A Literary History of the Arabs Part 62

[837] The Arabic text of the _Wafayat_ has been edited with variants and indices by Wustenfeld (Gottingen, 1835-1850). There is an excellent English translation by Baron MacGuckin de Slane in four volumes (1842-1871).

[838] The full t.i.tle is _al-Mawa'i? wa-'l-l'tibar fi dhikri 'l-Khi?a? wa-'l-Athar_. It was printed at Bulaq in 1270 A.H.

[839] _Al-Suluk li-ma'rifati Duwali 'l-Muluk_, a history of the Ayyubids and Mamelukes. The portion relating to the latter dynasty is accessible in the excellent French version by Quatremere (_Histoire des Sultans Mamlouks de l'egypte_, Paris, 1845).

[840] A. R. Guest, _A List of Writers, Books, and other Authorities mentioned by El Maqrizi in his Khi?a?_, _J.R.A.S._ for 1902, p.

106.

[841] The _Fakhri_ has been edited by Ahlwardt (1860) 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.

[842] See p. 413, n. 1.

[843] _A Biographical Dictionary of Persons who knew Mohammad_, ed. by Sprenger and others (Calcutta, 1856-1873).

[844] _Muruju 'l-Dhahab_, ed. by Barbier de Meynard, vol. iv. p. 90. The names s.h.i.+razad and Dinazad are obviously Persian. Probably the former is a corruption of Chihrazad, meaning 'of n.o.ble race,' while Dinazad signifies 'of n.o.ble religion.' My readers will easily recognise the familiar Scheherazade and Dinarzade.

[845] Strange as it may seem, this criticism represents the view of nearly all Moslem scholars who have read the 'Arabian Nights.'

[846] Many episodes are related on the authority of A?ma'i, Abu 'Ubayda, and Wahb b. Munabbih.

[847] Those who recite the _Siratu 'Antar_ are named _'Anatira_, sing.

_'Antari_. See Lane's _Modern Egyptians_, ch. xxiii.

[848] That it was extant in some shape before 1150 A.D. seems to be beyond doubt. _Cf._ the _Journal Asiatique_ for 1838, p. 383; Wustenfeld, _Gesch. der Arab. Aerzte_, No. 172.

[849] _Antar, a Bedoueen Romance_, translated from the Arabic by Terrick Hamilton (London, 1820), vol. i, p. xxiii seq. See, however, Flugel'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.

[850] Sha'rani, _Yawaqit_ (ed. of Cairo, 1277 A.H.), p. 18.

[851] 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 ?urufis, 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, La?ifi, specifies the verse which cost him his life. I may add that the author of the _Shadharatu 'l-Dhahab_ calls him Nasimu 'l-Din of 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.

[852] The 112th chapter of the Koran. See p. 164.

[853] Founder of the Shadhiliyya Order of Dervishes. He died in 1258 A.D.

[854] A distinguished jurist and scholar who received the honorary t.i.tle, 'Sultan of the Divines.' He died at Cairo in 1262 A.D.

[855] An eminent canon lawyer ( 1370 A.D.).

[856] 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.

[857] See _Materials for a History of the Wahabys_, by J. L. Burckhardt, published 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 ?ijaz from the Wahhabis. His graphic and highly interesting narrative has been summarised by Dozy, _Essai sur l'histoire de l'Islamisme_, ch. 13.

[858] Following Burckhardt's example, most European writers call him simply 'Abdu 'l-Wahhab.

[859] Burckhardt, _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 96.

[860] MSS. of Ibn Taymiyya copied by Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab are extant (Goldziher in _Z.D.M.G._, vol. 52, p. 156).

[861] This is the place usually called Karbala or Mashhad ?usayn.

[862] _Op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 112.

[863] _Essai sur l'histoire de l'Islamisme_, p. 416.

[864] Burckhardt, _loc. laud._, p. 115.

[865] 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.

[866] See M. Hartmann, _The Arabic Press of Egypt_ (London, 1899).

[867] Brockelmann, _loc. cit._, p. 476.

[868] 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.

[869] H. A. R. Gibb, _Studies in contemporary Arabic literature_, Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, vol. iv, pt. 4, p. 746; cf.

also vol. v, pt. 2, p. 311 foll. Mr Gibb has given references to the chief works on the subject, but for the sake of those who do not read Arabic or Russian it may be hoped that he will continue and complete his own survey, to which there is nothing _simile aut secundum_ in English.

APPENDIX

P. xxii, l. 2. Arabic begins to appear in North Arabian inscriptions in the third century A.D. Perhaps the oldest yet discovered is one, of which the probable date is 268 A.D., published by Jaussen and Savignac (_Mission archeologique en l'Arabie_, vol. i, p. 172).

Though it is written in Aramaic characters, nearly all the words are Arabic, as may be seen from the transcription given by Professor Horovitz in _Islamic Culture_ (Hyderabad, Deccan), April 1929, vol. iii, No. 2, p. 169, note 2.

P. 4 foll. Concerning the Sabaeans and the South Arabic inscriptions a great deal of valuable information will be found in the article _Saba'_ by J. Tkatsch in the _Encyclopaedia of Islam_. The writer points out the special importance of the epigraphic discoveries of E. Glaser, who, in the course of four journeys (1882-94), collected over 2000 inscriptions.

See also D. Nielsen, _Handbuch der altarabischen Altertumskunde_, vol. i (Copenhagen and Paris, 1927).

P. 13, note 2. Excerpts from the _Shamsu 'l-'Ulum_ relating to South Arabia have been edited by Dr 'Azimu'ddin A?mad (E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Series, vol. xxiv).

P. 26 foll. For contemporary and later Christian accounts of the martyrdom of the Christians of Najran, see the fragmentary _Book of the Himyarites_ (Syriac text and English translation), ed.

by A. Moberg in 1924, and cf. Tor Andrae, _Der Ursprung des Islams und das Christentum_ (Uppsala, 1926), pp. 10-13.

P. 31. The collection of Arabic proverbs, ent.i.tled _Kitabu 'l-Fakhir_, by Mufa??al b. Salama of Kufa, is now available in the excellent edition of Mr C. A. Storey (Leyden, 1915).

P. 32, note 1. An edition of the _Aghani_ with critical notes is in course of publication at Cairo.

P. 52, l. 9 foll. The battle mentioned here cannot be the battle of 'Ayn Ubagh, which took place between ?arith, the son of ?arith b. Jabala, and Mundhir IV of ?ira about 583 A.D. (Guidi, _L'Arabie anteislamique_, p. 27).

P. 127, l. 16. The ode _Banat Su'ad_ is rendered into English in my _Translations of Eastern Poetry and Prose_, pp. 19-23.

P. 133. As regards the authenticity of the Pre-islamic poems which have come down to us, the observations of one of the greatest authorities on the subject, the late Sir Charles J. Lyall, seem to me to be eminently judicious (Introduction to the _Mufa??aliyat_, vol. ii, pp. xvi-xxvi). He concludes that "upon the whole, the impression which a close study of these ancient relics gives is that we must take them, generally speaking, as the production of the men whose names they bear." All that can be urged against this view has been said with his usual learning by Professor Margoliouth (_The Origins of Arabic Poetry_, _J.R.A.S._, 1925, p. 417 foll.).

P. 145, l. 2. The oldest extant commentary on the Koran is that of Bukhari in ch. 65 of the _?a?i?_, ed. Krehl, vol. iii, pp.

193-390.