The Project Gutenberg eBook ofArabic AuthorsThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Arabic AuthorsAuthor: F. F. ArbuthnotRelease date: November 24, 2006 [eBook #19914]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Thierry Alberto, Don Perry and the Online Distributed Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARABIC AUTHORS ***
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Arabic AuthorsAuthor: F. F. ArbuthnotRelease date: November 24, 2006 [eBook #19914]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Thierry Alberto, Don Perry and the Online Distributed Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net
Title: Arabic Authors
Author: F. F. Arbuthnot
Author: F. F. Arbuthnot
Release date: November 24, 2006 [eBook #19914]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Thierry Alberto, Don Perry and the Online Distributed Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARABIC AUTHORS ***
Produced by Thierry Alberto, Don Perry and the Online
Distributed Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net
LONDON:WILLIAM HEINEMANN.1890.
The following pages contain nothing new and nothing original, but they do contain a good deal of information gathered from various sources, and brought together under one cover. The book itself may be useful, not, perhaps, to the Professor or to the Orientalist, but to the general reader, and to the student commencing the study of Arabic. To the latter it will give some idea of the vast field of Arabian literature that lies before him, and prepare him, perhaps, for working out a really interesting work upon the subject. Such still remains to be written in the English language, and it is to be hoped that it will be done some day thoroughly and well.
It is gratifying to think that the study of Oriental languages and literature is progressing in Europe generally, if not in England particularly. The last Oriental Congress, held at Stockholm and Christiania the beginning of September, 1889, brought together a goodly number of Oriental scholars. There were twenty-eight nationalities represented altogether, and the many papers prepared and read, or taken as read preparatory to their being printed, showed that matters connected with Oriental studies in all their branches excite considerable interest.
England, too, has been lately making some efforts which will be, it is sincerely hoped, crowned with success. The lectures on modern Oriental languages lately established by the Imperial Institute of the United Kingdom, the Colonies, and India, in union with University College and King's College, London, is full of promise of bringing forth good fruit hereafter. So much is to be learnt from Oriental literature in various ways that it is to be hoped the day may yet come when the study of one or more Oriental languages will be taken up as a pastime to fill the leisure hours of a future generation thirsting after knowledge.
In addition to the above, a movement is also being made to attempt to revive the old Oriental Translation Fund. It was originally started in A.D. 1828, and did good work for fifty years, publishing translations (see Appendix) from fifteen different Oriental languages, and then collapsing from apathy, neglect, and want of funds. Unless well supported, both by donations and annual subscriptions, it is useless to attempt a fresh start. To succeed thoroughly it must be regarded as a national institution, and sufficiently well-off to be able to afford to bring out Texts and Indexes of
[Transcriber's note: Missing page in the source document.]
-cially An-Nadim's 'Fihrist,' a most valuable book of reference, ought to be done into English without further delay. Private individuals can hardly undertake the business, but a well-organized and permanent Oriental Translation Fund, assisted by the English and Indian Governments, could and would render extraordinary services in the publication of texts, translations, and indexes of Oriental literature generally.
For assistance in the preparation of this present volume my thanks are due to the many authors whose works have been freely used and quoted, and also to Mr. E. Rehatsek, of Bombay, whose knowledge of the Arabic language and of Arabic literature is well known to all Oriental scholars.
18, Park Lane, W.
Arabia: its boundaries, divisions of districts, revenues, area, population, and history.—Tribe of Koraish.—The Kaabah at Mecca.—Muhammad.—His immediate successors: Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman, Ali.—The Omaiyides.—Fate of Hasan and Hussain, sons of Ali—Sunnis and Shiahs.—Overthrow of the Omaiyides by the Abbasides.—The Omaiyides in Spain; their conquests and government.—The Moors, and their final expulsion.—To what extent Europe is indebted to the Spanish Arabs.—Their literature and architecture.—The Abbaside Khalifs at Baghdad.—Persia, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and Arabia become detached from their government in the course of time.—Fall of Baghdad itself in A.D. 1258.—Dealings of the Turks with Arabia.—The Wahhabi reform movement.—Expeditions of the Turks and Egyptians to suppress it.—Various defeats and successes.—Present form of government in Arabia.—Its future prospects.—List of the Omaiyide Khalifs, preceded by Muhammad and his four immediate successors.—List of the Abbaside Khalifs.—List of the Arab rulers in Spain.
About the Arabic and Chinese languages.—The permanent character of the former attributed to the Koran.—Division of Arab literature into three periods: I. The time before Muhammad.—The sage Lokman; the description of three Lokmans; Arab poetry before the Koran; the seven suspended poems, known as the Mua'llakat, at Mecca; notions of the Arabs about poetry; their Kasidas; description of the Kasidas of Amriolkais, Antara, Labid, Tarafa, Amru, Harath, and Zoheir; the poets Nabiga, Al-Kama, and Al-Aasha. II. The period from the time of Muhammad to the fall of the Abbasides.—Muhammad considered as a poet; the poets who were hostile to him; his panegyrist Kab bin Zoheir; account of him and his 'Poem of the Mantle,' and the results; Al-Busiri's 'Poem of the Mantle;' names of poets favourable and hostile to Muhammad; the seven jurisconsults; the four imams; the six fathers of tradition; the early traditionists; the companions; the alchemists; the astronomers; the grammarians; the geographers and travellers; the historians; the tabulators and biographers; the writers about natural history; the philologists; the philosophers; the physicians; the poets; the collectors and editors of poems; the essayist Al-Hariri; many translators; special notice of Ibn Al-Mukaffa; support given to learning and literature by certain of the Omaiyide, Abbaside, and Spanish Arab Khalifs; description of Baghdad; reign of Harun-ar-Rashid; the Barmekides; the Khalif Razi-billah; Hakim II. at Cordova; his education; his accession to the throne; his collection of books; his library, and its catalogue; places of learning in the East at this time. III. Third period, from the fall of Baghdad to the present time.—Certain historians; Ibn Malik, the grammarian; Ibn Batuta, the traveller; Abul Feda, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Kesir, Ibn Hajar, Ibn Arabshah—all historians; Firuzabadi, Taki-uddin of Fez, Al-Makrisi, Sayuti, Ibn Kamal Pasha, Abu Sa'ud the mufti, Ibrahim of Aleppo, Birgeli, Abul Khair; celebrated caligraphers, past and present, Haji Khalfa, Muhammad al Amin of Damascus, Makkari. Decline of Arabic literature: its present form. About the printing-presses of Arabic works at various places.
A complete summary of the details of his life, from his birth to his death.—Remarks upon him as a reformer, preacher, and apostle.—The Hanyfs.—Muhammad's early idea of establishing one religion for the Jews, Christians, and Arabs.—His long struggle with the Koraish.—His failure at Mecca.—His success at Madinah.—Adapts his views to the manners and customs of the Arabs only.—The reason of his many marriages.—His love of women.—About the Koran.—Not collected and arranged until after his death.—Comparison of the Koran with the Old and New Testaments.—Superiority of our Bible.—Description of it by 'Il Secolo.'—Rev. Mr. Badger's description of the Koran.—Written in the purest Arabic, and defies competition.—Muhammad and Moses, Jesus and Buddha.—Remarks about Buddhism and Christianity.—Moses and Muhammad the founders of two nationalities.—Abraham the father of the Jewish, Christian, and Muhammadan religions.—Rénan's description of the gods of the Jews.—Joseph.—The Twelve Tribes.—Appearance of Moses as a liberator and organizer.—The reasons of his wanderings in the desert.—What the Jews owed to Moses, and the Arabs to Muhammad.—The latter as a military leader.—Resemblance of the warlike expeditions of the Jews and of the Arabs.—Similar proceedings in the Soudan at the present time.—Account of the dogmas and precepts of Islam as embodied in the Koran.—Other points connected with the institutions of Islam.—Faith and prayer always insisted upon.—Democratic character of the Muhammadan religion, excellent in theory, but doubtful in practice.—Muhammad's last address at Mina, telling the Muslims that they were one brotherhood.—His final remarks.
The Kalilah wa Dimnah.—'Early Ideas.'—'Persian Portraits,'—Origin of the 'Arabian Nights.'—The Hazar Afsaneh, or Thousand Stories. Date of the 'Nights.'—Its fables and apologues the oldest part of the work.—Then certain stories—The latest tales.—Galland's edition.—His biography.—His successors, sixteen in number, ending with Payne and Burton.—The complete translations of these two last-named, in thirteen and sixteen volumes respectively.—Brief analysis of Payne's first nine, and of Burton's first ten volumes.—Short summary of twelve stories; viz.: The tale of Aziz and Azizah; the tale of Kamar Al-Zaman and the Lady Budur; Ala Aldin Abu Al-Shamat; Ali the Persian and the Kurd sharper; the man of Al-Yaman and his six slave-girls; Abu Al-Husn and his slave-girl Tawaddud; the rogueries of Dalilah the Crafty and her daughter Zeynab the Trickstress; the adventures of Quicksilver Ali of Cairo; Hasan of Busra and the king's daughter of the Jinn; Ali Nur Al-din and Miriam the girdle-girl; Kamar Al-Zaman and the jeweller's wife; Ma'aruf the cobbler and his wife Fatimah.—Remarks on Payne's three extra volumes, entitled 'Tales from the Arabic,' and on Burton's two first supplemental volumes.—Allusion to Burton's third supplemental and to Payne's thirteenth volume.—Burton's fourth, fifth, and sixth supplemental volumes. —Summing-up of the number of stories contained in the above two editions; from what manuscripts they were translated, and some final remarks.—The Kathá Sarit Ságara, a sort of Hindoo 'Arabian Nights'. —Comparison of the two works.—Brief description of the Kathá and its contents.—Gunádhya and Somadeva.—Final remarks on the stories found in the Kathá.—Antar, a Bedouin romance.—Its partial translation.—Its supposed author.—Brief description of the work, with some remarks upon it.—Both the 'Arabian Nights' and Antar rather long.—The press in England to-day.—Numerous writers of novels and story-books.—These take the place of the 'Nights,' and satisfy the public, always in search of something new, even if not true; something original, even if not trustworthy.—Final remarks.
In Persian literature the Gulistan, Negaristan, and Beharistan contain many anecdotes.—In Arabic literature there are works of the same kind.—'The Naphut-ul-Yaman,' or Breath of Yaman.—Six stories translated from it.—The Merzuban namah, with newly translated extracts from it.—Remarks on this work.—The Al-Mustatraf, or the Gleaner or the Collector.—Two stories from it.—Two anecdotes taken from the Sehr-ul-oyoon, or Magic of the Eyes.—A philosophic discourse, translated from the Siraj-ul-Muluk, or Lamp of Kings.—The Ilam en Nas, or Warnings for Men.—Eighteen stories from Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary.—Seven anecdotes from various sources.—Verses from the Arabic about the places where certain Arabs wished to be buried.—Translation of the verses upon Alfred de Musset's tomb in Paris.
Appendix.
Index.
The Arabia of to-day is bounded on the west by the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez; on the south by the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea; on the east by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf; and on the north by a portion of Syria. This last boundary would, however, be more clearly defined by drawing a line from Suez straight across to the western head of the Persian Gulf.
By the Greeks and Romans this country was divided into Arabia Petræa, Arabia Deserta, and Arabia Felix, or the Stony, the Desert, and the Happy. The Arabs themselves call it 'The Land of the Arabs,' while modern geographers give the Sinaitic peninsula as the first geographic district; the Hijaz, including the Haram, or sacred territory of Mecca, as the second; and Yaman, with the Tehamah, as the third. To these may be added the provinces of Hadramant and Mahrah, and of Oman and Hasa, to the south and east respectively, with Nejd, or Central Arabia, as the central plateau, and some large deserts scattered in different parts of the peninsula.
Of the revenues of Arabia it is almost impossible to form anything like a correct estimate. The area of the country covers about 1,200,000 square miles, and the population is said to be from five to six millions, of whom one-fifth consist of Ahl Bedoo, or dwellers in the open land, otherwise known as Bedouins; and four-fifths of settled Arabs, called Ahl Hadr, or dwellers in fixed localities.
The history of Arabia may be divided into three periods:
1st. The prehistoric period, full of tales of heroes, and giants, and wonderful cities.
2nd. The period which preceded the era of Muhammad.
3rd. That which followed it.
The first period is mythical to a certain extent; at all events, nothing can be stated positively about it. The second period is distinguished as one of local monarchies and federal governments in a rough and rude form; while the third commences with theocratic centralization, dissolving finally into general anarchy.
Of the many tribes in Arabia, the most celebrated is the family of the Koraish, still regarded as the noblest of the Arabs, partly because, at the beginning of the fifth century A.D., their chiefs had rendered themselves the masters and acknowledged guardians of the sacred Kaabah at Mecca, and partly because of their connection with the Prophet. The Kaabah, La Maison Carrée, or square temple, a shrine of unknown antiquity, was situated within the precincts of the town of Mecca, and to it, long before Muhammad's time, the Arabs had brought yearly offerings, and made devout pilgrimages. The tribe of Koraish, having once obtained the keys of the consecrated building, had held them against all comers till Muhammad's conquest of Mecca in A.D. 630, when he handed over the key to Othman bin Talha, the former custodian, to be kept by him and his posterity as an hereditary and perpetual office, and he further confirmed his uncle Abbas in the office of giving drink to the pilgrims.
Before entering into a somewhat lengthy description of Arabian literature, it is necessary to give a short and rapid sketch of Arabian history, beginning from the time of Muhammad, as his Koran was the foundation of the literary edifice. All Arab authors have looked upon that work as the height of eloquent diction, and have regarded it as the model standard to be followed in all their productions. Leaving, then, the two first periods of Arabian history, viz., the prehistoric, and the pre-Muhammadan, without any particular notice, the third period will be sketched as briefly as possible, and will be found excessively interesting, containing as it does the rise, grandeur, and decline of the Arabs as a nation.
Muhammad, on his death in June, A.D. 632, left the entire Arab peninsula, with two or three exceptions, under one sceptre and one creed. He was succeeded by Abu Bakr (the father of Ayesha, the favourite wife of the prophet), known as the Companion of the Cave, with the title of Khalifah, or successor. His reign only lasted two years, but during that period the various insurrections that broke out in Arabia in consequence of the death of the Prophet were promptly put down, after severe fighting, in various parts of the peninsula, and the whole country was subjugated. Foreign expeditions beyond the borders were also planned and started.
Abu Bakr, dying in August, A.D. 634, was succeeded by Umar, or Omar, the conqueror of Syria, Persia, and Egypt by means of his generals Khalid bin Walid (the best, perhaps, that Islam produced), Abu Obaida, Mothanna, Sád bin Malik, Amr bin al-Aasi, and others. Omar himself was an early convert of A.D. 615, and a sudden conversion like our Paul; but one made his converts by fanaticism and the sword, the other by preaching and the pen. After a glorious and victorious reign of ten years Omar was assassinated by a Persian slave in November, A.D. 644, and was followed as Khalif by Othman, son of Affan, of the noble family of Abd-esh-Shems, who also assumed the title 'Amir al-Momenin, or Commander of the Faithful, which had been first adopted by his predecessor Omar. Othman ruled for twelve years, when he was murdered in A.D. 656, some say at the instigation of Ali, nephew of Muhammad, and husband of his only daughter Fatima. Anyhow, Ali succeeded Othman as Khalif, but was defeated by Moawia, Governor of Syria, and assassinated in A.D. 660.
Moawia bin Abu Sofyan then established the Benou Umayya dynasty, called by Europeans the Omaiyides, or Ommiades, from the name of Umayya, the father of the race. This dynasty reigned for nearly ninety years, and numbered fourteen successive princes, with their capital at Damascus.
During the reign of Yazid I., the second prince (A.D. 679-683), Hussain, the younger son of Ali the Khalif, came to an untimely end. His elder brother, Hasan, a man of quiet disposition, had been previously murdered by one of his wives, at the instigation, it is said, of Yazid before he came to the throne. This happened in A.D. 669. Later on Hussain, with his followers, rose in rebellion, and was killed on the plain of Kerbela, A.D. 680. The descendants, however, of this faction continued the disturbances which eventually brought about the great Muhammadan schism, and the splitting up of the religion into two sects, known to this day as the Sunnis and Shias. The adherents of the legitimate Khalifate, and of the orthodox doctrine, assumed the name of Sunnites, or Traditionists. These acknowledge the first four Khalifs (the rightly minded, or rightly directed, as they are called) to have been legitimate successors of Muhammad, while the sectaries of Ali are known as the Shiites, or Separatists. These last regard Ali as the first rightful Imam, for they prefer this title (found in Sura ii., verse 118, of the Koran) to that of Khalif. The Turks and Arabs are Sunnis: the Persians, and most of the Muhammadans of India, Shias.
This division into two sects, who hate each other cordially, has done more to weaken the power of the Muhammadan religion as a power than anything else. The Shias to this day execrate the memory of Yazid as the murderer of their hero Hussain, whom they have ever regarded as a martyr, and given full vent to their feelings on the subject in their 'Passion Play,' translated by Sir Lewis Pelly, and described by Mr. Benjamin in his 'Persia and the Persians.'
Other insurrections against the reigning Omaiyide Khalifs were also put down, portions of Asia, Africa and Spain conquered, and even France invaded, so that at the close of the Benou Umayya dynastry, about A.D. 750, their empire consisted of many and large territories in Europe, Africa and Asia. Their colour was white, as opposed to the black of the Abbasides, and the green of the Fatimites, as descendants of Muhammad.
But the Benou Umayya dynasty succumbed, A.D. 749, under the blows of Ibrahim (great-grandson of Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet), and of his younger brother, Abul Abbas, better known in history as As-Saffah, or the Blood-shedder. A decisive battle was fought on the banks of the river Zab, near Arbela, and Marwan II. (A.D. 744-750), the last of the Omaiyide Khalifs, was defeated, and fled first to Damascus, and then to Egypt, where he was eventually killed by his pursuers, A.D. 750.
The history of the reign of the Abbasides now begins, and under them the power and glory of Islam reached their highest point. But it is first necessary to allude to the conquest of Spain by the Omaiyides, a branch of which family still retained for a long time in the West the power which they had totally lost in the East.
The most important achievement of the reign of Walid I. (A.D. 705-715), the sixth prince of the Omaiyide dynasty, was the conquest of Spain by his generals Tarik and Musa. The Arabs (known in Europe under the name of Saracens) first established themselves in Cordova about A.D. 711, and the two generals above named continued their victorious progress throughout the country in 712 and 713, until nearly nine-tenths of the peninsula was held by the Muhammadans.
Some years later France even was invaded by the Arabs, and the banners of the Muslims were erected on the coasts of the Gulf of Lyons, on the walls of Narbonne, of Nimes, of Carcassonne, and of Béziers. The Arabs afterwards advanced as far as the plains of Tours, where their victorious progress was checked by Charles Martel, who gained a great victory over them near that town in October, A.D. 732, and completely defeated them, so that they were obliged to retire again to Spain. There successive viceroys and emirs ruled as the representatives of the Khalifs at Damascus until the fall of the Omaiyide dynasty in the East, A.D. 750.
But even after that Spain remained for many years under Arab domination. Anarchy almost prevailed from A.D. 750 to 755, but in that year the Arabs of Spain, weary of disorder, elected as their ruler Abd-ar-Rahman, grandson of the Khalif Hashim, tenth prince of the Omaiyide dynasty. At the time of his election, Abd-ar-Rahman was a wanderer in the desert, pursued by his enemies, when a deputation from Andalusia sought him out and offered him the Khalifate of Spain. It was gladly accepted. He landed there in September, A.D. 755, was universally welcomed, and founded at Cordova the Western Omaiyide Khalifate, which lasted up to A.D. 1031, under sixteen rulers, with certain interruptions during the reign of the last seven of them. On the extinction of the Khalifate, Spain was broken up into various petty kingdoms under kings and kinglets belonging to different Arab tribes and families. This continued from A.D. 1032 to 1092, when the Almoravides established themselves from A.D. 1092 to 1147, and were followed by the Almohades, who reigned up to A.D. 1232.
After this Cordova, Seville, and other places were taken by Ferdinand III. of Leon and Castile, between A.D. 1236 and 1248. On the fall of Cordova the Muhammadan power declined with great rapidity; and, though the celebrated kingdom of Granada was established by the Moors in A.D. 1232, it was their last refuge from the rising power of the Christians. Some twenty-one princes reigned there till A.D. 1492, when Granada itself was taken, and this last Muhammadan dynasty was driven out of Spain by Ferdinand of Arragon and Isabella of Castile. Thus ended the empire of the Arabs and the Moors in Spain, which had lasted nearly eight hundred years.
The Spanish Arabs were extremely fond of learning. Indeed, it is due to them to a very great extent that literature and science were kept afloat in Europe during the ages that followed the invasion of the Barbarians, as the Huns, Vandals, Goths, and Visigoths were generally called. That interval known as the 'Dark Ages' was kept alight by the Arabs alone. Abd-ar-Rahman II. established a library at Cordova during his reign, A.D. 822-852. Hakim II., the successor of Abd-ar-Rahman III., loved the sciences, founded the University of Cordova, and collected a library of great magnitude (A.D. 961-976).
The revival of learning in Europe is chiefly attributed to the writings of Arabian doctors and philosophers, and to the schools which they founded in several parts of Spain and Italy. These seats of learning were frequented even in the twelfth century of our era by students from various parts of Europe, who disseminated the knowledge thus acquired when they returned to their own countries. At that time many Arabic works were translated into Latin, which thus facilitated the progress of science. In the three last chapters of the second book of the 'History of the Muhammadan Dynasties in Spain,' translated by Pascual de Gayangos, the state of science and literature is detailed in the words of Makkari, the original Arab author of that work, and in it many once celebrated authors are mentioned, of whom not only their productions, but even their very names, have since perished. The distinguished writers whose works have come down to us will be more particularly alluded to in the next chapter. Europe is also indebted to the Arabs for the elements of many useful sciences, particularly that of chemistry. Paper was first made in Europe by them, and their carpets and manufactures in steel and leather were long unrivalled, while in the Arabian schools of Cordova mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, botany and medicine were taught with great success.
As Europe gradually emerged from darkness and ignorance, the Moors in Spain became so weak and powerless that in A.D. 1526 Charles I of Spain, and V. of Germany, ordered them to adopt the Spanish language. In A.D. 1566 an edict of Philip II. forbade them to speak or write in Arabic, and directed them to renounce all their traditional habits, customs and ceremonies. Philip III. completed the work which his father had left unfinished. In A.D. 1609 all the Moriscoes were ordered to depart from the peninsula within three days, with a penalty of death if they failed to obey the order, and from that time their existence as a nation finally ceased in Europe, and Spain thus lost a million of industrious inhabitants skilled in the useful arts. After their expulsion Arabic literature more or less disappeared. Much of it was destroyed, and a Spanish cardinal, it is said, once boasted that he had destroyed with his own hands one hundred thousand Arabic manuscripts! It is highly probable that the remnants of Andalusian libraries were brought to light by Casiri (b. 1710, d. 1791) during the past, and by Gayangos during the present century, and it is doubtful if much more will ever now be discovered.
There are two buildings still extant in Spain which have survived the Arabs, viz., their mosque at Cordova (now the Cathedral), and their palace of the Alhambra at Granada, both well worth a visit, and well described in Murray's and O'Shea's guides to Spain. During the reign of Abd-ar-Rahman III. (A.D. 912-961) the city, palace, and gardens of Medinatu-z-Ahra, three or four miles from Cordova, were constructed in honour of his favourite wife or mistress, Az-zahra, and cost an immense sum of money. At present no vestiges of them exist, and it is supposed that not only these, but many other Arab mosques and buildings, were intentionally destroyed by their conquerors, as the hatred between the Christian and the Muslim in those days was of the bitterest description.
And now to return to the Abbasides, established in the East on the downfall of the Omaiyide dynasty there in A.D. 750, and thus continue the main line of Arab history.
There were, in all, thirty-seven Abbaside Khalifs, of whom Abu Jaafar, surnamed Al-Mansur, the Victorious (A.D. 754-775), Harun-ar-Rashid (A.D. 786-809), and Al-Mamun (A.D. 812-833) were the most celebrated. Of these, the first, who was the second Khalif, founded Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasides, about A.D. 762; the second, who was the fifth Khalif, has been rendered immortal by the frequent illusions to him, and to members of the Barmeki family, in the 'Arabian Nights'; while the third, who was the seventh Khalif, was a great patron of literature and science.
As years rolled on the dynasty and its princes became weaker and weaker, and finally came to an end under the thirty-seventh and last Khalif Al-Mustaa 'sim Billah, with the capture of Baghdad in A.D. 1258 by Halaku Khan, the sovereign of the Mughals, and the grandson of Jenghiz Khan.
Long before this, however, the empire which the first of the Abbasides had conquered was already broken up. About A.D. 879, in Persia, Amr-bin-Lais founded the Suffary or Braiser dynasty, still subject to the Commander of the Faithful. But even this allegiance only lasted till A.D. 901, when the Samani and Dailami dynasties were established in the North and South of Persia respectively, and quite independent of the Khalifs of Baghdad.
In A.D. 909, the Fatimites, so designated from one Obaid Allah, a real or pretended descendant of Ali and Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad, established themselves in the North of Africa, and consolidated their power there. In A.D. 972 Al-Moizz, or Abu Tamim, a great-grandson of Obaid Allah, the founder of the Fatimite dynasty at Tunis, sent his general Jawhar with an army to invade Egypt. The country was conquered, the city of Cairo built, the seat of government was transferred there, and the title of Khalif assumed by the Fatimites. There they remained as reigning Khalifs until A.D. 1171, when Salah-ad-Din (Saladin) usurped the sovereignty, and founded the Ayoobite dynasty of Kurds, till its last ruler, Melik-al-Ashraf, was deposed in A.D. 1250 by the Mamlook El Moizz, who in that year founded the Baharite Mamlook dynasty, which lasted with variations in the families till A.D. 1377. But in A.D. 1260 Ez-Zahir Beybars, a Mamlook slave, secured the throne, and brought the then representative of the Abbaside Khalifs (the family having been dethroned by the Mughals at Baghdad in A.D. 1258) to Egypt, and recognised him as possessing spiritual authority alone, but nothing else. From that time until the taking of Egypt by Sultan Selim I. in A.D. 1517, the Abbaside Khalifs retained the spiritual power first under the Baharite, and then under the Circassian or Borgite Mamlooks. When Egypt became a Turkish pashalic, Selim, the conqueror, compelled the representative of the Abbaside Khalifs, by name Al-Motawukkel, to leave Cairo and reside in Constantinople; and on his death the Ottoman Sultans assumed the title of Khalif, which they hold to this day, and are recognised by the Sunnis as the head of the Muhammadan religion, and the successors of Muhammad.
As regards Syria and Palestine (two countries more or less closely connected, owing to their proximity and absence of distinct and defined boundaries), on the termination of the rule of the Omaiyides at Damascus in A.D. 750, they remained nominally under the Abbasides till A.D. 969, when Syria was conquered by the Fatimites, who were succeeded by the Seljuks, who captured Damascus about A.D. 1075, and Antioch A.D. 1085. The struggles with the Crusaders commenced in A.D. 1096, and continued until Saladin's famous victory at Hattin in 1187, when he became master of nearly the whole of Syria and Palestine. Fighting still went on in these countries between the Franks and others until A.D. 1518, when Selim I. conquered the country and incorporated it with the Turkish Empire. No Arab prince has since reigned in Egypt or Syria, though these countries have always exercised certain influences over Arabia.
In Arabia itself, towards the end of the tenth century and the beginning of the eleventh, A.D., the Karmathians had risen in revolt, and detached that country from the Abbaside dynasty to such an extent that she returned almost to her primitive independence. Indeed, it may be said that, in the whole of Arabia, the Hijaz, with the Haram, or sacred territory of Mecca, under the Shariff, or nobles, the lineal descendants of the tribe of Koraish, alone retained some kind of constituted authority, and paid allegiance sometimes to the government of Baghdad, and sometimes to that of Egypt.
As already stated above, in A.D. 1517 the Turkish Sultan Selim I. conquered Egypt, and obtained from the last real, or supposed surviving, Abbaside kinsman of the Prophet a formal investiture of the Muhammadan Khalifate. This was more religious than political in its bearing, but still many of the tribes in Arabia offered their allegiance to the Ottoman Government. From that time the Turks began their dealings with Arabia, which remained in a sort of independence under their own tribal Shaikhs, more or less according to the circumstances of different districts, until the rise of the Wahhabi movement, about the middle of the eighteenth century of our era.
The Wahhabi reform movement requires special mention. It began in Arabia about A.D. 1740. The reformer and originator of the movement was Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab, born at the town of Aïnah, in the centre of the Nejd district, A.D. 1691. He died in A.D. 1787, aged ninety-six. After some years spent in travel and in study, he began his preaching about A.D. 1731. Driven from Aïnah, his native place, as Muhammad was driven from Mecca, Abdul Wahhab established himself at ad-Diriyyah, where Muhammad bin Saood, the Shaikh of a sub-tribe of the Anizeh, gave him shelter, and eventually married his daughter. By preaching and fighting, his followers increased in number, and his reforms spread throughout the Nejd district, and many converts were made by him and his successors.
In A.D. 1797 a Turkish army from Baghdad attacked the Wahhabis, but were beaten, and two years later Saood II. took and plundered Kerbela, Taif, Mecca, and other places, and seems to have retained his power and his government for several years.
In A.D. 1811 the Turks, who had quite lost their authority in Arabia, requested Muhammad Ali of Egypt to put down the movement, and reconquer the country. The first expedition, commanded by his son Tussun, in its attempt to take Madinah, was nearly annihilated, but succeeded the following year. Later on the campaign was conducted by Muhammad Ali in person, and afterwards by his adopted son Ibrahim Pasha, with considerable success. The final stronghold, ad-Diriyyah, was captured in A.D. 1818, the Wahhabi chief captured, and sent first to Egypt and then to Constantinople, where he was beheaded in December of that year.
The Egyptian occupation of Arabia was followed by a renewal of the Wahhabi movement, which eventually succeeded, in A.D. 1842, in driving out the Egyptians, occupied as they were at the time with fighting the Turks in Syria and Anatolia. Wahhabism was then re-established in some parts, and independence in other parts, of the country; but on the whole Wahhabism has never been very popular either in Arabia or India, in which latter country it also has some followers. It may be regarded as the latest sect of Islam, but does not make much progress.
Arabia may now be said to be under three different kinds of government—i.e., partly under the Wahhabis, partly under the Turks, and partly under independent rulers, while Aden has been held by the English ever since its first capture in A.D. 1839. In other words, the present position of Arabia may be more definitely described as follows: Hasa, Hareek, the whole of Nejd, Kaseem, the provinces adjoining Yaman on the north, and Aseer, forming a broad belt, and stretching across the centre of the peninsula from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf, remain under Wahhabi influences. The Hijaz and some sea-ports, such as Jedda and others, are at present absolutely under the Turkish Government; while Bahrein, Oman and its capital Muscat, and Yaman are more or less independent. Between Nejd and Syria a new and promising kingdom has sprung up under Telal.
The time perhaps may come, and perhaps not far distant, when the Turks will disappear altogether from Arabia, and Wahhabism and independent tribes will alone remain. Another Muhammad or another Abdul Wahhab may some day again appear, and bring together the tribes under one rule for a time. It is doubtful, though, if ever the Arabs will again have the power, talent, or enthusiasm to revive the glories of the Arabian Empire, which now lives in history only, and is well worth a study.
For ready reference the following is a chronology of the dynasty of the Ornaiyides, preceded by Muhammad and the first Khalifahs:
A.D.Muhammad the Apostle 622—632Abu Bakr 632—634Omar I. 634—643Othman 643—655Ali 655—6601. Moawia I. 660—6792. Yazid I. 679—6833. Moawia II. 683—6834. Marwan I. 683—6845. Abdul-Malik 684—7056. Walid I. 705—7157. Sulaiman 715—7178. Omar II. 717—7209. Yazid II. 720—72410. Hashim 724—74311. Walid II. 743—74412. Yazid III. 744—74413. Ibrahim 744—74414. Marwan II. 744—750
The dynasty of the Omaiyides was followed by that of the Abbasides, who reigned as follows:
A.D. 1. Abul-Abbas As-Saffah 750—754 2. Al-Mansur 754—775 3. Al-Mahdi 775—785 4. Al-Hadi 785—786 5. Harun-ar-Rashid 786—809 6. Al-Amin 809—812 7. Al-Mamun 812—833 8. Al-Mo'tasim Billah 833—842 9. Al-Wathik 842—847 10. Al-Mutwakkil 847—861 11. Al-Mustansir Billah 861—862 12. Al-Mustain Billah 862—866 13. Al-Mo'tiz Billah 866—869 14. Al-Muhtadi Billah 869—870 15. Al-Mo'tamid 870—892 16. Al-Motazid Billah 892—902 17. Al-Muktafi Billah 902—908 18. Al-Muktadir Billah 908—932 19. Al-Kahir Billah 932—934 20. Al-Radhi Billah 934—940 21. Al-Muttaki Billah 940—944 22. Al-Mustakfi Billah 944—945 23. Al-Mutia Billah 945—974 24. Al-Taya Billah 974—991 25. Al-Kadir Billah 991—1031 26. Al-Kaim Billah 1031—1075 27. Al-Muktadi Billah 1075—1094 28. Al-Mustazhir Billah 1094—1118 29. Al-Mustershid Billah 1118—1135 30. Al-Rashid Billah 1135—1136 31. Al-Muktafi 1136—1160 32. Al-Mustanjid Billah 1160—1170 33. Al-Mustazi 1170—1180 34. Al-Nasir Billah 1180—1225 35. Al-Tahir 1225—1226 36. Al-Mustansir Billah II. 1226—1240 37. Al-Mustaa'sim Billah 1240—1258
He was killed at the taking of Baghdad by Halaku Khan, and the last of the dynasty, which continued, however, as a spiritual power in Egypt till A.D. 1517.
The empire over which the Abbasides began to rule in A.D. 750 had gradually dwindled away until little but Baghdad and its environs were left on the fall of the dynasty in A.D. 1258. Will history repeat itself in the same way as regards Constantinople, which in some years may be the only territory left in Europe to a people who once were conquerors, and whose arms even were carried to the walls of Vienna? As Persia, Egypt, Syria, parts of Africa and Arabia, by degrees, were severed from the Abbaside Empire, so the different provinces of Turkey in Europe appear to be slowly separating themselves from the Turkish Power, until finally there will be nothing left to them in Europe but that city whose splendid position will ever make it a bone of contention to both rising and declining States.
The following is a list of the Omaiyides who ruled in Spain a.d. 756 to 1031:
A.D. 1. Abd-ar-Rahman I. 756-788 2. Hisham I. 788-796 3. Al-Hakim I. 796-822 4. Abd-ar-Rahman II. 822-852 5. Muhammad I. 852-886 6. Al-Mundhir 886-888 7. Abd-Allah 888-912 8. Abd-ar-Rahman III. 912-961
He was one of the greatest of the rulers of Cordova. Under this prince, who at last assumed the title of Khalif and Commander of the Faithful, the unity of Muhammadan Spain was for the time restored.
A.D.9. Al-Hakim II. 961-97610. Hisham II. 976-1009
He was a Khalif only in name, while Muhammad Bin Ali Amir, surnamed Al-Mansur, was the real ruler or regent till his death in A.D. 1002. He was succeeded by his son, Abd-al-Malik, who ruled successfully till his death in A.D. 1008, and was followed by his brother, Abd-ar-Rahman, who was beheaded in A.D. 1009, Hisham II. having been previously deposed.
A.D.11. Muhammad II. (Al-Mahdi-billah) 1009-100912. Sulaiman 1009-1010Hisham II. for the second time 1010-1013Sulaiman for the second time 1013-1016(1) Ali bin Hammud, a Berber chief 1016-101813. Abd-ar-Rahman IV. 1018-1019(2) Al Kasim bin Hammud 1019-102314. Abd-ar-Rahman V. 1023-102415. Muhammad III. 1024-1025(3) Yabya bin Ali bin Hammud 1025-102716. Hisham III. 1027-1031
A complete list of all the Muhammadan rulers in Spain will be found inMakkari's history of these dynasties, translated by Gayangos.
The oral communications of the ancient Egyptians, Medes and Persians, the two classic tongues of Europe, the Sanscrit of the Hindus and the Hebrew of the Jews, have long since ceased to be living languages. For the last twelve centuries no Western language has preserved its grammar, its style, or its literature intact and intelligible to the people of the present day. But two Eastern tongues have come down from ages past to our own times, and continue to exist unchanged in books, and, to a certain extent, also unchanged in language, and these are Chinese and Arabic. In China, though the dialects differ in the various provinces of the empire, still the written language has remained the same for centuries. In Arabia the Arabic language has retained its originality without very much dialectical alteration.
The unchangeable character of the Arabic language is chiefly to be attributed to the Koran, which has, from its promulgation to the present time, been regarded by all Muhammadans as the standard of religion and of literary composition. Strictly speaking, not only the history, but also the literature of the Arabs begins with Muhammad. Excepting the Mua'llakat, and other pre-Islamitic poems collected in the Hamasas of Abu Tammam and Al-Bohtori, in Ibn Kutaiba and in the Mofaddhaliat, no literary monuments that preceded his time are in existence. The Koran became, not only the code of religious and of civil law, but also the model of the Arabic language, and the standard of diction and eloquence. Muhammad himself scorned metrical rules; he claimed as an apostle and lawgiver a title higher than that of soothsayer and poet. Still, his poetic talent is manifest in numerous passages of the Koran, well known to those able to read it in the original, and in this respect the last twenty-five chapters of that book are, perhaps, the most remarkable.
Although the power of the Arabs has long ago succumbed, their literature has survived, and their language is still more or less spoken in all Muhammadan countries. Europe at one time was lightened by the torch of Arabian learning, and the Middle Ages were stamped with the genius and character of Arab civilization. The great masters of philosophy, medicine, astronomy, and mathematics, viz., Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Ibn-Sina, Ibn-Rashid, Ibn Bajah, Razi, Al Battani, Abul Ma'shar, Al-Farghani, Al-Jaber, have been studied both in the Spanish universities and in those of the rest of Europe, where their names are still familiar under the corrupted forms of Alchendius, Alfarabius, Avicenna, Averroes, Avempace, Rhazes, Albategnius, Albumasar, Alfraganius, and Geber.
Arabic literature commenced about half a century before Muhammad with a legion of poets. The seven poems suspended in the temple of Mecca, and of which more anon, were considered as the chief productions of that time. The Mussulman era begins with the Hijrah, or emigration of Muhammad from Mecca to Madinah, which is supposed to have taken place on the 20th of June, A.D. 622; and the rise, growth, and decay of Arab power, learning, and literature may be divided into three periods as follows:
1. The time before Muhammad.
2. From Muhammad and his immediate successors, viz., Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman, and Ali, through the Omaiyide and Abbaside dynasties, to the end of the Khalifate of Baghdad, A.D. 1258.
3. From the fall of Baghdad to the present time.
First Period.
Although the proper history of Arabian literature begins from the time of Muhammad, it is necessary to cast a glance upon the age that preceded him, in order to obtain a glimpse of pre-Islamitic wisdom. The sage Lokman, whose name the thirty-first chapter of the Koran bears, is considered, according to that book, to have been the first man of his nation who practised and taught wisdom in all his deeds and words. He was believed to have been a contemporary of David and Solomon; his sayings and his fables still exist, but there is not much really known about him, as the following extracts will show:
'Lokman, a philosopher mentioned in the Koran, is said to have been born about the time of David. One tradition represents him as a descendant of the Arab tribe of Ad, who, on account of his piety and wisdom, was saved when the rest of his family perished by Divine wrath. According to another story he was an Ethiopian slave, noted alike for bodily deformity and a gift for composing fables and apologues. This account of Lokman, resembling so closely the traditional history of Æsop, has led to an opinion that they were the same individual, but this is now generally supposed not to be the case. The various reports agree in ascribing to Lokman extraordinary longevity. His extant fables bear evident marks of modern alteration, both in their diction and their incidents. They were first published with a Latin translation of the Arabic by Erpenius (Leyden, 1615). Galland produced a French translation of the fables of Lokman and Bidpay at Paris in 1724, and there are other editions by De Sacey, 1816, Caussin de Perceval, 1818, Freytag, 1823, and Rodiger, 1830.'
Burton, in a footnote to page 118, of Volume X. of his 'Arabian Nights,' however, says that 'There are three distinct Lokmans. The first, or eldest Lokman, entitled Al-Hakim (the Sage), and the hero of the Koranic chapter which bears his name, was son of Ba'ura, of the children of Azar, sister's son to Job, or son of Job's maternal aunt; he witnessed David's miracles of mail-making, and when the tribe of Ad was destroyed he became king of the country. The second Lokman, also called the Sage, was a slave and Abyssinian negro, sold by the Israelites during the reign of David or Solomon, and who left a volume of proverbs and exempla, not fables or apologues, some of which still dwell in the public memory. The youngest Lokman, of the Vultures, was a prince of the tribe of Ad, who lived 3,500 years, the age of seven vultures.'
This accounts for the different ideas as regards the tradition of oneLokman in the preceding paragraph.
Before the era of the Prophet poetry had attained some degree of excellence. At the annual festival of Okatz the poets met and made public recitations, and competed for prizes. Of prose literature there was none, and the irregular, half-rhythmical, half-rhyming sentences of the Koran were the first attempts in the direction of prose.
Passing over the host of pre-Islamitic poets, the disputed time and order in which they appeared, as well as the ranks they respectively occupied, it will only be necessary here to describe the Arabic idyll or elegy (Kasida), and to notice the authors of the seven famous Mua'llakat, or suspended, or strung-together poems of the temple of Mecca, already alluded to above. As these poems were written in letters of gold, they were also called Muzahhibat, or "gilded." According to Arab notions, the subjects of a poet are four or five. He praises, loves, is angry, mourns, or describes either female beauty, animals, or objects of nature. Poems comprising one of these subjects only are short, but those treating of several are longer, and contain eulogies of chiefs, rulers, distinguished men and women, etc. The poet touches on the valour, liberality and eloquence of the hero, on the beauty and virtues of the woman, and describes the nearest surroundings, which are of the greatest interest, such as the horse, the camel, the antelope, the ostrich, the wild cow, the cloud, the lightning, wine, the vestiges of the tent of the beloved, and the hospitable camp-fire.
The Kasidas of the Mua'llakat are a series of smaller poems, composed on various occasions, and then strung together in one piece. Among them the two Kasidas of Amra-al-Kais (Amriolkais), and of Antara, are the most brilliant and romantic, on account of the sentiments of love they breathe towards the three beauties—Oneiza, Fatima, and Abla. The Kasida of Labid is famous for his description of both the camel and the horse; that of Tarafa for the delineation of the camel; that of Amru for the picture of a battle; while Harath chanted the praises of arms, and of the King of Hirah, and Zoheir produced a poem full of wise maxims. The whole seven contain a great deal about the personal feelings, the personal courage, the heroic deeds, and the wonderful adventures of the authors themselves—to which may be added descriptions of various animals, of hunting scenes, and of battle, the conventional lament for the absence or departure of a mistress, the delight of meeting her, and other bright sketches of Arab life in camp and on the march, with its joys, its sorrows, and its constant changes.
Sir William Jones first brought these poems to the notice of the West, and published a translation of them in A.D. 1782. 'They exhibit,' he says, 'an exact picture of the virtues and the vices, the wisdom and the folly, of the early Arabs. The poems show what may constantly be expected from men of open hearts and boiling passions, with no law to control, and little religion to restrain them.'
The above translations, with notes and remarks, have been reprinted byMr. W.A. Clouston, in his 'Arabian Poetry for English Readers,' atGlasgow in 1881, and is a work well worthy of a perusal by any personswho may be interested in the subject.
The names of the three ancient Arab poets considered to have been possessed of equal talent with the authors of the Mua'llakat, are Nabiga, Al-Kama, and Al-Aasha, and some specimens of their composition, as also of those of other pre-Islamite poets, are to be found in the fifteenth volume, No. 39, pages 65-108, of the 'Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,' translated by Mr. E. Rehatsek in 1881.
Second Period.
From Muhammad and his immediate successors (Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman andAli), through the Omaiyide and Abbaside dynasties, to the end of theKhalifate of Baghdad, A.D. 1258.
The legislator of Islam, whose era began on the 16th July, A.D. 622 (though his actual departure from Mecca has been calculated to have taken place on the 20th June, A.D. 622), is here to be considered not from an historical, but from a poetical point of view. Although Muhammad despised the metres in which the bards of his nation chanted their Kasidas, and himself gave utterance in the name of Heaven to the inspirations of his genius only in richly-modulated and rhymed prose, nevertheless, according to the Oriental idea, he was regarded as a poet. Those who declare that he was not a poet overlook the circumstance that he was vehemently assailed by contemporary poets, who attempted to degrade his heaven-inspired Surahs into mere poetical fables. He himself protested against this insinuation, and declared at the end of the 26th Surah, entitled 'The Poets,' that those are in error who believe poets, as follows:
'And those who err follow the poets; dost thou not see how they roam (as bereft of their senses) through every valley (of the imagination) and that they say things which they do not perform? … Except those who believe, and do good works, and remember God frequently, and those who defend themselves after they have been unjustly treated by poets in their lampoons, and they who act unjustly shall know hereafter with what treatment they shall be treated.'
These lines are important as far as the history of literature is concerned. They are written against inimical poets, but distinguish the friendly ones, who, taking the part of Muhammad, repaid the lampooning poets in their own coin.
Some of the hostile poets, such as Hobeira and the woman Karitha, were killed at the taking of Mecca, whilst Zibary and the woman Hertlemah saved their lives only by making a profession of Islam. Muhammad had, however, also his panegyrists, the chief of whom was Ka'b bin Zoheir, the composer of the celebrated Kasida called 'The Poem of the Mantle,' as a reward for which the Prophet threw his own cloak over him, under the following circumstances, as related by Mr. J.W. Redhouse in the preface to his translation of the poem published in the 'Arabian Poetry for English Readers'[1] alluded to above.
[Footnote 1: In this same work will also be found atranslation by Mr. Redhouse of another poem, also called'The Poem of the Mantle,' but written by Sharaf-uddinMuhammad Al-Busiri, who was born A.D. 1211, and died betweenA.D. 1291 and 1300.]
Ka'b was a son of Zoheir, already mentioned as the author of one of the pre-Islamite poems known as the 'Mua'llakat.' He had a brother named Bujeir, and, like their father, both brothers were good poets. Bujeir was first converted, and embraced the faith of Islam. Ka'b was angry at this, and composed a lampoon on his brother, on the Prophet, and on their new religion. This he sent to his brother by the mouth of a messenger. Bujeir repeated it to Muhammad, who commented on it as favourable to the new faith and to himself, but at the same time passed a sentence of death on the satirist.
Bujeir well knew that his brother's life was in danger, and warned him accordingly, advising him at the same time to renounce his errors, and come repentant to the Prophet, or to seek a safe asylum far away. Ka'b found out that his life would really soon be taken, and set out secretly for Madinah. There he found an old friend, claimed his protection, and went with him next morning to the simple meeting-house where Muhammad and his chief followers performed their daily devotions. When the service was ended, Ka'b approached Muhammad, and the two sat down together. Ka'b placed his own right hand in that of the Prophet, whom he addressed in these words: 'Apostle of God, were I to bring to you Ka'b, the son of Zoheir, penitent and professing the faith of Islam, wouldst thou receive and accept him? The Prophet answered, 'I would.' 'Then,' said the poet, 'I am he!'
Hearing this, the bystanders demanded permission to put him to death. Muhammad ordered his zealous followers to desist, and the poet then, on the spur of the moment, recited a poem improvised at the time, probably with more or less premeditation. It is said that when Ka'b reached the fifty-first verse: 'Verily the Apostle of God is a light from which illumination is sought—a drawn Indian blade, one of the swords of God,' Muhammad took from his own shoulders the mantle he wore, and threw it over the shoulders of the poet as an honour and as a mark of protection. Hence the name given to the effusion, 'The Poem of the Mantle,' A.D. 630.
Moawia, the first Khalif of the Omaiyides, endeavoured to purchase this sacred mantle from Ka'b for ten thousand pieces of silver, but the offer was refused. Later on it was, however, bought from Ka'b's heirs for twenty thousand pieces of silver, and it passed into the hands of the Khalifs, and was preserved by them as one of the regalia of the empire until Baghdad was sacked by the Mughals. The mantle, or what is supposed to be the self-same mantle, is now in the treasury[2] of the Sultan Khalif of the Ottomans at Constantinople, in an apartment named 'The Room of the Sacred Mantle,' in which this robe is religiously preserved, together with a few other relics of the great prophet.
[Footnote 2:Aproposof this treasury, it is much to be regretted that a complete catalogue of its contents has never been prepared along with a brief historical account of them. It is difficult to obtain the order, which comes direct from the Sultan, to visit the collection; and even then visitors are hurried through at such a pace that it is impossible to examine with minuteness the many curiosities collected there.]
Ka'b has thus come to be considered as one of the friendly poets, and the names of two others are also mentioned, viz., Abd-Allah bin Rewaha and Hassan bin Thabit. On the other hand, the most celebrated antagonists who attacked Muhammad, not only with their verses, but also with their swords, were Abu Sofyan, Amr bin Al-'A'asi, and Abd-Allah bin Zobeir. These three became great political characters, but later on made profession of Islam, and were the staunchest supporters of it, rendering the greatest services to the Prophet during his life, and to the cause after his death. But Muhammad's greatest triumph over the poets was the conversion of Labid, who, after the perusal of the commencement of the second Surah of the Koran, tore down his own poem, which was hung up in the Kaabah, and ran to the Prophet to announce his conversion, and to make his profession of Islam. Even Ali, the cousin, son-in-law, and first convert of Muhammad, was a poet, but it is uncertain which of the Diwans attributed to him are genuine, and how many of his maxims of wisdom, over a hundred in number, are his own.
During the period under review the number of Arabic authors was legion. Some idea of the number of writers, and of the subjects on which they wrote, can be gathered from the Fihrist of An-Nadim, from Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, and from Haji Khalfa's Encyclopædia. With such a mass of information as is contained in the above-mentioned works, it is difficult to deal in a small work. To put them together in an intelligible form, the idea of classing the authors, according to the subjects on which they principally wrote, naturally presented itself. This plan, therefore, has been followed, and a few details of the most celebrated writers will be given, classified under the following heads:
Jurisconsults.Imams and lawyers.Traditionists.Alchemists.Astronomers.Grammarians.Geographers and travellers.Historians.Lexicographers, biographers and encyclopædists.Writers on natural history.Philologists.Philosophers.Physicians.Poets.Collectors and editors of poems.Translators.The Omaiyide Khalifs.The Abbaside Khalifs.The Spanish Khalifs.
During the latter part of the first century of the Hijrah (July, 622—July, 719), the first persons of note in the Muhammadan world after Muhammad and his immediate successors were probably the seven jurisconsults, viz., Obaid Allah, Orwa, Kasim, Said, Sulaiman, Abu Bakr and Kharija, who all lived at Madinah about the same time; and it was from them, according to Ibn Khallikan, that the science of law and legal decisions spread over the world. They were designated by the appellation of the Seven Jurisconsults, because the right of giving decisions on points of law had passed to them from the companions of Muhammad, and they became publicly known as Muftis. These seven alone were acknowledged as competent to give Fatmas, or legal decisions. They died respectively A.D. 720, 712, 719, 710, 725, 712 and 718.
The jurisconsults were followed by the doctors of theology and law, or, as they were styled, Imams, or founders of the four orthodox sects. Now, among the Sunni Muslims an Imam may be described as a high-priest, or head, or chief in religious matters, whether he be the head of all Muhammadans—as the Khalifah—or the priest of a mosque, or the leader in the prayers of a congregation. This title, however, is given by the Shias only to the immediate descendants of Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet, and they are twelve in number, Ali being the first. The last of them, Imam Mahdi, is supposed to be concealed (not dead), and the title which belongs to him cannot, they conceive, be given to another.
But among the Sunnis it is a dogma that there must always be a visible Imam or father of the Church. The title is given by them to the four learned doctors who were the exponents of their faith, viz., Imams Hanifa, Malik, Shafai and Hanbal. Of these, Imam Hanifa, the founder of the first of the four chief sects of the Sunnis, died A.D. 767. He was followed by Imam Malik, Imam Shafai, and Imam Hanbal, the founders of the other three sects, who died A.D. 795, 820 and 855 respectively. From these four persons are derived the various codes of Muhammadan jurisprudence. They have always been considered as the fundamental pillars of the orthodox law, and have been esteemed by Mussulmans as highly as the fathers of the Church—Gregory, Augustine, Jerome and Chrysostom—have been appreciated by Christians.
Of these four sects, the Hanbalite and Malikite may be considered as the most rigid, the Shafaite as the most conformable to the spirit of Islamism, and the Hanifite as the wildest and most philosophical of them all.
In addition to the four Imams just mentioned, there was a fifth, of the name of Abu Sulaiman Dawud az Zahari, who died A.D. 883. He was the founder of the sect called Az-Zahariah (the External), and his lectures were attended by four hundred Fakihs (doctors of the civil and of the ecclesiastical law), who wore shawls thrown over their shoulders. But his opinions do not seem to have secured many followers, and in time both his ideas, and those of Sofyan at Thauri, another chief of the orthodox sect, were totally abandoned.
The third century of the Hijrah (A.D. 816-913) is noted for the six fathers of tradition, viz., Al-Bukhari, Muslim, At Firmidi, Abu Dawud, An-Nasai and Ibn Majah, with whom others, such as Kasim bin Asbagh, Abu Zaid, Al-Marwazi, Abu Awana and Al-Hazini, vied in great works on tradition, but these last-named could never acquire the authority of the six previously mentioned, who died A.D. 870, 875, 892, 889, 916, 887 respectively.
In the beginning of Islam the great traditionists were Ayesha, the favourite wife of the Prophet, the four rightly directed Khalifs, viz., Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman and Ali, and some of the companions[3] known as the Evangelists of Islam. But besides these well-qualified persons who had lived with or near Muhammad during his lifetime, many others who had perhaps only seen him or spoken to him claimed to be considered as companions, who handed down traditions; and when these were all dead they were followed by others, who, having known the companions, were now designated as the successors of the companions.
[Footnote 3: The names of these companions, and the kings, princes, and countries to which they were sent by Muhammad, are given in full detail in 'The Life of our Lord Muhammad, the Apostle of God,' the author of which was Ibn Ishak; and it was afterwards edited by Ibn Hisham. In the same work a list is given of the disciples sent out by Jesus.]
Under these circumstances it can easily be imagined that many of the traditions were of doubtful authenticity. Al-Bukhari, whose collection of traditions of the Muhammadan religion holds the first place, both as regards authority and correctness, selected seven thousand two hundred and seventy-five of the most authentic out of ten thousand, all of which he regarded as being true, having rejected two hundred thousand as false. His book is held in the highest estimation, and considered both in spiritual and temporal matters as next in authority to the Koran. He was born A.D. 810, and died A.D. 870.
The Shiahs do not accept the collection of traditions as made by the Sunnis, but have a collection of their own, upon which their system of law, both civil and religious, is founded.
During the first and second centuries of the Hijrah (A.D. 622-816), of all the physical sciences alchemy was studied most. The greatest scientific man of the first century was undoubtedly Khalid, a prince of the Omaiyide dynasty, and the son of Yazid I. His zeal for knowledge and science induced him to get Greek and Syriac works translated by Stephanus into Arabic, especially those which treated on chemistry, or rather alchemy. Khalid, having been once reproached for wasting all his time in researches in the art of alchemy, replied: 'I have occupied myself with these investigations to show my contemporaries and brothers that I have found in them a recompense and a reward for the Khalifate which I lost. I stand in need of no man to recognise me at court, and I need not recognise anyone who dances attendance at the portals of dominion either from fear, ambition, or covetousness.' He wrote a poem on alchemy, which bears the title of 'Paradise of Wisdom,' and of him Ibn Khallikan says: 'He was the most learned man of the tribe of Koraish in all the different branches of knowledge. He wrote a discourse on chemistry and on medicine, in which sciences he possessed great skill and solid information.' He died A.D. 704.
Later on Jaber bin Hayam, with his pupils, became a model for later alchemists, and he has been called the father of Arabian chemistry. He compiled a work of two thousand pages, in which he inserted the problems of his master, Jaafar as Sadik, considered to be the father of all the occult sciences in Islam. Jaber was such a prolific writer that many of his five hundred works are said to bear his name only on account of his celebrity, but to have been written in reality by a variety of authors. His works on alchemy were published in Latin by Golius, under the title of 'Lapis Philosophorum,' and an English translation of them by Robert Russell appeared at Leyden in A.D. 1668. Jaber died A.D. 766, and is not to be confounded with Al-Jaber (Geber), the astronomer, who lived at Seville about A.D. 1190, and constructed there an astronomical observatory.
Astronomy appears to have been always a favourite science with the Arabs from the earliest times. In A.D. 772 there appeared at the court of the Khalif Mansur (A.D. 754-775), Muhammad bin Ibrahim bin Habib al Fezari, the astronomer, who brought with him the tables called Sind Hind, in which the motions of the stars were calculated according to degrees. They contained other observations on solar eclipses and the rising of the signs of the zodiac, extracted by him from the tables ascribed to the Indian king, Figar. The Khalif Mansur ordered this book to be translated into Arabic to serve as a guide for Arab astronomers. And these tables remained in use till the time of the Khalif Mamun (A.D. 813-833), when other revised ones bearing his name came into vogue. These, again, were abridged by Abul Ma'shar (Albumasar, died A.D. 885-886), called the prince of Arabian astrologers, who, however, deviated from them, and inclined towards the system of the Persians and of Ptolemy. This second revision was more favourably received by the Arab astronomers than the first, and the Sind Hind was superseded by the Almagest of Ptolemy. Better astronomical instruments also came into use, though previously the Al-Fezari above mentioned had been the first in Islam who constructed astrolabes of various kinds, and had written several astronomical treatises.
Mention might be made of about forty mathematicians and astronomers who wrote books on these subjects. The best of them, such as Al-Farghani (Alfraganius) and others, lived at the court of Mamun, who built an astronomical observatory in Baghdad and another near Damascus, on Mount Kasiun. He caused also two degrees of the meridian to be measured on the plain of Sinjar, so as to ascertain the circumference of the earth with more precision. In A.D. 824 there were held philosophical disputations in his presence. Al-Farghani was the author of an introduction to astronomy, which was printed by Golius at Amsterdam in 1669, with notes.
Between the years A.D. 877 and 929 there flourished the famous calculator and astronomer, Muhammad bin Jaber al Battani, Latinized as Albategnius. He was the author of the astronomical work entitled 'The Sabæan Tables,' and adopted nearly the system and the hypothesis of Ptolemy, but rectified them in several points, and made other discoveries, which procured him a distinguished place among the scholars whose labours have enriched astronomical science. Al-Battani approached much nearer to the truth than the ancients as far as the movements of the fixed stars are concerned. He measured the greatness of the eccentricity of the solar orbit, and a more correct result cannot be obtained. To the work containing all his discoveries he gave the name of 'As-Zij-as Sabi,' which was translated into Latin under the title 'De Scientiâ Stellarum.' The first edition of it appeared at Nuremberg in A.D. 1537, but it is believed that the original work is in the library of the Vatican. He was classed by Lalande among the forty-two most celebrated astronomers of the world. He died A.D. 929-930.
Another celebrated astronomer, Ali bin Yunis, was a native of Egypt, and appears to have lived at the court of the demented tyrant of Egypt, Al-Hakim bramrillah, and under his patronage to have composed the celebrated astronomical tables called, after his name, 'The Hakimite Tables.' Ibn Khallikan states that he had seen these tables in four volumes, and that more extensive ones had not come under his notice. These tables were considered in Egypt to be of equal value to those of the astronomer Yabya bin Ali Mansur, who had in A.D. 830, by order of the Khalif Mamun, undertaken astronomical observations both at Baghdad and Damascus. Ibn Yunis spent his life in the preparation of astronomical tables and in casting horoscopes, for it must be remembered that with the Muslims astronomy and astrology were synonymous, and their most learned astronomers were also their most skilful astrologers. His character for honesty was highly esteemed, and he was also well versed in other sciences, and displayed an eminent talent for poetry. He died A.D. 1009, and is not to be confounded with his father, Ibn Yunis, the historian, who died A.D. 958.