614 The Burda, ed. by C. A. Ralfs (Vienna, 1860), verse 140; La Bordah traduite et commentée par René Basset(Paris, 1894), verse 151.

615 This appears to be a reminiscence of the fact that Muḥammad gave his own mantle as a gift to Ka‘b b. Zuhayr, when that poet recited his famous ode, Bánat Su‘ád (see p. 127 supra).

616 Maqáma(plural, maqámát) is properly 'a place of standing'; hence, an assembly where people stand listening to the speaker, and in particular, an assembly for literary discussion. At an early period reports of such conversations and discussions received the name of maqámát(see Brockelmann, Gesch. der Arab. Litteratur, vol. i, p. 94). The word in its literary sense is usually translated by 'assembly,' or by the French ' séance.'

617 The Assemblies of al-Ḥarírí, translated from the Arabic, with an introduction and notes by T. Chenery (1867), vol. i, p. 19. This excellent work contains a fund of information on diverse matters connected with Arabian history and literature. Owing to the author's death it was left unfinished, but a second volume (including Assemblies27-50) by F. Steingass appeared in 1898.

618 A full account of his career will be found in the Preface to Houtsma's Recueil de textes relatifs à l'histoire des Seldjoucides, vol. ii. p. 11 sqq. Cf.Browne's Lit. Hist. of Persia, vol. ii, p. 360.

619 This is a graceful, but probably insincere, tribute to the superior genius of Hamadhání.

620 The above passage is taken, with some modification, from the version of Ḥarírí published in 1850 by Theodore Preston, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, who was afterwards Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic (1855-1871).

621 Moslems had long been familiar with the fables of Bidpai, which were translated from the Pehleví into Arabic by Ibnu ’l-Muqaffa‘ (õ  circa760 a.d.).

622 Al-Fakhrí, ed. by Derenbourg, p. 18, l. 4 sqq.

623 A town in Mesopotamia, not far from Edessa. It was taken by the Crusaders in 1101 a.d. (Abu ’l-Fidá, ed. by Reiske, vol. iii, p. 332).

624 The 48th Maqámaof the series as finally arranged.

625 Chenery, op. cit., p. 23.

626 This has been done with extraordinary skill by the German poet, Friedrich Rückert ( Die Verwandlungen des Abu Seid von Serug, 2nd ed. 1837), whose work, however, is not in any sense a translation.

627 A literal translation of these verses, which occur in the sixth Assembly, is given by Chenery, op. cit., p. 138.

628 Ibid., p. 163.

629 Two grammatical treatises by Ḥarírí have come down to us. In one of these, entitled Durratu ’l-Ghawwáṣ('The Pearl of the Diver') and edited by Thorbecke (Leipzig, 1871), he discusses the solecisms which people of education are wont to commit.

630 See Chenery, op. cit., pp. 83-97.

631 The Caliphate, its Rise, Decline, and Fall, p. 573.

632 Another example is ‘Umar al-Khayyámí for ‘Umar Khayyám. The spelling Ghazzálí (with a double z) was in general use when Ibn Khallikán wrote his Biographical Dictionary in 1256 a.d. (see De Slane's translation, vol. i, p. 80), but according to Sam‘ání the name is derived from Ghazála, a village near Ṭús; in which case Ghazálí is the correct form of the nisba. I have adopted 'Ghazalí' in deference to Sam‘ání's authority, but those who write 'Ghazzálí' can at least claim that they err in very good company.

633 Shamsu ’l-Dín al-Dhahabí (õ 1348 a.d.).

634 ‘Abdu ’l-Raḥím al-Isnawí (õ 1370 a.d.), author of a biographical work on the Sháfi‘ite doctors. See Brockelmann, Gesch. der Arab. Litt., vol. ii, p. 90.

635 Abu ’l-Ma‘álí al-Juwayní, a famous theologian of Naysábúr (õ 1085 a.d.), received this title, which means 'Imám of the Two Sanctuaries,' because he taught for several years at Mecca and Medína.

636 I.e., the camp-court of the Seljúq monarch Maliksháh, son of Alp Arslán.

637 According to his own account in the Munqidh, Ghazálí on leaving Baghdád went first to Damascus, then to Jerusalem, and then to Mecca. The statement that he remained ten years at Damascus is inaccurate.

638 The MS. has Fakhru ’l-Dín.

639 Ghazálí's return to public life took place in 1106 a.d.

640 The correct title of Ibn Ḥazm's work is uncertain. In the Cairo ed. (1321 a.h.) it is called Kitábu ’l-Fiṣal fi ’l-Milal wa ’l-Ahwá wa ’l-Niḥal.

641 See p. 195 supra.

642 Kor. ix, 3. The translation runs ("This is a declaration) that God is clear of the idolaters, and His Apostle likewise." With the reading rasúlihiit means that God is clear of the idolaters and also of His Apostle.

643 Ibn Khallikan, De Slane's translation, vol. i, p. 663.

644 See p. 128.

645 Ibn Khallikán, No. 608; De Slane's translation, vol. iii, p. 31.

646 See pp. 131-134, supra.

647 Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien, Part I, p. 197.

648 Ibid., p. 195.

649 Ibn Qutayba, Kitábu ’l-Ma‘árif, p. 269.

650 While Abú ‘Ubayda was notorious for his freethinking proclivities, Aṣma‘í had a strong vein of pietism. See Goldziher, loc. cit., p. 199 and Abh. zur Arab. Philologie, Part I, p. 136.

651 Professor Browne has given a résuméof the contents in his Lit. Hist. of Persia, vol. i, p. 387 seq.

652 Ed. by Max Grünert (Leyden, 1900).

653 Vol. i ed. by C. Brockelmann (Weimar and Strassburg, 1898-1908).

654 The epithet jáḥiẓmeans 'goggle-eyed.'

655 See p. 267.

656 Ibn Khallikán, De Slane's translation, vol. ii, p. 250.

657 One of these, the eleventh of the complete work, has been edited by Ahlwardt: Anonyme Arabische Chronik(Greifswald, 1883). It covers part of the reign of the Umayyad Caliph, ‘Abdu ’l-Malik (685-705 a.d.).

658 The French title is Les Prairies d'Or. Brockelmann, in his shorter Hist. of Arabic Literature(Leipzig, 1901), p. 110, states that the correct translation of Murúju ’l-Dhahabis 'Goldwäschen.'

659 Concerning Ṭabarí and his work the reader should consult De Goeje's Introduction (published in the supplementary volume containing the Glossary) to the Leyden edition, and his excellent article on Ṭabarí and early Arab Historians in the Encyclopædia Britannica.

660 Abu ’l-Maḥásin, ed. by Juynboll, vol. i, p. 608.

661 Selection from the Annals of Tabarí, ed. by M. J. de Goeje (Leyden, 1902), p. xi.

662 De Goeje's Introduction to Ṭabarí, p. xxvii.

663 Al-Bal‘amí, the Vizier of Manṣúr I, the Sámánid, made in 963 a.d. a Persian epitome of which a French translation by Dubeux and Zotenberg was published in 1867-1874.

664 Murúju ’l-Dhahab, ed. by Barbier de Meynard, vol. i, p. 5 seq.

665 The Akhbáru ’l-Zamánin thirty volumes (one volume is extant at Vienna) and the Kitáb al-Awsaṭ.

666 Murúju ’l-Dhahab, p. 9 seq.

667 It may be noted as a coincidence that Ibn Khaldún calls Mas‘údí imám ^anlil-mu’arrikhín, "an Imám for all the historians," which resembles, though it does not exactly correspond to, "the Father of History."

668 Mas‘údí gives a summary of the contents of his historical and religious works in the Preface to the Tanbíh wa-’l-Ishráf, ed. by De Goeje, p. 2 sqq. A translation of this passage by De Sacy will be found in Barbier de Meynard's edition of the Murúju ’l-Dhahab, vol. ix, p. 302 sqq.

669 See Murúj, vol. i, p. 201, and vol. iii, p. 268.

670 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 372 sqq.

671 De Sacy renders the title by 'Le Livre de l'Indication et de l'Admonition ou l'Indicateur et le Moniteur'; but see De Goeje's edition of the text (Leyden, 1894), p. xxvii.