinion
(which was practically controlled by themselves), they found a
potent weapon against heresy. How ruthlessly they some-
times used it we may see from the following passage in the
Yawaqit of Sha'rani. After giving instances of the persecu-
tion to which the Sufis of old — Bayazid, Dhu '1-Nun, and
others — were subjected by their implacable enemies, the
'■Ulama^ he goes on to speak of what had happened more
recently ^ : —
" They brought the Imam Abii Bakr al-Nabulusi, notwithstanding
his merit and profound learning and rectitude in religion, from the
Maghrib to Egypt and testified that he was a heretic
^^Teretics. °^ izindiq). The Sultan gave orders that he should be
suspended by his feet and flayed alive. While the
sentence was being carried out, he began to recite the Koran with
such an attentive and humble demeanour that he moved the hearts
of the people, and they were near making a riot. And likewise they
caused Nasimi to be flayed at Aleppo.^ When he silenced them by
' Sha'rani, Yawdqit (ed. of Cairo, 1277 a.h.), p. 18.
= In 1417 A.D. The reader will find a full and most interesting account
of Nasimi, who is equally remarkable as a Turkish poet and as a mystic
belonging to the sect of the Hurufis, in Mr. E. J. W. Gibb's History of
Ottoman Poetry, vol. i, pp. 343-368. It is highly improbable that the
story related here gives the true ground on which he was condemned :
his pantheistic utterances afford a sufficient explanation, and the Turkish
biographer, Latifi, specifies the verse which cost him his life. I may add
that the author of the Shadhardtu 'l-Dhahab calls him Nasimu '1-Din of
}i
SCHOLASTICS AND SUFtS 461
his arguments, they devised a plan for his destruction, thus : They
wrote the Suraiu 'l-Ikhlds ' on a piece of paper and bribed a cobbler
of shoes, saying to him, ' It contains only love and pleasantness,
so place it inside the sole of the shoe.' Then they took that shoe
and sent it from a far distance as a gift to the Shaykh (Nasimi), who
put it on, for he knew not. His adversaries went to the governor
of Aleppo and said : ' We have sure information that Nasimi has
written, Say, God is One, and has placed the writing in the sole of
his shoe. If you do not believe us, send for him and see ! ' The
governor did as they wished. On the production of the paper, the
Shaykh resigned himself to the will of God and made no answer to
the charge, knowing well that he would be killed on that pretext.
I was told by one who studied under his disciples that all the time
when he was being flayed Nasimi was reciting muwashshahs in
praise of the Unity of God, until he composed five hundred verses,
and that he was looking at his executioners and smiling. And like-
wise they brought Shaykh Abu '1-Hasan al-Shadhili= from the West
to Egypt and bore witness that he was a heretic, but God delivered
him from their plots. And they accused Shaykh 'Izzu '1-Din b.
'Abd al-Salam3 of infidelity and sat in judgment over him on
account of some expressions in his 'Aqida (Articles of Faith) and
urged the Sultan to punish him ; afterwards, however, he was
restored to favour. They denounced Shaykh Taju '1-Din al-Subki'»
on the same charge, asserting that he held it lawful to drink wine
and that he wore at night the badge (ghiydr) of the unbelievers and
the zone {zunndr)^ ; and they brought him, manacled and in chains,
from Syria to Egypt."
This picture is too highly coloured. It must be admitted
for the credit of the Arab '•Ulamd^ that they seldom resorted
to violence. Islam was happily spared the horrors of an
organised Inquisition. On the other hand, their authority was
Tabriz (he is generally said to be a native of Nasim in the district of
Baghdad), and observes that he resided in Aleppo, where his followers
were numerous and his heretical doctrines widely disseminated.
' The 1 12th chapter of the Koran. See p. 164.
= Founder of the Shadhiliyya Order of Dervishes. He died in 1258 a.d.
3 A distinguished jurist and scholar who received the honorary title,
' Sultan of the Divines.' He died at Cairo in 1262 a.d.
■* An eminent canon lawyer (t 1370 a.d.).
s It was the custom of the Zoroastrians (and, according to Moslem
belief, of the Christians and other infidels) to wear a girdle round the waist.
462 THE MONGOL INVASION AND AFTER
now so firmly established that all progress towards moral and
intellectual liberty had apparently ceased, or at any rate only
betrayed itself in spasmodic outbursts. Sufiism in some degree
represented such a movement, but the mystics shared the
triumph of Scholasticism and contributed to the reaction which
ensued. No longer an oppressed minority struggling for
toleration, they found themselves side by side with reverend
doctors on a platform broad enough to accommodate all parties,
and they saw the great freethinkers of their own sect turned
into Saints of the orthodox Church. The compromise did not
always work smoothly — in fact, there was continual friction —
but on the whole it seems to have borne the strain wonder-
fully well. If pious souls were shocked by the lawlessness of
the Dervishes, and if bigots would fain have burned the books of
Ibnu 'l-'Arabl and Ibnu '1-Farid, the divines in general showed
a disposition to suspend judgment in matters touching holy
men and to regard them as standing above human criticism.
As typical representatives of the religious life of this
period we may take two men belonging to widely opposite
camps — Taqiyyu '1-Dfn Ibn Taymiyya and 'Abdu '1-Wahhab
al-Sha'ran{.
Ibn Taymiyya was born at Harran in 1263 a.d. A few
years later his father, fleeing before the Mongols, brought him
to Damascus, where in due course he received an
(1263— 1^328 Zd!). excellent education. It is said that he never
forgot anything which he had once learned, and
his knowledge of theology and law was so extensive as almost
to justify the saying, " A tradition that Ibn Taymiyya does
not recognise is no tradition." Himself a Hanbalite of the
deepest dye — holding, in other words, that the Koran must be
interpreted according to its letter and not by the light of
reason — he devoted his life with rare courage to the work of
religious reform. His aim, in short, was to restore the primi-
tive monotheism taught by the Prophet and to purge Islam
^
I
IBN TAYMIYYA 463
of the heresies and corruptions which threatened to destroy it.
One may imagine what a hornet's nest he was attacking.
Mystics, philosophers, and scholastic theologians, all fell alike
under the lash of his denunciation. Bowing to no authority,
but drawing his arguments from the traditions and practice of
the early Church, he expressed his convictions in the most
forcible terms, without regard to consequences. Although
several times thrown into prison, he could not be muzzled for
long. The climax was reached when he lifted up his voice
against the superstitions of the popular faith — saint-worship,
pilgrimage to holy shrines, vows, offerings, and invocations.
These things, which the zealous puritan condemned as sheer
idolatry, were part of a venerable cult that was hallowed by
ancient custom, and had engrafted itself in luxuriant over-
growth upon Islam. The mass of Moslems believed, and still
believe implicitly in the saints, accept their miracles, adore
their relics, visit their tombs, and pray for their intercession.
Ibn Taymiyya even declared that it was wrong to implore the
aid of the Prophet or to make a pilgrimage to his sepulchre.
It was a vain protest. He ended his days in captivity at
Damascus. The vast crowds who attended his funeral — we
are told that there were present 200,000 men and 15,000
women — bore witness to the profound respect which was
universally felt for the intrepid reformer. Oddly enough, he
was buried in the Cemetery of the Sufis, whose doctrines he had
so bitterly opposed, and the multitude revered his memory — as
a saint ! The principles which inspired Ibn Taymiyya did not
fall to the ground, although their immediate effect was con-
fined to a very small circle. We shall see them reappearing vic-
toriously in the Wahhabite movement of the eighteenth century.
Notwithstanding the brilliant effort of Ghazali to harmonise
dogmatic theology with mysticism, it soon became clear that
the two parties were in essence irreconcilable. The orthodox
clergy who held fast by the authority of the Koran and the
464 THE MONGOL INVASION AND AFTER
Traditions saw a grave danger to themselves in the esoteric
revelation which the mystics claimed to possess ; while the
latter, though externally conforming to the law of Islam,
looked down with contempt on the idea that true knowledge
of God could be derived from theology, or from any source
except the inner light of heavenly inspiration. Hence the
antithesis of faqlh (theologian) ?ind faqtr (dervish), the one
class forming a powerful official hierarchy in close alliance with
the Government, whereas the Siifis found their chief support
among the people at large, and especially among the poor.
We need not dwell further on the natural antagonism which
has always existed between these rival corporations, and which
is a marked feature in the modern history of Islam. It will be
more instructive to spend a few moments with the last great
Muhammadan theosophist, 'Abdu '1-Wahhab
(1^1565 AD) al-Sha'rani, a man who, with all his weaknesses,
was an original thinker, and exerted an influence
strongly felt to this day, as is shown by the steady demand for
his books. He was born about the beginning of the sixteenth
century. Concerning his outward life we have little informa-
tion beyond the facts that he was a weaver by trade and resided
in Cairo. At this time Egypt was a province of the Ottoman
Empire. Sha'rdnl contrasts the miserable lot of the peasantry
under the new regime with their comparative prosperity under
the Mamelukes. So terrible were the exactions of the tax-
gatherers that the fellah was forced to sell the whole produce
of his land, and sometimes even the ox which ploughed it, in
order to save himself and his family from imprisonment j and
every lucrative business was crushed by confiscation. It is
not to be supposed, however, that Sha'rani gave serious atten-
tion to such sublunary matters. He lived in a world of
visions and wonderful experiences. He conversed with angels
and prophets, like his more famous predecessor, Muhiyyu '1-Din
Ibnu 'l-'Arabi, whose Meccan Revelations he studied and
epitomised. His autobiography entitled Lataifu 'l-Minan
SHA'RAnI 465
displays the hierophant in full dress. It is a record of the
singular spiritual gifts and virtues with which he was endowed,
and would rank as a masterpiece of shameless self-laudation,
did not the author repeatedly assure us that all his extra-
ordinary qualities are Divine blessings and are gratefully set
forth by their recipient ad majorem Dei gloriam. We should
be treating Sha'rani very unfairly if we judged him by this
work alone. The arrogant miracle-monger was one of the
most learned men of his day, and could beat the scholastic
theologians with their own weapons. Indeed, he regarded
theology {fiqh) as the first step towards Siifiism, and endea-
voured to show that in reality they are different aspects of the
same science. He also sought to harmonise the four great
schools of law, whose disagreement was consecrated by the
well-known saying ascribed to the Prophet: "The variance
of my people is an act of Divine mercy" {ikhtilafu ummatl
rahmat"'-). Like the Arabian Sufis generally, Sha'rdni kept his
mysticism within narrow bounds, and declared himself an
adherent of the moderate section which follows Junayd of
Baghdad (t 909-9 10 A.D.). For all his extravagant pretensions
and childish belief in the supernatural, he never lost touch with
the Muhammadan Church.
In the thirteenth century Ibn Taymiyya had tried to
eradicate the abuses which obscured the simple creed of Islam.
He failed, but his work was carried on by others and was
crowned, after a long interval, by the Wahhabite Reformation. ^
Muhammad b. 'Abd al-WahhAb,^ from whom its name is
' See Materials for a History of the Wahabys, by J, L. Burckhardt, pub-
lished in the second volume of his Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys
(London, 1831). Burckhardt was in Arabia while the Turks were engaged
in re-conquering the Hijaz from the Wahhabis. His graphic and highly
interesting narrative has been summarised by Dozy, Essai sur I'histoire
de rislamisme, ch. 13.
' Following Burckhardt's example, most European writers call him
simply 'Abdu '1-Wahhab.
31
466 THE MONGOL INVASION AND AFTER
derived, was born about 1720 a.d. in Najd, the Highlands of
Arabia. In his youth he visited the principal cities of the
Muhammad b East, " as is much the practice with his country-
'^'''^and^hi^''^^'' men even now," i and what he observed in the
successors. coursc of his travels convinced him that Islam was
thoroughly corrupt. Fired by the example of Ibn Taymiyya,
whose writings he copied with his own hand,^ Ibn 'Abd
al-Wahhab determined to re-establish the pure religion of
Muhammad in its primitive form. Accordingly he returned
home and retired with his family to Dir'iyya at the time when
Muhammad b. Sa'iid was the chief personage of the town.
This man became his first convert and soon after married his
daughter. But it was not until the end of the eighteenth century
that the Wahhdbis, under 'Abdu 'l-'Aziz, son of Muhammad
b. Sa'iid, gained their first great successes. In 1801 they sacked
Imdm-Husayn,3 a town in the vicinity of Baghdad, massacred
five thousand persons, and destroyed the cupola of Husayn's
tomb ; the veneration paid by all Shi'ites to that shrine being,
as Burckhardt says, a sufficient cause to attract the Wahhdbf
fury against it. Two years later they made themselves
masters of the whole Hijaz, including Mecca and Medina.
On the death of 'Abdu 'l-'Aziz, who was assassinated in the
same year, his eldest son, Sa'ud, continued the work of conquest
and brought the greater part of Arabia under Wahhabite rule.
At last, in 181 1, Turkey despatched a fleet and army to recover
the Holy Cities. This task was accomplished by Muhammad
'All, the Pasha of Egypt (1812-13), and after five years' hard
fighting the war ended in favour of the Turks, who in 18 18
inflicted a severe defeat on the Wahhabis and took their
capital, Dir'iyya, by storm. The sect, however, still maintains
» Burckhardt, op. cit, vol. ii, p. 96.
' MSS. of Ibn Taymiyya copied by Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab are extant
(Goldziher in Z.D.M.G., vol. 52, p. 156).
3 This appears to be the place usually called Karbala or Mashhad
Husayn.
THE WAHHABITE REFORMATION 467
its power in Central Arabia, although it has lost all political
importance.
The Wahhdbfs were regarded by the Turks as infidels and
authors of a new religion. It was natural that they should
appear in this light, for they interrupted the
^Ref^matfon^ pilgrim-caravans, demolished the domes and
ornamented tombs of the most venerable Saints
(not excepting that of the Prophet himself), and broke to
pieces the Black Stone in the Ka'ba. All this they did not as
innovators, but as reformers. They resembled the Carma-
thians only in their acts. Burckhardt says very truly : " Not
a single new precept was to be found in the Wahaby code.
Abd el Wahab took as his sole guide the Koran and the Sunne
(or the laws formed upon the traditions of Mohammed) ; and
the only difference between his sect and the orthodox Turks,
however improperly so termed, is, that the Wahabys rigidly
follow the same laws which the others neglect, or have ceased
altogether to observe." ^ " The Wahhabites," says Dozy,
" attacked the idolatrous worship of Mahomet ; although he
was in their eyes a Prophet sent to declare the will of God, he
was no less a man like others, and his mortal shell, far from
having mounted to heaven, rested in the tomb at Medina.
Saint-worship they combated just as strongly. They pro-
claimed that all men are equal before God ; that even the
most virtuous and devout cannot intercede with Him ; and
that, consequently, it is a sin to invoke the Saints and to adore
their relics." ^ In the same puritan spirit they forbade the
smoking of tobacco, the wearing of gaudy robes, and praying
over the rosary. " It has been stated that they likewise pro-
hibited the drinking of coffee ; this, however, is not the fact :
they have always used it to an immoderate degree." 3
The Wahhabite movement has been compared with the
' Op. ciU, vol. ii, p. 112.
^ Essai sur V histoire de Vlslamisme, p. 416.
3 Burckhardt, loc. latid., p. 1 15.
468 THE MONGOL INVASION AND AFTER
Protestant Reformation in Europe ; but while the latter was
followed by the English and French Revolutions, the former
has not yet produced any great political results. It has borne
fruit in a general religious revival throughout the world of
Islam and particularly in the mysterious Saniisiyya
The Sanusis in t-, ^i i j i • n
Africa. Brotherhood, whose mfluence is supreme m
Tripoli, the Sahara, and the whole North
African Hinterland, and whose members are reckoned by
millions. Muhammad b. 'All b. Sanusi, the founder of this
vast and formidable organisation, was born at Algiers in 1791,
lived for many years at Mecca, and died at Jaghbub in
the Libyan desert, midway between Egypt and Tripoli, in
1859. Concerning the real aims of the Sanusis I must refer
the reader to an interesting paper by the Rev. E. Sell {Essays
on Islam^ p. 127 sqq.). There is no doubt that they are
utterly opposed to all Western and modern civilisation, and
seek to regenerate Islam by establishing an independent theo-
cratic State on the model of that which the Prophet and his
successors called into being at Medina in the seventh century
after Christ.
Since Napoleon showed the way by his expedition to Egypt
in 1 798, the Arabs in that country, as likewise in Syria and North
Africa, have come more and more under European
modern civiiisa- influence.^ The above-mentioned Muhammad
*AH, who founded the Khedivial dynasty, and his
successors were fully alive to the practical benefits which might
be obtained from the superior culture of the West, and although
their policy in this respect was marked by greater zeal than
discretion, they did not exert themselves altogether in vain.
The introduction of the printing-press in 1821 was an epoch-
making measure. If, on the one hand, the publication of
' I cannot enter into details on this subject. A review of modern
Arabic literature is given by Brockelmann, Gesch, der Arab. Litt., vol. ii,
pp. 469-511, and by Huart, Arabic Literature, pp. 411-443.
INFLUENCE OF EUROPEAN CULTURE 469
many classical works, which had well-nigh fallen into oblivion,
rekindled the enthusiasm of the Arabs for their national litera-
ture, the cause of progress — I use the word without prejudice
— has been furthered by the numerous political, literary, and
scientific journals which are now regularly issued in every
country where Arabic is spoken. i Besides these ephemeral
sheets, books of all sorts, old and new, have been multiplied by
the native and European presses of Cairo, Bulaq, and Beyrout.
The science and culture of Europe have been rendered
accessible in translations and adaptations of which the complete
list would form a volume in itself. Thus, an Arab may read
in his own language the tragedies of Racine, the comedies of
Moliere,2 the fables of La Fontaine, ' Paul and Virginia,' the
* Talisman,' ' Monte Cristo ' (not to mention scores of minor
romances), and even the Iliad of Homer.3 The learned and
purely technical literature derived immediately or indirectly from
Europe is extensive. In short, France and Britain have taken
the place which was occupied in the Golden Age of Islam by
Greece and India, but we must, I think, confess that down to
the present day the results of all this activity amount to little
more than the proverbial mouse.
Hitherto modern culture has only touched the surface of
_Islam. Whether it will eventually strike deeper and penetrate
the inmost barriers of that scholastic discipline and literary
tradition which are so firmly rooted in the afifections of the
Arab people, or whether it will always continue to be an
'^~' exotic and highly-prized accomplishment of the enlightened
and emancipated few, but an object of scorn and detestation
to Moslems in general — these are questions that may not be
solved for centuries to come.
' See M. Hartmann, The Arabic Press of Egypt (London, 1899).
= Brockelmann, loc. cit., p. 476.
3 Translated into Arabic verse by Sulayman al-Bistani (Cairo, 1904).
See Professor Margoliouth's interesting notice of this work in the J. R.A.S.
for 1905, p. 417 sqq.
470 THE MONGOL INVASION AND AFTER
Meanwhile the Past affords an ample and splendid field of
study.
" Man lam ya'i 'l-ta'rikha ft sadrihi
Lam yadri Jnilwa 'l-'ayshi min murrihi
I Wa-man wa'd akhbdra man qad madd
/ Addfa a'mdr"^^ ild 'umrihi."
! " He in whose heart no History is enscrolled
Cannot discern in Ufe's alloy the gold.
But he that keeps the records of the Dead
Adds to his life new lives a hundredfold."
■■■'.I
■1
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS BY
EUROPEAN AUTHORS
The following list is intended to give students of Arabic as well
as those who cannot read that language the means of obtaining
further information concerning the various topics which fall within
the scope of a work such as this. Since anything approaching to a
complete bibliography is out of the question, I have mentioned only
a few of the most important translations from Arabic into English,
French, German, and Latin ; and I have omitted (i) monographs on
particular Arabic writers, whose names, together with the principal
European works relating to them, will be found in Brockelmann's
great History of Arabic Literature, and (2) a large number of books
and articles which appeal to specialists rather than to students.
Additional information is supplied by Professor Browne in his
Literary History of Persia, vol. i, pp. 481-496, and Mr. D. B.
Macdonald in his Development of Muslim Theology, etc. (London,
1903), pp. 358-367 ; while many texts and translations of an older
date are comprised in the ' Litteratura Arabica,' which occupies
pp. 109-136 of J. H. Petermann's Grammar in the ' Porta Linguarum
OrientaUum' Series (1867). Those who require more detailed refer-
ences may consult the Bibliographie des ouvrages arabes ou relatifs
aux Arabes publ. dans I'Europe chretienne de 1810 a 1885, by V.
;Chauvin (Liege, 1892-1903), the Orientalische Bibliographie, edited
by A. Miiller, E. Kuhn, and L. Scherman (Berlin, 1887—), and the
Catalogue of the Arabic Books in the British Museum, by Mr. A. G.
Ellis, 2 vols. (London, 1894-1902).
In each section works of outstanding authority and value are
marked with an asterisk.
I
PHILOLOGY.
I. Histoire generate des langues semitiques, by E. Renan (3rd ed.,
Paris, 1863).
*2. Die Semitischen Sprachen, by Th. Noldeke (Leipzig, 1887).
An improved and enlarged reprint of the German original
471
472 BIBLIOGRAPHY
of his article, ' Semitic Languages,' in the Encydopcs dia
Britannica (9th edition).
*3. A Grammar of the Arabic Language, by W. Wright, 3rd ed.,
revised by W. Robertson Smith and M. ]. de Goeje, 2 vols.
(Cambridge, 1896-98).
The best Arabic grammar for advanced students. Be-
ginners may prefer to use the abridgment by F. du Pre
Thornton, Elementary Arabic: a Grammar (Cambridge
University Press, 1905), or Socin's Arabic Grammar, trans-
lated by A. R. S. Kennedy (London, 1895).
*4. Arabic-English Lexicon, by E. W. Lane, 8 parts (London,
1^63-93).
This monumental work is unfortunately incomplete.
Among other lexica those of Freytag (Arabic and Latin,
4 vols, Halle, 1830-37), A. de Biberstein Kazimirski (Arabic
and French, 2 vols., Paris, 1846-60, and 4 vols., Cairo, 1875),
and Dozy's Supplement aux Dictionnaires arabes, 2 vols.
(Leyden, 1881), deserve special notice. Smaller dictionaries,
sufficient for ordinary purposes, have been compiled by
Belot (Vocabulaire arabe-franfais, 5th ed., Beyrout, i8g8j,
and Wortabet and Porter {Arabic-English Dictionary, 2nd ed.,
Beyrout, 1893).
"^5. Abhandlungen zur Arabischen Philologie, by Ignaz Goldziher,
Part I (Leyden, 1896).
Contains valuable essays on the origins of Arabic Poetry
and other matters connected with literary history.
6. Einleitung in das Studium der Arabischen Sprache, by G. W.
Freytag (Bonn, 1861).
7. Die Rhetorik der Araber, by A. F. Mehren (Copenhagen, 1853).
II
GENERAL WORKS ON ARABIAN HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY,
GEOGRAPHY, LITERATURE, ETC.
*8. Chronique de Tabari, traduite sur la version persane de . . .
Bel' ami, by H. Zotenberg, 4 vols. (Paris, 1867-74).
*9. The Muri'iju 'l-Dhahab of Mas'udi {Mafoudi : Les Prairies d'Or),
Arabic text with French translation by Barbier de Meynard
and Pavet de Courteille, 9 vols. (Paris, 1861-77).
The works of Tabari and Mas'udi are the most ancient and
celebrated Universal Histories in the Arabic language.
*io. AbulfedcE Annates Muslcmici arabice et latinc, by J. J. Reiske,
5 vols. (Hafniae, 1789-94).
f
BIBLIOGRAPHY 473
*ii Der Islam im Morgen und Abendland, by August Miiller,
2 vols. (Berlin, 1885-87).
12. Histoire generate des Arabes : leur empire, leur civilisation, leurs
ecoles pitilosophiques, scientifiques et tiiteraires, hy L. A. Sedillot,
2 vols. (Paris, 1877).
13. Short History of the Saracens, by Syed Ameer Ali (London,
1899).
*I4. Essai sur I'liistoire de Vlslamisme, by R. Dozy, translated from
the Dutch by Victor Chauvin (Leyden and Paris, 1879).
*I5. The Preaching of Islam, a History of the Propagation of tlie
Muslim Faith, by T. W. Arnold (London, 1896).
*i6. Sketches from Eastern History, by Th. Noldeke, translated by
J. S. Black (London, 1892).
*I7. The Mohammadan Dynasties, by Stanley Lane-Poole (London,
1894).
Indispensable to the student of Moslem history.
*i8. Genealogische Tabellen der Arabischen Stdmme und Familien niit
historischen und geographischen Bemerkungen in einem alpha-
betischen Register, by F. Wiistenfeld (Gottingen, 1852-53).
*I9. Ibn Kliallilidn' s Biographical Dictionary, translated from the
Arabic by Baron MacGuckin de Slane, 4 vols. (Oriental
Translation Fund, 1842-71).
One of the most characteristic, instructive, and interesting
works in Arabic literature.
*20. Geographic d'Aboulfeda, traduite de I'arabe, by Reinaud and
Guyard, 2 vols. (Paris, 1848-83).
*2i. Travels in Arabia Deserta, by C. M. Doughty, 2 vols. (Cam-
bridge, 1888).
Gives a true and vivid picture of Bedouin life and manners.
22. Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to al-Madinah and Meccah,
by Sir R. F. Burton, 2 vols. (London, 1898).
23. Tlie Penetration of Arabia : a record of the development of
Western knowledge concerning the Arabian Peninsula, by D. G.
Hogarth (London, 1905).
*24. Hajji Khalifa, Lexicon bibliographicum et encyclopcedicum, Arabic
text and Latin translation, by G. Fliigel, 7 vols. (Leipzig and
London, 1835-58).
*25. Die Geschichtschreiber der Araberund ihre Werke (aus dem xxviii.
und xxix. Bande der Abhand. d. Konigl. Ges. d. Wiss. zu
Gottingen), by F. Wustenfeld (Gottingen, 1882).
26. Litteraturgeschichte der Araber bis zum Ende des 12 Jahrhundert
der Hidschret, by J. von Hammer-Purgstall, 7 vols. (Vienna,
1850-56).
474 BIBLIOGRAPHY
A work of immense extent, but unscientific and extremely
inaccurate.
*27. Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur, by Carl Brockelmann,
2 vols. (Weimar, 1898-1902).
Invaluable for bibliography and biography.
*28. A Literary History of Persia, by Professor E. G. Browne, vol. i
from the earliest times to Firdawsi (London, 1902), and vol. ii
down to the Mongol Invasion (London, 1906).
The first volume in particular of this illuminating work
contains much information concerning the literary history of
the Arabs.
29. Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur, by C. Brockelmann
(Leipzig, 1901).
A popular but trustworthy sketch.
30. A History of Arabic Literature, by Clement Huart (London,
1903)-
The student will find this manual useful for purposes of
reference.
31. Chrestomathie Arabe ou extraits de divers ecrivains arabes . . .
avec une traduction' franfaise et des notes, hy Silvestre de Sacy,
3 vols. (2nd ed., Paris, 1826-27).
32. Specimens of Arabic Poetry from the earliest time to the extinction
of the Khaliphat, by J. D. Carlyle (Cambridge, 1796).
33. Ueber Poesie und Poetik der Araber, by W. Ahlwardt (Gotha,
1856).
34. Arabum Proverbia, Arabic text with Latin translation, by G. W.
Freytag, 3 vols. (Bonn, 1838-43).
35. Arabic Proverbs, by J. L. Burckhardt (2nd ed., London, 1875).
Ill
PRE-ISLAMIC HISTORY, LITERATURE, AND
RELIGION.
36. Lettres sur I'histoire des Arabes avant I'lslamisme, by F. Fresnel
(Paris, 1836).
*37. Essai sur I'histoire des Arabes avant I'lslamisme, by A. P. Caussin
de Perceval, 3 vols. (Paris, 1847-48).
Unscientific, but affords an excellent survey of Pre-islamic
legend and tradition.
*38. Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden, trans-
lated from the Annals of Tabari, by Th. Noldeke (Leyden,
1879).
BIBLIOGRAPHY 475
The ample commentary accompanying the translation is
valuable and important in the highest degree.
39. Die Dynastie der Lahmiden in al-Hira, by Gustav Rothstein
(Berlin, 1899).
40. Die Ghassdnisclien Ftirsten aus dem Hatise Gafna's in Abltand. d.
Ron. Preuss. Akad. d. Wissenschaften, by Th. Noldeke (Berlin,
1887).
41. Die Siidarabische Sage, by A. von Kremer (Leipzig, 1866).
*42. Filnf Mo'allaqdt ilbersetzt and erkldrt, by Th. Noldeke (Vienna,
1899-1901).
The omitted Mu'allaqas are those of Imru'u '1-Qays and
Tarafa.
43. The Seven Golden Odes of Pagan Arabia, translated from the
original Arabic by Lady Anne Blunt and done into English
verse by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (London, 1903).
*44. Hamdsa oder die dltesien arabischen Volkslieder ilbersetzt mid
erldutert, by Friedrich Riickert, 2 vols. (Stuttgart, 1846).
Masterly verse-translations of the old Arabian poetry.
*45. Translations of ancient Arabian poetry, chiefly Pre-islamic, with
an introduction and notes, by C. J. Lyall (London, 1885).
*46. Beitnige ziir Kenntniss der Poesie der alien Arabcr, by Th.
Noldeke (Hannover, 1864).
47. Benterkungen Uber die Aechiheii der alien Arabischen Gedichte, by
W. Ahlwardt (Greifswald, 1872).
*48. Studien in arabischen Dichtern, Heft iii, Altarabisches Beduinen-
leben nach den Qiiellen geschildert, by G. Jacob (Berlin, 1897).
*49. Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, by W. Robertson Smith
(2nd ed., London, 1903).
*50. Lectures on the Religion of the Semites, First Series, by W.
Robertson Smith (London, 1894).
*5i. Reste Arabischen Heidentums, by J. Wellhausen (2nd ed., Berlin,
1897).
52. Ueber die Religion der vorislamischcn Araber, by L. Krehl
(Leipzig, 1863).
IV
MUHAMMAD AND THE KORAN.
*53. Das Leben Mohammed's, translated from the Arabic biography
of Ibn Hisham by G. Weil, 2 vols. (Stuttgart, 1864).
54. Muhammed in Medina, by J. Wellhausen (Berlin, 1882).
An abridged translation of Waqidi's work on Muhammad's
Campaigns.
,1^ ^
476 BIBLIOGRAPHY
*55. Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad, by A. Sprenger, 3 vols.
(Berlin, 1861-65).
*56. Life of Mahomet, by Sir W. Muir, 4 vols. (London, 1858-61).
*57. Das Leben Muhammed's nach den Quellen popular dargestellt,
by Th. Noldeke (Hannover, 1863).
58. Das Leben und die Lehre des Muhammed, by L. Krehl (Leipzig,
1884).
*59. The Life and Teachings of Mohammed and the Spirit of Islam,
by Syed Ameer Ali (London, 189 1).
*6o. Mohammed, by H. Grimme, 2 vols. (Miinster, 1892-95).
61. Die welfgeschichtliche Bedeutung Arabiens : Mohammed, by H.
Grimme (Munich, 1904).
*62. Mohammed and the Rise of Islam, by D. S. Margoliouth in
'Heroes of the Nations' Series (London and New York,
1905)-
63. Muhammed, sein Leben, nebst e. Einleitung fiber d. Verhdltnisse
in Arabien vor seinem Auftreten, by F. Buhl, trans, by P.
Stocks (Leipzig, 1906).
64. Muhammed, his life and doctrines, by A. N. Wollaston (London,
1904).
65. Annali dell' Islam, by Leone Caetani, Principe di Teano, vol i.
(Milan, 1905).
Besides a very full and readable historical introduction
this magnificent work contains a detailed account of
Muhammad's life during the first six years of the Hijra
(622-628 A.D.).
66. The Koran, translated into English with notes and a preliminary
discourse, by G. Sale (London, 1734).
Sale's translation, which has been frequently reprinted, is
still serviceable. Mention may also be made of the English
versions by J. M. Rodwell (London and Hertford, 1861) and
by E. H. Palmer (the best from a literary point of view) in
vols, vi and ix of ' The Sacred Books of the East ' (Oxford,
1880).
*67. Geschichte des Qordns, by Th. Noldeke (Gottingen, i860).
Cf. Noldeke's essay, ' The Koran,' in Sketches from Eastern
History, pp. 21-59, O"^ his article in the Encyclopcedia
Britannica (9th ed.).
68. Einleitung in den Koran, by G. Weil (2nd ed., Bielefeld, 1878).
69. Le Koran, sa poesie et ses lots, by Stanley Lane-Poole (Paris,
1882).
70. New Researches into the composition and exegesis of the Qordn,
by H. Hirschfeld (London, 1902).
BIBLIOGRAPHY 477
71. The Speeches and Table-talk of the Prophet Mohammed, chosen
and translated . . ., by Stanley Lane-Poole (Edinburgh, 1882),
72. Les traditions islamiques trad, de I'arabe, by O. Houdas and
W. Margais, vol, i (Paris, 1903).
A translation of the celebrated collection of Traditions by
Bukhari.
THE HISTORY OF THE CALIPHATE.
*73. Geschichte der Chalifen, by G.Weil, 3 vols. (Mannheim, 1846-51).
Completed by the same author's Geschichte des Abbasiden-
Chalifats in Egypten, 2 vols. (Stuttgart, 1860-62).
74. Aimals of the Early Caliphate, by Sir W. Muir (London, 1883).
75. The Caliphate, its rise, decline, and fall, by Sir W. Muir (London,
1891).
-^76. The Arab Conquest of Egypt and the last thirty years of Roman
dominion, by A. J. Butler (London, 1902).
+77. Das Arabische Reich und sein Sturz, by J. Wellhausen (Berlin,
1902).
An excellent history of the Umayyad dynasty based on the
Annals of Tabari.
*78. Recherches sur la Domination arabe, la Chiitisme et les croyances
messianiques sous le Khalifat des Omayades, by G. Van
Vloten (Amsterdam, 1894).
79. Geschichte der Fatimiden-Chalifen, nach arabischen Quellen, by
F. Wiistenfeld (Gottingen, 188 1).
VI
THE HISTORY OF MOSLEM CIVILISATION.
*8o. Prolegomhics d'Ibn Khaldoun, a French translation of the
Muqaddima or Introduction prefixed by Ibn Khaldun to his
Universal History, by Baron MacGuckin de Slane, 3 vols.
(in Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits de la Bibliotheque
Imperiale, vols, xix-xxi, Paris, 1863-68).
*8i. Culturgeschichte des Orients unter den Chalifen, by A. von
Kremer, 2 vols. (Vienna, 1875-77).
*82. Culturgeschichtliche Streifzilge auf dem Gebiete des Islams, by
A. von Kremer (Leipzig, 1873).
This work has been translated into English by S. Khuda
Bukhsh in his Contributions to the History of Islamic Civiliza-
tion (Calcutta, 1905).
t-
478 BIBLIOGRAPHY
*83. Geschichte der herrschenden Ideen des Islams, by A. von Kremer
(Leipzig, 1868).
*84. Muhammedanische Studien, by Ignaz Goldziher (Halle, i888-go)
This book, which has frequently been cited in the fore-
going pages, should be read by every serious student of
Moslem civilisation.
85. Umayyads and 'Abbdsids, being the Fourth Part of Jurji
Zaydan's History of Islamic Civilisation, translated by D. S.
Margoliouth (E. J. W. Gibb Memorial, London, 1907).
*86. Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate, by G. le Strange
(Oxford, 1900).
*87, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate, by G. le Strange (Cam-
bridge, 1905).
*88. Palestine imder the Moslems, by G. le Strange (London, 1890).
89. Arabian Society in the Middle Ages, by E. W. iLane, edited by
Stanley Lane-Poole (London, 1883).
90. Die Araber im Mittelalter und ihr Einfluss aufdie Cultur Europa's,
by G. Diercks (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1882).
*9i. An account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians,
by E. W. Lane (5th ed., London, 1871).
VII
MUHAMMADAN THEOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY, AND
MYSTICISM.
*Q2. Development of Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence, and Constitu-
tional Theory, by Duncan B. Macdonald (London, 1903).
The best general sketch of the subject.
93. The History of Philosophy in Islam, by T. J. de Boer, translated
by E. R. Jones (London, 1903).
*94. Asch-Schahrastdni's Religionspartheien und Philosophen-Schulen,
translated by T. Haarbriicker (Halle, 1850-51).
*95. Die religios-politischen Oppositionsparteien im alien Islam, by
J. Wellhausen (BerHn, 1901).
*96. Die Charidschiten unter den ersten Omayyaden, by R. E,
Briinnow (Leyden, 1884).
*97. Die Mutaziliten oder die Freidenker im Islam, by H. Steiner
(Leipzig, 1865).
98. Die Schule der Zdhiriten, by I. Goldziher (Leipzig, 1884).
99, Zur Geschichte Abu 'l-Hasan al-Ash'ari's, by W. Spitta (Leipzig,
1876).
*ioo. Die Philosophic der Araber im X. Jahrhundert n. Chr. aus den
BIBLIOGRAPHY 479
Schriflen der lantern Brildcr herausgegeben, by F. Dieterici
(Berlin and Leipzig, 1861-1879).
loi. Averroes et I' Averroisme, by E. Renan (Paris, 1861).
102. Melanges de Philosophie Juive et Arabe, by S. Munk (Paris,
1859)-
103. Fragments relatifs a la doctrine des Ismaelis, by S. Guyard
(Paris, 1874).
104. Memoire sur les Carmathes du Bahrain et les Fatimides, by
M. J. de Goeje (Leyden, 1886).
105. Expose de la Religion des Driizes, by Silvestre de Sacy, 2 vols.
(Paris, 1838).
106. Idee nnd Grundlinien einer allgemeinen Geschichte der Mystik,
by A. Merx (Heidelberg, 1893).
107. Ssufismtis sive Theosophia Persarum Pantheisiica, by F. A.
Tholuck (Berlin, 1821).
Some notion of the leading principles of Sufiism may
readily be obtained from Professor Browne's article Sufiism
in Religious Systems of the World (Swan Sonnenschein, 1892),
or from the Introductions to Whinfield's abridged translation
of the Masnavi of Jalalu'ddin Rumi (2nd ed., London, 1898),
and to his edition of the Gulshan-i Rdz of Mahmud Shabistari
(London, 1880).
108. The Dervishes or Oriental Spiritualism, by John P. Brown
(London, 1868).
*I09. Les Confrcries religieuses Musiilmanes, by O. Depont and
X. Coppolani (Algiers, 1897).
VIII
THE HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF THE MOORS.
*iio. Histoire des Musuhnans d'Espagne jusqu' a la conquete de
I'Andalusie par les Almoravides (711-1110 a.d.), by R. Dozy,
4 vols. (Leyden, 1861).
111. History of the Moorish Empire in Europe, by S. P. Scott, 3 vols.
(New York, 1904).
112. The Moriscos of Spain, their conversion and expulsion, by H. C.
Lea (Philadelphia, 1901).
113. Historia de los Mozdrabes de Espafia, by F. J. Simonet (Madrid,
1897-1903).
114. History of the Mohammedan dynasties of Spain, translated from
the Naflt al-Tib of Maqqari by Pascual de Gayangos, 2 vols.
(London, Oriental Translation Fund, 1840-43).
48o BIBLIOGRAPHY
115. Annales regunt Mauritanice, Arabic text and Latin translation,
by C. J. Tornberg (Upsala, 1843-46).
[ 116. The History of the Almohades, by 'Abdu '1- Wahid al-Marrakoshi,
translated by E. Fagnan (Algiers, 1893).
117. Bibliothcca arabico-hispana Escurialensis, by M. Casiri, 2 vols.
(Madrid, 1760-70).
*ii8. Recherches sur I'histoire et la littcrature de I'Espagne pendant le
moyen age, by R. Dozy, 2 vols. (3rd ed., Leyden, 1881).
*ii9. Poesie und Kunst der Araber in Spanien und Sicilien, by A. F.
von Schack, 2 vols. (2nd. ed., Stuttgart, 1877).
120. Moorish remains in Spain, by A. F. Calvert (London, 1905).
IX
THE HISTORY OF THE ARABS FROM THE MONGOL
INVASION IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY TO THE
PRESENT DAY.
*i2i. Histoire des Sultans Mamlouks de I'Egypte, ecrite en arabe par
Taki-eddin Ahmed Makrizi, iraduite en franfais . . . par
M. Quatremere, 2 vols. (Oriental Translation Fund, 1845).
122. The Mameluke or Slave dynasty cf Egypt, by Sir W. Muir
(London, 1896).
123. Histoire de Bagdad depuis la domination des Khans mongols
jusqu' au massacre des Mamlouks, by C. Huart (Paris, 1901).
124. History of the Egyptian revolution from the period of the Mame-
lukes to the death of Mohammed AU, by A. A. Paton, 2 vols.
(London, 1870).
125. The Shaikhs of Morocco in the XVI"' century, by T. H. Weir
(Edinburgh, 1904).
126. Arabien und die Araber seit hunderi Jahren, by A. Zehme
(Halle, 1875).
127. Die Zeitungen und Zeitschriften in arabischer Sprache, by
M. Hartmann, in Specimen dune Encyclopedie Musulmane,
ed. by Th. Houtsma (Leyden, 1899).
128. The Arabic Press of Egypt, by M. Hartmann (London, 1899).
129. Neuarabische Volkspoesie gesammeli und uebersetzt, by Enno
Littmann (Berlin, 1902).
I
M
INDEX
In the following Index it has been found necessary to omit the accents indicating the
long vowels, and the dots which are used in the text to distinguish letters of similar
pronunciation. On the other hand, the definite article al has been prefixed throughout to
those Arabic names which it properly precedes : it is sometimes written in full, but is
generally denoted by a hyphen, e.g. -'Abbas for al-'Abbas. Names of books, as well as
Oriental words and technical terms explained in the text, are printed in italics. Where a
number of references occur under one heading, the more important are, as a rule, shown
by means of thicker type.
Aaron, 215, 273
'Abbad, 421
'Abbadid dynasty, the, 414,
421-424, 431
-'Abbas, 146, 249, 250, 251
-'Abbas b. -Ahnaf (poet), 261
'Abbasa, 261
'Abbasid history, two periods
of, 257
'Abbasid propaganda, the,
249-251
'Abbasids, the, xxviii, xxix,
XXX, 6s, 181, 182, IQ3, 194,
220, 249-253, 254-284, 287-
291, 365-367, 373
'Abdullah, father of the Pro-
phet, xxvii, 146, 148, 250
'Abdullah, brother of Durayd
b. -Simma, 83
'Abdullah, the Amir (Spanish
Umayyad), 411
'Abdullah b. -'Abbas, 145,
237. 249
'Abdullah b. Hamdan, 269
'Abdullah b. Ibad, 2U
'Abdullah b. Mas'ud, 352
'Abdullah b. Maymun al-
Qaddah, 271-274, 363
'Abdullah b. Muhammad b.
Adham, 423
'Abdullah b. -Mu'tazz. See
Ibntt 'l-Mii'tazz
'Abdullah b. Saba, 215, 216
'Abdullah b. Tahir, 129
'Abdullah b. Ubayy, 172
'Abdullah b. Yasin al-Kuzuli,
430
'Abdullah b. -Zubayr, 198, 199,
200, 202
'Abdu 'l-'Aziz (Marinid), 436
'Abdu 'l-'Aziz, brother of
'Abdu '1-Malik, 200
' Abdu 'l-'Aziz, son of Muham-
mad b. Sa'ud, 466
'Abdu '1-Ghani al-Nabulusi,
402
'Abdu '1-Hamid, 267
'Abdu '1-Malik (Umayyad
Caliph), 200-202, 206, 209,
224, 240, 242, 244, 247, 349,
407
'Abd Manaf, 146
'Abdu 'l-Mu'min (Almohade),
432
'Abdu '1-Muttalib, 66-68, 146,
148, 154, 250
'Abdu '1-Qadir al-Baghdadi,
i3i
'Abdu '1-Qadir al-Jili, 393
'Abd al-Qays (tribe), 94
'Abdu '1-Rahman I, the
Umayyad, 253, 264, 405-407,
417,418
'Abdu '1-Rahman II (Spanish
Umayyad), 409, 418
'Abdu '1-Rahman III (Spanish
Umayyad), 411-412, 420, 425
'Abdu 'i-Rahman V (Spanish
Umayyad), 426
'Abdu '1-Rahman b. 'Awf, 186
'Abd Shams, 146
'Abd Shams Saba, 14
'Abdu 'l-'Uzza, 159
'Abdu '1-Wahhab, founder of
the Wahhabite sect. See
Muhammad b. 'Abd al-
Wahhab.
'Abdu '1-Wahhab al-Sha'rani.
See -Sha'rani
'Abdu '1-Wahid of Morocco
(historian), 431, 433
'Abid b. -Abras (poet), 39, 44,
86, loi
'Abid b. Sharya, 13, 19, 247
'Abida b. Hilal, 239
'Abir, xviii
'Abla, 115
-Ablaq (name of a castle), 84
Ablutions, the ceremonial, in-
cumbent on Moslems, 149
32
-Abna, 29
Abraha, 6, 15, 28, 63-68
Abraham, xviii, 22, 62, 63. 66,
149, 150, 165. 172, 177
Abraham, the religion of, 62,
149. 177
'Abs (tribe), xix, 61, 88, 114-
117
Absal, 433
Abu 1 'Abbas (Marinid), 436
Abu '1- 'Abbas Ahmad al-
Marsi, 327
Abu 'l-'Abbas al-Nami (poet),
270
Abu 'l-'Abbas-Saffah, 182, 253.
See -Saffah
Abu 'Abdallah Ibnu '1-Ahmar
(Nasrid), 437
Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-
Sulami, 338
Abu Ahmad al-Mihrajani, 370
Abu 'l-'Ala al-Ma'arri, 166,
167, 206. 271, 289, 291, 296,
30«, 313-324, 375, 448
Abu 'Ali al-Qali, 420
Abu 'Ali b. Sina, 265. See
Ibn Sina
Abu 'Amir, the Monk, 170
Abu 'Amr b. al-'Ala, 242, 283,
343
Abu '1-Aswad al-Du'ali, 342,
343
Abu 'l-'Atahiya (poet), 261,
291, 296-303, 308, 312, 324.
374
Abu A^'man (title), 14
Abu Bakr (Caliph), xxvii, 142,
153, 175. 180, 183, 18s, 210,
214, 215, 257, 268, 297
Abu Bakr b. Abi 'l-Azhar, 344
Abu Bakr Ibnu 'l-'Arabi of
Seville, 399
Abu Bakr b. Mu'awiya, 42a
Abu Bakr al-Nabulusi, 460
Abu Bakr al-Razi (physician),
265. See -Razi
481
482
INDEX
Abu Bakr b. 'Umar, 430
Abu l-Darda, 225
Abu Dawud al-Sijistani, 337
Abu '1-Faraj of Isfahan, 32,
123, 131, 270, 347, 419. See
Kitabu 'l-Aghani
Abu 'l-Faraj al-Babbagha
(poet), 270
Abu '1-Fida (historian), 308,
316, 331, 4S4.
Abu Firas al-Hamdani (poet),
270, 304
Abu Ghubshan, 65
Abu Hanifa, 222, 284, 402, 408
Abu l-Hasan 'Ali b. Harun
al-Zanjani, 370
Abu 'l-Hasan al-Ash'ari, 284.
See -Ash'ari
Abu Hashim, the Imam, 220,
251
Abu Hashim, the Sufi, 229
Abu Hudhayl -'AUaf, 369
Abu '1-Husayn al-Nuri, 392
Abu 'Imran al-Fasi, 429
Abu Ishaq al-Farisi. See
-Istakhri
Abu Ja'far -Mansur, 258, See
-Mamur, Die Caliph
Abu Jahl, 158
Abu Karib, the Tubba', 12, 19.
See As'ad Kainil
Abu Lahab. 159, 160
Abu '1-Mahasin b. Taghri-
birdi (historian), 257, 262,
267, 268, 350. 369, 434
Abu Marwan Ghaylan, 224
Abu Ma'shar, 361
Abu Mihjan (poet), 127
Abu Mikhnaf, 2io
Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, 192, 377
Abu Muslim, 220, 251-2S2, 375
Abu Nasr al-Isma'ili, 339
Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani, 338
Abu Xuwas (poet), 261, 277,
286, 290, 291, 292-296, 303,
308, 345. 375
Abu yabus, kuiiya of -Nu'man
HI, 45
Abu '1-Qasim Ahmad. See
-Mtistaiisir
Abu '1-Qasim Muhammad, the
Cadi, 421
Abu '1-Qasim b. -Muzaffar, 312
Abu '1-Qasim al-Zahrawi, 420
Abu Qays b. Abi Anas, 170
Abu QuiTa, 221
Abu Sa'id b. Abi '1-Khayr,
391. 394
Abu Salama, 257
Abu Salih Mansur b. Ishaq
(Samanid), 265
Abu 'i-Salt b. Abi Rabi'a, 69
Abu Shaduf, 450
Abu Shamir the Younger, 50
Abu Shamir, kuiiya of -Harith
b. 'Amr Muharriq, 50
Abu Shuja' Buwayh, 266
Abu Sufyan, 124, 175, 195
Abu Sulayman al-Darani, 384,
386, 388
Abu Sulayman Muhammad
b. Ma'shar al-Bayusti, 370
Abu Talib, uncle of the Pro-
phet, 146, 148, 154, 157, 183,
250
Abu Talib al-Makki, 338, 393
Abu Tammam, author of the
Hamasa, 79, 129-130, 288,
316,324.331. See -Hamasa
Abu 'Ubayda (philologist), 94,
242, 261, 280, 343, 344, 343,
459
Abu 'Ubayda b. al-Jarrah. 51
Abu '1-Walid al-Baji, 428
Abu Yazid al-Bistami, 391.
See Bayazid al-Bistami
Abu Yusuf, the Cadi, 283
Abu Zayd of Saruj, 330, 331,
332, 335
Abu Zayd Muhammad al-
Qurashi. 130
Abusir, 326
Abyssinia, 53, 155, 156
Abyssinians, the, .xxi ; in
-Yemen, 5, 6, 26-29 ; invade
the Hijaz, 66-68
Academ}' of Junde-shapur,
the, 358
Academy of Sabur, the, 267,
314
■Ad (people), 1, 2, 3
adab, 283, 346
Adabu H-Katib, 346
Adam, xxvi, 62, 63, 244, 398
'Adana (river), 15
'Adawi dervishes, the, 393
Adharbayjan, 17
'Adi (tribe), 233
'Adi b. '.A.mr, 94
'Adi al-Hakkari, 393
'Adi b. Marina, 244
'Adi b. Nasr, 35
'Adi b. Zayd, 40, 43-48, 49,
138, 244 "
'Adiya, 85
Adler, 316
'Adnan, xviii, xix, xx, 64
'Adudu '1-Da\vla (Buwayhid),
266, 307
^■Elius Gallus, 9
..•Ethiopic language, the, xvi,
xxi
Afghanistan, 268, 275
Africa, xv, xvi
Africa, North, 53, 203, 253,
271. 274. 405, 419, 423, 424.
429, 430, 434, 437, 439, 442,
443> 468
Afshin, 375
-Af wah al-Awdi (poet), 83
-Aghani. SeeKiiabii 'l-Aghani
Aghlabid dynasty, the, 264,
274. 441
Aghmat, 424
-Ahlaf, at -Hira, 38
Ahlu '1-Kitab, 341
Ahlu '1-Taswiya, 380. See
Shu'jibifes, the
Ahlu '1-tawhid \va-'l-'adl, a
name given to the Mu'tazi-
lites, 224
Ahlwardt. 76, loi, 125, 128,
133, 136, 286, 293, 294, 304,
349, 454
Ahmad (Buwayhid), 266
Ahmad, brother of Ghazali,
339
Ahmad, father of Ibn Hazm,
426
Ahmad b. Hanbal, 284, 369,
376, 402
Ahmad al-Nahhas, 102
Ahmad b. Tulun, 354
Ahmarof Thamud, 3
Ahnum, 19
Ahqafu '1-Raml (desert), i
Alisaiiu 'l-Taqasim fi ma'r-
ifati 'l-Aqalim, 357
ahwal, mystical term, 231, 391
-Ahwas(poet), 237
-Ahwaz, 271, 293
A'isha, 151, 183
'Aja Hbu 'l-Maqdiir, 454
-'Ajam (the non-Arabs), 277.
See -Mawali
-'Ajjaj (poet) 138
-Ajurruviiyya, 456
Akbar (Mogul Emperor), xxx
Akhba7-u 'l-Zanian, 353
-Akhtal (poet), 221, 238, 239-
242. 285
akhu 'l-safa, 370
Akilu '1-Murar (surname), 42
-j^'lam (philologist), 128
Alamut, 445
'Ala'u '1-Din Muhammad
Khwarizmshah, 444
Albategnius, 361
Albucasis, 420
Albumaser, 361
Alchemists, the, 361, 387
Alchemy, works on, tianslated
into ."Vrabic, 358
Aleppo, 269. 270, 275, 291, 303,
305, 313, 360, 415, 446,451,
460, 461
Alexander the Great, 17, 276,
358, 457
Alexandria, 340
Alexandrian Library, the, 435
Alf Layla wa-Layla. 456, 459.
See Thousand Nights and a
Night and Arabian Nights
-A Iflyya, 456
Alfraganus, 361
Algeria, 430
Algiers, 468
Alhambra. the, 435
'All (Buwayhid), 266
'Ali, grandson of 'Umar Ibnu
'1-Farid, 394
'Ali b. Abi Talib, the Prophet's
son-in-law, xxvii,xxviii, 105,
153, 181, 183, 19(y-193. 194,
196,205, 207-211, 213-218,
220-222. 243. 249, 250, 251,
264, 267, 273, 274, 342, 343,
349. 377. 432, 442
'All b. Abi Talib, public
cursing of, 205
'Ali b. -Mansur, Shaykh, 319
'Ali b. Musa b. Ja'far al-Rida,
262, 3S5
'Alids, the, 258, 259, 337. See
'AH b. Abi Talib and Shi-
Htes, Die
INDEX
483
Allah, 62, 134, 135, 164. 231,
392
Allah, the Muhammadan con-
ception of, 225, 231
Almaqa, 18
Almeria, 421
Almohades, the, 217, 429, 431-
434
Almoravides, the, 423, 429-
431
Alp Arslan (Seljuq), 275, 276,
34°. 379
Alphabet, the South Arabi?,
6, 8, 12
Alphonso VI of Castile, 422,
423. 431
'Alqama b. 'Abada (poet), 121,
125, 128
'Alqama b. Dhi Jadan (poet),
12
Alvaro, Bishop of Cordova,
414
Amaj, 22
-Aniali, 420
-Amaliq (Amalekites). 2, 3, 63
'Amidu "l-Mulk al-Kunduri,
379
-Amin, the Caliph, 255, 262,
293. 343
Amina, mother of the Pro-
phet, 146
'Amir b. Sa'sa'a (tribe), 119
■Amir b. Uhaymir, 87
Amiru '1-Mu'minin (Com-
mander of the Faithful),
185
Amiru '1-Umara (title), 264
•Amr, the Tubba', 25, 26
'Amr b. 'Adi b. Nasr, 35, 36,
37. 40
'Amr b. 'Amir (tribe), 94
'Amr b. 'Amir Ma' al-Sama
al-Muzayqiya, 15, 16, 49
'Amr b. -'As, 192
'Amr b. -Harith (Ghassanid),
50, 54, 122
'Amr b. Hind (Lakhmite), 44,
107, 108, 109, 112
'Amr b. Kulthum (poet), 44,
82, 102, 109-113, 128, 269
'Amr b. Luhayy, 63, 64
'Amr b. Ma'dikarib, 82
'Amr b. Mas'ud, 43
'Amr b. 'Ubayd, 223, 374
'Amr b. Zarib, 35
Amul, 350
Anas, 88
'anaiira, 459
'Anaza (tribe), xix
-Anbar, 38
-Anbari (philologist), 128
-Anbat, xxv. See Naba-
fceans, the.
Ancient Sciences, the, 282
-Andarin, iii
Angels the Recording, i6i
Angora, 104
-Ansar (the Helpers) 171, 241
'Antar, the Romance of, 34,
459
'Antara (poet), 76, 109, IH-
116, 128, 459
'antari, 459
Anthologies of Arabic poetry,
128-130, 2S9, 325, 343, 347,
348. 417
Anthropomorphism, 369, 376,
379, 432
Antioch, 43
Anushirwan (Sasanian king).
See Nnshinvan
Anushirwan b. Khalid, 329
Aphrodite, 43
-'Aqida, by 'Izzu '1-Din b.
'Abd al-Salam, 461
'Aqil, 35
Arab horses, the training of,
226
Arab singers in the first cen-
tury a.'h., 236
a'rabi (Bedouin), 210
Arabia, in the'Abbasid period,
276
Arabia Felix, xvii, 4. See
-Yemen
Arabian History, three periods
of, xxvi
Arabian Nights, the, 238, 256,
261, 292, 421, 456-459
Arabic language, the, xvi,
xvii, xxi-xxv, 6, 77, 201,
203, 239, 265, 277-280, 336,
342. 344
Arabic literature, largely the
work of non-Arabs, xxx,
xxxi, 276-278
Arabic Press, the, 469
Arabic writing, 201 ; oldest
specimens of, xxi, xxii
Arabs, the Ishmaelite, xviii
Arabs of Khurasan, the,
thoroughly Persianised, 250
Arabs, the Northern. See
Arabs, the Ishmaelite
Arabs, the Northern and
Southern, racial enmity
between, xx, 199, 200, 252,
405, 406
Arabs, the Southern, xvii,
xviii, XX, 4. See Arabs, the
Yemenite
Arabs, the Yemenite, xvii,
xviii, XX, 38, 55, 199, 252,
405, 406. See Sabceans, the ;
Himyarites, the
Arabs, the Yoqtanid, xviii.
See Arabs, the Yemenite
Aram^ans, the, xv, xxv
Aramaic language, the, xvi,
XXV. 279, 375
-Araqim, 113, 114
Arbela, 451
Ardashir Babakan, founder of
the Sasanian dynasty, 34, 38
'Ap'sQaq Tov FajSaXa, 51
Arhakim, 11
'an/ (gnostic), 386
'Arifu '1-Zanadiqa, 373
Aristocracy of Islam, the, 188,
190
Aristotle, 35S, 359, 360
-'Arji (poet), 237
Armenia, xv, 352
Arnaud, Th., 9, 15, 17
Arnold, F. A., 105, 107, 109,
III, 113, 114
Arnold, f. W., 184, 223, 224
Arsacids, the, 21, 38
Aryat, 27, 28
-'Asa (name of a mare), 36
'asabiyya, 440
Asad (tribe), xix, 104
Asad Kamil, the Tubba', 12,
19-23, 25, 26, 137
Asad b. Musa, 247
Asal, 433
asalib, 289, 315
Ascaloa 456
Ascension of the Prophet, the,
169, 403
Asd (tribe), 19
-A'sha(poet), 16, loi, 121, 123-
125, 128, 138, 139
-Ash'ari (Abu '1-HaSan), 284,
376-379, 431
Ash'arites, the, 379, 380, 460
Ash'aru 'l-Hudhaliyyin, 128
-Ashram (surname of Abraha),
28
Asia, XV, 275, 352, 414
Asia, Central, 255
Asia Minor, 269, 399, 434, 446
Asia. Western, xvi, jcxix, 358,
442, 444, 446
aslania, 153
-Asma'i (philologist), 261, 343,
344. 343, 459
Assassins, the, 272, 371, 372,
381. 445
Assyrians, the, xv
Assyrian language, the, xvi
Astrologers and Astronomers,
361
Astronomy, 276, 283
Aswad b. -Mundhir, 47
-Atliar al-Baqiya, 361
Atharu 'l-Bilad, 416
Athens, 240, 358
'Athtar, 'Athtor (Sabaean
divinity), 11, 18
Atlal, 286
'Attar (Persian mystic). See
Faridii'ddin 'Attar
'Atwada, 28
Aurelian, 34
Aurora, 412
Avempace. See Ibn Bajfa
Avenzoar, 434
Averroes. See Ibn Rushd
Avicenna. See Ibn Sina
awa'il (origins), 247
'Awarifxi 'l-Ma'arif, 230, 338
-'Awfi, 370
auiiya (saints), 393
Awrangzib (Mogul Emperor)
xxx
Aws (tribe), 170
Aws b. Hajar (poet), 131
Awwam Dhu 'Iran Alu, 11
ayat (verse of the Koran,
sign, miracle), 166
Ayatu '1-Kursi (the Throne-
verse), 176
Aybak, 447
-Ayham b. -Harith (Ghas-
sanid), 50
484
INDEX
' Ayn Jalut, battle of, 446
'Ayn Ubagh. battle of, 52
ayyamu 'I- Arab, 55, 356
Ayyubid dynasty, the, 275,
447> 453
Azd (tribe), 79, 374
-Azhar, the mosque, 395
Azraqites (-Azariqa), the, 208
239
B
Baalbec. iii
Bab al-Mandab, 5
Babak, 258, 375
Babar (Mogul Emperor),
xxix, 444
Babylon, xxv, 38
Babylonia, 34, 38. 138, 253,
255, 307. See -Iraq
Babylonians, the, xv
Babylonian and Assyrian
inscriptions, the, xvi, xxv
Badajoz, 421, 423
Badis, 428
fiadi'u '1-Zaman al-Hama-
dhani, 328, 329, 331
Badr, battle of, 158, 174. I75
Badr, freedman of 'Abdu
'l-Rahnian the Umayyad,
405, 406
-Baghawi, 337
Baghdad, xxviii, xxix, 131,
182, 254, 255-236, 290-293,
303. 307, 313, 314, 315, 326.
338, 340, 345. 346. 347. 350.
351. 352, 355, 357, 359, 362,
3f'5, 369. 376, 380, 382. 385.
387. 392, 399. 412. 41S. 418.
431, 441, 444-446, 447. 449,
450, 458, 461, 465, 466
Baghdad, history of its
eminent men, by -Khatib,
355
Baha'u '1-Dawla (Buwayhid),
267, 314
Bahdala (tribe), 87
Bahira, the monk, 148
Bahman (Sasanian), 457
Bahram Gor (Sasanian), 40, 41
-Bahrayn (province), 107, 108,
186
Bahri Mamelukes, the, 447
Baju, 445
-Bakharzi, 348
Bakil (tribe), 12
Bakr (tribe), xix, 55-60, 61, 69,
70, 76, 93, 107, 109, 113, 114,
242 o
-Bakri (geographer), 357, 428
Balaam, 73
-Baladhuri (historian), 280,
349
-balagh al-akbar, 371
Balak, 73
-Bal'ami, 265, 352
Balaq (mountain), 17
Balkh, 232, 233, 259, 361, 385
-Balqa, 63
Baiiat Su'ad, the openmg
words of an ode, 119. 127,
327
Banu '1-Ahrar, 29
Banu Hind, 58
Banu Khaldun, 437
Banu Musa, 359
Banu Nahshal, 243
Baptists, name given to the
early Moslems, 149
Baqqa, 36
-Baramika, 259. See Barme-
cides, the
Barbier de Meynard, 13, 15.
37. 19s. 259. 350, 352, 353.
380, 457
Bardesanes, 364
Barmak, 25g
Barmakites, the. See Barme-
cides, the
Barmecides, the, 255, 239-
261, 262, 293
Barquq, Sultan (Mameluke),
452
Bashama, 119
Bashshar b. Burd, 245. 277,
290, 373-374, 375
-basil (metre), 75
-Basra, xxiv, 127, 133, I34-
186, 189, 195, 202, 209, 210,
215, 222, 223, 225. 226, 233,
242, 243, 246, 273, 281, 293,
294, 329, 331, 336, 341, 342,
343, 345. 346, 369, 370, 374.
377. 378
Basset, R., 327
-Basus, 56
-Basus, the War of, 53-60, 61,
76, 107, 114
-Batiniyya (Batinites), 381,
382, 402. See Isma'ilis,
the
-Battani, 361
-hayan, 283
-Bayan al-Mughrib, 407
Bayard, 191
Bayazid of Bistam, 460. See
Abu Yazid al-Bistami
Baybars, Sultan (Mameluke),
447. 448
-Baydawi, 145, i79
bayt (verse), 74, 77
Baytu l-Hikma, at Baghdad,
359
-Bazbaz, 60
Bedouin view of life, the, 136
Bedouin warfare, character
°f' 54, 55 ,, ^ ^, .,
Bedouin women, Mutanabbi s
descriptions of, 310
Benu Marthadim, n
Berber insurrection in Africa,
405
Berbers, the, 204, 274, 405-
409, 413. 420, 423. 424, 429-
432, 442, 443
Berbers, used as mercenaries,
407
Berlin Royal Library, 8, 12
Bevan, Prof. A. A., 46, 80, 151,
166, 168, 199, 205, 239, 244,
253. 356, 373. 374. 375
Beyrout, 238, 469
Bibliographical Dictionary,
by Hajji KhaUfa, 456
Bibliotheca Geographorum
Arabicorum, 356
Bidpai. the Fables of, 330.
346
Bilqis, 18
-Bimaristan al-'Adudi, 266
Biographies of poets, 346, 347,
348
Birnam Wood, 25
-Biruni (Abu Rayhan), 269,
280, 361
Bishr b. Abi Khazim (poet),
86
Bishr al-Hafi, 228
Bishr b. -Mutamir, 369
Bistam, 391
Black, J. S., 184, 249, 258
Black, the colour of the
'Abbasids, 220, 262
Black Stone in the Ka'ba,
the, 63, 274, 319. 467
Blunt, Lady Anne, 88, loi
Blunt, Wilfrid, 88, loi
Bobastro, 410
Boer, T.J. de, 433
Bohlen, 308, 312
Bokhara, 203, 265, 275, 360
Book of Examples, the, by
Ibn Khaldun, 437
Book of Sibawayhi. the, 343
Book of the Thousand Tales.
th^ ' See Hazar Afsan
Book of Viziers, tlie, 458
Books, the Six Canonical,
337
Boswell, 144, 313. 452
Brethren of Purity, the, 370-
372
British Museum, the 12, 402
Brockelmann, C. , 205, 236,
237, 308, 328, 339. 346. 349.
449. 459. 468, 469
Browne, Prof. E. G., 29, 42,
185, 217, 218, 230, 247, 251.
258, 265, 272, 275, 290, 329.
346, 362, 375. 381, 383. 394,
399. 445
Briinnow, R. E., 32, 35, 49,
51, 209, 210
Brutus, 252
Bu'ath, battle of, 170
Buddh.i, 297, 298
Buddhism, 373. 375. 39°. 391-
See 'Nirvana
-Buhturi (poet), 130, 316,
324
Bujayr b. 'Amr, 58
Bukhara. See Bokhara
-Bukhari, 144. 146, 151, 337
Bulaq, 4'39
Bunyan, 212
Burckhardt, 95,465. 466. 4^7
Burd, 373
-Burda, 326, 327
-burda (the Prophet's mantle)
327, 366
Burji Mamelukes, the, 447
Burns, Robert, 450
burnus, the, a mark of asceti-
cism, 210
Burton, Sir Richard, 459
Busir, 326
i
INDEX
485
-Busiri (poet), 326, 327
Buthayna, 238
Butrites, the, a Shi'ite sect,
297
Buwavhid dynasty, the, 264,
266^268, 271, 275, 303, 338
Byzantine Empire, the, 3, 29,
46, 171, 255, 261, 269, 359
Cadiz, 405
Caesar, 252
Caetani, Prince, 149, 155, 156,
171
Cairo, 275, 350, 394, 395, 437,
447. 448, 451. 452, 453. 454.
455. 458. 461. 4^14. 4<J9
Caliph, the, must belong to
yuraysh, 207
Caliph, name of the, men-
tioned in the Friday ser-
mon, 263, 264 ; stamped
on the coinage, 264 ; title
of, assumed by the Fati-
mids, 271 ; by the Umay-
yads of Spain, 412
Caliphs, the, -Mas'udi's ac-
count of, 354
Caliphs, the 'Abbasid. See
'Abbasids, the
Caliphs, the Orthodox, xxiii,
x-xvii, 181-193
Caliphs, the Umayyad. See
Umayyad dynasty, the
Calpe, 204
Canaanites, the, 3
Canonical Books, the Six, 337
Capuchins, the, 228
Carmathians, the, 272, 274,
322, 324, 371, 375, 381, 467.
See Fatimid dynasty ;
Isma'ilis
Carmona, 437
Casanova, P., 371
Caspian Sea, the, xxviii, 21,
264, 266, 350, 352, 391
Castile, 422, 437
Castles of -Yemen, the, 24
Catharine of Siena, 233
Cathay, xxv
Caussin de Perceval, 32
Cave-dwellers of Khurasan,
the, 232
Celibacy condemned by Mu-
hammad, 224
Cemetery of the Sufis, the, at
Damascus, 463
Ceuta, 405, 412, 423, 434
Ceylon, 352
Chagar Beg, 275
Charles the Hammer, 204
Charter, the, drawn up by
Muhammad for the people
of Medina, 173
Chaucer, 289
Chauvin, Victor, 214
Chenery, T., 244, 328, 332,
333. 336
Chihrazad, 457
China, 203, 352, 419, 444
Chingiz Khan, 444
Christian poets who wrote in
Arabic, 138, 139
Christianity in Arabia, 117,
137-140; in Ghassan,5i, 54,
123 ; at -Hira, 39, 41, 43, 44,
46, 49, 123, 124, 138 ; in
Najran, 26, 27, 124, 137 ; in
Moslem Spain, 407, 411,
412, 413. 414-413, 431, 435.
441
Christianity, influence of, on
Muhammadan culture, xxii,
176. 177, 216, 221, 231, 389,
390
Christians, supposed by Mos-
lems to wear a girdle, 461
Christians, Monophysite, 51
Christians at the Umayyad
court, 221, 240, 241
Chrouology of Ancient Na-
tions, the, by -Biruni, 361
Church and State, regarded
as one by Moslems, 170,
182, 197
Chwolsohn, 363
Classicism, revolt against,
287-289
Cleopatra, 34
Coinage, Arabic, introduced
by 'Abdu'l-Malik, 201
Commercial terms derived
from Arabic, 281
Companions of the Prophet,
biographies of the, 144, 356,
456
Confession of faith, the Mu-
hammadan, 403
Conquests, the early Muh.im-
madan, work on the, 349
Constantinople, xxix, 29, 45,
52, 84, 104, 318, 362, 412
Cordova, 131, 341, 347, 406-
411, 412, 413-415,418,420-
426, 428, 434, 435
Cordova, the University of,
420
Courage, Arabian, the nature
of, 82
Criticism of Ancient and
Modern Poets, 283-289
Cromwell, 189
Crusade, the Third, 275
Crusaders, the, 331, 447
Cruttenden, 8
Ctesiphon. 47, 48, 210. See
-Madain
Cureton, 211, 216, 341
D
Dabba (tribe), xix
-Dahab al-'Ijli, 44
Dahis (name of a horse), 61
Dahis and -Ghabra, the War
of, 61, 62, 114, 116
-daliriyynn, 381
da'i (missionary), 249, 272
-Daja'ima, 50
-Dajjal (the Antichrist), 216
dakhil, 95
Damascus, xxi, xxviii, 13, 46,
51. 53, 54. 1". 181, 194, 195,
202, 203, 207, 235, 240, 241,
242, 244, 247, 252, 255, 274,
304. 313. 335, 340. 374, 386
399, 408, 451, 462, 463
-Damigh, 375
Daniel, 162
Dante, 360
dapir (Secretary), 257
Daqiqi, Persian poet, 265
Daraya, 386
Darius, 256
Darmesteter, J., 217
Daru 'l-Rum(Constantinople),
362
Daughters, the birth of, re-
garded as a misfortune, 91 ,
156
Daughters of Allah, the, 135,
156
Davidson, A. B., 8?
dawidar (dawadar), 445
Daws Dhu Tha'laban, 27
-Daylam, 266
Dead Sea, the, 249
Decline of the Caliphate, 257,
263
Derenbourg, H., 54, 122, 123,
194, 260, 331, 445, 454
Dervish orders, the, 393
Desecration of the tombs of
the Umayyad Caliplis, 205
-Dhahabi (Shamsu'1-Din), his-
torian, 339, 446, 454
Dhamar'ali Dhirrih, 10
Dhu '1-Khalasa, name of an
idol, 105
Dhu l-Khursayn (name of a
sword), 96
Dhu 'l-Majaz, 114
Dhu Nafar, 66, 67
Dhu l-Nun al-Misri, 386-388,
389, 460
Dhu '1-Nusur (surname), 2
Dhu Nuwas, 12, 26-27, I37
162
Dhu Qar, battle of, 69, 70
Dhu l-Qarnayn, 17, 18
Dhu '1-Quruh (title), 104
Dhu Ru'ayn, 25, 26
Dhu '1-Rumma (poet), 246
Dhu 'l-'Umrayn, nickname of
Ibnu 'l-Khatit), 436
Dhu '1-Wizaratayn (title), 425
Dhubyan (tribe), xix, 61, 62
ii6,'ii7, 121
Diacritical points in Arabic
script, 201
Di'bil (poet), 261, 375
Dictionaries, Arabic, 343, 403,
456
Didactic poem by Abu '1-
'Atahiya, 300
Diercks, 360
Dieterici, F., 270, 305, 307
30S, 310, 312, 313, 371
dihqan, 291
Diminutives, 396, 449
din (religion), 178, 287
Dinarzad, 457
Dinarzade, 457
486
INDEX
-Dinawar, 346
-Dinawari (historian), 251, 349
Dinazad, 457
Diodorus Siculus, 3
Dionysius the Areopagite, 387,
38Q
Dirge, the Arabian, 126
-Dir'iyya, 466
dithar, 152
Divan-i Shams-i Tabfiz, 298
Divine Right, the Shi'ite
theory of, 214, 271
diwan (collection of poems),
127, 128
Diwan (Register) of 'Umar,
the, 187, 188
Diwans of tlie Six Poets, the,
128
diya (blood-wit), 93
-Diyarbakri (historian), 445
Dog.the, regarded by Moslems
as unclean, 445
Doughty, E. M., 3
Dozy, 214,399. 407, 410, 411,
413, 414. 415. 420, 422, 424,
428, 429, 431, 465, 467
Drama, the, not cultivated by
the Semites, 328
Drinking parties described in
Pre-islamic poetry, 124, 125,
167
Droit du seigneur, le, 4
dubayt (a species of verse),
450
Dubeux, 352
Duka, T., 390
Dumas, 272
Dumyatu 'l-Qasr, 348
Duns Scotus, 367
Durayd b. Simma, 83
Durayd b. Zayd b. Nahd, 75
Durratu 'l-Ghawwas, 336
Dtiwalu 'l-lslam, 446
Dvorak, R., 304
Dyke of Ma'rib, the, 2, 5, 14-
17, 50, 63
Dynasties of the 'Abbasid
period, 264-276
E
Eber, xviii
Ecbatana, 129, 328. See
Hamadlian
Ecstasy, 387, 393, 394
Edessa, 331, 358
Egypt, xxiv, xxix, xxx, 4, 5,
132, 184, 186, 193, 215, 268,
274. 275. 307, 323, 326. 327,
350, 354. 355. 1358. 387-390,
399. 419. 432, 434. 442. 443.
447, 448, 450. 451, 454. 460,
461, 464, 466, 468
Egypt, conquest of, by the
Moslems, 184
Egypt, History of, by Ibn
Taghribirdi, 454
Eichhorn, xv
Elegiac poetry, 126, 127
Elephant, the Sura of the. 68
Elephant, the year of the, 28,
66, 146
Eloquence, Arabian, 346, 347
Emanation, Plotinus's theory
of, 393
Emessa, 304
Encomium of the Umayyad
dynasty, by -Akhtal, 242
Epic poetry not cultivated by
the Arabs, 325
Equality of Arabs and non-
Arabs maintained by the
Shu'ubites, 279, 280
Equites Thamudeni, 3
Erotic prelude, the. See ttasib
Erpenius, 355
Essenes, the, 224
Euphrates, the, xv. 33, 36, 37,
38, 41, S3, no, 113, i86, 189,
192, 196, 256. 418, 443. 449
Euting, Julius, 9
Fables of beasts, considered
useful and instructive, 330
-Fadl, the Barmecide, 260
-Fadl b. al-Rabi', 293
-Fahl (surname), 125
Fahm (tribe), 81
Fairs, the old Arabian, 135
-Fakhri, 187, 188, 194, 203, 260,
331, 445. 454
Fakhru '1-Dawla (Buwayhid),
267
Fakhru '1-Mulk, 340
Falcon of Quraysh, the, 407,
417
-falsafa (Philosophy), 283
fana (self-annihilation), 233,
391
fanak, 53
faqih, 464
faqir (fakir), 230. 464
faqr (poverty), 230
Farab, 360
-Farabi (Abu Nasr), 270, 360,
393
-Farazdaq (poet), 196, 238, 239,
240. 242-244, 245, 246
-Farghani, 361
Faridu'ddin 'Attar, 226, 228,
386
-Farqadan (name of two
stars), 35
-Farra, 343
Farrukh-mahan, 45
Fars (province), 266
Fathers, the Christian, 341
-Fatiha, 143
Fatima, daughter of -Khur-
shub, 88
Fatima, daughter of the
Prophet, 183, 218, 250, 251,
258, 267, 274
Fatima (mother of Qusayy),
64
Fatima, a woman loved by
Imru'u l-Qays, 106
Fatimid dynasty, the, 217, 265,
268, 269, 271-275, 322, 371,
-Fatra, 152
Fawatu 'l-Wafayat, 449, 452
Faylasufu 'l-'Arab (title), 360.
See -Kindi
Faymiyun (Phemion), 26
Ferdinand I of Castile, 422
Ferdinand III of Castile, 434
Ferdinand V of Castile, 441
Fez, 436
-fiqh (Jurisprudence), 283 ;
denoting law and theology,
339, 420. 465
Fihr (tribe), xix
-Fihtist, 13, 142, 345, 359, 361-
364, 387, 457
-Find, 58, 60, 84
Firdawsi, Persian poet, 265,
269
Firuz (Firuzan), father of Ma-
'ruf al-Karkhi, 385
Firuz, a Persian slave, 189
-Firuzabadi (Majdu '1-Din),
403, 456
Fleischer, 400, 404
Flint. Robert, 441
Fluegel, G., 142, 297, 362, 364,
459
Folk-songs, Arabic, 238, 416-
417. 449-450
Foils VitcE, 428
Foreigners, Sciences of the,
282, 283
Forgery of Apostolic Tradi-
tions. 145, 146. 279
Forgery of Pre-islamic poems,
133. 134
France, 9, 412, 469
Frederick II of Hohen-
staufen, 434. 441
Free schools, founded by
Hakam II, 419
Free-thought in Islam, 283.
284. 298, 345, 460. See
Mii'tazilites and Zindiqs
Free-will, the doctrine ot, 223,
224
Freytag, G. W., 16, 31, 48. 50.
55. 73. 89. 91, 109. 129, 292,
373
Friedlaender, I., 428
Frothingham, 389
-Fudayl b. 'lyad, 232, 233,
385
-fnhul, 138
Fukayha. 89
-fiinuii aUsab'a (the seven
kinds of poetry). 450
Fuqaym (tribe), 28
-Fiisulwa-'l-Ghayat, 318
Fitsusu l-Hikam. 400, 401
-Fiituhat al-Makkiyya, 400,
464
Future life, Pre-islamic
notions of the, 166
Gabriel. 63, 141, 150, 267
Galen, 358
Galland, 458
Gallienus, 33
Gaulonitis, the, 53
INDEX
487
Gaza, 5
Geber, 361
Geiger, 162
Genealogy, Muhammadan,
XX.
Genealogy, treatise on, by
Ibu Durayd, 343
Genesis, Book of, xv
Geographers, the Moslem,
356. 357
George -Makin, 355
Georgians, the, 445
Germany, 8, 412
Gesenius, 8
-Ghabra (name of a mare), 61
-Gharid, 236
-Ghariyyan, 43
Ghassan, xxii, 33, 37, 38, 42,
43, 121, 122, 138', 139, 158,332
Ghassanids, the, 33, 49-34, 122
Ghassanid court, the, de-
scribed by Hassan b.
Thabit, 53
Ghatafan (tribe), xix, 61
-Ghawl, 119
ghayba (occultation), 216
Ghayman (castle), 24
Ghayz b. Murra, 117
Ghazala, 339
-Ghazali, 230, 234, 277, 338-
341, 380-383, 393. 43i. 4^3
Ghazan, 446
Ghaziyya (tribe), 83
Ghazna, 268-269, 355
Ghaznevid dynasty, the, 265,
268-269,271, 275
ghiyar, 461
Ghiyathu '1-Din Mas'ud
(Seljuq), 326, 329
-Gkttlat (the extreme Shiites),
216
Ghumdan (castle), 24
Gibb, E. J. W., 443, 460
Gibbon, 439
Gibraltar (Jabal Tariq), 204,
414
Glaser, E., 9, 15
Gnosis, the Sufi doctrine of,
386, 387
Gnosticism, 389, 390
Gobineau, Comte de, 320
Goeje, M. J. de, 179, 180, 253,
256, 257, 287, 322, 349, 350,
351. 353, 354. 356, 366, 371,
409
Goethe, 97
Gog and Magog, 18
Golden Meadows, the. See
Murujit 'l-Dhahab and
-Mas'udi
Goldziher, Ignaz, xx, xxii, lo,
18, 30, 73, 90, 119, 145, £77.
178, 199, 200, 221, 225, 246,
278, 279, 280, 285, 287, 289,
297, 298, 315, 344, 345, 366,
368, 370, 372, 374, 379, 390,
409, 431, 433, 466
Gospel, the, 165, 171
Grammar, Arabic, the origin
of, 202, 278, 282, 341-343,
363
Grammars, Arabic, 343, 456
Granada, 421, 424, 428, 431,
434, 435-437, 441, 442, 447
Gray, T., 77
Greece, 131, 296, 361, 434
Greece, the influence of, on
Muhammadan thought,
220, 221, 229, 266, 338-361,
363. 369, 370, 386, 388
Greek Philosophers, the, 341,
363
Green, the colour of the
'Alids, 262
Grimme, H., xv, 10
Griinert, M., 346
Guadalquivir, the, 422
Guest, A. R., 453
Guirgass, 251
Guyon, Madame, 233
H
Haarbriicker, 220, 221, 223,
224, 297
Habib b. Aws. See Abu
Tammam
-Hadi, the Caliph, 260, 373
Hadiqatu 'l-Afrah, 449
-hadith (Traditions of the
Prophet), 132, 134, 143-146,
201, 247, 258, 348. See
Traditions of the Prophet
Hadramawt (province), i, 5,
42
Hadrian, 137
Hafsa. 142
Hafsid dynasty, the, 442
Hagar. See Hajar, wife of
Abraham
Hajar (in -Bahrayn), 94, 96
Hajar, wife of Abraham,
xviii, 63
-Hajjaj b. Yusuf, 200, 201-203,
209, 213, 244
Hajji Khalifa, 456
-Hakam I (Spanish Umay-
yad), 409
-Hakam 11 (Spanish Umay-
yad), 412, 419
hakim (philosopher), 387
hal, mystical term, 387
Halbatu 'l-Kumayt, 417
Halevy, Joseph, 9
Halila, 56
HaUma, the Prophet's nurse,
147
Halima, daughter of -Hanth
al-A'raj, 50
Halima, the battle of, 43, 50,
51. 125
Halle, 8
Ham, XV
hama (owl or wraith), 94,
166
Hamadhan (Ecbatana), 129,
292, 328, 333
-Hamadhani,328. See Badi'u
'l-Zaman
Hamal b. Badr, 61, 88
-Hamasa, of Abu Tammam,
55. 57-61, 79. 81, 82, 83, 84,
87, 92, 93, 98, 100, 126, 129-
130, 136, 137, 199, 213, 324,
331
-Hamasa, of -Buhturi, 130, 324
hamasa (fortitude), 79, 326
Hamat, 454
-Hamaysa' b. Himyar, 12
Hamdan, 19
Hamdan Qarmat, 274
-Hamdani (geographer), 6, 11,
12, 13, 17, 18. 20, 24
Hamdanid dynasty, the, 268,
269-271, 291, 303
Hamilton, Terrick, 459
Hammad al-Rawiya, 103, 113
128, 132-134, 344
Hammer, J. von, 308, 316,
396, 459
Hamzaof Isfahan (historian),
14, 280
Hanbalites. the, 376, 462
handasa (geometry), 283
Hani', a chieftain of Bakr, 69
Hanifa (tribe), 183
Hanifs, the, 69, 149, 130, 170,
318
Hanzala of Tayyi , 44
haqiqat, mystical term, 392
-haqq, mystical term, 392
Haram (tribe), 331
Harim b. Sinan, 61, ii6, 117.
288
-Hariri, author of the Maqa-
mat, 329-336
-Harith al-Akbar. See-Harith
b. Atnr Miiharriq
-Harith b. 'Amr (Kindite), 42,
44, 103, 104
-Harith b. 'Amr Muharriq
(Ghassanid), 50
-Harith al-A'raj (Ghassanid),
43. 50. 54. 125. See -Harith
b. Jabala
-Hanth b. 'Awf, 61, 116, 117
-Harith b. Hammam, 330,
331, 333
-Harith b. Hilliza (poet), 44,
100, 109, 113-114, 128
-Harith b. Jabala (Ghassanid),
43, 50, 31, 82. See -Harith
al-A'raj
-Harith al-Ra'ish, 17
-Harith b. Suravj, 222
-Harith b. 'Ubad, 58, 59
-Harith the Younger (Ghas-
sanid), so
-Harith b. Zalim, 85
-harj, 249
Harran, 221, 358, 361, 462
Harran, the bilingual inscrip-
tion of, xxii
Hartmann, M., 450, 468
Harun al-Rashid, the Caliph,
XXIX, 25s, 258, 259,260-261,
262, 277, 283, 292, 293, 296,
298, 343. 345. 347, 366, 367.
368, 373. 385, 388, 458, 459
Harura, 208
Harwat, 11
hasab, 100
Hasan (Buwayhid), 266
-Hasan of -Basra, 208, 222,
223,223-227, 230, 243, 244, 294
488
INDEX
-Hasan b. Ahmad al-Hamdani,
II. See -Hamdani
-Hasan b. 'Ali, the Nizamu
'1-MuIk, 276. See Nizamu
'UMulk
-Hasan b. 'Ali b. Abi Talib,
216, 297
-Hasan al-Burini, 396
-Hasan b. -Sabbah, 445
Hashid (tribe), I2
Hashim, 65, 146, 250
-Hashimiyya (Shi'ite sect),
220, 251
Hassan b. Thabit (poet), 18,
S2, 53. 54. 127
Hassan (son of As'ad Kamil)
the Tubba', ig, 23, 25
Hatim of Ta>'j'i', 85-87, 288
Hawa/.in (tribe), xix
Hayy b. Yaqzan, 433
Hayyum, 19
Hazar Afsan (Hazar Afsana),
363, 457-458
-Haziri (Abu '1-Ma'aIi), 348
Hazzu 'l-Quhuf, 450
Hebrews, the, xv
Hebrew language, the, xvi
Hellespont, the, xxix
Helpers, the. See -Ansar
Hengstenberg, 102
Heraclius, 52
Heresies of the Caliph
-Ma'mun, 262
Herodotus, 353
Hierotheus, 389
hija (satire), 73, 294
-Hijaz, xvii, 3, 21, 62, 63, 64,
69, 137, 149, 150, 215, 340,
.395. 398. 399. 465. 466
-Hijr, the inscriptions of, xxi,
3
-Hijra (Hegira), xxv, 158, 171
-Hilla, 449
Hilyatu 'l-Awliya, 338
himaq (a species of verse),
450
Hims, 304
Hiniyar (person), 14
Himyar (people), xxv, i, 6,
10, 17, 24, 25, 26, 429
Himyarites, the, xviii, xx, xxi,
4, 3, 6, 7, 12, 17, 23, 26
Himyarite kings, the, 9, 10,
12, 13, 14, 17-27. See
Tubba's, the
Himyarite language, the, xvi,
x\ ii, xxi, 6-1 1
Himyarite Ode, thi, 12. 13
Hind, mother of Bakr and
Taghlib, 58
Hind (a Bedouin woman), 46
Hind, daughter of -Nu'man
III, 46. 47
Hind, wife of -Mundhir III,
44. 45, 110
Hinwani (hill), 20
-Hira, xxii, xxiii, 29, 33, 34,
37-49, 51, 52, 53. 54. 60, 69
70, 85, 87, 103, 107, 108, 109,
no, 112, 114, 121, 122, 124,
138, i,?9, 189. 244, 439
Hira, Mount, 150
Hirran, 11
Hirschfeld, H., 151
Hisham (Umayyad Caliph),
200, 206, 224, 243
Hisham I (Spanish Umay-
yad), 347, 409
Hisham II (Spanish Umay-
yad), 412, 421
Hisham b. Muhammad al-
Kalbi, 38, 39, 40, 34S
Hisn Ghurab, 8
Historians, Arab. 11-14, 144,
247, 348-336, 420, 428, 435-
440, 452-434
Historical studies encouraged
by the Umayyads, 247
History, the true purpose of,
4.57 ; subject to universal
laws, 438 ; evolution of, 439,
440
History of the Berbers, by Ibn
Khaldun, 429, 435
History of the Caliphs, by
-Suyuti, 455
History of Islamic Civilisa-
tion, by Jurji Zaydan, 435
History of Old and New Cairo,
by -Suyuti, 455
Holy Ghost, the, 150
Holy War. the, enjoined by
the Koran, 174
Homer, the Iliad of, trans-
lated into Arabic verse, 469
Homeritae, the. 5
Hommel, F., xv, i
Honour, Pre-islamic concep-
tion of, 82-100
Horace, 326
Hospitality, the Bedouin
ideal of, 85
House of the Prophet, the,
25a See 'Ali b. Abi Talib ;
'Alids ; Shi'iti'S.
Houtsma, Th., 193, 242, 329,
349
Huart, C, 468
Hubal (name of an idol), 64
Hubba, 64
Hud (prophet), 2
Hudhalites (Hudhaylites), 22,
128. See Hudhayl
Hudhayfa b. Badr, 61
Hudhayfa b. al-Yaman, 142
Hudhayl (tribe), xix, 64, 98,
99. 100
Hughes, G., 80
Huir (Kindite), 42
Hujr, father of Imru'u 'I-
Qays, 104
Hulagu, xxix, 182, 444-446
Hulayl b. Hubshiyya, 64
-Hullai al-Siyara, 418
Hulton, 8
hulul (incarnation), 396,402
Hulwan, 292
Humani, 457
-Humayma, 249
Hunayn b. Ishaq, 359
hur (houris), 167
Hurmuz (Sasanian), 47
Hurufis, the, 460
-Husayn, son of 'Ali b. Abi
TaUb, 196,197, 198, 216, 218,
243, 466
-Husayn b. Damdam, 117
-Husayn b. -Mansur -Hallaj,
363, 375. 399
Hiisnii 'l-Mtihadara, 455
-Hutay'a (poet), 127, 131, 261
Hypocrites, the. See -Muna-
fiqun
Huzwa, 398
I
lamblichus, 389
'Ibad, the, of -Hira, 38, 39, 138
Ibadites (a Kharijite sect),
the, 211
-'Ibar, by -Dhahabi, 339
Ibnu 'l-.\bbar, 418, 424
Ibn 'Abdi Rabbihi, 102, 131
347, 420
Ibn Abi Du'ad, 376
Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, 266, 355
Ibn Abi Ya'qub al-Nadim, 362
Ibn Abi Zar', 429
Ibnu '1-Ahraar (Nasrid), 435
Ibn 'A'isha, 236
Ibnu 'l-'Alqami, 445
Ibnu 'l-'Amid, 267
Ibn 'Ammar (poet), 422, 424
Ibnu 'l-'Arabi. See Miihiyyit
l-Din Ibnii 'l-'Arabi
Ibnu 'l-'Arabi, the Cadi, of
Seville, 399
Ibnu '1-A'rabi (philologist),
128
Ibn 'Arabshah, 454
Ibnu 'l-.\thir, 203, 205, 253,
333-356, 376, 379. 420, 429
Ibn Bajja, 361, 434
Ibn Bashkuwal, 426, 434
Ibn Bassam, 422, 434
Ibnu '1-Baytar, 434
Ibn Durayd, 253, 280, 343
Ibnu '1-Farid. See 'Umar
Ibnu 'l-Farid
Ibn Hajar, 456
Ibnu 'i-Hanafiyya. See Mu-
hammad Ibnu 'l-Hanafiyya
Ibn Hani (poet), 419, 420
Ibn Hawqal, 356
Ibn Hayyan, 428
Ibn Hazm, 222, 341 402, 42fr-
428
Ibn Hisham, 17, 22, 23, 63, 64,
69, 144, 147, 150, 151, 152,
154. 156. 158, 166, 170, 173,
175. 349
Ibn Humam, 105
Ibnu 'l-'Idhari, 407, 428, 429
Ibn Ishaq. 6g, 144, 146, 149,
156, 247, 349
Ibn Jahwar, 424
Ibnu '1-Jawzi, 355
Ibn Jubayr, 357, 434
Ibn Kabsha, nickname of
Muhammad, 166
Ibn Khalawayh, 271
Ibn Khaldun, 32, 228, 229, 277,
278, 288, 289, 350, 353, 429,
435. 437-440, 443, 452
I
INDEX
489
Ibn KhaUikan, I2g, 132. iW
213, 224, 234. 24S. 261, 266,
267, 276. 288, 295. 308. 312.
326, 343, 344. 346, 348. 355,
357. 359, 360. 377, 378. 387,
408, 422, 425, 427, 4S1-4S2
Ibn Khaqan, 425, 434
Ibnu '1-Khatib, the Vizier, 413.
435, 436, 437
Ibn Khidham, 105
Ibn Khurdadbih, 356
Ibn Maja, 337
Ibn Malik of Jaen, 450
Ibn Mukarram (Jamalu
'1-Din), 456
Ibn Muljam, 193 „,. o
Ibnu 'l-Muqatfa', 33°. 346, 348,
358
Ibnu '1-Mu'tazz (poet), 325
Ibn Nubata (man of letters)
Ibn Nubata, the preacher,
271. 328
Ibnu 'l-Qifti, 355, 370, 387
Ibn Qutayba, xviii, 35. 49, 5°.
51, 75, 77, 105, 117, 145, 202,
223, 257' 277, 280, 286,287,
28S, 289. 293, 294. 345, 346
Ibnu '1-Qutiyya, 420
Ibn Quz!Tian,4i7
Ibn Rashiq, 71. 288
Ibnu '1-Rawandi, 375
IbnRushd, 341,361. 432-434
Ibn Sab'in, 434
IbnSa'd, 144, 256, 349
Ibnu '1-Sammak, 261
Ibnu 'I-Sikkit, 343
Ibn Sina (Avicenna), 265, 200,
341,360,361,393
Ibn Sirin, 244
Ibn Surayj, 236
Ibn Taymiyya, 371. "2, 483,
465, 466
Ibnu '1-Tiqtaqa, 4S4
Ibn Tufayl, 361, 432. 433. 434
Ibn Tumart, 431-432
Ibnu 'l-Wahshiyya, xxv
Ibnu '1-Wardi, 455
Ibn Zaydun (poet), 419, 424-
426
IbnZuhr, 434 ...
Ibrahim (Abraham), xvui, 63.
See Abraham
Ibrahim ('Alid), 258
Ibrahim b. Adham, 232
Ibrahim b. Hilal al-Sabi, 328
Ibrahim of Mosul, 261
Idol-worship at Mecca, 62-64
Idris, 264
-Idrisi (geographer), 35/
Idrisid dynasty, the, 264
Ihya'u Uluiii al-Din,
234, 338, 34<3 . ^ ,
-Iji (Adudu l-Din), 456
ijma' , 460
ikiilas, 164
Ikhmim, 387
-Ikhtiyarat, 128
Ikhwanu 'l-Safa, 370-372, 388
-Iklil, 6, 12, 13, 24
-ilahiyyiin, 382
Iliad, the. xxii, 325, 469
,434
230,
Il-Khans, the, xxix, 446
U-Makah, 11
ilmti 'l-hadith (Science of
Apostolic Tradition), 283
•ilnm 'l-kalam (Scholastic
Theolofiv), 2S3
'ihiiH 'l-nujum (Astronomy),
283
'ilmu H-qii-a'at (Koranic
Criticism). 283
'ilmu 'l-tafsir (Koranic
E.xesesis), 283
'ilq, loi
'Imadu '1-Dawla (Buwayhid),
266
•Imadu '1-Din al-Katib al-
Isfahani, 348, 355
Imam (head of the religious
community), 210
Imam, the Hidden, 216-217,
371 ; the Infallible, 220,
432
Imam-Husayn, a town near
Baghdad, 466. See Karbala
-imam al-ma'sum, 432
Imamites, the, 2,^1
Imams, the Shi'ite, 214-220
Imams, the Seven, 217, 273
Imams, the Twelve, 217
Imamu '1-Haramayn, 339,
379
iman (faith), 222
Imru'u '1-Qays (poet), 42, 84.
85, loi, 102, 103-107, 128,
136, 246, 289
Ind'ia, 4, 17. 268, 341. 352, 361,
389
India, History of, by -Biruni,
361 ,
India, the inHuence of, on
Moslem civilisation, 361,
389, 390 , .
India, Moslem conquests in,
203, 268
Indian religion, descnbed by
-Shahrastani, 341
Indus, the, xxiv, 203, 264
Infanticide, practised by the
pagan Arabs, 149, 243
Initiation, the Isma'ilite de-
grees of, 273
Inquisition {mthiia) estab-
lished by -Ma'mun, 368,
369
Inscriptions, the Babylonian
and Assyrian, xxv, 4
Inscriptions, Himyarite. bee
Inscriptions, Soiitli Arabic
Inscriptions, Nabatiean, xxv, 3
Inscriptions, South Arabic,
xvi, xxi, xxvi, 6-11
Inspiration, views of the
heathen Arabs regarding,
72 73, 152. 165
Intellectual and Philosophi-
cal Sciences, the, 282
Ionia, the dialect of, xxiii
-•Iqd al-Farid, 102, 131,347,
420
Iram, i
-'Iraq, 34.38, 42, 123. 132, 142,
201, 202, 207, 208, 243, 244,
255, 262, 266, 273, 303, 350,
419, 445. See Babylonia
-Isaba fi tatnyiz al-Sahaba,
456
Isabella of Castile, 441
Isaiah, 151
Isfahan, 14. 131, 268, 280, 326.
347, 355. 419
Isfandiyar, 330, 363 ^,
Ishaq b. Ibrahim al-Mawsili.
261, 362. 418
Ishaq b. Khalaf , 92
Ishmael. See Isma'il
Isidore of Hispalis, 198
Islam, meaning of, 153 ; car-
dinal doctrines of, 163-168 ;
formal and ascetic cha-
racter of, 168, 224 : derived
from Christianity and
Judaism, 176, i77; pag^"
elements in, 177 ; opposed
to the ideals of heathen-
dom, 177, 178; identified
with the religion of Abra-
ham, 62, 177; a world-
religion, 1S4
Isma'il (Ishmael), xviu, 63,
64
Isma'il (Samanid), 265
Isma'il b. 'Abbad, 267. See
-Sahib Isma'il b. 'Abbad
Isma'il b. Naghdala, 428
Isma'ilis, the, 217, 272-274,
363,371,372,381, 420,445
isna'd, 144. 278, 352
-Isnawi, 339
Israel, 73
Istakhr. 356
-Istakhri, 356
istifa, 228
Italy, 412, 414, 441 . ^
Ithamara (Sabcean king), 4
-I t h n a -'a s h a r i y y a (the
Twelvers), 217 .
I'timad, name of a slave-girl
422
-Itqan, 145, 455
iiiihad, 402
'iyar. 29'?
lyas b. Qabisa, 53 ., ^
'Izzu l-Din b. 'Abd al-
Salam, 461
J
Jabal Tariq (Gibraltar), 204
Jabala b. -Ayham (Ghassa-
nid), 50, 51, 52, 53. 54 .
-Jabariyya (the Predestina-
rians), 224
Jabir b. Hayyan, 361, 387
jabr (compulsion), 224, 297
Jacob, G., 74, 76
Jadala (tribe), 429
Jadhima al-Abiash, 34, 35, 36,
40
Jadis (tribe), 4, 25
Jaen, 456 . , ,
1 Ja'far, the Barmecide, 260
! Jafar, son of the Caliph -Hadi,
26a
490
INDEX
Jafna, founder of the Ghas-
sanid dynasty, 50
Jafnites, the. See Ghassanids.
the
Jaghbub, 468
Jahdar b. Dubay'a, 59
-jahiliyya (the Age of Bar-
barism), .\-x\i, 30, 31, 34
71, 90, 158. 287
-Jahiz, 267, 280, 3M-317, 375
jahiz, 346
-Jahiziyya (Mu'taziUte sect),
346
iahl, meaning 'barbarism,' 30
Jahm b. Safwan, 222
-Jahshiyari (Abu 'Abdallah
Muhammad b. 'Abdus), 458
Jalalu '1-Din Khwarizmshah,
, 444
Jalalu '1-Din al-Mahalli, 455
Jalalu '1-Din Rumi, Persian
poet, 298, 393, 404
Jallaban, 293
-Jamhara fi 'I- Liigha, 343
Jamharat'u Ash'ari 'l-'Arab,
130
-Jami('Abdu '1-Rahman), Per-
sian poet, 229, 284, 386, 433
-Jami', by -Tirmidhi, 337
-JamVa, 371
Jamil, 238
Jandal, 245
Janissaries, the, 413
-Jannabi, 375
-Jaradatan (name of two sing-
ing girls) 2
Janr (poet), 205, 238, 239, 240.
242, 244-246
Jassas b. Murra, 56, 57
-Jawf, 9
Jawhar, 429
-Jawlan, 54
Jerusalem, i6g, 177, 233, 275
, 340, 355 357
Jesus, 215, 216
Jews, the, 341. See Judaism
-Jibal (province), 292, 3s6, 445
Jibril (Gabriel), 150
jihad, 430
Jinn, the, 72, 112, 119, 152, 165
jinni (genie), 165
Jirjis -Maliin (historian), 355
John of Damascus, 221
John of Ephesus, 52
Johnson. Dr., 286, 313
Joljtan, -xviii
Jones, E. R., 433
Jones, Sir William, 102, 452
Jong, P. de, 366
Jordan, the, 446
-Jubha'i, 377, 378
Judaism, established in
-Yemen, 23, 137; zealously
fostered by Dhu Nuwas,
26; in Arabia, 137-140, 149,
158, 170-172, 173, 176, 177 ;
in Spain, 415, 428, 429 ; in
Sicily, 441
Judaism, influence of, on
Muhammadan thought, 176,
177, 215, 216
-iu'iyya (the Pasters), 232
Juliana of Norwich, 233
-Junayd of Baghdad, 228, 230,
392, 465
Junde-shapur, 358
Jurhum (tribe), .xviii, 63, 117
Jurjan, 339
Jurji Zaydan, 435
Justinian, 43. 51, 104, 358
Justinus (Byzantine Em-
peror), 27, 52
-Juwayni (Abu '1-Ma'ali), 339,
379
JuynboU, 257, 262, 268, 350,
369
K
Ka'b (tribe), 246
Ka'b b. Zuhayr (poet), 119,
127, 327
-Ka'ba, 63, 64, 63-67, loi, 117,
154. 155, 157. 164, 169, 177,
198, 319, 400, 402, 467
Ka'bu '1-Ahbar, 185
-Kadhdhab (title of Musay-
lima), 183
Kafur (Ikhshidite), 306, 307
Kahlan, 14
-Kalabadhi, 338
-kalatii (Scholasticism), 363,
378
Kalb (tribe), 199, 405
kalb, 445
Kalila and Dimna, the Book
of, 346, 363
-Kamala (title), 88
-kamil (metre), 75
-Kaniil of Ibnu 'I-Athir,
355. 379. 429- See Ibnu
■l-Athir.
-Kamil of -Mubarrad, 92, 131,
202, 226, 227, 237, 244, 343
kaiiwakan (a species of verse),
45°
Karbala, 196, 198, 208, 216,
218, 243. 466
Kariba'il Watar, 10
-Karkh, a quarter of Baghdad,
267. 385
kasb, 379
Kashfu 'l-Ztinun, 456
-Kashshaf, 145
katib (secretary), 257, 326
Kawadh (Sasanian), 42
Ketbogha, 446
Khadija, 148, 150, 151, 152,
153. 157
-J/io/i/l metre), 75
Khalaf, 421
Khalaf al-Ahmar, 97, 134,
293. 344
Khalid b. -Mudallil. 43
Khalid b. -Walid, 184
Khalid b. Yazid, 358;
khalifa (Caliph), xxvii, 175
-Khalil b. Ahmad, 75, 285,
343
Khamir (village), 19
-Khamriyya, by Ibnu 'l-Farid,
39&
khatnriyyat, 294
khanaqah (monastery), 229
-Khansa (poetess), 126, 127
Kharidatu 'l-Qasr, 348
khariji (Kharijite), 209
Kharijites, the, 193, 207, 208-
213, 221, 222, 239, 248, 259,
428
Kharmaythan, 360
-Khasib, 373
khatib. 271
-Khatib, of Baghdad, 355
-Khatim b 'Adi, 94, 96
-Khawarij. See Kharijites, the
-Khawarnaq (castle), 40, 41
-Khaybar, 50
-Khayf, 237
Khazaza, battle of, 5
-Khazraj (tribe), 170
Khedivial dynasty, the, 468
Khidash b. Zuhayr, 95, 96
Khindif, xix
-Khitat, by -Maqrizi, 453
Khiva, 361, 444
Khizanatu'l-Adab, 131
Khuda Bukhsh, S., 279
Khulafa al-Rashidun, xxvii.
See Caliphs, the Orthodox
Khuday-nama, 348
Khurasan, xxviii, 129, 132,
220, 221, 232, 233, 239, 249,
250, 251, 254, 256, 258, 263,
265, 266, 275, 303, 339, 341,
379. 390, 391. 419. 444
Khurasan, dialect of, 339
khuruj (secession), 209
Khusraw Parwez. See Par-
wez
khutba, 263, 328
Khuza'a (tribe), 63, 64, 65
Khuzayma (tribe), xix
Khuzistan, 266, 274, 293, 358
Khwarizm, 357, 361, 444
-Khwarizmi (Abu 'Abdallah),
361
-kibrit al-ahmar, 399
Kilab (tribe), 246
Kilab b. Murra, 64
-kimiya (the Philosophers'
Stone), 401
Kimiya'u 'ISa'adat, 340
-kimiya' un (the Alchemists),
364
Kinana (tribe), xix, 64
Kinda (tribe), xviii, 42, 43,69,
85, 103, 104. 360
-KIndi, 288, 360
-Kisa'i (philologist), 261, 343
Kisra (title), 45
Kitabu 'l-Aghani (the Book
of Songs), 19, 26, 31, 32, 37,
43. 44. 46. 47. 53. 85, 86, 87,
88, 8g, 94, 102, 104, 109, no,
123, 124, 131, 134, 138, 139,
150, 200, 205, 216, 236, 237,
239, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245,
270, 279, 291, 292, 297, 345.
347, 374. 419
Kitabu 'l-Ahkam al-Su^
taniyya, 338
Kitabu 'l-Akhbar al-Tiwal,
349
Kitabu Ansabi 'l-Ashraf, 349
-Kitab a^Awsat, 3S3
INDEX
491
Kitabu 'l-'Ayn, 343
Kitabii 'l-Badi', 325
Kitabu l-Bayan wa-'l-l abyin,
347
Kitabu 'l-Falaliat al-Naba-
tiyya, xxv
Kitabu Futuhi 'l-Bnldan, 349
Kitabu 'l-Hayawait, 346, 375
Kitabu 'l-'lbar, by Dhahabi,
339
Kitabu 'l-Ibar, by Ibn Khal-
dun, 437
Kitabu 'l-Ibil, 345
Kitabu 'l-Islitiqaq, 343
Kitabu 'l-Kaiiiil fi l-Ta'rikh,
355. See -Kamil of Ibnu
■l-Athir
Kitabu Khalq al-Insan, 345
Kitabu 'l-Khayl. 345
Kitabu 'l-Ma'arit. xviii, 202,
223. 224, 345, 346
Kitabu 'l-Magliazi, by Musa
b. 'Uqba, 247
Kitabu 'l-Maghazi, by -Wa-
qidi, 144
-Kitab al-Mansuri, 265
Kitabu 'l-Masalik wa-'l-Ma-
malik, 356
Kitabu 'l-Milal wa-'l-Nihal,
by Ibn Hazm, 341,427, 428
Kitabu 'l-Milal wa -l-}iihal,
by -Shahrastani, 341. See
Shahrastani
Kitabu 'l-Muluk wa-akhbar
al-Madin, 13
Kitabu 'l-Shi'r xva-'l-Shu'ara,
75. 78, 105, "7. 257, 293,
346
Kitabu 'l-Ta'arruf li-Madh-
habi ahli ' l-Tasaicwuf. 338
Kitabu 'l-Tabaqat al-Kibar,
144
Kitabu 'l^Tanbih wa- 1- Ishraf,
353. 354
-Kitab al-Yamini, 355
Kitabu 7- Zuhd, 247
Koran, the, xvii, xx, xxii-xxv,
xxvi, xxvii, I, 2, 3, 15, 17, 18,
27,68, 74, 91, 102, 119, 132,
134, 141-143, 144-152. 154-
156, 158, 159-168, 169, 172,
174,173,176, i7«, 179, 183,
184, 185, 187, 192, 201, 203,
207-212, 215, 221, 223, 225,
231, 234, 233, 237, 247, 249,
273, 277, 278, 279, 282, 284,
287, 294, 318, 327, 329, 330,
342. 343, 344. 363. 3155. 368,
369, 375, 378, 37<J. 397. 398,
402, 403, 408, 417, 433. 449.
454. 455. 460, 461, 4^2, 463,
467
Koran, the, derivation of, 159 ;
collection of, 142 ; historical
value of, 143 ; arrangement
of, 143, 161 ; style of, 159,
318, 368 ; not poetical as a
whole, 160 ; held by Mos-
lems to be the literal Word
of God, 159, 23s : heavenly
archetype of, 151, 163, 368 ;
revelation of, 150-152, 159 ;
designed for oral recitation,
161 ; commentaries on, 144,
145, 351,455 ; imitations of,
318, 368, 375 ; dispute as to
whether it was created or
not, 262, 368, 369
Koran-readers (-qurra), the,
209, 210, 277
Kosegarten, 128
Krehl, L., 151. 360
Kremer, Alfred von. 13, 14, 18,
19, 23, 24, loi, 139, 140, 220,
221, 225, 233. 279, 281, 302,
304, 316, 318, 321, 323, 324,
360, 373, 379, 383, 399, 439
-Kufa, xxiv, 38, 70, 127, 133,
134, 186, 189, 193. 196, 198,
202, 207-210, 215, 2i8, 219,
229, 250, 253, 291, 293, 296,
304, 342. 343, 344
-Kulab, battle of, 253
Kulayb (tribe), 244, 245
Kulayb b. Rabi'a, 5, 55, 56, 57,
76,93
Kulayb b. Wa'il, no. See
Kulayb b. Rabi'a
Kulthum b. Malik, no
-Kumayt (poet), 138
kunya (name of honour), 45,
50, 112
-Kusa'i, 244
Kuthayyir (poet), 216
-kutub al-sitta(ih.e. Six Books),
337
-Kutubi, 449, 452
La Fontaine, 469
Labid (poet), 50, 109, 119-121,
128, 139, 140
Lagrange, Grangeret de, 396,
417
Lahore, 268
Lakhmites, the, of -Hira, 33,
38, 39-49, 54. 69
Lamis (name of a woman), 82
Lamiyyatu 'l-'AJam, 326
Lamiyyatu 'I-' Arab, 79, 80, 89,
134, 326
Lamta (tribe), 429
Lamtuna (tribe), 429
Lane, E. W , 53, 164, 448, 459
Lane-Poole, Stanley, 264, 275,
371, 432
-Lat (goddess), 135, 155
Lata'iju 'l-Minan, 464
Latiti (Turkish biographer),
460
Laus duplex (rhetorical
figure), 311
Law, Muhammadan, the
schools of, 283, 284, 363, 465;
the first corpus of, 337
Lawaqihu 'l-Anwar, 225, 226,
392
-Lawh al-Mahfuz, 163, 378
Layla, the beloved of
-Majnun, 238
Layla, mother of 'Amr b.
Kulthum, 44, 109, no
Le Strange, G., 256, 356, 357
Learning, Moslem enthusiasm
for, 281
Lees, Nassau, 386
Leo the Armenian, 359
Letter-writing, the art of, 267
Lexicon, the tirst Arabic, 343
Library of Nuh II, the Sama-
nid, 265, 266 ; of Hakam II,
the Spanish Umayyad, 419
Linguistic Sciences, the, 282
Lippert. 370
Lisanu 'I- Arab, 456
Lisanu '1-Din Ibnu 'I-Khatib.
See Ibnu 'l-Khatib
Literary culture despised by
the Arabs, 278
litham, 423
Littmann, Enno, 73
Lollards, the, 374
Longland, 450
Loth. O., I
Lourdes, 382
Love, Divine, the keynote of
Sufiism, 231 ; two kinds of,
234 ; an ineffable mystery,
387 ; hymn of, 396 ; in Sufi
poetry, 397, 398, 402
Loyalty, as understood by
the heathen Arabs, 83-85
Lucian, 319
-lugha (Lexicography), 283
Luhayy, 63
Lulu, 3041
Luqman b. 'Ad (king), 2, 14
-Luzumiyyat, 315, 316, 319,
323. 324
Luzumu ma la yalzatn, 315.
See -Luzumiyyat
Lyall, Sir Charles, 32, 54, 71,
75, 82, 89, 92, 97, loi, 109,
III, 112, 113, 114, 115, ny,
118, 120, 121, 125, 129, 139,
140, 149
M
Ma' al-Sama (surname), 41
Ma'ab, 63
ma'ad (place of return), 215
Ma'add, xix, xx, 112
Ma'arratu '1-Nu'man, 313, 314,
323
-Ma'arri (Abu 'l-'Ala), 448.
See Abu 'l-'Ala al-Ma'arri
Ma'bad (singer), 236
Ma'bad al-Juhani, 224
Macbeth, Arabian parallel to
an incident in, 25
Macdonald, D. B., 273, 378,
382, 433
Macedonia, 276
Machiavelli, 439
Macoraba, 5, 62
Madagascar, 352
-Mada'in (Ctesiphon), 29, 33,
46, 47, 48. See Ctesiphon
Mada'in Salih, 3
-madh al-muwajjah 311
I -madid (metre), 98
I madih (panegyric), 78, 294
492
INDEX
Madinatu '1-Salam, 255. See
Baghdad
Madrid, 420
ma/akhir, 100
maghazi, 247
-Maghrib, 460
Magi (Magians), the. See
Zoroasiiians, the
Magian lire-temple at Baikh,
the, 259
Mahaffy, J. P., 82
Mahdi, the, 216, 217, 248, 249,
274. 431
-Mahdi, the Caliph, 103, 128,
257, 258, 296, 343, 367, 373,
374, 418
-Mahdiyva, 274
Mahmud (Ghaznevid), 268-
269, 355
Mahra, dialect of, xxi
Maimonides, 434
Majdu '1-Din al-Firuzabadi.
See -Finizabadi
-Majmn' al-Mubarak, 355
-Majnun, 238
majniin, 165
Malaga, 410, 421, 428, 434
Malik (booa companion of
Jadhima), 35
Malik (brother of Qays b.
Zuhayr), 61
Malik the Azdite, 34
Malik, the slayer of -Khatim
b. 'Adi, 94, 95
Malik b. Anas, 284, 337, 366,
408
-Malik al-Dillil (title of Imru'u
'1-Qavs), 104
-Malik al-Kamil (Ayyubid),
395, 434
-Malik al -Salih Najmul-Dm
(Ayyubid), 447
Malik Shah (Seljuq), 275, 276,
326, 340
-Malik al-Zahir (Ayyubid),
275
-Malik al-Zahir Baybars.
See Baybars, Sultan
Malikite books bnrned by the
Almohades, 433
MaUkite school of Law, the,
408
Mamelukes, the, 413
Mameluke d5'nasty, the, xxix,
442, 446, 447, 448, 453. 464
tnamluk, 447
-Ma'mun, the Caliph, 92, 129,
255, 257, 262, 263, 284, 302,
343. 358-339, 361, 368, 369,
373. 388
Manat (goddess), 135, 155
Mandeville, Sir John, xxv
Manfred, 441
-Manfuha, 124
Mani (Manes), 364, 375
Manichaans, the, 218, 297,
341, 372-375. See Zindiqs,
the
-Mansur, the Caliph, 128, 206,
252. 253, 255, 256, 257, 258-
2S9, 291, 314, 337, 346, 349,
358, 373, 407
iWansur I (Samanid), 265,
352
-Mansur Ibn Abi "Amir, 412,
413, 426
Mantle Ode {-Burda), the,
326, 327
maqama, 328
-Maqamat.oi Badi'u '1-Zaman
al- Haraadhani, 328, 329
-Maqamat, of -Hariri, 329-
336
Maqamu Ibrahim, 63
-Maqdisi. See -Miiqaddasi
-Maqqari, 399, 401, 413, 418,
419, 427, 436, 454
-Maqrizi (Taqiyyu '1-Din), 453
-Maqsuia, 343
Marabout, modern form of
miirahit, 430
Marasidu 'l-Ittila', 357
mavathi, 294
Marathon, battle of, 174
Marcion, 364
Margoliouth, Prof. D. S., xxiv,
183, 267, 314, 316, 317, 319,
357. 469
Mariaba, 5
Ma'rib, 2, 5, 9, 14, I5, i6, 17,
50. See Dyke Of Ma'rib
Maridin, 449
ma'rifat (gnosis), 386
Marinid dynasty, the, 442
Mariya, mother of -Mundhir
111,41
Mariya (name of a hand-
maiden), 46, 47
Mariya of the Ear-rings, 50
Marj Rahit, battle of, 199
Marr al-Zahran, 95
Marriage, a loose form of,
prevailing among the Shi-
'ites, 262
Ma'ruf al-Karkhi, 385, 386,
388
Marwan I (Umayyad Caliph),
199
Marwan 1 1 (Umayyad Caliph),
181, 251, 253, 347
-Marzuqi (philologist), 128
Masabihu 'l-Sunna, 337
Masaliku 'l-Mamalik, 356
-niashaf, 294
Mashhad -Husayn, 466
Maslama b. Ahmad, 420
Masruq, 28
Mas'ud, Sultan, 329. See
Ghiyathu 'l-Din Mas'ud
-Mas-udi, 13, 15, 37. i95, 203,
205, 206, 259, 260, 267, 349,
332-354, 387, 456
Materia Mcdica, by Ibnu '1-
Baytar, 434
mathalib, 100, 280
Mathnau'i, the. by Jalalu '1-
Din Rumi, 404
-Matin, 428
mathv, 309
niatn, 144
Mauritania, 412
-Mawa'izu'a'l-Vtibarfi dhikri
'IKhitatica 'l-Athar, 453
-Mawali (the Clients), 198,
207, 219, 222, 248, 250, 278,
279, 373
-Mawali (the Clients), coalesce
with the Shi'ites, 198, 219,
220, 250 ; treated with con-
tempt by the Arabs, 219,
248, 278, 279 ; their culture,
248 ; their influence, 278,
279
mawaliyya, a species of
verse, 450.
-Mawardi, 337, 338
Mawiyya, mother of -Mun-
dhir 111,41
Mawiyva, wife of Hatim of
Tayy'i', 87
-Maydani, 31. See Proverbs,
Arabic
Maymun b. Qays. See -A'sha
Maysun, 195
Mazdak, 42, 258, 364
Mazyar, 375
Mecca, xviii, xxiii, xxvi,xxvii,
2, 3, 5, 6, 22, 28, 53, 62, 63,
64,65-68, loi, 102, 114, 117.
146, 150, 154-156, 158, 169,
171, 174, 175, 196, 198, 202,
236, 249, 274, 319, 339- 340-
395, 396, 429, 431, 434, 439,
466, 468
Mecca, Pre-islamic history
of, 62 ; attacked by the
Abyssinians, 66-69 ; sub-
mits to the Prophet, 64, 175
Mecca, the dialect of, xxiii
Meccan Rcrelatious, the, 464.
See Fuiuhat al^Makkiyya
Meccan Suras of the Koran,
the, 160-168
Media, 356
Medina " (-Madina), xxvi,
xxvii, 3, 21, 22, 49, 50, 52,
62, 71, 84, 150, 157, 158, 169,
170, 171, 173, 175, 176, 177,
181, 185, 186, 188, 198, 208,
209, 236, 241, 243, 337, 330,
365, 466, 468
Medina, Suras of the Koran
revealed at, 175, 176
Mediterranean Sea, the, 5,
255,275,404 412,444
Merv, 252, 346
Merx, A., 384, 389
Mesopotamia, 35, 186. 238,
240, 269, 355, 358, 385, 388,
411, 446
Messiah, Moslem beliefs re-
garding the, 215-217, 24S,
249. See Mahdi. the
Metempsychosis, the doctrine
of, 267
Metres, the Arabian, 74, 75
Mevlevi dervish order, the,
393
mihna, 368
-Mihras, 124
Mihrgan, Persian festival, 250
Milton, 212
Mina, 119
Minsean language, the, xxi
Mina;ans, the, 7
minbar (pulpit), 199
INDEX
493
Minqar, 57
Miqlab (castle), 24
Miracles demanded bv the
Quraysh from Muhammad,
165 ; falsely attributed to
Muhammad, 166
-MVraj (the Ascension of the
Prophet), 169, 403
Mir'atn l-Zaman, 355
Mishkatu l-Masabili.' 337
Misr (Old Cairo), 394
misra' (hemistich), 74
-Mizhar, 455. See -Mitzhir
Moguls, the Great, xxix, 444
Moliere, 469
Monasticism, alien to Islam,
225
Mongol Invasion, the, xxiv,
xxLX, XXX, 272, 277, 326, 443,
444-446
Mongols, the, 254, 264, 275.
442, 443, 462. See Mongol
Invasion, the
Monte Crista, 469
Montrose, igi
Mordtmann, g
Morocco, 264, 341, 423, 424,
430,431, 442
Moses, 165, 172, 185, 215, 273.
397
Moslem, meaning of, 153
Moslems, the first, 153
Moslems, the non-Arabian.
See -Mawali
Mosul (-Mawsil), 261, 269, 281,
326, 355. 362, 399, 445, 454
-Mu'allaqaf. 77, 82, 101-121,
128, 131,416, 459
Mu'awiya b. Abi Sufyan
(Caliph), xxviii, 13, 119, 181.
191, 192, 193, 194-193, 196,
206, 207, 208, 213, 214, 222,
256, 377. 407, 426
Mu'awiya b. Bakr (Amale-
kite prince), 2
Mu'awiya, brotherof -Khansa,
126
Mu'ayyidu 'I-Dawla (Buway-
hid), 267
-Mubarrad (philologist), 92,
131, 202, 226, 237, 244, 343,
344
Mudar b. Nizar, xix, 252
Mudar, the tribes descended
from, xix
-Miidhluibaf, -Mudliahhabat,
101
-Mufaddal al-Dabbi (philo-
logist), 31, 128, 133, 343
-Mufaddaliyyat, 90, 128, 343
-Mughammas, 69
muhajat (scolding - match),
238
-Muhajirun (the Refugees),
171, 209
Muhalhil b. Rabi'a, 58, 76,
109, no
-Muhallab b. Abi Sufra, 239
-Muhallabi, the Vizier, 267,
347
Muhammad, the Prophet,
xxiii, xxvi-xxviii, 3, 10, 15. i
18, 27, 30, 51, 62, 64, 65. 66,
69, 70, 71, 74, 86, 87, 105,
124. 132, 134, 135, 137, 139.
141-180. 181-183, 186-188,
190-193, 201, 202, 207-209,
213-218, 223, 224, 229, 231,
233, 233, 237, 249, 250, 251,
257. 258, 267, 273, 274, 277,
278, 279, 280, 318, 327, 330,
341, 342. 348, 349. 355. 356,
380, 383, 392, 400. 403, 420,
428, 433. 449, 455, 462, 463,
465, 467
Muhammad, question
whether he could read and
write, 151 ; his attitude
towards the heathen poets,
159, 212, 235 ; his aim in
the Meccan Suras, 160 ; his
death, 175 ; his character,
179, 180 ; biographies of,
144, 146, 247, 349 ; poems
in honour of, 124, 127, 326,
327. 449 ; medisval legend
of, 327 ; pilgrimage to the
tomb of, 463 ; his tomb
demolished by the Wah-
habis, 467
Muhammad CAlid), 258
Muhammad (Seljuq), 326
Muhammad b. 'Abd al-
Wahhab, 465-467
Muhammad b. 'Ali ('Abbasid),
251
Muhammad 'Ah Pasha, 466,
468
Muhammad b. 'Ali b.-Sanusi,
468
Muhammad Ibnu '1-Hana-
tiyya, 216, 218, 220
Muhammad b. -Hasan, the
Imam, 217
Muhammad b. Isma'il, the
Imam, 217, 272-274
Muhammad al-Kalbi, 348
Muhammad b. Sa'ud, 466
Muhiyyu'l-Dinlbnu 'l-'Arabi, !
399-404, 434, 462 I
Muhiyyu l-Maw'udat (title),
243
-Muhtadi. the Caliph, 264
Muir, Sir W., 142, 143, 146,
156, 184, 197, 338
-Mu'izz (Fatimid Caliph). 420
Mu'izzu '1-Dawla (Buwayhid),
266, 267, 347
Mujamit 'l-Buldan, 17, 357
Mu'janiu 'l-Udaba, 357
-Mujammi' (title), 65
Mukarrib (title), 10
-Mukhadramun (a class of
poets), 127
-Mukhtar, 198, 218-220, 250
-Mukhtarat, 128
-Muktafi, the Caliph, 257, 269,
325
-Mulaththamun, 423
Miiller, A., 5, loi, 261, 266,
355, 429
Miiller, D. H.
17, 18, 24
Muitan, 203
\g, 10, 12, 13,
Muluku 'I-Tawa'if (the Party
Kings of Spain) 414
-Munafiqun (the Hypocrites),
171, 172, 176
-Munakhkhal (poet), 49
-Mundhir I (Lakhmite), 41
-Mundhir III (Lakhmite),
41-44, 45, 50, 51, 60, 87, 103,
104
-Mundhir IV (Lakhmite),
45,47
-Mundhir b. -Harith (Ghassa-
nid), 50, 52
-Mundhir b. Ma' al-sama, 50,
51. See ->/« ndh ir III
-Munjibat (title;, .S8
Munk. S., 360
-Munqidh mina 'l-Dalal, 340
380
miinshi, 326
-Muqaddasi (geographer), 356,
357. 409
-Miiqaddima, of Ibn Khaldun,
32, 229, 278, 289, 437-440.
See Ibn Kkaldun
-Muqanna', 258
-Muqattam, Mt., 394, 396
-Muqtabis, 428
-Muqtadir, the Caliph, 325,
343, 399
-miirabit, 430
-Murabitun, 423. See Almo-
ravides, the
niurid, 392
mitrji' (ilurjite), 221
Murjites, the, 206, 220, 221-
222, 428
Murra, 56, 57, 58
Mursiya (Murcia), 399
Murujii 'l-Dhahab, 13, 15, 37,
195, 203, 205, 206, 259, 260,
267, 349, 353, 354, 387, 457
miiniimva (vu-tue), 72,82, 178,
287
Musa b. Maymun (Maimo-
nides), 434
Musa 1j. Nusayr, 203, 204,
405
Musa b. 'Uqba, 247
Mus'ab, igg
Musaylima, 183
-Mushtarik, 357
Music in Pre-Islamic Arabia,
236
Musicians, Arab, 236
-mtisiqi (Music), 283
Muslim (author of -Saltih),
, 144,337
Muslim b. 'Aqil, 196
Muslim b. -Walid (poet), 261
Muslim (Moslem), meaning
of, 153
inusnad (inscriptions), 6
-Mustakfi (Spanish Umay-
yad), 424
-Mustakfi, 'Abbasid Caliph,
266
-Mustansir ('Abbasid), 448
-Mustarshid BiUah, the
Caliph, 329
-Mustasim, the Caliph, 254
445
494
INDEX
-Mustawrid b. 'Ullifa, 210
-mut'a, 262
-Mu'taclid('Abbadid).42i 42-;
-Mu'tadid CAbbasid Caliph)
325 ^ ''
-Mu'tamid ('Abbadid), is,2\-a2!s,
-Mutajarrida. 49, 122
-Mutalammis (poet), 107, 108,
138
Mutammim b. Nuwa.vra 127
-Mutanabbi (poet), 266, ' 269,
270, 289, 290, 291, 292, 304-^
313, 315, 316, 324, 396, 416,
44K
7nntasaiinmfa (aspirants to
Sufiism), 229
-Mu'tasim, the Caliph, 129
^257, 263, 369, 375
-Mutawakkil, the Caliph, 257
sliiSr'*' ''°' ^"^' "^'
mutawakkil, 233
Mu'tazilites, the, 206, 220
222-224, 225, 230, 262, 268'
284, 346, 367-370, 376, 377
378, 392, 409, 428, 431
-Mu'tazz, the Caliph, 32';
-Muti'. the Caliph, 353
Muti' b. lyas (poet), 291, 292
muwahhid, 432
-Muwalladun, 278, 408
miiwashshah, verse-form, 416
417. 449 '
-Muwatta, 337, 408, 409
Muzaffar Qutuz (Mameluke),
446
Muzayna (tribe), 116
-Muzayqiya (surname), 15
-Muzhir, 71, 455
Mystical poetry of the Arabs
^ the, 325, 396-398
Jlysticism. See Sufiism
N
-Nabat, the Nabataans,
XXV, 279
Nabataean, Moslem use of
the term, xxv
Nabatcnan Agriculture, the
Book of, xxv
Nabatwan inscriptions, xxv 3
-Nabigha al-Dhubvam(poet)
39. 49, 50, 54, 86, loi, 121-
123, 128, 139
nadhir (warner), 164
Nadir3(tribe), 170
-Nadr b. Harith, 330
^afahatn 'l-Uns, by Jami, 386
Nafhu •l-Tib, by -Maqqari,
_ 399, 413, 436
Nafi' b. -Azraq, 208
-Nafs al-zakiyya (title), 258
-Nahhas (philologist), 102
-Nahrawan, battle of, 208
-nahw (grammar), 283
Na'ila, 35
-Najaf, 40
-Najashi (the Negus), 26, 27,
Najd, xvii, 62, 107, 466
Kajda b. ' Amir, 209
Najdites (a Khariiite sect), the
208
Najran, 26, 27, 105, 124, 136
137, 162
Na'man, ii
Namir (tribe), xix
Napoleon, 468
-Naqaid, of-Akhtal and larir
240
-Naqa'id, of Jarir and
-Farazdaq, 239
Naqb al-Hajar, 8
-Nasafi (Abu 'l-Barakat), 4S6
-Nasa'i, 337 ^
Nashwan b. Sa'id al-Himyari
12, 13 '
nasib (erotic prelude), 77, 310
Nasim, a place near Baghdad
461
-Nasimi (the Hurufi poet)
460, 461
Nasir-i Khusraw, Persian
poet, 323
Nasiru '1-Dawla (Hamdanid)
269,411
Nasr b. Savvar, 251
NasrII (Samanid), 265
Nasrid dynasty of Granada,
the, 435, 442
nat', 257
-Nawaji (Muhammad b.
-Hasan), 417
Nawar, wife of -Farazdaq,
243,244
Nawar, the beloved of Labid
121 '
Nawruz, Persian festival, 250
Naysabur, 232, 276, 338, 539
340, 348
Nazmu 'l-Sulnk, 396
-Nazzani, 369
Neo-platonism, 360, 384, 380
390 t o V,
Neo-platonist philosophers
welcomed by Nushirwan
358
Nero, 325
Nessus, 104 I
I Nicephorus, 261
Niebuhr, Carsten, 7
Night journey of Muhammad,
I the, 169, 403
Night of Power, the, 150
Nihayatu 'UArab, 455
Nile, the, xxviii, 264, 3<4 /icc
Nirvana, 233, 391 ^ ^^^' ^^^
-Nizamiyva College at
Baghdad, 276, 340, 380, 431
-Nizamiyya College, at
Naysabur, 276, 340
Nizamu '1-Mulk, 276, 340 370
Nizar, xix ^^ ' ^^^
Noah, XV, xviii, 165
Noldeke, Th., xv, xx, xxxiii
xxv, 5, 27, 29, 38, 42, 44, 4:5,'
48, 49, 51, 52. 54. 55, 57-60,
66, 70, 78, 80, 83, loi, 102
103, 109, 113. 122, 123, 126
127, 130, 134, 145, 15I, 160,
167, 172, 184, 195, 228, 237,
238. 249, 252, 258, 288
Nomadic life, characteristics
°i' 439.440
Nominalists, 367
Normans, the, 441
Nubia, 387
Nuh I (Samanid), 265
Nuh II (Samanid), 265
-Nvjuni alZahira, 2« 262
268, 369, 4S4 '
-Nu'man I (Lakhmite),4o 41
139
-Nu'man III (Lakhmite), 45.
»9» 50, 53, 54, 69. 86, 121,
122
-Nu'man al-Akbar. See Nu'-
man I
-Nu'man al-A'war(Lakhmite).
See -Nu'man I
-Nu'man b. -Mundhir Abu
Qabus. See -Nu'man III
Numayr (tribe), 245, 246
-Nuri (Abu '1-Husayn), 392
Nushirwan (Sasanian king)
29, 42, 45, 358
-Nuwayri, 15, 455
O
Occam, 367
Ockley, Simon 433
Ode, the Arabian, 76-78. See
qasida
Odenathus, 33. 35
Odyssey, the, xxii
Ordeal .)f tire, the, 23
Orthodox Caliphs, the, xxiii
xxvii, 181-193
Orthodox Reaction, the, 284
376. See -Ash'ari
Osiander, 9
Ottoman Turks, the, xxix,
442, 447, 464-467
Oxus, the, xxviii, 341, 444
Pahlavi (Pehlevi) language,
the, 214, 330, 346, 348, 358
Palermo, 441
Palestine, 52, 104, 137, 229
Palmer, E. H., 172, 176, 260
Palms, the Feast of, 54
Palm-tree, verses on the, by
'Abd al-Rahman I, 418
Palm-trees 01 Hulwan, the
two, 292
Palmyra, 33, 53
Panegyric, two-sided (rheto-
rical figure), 311
Panjab fPunjaub), the, 203,
Pantheism, 231, 233, 234, 275
372, 390, 391, 394. 403, 460 '
Paracelsus, 388
Paradise, the Muhammadan.
burlesqued by Abu'l -'Ala
al-Ma'arri, 318, 319
Parthian kings, the, 457
Parwez, son of Hurmuz (Sa-
sanian), 48, 69
Passion Play, the, 218
INDEX
495
Paul and Virginia, 469
Pavet de Courteille. 349
Pearl -fishing in the Persian
Gulf, 354
Pedro of Castile, 437
Penitents, the (a name given
to certain Shiite insur-
gents), 218
Pentateuch, the, 165, 171, 323
Persecution of the early Mos-
lems, 154, 155, 157 : of here-
tics, 224, 368, 369, 372-375.
376, 436, 460, 461
Persepolis, 356
Persia, xxiv, xxvii, xxix, 21,
29, 33. 34. 38, 41. 42. 48. 113.
169, 1S2, 184, 185, i88. 208,
214, 247, 255, 25a, 265, 266,
274. 279. 328, 348. 349. 390.
394. 404. 444. 446, 454. 457
Persia, the Moslem conquest
of, 184
Persia, the national legend of,
349
Persian divines, influence of
the, 278
Persian Gulf, the, 4, 107, 354,
357
Persian influence on Arabic
civilisation and literature,
xxviii, xxix. 182, 250, 256,
265, 267. 276-281, 287, 2S8,
290, 295, 418
Persian influence on the Shi'a,
214, 219
Persian Kings, History of tlie,
translated by Ibnu '1-Mu-
qaffa', 348
Persian literature, fostered by
the Samanids and Buway-
hids 265, 303
Persian Moslems who WTote
in Arabic, xxx, xxxi, 276-
278
Persians, the, rapidly became
Arabicised, 280, 281
Persians, the, in -Yemen, 29
Petra xxv, 5
Petrarch, 425
Pharaoh, 162, 403
Pharaohs, the, 4, 5
Philip III, 441
Philistines, the, 3
Philologists, the Arab xxiv,
32, 127, 128. 133, 246, 341-348
Philosophers, the Greek, 341,
363
Philosophers, the Moslem, 360,
361, 3S1. 382. 432-434
Philosophers and scientists.
Lives of the, by Ibnu '1-
Qifti. 355
Philosophus Autodidadus, 433
Phoenician language, the, xvi
Phoenicians, the, xv
Physicians, History of the, by
Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, 266, 355
Piers the Plowman, 450
Pietists, the, 207, 208
Pilgrimage to Mecca, the, 63,
65. 135. 136, 319
Pilgrimage, of the Shi'ites, to
the tomb of -Husayn at
Karbala, 218, 466
pir rPersian word), 392
Plato, 204
Plutarch, 363
Pocock, E., 433
Poems of the Hudhayliies the,
128
Poems, the Pre-islamic, xxii,
xxiii, 30, 31, 71-140, 282,
285-289, 290 ; chief col-
lections of, 127-131 ; the
tradition of. 131-134 ; first
put into writing. 132
Poems, the Suspended. See
-Mu'allaqat
Poetics, work on, by Ibnu
'1-Mu'tazz, 325
Poetry, Arabian, the origins
of, 72-75 ; the decline of,
not due to Muhammad,
235 ; in the Umayyad
period, 235-246 ; in the
'Abbasid period, 285-336 ;
in Spain, 415-417, 425, 426 ;
after the Mongol Invasion,
448-450.
Poetry, conventions of the
Ancient, criticised, 286, 288,
315
Poetrj', Muhammadan views
regarding the merits of,
308-312 ; intimately con-
nected wth public life, 436 ;
seven kinds of, 450
Poetry, the oldest written
Arabic, 138
Poetry and Poets, Book of by
Ibn Qutayba. See Kitabu
'IShi'r wa-'lShu'ara
Poets, the Modern, 289-336 ;
judged on their merits by
Ibn Qutayba, 287 ; pro-
nounced superior to the
Ancients, 288, 289
Poets, the Pre-islamic, cha-
racter and position of, 71-
73 ; regarded as classical,
xxiii, 72, 285, 286
Pohtics, treatise on, by -Ma-
wardi, 337, 338
Portugal, 416
Postal service, organised by
'Abdu l-Malik, 201
Postmaster, the office of, 45
Prastorius, F., 10
Pravers, the five daily, 149,
168
Predestination, 157, 223, 224,
378. 379
Preston, Theodore, 330
Prideaux, W. F., 11, 13
j Primitive races in Arabia, 1-4
Proclus, 389
Procreation, considered sin-
ful, 317
Prophecy, a, made by the
Carmathians, 322
Prose, Arabic, the beginnings
of, 31
Proverbs, Arabic, 3, 16, 31, 50,
84, 91, 109, 244, 292, 373
Ptolemies, the, 276
Ptolemy (geographer), 3, 358
Public recitation of literary
works, 314
Pyramids, the, 354
Pyrenees, the, xx^'iii, 204
Pythagoras, 102
Q
Qabus (Lakhmite), 44, 45, 52
qadar (power), 224
-Qadarij-ya (the upholders of
free-will), 224
qaddah (oculist), 271
qadi 'l-qudat (Chief Justice),
395
Qadiri dervish order, the, 393
-Qahira, 275. 394. See Cairo
qahraniana, 457
Qahtan, xviii. 12, 14, 18, 200
Qala'idu 'l-Iqyan, 425
-Qamus, 403, 456
-Qaniin, 361
qara'a, 159
-Qarafa cemetery, 396
-Qaramita, 274. See Carma-
thians, the
qarawi, 138
qarn, meaning ' ray,' 18
qasida (ode), 76-78, 105, 288
qasida (ode), form of the, 76,
77 ; contents and divisions
of the, 77, 78 : loose struc-
ture of the, 134 ; unsuitable
to the conditions of urban
life. 288
Qasidatu'l-Burda. See-Burda
Qasidatu 'l-Hiniyarivya, 12
Qasir, 36, 37
Qasirin, III
QasijTjn, Mt., 399
-Qastallani, 455
Qatada, 294
Qatari b. -Fuja'a, 213
-Qayrawan, 264, 429
Qays 'A^'lan (tribe), xix, 199
293. 405
Qays b. -Khatim, 94-97, 137
Qays b. Zuhayr, 61, 62
Qaysar (title), 45
Qazwin, 445
-Qazwini (geographer), 416
Qift, 355
gtyas, 297
Qonya, 403, 404
Quatremere, M., xxv, 437, 445,
453
Qudar the Red, 3
Qumis (province), 391
-Quran, 159. See Koran, the
Quraysh (tribe), xix, xxiii,
xxvii, 22, 64, 65-68, 117,
124, 134, 142, 146, 153-158,
164. 165, 170, 174, 175, 183,
207, 216, 237, 241, 279, 330.
347, 375. 407. 417
Quraysh, the dialect of, xxiii,
142 ; regarded as the classi-
cal standard, xxiii, 134
Qurayza (tribe), 21, 170
496
INDEX
%
qurra (Readers of the Koran),
277. See Koran -readers, tlie
Qusayy, 64, 65, 146
-Qushaj'ri, 226, 227, 228, 230,
338.379
Quss b. Sa'ida, 136
gussas, 374
Qusta b. Luqa, 359
Qutit 7 -Qulub, 338, 393
R
rabad, 409
Rabi', son of Fatima, the
daughter of -Khurshub, 88
Rabi 'a b. Nizar, xix, 5
Rabi'a (b. Nizar), the descen-
dants of, xix
Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya, 227,
232, 233-234
Racine, 469
-Radi, the Caliph, 376
Radwa, Mount, 216
Rafidites. the, 268. See ShV-
ites, the
Ra'i '1-ibil (poet), 245, 246
raj'a (pahngenesis), 215
-rajaz (metre), 74. 75, 76, 77
Rakhman, 126
Rakusians, the, 149
Ralfs, C.A., 327
Ramadan, the Fast of, 224,
450
Ramla, 229
Raqqada, 274
Rasa'ilu Ikhwan al -Safa, 370,
371
Rasmussen, 6i
Rationalism. See Free-thought
-Rawda, island on the Nile,
455
rawi (reciter), 131
Rawis, the, 131-134
Raydan. 10
-Rayy, 258, 259, 268, 333, 350,
361, 420, 445
-Rayyan, 120
-Razi (Abu Bakr), physician,
361. See Abii Bakr al-
Razi
-Razi (Abu Bakr), historian,
420
Reading and writing de-
spised by the pagan Arabs,
39
Realists, 368
Red Sea, the, 4, 5. 62
Reformation, the, 468
Reforms of 'Abdu '1-Malik,
201 : of 'Umar b. 'Abd al-
-'Aziz, 205
Refugees, the. See -Muhaji-
run
Register of 'Umar, the, 187,
188
Reiske, 15, 102, 30S, 312, 316,
331
Religion, conceived as a pro-
duct of the human mind,
317
Religion of the Sabseans and
Htmyarites, lo, 11 ; of the
Pagan Arabs, 56. 135-140,
164, 166 ; associated with
commerce, 135, 154
Religions and Sects, Book of,
by -Sliahrastani, 341 ; by
IbnHazm,34i. See Kitabu
'l-Milal wa-'l-Kihal
Religious ideas in Pre-islamic
poetry, 117, 119, 123, 124,
135-140
Religious literature in the
'Abbasid period, 337-341
Religious poetry, 298-302
Renaissance, the, 443
Renan, xv, 432
Renegades, tiie, 408, 415, 426
Resurrection, the, 166, 215,
297, 299, 316
Revenge, views of the Arabs
concerning, 93, 94 ; poems
relating to, 97
Rhages. See -Rayy
Rhapsodists, the, 131
Rhazes, 265, 361. See Abu
Baltr al -Razi.
Rhetoric, treatise on, by
-Jahiz, 347
Rhinoceros, the, 354
Rhymed Prose. See sai'
Ribah b MuiTa, 25
ribat. 276, 430
Richelieu, 195
Rifa'i dervish order, the, 393
-Rijam, 119
Risalatu l-Ghiifran, 166, 167,
206, 318, 319, 373
-Risalat al-Qtishayriyya, 226,
227, 338
Roderic, 204. 405
Rodiger, Emil, 8
Roger II of Sicil}', 434
Rome, 33, 34, 41, 43, so, 52,
113, 252. 314. See Byzan-
tine Empire, the
Ronda, 410
Rosary, use of the, prohibited,
467
Rosen, Baron V., 375
Rothstein, Dr. G., 37, 53
-Rub' al -Khali, xvii
Rubicon, the, 252
Ruckert, Friedrich, 93, 97,
104, 292, 332
Rudagi, Persian poet, 265
Ruhu '1-Quds (the Holy
Ghost), 150
-ruj~, 152
Ru'knu '1-Dawla (Buwayhid),
266, 267
-Rumaykiyya, 422
Rushayd al-Dahdah, 394, 396
Rustam, 330, 363
Ruzbih, 346. See Ibnii 'l-Mu-
qaffa'
-Sa'b Dhu '1-Qarnayn, 17
-Sab' aUTiwal (the Seven
Long Poems), 103
Saba (Sheba), xxv, i, 4, 6, 6,
10, 16, 17. See Sabxans, tlw
Saba (person), 14
Sabaean language, the, xvi
See Sotith Arabic language.
the
Sabafans, the, xv, xvii, x\'iii ,
XX, xxi, I, 4, S, 7, 14, 17
Saba'ites, the. a Shi'ite sect,
215. 216, 217, 219
Sabians. the. 149, 341, 354.
358. 363, 364. 388
-Sab'iyya (the Seveners), 217
Sabota, 5
Sabuktagin, 268
Sabur I, 33
Sabur b. Ardashir, 267, 314
Sachau, E., xxii, 361
Sacy. Silvestre de, 8, 80, 102,
353. 354
Sa'd (tribe), 147
Sa'd (client of Jassas b.
Murra), 56, 57
Sad b. ^Ialik b. Dubay'a, 57
sada (owl or wraith), 94, 166
Sa'd-ilah, 11
sadin, 259
-Sadir (castle), 41
Sadru '1-Din of Qonya, 403,
404
safa (purity), 228, 370
Safa, the inscriptions of, xxi
-Safadi, 326, 456
Safar-Nama, 324
Safawid dynasty, the. xxix
-Saffah, 253. 254. 257, 259
-Saffah b. 'Abd Manat, 253
-Saffah, meaning of the title,
253
-Saffar (title), 265
Saffarid dynasty, the, 265
safi (pure), 228
Safiyyu '1-Din al-Hilli (poet)
449. 450
sag (Persian word), 445
-Sahaba (the Companions of
the Prophet), 229
Sahara, the, 423, 429, 468
-Sahib Ismail b. 'Abbad, 267.
347
Sahibu '1-Zanadiqa (title), 373
-Sahih, of -Bukhari, 144, 146,
337
-Sahih, of Muslim, 144, 337
Sahl b. 'Abdallah al-Tustari,
392
Sa'id b. -Husayn, 274
St. John, the Cathedral of,
203
St. Thomas, the Church of, at
-Hua, 46
Saints, female, 233
Saints, the Moslem, 386, 393,
395, 402, 403, 463, 467
saj' (rhymed prose), 74, 75,
159, 327. 328
Sakhr, brother of -Khansa,
126, 127
Sal', 398
Saladin, 275, 34S, 355
Salahu '1-Din b. Ayyub, 275.
See Saladin
Salama b. Khalid, 253
Salaman, 433
INDEX
497
Salaman (tribe), 79
Salamiyj'a, 274
Salih (prophet), 3
Salih (tribe), 50
Salih b. 'Abd al-Quddus, 372-
375
Sjilim al-Suddi, 204
Saltpetre industry, the, at
-Basra. 273
Sam b. Nuh, xviii. SeeS/w;)!,
the son of Noah
saina' (religious music), 394
sama' (oral tradition), 297
Samah'ali Yanuf, 10, 17
-Sam'ani, 339
Samanid dynasty, the, 265,
266, 268,271,303
Samarcand, 203, 268, 447
Samarra, 263
-Samaw'al b. 'Adiya, 84, 85
Samuel Ha-Levi, 428, 429
San'a, 8, 9, 17, 24, 28, 66, 215
sanaci. 144
-Sanhaji. 456
Sanjar (Seljuq), 264
-Sanusi (Muhammad b. Yu-
suf), 456
Sanusivva Brotherhood, the,
468 ""
-Saqaliba, 413
Saqtu 'l-Zan'd, 313, 315
Sarabi (name of a she-camel),
56
Sargon, King, 4
Sari al-Raffa (poet), 270
Sari al-Saqati, 386
Saruj, 330, 331, 332
Sa'sa'a, 242
Sasanian dynasty, the, 34, 38,
40, 41, 42, 214, 256, 358, 457
Sasanian kings, the, re-
garded as divine, 214
Satire, 73, 200, 245, 246
Saturn and Jupiter, conjunc-
tion of, 322
Sa'ud b. 'Abd al-'Aziz b.
Muhammad b. Sa'ud, 466
Sawa, 333
Sayf b. Dhi Yazan, 29
-Sayfij'j'a College, the, in
Cairo, 395
Savfu l-Dawla (Hamdanid),
269-271, 303-307, 311 3i3.
360
Saylu 'l-'Arim, 14
Schack, A. F. von, 360, 416,
436, 441
Schefer, C, 324
Scheherazade, 457
Scholasticism, Muhammadan,
284, 363, 460. See -Asli'ari ;
Ash'arites ; Orthodox Re-
action
Schreiner, 379
Schulthess, F., 87
Sciences, the Foreign, 282,
283, 358-364
Sciences,the Moslem.develop-
ment and classification of,
282,283
Scripture, People of the, 341
Sea-serpent, the, 354
Sedillot, 36c
Seetzen, Ulrich Jasper, 8
Seleucids, the, 276
Self-annihilation (faiia), the
Sufi doctrine of, 233
SeUm I (Ottoman Sultan), 448
Seljuq dynasty, the, 264, 265,
26S, 273, 276, 326, 445
Seljuq b. Tuqaq, 275
Seljuq Turks, the, 275, 444
Sell, Rev. E., 468
Semites, the, xv, xvi, i, 328
Semitic languages, the, xv,
xvi
Senegal, 430
Seville, 399, 406, 416, 420, 421,
422, 424, 425, 427, 431, 435,
437. 447
Shabib, 209
Shabwat, 5
Shaddad (king), i
Shaddad b. -Aswad al-Laythi,
166
Shadhaiatxi 'l-Dhahab, 339,
399. 436, 460
-Shadhili (Abu '1- Hasan), 461
Shadhili order c)f dervishes,
393. 461
-Shafi'i, 284, 409
Shafi'ite doctors, biographical
work on the, 339
Shahnama, the, by Firdawsi,
265, 325
-Shahrastani, 211, 216, 220,
221, 223, 224. 297, 341, 388
Shahrazad, 457
sha'ir (poet), 72, 73
Shakespeare, 252
Shamir b. Dhi '1-Ja\vshan.i96,
197, 198
Shams (name of a god), 11
Shams b. Malik, 81
Shamsiyya, Queen of Arabia,
4
Shamsu 'l-'Ulum, 13
-Shanfara, 79-81, 89, 97, 134,
326
Shaqiq (Abu 'Ali), of Balkh,
232, 233, 385
Sharahil (Sharahbil), 18
-Sha'rani, 225, 226, 392, 400,
403, 443, 460, 462, 164-465
shari'at, 392
-Sharif al-Jurjani, 456
-Sharif al-Radi (poet), 314
Sharif's, of Morocco, the 442
Sharik b. 'Amr, 44
Sharwasan, 391
Shas, 125
Shayban (clan of Bakr), 58
-Shaykh alAkbar, 404. See
M 21 h i yy 11 'l-Diii Ibiiu
'l-Arabi
Sheba, 4
Sheba, the Queen of, 18
Shem, the son of Noah, xv,
xviii
shi'a (party), 213
Shi'a, the, 213. See Shi'itcs, the
-Shifa, 361
Shihabu '1-Din al-Suhrawardi.
See -Snhrawardi
33
-Shihr, dialect of, xxi
Shi'ites, the, xxviii. 207, 208,
213-220, 222, 248, 249, 250,
262, 267, 268, 271-275, 297,
379, 409, 428, 432, 445, 466
shikaft (Persian word), 232
-shikafiiyya (the (iave-
dwellers), 232
Shilb, 416
Shiraz, 266. 307
Shirazad, 457
-Shirbini, 450
-shiiral (the Sellers), 20()
Shu'ubites, the, 279-280, 344,
372
Sibawayhi, 343
Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi, 355
Sicily, xvi, 52, 441
siddiq, meaning of, 218, 375
-Siddiq (title of Abu Bakr),
183
Stdi Khalil al-Jundi, 456
Hifatu Jazirat a!-' A tab, 12,
'18, 20
Siflin, battle of, 192, 208, 377
-S!7iKTOrt-'Wii;ziya( Magic and
Alchemy), 283
-Sila fi akhbari a'immati
'l-Andahis, 426
Silves, 416
Simak ij. 'Ubayd, 210
Sinbadh the Magian, 258
Sindbad, the Book of, 363
Sinimmar, 40
Siqadanj, 252
Siratu 'Aiitar, 459
Siratu Rasuli 'llah, 349
siyaha, 394
Siyarit Mitliik al-'Ajam, 348
Slane, Baron MacGuckin de,
32, 104, 129, 132, 136, 190,
213, 224, 229, 245, 261, 267,
278, 2S8, 289, 295, 326, 343,
344. 348. 355. 357, 359. 360,
371, 377. 378, 387, 408, 422,
425, 427, 429. 435, 437, 438,
440. 451
Slaves, the. 413
Smith, R. Payne, 52
Smith, W. Robertson, 56, 199
Snouck Hurgronje, 217
Solecisms,\vorkon, by -Hariri,
336
Solomon, xvii
Solomon Ibn Gabirol, 428
Soothsayers, Arabian, 72, 74,
152, 159, 165
South Arabic inscriptions,
the. See Inscriptions, South
Arabic
South Arabic language, the,
xvi, xxi, 6-1 1
Spain, xvi, xxx, 199, 203, 204,
253. 264, 276, 399, 405-441,
442, 443. 449, 454
Spain, the Moslem conquest
of, 203, 204, 405
Spencer, Herbert, 382
Spitta, 378
Sprenger. A., 143, 145, 149,
153,^456
I Steiner, 369
498
INDEX
Steingass, F.. 32S
Stephen bar Sudaili, 389
Stones, the worship of, in
pagan Arabia, 56
Stories, frivolous, reprobated
by strict Moslems, 330
Street-preachers, 374
Stylistic, manual of, by Ibn
Qutayba, 346
-Subki 'Taju l-Din), 461
Suetonius, 354
SI// (wool), 228
Sufi, derivation of, 227, 228 ;
meaning of, 228, 229, 230
Sufiism, 227-233, 382. 383-401,
460, 462, 463-465
Sufiism, Arabic works of
reference on, 338
Sufiism, origins of, 228-231,
388-389: distinguished from
asceticism, 229, 230, 231 ;
the kej'note of, 231 ; argu-
ment against the Indian
origin of, 233 ; composed of
many different elements,
389, 390 ; different schools
of, 390 ; foreign sources of,
390 ; principles of, 392 ;
definitions of, 228, 385, 392
Sufis, the, 206, 327, 339, 381,
460-465. See Sufiism
Sufyan b. 'Uyayna, 366
Suhaym b. \Vathil (poet),
202
-Suhrawardi (Shihabu 'l-Din
Abu Hafs 'Umar), 230, 232,
338. 396
-Suhrawardi (Shihabu 'l-Din
Yahya), 275
-Sukkari, 128, 343
-Sulayk b. -Sulaka, 89
Sulaym (tribe), xix
Sulayma, 34
Sulayman (Umayyad Caliph),
200, 203
Sulayman al-Bistani, 469
-Suli, 297
-Snliik li-ma'rifati Duwali
'l-Multtk, 453
-Sum ay 1 b. Hatim, 406
Sumajya, 195
-Sunan, of Abu Dawud al-Siji-
stani, 337
-S'una^i, of Ibn Maja, 337
-Sunaii, of -Nasa'i, 337
-siinna, 144, 234
-sunna. collections of tradi-
tions bearing on, 337
Sunnis, the, 207
Sunnis and Shi'ites, riot be-
tween the, 445
siira, 143, 159
Sura of Abu Lahab, the, 160
Sura of Coagulated Blood,
the, 151
Sura of the Elephant, the, 68
Sura of the Enwraffed, the,
152
Sura of the Morning, the, 152
Sura, the Opening. 143, 168
Sura of Purification, the, 164.
See Suratu 'l-lkhlas I
Sura of theSevering, the, 161
Sura of the Signs, the, 162
Sura of the Smiting, the, 163
Sura of the Unbelievers, the,
163
Suratu l-Fatiha (the opening
chapter of the Koran), 168.
See Sura, the Opening
Suratu 'l-lkhlas, 461. SceSiira
of Purification, the
Suratu 'l-Tahrim, 454
Surra-man-ra'a, 263
Surushan, 391
-Sus, 431
Suwayqa, 398
Suyut, 454
-Suyuti (Jalalu 'l-Din), 55, 71,
145, 403, 454, 455
Syria, xxiv, xxvii-xxx, 3, 5, 26,
33, 35. 43, 46. 49. 50. SI, 52,
54 63, 73, 84, 123, 132, 142,
148, 170, 184, 1S5, 186, 191,
193. 199, 207, 215, 232, 240,
247, 255, 262, 268, 269, 271,
274, 275. 303, 304, 350, 355,
358, 382, 386, 388, 390, 40=;,
418, 419, 442, 443, 446, 448,
451, 461, 468
Syria, conquest of, by the
Moslems, 184
Ta'abbata Sharran (poet), 79,
81, 97, 107, 126
Tabala, 105
Tabaqatu 'l-Atibba, 266
Tabaqatu 'l-Sufiyya, 338
Tabaran, 339
-Tabari, i, 27, 35, 37, 38, 41, 42,
' 44, 45, 48, 49, 66-68, 70, 145,
155. 156, 158, 185, 186, 187,
189, 210, 212, 215, 218, 219,
256, 258, 259, 265, 277, 349-
352, 355. 356. 373, 376
-Tabari's /I ;n!a/s, abridgment
of, by -Bal'ami, 265, 352
Tabaristan, 350
J-Tabi'un (the Successors), 229
fabi'iyyun, 3S1
Table, the Guarded, 163
Tabriz, 461
Tacitus, 194
Tadhkiralu 'l-Awliya, by
Faridu'ddin 'Attar, 226, 228,
387
tadlis, 14s
Tafsiru 'l-Jalalayn, 455
Tafsiru 'l-Qur'an. by -Tabari.
I, 145, 351
-Taftazani, 456
Taghlib (tribe), xix, 44, 55-60,
61, 76, q3, 107, 109, no, 112,
113, 240, 253, 269
Tahafutu 'l-Falasifa, 341
Tahir, 262, 263
Tahirid dynasty, the, 263, 265
tahrimu 'l-makasib,2(fj
Ta'if, 158
-la'iyyatu 'l-Kubra, 396, 397,
402
-Taiyyatu 'l-Sughra. 397
tajrid, 394
Talha, 190
Ta'liinites, the, 381, 382
Talisman, the, 469
Tamerlane. 437. See Timur
Taniim (tribe), xix, 125, 242,
293
Tamini al-Dari, 225
fanasukh (metempsychosis),
267
Tanukh (tribe), xviii, 34, 38
taqlid, 402
Tarafa (poet), 44, loi, 107-
109, 128, 138, 308
tardiyyal. 294
Ta'rikhu 'l-Hind, 361
Ta'rikhu 'l-Hukama, 355, 370
Ta'rikhu 'l-Khamis, 445
Ta'rikhu 'l-Khulafa, 455
Ta'rikhu 'l-Rusul wa-'t-
Mubik, 351
Ta'rikhu 'l-Tamaddun al-
lslami,4S5
Tariq, 204, 405
Tarsus, 361
Tartary, 444I
tasaunciif (Sufi'ism), 228
Tasm (tribe), 4. 25
ta%vaf, 117
tawakkul, 233
taivhid, 401
ta'wil (Interpretation), the
doctrine of, 220
-tawil (metre), 75, 80
-Tawwabun (the Penitents),
218
Tayma, 84
Tayyi' (tribe), xviii, 44, 53,
115
ta'ziya (Passion Play), 218
Teheran, 361
Temple, the, at Jerusalem,
169. 177
Tennyson, 79
Teresa. St., 233
Testament, the Old, i6r, 179
-Tha'alibi, 267, 271, 288, 290,
303, 304, 308 312, 348
Thabit b. Jabir b. Sufyan, 81.
126. See Ta'abbata Sharran
Thabit b. Qurra, 359
Thabit Qutna, 221
Tha'lab, 344
Thales, 363
Thamud, i, 3, 162
thanawi, 374
Thapsus, 274
Thaqif (tribe), 6g
Theodore Abucara, 221
Theologians, influence of, in
the 'Abbasid period, 247,
283, 366, 367
Thoma (St. Thomas), 46
Thomas Aquinas, 367
Thorbecke, H.,55, 90, 114, 129,
SSfi. 459
Thousand and One Nights, the,
34, 456-459. See Arabian
Nights, the
-/jbb (Medicine), 283
Tiberius, 194
INDEX
499
-Tibrizi (commentator), 55,
130
TibuUus, 425
Tides, a dissertation on, 354
Tigris, the, 189, 238, 256, 446
-Tihiama, 62
Tiliama, the, of Mecca, 3
TiUnisau, 454
Timur, xxix, 444, 454. See
Tamerlane
Timur, biography of, by Ibn
'Arabshali, 454
tinnin, 354
-Tirimmah (poet), 138
-Tirmidhi (Abu 'Isa Muham-
mad), 337
Titus, 137
Tobacco, the smoking of, pro-
hibited, 467
Toledo, 204, 421-423
Toleration, of Moslems to-
wards Zoroastrians, 184 ;
towards Christians, 184,
414, 441
Torah, the, 402. See Penta-
teuch
Tornberg, 203, 205, 253, 355,
429
Tours, battle of, 204
Trade between India and
Arabia, 4, 5
Trade, expansion of, in the
'Abbasid period, 281
Traditional or Religious
Sciences, the, 282
Traditions, the Apostolic, col-
lections of, 144, 247, 337
Traditions of the Prophet.
143-146, 237, 277, 278, 279,
282, 337, 356, 378, 462, 463,
464, 465, 467
Trajan, xxv
Translations into Arabic,from
Pehlevi, 330, 346, 348, 358 ;
from Greek, 358, 359, 469 :
from Coptic, 358 ; from
English and French, 469
Translators of scientific books
into Arabic, the, 358, 359,
363
Transoxania, 203, 233, 263,
26s, 266, 275, 360, 419, 444
Transoxania, conquest of, by
the Moslems, 203
Tribal constitution, the, 83
Tribes, the Arab, xix, xx
Tripoli, 468
Truth, the (Sufi term for God),
392
Tubba's, the (Himyarite
kings), 5, 14, 17-26, 42
Tudih, 398
tuglira, 326
-Tughra'i (poet), 326
tughia'i (chancellor), 326
Tughril Beg, 264, 275
tulul. 286
Tumadir, 126
Tunis, 274, 428, 437, 441
Turkey, xvi, 169,394,404,448,
466
Turkey, the Sultans of, 448
Turks, the, 263, 264, 26S, 325,
343. See Ottoman Turks ;
Seljuq Turks
Tus, 339, 340
Tuwayli', 398
Tuways, 236
Twenty Years After, by Dumas.
U
'Ubaydu'Uah, the Mahdi, 274
'Ubaydu'llah b. Yahya, 350
'Ubaydu'Uah b. Zivad, 19C,
198
Udhayna (Odenatluis). 33, 35
Uhud, battle of, 170, 175
'Ukaz, the fair of, loi, 102,
135
-'Ulama, 320, 367, 460. 461
Ultra-Shi 'ites, the, 258. See
-Ghulat
'Uman (province), 4, 62
'Umar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz (Umay-
yad Caliph), 200, 203, 204-
206, 283
'Umar b. Abi Rabi'a (poet),
237
'Umar Ibnu '1-Farid (poet),
325, 394-398, 402, 448, 462
'Umar b. Hafsun, 410
■Umar b. al-Khattab (Caliph),
xxvii, 51, 105, 127, 142, 157,
183, 185-190, 204, 210. 214,
215, 242, 254, 268, 297. 435
'Umar Khavvam, 339
'Umara. 88' '
Umayma (name of a woman),
90, 91, 92
Umayya, ancestor of the
Umayyads, 65, 14(5, 181, 190
Uma-^-s a b. Abi '1-Salt (poet),
69,149-150
Umaj'j-ad dynasty, the, xxviii,
65,' 154, f8i, 190, 193-206,
214, 222, 264, 273, 274, 27S,
279, 282, 283, 347, 358, 366,
373, 408
Umayyad literature, 235-247
Umayyads (descendants of
Umayya), the, 190, 191. See
Umayyad dynasty, the
Umayyads, Moslem prejudice
against the, 154, 193, 194,
197, 207
Umayyads of Spain, the, 253,
264', 347, 403-414
-'Umda, by Ibn Rashiq, 288
Umm 'Asim, 204
Umm Jamil, 89
Unays, 67
-'Urayd, 398
Urtuqid dynasty, the, 449
Usdu 'l-Gliaba, 356
'Usfan, 22
iistadh, 392
Ustadhsis, 258
Usyut, 454
'Utba, a slave-girl, 296
-'Utbi (historian), 269, 354
'Uthman b. 'Affan, Caliph,
xxvii, 142, 185, 190, 191,
210, 2£I, 213, 214, 215, 221,
236, 297
'Uyutin l-Akhbar, 346
'Uynnu l-Aiiba fi Tahaqat al-
Atibba, 35s. See Tabaqatu
'l-Atibba
-'Uzza (goddess). 43, 135, [55
Valencia, 421
Valerian, 33
Van Vloten, 221, 222, 250
Vedanta, the, 384
Venus, 18
Vico, 439
Victor Hugo, 312
Villon, 243
Vizier, the office of, 256, 257.
See wazir.
Viziers of the Buwayhid
dynasty, the, 267
Vogue, C. J. M. de, xxii
Volleis, 450
Vowel-marks in Arabic script
201
W
Wadd, name of a god, 123
Wadi l-Mustad'aftn, 394
Wafayatu 'l-Ayau, 451, 452.
Sve Ibn Khallikan
-Wafi bi 'l-Wafayat, 456
-wajir (metre), 75
Wahb b. Munabbih, 247, 459
Wahhabis. the, 463, 465-46S
Wahhabite Reformation, the,
465-468
-Wahidi (commentator), 305,
307
-wa'id, 297
Wail xix, 56, 57
wajd, mystical term, 387, 394
Wajra, 398
-WaUd b. 'Abd al- Malik
(Umavyad Caliph), 200,
203, 405
-Walid b. Yazid (Uma>'yad
Caliph), 132, 206, 291, 375
Wallada, 424, 425
-Waqidi (historian), 144, 261,
349
Waraqa b. Nawfal, 149, 150
wast (executor), 215
Wasil b. 'Ata, 223, 224, 374
Wasit, 385, 386
Water-diviners, honoured by
the pagan Arabs, 73
-Wathiq, the Caliph, 257, 369
wazir, an Arabic word, 256.
See Vizier
Wellhausen, J., 56, 128, 135,
139, 140, 149, 173, 198, 205,
207, 209, 210, 215, 218, 219,
222, 250, 365
Well-songs, 73
Wellsted, J. R., S
West Gothic dynasty in
Spain, the, 204
Weyers, 425
500
INDEX
Wine-songs, 124, 125, 138, 206,
325, 417
Witches, Ballad of the Three,
19
Women famed as poets, 89,
126, 127 ; as Sufis, 233
Women, position of, in Pre-
islamic times, 87-92
Woollen garments, a sign of
asceticism, 228, 296
Wright, W., 202, 226, 343
Writing, the art of, in Pre-
islamic times, xxii, 31, 102,
131, 138
Writing, Arabic, the oldest
specimens of, xxi
Wustenfeld, F., xviii, 17, 129.
132, 190, 213, 245, 253, 275,
295. 357. 37S, 408. 416. 452.
459
X
Xerxes, 256
Ximenez, Archbishop, 435
Yatiniatu 'l-Dahr, 267, 271,
304, 308, 348
-Yawaqit, by -Sha'rani, 403,
460
Yazdigird I (Sasanian), 40, 41
Yazid b. 'Abd al- Malik (Um-
ayyad Caliph), 200
Yazid b. Abi Sufyan, 426
Yazid b. Mu'awiya (Umayyad
Caliph), 195-199, 208, 241
Yazid b. Rabi'a b. Mufarrigh,
19
-Yemen (-Yaman), xvn, 2, 5. 7,
II, 12, 15, 17, 22, 23, 24, 26,
27, 28, 29, 42, 49, 65, 68, 87,
99, 103. 137, 215. 247, 252,
274. 405
Yoqtan, xviii
Yoqtanids, the, xviii, 4. See
Arabs, the Yemenite
Yusuf b. 'Abd al-Barr, 428
Yusuf b. 'Abd al-Mu'min (Al-
mohade). 432
Yusuf b. Abd al-Rahman al-
Fihri, 406
Yusuf b. Tashifin (Almora-
vide), 423, 430, 431
-Yahud (the Jews), 171
Yahya b. Abi Mansur, 359
Yahya b. Khalid, 259,260,451
Yahya b. Yahya, the Berber,
408, 409
-Yamama, 25, iii, 124
-Yamama, battle of, xxii, 142
Yaqsum, 28
Ya'qub b. -La\'th, 265
Ya'qub al-Mansur (Almo-
hade), 432
-Ya'qubi (Ibn Wadih). his-
torian, 193. 194. 349
Yaqut, 17, 357
Ya'rub, 14
Yatha'amar (Sabaan king), 4
Yatha'amar Bayyin, lo, 17
Yathrib, 62. See Medina
Yathrippa, 62
-Yatima. See Yatimatii '/■
Dahr
Zab, battle of the, 181, 253
Zabad, the trilingual inscrip-
tion of, xxii
-Zahba,35.36,37- SeeZenobia
Zabdai, 34
zaddiq. 375
Zafar (town in -Yemen), 7, 8,
17. 19. 21
Zafar (tribe), 94
zahid (ascetic), 230
Zahirites, the. 402, 427, 433
-Zahra, suburb of Cordova,
425
zajal, verse-form, 416, 417.
449
Zallaqa, battle of, 423, 431
-Zamakhshari, 145. 280, 336
zaiidik, SJS
-Zanj, 273
Zanzibar, 352
Zapiski, 375
Zarifa, 15
Zarqa'u '1-Yamama, 25
Zayd, son of 'Adi b. Zayd,
48
Zayd b. 'All b. -Husayn, 297
Zayd b. 'Amr b. Nufayl, 149
Zayd b. Hammad, 45
Zayd b. Haritha, 153
Zavd b. Kilab b. Murra, 64.
See Qusayy
Zayd b. Rif a'a, 370
Zayd b. Thabit, 142
Zaydites, the, 297
Zaynab (Zenobia), 35. So
Zaynab, an Arab woman. 237
Zaynu 'l-'Abidin, 243
Zenobia, 33. 34. 35
Zitiatu 'l-Dahr, 348
Zindiqs. the, 291, 296, 319, 3oS.
372-375, 387. 460
Ziryab (musician), 418
Ziyad, husband of Fatima,
the daughter of -Khurshub,
88
Ziyad ibn Abihi, 195. 256, 34^
Ziyad b. Mu'awiya. See -Na-
biglui al-Dhul>yani
Ziyanid dynasty, the, 442
Zone, the, worn by Zoroa-
strians, 461
Zoroaster, 184, 258
Zoroastrians, the, 184, 341.354.
373.461 „
Zotenberg, H., 352
Zubayda, wife of Harun al-
Kashid, 262
-Zubayr, 190
-Zuhara, 18
Zuhavr b. Abi Sulma (poet),
62,116-119, 128, 131. 137.
140. 312
zuhd (asceticism). 229, 230,
299
zuhdiyyat, 294
Zuhra b. Kilab b. Murra, 64
-Zuhri (Muhammad b.Mushm
b. Shihab), 153. 247. 258
zimnar, 461
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