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Zand b. al-Ḏj̲awn , a black slave, client of the Banū Asad in Kūfa. He is already mentioned in the history of the last Umapyad caliph, but appears as a “poet” only under the ʿAbbāsids and plays the part of a court jester in the palace of al-Saffāḥ and especially in those of al-Manṣūr and al-Mahdī. His poem on the death of Abū Muslim (137/754-5) is said to have been the first of his works to make him a name. Examples of his poetry show him to have been a clever, witty versifica…

, a saint whose story is said to have been related by the Prophet himself and has therefore found a place in the ḥadīt̲h̲ . The various versions differ in details one from another, but one motif is common to them all, that the saint is accused by a woman, who had had a child by another man, of being its father; but the child itself, on being asked by the saint, declares the real father’s name and thus clears the saint from suspicion. “D̲j̲urayd̲j̲” is the Arabic reproduction of Gregorius, and one version rightly states that he lived in the prophetless period ( fatra [ q.v.]) between Jesus and Muḥamm…

, daughter of the caliph al-Mahdī, sister of the caliphs Hārūn al-Ras̲h̲īd and al-Hādī; it is to her that the locality Suwayḳat al-ʿAbbāsa owes its name. She had three husbands in succession, who all predeceased her; this inspired Abū Nuwās to write some satirical verses, in which he recommanded the caliph, should he want to have a traitor killed, to marry him to ʿAbbāsa. Her name is connected with the fall of the Barmakids through the amorous intrigue with Ḏj̲aʿfar b. Yaḥyā al-Barmakī, with whi…

, the name of a canting parasite, whom Muḥammed b. Aḥmed Abu ’l-Muṭahhar al-Azdī depicts in his Ḥīkāyat Abi ’l-Ḳāsim al-Bag̲h̲dādī as a Bag̲h̲dād type. The book was probably written in the first half of the fifth century and purports to relate faithfully a day in the life of its hero. Abu ’l-Ḳāsim by means of his pious eloquence gets a hearing in a society of people at a banquet, rails at the guests and the host and shows his linguistic skill in a detailed comparison of the advantages of Bag̲h…

, the hero of a collection of anecdotes, cited already in the 10th century. All kinds of foolish remarks are attributed to him, and more particularly comical decisions on questions of law, similar to those later attributed to Ḳarākūs̲h̲. This Abū Ḍamḍam is probably identical with the devotee who, before or during the lifetime of Muḥammad, offered up his good name in place of the poortax to the servants of God; for this express sacrifice of the respect of his fellowmen may easily be interpreted a…

, a Jew of Medīna, belonging to the Banū Ḳaynuḳāʿ and originally called al-Ḥusayn (on the name Salām, see Ibn Ḵh̲aṭīb al-Dahs̲h̲a, Tuḥfa , ed. Mann, 69). Muḥammad gave him the name of ʿAbd Allāh when he embraced Islam. This conversion is said to have taken place immediately after Muḥammad’s arrival at Medīna, or, according to others, when Muḥammad was still in Mecca. Another account which makes him accept Islam in the year 8/629-30 is worthy of more credence—though Muslim critics think it badly a…

, “The school of religions”, a work in Persian describing the different religions of and in particular the religious situation in Hindustān in the 11th/17th century; it is the most complete account in the Persian language, later than the Bayān al-adyān (6th/12th century), which is accurate but concise, and than the Tabṣirat al-ʿawāmm (7th/13th century), written from the S̲h̲īʿite point of view. The sources of the Dabistān derive partly from the sacred books of the different religious persuasions, partly from verbal information given to th…

, Abu ’l-Mustahill , an Arab poet of Kūfa (60-126/680-743) who is not to be confused with two earlier and lesser known Asadīs, al-Kumayt b. Maʿrūf and al-Kumayt b. Thaʿlaba (see Ibn al-Kalbī-Caskel, Ḏj̲amhara . ii, 373; Ibn Sallām, Ṭabaḳāt ; al-Āmidī, Muʾtalif , no. 571; Ibn Ḥad̲j̲ar, Iṣāba , nos. 7498 and 7499; etc.). Al-Kumayt applied himself in an indirect fashion to the poetry and the language of the Bedouins, and he was acquainted with poets such as al-Farazdak, Ru’ba b. al-ʿAd̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲ and the K̲h̲ārid̲j̲ī al-Ṭirimmāḥ, whose hostility towar…

, a word used only once in the Ḳurʾān (CVIII, 1: “Yes, we have given you al-kawt̲h̲ar” ); the short Sūra CVIII is given the name surāt al-kawt̲h̲ar . The word comes from the root K-T̲H̲-R “to be abundant” in the fawʿal formation, which is not rare ( e.g. nawfal: other examples in Brockelmann, Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik , i, 34). The kawt̲h̲ar which occurs in ancient ¶ poetry (see quotations in Ibn His̲h̲ām, ed. Wüstenfeld, 261, and Nöldeke-Schwally, Geschichte des Qorāns , i, 92) means “abundance”. Some ancient writers of tafsīr interpret kawt̲h̲ar in Ḳ…

, also known as the History of the ten Viziers, Muslim imitation of the Indian history of Sindbād or of the seven viziers [see Sindibād ]. Like its prototype, the book consists of a story in the framework of which other taies are inserted, which are here closely connected with the basic story. The subject is brief; the son of King Āzādbak̲h̲t is abandoned on the road, shortly after his birth, by his parents, who are fleeing; found and brought up by brigands, in the end he is taken prisoner by the k…

al-Madanī , a slave from the Yaman, possibly of Indian parentage, who purchased his freedom and lived in Medina. He was considered a rather "weak" ḥadīt̲h̲ scholar, but he is deservedly famous as the author of a Kitāb al-Mag̲h̲āzī. Numerous fragments of it have been preserved by al-Wāḳidī and Ibn Saʿd. Among his authorities he mentions Nāfiʿ, the mawlā of Ibn ʿUmar, Muḥammad b. Kaʿb al-Ḳurazī, and other scholars of Medina. In the year 160/776-7, he left Medina and remained in Bag̲h̲dād until his death in Ramaḍān (?) 170/787. There…

(a.), a term found in pre-Islamic poetry referring to a written text, and in the Ḳurʾān referring to divine scripture, in some contexts specifically to a scripture of David [see dāwūd ], probably the Psalms. The Arabic root z-b-r is associated with “stone” ( ḥid̲j̲āra ), and verbal forms from it convey such meanings as stoning, lining a well with stones or setting stones in walls according to an overlapping pattern (an unrelated word is zubra , said to designate a piece of iron). A further range of meanings associated with the root conveys the sens…

(a.), originally designates “a ladder”, and then “an ascent”, and in particular, the Prophet’s ascension to Heaven. 1. In Islamic exegesis and in the popular and mystical tradition of the Arab world. The Ḳurʾān (LXXXI, 19-25, LIII, 1-21) describes a vision in which a divine messenger appears to Muḥammad, and LIII, 12-18, treats of a second mission of a similar kind. In both cases, the Prophet sees a heavenly figure approach him from the distance, but there is no suggestion that he himself was carried away to Heaven. However, i…