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(a.), a name given to a poem whose rhyme is constituted by an alif maḳṣūra (). According to al-Masʿūdī ( Murūd̲j̲ , viii, 307 = § 3462), the first author of a piece of this type was the S̲h̲īʿī Naṣr b. Nuṣayr al-Ḥulwānī [ q.v.], who preceded the most famous versifier in this field, Ibn Durayd (died 321/933 [ q.v.]. The author of the Murūd̲j̲ also cites someone called Ibn Warḳāʾ (unidentified) who had composed a maḳṣūra on that of Ibn Durayd, and declares that the latter had often been imitated ¶ ( ʿāraḍahā … d̲j̲amāʿa min al-s̲h̲uʿarāʾ ; viii, 305 3461), but he only nam…

, one of the two terms used by the Arabs to denote the Persians, the other being al-ʿAd̲j̲am [ q.v.]. In the following lines we shall attempt to show in precisely what way the Arabs were acquainted with the Persians and their civilization; for other aspects, see īrān . From remotest antiquity, the Arabian peninsula had maintained relations with Persia; shortly before Islam, these connexions were established, in the north-east, through the Lak̲h̲mids [ q.v.] of al-Ḥīra, and, in the south, through the medium of the Yemen, a vassal of Persia, and the Abnāʾ [ q.v.] who were settled in the cou…

, Abū Yaḥyā Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh (= Kunāsa ) b. ʿAbd al-Aʿlā al-Māzinī al-Asadī , poet, philologist and rāwī of the ʿAbbāsid period. Born at Kūfa in 123/741, he studied in his native town poetry, ḥadīt̲h̲ and the other traditional sciences under the most distinguished members of the Banū Asad and became the transmitter of the works of several poets, among whom the most famous was al-Kumayt [ q.v.]. He also transmitted a certain number of ḥadīt̲h̲s to such important traditionists as al-Aʿmas̲h̲ [ q.v.] and Sufyān al-T̲h̲awrī [ q.v.]. Although he lived at Bag̲h̲dād he does not seem t…

b. d̲h̲irrīḥ ( d̲h̲arīḥ ) b. saʿd al-ḍubaʿī , pre-Islamic Arab poet of the Bakrite tribe of Ḳays b. T̲h̲aʿlaba. The only biographical details we possess concern bis disputes with his uncle Mart̲h̲ad b. Saʿd, whose wife had tried to seduce him, and his journey to Byzantium with Imru ’l-Ḳays [ q.v.]. According to Ibn Ḳutayba ( S̲h̲iʿr , 45), he lived in the entourage of Ḥud̲j̲r, father of Imru ’l-Ḳays, but according to the Ag̲h̲ānī (xvi, 165-6), the two poets met when ʿAmr had already reached an advanced age, and ʿAmr died in Byzantine territory (be…

(a.; pl. k̲h̲uyūs̲h̲ , ak̲h̲yās̲h̲ , n. of unity, k̲h̲ays̲h̲a ), a coarse, loose linen made with flax of poor quality and used in the manufacture of sacks, wrappings and rudimentary tents. The Arabic dictionaries only mention, in its literal sense, this meaning; Dozy ( Suppl., s.v.) renders it by “canevas; linon; serpillière; treillis”, and de Goeje ( BGA, iv, 355) remarks that this linen is manufactured in Ṭabaristān. Sometimes, the expression ʿArab al-k̲h̲ays̲h̲ is used to designate the Bedouins (Quatremère, Mém. géogr. ethi st. sur l’Égypte , Paris 1811, i…

, Arabic name of the ancient Hatra (Atra, “Aτραι, situated in the desert to the west of the T̲h̲art̲h̲ār, three short days’ march to the southwest of al-Mawṣil. The Arab geographers, who no longer knew the exact site of this former caravan and commercial centre, provide certain legendary details regarding its ancient greatness. According to Yāḳūt (ii, 282), it was built entirely of hewn stone and possessed 60 large towers, each of which was separated from the next by nine smaller towers and link…

, Arab poet belonging to the tribe of the Muzayna (see Ibn al-Kalbī-Caskel, D̲j̲amhara ). Tab. 88), which was established in a fertile region between Medina and Wādī ’l-Ḳurā. He was considered to have been a muk̲h̲aḍram poet, but was probably born shortly before the mission of Muḥammad and lived most of his life under Islam. He lost his sight towards the end of his life, which came about no earlier than 64/684, at least if the verses in which he complains about the hospitality offered by ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Zubayr [ q.v.] in Mecca are ¶ authentic. Although probably converted along with his tr…

b. Abī ʿĀmir al-Anṣārī , one of the leaders of the revolution that broke out in Medīna against the caliph Yazīd I. Posthumous son of a Companion killed at Uḥud and surnamed G̲h̲asīl al-Malāʾika, ʿAbd Allāh is also known as Ibn al-G̲h̲asīl. In 62/682 he took part in the deputation sent to Damascus by the governor of Medina, ʿUt̲h̲mān b. Muḥammad, to bring about a reconciliation between the malcontents of Medina and the Umayyads. Yazīd showed special consideration for the envoys, but they, nevertheles…

, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʿAmr b. Ḥammād b. ʿAṭāʾ b. Yāsir , a satirical poet and humorist who lived in Baṣra in the 2nd-3rd/8th-9th centuries. Nephew of Salm al-K̲h̲āsir [ q.v.], pupil of Abū ʿUbayda, and friend of Abū Nuwās, of whom he has left an exceptionally accurate portrait (see al-Ḥuṣrī, Zahr al-ādāb , 163; idem, D̲j̲amʿ al-d̲j̲awāhir , 115). Unlike many of his contemporaries, he does not seem to have gained entrance to the court of Bag̲h̲dād, despite his attempt during the reign of the caliph al-Ras̲h̲īd. He therefore re…

(Ar.; from Persian pīl ), elephant. The word appears in the title and first verse of Sūra CV, which alludes to the expedition of Abraha [ q.v.], but the Arabs were barely acquainted with this animal which is a native of India and Africa; consequently when, towards the end of the 2nd/beginning of the 8th century, a troop of elephants arrived in Baṣra, it was a matter of curiosity for the population (see al-Nawawī, Tahd̲h̲īb , 738). The subject had already come up in the Kalīla wa-Dimna (trans. A. Miquel, Paris 1957, 53), but the first Arab author truly to con…

, Abū S̲h̲arāḥīl (or S̲h̲uraḥbīl ) al-Rammāḥ b. Abrad (Yazīd in Ibn Ḳutayba) b. T̲h̲awbān al-Murrī , of the Banū Murra b. ʿAwf, Bedouin poet who lived in the Ḥid̲j̲āz and in Nad̲j̲d from the reign of His̲h̲ām b. ʿAbd al-Malik (105-25/724-43) to the period of the early ʿAbbāsids; he died during the caliphate of al-Manṣūr, about 136/754 according to al-Bag̲h̲dādī, in 149/766 according to Yāḳūt. His mother Mayyāda (= one who swings) was a slave, said to have been of Berber or Slav origin, who…

(often followed by mug̲h̲rib as an epithet or in iḍāfa ) a fabulous bird approximating to the phoenix, which was also located by the Greeks in the deserts of Arabia. The belief in this creature is of long-standing among the Arabs, who connect it with the Aṣḥāb al-Rass [ q.v.], but it received its confirmation in a ḥadīt̲h̲ reported by Ibn ʿAbbās (al-Masʿūdī, Murūd̲j̲ , iv, 19 ff.), which states that, created by God, the ʿanḳāʾ , in the beginning endowed with all perfections, had become a plague; one of the prophets of the "Interval" ( fatra ), either Ḵh̲ālid b. Sinān o…

, Wahb b. Zamʿa , Ḳurays̲h̲ite poet of Mecca, who started to compose poetry before 40/660 and died after 96/715. He is included among the erotic poets of the Ḥid̲j̲āz by his poems devoted to three women: ʿAmra, of a noble Meccan family, a Syrian woman who led him into a breach with his family, and especially ʿAtīka, daughter of Muʿāwiya, whom he first saw during a pilgrimage. His verses, soon becoming famous, attracted the attention of the princess, whom he followed to Damascus…

, literally “leaf”, which has become the usual term in modern Arabic for a newspaper, its adoption being attributed to Fāris al-S̲h̲idyāḳ [ q.v.]. Its synonym ṣaḥīfa is less used in the sing., but the plural ṣuḥuf is more common than d̲j̲arāʾid . Some interest in the European press was shown by the Ottomans as early as the 18th century and, it would seem, excerpts from European newspapers were translated for the information of the dīwān (Prussian despatch from Constantinople, of 1780, cited by J. W. Zinkeisen, Geschichte des osmanischen Reiches , vi, Gotha 1859, …

(whence the name ibn al-ahtam sometimes given to him) al-tamīmī al-minḳarī , abū ṣafwān , of Baṣra (d. 135/752), the companion of ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, His̲h̲ām b. ʿAbd al-Malik, K̲h̲ālid b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḳasrī and probably also of Abu ’l-ʿAbbās al-Saffāḥ, was a transmitter of historical traditions, poetry and memorable orations, but was especially famed for his eloquence, since he fulfilled a rôle parallel to that of the poets, in that he was able to improvise a homily or description …

al-Ḥimyarī al-Kūfī , a magician of Kūfa, contemporary of al-Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲, with whom he was in relations after the building of the palace in Wāsiṭ (Yāḳūt, iv, 885; cf. also an adventure with a concubine of the caliph, Ibn Ḥad̲j̲ar, Lisān al-Mīzān , iii, 372-3). Ag̲h̲ānī 1, i, 167 quotes verses by ʿUmar b. Abī Rabīʿa that bear witness to a connection between the poet and the magician. He abtained his powers from a magic ring given to him by Satan to thank him for having defended him from children who were insulting him. He was also though…

, Abu ’l-Ḳāsim ʿAbd al-Ṣamad b. al-Muʿad̲h̲d̲h̲al b. G̲h̲aylān b. al-Ḥakam al-ʿAbdī , an Arab satirical poet of Baṣra (d. 240/854-5) who belonged to a family of the ʿAbd al-Ḳays, many members of which wrote poetry. His grandfather G̲h̲aylān is mentioned in the sources as a poet, and his father al-Muʿad̲h̲d̲h̲al exchanged epigrams with Abān al-Lāḥiḳī [ q.v.] in particular, one of which was considered sufficiently original to be included in the Dīwān of Abū Nuwās (1277 ed.; 79; 1332 ed., 151; the Cairo ed. 1953 omits it; metre ramal , rhyme ānā ). Ibn al-Nadīm ( Fihrist, Cairo, 234) attribute…

b. ʿAmr b. ʿIlād̲j̲ al-T̲h̲aḳafī (d. 13/634-5), traditionally considered as the oldest known Arab physician. It is nevertheless difficult to pin down his personality. He came originally from al-Ṭāʾif, where he was probably born a few years after the middle of the 6th century A.D., and is said to have been a lute-player (trained in Persia?) before studying medicine at Gondēs̲h̲āpūr [ q.v.] and, adds Ṣāʿid al-Andalusī ( Ṭabaḳāt al-umam , ed. Cheikho, Beirut 1912, 47, tr. Blachère, Paris 1935, 99) with small probability, in the Yemen. He became …

, the name given to a pre-Islamic poet whose personality is hard to define, in so far as his historical existence is ¶ not actually in doubt. His father is called al-Ḥārit̲h̲, Masʿūd, ʿUbayd and even ʿAmr, and he does not appear in the genealogical table (no. 141) of Ibn al-Kalbī’s D̲j̲amhara concerning the Yas̲h̲kur; two men with the name of al-Munak̲h̲k̲h̲al are cited in this work (see Register , ii, 428), but neither of them seems to correspond to the poet treated in this present article. Furthermore, one wonders whether the carefulness t…

(K̲h̲adīd̲j̲ in the D̲j̲amhara of Ibn al-Kalbī, Tab. 240) b. D̲j̲afna al-Sakūnī al-Tud̲j̲ībī , Abū Nuʿaym or Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Companion of the Prophet who took part in the conquest of Egypt and remained in the country with the Muslim occupying forces. He was an ʿUt̲h̲mānī, much attached to the memory of ʿUt̲h̲mān b. ʿAffān and hostile to ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib; also, when Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr [ q.v.], who had been involved in the murder of ʿUt̲h̲mān, arrived at Fusṭāṭ in mid-Ramaḍān 37/24 February 658, in order to govern Egypt in the name of ʿAlī, Ibn Ḥudayd̲j̲ sho…