Chapter X: From the Mongol Invasion to the Present Day (2)

[20] I have abridged Ṭabarí, _Annals_, i, 231 sqq. _Cf._ also chapters vii, xi, xxvi, and xlvi of the Koran.

[21] Koran, xi, 56-57.

[22] See Doughty's _Documents Epigraphiques recueillis dans le nord de l'Arabie_, p. 12 sqq.

[23] Koran, vii, 76.

[24] Properly Saba’ with _hamza_, both syllables being short.

[25] 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 Sabæan--gold, spices, slaves, horses, and camels." Ithamara is identical with Yatha‘amar, a name borne by several kings of Saba.

[26] A. Müller, _Der Islam im Morgen und Abendland_, vol. i, p. 24 seq.

[27] Nöldeke, however, declares the traditions which represent Kulayb as leading the Rabí‘a clans to battle against the combined strength of Yemen to be entirely unhistorical (_Fünf Mo‘allaqát_, i, 44).

[28] _Op. cit._, p. 94 seq. An excellent account of the progress made in discovering and deciphering the South Arabic inscriptions down to the year 1841 is given by Rödiger, _Excurs ueber himjaritische Inschriften_, in his German translation of Wellsted's _Travels in Arabia_, vol. ii, p. 368 sqq.

[29] Seetzen's inscriptions were published in _Fundgruben des Orients_, vol. ii (Vienna, 1811), p. 282 sqq. The one mentioned above was afterwards deciphered and explained by Mordtmann in the _Z.D.M.G._, vol. 31, p. 89 seq.

[30] The oldest inscriptions, however, run from left to right and from right to left alternately (βουστρορηδόν).

[31] _Notiz ueber die himjaritische Schrift nebst doppeltem Alphabet derselben_ in _Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes_, vol. i (Göttingen, 1837), p. 332 sqq.

[32] See Arnaud's _Relation d'un voyage à Mareb (Saba) dans l'Arabie méridionale_ in the _Journal Asiatique_, 4th series, vol. v (1845), p. 211 sqq. and p. 309 sqq.

[33] See _Rapport sur une mission archéologique dans le Yémen_ in the _Journal Asiatique_, 6th series, vol. xix (1872), pp. 5-98, 129-266, 489-547.

[34] See D. H. Müller, _Die Burgen und Schlösser Südarabiens_ in _S.B.W.A._, vol. 97, p. 981 sqq.

[35] The title _Mukarrib_ combines the significations of prince and priest.

[36] Goldziher, _Muhammedanische Studien_, Part I, p. 3.

[37] See F. Prætorius, _Unsterblichkeitsglaube und Heiligenverehrung bei den Himyaren_ 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.

[38] _Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology_, vol. 5, p. 409.

[39] This table of contents is quoted by D. H. Müller (_Südarabische Studien_, p. 108, n. 2) from the title-page of the British Museum MS. of the eighth book of the _Iklíl_. 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.

[40] The poet ‘Alqama b. Dhí Jadan, whose verses are often cited in the commentary on the 'Ḥimyarite Ode.'

[41] _Die Himjarische Kasideh_ herausgegeben und übersetzt von Alfred von Kremer (Leipzig, 1865). _The Lay of the Himyarites_, by W. F. Prideaux (Sehore, 1879).

[42] Nashwán was a philologist of some repute. His great dictionary, the _Shamsu ’l-‘Ulúm_, is a valuable aid to those engaged in the study of South Arabian antiquities. It has been used by D. H. Müller to fix the correct spelling of proper names which occur in the Ḥimyarite Ode (_Z.D.M.G._, vol. 29, p. 620 sqq.; _Südarabische Studien_, p. 143 sqq.).

[43] _Fihrist_, p. 89, l. 26.

[44] _Murúju ’l-Dhahab_, ed. by Barbier de Meynard, vol. iv, p. 89.

[45] Von Kremer, _Die Südarabische Sage_, p. 56. Possibly, as he suggests (p. 115), the story may be a symbolical expression of the fact that the Sabæans were divided into two great tribes, Ḥimyar and Kahlán, the former of which held the chief power.

[46] _Cf._ Koran xxxiv, 14 sqq. The existing ruins have been described by Arnaud in the _Journal Asiatique_, 7th series, vol. 3 (1874), p. 3 sqq.

[47] I follow Mas‘údí, _Murúju ’l-Dhahab_ (ed. by Barbier de Meynard), vol. iii, p. 378 sqq., and Nuwayrí in Reiske's _Primæ lineæ Historiæ Rerum Arabicarum_, p. 166 sqq.

[48] 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. Glaser, _Zwei Inschriften über den Dammbruch von Mârib_ (_Mitteilungen der Vorderastatischen Gesellschaft_, 1897, 6).

[49] 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.

[50] Freytag, _Arabum Proverbia_, vol. i, p. 497.

[51] Hamdání, _Iklíl_, bk. viii, edited by D. H. Müller in _S.B.W.A._ (Vienna, 1881), vol. 97, p. 1037. The verses are quoted with some textual differences by Yáqút, _Mu‘jam al-Buldán_, ed. by Wüstenfeld, vol. iv, 387, and Ibn Hishám, p. 9.

[52] The following inscription is engraved on one of the stone cylinders described by Arnaud. "Yatha‘amar Bayyin, son of Samah‘alí Yanúf, Prince of Saba, caused the mountain Balaq to be pierced and erected the flood-gates (called) Raḥab for convenience of irrigation." I translate after D. H. Müller, _loc. laud._, p. 965.

[53] The words _Ḥimyar_ and _Tubba‘_ do not occur at all in the older inscriptions, and very seldom even in those of a more recent date.

[54] See Koran, xviii, 82-98.

[55] Dhu ’l-Qarnayn is described as "the measurer of the earth" (_Massáḥu ’l-arḍ_) by Hamdání, _Jazíratu ’l-‘Arab_, p. 46, l. 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 ’l-Qarnayn is a personification of the Sabæan divinity ‘Athtar, who represents "sweet Hesper-Phosphor, double name" (see D. H. Müller in _S.B.W.A._, vol. 97, p. 973 seq.). The Minæan 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 Hamdání is the name of Venus (_al-Zuhara_), was identified by Arabian archæologists with Bilqís. For _qarn_ in the sense of 'ray' or 'beam' see Goldziher, _Abhand. zur Arab. Philologie_, Part I, p. 114. I think there is little doubt that Dhu ’l-Qarnayn and Bilqís may be added to the examples (_ibid._, p. 111 sqq.) of that peculiar conversion by which many heathen deities were enabled to maintain themselves under various disguises within the pale of Islam.

[56] The Arabic text will be found in Von Kremer's _Altarabische Gedichte ueber die Volkssage von Jemen_, p. 15 (No. viii, l. 6 sqq.). Ḥassán b. Thábit, the author of these lines, was contemporary with Muḥammad, to whose cause he devoted what poetical talent he possessed. In the verses immediately preceding those translated above he claims to be a descendant of Qaḥṭán.

[57] Von Kremer, _Die Südarabische Sage_, p. vii of the Introduction.

[58] A prose translation is given by Von Kremer, _ibid._, p. 78 sqq. The Arabic text which he published afterwards in _Altarabische Gedichte ueber 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 ‘Abíd b. Sharya (see p. 13 _supra_), or Yazíd b. Rabí‘a b. Mufarrigh († 688 A.D.), who is said to have invented the poems and romances of the Ḥimyarite kings (_Aghání_, xvii, 52).

[59] Instead of Hinwam the original has Hayyúm, for which Von Kremer reads Ahnúm. But see Hamdání, _Jazíralu ’l-‘Arab_, p. 193, last line and fol.

[60] I read _al-jahdi_ for _al-jahli_.

[61] I omit the following verses, which tell how an old woman of Medína came to King As‘ad, imploring him to avenge her wrongs, and how he gathered an innumerable army, routed his enemies, and returned to Ẓafár in triumph.

[62] Ibn Hishám, p. 13, l. 14 sqq.

[63] Ibn Hishám, p. 15, l. 1 sqq.

[64] _Ibid._, p. 17, l. 2 sqq.

[65] Arabic text in Von Kremer's _Altarabische Gedichte ueber die Volkssage von Jemen_, p. 20 seq.; prose translation by the same author in _Die Südarabische Sage_, p. 84 sqq.

[66] The second half of this verse is corrupt. Von Kremer translates (in his notes to the Arabic text, p. 26): "And bury with me the camel stallions (_al-khílán_) and the slaves (_al-ruqqán_)." Apart, however, from the fact that _ruqqán_ (plural of _raqíq_) is not mentioned by the lexicographers, it seems highly improbable that the king would have commanded such a barbarity. I therefore take _khílán_ (plural of _khál_) in the meaning of 'soft stuffs of Yemen,' and read _zuqqán_ (plural of _ziqq_).

[67] Ghaymán or Miqláb, a castle near Ṣan‘á, in which the Ḥimyarite kings were buried.

[68] The text and translation of this section of the _Iklíl_ have been published by D. H. Müller in _S.B.W.A._, vols. 94 and 97 (Vienna, 1879-1880).

[69] _Aghání_, xx, 8, l. 14 seq.

[70] Koran, lxxxv, 4 sqq.

[71] Ṭabarí, i, 927, l. 19 sqq.

[72] The following narrative is abridged from Ṭabarí, i, 928, l. 2 sqq. = Nöldeke, _Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden_, p. 192 sqq.

[73] 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.

[74] Goldziher, _Muhammedanische Studien_, Part I, p. 225.

[75] Maydání's collection has been edited, with a Latin translation by Freytag, in three volumes (_Arabum Proverbia_, Bonn, 1838-1843).

[76] The _Kitábu ’l-Aghání_ has been published at Buláq (1284-1285 A.H.) in twenty volumes. A volume of biographies not contained in the Buláq text was edited by R. E. Brünnow (Leiden, 1888).

[77] _Muqaddima_ of Ibn Khaldún (Beyrout, 1900), p. 554, ll. 8-10; _Les Prolégomènes d' Ibn Khaldoun traduits par M. de Slane_ (Paris, 1863-68) vol. iii, p. 331.

[78] Published at Paris, 1847-1848, in three volumes.

[79] These are the same Bedouin Arabs of Tanúkh who afterwards formed part of the population of Ḥíra. See p. 38 _infra_.

[80] Ibn Qutayba in Brünnow's _Chrestomathy_, p. 29.

[81] Properly _al-Zabbá_, an epithet meaning 'hairy.' According to Ṭabarí (i, 757) her name was Ná’ila. It is odd that in the Arabic version of the story the name Zenobia (Zaynab) should be borne by the heroine's sister.

[82] The above narrative is abridged from _Aghání_, xiv, 73, l. 20-75, l. 25. _Cf._ Ṭabarí, i, 757-766; Mas‘údí, _Murúju ’l-Dhahab_ (ed. by Barbier de Meynard), vol. iii, pp. 189-199.

[83] Concerning Ḥíra and its history the reader may consult an admirable monograph by Dr. G. Rothstein, _Die Dynastie der Laẖmiden in al-Ḥíra_ (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 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. Muḥammadan general histories usually contain sections, more or less mythical in character, "On the Kings of Ḥíra and Ghassán." Attention may be called in particular to the account derived from Hishám b. Muḥammad al-Kalbí, which is preserved by Ṭabarí and has been translated with a masterly commentary by Nöldeke in his _Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden_. Hishám had access to the archives kept in the churches of Ḥíra, and claims to have extracted therefrom many genealogical and chronological details relating to the Lakhmite dynasty (Ṭabarí, i, 770, 7).

[84] Ḥíra is the Syriac _ḥértá_ (sacred enclosure, monastery), which name was applied to the originally mobile camp of the Persian Arabs and retained as the designation of the garrison town.

[85] Sadír was a castle in the vicinity of Ḥíra.

[86] Ṭabarí, i, 853, 20 sqq.

[87] Bahrám was educated at Ḥíra under Nu‘mán and Mundhir. The Persian grandees complained that he had the manners and appearance of the Arabs among whom he had grown up (Ṭabarí, i, 858, 7).

[88] Má’ al-samá (_i.e._, Water of the sky) is said to have been the sobriquet of Mundhir's mother, whose proper name was Máriya or Máwiyya.

[89] For an account of Mazdak and his doctrines the reader may consult Nöldeke's translation of Ṭabarí, pp. 140-144, 154, and 455-467, and Professor Browne's _Literary History of Persia_, vol. i, pp. 168-172.

[90] Mundhir slaughtered in cold blood some forty or fifty members of the royal house of Kinda who had fallen into his hands. Ḥárith 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 Ḥaḍramawt.

[91] On another occasion he sacrificed four hundred Christian nuns to the same goddess.

[92] See p. 50 _infra_.

[93] _Aghání_, xix, 86, l. 16 sqq.

[94] _Aghání_, xix, 87, l. 18 sqq.

[95] Hind was a princess of Kinda (daughter of the Ḥárith b. ‘Amr mentioned above), whom Mundhir probably captured in one of his marauding expeditions. She was a Christian, and founded a monastery at Ḥíra. See Nöldeke's translation of Ṭabarí, p. 172, n. 1.

[96] _Aghání_, xxi, 194, l. 22.

[97] Zayd was actually Regent of Ḥíra after the death of Qábús, and paved the way for Mundhir IV, whose violence had made him detested by the people (Nöldeke's translation of Ṭabarí, p. 346, n. 1).

[98] The Arabs called the Byzantine emperor '_Qayṣar_,' _i.e._, Cæsar, and the Persian emperor '_Kisrá_,' _i.e._, Chosroes.

[99] My friend and colleague, Professor A. A. Bevan, writes to me that "the story of ‘Adí'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 (_Aghání_, ii, 26, l. 5), and partly on another verse in which he mentions 'the home of Hind' (_ibid._, ii, 32, l. 1). But this Hind was evidently a Bedouin woman, not the king's daughter."

[100] _Aghání_, ii, 22, l. 3 sqq.

[101] When Hurmuz summoned the sons of Mundhir to Ctesiphon that he might choose a king from among them, ‘Adí said to each one privately, "If the Chosroes demands whether you can keep the Arabs in order, reply, 'All except Nu‘mán.'" To Nu‘mán, 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‘mán.

[102] A full account of these matters is given by Ṭabarí, i, 1016-1024 = Nöldeke's translation, pp. 314-324.

[103] A similar description occurs in Freytag's _Arabum Proverbia_, vol. ii. p. 589 sqq.

[104] Ṭabarí, i, 1024-1029 = Nöldeke's translation, pp. 324-331. Ibn Qutayba in Brünnow's _Chrestomathy_, pp. 32-33.

[105] A town in Arabia, some distance to the north of Medína.

[106] See Freytag, _Arabum Proverbia_, vol. ii, p. 611.

[107] 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.

[108] Ibn Qutayba in Brünnow's _Chrestomathy_, pp. 26-28.

[109] The following details are extracted from Nöldeke's monograph: _Die Ghassânischen Fürsten aus dem Hause Gafna's_, in _Abhand. d. Kön. Preuss. Akad. d. Wissenschaften_ (Berlin, 1887).

[110] Nöldeke, _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 by R. Payne Smith, p. 168.

[111] Iyás b. Qabíṣa succeeded Nu‘mán III as ruler of Ḥíra (602-611 A.D.). He belonged to the tribe of Ṭayyi’. See Rothstein, _Laẖmiden_, p. 119.

[112] I read _yatafaḍḍalu_ for _yanfaṣilu_. 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 extremity under his right arm, and tying the two extremities together in a knot upon his bosom."

[113] The _fanak_ is properly a kind of white stoat or weasel found in Abyssinia and northern Africa, but the name is also applied by Muḥammadans to other furs.

[114] _Aghání_, xvi, 15, ll. 22-30. So far as it purports to proceed from Ḥassán, 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 _díwán_ in which the Ghassánids are often spoken of. The particular reference to Jabala b. al-Ayham is a mistake. Ḥassán's acquaintance with the Ghassánids belongs to the pagan period of his life, and he is known to have accepted Islam many years before Jabala began to reign.

[115] Nábigha, ed. by Derenbourg, p. 78; Nöldeke's _Delectus_, p. 96. The whole poem has been translated by Sir Charles Lyall in his _Ancient Arabian Poetry_, p. 95 sqq.

[116] Thorbecke, _‘Antarah, ein vorislamischer Dichter_, p. 14.

[117] The following narrative is an abridgment of the history of the War of Basús as related in Tibrízí's commentary on the _Ḥamása_ (ed. by Freytag), pp. 420-423 and 251-255. _Cf._ Nöldeke's _Delectus_, p. 39 sqq.

[118] See p. 5 _supra_.

[119] Wá’il is the common ancestor of Bakr and Taghlib. For the use of stones (anṣáb) in the worship of the Pagan Arabs see Wellhausen, _Reste Arabischen Heidentums_ (2nd ed.), p. 101 sqq. Robertson Smith, _Lectures on the Religion of the Semites_ (London, 1894), p. 200 sqq.

[120] _Ḥamása_, 422, 14 sqq. Nöldeke's _Delectus_, p. 39, last line and foll.

[121] _Ḥamása_, 423, 11 sqq. Nöldeke's _Delectus_, p. 41, l. 3 sqq.

[122] _Ḥamása_, 252, 8 seq. Nöldeke's _Delectus_, p. 44, l. 3 seq.

[123] Hind is the mother of Bakr and Taghlib. Here the Banú Hind (Sons of Hind) are the Taghlibites.

[124] _Ḥamása_, 9, 17 seq. Nöldeke's _Delectus_, p. 45, l. 10 sqq.

[125] _Ḥamása_, 252, 14 seq. Nöldeke's _Delectus_, p. 46, l. 16 sqq.

[126] _Ḥamása_, 254, 6 seq. Nöldeke's _Delectus_, p. 47, l. 2 seq.

[127] _Ḥamása_, 96. Ibn Nubáta, cited by Rasmussen, _Additamenta ad Historiam Arabum ante Islamismum_, p. 34, remarks that before Qays no one had ever lamented a foe slain by himself (_wa-huwa awwalu man rathá maqtúlahu_).

[128] Ibn Hishám, p. 51, l. 7 sqq.

[129] In the account of Abraha's invasion given below I have followed Ṭabarí, i, 936, 9-945, 19 = Nöldeke's translation, pp. 206-220.

[130] I read _ḥilálak_. See Glossary to Ṭabarí.

[131] Ṭabarí, i, 940, 13.

[132] 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" (Ṭabarí, 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.

[133] There is trustworthy evidence that Abraha continued to rule Yemen for some time after his defeat.

[134] Ibn Hishám, p. 38, l. 14 sqq.

[135] _Ibid._, p. 40, l. 12 sqq.

[136] See pp. 48-49 _supra_.

[137] Full details are given by Ṭabarí, i, 1016-1037 = Nöldeke's translation, pp. 311-345.

[138] A poet speaks of three thousand Arabs and two thousand Persians (Ṭabarí, i, 1036, 5-6).

[139] Ibn Rashíq in Suyúṭí's Muzhir (Buláq, 1282 A.H.), Part II, p. 236, l. 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.

[140] Freytag, _Arabum Proverbia_, vol. ii, p. 494.

[141] Numb. xxi, 17. Such well-songs are still sung in the Syrian desert (see Enno Littmann, _Neuarabische Volkspoesie_, in _Abhand. der Kön. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, Phil.-Hist. Klasse_, Göttingen, 1901), p. 92. In a specimen cited at p. 81 we find the words _witla yā dlêwēna_--_i.e._, "Rise, O bucket!" several times repeated.

[142] Goldziher, _Ueber die Vorgeschichte der Higâ-Poesie_ in his _Abhand. zur Arab. Philologie_, Part I (Leyden, 1896), p. 26.

[143] _Cf._ the story of Balak and Balaam, with Goldziher's remarks thereon, _ibid._, p. 42 seq.

[144] _Ibid._, p. 46 seq.

[145] _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 interesting theory that the Arabian metres arose out of the camel-driver's song (_ḥidá_) in harmony with the varying paces of the animal which he rode (_Studien in arabischen Dichtern_, Heft III, p. 179 sqq.).

[146] The Arabic verse (_bayt_) consists of two halves or hemistichs (_miṣrá‘_). It is generally convenient to use the word 'line' as a translation of _miṣrá‘_, 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.

[147] In Arabic 'al-bayt,' the tent, which is here used figuratively for the grave.

[148] Ibn Qutayba, _Kitábu ’l-Shi‘r wa-’l-Shu‘ará_, p. 36, l. 3 sqq.

[149] 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. 1).

[150] _Ancient Arabian Poetry_, Introduction, p. xvi.

[151] _Qaṣída_ is explained by Arabian lexicographers to mean a poem with an artistic purpose, but they differ as to the precise sense in which 'purpose' is to be understood. Modern critics are equally at variance. Jacob (_Stud. in Arab. Dichtern_, 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 (_Bemerkungen über die Aechtheit der alten Arab. Gedichte_, p. 24 seq.) connects it with _qaṣada, 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 _Rajaz_ verses, as we have seen (p. 74 _supra_), there is no such break.

[152] _Kitábu ’l-Shi‘r wa-’l-Shu‘ará_, p. 14, l. 10 sqq.

[153] Nöldeke (_Fünf Mo‘allaqát_, 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.

[154] _Ancient Arabian Poetry_, p. 83.

[155] Verses 3-13. I have attempted to imitate the 'Long' (_Ṭawíl_) metre of the original, viz.:--

⌣ | ⌣ | ⌣ |
⌣ - - | ⌣ - - - | ⌣ - - | ⌣ - ⌣ -

The Arabic text of the _Lámiyya_, with prose translation and commentary, is printed in De Sacy's _Chrestomathie Arabe_ (2nd. ed.), vol. iiº, 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 Nöldeke, _Beiträge zur Kenntniss d. Poesie d. alten Araber_, p. 200.

[156] 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.

[157] _Ḥamása_, 242.

[158] _Ḥamása_, 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.

[159] Mahaffy, _Social Life in Greece_, p. 21.

[160] See pp. 59-60 _supra_.

[161] _Ḥamása_, 82-83. The poet is ‘Amr b. Ma‘díkarib, a famous heathen knight who accepted Islam and afterwards distinguished himself in the Persian wars.

[162] Al-Afwah al-Awdí in Nöldeke's _Delectus_, p. 4, ll. 8-10. The poles and pegs represent lords and commons.

[163] _Ḥamása_, 122.

[164] _Ibid._, 378.

[165] _Cf._ the verses by al-Find, p. 58 _supra_.

[166] _Ḥamása_, 327.

[167] Imru’u ’l-Qays was one of the princes of Kinda, a powerful tribe in Central Arabia.

[168] _Aghání_, xix, 99. The last two lines are wanting in the poem as there cited, but appear in the Selection from the Aghání published at Beyrout in 1888, vol. ii, p. 18.

[169] See p. 45 sqq.

[170] _Aghání_, xvi, 98, ll. 5-22.

[171] _Aghání_, xvi, 97, l. 5 sqq.

[172] His _Díwán_ has been edited with translation and notes by F. Schulthess (Leipzig, 1897).

[173] _Ḥamása_, 729. The hero mentioned in the first verse is ‘Ámir b. Uḥaymir of Bahdala. On a certain occasion, when envoys from the Arabian tribes were assembled at Ḥíra, King Mundhir b. Má’ al-samá produced two pieces of cloth of Yemen and said, "Let him whose tribe is noblest rise up and take them." Thereupon ‘Ámir stood forth, and wrapping one piece round his waist and the other over his shoulders, carried off the prize unchallenged.

[174] Lady Anne and Mr. Wilfrid Blunt, _The Seven Golden Odes of Pagan Arabia_, Introduction, p. 14.

[175] _Aghání_ xvi, 22, ll. 10-16.

[176] _Aghání_, xviii, 137, ll. 5-10. Freytag, _Arabum Proverbia_, vol. ii, p. 834.

[177] _Ancient Arabian Poetry_, p. 81.

[178] _Mufaḍḍaliyyát_, ed. Thorbecke, p. 23.

[179] See Goldziher, _Muhammedanische Studien_, Part II, p. 295 sqq.

[180] Koran, xvi, 59-61.

[181] Freytag, _Arabum Proverbia_, vol. i, p. 229.

[182] Koran, xvii, 33. _Cf._ lxxxi, 8-9 (a description of the Last Judgment): "_When the girl buried alive shall be asked for what crime she was killed._"

[183] 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.

[184] _Ḥamása_, 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, Isḥáq b. Khalaf, lived under the Caliph Ma’mún (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 _Kámil_ of al-Mubarrad, p. 715, l. 7 sqq., and has been translated, together with the verses now in question, by Sir Charles Lyall, _Ancient Arabian Poetry_, p. 26.

[185] _Ḥamása_, 142. Lyall, _op. cit._, p. 28.

[186] _Ḥamása_, 7.

[187] _Ḥamása_, 321.

[188] See p. 55 sqq.

[189] _Cf._ Rückert's _Hamâsa_, vol. i, p. 61 seq.

[190] _Ḥamása_, 30.

[191] _Aghání_, ii, 160, l. 11-162, l. 1 = p. 13 sqq. of the Beyrout Selection.

[192] 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 _dakhíl_. See Burckhardt, _Notes on the Bedouins and Wahábys_ (London, 1831), vol. i, p. 160 sqq. and 329 sqq.

[193] See p. 81 _supra_.

[194] Stuttgart, 1819, p. 253 sqq. The other renderings in verse with which I am acquainted are those of Rückert (_Hamâsa_, vol. i, p. 299) and Sir Charles Lyall (_Ancient 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.

[195] The Arabic text will be found in the _Hamása_, p. 382 sqq.

[196] 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.

[197] In the original this and the preceding verse are transposed.

[198] 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.

[199] It was customary for the avenger to take a solemn vow that he would drink no wine before accomplishing his vengeance.

[200] _Ḥamása_, 679.

[201] _Cf._ the lines translated below from the _Mu‘allaqa_ of Ḥárith.

[202] The best edition of the _Mu‘allaqát_ is Sir Charles Lyall's (_A Commentary on Ten Ancient Arabic Poems_, Calcutta, 1894), which contains in addition to the seven _Mu‘allaqát_ three odes by A‘shá, Nábigha, and ‘Abíd b. al-Abraṣ. Nöldeke has translated five Mu‘allaqas (omitting those of Imru’ u’ l-Qays and Ṭarafa) with a German commentary, _Sitzungsberichte der Kais. Akad. der Wissenschaften in Wien_, _Phil.-Histor. Klasse_, vols. 140-144 (1899-1901); this is by far the best translation for students. No satisfactory 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).

[203] _Ancient Arabian Poetry_, Introduction, p. xliv. Many other interpretations 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. Müller).

[204] The belief that the _Mu‘allaqát_ were written in letters of gold seems to have arisen from a misunderstanding of the name _Mudhhabát_ or _Mudhahhabát_ (_i.e._, the Gilded Poems) which is sometimes given to them in token of their excellence, just as the Greeks gave the title χρύσεα ἔπη to a poem falsely attributed to Pythagoras. That some of the _Mu‘allaqát_ were recited at ‘Ukáẓ is probable enough and is definitely affirmed in the case of ‘Amr b. Kulthúm (_Aghání_, ix, 182).

[205] The legend first appears in the _‘Iqd al-Faríd_ (ed. of Cairo, 1293 A.H., vol. iii, p. 116 seq.) of Ibn ‘Abdi Rabbihi, who died in 940 A.D.

[206] See the Introduction to Nöldeke's _Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Poesie der alten Araber_ (Hannover, 1864), p. xvii sqq., and his article Mo‘allaḳát' in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_.

[207] It is well known that the order of the verses in the _Mu‘allaqát_, 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 Nöldeke in his German translation.

[208] See p. 42 _supra_.

[209] _Ancient Arabian Poetry_, p. 105.

[210] See the account of his life (according to the _Kitábu’ l-Aghání_) in _Le Diwan d'Amro’lkaïs_, edited with translation and notes by Baron MacGuckin de Slane (Paris, 1837), pp. 1-51; and in _Amrilkais, der Dichter und König_ by Friedrich Rückert (Stuttgart and Tübingen, 1843).

[211] That he was not, however, the inventor of the Arabian _qaṣída_ as described above (p. 76 sqq.) appears from the fact that he mentions in one of his verses a certain Ibn Ḥumám or Ibn Khidhám who introduced, or at least made fashionable, the prelude with which almost every ode begins: a lament over the deserted camping-ground (Ibn Qutayba, _K. al-Shi‘r wa-’l-Shu‘ará_, p. 52).

[212] The following lines are translated from Arnold's edition of the _Mu‘allaqát_ (Leipsic, 1850), p. 9 sqq., vv. 18-35.

[213] 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’abbaṭa Sharran.

[214] We have already (p. 39) referred to the culture of the Christian Arabs of Ḥíra.

[215] Vv. 54-59 (Lyall); 56-61 (Arnold).

[216] See Nöldeke, _Fünf Mu‘allaqát_, i, p. 51 seq. According to the traditional version (_Aghání_, 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 Banú Bakr. Thereupon Taghlib appealed to King ‘Amr to enforce payment of the blood-money which they claimed, and chose ‘Amr b. Kulthúm to plead their cause at Ḥíra. So ‘Amr recited his _Mu‘allaqa_ before the king, and was answered by Ḥárith on behalf of Bakr.

[217] Freytag, _Arabum Proverbia_, vol. ii, p. 233.

[218] _Aghání_, ix, 182.

[219] Vv. 1-8 (Arnold); in Lyall's edition the penultimate verse is omitted.

[220] Vv. 15-18 (Lyall); 19-22 (Arnold).

[221] 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).

[222] _I.e._, even the _jinn_ (genies) stand in awe of us.

[223] Here Ma‘add signifies the Arabs in general.

[224] Vv. 20-30 (Lyall), omitting vv. 22, 27, 28.

[225] This is a figurative way of saying that Taghlib has never been subdued.

[226] Vv. 46-51 (Lyall), omitting v. 48.

[227] _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.

[228] Vv. 94-104 (Arnold), omitting vv. 100 and 101. If the last words are anything more than a poetic fiction, 'the sea' must refer to the River Euphrates.

[229] Vv. 16-18.

[230] Vv. 23-26.

[231] A place in the neighbourhood of Mecca.

[232] Vv. 40-42 (Lyall); 65-67 (Arnold).

[233] See _‘Antarah, ein vorislamischer Dichter_, by H. Thorbecke (Leipzig, 1867).

[234] 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.

[235] Ghayẓ b. Murra was a descendant of Dhubyán and the ancestor of Harim and Ḥárith.

[236] The Ka‘ba.

[237] This refers to the religious circumambulation (_ṭawáf_).

[238] Vv. 16-19 (Lyall).

[239] 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-Shi‘r wa-’l-Shu‘ará_, p. 58, l. 12).

[240] Vv. 27-31.

[241] The order of these verses in Lyall's edition is as follows: 56, 57, 54, 50, 55, 53, 49, 47, 48, 52, 58.

[242] Reference has been made above to the old Arabian belief that poets owed their inspiration to the _jinn_ (genii), who are sometimes called _shayátín_ (satans). See Goldziher, _Abhand. zur arab. Philologie_, Part I, pp. 1-14.

[243] Vv. 1-10 (Lyall), omitting v. 5.

[244] Vv. 55-60 (Lyall).

[245] The term _nábigha_ is applied to a poet whose genius is slow in declaring itself but at last "jets forth vigorously and abundantly" (_nabagha_).

[246] _Díwán_, ed. by Derenbourg, p. 83; Nöldeke's _Delectus_, p. 96.

[247] He means to say that Nu‘mán has no reason to feel aggrieved because he (Nábigha) is grateful to the Ghassánids for their munificent patronage; since Nu‘mán does not consider that his own favourites, in showing gratitude to himself, are thereby guilty of treachery towards their former patrons.

[248] _Diwán_, 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 _rabbí_, _i.e._, Allah, but see Nöldeke's remarks in _Z.D.M.G._, vol. xli (1887), p. 708.

[249] _Aghání_, viii, 85, last line-86, l. 10.

[250] Lyall, _Ten Ancient Arabic Poems_, p. 146 seq., vv. 25-31.

[251] Ahlwardt, _The Divans_, p. 106, vv. 8-10.

[252] _Ḥamása_, p. 382, l. 17.

[253] Nöldeke, _Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Poesie der alten Araber_, p. 152.

[254] Nöldeke, _ibid._, p. 175.

[255] The original title is _al-Mukhtárát_ (The Selected Odes) or _al-Ikhtiyárát_ (The Selections).

[256] Oxford, 1918-21. The Indexes of personal and place-names, poetical quotations, and selected words were prepared by Professor Bevan and published in 1924 in the E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Series.

[257] Ibn Khallikán, ed. by Wüstenfeld, No. 350 = De Slane's translation, vol. ii, p. 51.

[258] See Nöldeke, _Beiträge_, p. 183 sqq. There would seem to be comparatively few poems of Pre-islamic date in Buḥturí's anthology.

[259] Ibn Khallikán, ed. by Wüstenfeld, No. 204 = De Slane's translation, vol. i, p. 470.

[260] Many interesting details concerning the tradition of Pre-islamic poetry by the _Ráwís_ and the Philologists will be found in Ahlwardt's _Bemerkungen ueber die Aechtheit der alten Arabischen Gedichte_ (Greifswald, 1872), which has supplied materials for the present sketch.

[261] _Aghání_, v, 172, l. 16 sqq.

[262] This view, however, is in accordance neither with the historical facts nor with the public opinion of the Pre-islamic Arabs (see Nöldeke, _Die Semitischen Sprachen_, p. 47).

[263] See Wellhausen, _Reste Arab. Heidentums_ (2nd ed.), p. 88 seq.

[264] _Ḥamása_, 506.

[265] _Ibid._, 237.

[266] _Díwán_ of Imru’u ’l-Qays, ed. by De Slane, p. 22 of the Arabic text, l. 17 sqq. = No. 52, ll. 57-59 (p. 154) in Ahlwardt's _Divans of the Six Poets_. With the last line, however, _cf._ the words of Qays b. al-Khaṭím on accomplishing his vengeance: "_When this death comes, there will not be found any need of my soul that I have not satisfied_" (_Ḥamása_, 87).

[267] _Aghání_, ii, 18, l. 23 sqq.

[268] _Aghání_, ii, 34, l. 22 sqq.

[269] See Von Kremer, _Ueber die Gedichte des Labyd_ in _S.B.W.A._, _Phil.-Hist. Klasse_ (Vienna, 1881), vol. 98, p. 555 sqq. Sir Charles Lyall, _Ancient Arabian Poetry_, pp. 92 and 119. Wellhausen, _Reste Arabischen Heidentums_ (2nd ed.), p. 224 sqq.

[270] I prefer to retain the customary spelling instead of Qur’án, as it is correctly transliterated by scholars. Arabic words naturalised in English, like Koran, Caliph, Vizier, &c., require no apology.

[271] 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 Muḥammad did not believe himself to be inspired.

[272] The above details are taken from the _Fihrist_, ed. by G. Fluegel, p. 24, l. 14 sqq.

[273] Muir, _op. cit._, Introduction, p. 14.

[274] With the exception of the Opening Súra (_al-Fátiḥa_), which is a short prayer.

[275] Sprenger, _Ueber das Traditionswesen bei den Arabern_, _Z.D.M.G._, vol. x, p. 2.

[276] Quoted by Sprenger, _loc. cit._, p. 1.

[277] Quoted by Nöldeke in the Introduction to his _Geschichte des Qorâns_, p 22.

[278] See especially pp. 28-130.

[279] _Muhamm. Studien_, Part II, p. 48 seq.

[280] The reader may consult Muir's Introduction to his _Life of Mahomet_, pp. 28-87.

[281] Ibn Hishám, p. 105, l. 9 sqq.

[282] This legend seems to have arisen out of a literal interpretation of Koran, xciv, 1, "_Did we not open thy breast?_"--_i.e._, give thee comfort or enlightenment.

[283] This name, which may signify 'Baptists,' was applied by the heathen Arabs to Muḥammad and his followers, probably in consequence of the ceremonial ablutions which are incumbent upon every Moslem before the five daily prayers (see Wellhausen, _Reste Arab. Heid._, p. 237).

[284] Sir Charles Lyall, _The Words 'Ḥaníf' and 'Muslim,'_ _J.R.A.S._ for 1903, p. 772. The original meaning of _ḥaníf_ is no longer traceable, but it may be connected with the Hebrew _ḥánéf_, '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 Ḥanífs will be found in Sir Charles Lyall's article cited above; Sprenger, _Das Leben und die Lehre des Moḥammed_, vol. i, pp. 45-134; Wellhausen, _Reste Arab. Heid._, p. 238 sqq.; Caetani, _Annali dell' Islam_, vol. i, pp. 181-192.

[285] Ibn Hishám, p. 143, l. 6 sqq.

[286] _Aghání_, iii, 187, l. 17 sqq.

[287] See p. 69 _supra_.

[288] Tradition associates him especially with Waraqa, who was a cousin of his first wife, Khadíja, and is said to have hailed him as a prophet while Muḥammad himself was still hesitating (Ibn Hishám, p. 153, l. 14 sqq.).

[289] This is the celebrated 'Night of Power' (_Laylatu ’l-Qadr_) mentioned in the Koran, xcvii, 1.

[290] The Holy Ghost (_Rúḥu’l-Quds_), for whom in the Medína Súras Gabriel (Jibríl) is substituted.

[291] But another version (Ibn Hishám, p. 152, l. 9 sqq.) represents Muḥammad as replying to the Angel, "What am I to read?" (_má aqra’u_ or _má dhá aqra’u_). 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 Nöldeke (_Geschichte des Qorâns_, p. 7 sqq.), who leaves it undecided. According to Nöldeke (_loc. cit._, p. 10), the epithet _ummí_, which is applied to Muḥammad 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_" (Muḥammad) "_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, xxix, 47).

[292] The meaning of these words (_iqra’ bismi rabbika_) is disputed. Others translate, "Preach in the name of thy Lord" (Nöldeke), or "Proclaim the name of thy Lord" (Hirschfeld). I see no sufficient grounds for abandoning the traditional interpretation supported by verses 4 and 5. Muḥammad dreamed that he was commanded to read the Word of God inscribed in the Heavenly Book which is the source of all Revelation.

[293] Others render, "who taught (the use of) the Pen."

[294] This account of Muḥammad's earliest vision (Bukhárí, ed. by Krehl, vol. iii, p. 380, l. 2 sqq.) is derived from ‘A’isha, his favourite wife, whom he married after the death of Khadíja.

[295] Ibn Hishám, p. 152, l. 9 sqq.

[296] See p. 72 _supra_.

[297] This interval is known as the Fatra.

[298] Literally, 'warn.'

[299] 'The abomination' (_al-rujz_) probably refers to idolatry.

[300] Literally, "The Last State shall be better for thee than the First," referring either to Muḥammad's recompense in the next world or to the ultimate triumph of his cause in this world.

[301] _Islám_ 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 surrenders himself.

[302] Sprenger, _Leben des Mohammad_, vol. i, p. 356.

[303] It must be remembered that this branch of Muḥammadan tradition derives from the pietists of the first century after the Flight, 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 Muḥammad 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. Muḥammad 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 Muḥammad's failure to make appreciable headway in Mecca.

[304] Ibn Hishám, p. 168, l. 9. sqq.

[305] At this time Muḥammad believed the doctrines of Islam and Christianity to be essentially the same.

[306] Ṭabarí, i, 1180, 8 sqq. _Cf._ Caetani, _Annali dell' Islam_, vol. i, p. 267 sqq.

[307] Muir, _Life of Mahomet_, vol. ii, p. 151.

[308] We have seen (p. 91 _supra_) that the heathen Arabs disliked female offspring, yet they called their three principal deities the daughters of Allah.

[309] It is related by Ibn Isḥáq (Ṭabarí, i, 1192, 4 sqq.). In his learned work, _Annali dell' 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."

[310] The Meccan view of Muḥammad's action may be gathered from the words uttered by Abú 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!" (Ṭabarí, i, 1322, l. 8 seq.). Alluding to the Moslems who abandoned their native city and fled with the Prophet to Medína, a Meccan poet exclaims (Ibn Hishám, p. 519, ll. 3-5):--

_They_ (the Quraysh slain at Badr) _fell in honour. They
did not sell their kinsmen for strangers living in a far
land and of remote lineage;_

_Unlike you, who have made friends of Ghassán_ (the people
of Medína), _taking them instead of us--O, what 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 understanding._

[311] _Súra_ is properly a row of stones or bricks in a wall.

[312] See p. 74 _supra_.

[313] Koran, lxix, 41.

[314] Nöldeke, _Geschichte des Qorâns_, p. 56.

[315] _I.e._, what it has done or left undone.

[316] The Last Judgment.

[317] Moslems believe that every man is attended by two Recording Angels who write down his good and evil actions.

[318] This is generally supposed to refer to the persecution of the Christians of Najrán by Dhú Nuwás (see p. 26 _supra_). Geiger takes it as an allusion to the three men who were cast into the fiery furnace (Daniel, ch. iii).

[319] See above, p. 3.

[320] According to Muḥammadan belief, the archetype of the Koran and of all other Revelations is written on the Guarded Table (_al-Lawḥ al-Maḥfúẓ_) in heaven.

[321] Koran, xvii, 69.

[322] See, for example, the passages translated by Lane in his _Selections from the Kur-án_ (London, 1843), pp. 100-113.

[323] _Ikhláṣ_ means 'purifying one's self of belief in any god except Allah.'

[324] 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, 1), though, as is plain from the context, these words refer to one of the signs of the Day of Judgment.

[325] 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.

[326] Shaddád b. al-Aswad al-Laythí, quoted in the _Risálatu ’l-Ghufrán_ of Abu ’l-‘Alá al-Ma‘arrí (see my article in the _J.R.A.S._ for 1902, pp. 94 and 818); _cf._ Ibn Hishám, p. 530, last line. Ibn (Abí) Kabsha was a nickname derisively applied to Muḥammad. _Ṣadá_ and _háma_ refer to the death-bird which was popularly supposed to utter its shriek from the skull (_háma_) of the dead, and both words may be rendered by 'soul' or 'wraith.'

[327] Nöldeke, _Geschichte des Qorâns_, p. 78.

[328] _Cf._ also Koran, xviii, 45-47; xx, 102 sqq.; xxxix, 67 sqq.; lxix, 13-37.

[329] The famous freethinker, Abu ’l-‘Alá al-Ma‘arrí, has cleverly satirised Muḥammadan notions on this subject in his _Risálatu ’l-Ghufrán_ (_J.R.A.S._ for October, 1900, p. 637 sqq.).

[330] _Journal of Theological Studies_ for October, 1904, p. 22.

[331] Ibn Hishám, p. 411, l. 6 sqq.

[332] _Ibid._, p. 347.

[333] L. Caetani, _Annali dell' Islam_, vol. i, p. 389.

[334] Nöldeke, _Geschichte des Qorâns_, p. 122.

[335] Translated by E. H. Palmer.

[336] Ibn Hishám, p. 341, l. 5.

[337] _Muḥammad's Gemeindeordnung von Medina in Skizzen und Vorarbeiten_, Heft IV, p. 67 sqq.

[338] Ibn Hishám, p. 763, l. 12.

[339] Koran, ii, 256, translated by E. H. Palmer.

[340] _Muhamm. Studien_, Part I, p. 12.

[341] See Goldziher's introductory chapter entitled _Muruwwa und Dîn_ (_ibid._, pp. 1-39).

[342] Bayḍáwí on Koran, xxii, 11.

[343] _Die Berufung Mohammed's_, by M. J. de Goeje in _Nöldeke-Festschrift_ (Giessen, 1906), vol. i, p. 5.

[344] _On the _Origin and Import of the Names Muslim and Ḥaníf_ (_J.R.A.S._ for 1903, p. 491)

[345] See T. W. Arnold's _The Preaching of Islam_, p. 23 seq., where several passages of like import are collected.

[346] Nöldeke, _Sketches from Eastern History_, translated by J. S. Black, p. 73.

[347] See Professor Browne's _Literary History of Persia_, vol. i, p. 200 sqq.

[348] Ṭabarí, i, 2729, l. 15 sqq.

[349] _Ibid._, i, 2736, l. 5 sqq. The words in italics are quoted from Koran, xxviii, 26, where they are applied to Moses.

[350] ‘Umar was the first to assume this title (_Amíru ’l-Mu’minín_), by which the Caliphs after him were generally addressed.

[351] Ṭabarí, i, 2738, 7 sqq.

[352] _Ibid._, i, 2739, 4 sqq.

[353] _Ibid._, i, 2737, 4 sqq.

[354] 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.

[355] Ṭabarí, i, 2742, 13 sqq.

[356] _Ibid._, i, 2745, 15 sqq.

[357] _Ibid._, i, 2747, 7 sqq.

[358] _Ibid._, i, 2740, last line and foll.

[359] _Al-Fakhrí_, ed. by Derenbourg, p. 116, l. 1 to p. 117, l. 3.

[360] Ṭabarí, i, 2751, 9 sqq.

[361] Ibn Khallikán (ed. by Wüstenfeld), No. 68, p. 96, l. 3; De Slane's translation, vol. i, p. 152.

[362] Mu‘áwiya himself said: "I am the first of the kings" (Ya‘qúbí, ed. by Houtsma, vol. ii, p. 276, l. 14).

[363] _Al-Fakhrí_, ed. by Derenbourg, p. 145.

[364] Ya‘qúbí, vol. ii, p. 283, l. 8 seq.

[365] Mas‘údí, _Murúju ’l-Dhahab_ (ed. by Barbier de Meynard), vol. v. p. 77.

[366] Nöldeke's _Delectus_, p. 25, l. 3 sqq., omitting l. 8.

[367] The _Continuatio_ of Isidore of Hispalis, § 27, quoted by Wellhausen, _Das Arabische Reich und sein Sturz_, p. 105.

[368] Ḥamása, 226. The word translated 'throne' is in Arabic _mínbar_, _i.e._, the pulpit from which the Caliph conducted the public prayers and addressed the congregation.

[369] 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. _Cf._ Goldziher, _Muhammedanische Studien_, Part I, p. 83, l. 3 sqq.

[370] _Muhammedanische Studien_, i, 78 sqq.

[371] Qaḥṭán is the legendary ancestor of the Southern Arabs.

[372] _Aghání_, xiii, 51, cited by Goldziher, _ibid._, p. 82.

[373] A verse of the poet Suḥaym b. Wathíl.

[374] The _Kámil_ of al-Mubarrad, ed. by W. Wright, p. 215, l. 14 sqq.

[375] Ibn Qutayba, _Kitábu ’l-Ma‘árif_, p. 202.

[376] _Al-Fakhrí_, p. 173; Ibnu ’l-Athír, ed. by Tornberg, v, 5.

[377] _Ibid._, p. 174. _Cf._ Mas‘údi, _Murúju ’l-Dhahab_, v, 412.

[378] His mother, Umm ‘Áṣim, was a granddaughter of ‘Umar I.

[379] Mas‘údí, _Murúju ’l-Dhahab_, v, 419 seq.

[380] Ibnu ’l-Athír, ed. by Tornberg, v, 46. _Cf._ _Agání_, xx, p. 119, l. 23. ‘Umar made an exception, as Professor Bevan reminds me, in favour of the poet Jarír. See Brockelmann's _Gesch. der Arab. Litteratur_, vol. i, p. 57.

[381] The exhaustive researches of Wellhausen, _Das Arabische Reich und sein 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.

[382] Mas‘údí, _Murúju ’l-Dhahab_, v, 479.

[383] The Arabic text and literal translation of these verses will be found in my article on Abu ’l-‘Alá's _Risálatu ’l-Ghufrán_ (_J.R.A.S._ for 1902, pp. 829 and 342).

[384] Wellhausen, _Das Arabische Reich und sein Sturz_, p. 38.

[385] _I.e._, the main body of Moslems--_Sunnís_, followers of the _Sunna_, as they were afterwards called--who were neither Shí‘ites nor Khárijites, but held (1) 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 ‘Alí and Mu‘áwiya, and their original difference turned solely on the question of the Caliphate.

[386] Brünnow, _Die Charidschiten unter den ersten Omayyaden_ (Leiden, 1884), p. 28. It is by no means certain, however, that the Khárijites called themselves by this name. In any case, the term implies _secession_ (_khurúj_) from the Moslem community, and may be rendered by 'Seceder' or 'Nonconformist.'

[387] _Cf._ Koran, ix, 112.

[388] Brünnow, _op. cit._, p. 8.