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Ḵh̲uwaylid b. Murra al-Hud̲h̲alī , muk̲h̲aḍram Arab poet, who was converted to Islam and died under the caliphate of ʿUmar, from the bite of a snake while he was drawing water for Yamanite pilgrims (who were then required by the caliph to pay his diya ). Abu Ḵh̲irās̲h̲ is counted among the pre-Islamic warriors who could run faster then horses, sharing this distinction with his nine brothers Abū Ḏj̲undab, ʿUrwa, al-Abaḥḥ, al-Aswad, Abu ’l-Aswad, ʿAmr, Zuhayr, Ḏj̲annād and Sufyān, who also were poets of rank. (Ch. Pellat) Bibliography The dīwān of Abū Ḵh̲irās̲h̲ was published by J. Hell, Neue …

b. ʿUtba b. Rabīʿa b. ʿAbd S̲h̲ams, Abu ’l-Ḳāsim (genealogy in the D̲j̲amhara of Ibn al-Kalbī, Tab. 8), Companion of the Prophet born in Abyssinia, to which his father and his mother (Sahla bint Suhayl b. ʿAmr) had emigrated (Ibn His̲h̲ām, Sīra , ed. Saḳḳā et alii, i, 322, ii, 369). Following the death of his father in 12/633 at the battle of ʿAḳrabāʾ [ q.v.] against Musaylima [ q.v.], the young orphan was brought up by ʿUt̲h̲mān b. ʿAffān, a fact which makes all the more reprehensible the conduct which he was later to engage in. Sent to Egypt, he took part in th…

(Berber) or amẓad , umẓad according to the dialect, “hair, fur”, denotes a musical instrument in use among the Touareg (Ṭawāriḳ [ q.v.]) and generally compared with a violin. The sounding-box consists of a half-calabash of varying diameter (20 to 50 cm.), over which a goatskin, tanned quickly and stripped of hair, is stretched and fixed with cord or acacia thorns; often decorated with motifs painted in bright colours or with inscriptions in tifinagh [see berbers, vi], the goatskin is pierced with one or two sound-holes (in Ahaggar, tiṭṭ “…

, hero of a series of anecdotes collected, probably in the 3rd/9th century, under the title Kitāb al-G̲h̲āḍirī ( Fihrist , 435). He is said to have been a foundling, who became a humourist of Medina and rival of As̲h̲ʿab [ q.v.]; the name of al-Ḥasan b. Zayd [ q.v.], governor of Medina from 150 to 155/767-72, which appears in one anecdote, would seem to give some grounds for thinking him a historical personality. However, as the Banū G̲h̲āḍira have a reputation as wits, it is possible that the anonymous collection referred to by Ibn al-Nadīm i…

, Munṣifāt ( As̲h̲ʿār —) (a.), the name given by the mediaeval Arabic critics and anthologists to those poems in which a description of the fights between tribes is accompanied by a recognition, with equity ( inṣāf), of the opponent’s valour and the sufferings endured by the poet’s own side. This term, whose correct reading has not always been immediately recognised by the Arabic scholars who have come across it, appears in particular in the Ṭabaḳāt al-s̲h̲uʿarāʾ of Ibn Sallām (ed. J. Hell, Leiden 1916, 33, 70; ed. M.M. S̲h̲ākir, Cairo n.d., 121, 233), in al-D̲j̲āḥiẓ’s Bayān …

, nickname of an Arab philologist named Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wāḥid b. Abī His̲h̲ām (Hās̲h̲im), Abū ʿUmar al-Zāhid al-Muṭarriz ¶ al-Bārūdī. A native of Abīward Ḵh̲urāsān, he was born in 261/875 and died at Bag̲h̲dād on 13 Ḏh̲u ’l-Ḳaʿda 345/16 February 957. He owes his nickname to his relations with T̲h̲aʿlab [ q.v.] whose zealous disciple and successor he was; he himself had many pupils, and famous people did not scorn to attend his lectures. He made his living as an embroiderer ( muṭarriz ), but certainly received also subsidies from several patrons, as app…

Muḥammad b. Tamīm b. Tahmām al-Tamīmī , Malikite faḳīh , traditionist, historian and poet from Ḳayrawān. Offspring of a great Arab family (his great-grandfather was governor of Tūnis, seized Ḳayrawān in 183/799 and ended his life in prison in Bag̲h̲dād), Abu’l-ʿArab, born in Ḳayrawān between 250/864 and 260/873, devoted himself to study under various masters, trained, in his turn, several pupils (notably Ibn Abī Zayd al-Ḳayrawānī), took part in the revolt of Abū Yazīd against the Fatimids, was put in prison and died in 333/945. Of the works on fikh , ḥadīt̲h̲ and…

al-K̲h̲uzāʿī al-Marwazī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh, a traditionist originally from Marw al-Rūd̲h̲ [ q.v.] who lived for a while in Egypt but above all in Bag̲h̲dād where, having been invited to recognise the created nature of the Ḳurʾān in the course of the miḥna [ q.v.], he refused to give his opinion and was thrown into one of the prisons at Sāmarrā; he died there on 13 D̲j̲umādā I 228/18 February 843 (but other dates around this are also given). He received from Sufyān b. Muʿāwiya, ʿAlīb. al-Mubârak and other muḥaddit̲h̲s [see Ḥadīt̲h̲ ] traditions which he in turn transm…

, the name given in Muslim Spain to kinds of catalogues in which scholars enumerated, in one form or another, their masters and the subjects or works studied under their direction. The word fahrasa is an Arabicization of the Persian fihrist by means of a double vocalization -a- and the closing of the final tāʾ , a fairly frequent modification. In al-Andalus, it is completely synonymous with barnāmad̲j̲ , which is also Persian, while in the east it corresponds with t̲h̲abat , mas̲h̲īk̲h̲a ( mas̲h̲yak̲h̲a ) or muʿd̲j̲am (this last word is also used in the west)…

(Banū) or Midrārids , minor Berber dynasty which was established in Sid̲j̲ilmās(s)a [ q.v.] and which enjoyed relative independence until its final collapse in 366/976-7. The history of this dynasty can be briefly outlined, thanks to al-Bakrī [ q.v.], who lived in the 5th/11th century and thus possessed quite recent information in order to write the chapter that he devotes to it ( Mug̲h̲rib , 148 ff., Fr. tr. 282 ff.), before Ibn ʿId̲h̲ārī (7th-8th/13th-14th century [ q.v.]), Ibn Ḵh̲aldūn (8th/14th century [ q.v.]) and several historians of the Mag̲h̲rib and Mas̲h̲riḳ were abl…

, muḥammad b. abi ’l-k̲h̲aṭṭāb , adīb of the end of the 3rd/9th or of the beginning of the 4th/10th century, and known only as the author of the Ḏj̲amharat ashʿār al-ʿArab (ed. Būlāḳ 1308/1890). No personal details about the author can be derived from this collection, and the only relevant data are two isnād s, one (p. 13) going back to al-Hayt̲h̲am b. ʿAdī (d. ca. 206/821 [ q.v.]) through two intermediaries, and the other (p. 14) going back to Ibn al-Aʿrābī (d. 231/846 [ q.v.]) through one intermediary; these isnāds would thus allow us to date the Ḏj̲amhara approximatel…

, Ḏj̲uwayra , Ḏj̲uwayriyya or Ḥārit̲h̲a b. al-Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲ (or again Ḥanẓala b. al-S̲h̲arḳī , which was more probably, however, the name of Abu ’l-Ṭamaḥān al-Ḳayni, see S̲h̲iʿr , 229), pre-Islamic poet of al-Ḥīra, contemporary of al-Mund̲h̲ir b. Māʾ al-Samāʾ (about 506-554 A.D.), who put him in the charge of his horses. The expression d̲j̲ārun ka-d̲j̲ārl Abī Duʾād , which appears in a line of Ḳays b. Zuhayr and has become proverbial, gave rise to several traditions showing Abū Duʾād as the “protégé” of a noble and generous d̲j̲ār, who is either al-Mund̲h̲ir, al-Ḥarit̲h̲ b. Ḥamm…

(also called Yuʿfur and Yaʿfir) b. ʿAbd al-Aswad al-Tamīmī, Abu ’l-Ḏj̲arrāḥ, pre-Islamic Arab poet who lived probably at the end of the 6th century A.D. He is said to have travelled about among the tribes, composing eulogies or satires in verse, and was for some time the companion of al-Nuʿmān b. al-Mund̲h̲ir. He is sometimes called al-Aʿs̲h̲ā of the Banū Nahs̲h̲al, because he was night-blind, but he lost his sight at the end of his life, which is thought to have been extremely long. Of the poems which have come down to us, the most celebrated are a ḳaṣīda in dāl dating p…

is the usual appellative of the great-grandson of the Caliph Abū Bakr, ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad (= Abū ʿAtīk) b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Bakr . All that is known of him is that, after al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, he married, among others, Umm Isḥāḳ, the daughter of Ṭalḥa b. ʿUbayd Allāh. He led an idle existence in Medina, dividing his time between meetings with poets such as ʿUmar b. Abī Rabīʿa [ q.v.] or Kut̲h̲ayyir ʿAzza [ q.v.] and seeking the company of wits such as As̲h̲ʿab [ q.v.] or musicians and singers like Ibn ʿĀʾis̲h̲a [ q.v.]. Being a member of the Ḳurays̲h̲ī aristocracy, he was able in…

(a.) “routes and kingdoms”, name given by R. Blachère ( Extraits des principaux géographes arabes du Moyen Age , Beirut-Algiers 1934, 110-200; 2nd corrected printing by H. Darmaun, Paris 1957) to what he considered as a particular genre of Arabic geographical literature, because several works, which bear the title of Kitāb al-Masālik wa “ l-mamālik , present common characteristics. Nevertheless, not all those which, in his eyes, constitute this genre were given the title which has been retained, and furthermore, the K. al-Masālik wa ’l-mamālik which is per…

b. ʿAbd al-Malik , Umayyad prince. As the eldest son of His̲h̲ām [ q. v.], caliph from 105 to 125/724-43, he was designated heir presumptive by his father, but died prematurely, at a date variously located between 117 and 119/735-7, at about thirty years of age. Although he did not himself accede to the throne, he was the father of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān [ q.v.], known as al-Dāk̲h̲il. who fled to Spain where he restored the dynasty founded in Damascus by Muʿāwiya b. Abī Sufyān [ q.v.]. Muʿāwiya b. His̲h̲ām, who had thirteen sons, was thus the ancestor of the amīrs and caliphs wh…

al-Salūlī , Arab poet of the 1st/7th century (he is said to have died after 96/715), who played a political role under the Umayyads. He was attached from 60/680 to Yazīd b. Muʿāwiya, condoled with him upon the death of his father and congratulated him at his accession. He persuaded Yazīd to proclaim his son Muʿāwiya as heir presumptive and later he was the first to greet al-Walīd b. ʿAbd al-Malik with the name of caliph (86/705). During the reign of ʿAbd al-Malik (65-86/685-…

b. Marzawayh (Marzōye) al-Daylamī , Abu ’l-Ḥusayn (Ibn K̲h̲allikān) or Abu ’l-Ḥasan (other sources), poet who used the Arabic language, originally a Zoroastrian but becoming a convert to Islam in 394/1004 at the hands of al-S̲h̲arīf al-Raḍī (359-406/970-1016 [ q.v.]), dying in 428/1037. The famous S̲h̲īʿī poet and naḳīb of the descendants of the Prophet took charge of the education of his protégé, into whom he inculcated not only the basic principles of S̲h̲īʿism but also the necessary skills for him to act as a secretar…

, Abū Marwān al-Dimas̲h̲ḳī al-Ḳibṭī , is chiefly known as one of the first advocates of free will [see Ḳadariyya ], at the same time as Maʿbad al-Ḏj̲uhanī [ q.v.]. The son of a freed slave of ʿUt̲h̲mān b. ʿAffān, he appears, like Maʿbad, to have been the disciple of a Christian from ʿIrāḳ, but he lived in Damascus where he held the position of secretary in the chancellery. Al-Ḏj̲āḥiẓ ( Bayān , iii, 29) mentions him on the same footing as Ibn al-Muḳaffaʿ, Sahl b. Hārūn and ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd, and even one so strictly orthodox as al-ʿAsḳalānī acknowledged his professional ability ( Lisān al-Mizān …

b. ʿīsā b. Manṣūr b. Muḥammad , Tād̲j̲ al-Dīn , grammarian, poet and adīb , originally from the town of Balad on the Tigris, which also had the name of Balaṭ (see Yāḳūt, i, 721), whence his nisba of al-Balaṭī, sometimes given in the diminutive form of al-Bulayṭī. Abu ’l-Fatḥ went first of all to teach in Syria, and then, when Saladin assumed power in Egypt (567/1171), he migrated to Cairo where the new sultan allotted to him a fixed stipend and appointed him to teach grammar and the Ḳurʾān in one of the mosque…

, (a.) “crow”. In view of the diversity of their meanings the Arabic words formed from the three consonants g̲h̲ , r and b cannot be traced to a single root, and it is probable that in the course of the history of the language there came about a convergence of terms with different origins; thus, g̲h̲urāb is too reminiscent of the Latin corvus for us to consider it a mere coincidence; moreover, early Arab philologists considered g̲h̲urāb to be independent, ¶ since they made to derive from it such words as g̲h̲urba , ig̲h̲tirāb , etc. which imply an idea of estrangemen…

, ʿumayla b. al-aʿzal b. k̲h̲ālīd al-ʿadawanī , a personage of the end of the D̲j̲āhiliyya, said have been the first to fix the diya or pecuniary composition for murder at 100 camels and the last to lead the pilgrims, either at the departure for ʿArafāt ( ifāḍa ) or from al-Muzdalifa to Minā ( id̲j̲āza ), since the sources disagree on this point, and the more careful authors merely use the expression dafaʿa bi ’l-nās . This man, who probably owed his kunya to this function of his, a privilege of the Ḳaysī tribe of ʿAdwān (see Ibn al-Kalbī-Caskel, Tab. 92 …

, Abū Bakr Aḥmad b. Zuhayr (= Abū K̲h̲aythama) b. Ḥarb b. S̲h̲addād al-Nasāʾī al-Bag̲h̲dādī , traditionist, genealogist, historian and poet, born at Nasāʾ in 185/801, died at Bag̲h̲dād in 279/892 (the dates 205/820 and 299/911-2 are probably too late). The son of Abū K̲h̲ayt̲h̲ama (d. 243/857), who was the author of a K. al-Musnad and a K. al-ʿIlm ( Fihrist , Cairo ed., 321), he was the pupil of Ibn Ḥanbal in ḥadīt̲h̲ and fiḳh , of Muṣʿab al-Zubayrī in genealogy, of al-Madāʾinī in history and of Muḥammad b. Sallām in literature. The Fihrist mentions among his works K. al-Muntamīn (?), K. al-Aʿrā…

, a minor Arab poet of the 1st/7th century whom Ibn Sallām ( Ṭabaḳāt , 485-9) places in the 3rd rank of Islamic poets. His genealogy varies with the different authors (Ibn al-Kalbī-Caskel, Tab. 165, no doubt provides the most accurate one), and very little is known of his life. Probably born during the earliest years of the Hid̲j̲ra , he made his appearance at the time of the battle of Ṣiffīn (37/657) as an intimate of Muʿāwiya, of whom, like most of the Tag̲h̲lib [ q.v.], he was a passionate supporter. The conflict with ʿAlī inspired him to write a number of poems, in particular…

, Ḳurays̲h̲ite notable of the clan of Taym b. Murra, at the end of the 6th c. A.D. He acquired such wealth from the caravan and slave trade that he possessed one of the largest fortunes in Mecca (Ps.-Ḏj̲āḥiẓ, Maḥāsin (van Vloten), 165; Ibn Rusta, 215; Masʿūdī, Murūd̲j̲ , vi, 153 ff.; Lammens, La Mecque à la veille de l’Hégire , index). He surrounded himself with unusual luxury (being nick-named ḥāsī ‘l-d̲h̲ahab , because he used to drink from a golden cup), and was the owner of the two singing-girls called "Locusts of ʿĀd" ( Ḏj̲arādatā ʿĀd ) whom he offered to Umayya b…

al-Yas̲h̲kurī , a pre-Islamic Arab poet to whom is attributed principally a ḳaṣīda which mediaeval critics regarded as the seventh of the muʿallaḳāt [ q.v.]. The information that we possess in respect of his life deserves no credence, and the poem that is the cause of his renown is in itself so suspect that Ṭāhā Ḥusayn considers it to be totally apocryphal (cf. also al-Ḏj̲āḥiẓ, Ḥayawān , iii, 449, on the questions of other verses). This ḳaṣīda, in k̲h̲afīf metre and with -āʾū rhyme (with an iḳwāʾ in one verse in -āʾī ), is said by legendary tradition to have been …

(many possible vocalisations), Abu ’l-Ḳāsim Naṣr b. Aḥmad b. al-Maʾmūn , ¶ popular poet of Baṣra, who probably died in 327/938. He made rice bread ( k̲h̲ubz aruzz ) in a shop at the Mirbad [ q.v.], where his biographers show him as surrounded by a circle of admirers who were especially attracted by his g̲h̲azal verses on boys, these being his speciality. It does not seem that he should be included in the list of those poets whose belligerence involved them in contests and controversies, nor does he seem to have been inclined, l…

b. fātik b. al-ak̲h̲ram al-asadī , Arab poet of the Umayyad period, son of the Companion of the Prophet Ḵh̲uraym al-Nāʿim, whose ḥadīt̲h̲s he has handed down. After settling at Kūfa, he composed, like many of the poets of that town g̲h̲azal poems, but also panegyrics on the Umayyad princes ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz and Bis̲h̲r, son of Marwān; although he contracted tubercular leprosy ( abraṣ ), his poetry allowed him to enjoy their intimate friendship, and this favour won him the surname of k̲h̲alīl al-k̲h̲ulafāʾ (the friend of caliphs). In some of his poems he touch…

, mūsā b. ʿīsā b. abī ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲/ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲ (?), Mālikī faḳīh , probably born between 365/975 and 368/978 at Fās into a Berber family whose nisba is impossible to reconstruct. No doubt to complete his studies, but perhaps also because of other reasons hard to discern, he went to settle in al-Ḳayrawān, where his master was in particular al-Ḳābisī (d. 403/1012 [ q.v.]). He is known to have stayed in Cordova with Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr [ q.v.] and to have profited by the chance to follow the lectures of various scholars there, which his biographers list, without however gi…

, a general and governor of the ʿAbbāsid period, a native of K̲h̲urāsān. As a supporter of ʿĪsā b. Mūsā [ q.v.] in the reign of al-Manṣūr, he was brought to Bag̲h̲dād in chains and remained in obscurity throughout the reign of al-Mahdī. He then became the confidential adviser of al-Hādī who is even said to have ordered him to kill Hārūn, and was stopped from doing so only by al-K̲h̲ayzurān’s intervention. However, on the death of al-Hādī, it was he who brought Hārūn out of prison and took part in his enthronement. T…

(a), from ṭamara , which signifies in particular “to hide”, denotes a natural or man-made cavity used for the concealment of victuals ( ṭaʿām ) or of riches ( māl ); such is the definition adopted by the ¶ LA (s.v.), which specifies that it is the plural maṭāmīr which should be applied to underground silos where grain is stored. In fact, the singular currently denotes a silo, and the plural, a group of silos garded by a ṭammār and called mərs in Morocco ( rətba in Takrūna, where the guardian is known as rattāb ; W. Marçais, Glossaire de Takroûna , v, 2408-9, with discussio…

(rather than Ḥāʾiṭ, if the position in the alphabetical order given to him by al-ʿAsḳalānī is taken into consideration), a theologian ranked among the Muʿtazilites; he was the pupil of al-Naẓẓām [ q.v.], and the teacher, in particular, of al-Faḍl al-Ḥadat̲h̲ī. Nothing is known about his life, and only his "innovations" are partly known to us. His doctrine, evolved before 232/846-7, seems to differ from Muʿtazilite teaching on the following two fundamental dogmas, which are borrowed from systems alien to Islam but which, in the…

, a famous pact concluded between several Ḳurays̲h̲ī clans a few years before the Prophet’s mission, more precisely, according to certain authorities, in D̲h̲u ’l-Ḳaʿda on the return from the war of Fid̲j̲ār [ q.v.]. The traditions concerning the events which brought it about are divergent, but can be reduced to the following outline: a merchant of Zabīd (or elsewhere, or even the poet al-Ṭamaḥān al-Ḳaysī) sells merchandise to a leading man of the clan of the Banū Sahm who proves to be a bad payer and wants to harm the merchant.…

, Abu ’l-Nad̲j̲m , commander-in-chief of the armies of the caliph al-Muʿtaḍid (279-89/892-902). He was the son of one of al-Mutawakkil’s mawālī , whose name cannot be established with certainty (Ḵh̲urr or Ḵh̲ayr?), and was first in service as an equerry to al-Muwaffaḳ, gaining from that time the favour of the future caliph al-Muʿtaḍid, who, whilst still regent after al-Muwaffaḳ’s death (Ṣafar 278/June 891), made him chief of police in Bag̲h̲dād and then, after his accession, com-mander of all th…

b. ʿUdus b. Zayd b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Dārim , Abu Nahs̲h̲al , poet and sayyid of the second half of the 6th century A.D. His name apparently appears for the first time in a tradition concerning the assassination by his brother-in-law Suwayd b. Rabīʿa b. Zayd (see Ibn al-Kalbī-Caskel, D̲j̲amhara , Tab. 60, and Register, ii, 521) of a son (or of a young brother) Mālik, of al-Mund̲h̲ir b. Māʾ al-Samāʾ, who had entrusted him to Zurāra, and the vengeance of ʿAmr b. Hind [ q.v.], in the first place on the seven sons of the murdered man and then on the Banū Ḥanẓala b. Mālik (Ibn al-Kalbī-Ca…

(— al-ʿuḳad , — al-ʿuḳūd , — al-Ḳabḍa bi ’l-yad , — al-yad), dactylonomy, digital computation, the art of expressing numbers by the position of the fingers. Some indications prove that the ancient Arabs not only at times used to show their outstretched hands, bending down one or more fingers when necessary, to indicate some small numbers (see I. Goldziher, in Arabica , viii/3, 272), but also had the ability to express larger numbers by holding their fingers in a given position (see G. Levi Della Vida, in Isl ., x (1920), 243), and ¶ it is not impossible that certain gestures used by the …

al-Rukūniyya (al-Rakūniyya), poetess of Granada born after 530/1135, d. 589/1190-1. Ibn al-K̲h̲aṭīb ( Iḥāṭa , i, 316) and other writers praise the beauty, distinction, literary culture, wit, and poetic gifts of this woman, who was remembered in later ages above all for her love-affair with the poet Abū D̲j̲aʿfar Ibn Saʿīd of the Banū Saʿīd [see ibn saʿīd ] family. Abu D̲j̲aʿfar was the inspiration of most of her poetry which we possess. After the arrival at Granada of Abū Saʿīd ʿUt̲h̲mān, the son of the Almohad ʿAbd al-Muʾmin, sh…

b. ʿayt̲h̲ al-ʿabsī (see his genealogy in Ibn al-Kalbī D̲j̲amhara , Tab. 133), one of the personages of the interval [see fatra ] between Christ and Muḥammad who, in Islamic tradition, was considered as a prophet; he was even regarded as the first prophet to arise amongst the descendants of Ismāʿīl. He is said to have foretold the coming of Muḥammad, and the latter is said to have greeted K̲h̲ālid’s daughter, who had come to him, with these words “Here is the daughter of a prophet whom his people has lost”; popular belief even went as far as to attribute to him knowledge of Sūrat al-Ik̲h̲lāṣ ( T̲h̲im…

, al-ḍaḥḥāk b. mak̲h̲lad b. muslim b. al-ḍaḥḥāk al-s̲h̲aybānī al-baṣri , traditionist, born at Mecca in 122/740 but established subsequently at Baṣra, where he transmitted from a host of scholars (notably al-Aṣmaʿī) a large quantity of ḥadīt̲h̲s gathered by himself, and especially from several tābiʿīs or Successors. He was considered as trustworthy, and some of his ḥadīt̲h̲s were included in the great collections; his biographers assert that he never fabricated a single one, although he is said to have declared that pious men never lie so much as in …

, Abū Muḥammad, a poet of Medina considerably less known than his brother Ismāʿīl b. Yasār [ q.v.], with the result that Yāḳūt, who devotes an article to him, calls him Mūsā b. Bas̲h̲s̲h̲ār; he gives him the nisba of al-Ḳuras̲h̲ī, as the person in question was in fact a mawlā of Ḳurays̲h̲, variously associated with the Banū Taym b. Murra, with the Banū Sahm or even with Sulaymān b. Abī K̲h̲ayt̲h̲ama al-ʿAdawī (of the ʿAdī b. Kaʿb b. Luʾayy). Since the reason for his cognomen has been forgotten, numerous explanations have b…

( or ), the nickname of a personage whom popular imagination made the hero of a few hundred jests, anecdotes and amusing stories. The oldest literary instance of this name goes back to the first half of the 3rd/9th century, in al-D̲j̲āḥiẓ, who numbers D̲j̲uḥā among others renowned for their follies ( Risāla fi ’l-Ḥakamayn , ed. Pellat, in Machriq , 1958, 431), and attributes to him futile schemes and an extraordinary tendency to make mistakes and blunders; the same author also quotes ( K. al-Big̲h̲āl , ed. Pellat, Cairo 1955, 36) a story borrowed from Abu ’l…

, Muḥammad Farīd , Syrian journalist, scholar and man of letters, was born in Damascus in 1876, of a father of Kurdish origin and a Čerkes mother. From an early age, he showed an interest in nature and in books, and it was reading which, combined with his innate curiosity and gifts of observation, made the greatest contribution to his intellectual development. Already bilingual in Turkish and Arabic, he learnt French from the Lazarist Fathers of Damascus, and this enable him t…

, abū ʿubāda al-walīd b. ʿubayd ( allāh ), Arab poet and anthologist of 3rd/9th century (206-284/821-897), born at Manbid̲j̲ (some state his birthplace to be the neighbouring village of Ḥurdufna), into a family belonging to the Buḥtur, a branch of the Ṭayyiʾ; not only did he never completely sever connexions with his native town, where the fortune amassed during his long career as court poet allowed him to acquire property, but he took advantage of his tribal origin to make useful connexions for himself. After having dedicated his first poetic efforts (223-6/837-40) to the prais…

( = Abu ’l-Minhāl) ¶ b. al-Muhallab b. Abī Ṣufra , Abū Ḥarb al-Muhallabī, ʿAbbāsid official who was governor of Rayy under the caliphate of al-Manṣūr (136-58/754-75); it is also known that the latter imprisoned him and imposed a fine on him ( Ag̲h̲ānī , ed. Beirut, xx, 23). This obscure individual merits attention only on account of the confusion created in the minds of authors and editors or commentators, on the one hand by the name (or surname, but not kunya ) of Abū ʿUyayna born by two descendants of al-Muhallab [ q.v.], sc. his son, who was the father of this Muḥammad, and his great…

, the usual name of a philologist of Baṣra called ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan/al-Mubārak, who was taught by al-Kisāʾī [ q.v.], whose eager pupil he was; after his master, he became tutor to the future caliphs al-Amīn and al-Maʾmūn. The biographical sources record that al-Aḥmar was originally a member of al-Ras̲h̲īd’s guard, so that, being very attracted to the study of philology, he was unable to attend al-Kisāʾī’s teaching sessions except when he was not on duty in the palace. When the master came to give lessons to the you…

, Abu ’l-Ḥusayn al-Ḥasan b. Ahmad , Arab geographer, about whom it is only known that he died in 380/990 after having dedicated to the Fāṭimid caliph al-ʿAzīz bi’llāh (365-86/975-96) [ q.v.] a work which came within the category of those called al-Masālik wa ’l-mamālik [ q.v.] and which actually bore this title but which is generally cited under that of al-ʿAzīzī . Although this work has not yet been rediscovered, it was already possible to get an idea of its contents thanks to several later authors who utilised it and took from it items of information, usu…

al-Nisāʾī , Medinan poet, who died at a very advanced age some years before the end of the Umayyad dynasty (132/750). The descendant of an Ād̲h̲arbayd̲j̲ānī prisoner, he was a mawlā of the Taym b. Murra of Ḳurays̲h̲ and it is said that he owed his nisba to the fact that his father prepared meals—or sold carpets—for weddings, but this interpretation should be treated with caution. At Medina, where he lived, he had become a supporter of the Zubayrids, but his friendly relations with ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr [ q.v.] (in whose company he went to the court of ʿAbd al-Malik b. Marwān after the…

, Abū Rabīʿa, a muk̲h̲aḍram [ q.v.] Arabie poet, who probably died before 23/644 at an extremely advanced age (al-Sid̲j̲istānī, Muʿammarīn , 70, makes him live 200 years, and cites six verses in which he speaks of his great age; other authors refer equally to his senility). The generosity of which he seems to have given proof on various occasions makes one think that he was rich and powerful within his tribe, which he represented in heading a delegation to the Prophet at Medina. The oldest sources (Ibn Sallām, Ṭabaḳāt , 137, in the first place) reproduce a lette…

, “errors of language made by the common people”, is an expression which characterises a branch of lexicography designed to correct deviations by reference to the contemporary linguistic norm, as determined by the purists. The treatises which could be classed under this heading, correspond, broadly speaking, to our “do not say... but say...”, the incorrect form generally being introduced by “you say” or “they say = one says” ( taḳūl , yaḳūlūn ) and the correct form by wa ’l-ṣawāb ... “whereas the norm is...”; they are most often intitled Kitāb Laḥn al-ʿāmma or Kitāb mā talḥan/yalḥan fīhi…

(a.), a complex and delicate notion which includes a certain number of qualities of character or moral attitudes, ranging from serene justice and moderation to forbearance and leniency, with self-mastery and dignity of bearing standing between these extremes. The term, which is sometimes linked with ʿilm , more however from stylistic considerations and a taste for paronomasia than from any conceptual association, is basically contrasted with d̲j̲ahl [see d̲j̲āhiliyya ] and safah or safāha ; a derivative from the latter root appears in the expression saffaha ’ l-aḥlām …