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 of 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.

389 Wellhausen, Die religiös-politischen Oppositionsparteien im alten Islam (Abhandlungen der Königl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Phil.-Hist. Klasse, 1901), p. 8 sqq. The writer argues against Brünnow that the oldest Khárijites were not true Bedouins (A‘rábí), and were, in fact, even further removed than the rest of the military colonists of Kúfa and Baṣra from their Bedouin traditions. He points out that the extreme piety of the Readers—their constant prayers, vigils, and repetitions of the Koran—exactly agrees with what is related of the Khárijites, and is described in similar language. Moreover, among the oldest Khárijites we find mention made of a company clad in long cloaks (baránis, pl. of burnus), which were at that time a special mark of asceticism. Finally, the earliest authority (Abú Mikhnaf in Ṭabarí, i, 3330, l. 6 sqq.) regards the Khárijites as an offshoot from the Readers, and names individual Readers who afterwards became rabid Khárijites.

390 Later, when many non-Arab Moslems joined the Khárijite ranks the field of choice was extended so as to include foreigners and even slaves.

391 Ṭabarí, ii, 40, 13 sqq.

392 Shahrastání, ed. by Cureton, Part I, p. 88. l. 12.

393 Ibid., p. 86, l. 3 from foot.

394 Ṭabarí, ii, 36, ll. 7, 8, 11-16.

395 Ḥamása, 44.

396 Ibn Khallikán, ed. by Wüstenfeld, No. 555, p. 55, l. 4 seq.; De Slane's translation, vol. ii, p. 523.

397 Dozy, Essai sur l'histoire de l'Islamisme (French translation by Victor Chauvin), p. 219 sqq.

398 Wellhausen thinks that the dogmatics of the Shí‘ites are derived from Jewish rather than from Persian sources. See his account of the Saba’ites in his most instructive paper, to which I have already referred, Die religiös-politischen Oppositionsparteien im alten Islam (Abh. der König. Ges. der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Phil.-Hist. Klasse, 1901), p. 89 sqq.

399 Ṭabarí, i, 2942, 2.

400 "Verily, He who hath ordained the Koran for thee (i.e., for Muḥammad) will bring thee back to a place of return" (i.e., to Mecca). The ambiguity of the word meaning 'place of return' (ma‘ád) gave some colour to Ibn Sabá's contention that it alluded to the return of Muḥammad at the end of the world. The descent of Jesus on earth is reckoned by Moslems among the greater signs which will precede the Resurrection.

401 This is a Jewish idea. ‘Alí stands in the same relation to Muḥammad as Aaron to Moses.

402 Ṭabarí, loc. cit.

403 Shahrastání, ed. by Cureton, p. 132, l. 15.

404 Aghání, viii, 32, l. 17 sqq. The three sons of ‘Alí are Ḥasan, Ḥusayn, and Muḥammad Ibnu ’l-Ḥanafiyya.

405 Concerning the origin of these sects see Professor Browne's Lit. Hist. of Persia, vol. i, p. 295 seq.

406 See Darmesteter's interesting essay, Le Mahdi depuis les origines de l'Islam jusqu’à nos jours (Paris, 1885). The subject is treated more scientifically by Snouck Hurgronje in his paper Der Mahdi, reprinted from the Revue coloniale internationale (1886).

407 Ṣiddíq means 'veracious.' Professor Bevan remarks that in this root the notion of 'veracity' easily passes into that of 'endurance,' 'fortitude.'

408 Ṭabarí, ii, 546. These 'Penitents' were free Arabs of Kúfa, a fact which, as Wellhausen has noticed, would seem to indicate that the ta‘ziya is Semitic in origin.

409 Wellhausen, Die religiös-politischen Oppositionsparteien, p. 79.

410 Ṭabarí, ii, 650, l. 7 sqq.

411 Shahrastání, Haarbrücker's translation, Part I, p. 169.

412 Von Kremer, Culturgeschicht. Streifzüge, p. 2 sqq.

413 The best account of the early Murjites that has hitherto appeared is contained in a paper by Van Vloten, entitled Irdjâ (Z.D.M.G., vol. 45, p. 161 sqq.). The reader may also consult Shahrastání, Haarbrücker's trans., Part I, p. 156 sqq.; Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien, Part II, p. 89 sqq.; Van Vloten, La domination Arabe, p. 31 seq.

414 Van Vloten thinks that in the name 'Murjite' (murji’) there is an allusion to Koran, ix, 107: "And others are remanded (murjawna) until God shall decree; whether He shall punish them or take pity on them—for God is knowing and wise."

415 Cf. the poem of Thábit Quṭna (Z.D.M.G., loc. cit., p. 162), which states the whole Murjite doctrine in popular form. The author, who was himself a Murjite, lived in Khurásán during the latter half of the first century a.h.

416 Van Vloten, La domination Arabe, p. 29 sqq.

417 Ibn Ḥazm, cited in Z.D.M.G., vol. 45, p. 169, n. 7. Jahm († about 747 a.d.) was a Persian, as might be inferred from the boldness of his speculations.

418 Ḥasan himself inclined for a time to the doctrine of free-will, but afterwards gave it up (Ibn Qutayba, Kitábu ’l-Ma‘árif, p. 225). He is said to have held that everything happens by fate, except sin (Al-Mu‘tazilah, ed. by T. W. Arnold, p. 12, l. 3 from foot). See, however, Shahrastání, Haarbrücker's trans., Part I, p. 46.

419 Koran, lxxiv, 41.

420 Ibid., xli, 46.

421 Kitábu ’l-Ma‘árif, p. 301. Those who held the doctrine of free-will were called the Qadarites (al-Qadariyya), from qadar (power), which may denote (1) the power of God to determine human actions, and (2) the power of man to determine his own actions. Their opponents asserted that men act under compulsion (jabr); hence they were called the Jabarites (al-Jabariyya).

422 As regards Ghaylán see Al-Mu‘tazilah, ed. by T. W. Arnold, p. 15, l. 16 sqq.

423 Ibn Khallikán, De Slane's translation, vol. iii, p. 642; Shahrastání, trans. by Haarbrücker, Part I, p. 44.

424 Sha‘rání, Lawáqihu ’l-Anwár (Cairo, 1299 a.h.), p. 31.

425 Ibid.

426 See Von Kremer, Herrschende Ideen, p. 52 sqq.; Goldziher, Materialien zur Entwickelungsgesch. des Súfismus (Vienna Oriental Journal, vol. 13, p. 35 sqq.).

427 Sha‘rání, Lawáqiḥ, p. 38.

428 Qushayrí's Risála (1287 a.h.), p. 77, l. 10.

429 Tadhkiratu ’l-Awliyá of Farídu’ddín ‘Aṭṭár, Part I, p. 37, l. 8 of my edition.

430 Kámil (ed. by Wright), p. 57, l. 16.

431 The point of this metaphor lies in the fact that Arab horses were put on short commons during the period of training, which usually began forty days before the race.

432 Kámil, p. 57, last line.

433 Kámil, p. 58, l. 14.

434 Ibid., p. 67, l. 9.

435 Ibid., p. 91, l. 14.

436 Ibid., p. 120, l. 4.

437 Qushayrí's Risála, p. 63, last line.

438 It is noteworthy that Qushayrí († 1073 a.d.), one of the oldest authorities on Ṣúfiism, does not include Ḥasan among the Ṣúfí Shaykhs whose biographies are given in the Risála (pp. 8-35), and hardly mentions him above half a dozen times in the course of his work. The sayings of Ḥasan which he cites are of the same character as those preserved in the Kámil.

439 See Nöldeke's article, 'Ṣūfī,' in Z.D.M.G., vol. 48, p. 45.

440 An allusion to ṣafá occurs in thirteen out of the seventy definitions of Ṣúfí and Ṣúfiism (Taṣawwuf) which are contained in the Tadhkiratu ’l-Awliyá, or 'Memoirs of the Saints,' of the well-known Persian mystic, Farídu’ddín ‘Aṭṭár († circa 1230 a.d.), whereas ṣúf is mentioned only twice.

441 Said by Bishr al-Ḥáfí (the bare-footed), who died in 841-842 a.d.

442 Said by Junayd of Baghdád († 909-910 a.d.), one of the most celebrated Ṣúfí Shaykhs.

443 Ibn Khaldún's Muqaddima (Beyrout, 1900), p. 467 = vol. iii, p. 85 seq. of the French translation by De Slane. The same things are said at greater length by Suhrawardí in his ‘Awárifu ’l-Ma‘árif (printed on the margin of Ghazálí's Iḥyá, Cairo, 1289 a.h.), vol. i, p. 172 et seqq. Cf. also the passage from Qushayrí translated by Professor E. G. Browne on pp. 297-298 of vol. i. of his Literary History of Persia.

444 Suhrawardí, loc. cit., p. 136 seq.

445 Loc. cit., p. 145.

446 I.e., he yields himself unreservedly to the spiritual 'state' (aḥwál) which pass over him, according as God wills.

447 Possibly Ibráhím was one of the Shikaftiyya or 'Cave-dwellers' of Khurásán (shikaft means 'cave' in Persian), whom the people of Syria called al-Jú‘íyya, i.e., 'the Fasters.' See Suhrawardí, loc. cit., p. 171.

448 Ghazálí, Iḥyá (Cairo, 1289 a.h.), vol. iv, p. 298.

449 Brockelmann, Gesch. d. Arab. Litteratur, vol. i, p. 45.

450 E.g., Ma‘bad, Gharíḍ, Ibn Surayj, Ṭuways, and Ibn ‘Á’isha.

451 Kámil of Mubarrad, p. 570 sqq.

452 Aghání, i, 43, l. 15 sqq.; Nöldeke's Delectus, p. 17, last line and foll.

453 Nöldeke's Delectus, p. 9, l. 11 sqq., omitting l. 13.

454 An edition of the Naqá’iḍ by Professor A. A. Bevan has been published at Leyden.

455 Aghání, vii, 55, l. 12 sqq.

456 Aghání, vii, 182, l. 23 sqq.

457 Ibid., vii, 183, l. 6 sqq.

458 Ibid., p. 178, l. 1 seq.

459 Ibid., xiii, 148, l. 23.

460 Encomium Omayadarum, ed. by Houtsma (Leyden, 1878).

461 Aghání, vii, 172, l. 27 sqq.

462 Ibid., p. 179, l. 25 sqq.

463 Ibid., p. 178, l. 26 seq.

464 Aghání, xix, 34, l. 18.

465 Kámil of Mubarrad. p. 70, l. 17 sqq.

466 Al-Kusa‘í broke an excellent bow which he had made for himself. See The Assemblies of Ḥarírí, trans. by Chenery, p. 351. Professor Bevan remarks that this half-verse is an almost verbal citation from a verse ascribed to ‘Adí b. Maríná of Ḥíra, an enemy of ‘Adí b. Zayd the poet (Aghání, ii, 24, l. 5).

467 Ibn Khallikán (ed. by Wüstenfeld), No. 129; De Slane's translation vol. i, p. 298.

468 Aghání, iii, 23, l. 13.

469 Aghání, vii, 49, l. 8 sqq.

470 The following account is mainly derived from Goldziher's Muhamm. Studien, Part II, p. 203 sqq.

471 Cf. Browne's Lit. Hist. of Persia, vol. i, p. 230.

472 Nöldeke, Sketches from Eastern History, tr. by J. S. Black, p. 108 seq.

473 Wellhausen, Das Arabische Reich, p. 307.

474 Recherches sur la domination Arabe, p. 46 sqq.

475 Dínawarí, ed. by Guirgass, p. 356.

476 Ibid., p. 360, l. 15. The whole poem has been translated by Professor Browne in his Literary History of Persia, vol. i, p. 242.

477 Sketches from Eastern History, p. 111.

478 Professor Bevan, to whose kindness I owe the following observations, points out that this translation of al-Saffáḥ, although it has been generally adopted by European scholars, is very doubtful. According to Professor De Goeje, al-Saffáḥ means 'the munificent' (literally, 'pouring out' gifts, &c.). In any case it is important to notice that the name was given to certain Pre-islamic chieftains. Thus Salama b. Khálid, who commanded the Banú Taghlib at the first battle of al-Kuláb (Ibnu ’l-Athír, ed. by Tornberg, vol. i, p. 406, last line), is said to have been called al-Saffáḥ because he 'emptied out' the skin bottles (mazád) of his army before a battle (Ibn Durayd, ed. by Wüstenfeld, p. 203, l. 16); and we find mention of a poet named al-Saffáḥ b. ‘Abd Manát (ibid., p. 277, penult. line).

479 See p. 205.

480 G. Le Strange, Baghdad under the Abbasid Caliphate, p. 4 seq.

481 Professor De Goeje has kindly given me the following references :—Ṭabarí, ii, 78, l. 10, where Ziyád is called the Wazír of Mu‘áwiya; Ibn Sa‘d, iii, 121, l. 6 (Abú Bakr the Wazír of the Prophet). The word occurs in Pre-islamic poetry (Ibu Qutayba, K. al-Shi‘r wa-’l-Shu‘ará, p. 414, l. 1). Professor De Goeje adds that the ‘Abbásid Caliphs gave the name Wazír as title to the minister who was formerly called Kátib (Secretary). Thus it would seem that the Arabic Wazír (literally 'burden-bearer'), who was at first merely a 'helper' or 'henchman,' afterwards became the representative and successor of the Dapír (official scribe or secretary) of the Sásánian kings.

482 This division is convenient, and may be justified on general grounds. In a strictly political sense, the period of decline begins thirty years earlier with the Caliphate of Ma’mún (813-833 a.d.). The historian Abu ’l-Maḥásin († 1469 a.d.) dates the decline of the Caliphate from the accession of Muktafí in 902 a.d. (al-Nujúm al-Záhira, ed. by Juynboll, vol. ii, p. 134).

483 See Nöldeke's essay, Caliph Manṣur, in his Sketches from Eastern History, trans. by J. S. Black, p. 107 sqq.

484 Professor Browne has given an interesting account of these ultra-Shí‘ite insurgents in his Lit. Hist. of Persia, vol. i, ch. ix.

485 Ṭabarí, iii, 404, l. 5 sqq.

486 Ṭabarí, iii, 406, l. 1 sqq.

487 Murúju ‘l-Dhahab, ed. by Barbier de Meynard, vol. iv, p. 47 seq.

488 When the Caliph Hádí wished to proclaim his son Ja‘far heir-apparent instead of Hárún, Yaḥyá pointed out the danger of this course and dissuaded him (al-Fakhrí, ed. by Derenbourg, p. 281).

489 Ibn Khallikán, De Slane's translation, vol. iv, p. 105.

490 Mas‘údí, Murúju ’l-Dhahab, vol. vi, p. 364.

491 See, for example, Haroun Alraschid, by E. H. Palmer, in the New Plutarch Series, p. 81 sqq.

492 Cf. A. Müller, Der Islam, vol. i, p. 481 seq.

493 Ibn Khallikán, De Slane's translation, vol. iv, p. 112.

494 Literally, "No father to your father!" a common form of imprecation.

495 Green was the party colour of the ‘Alids, black of the ‘Abbásids.

496 Al-Nujúm al-Záhira, ed. by Juynboll, vol. i, p. 631.

497 The court remained at Sámarrá for fifty-six years (836-892 a.d.). The official spelling of Sámarrá was Surra-man-ra’á, which may be freely rendered 'The Spectator's Joy.'

498 My account of these dynasties is necessarily of the briefest and barest character. The reader will find copious details concerning most of them in Professor Browne's Literary History of Persia: Ṣaffárids and Sámánids in vol. i, p. 346 sqq.; Fáṭimids in vol. i, pp. 391-400 and vol. ii, p. 196 sqq.; Ghaznevids in vol. ii, chap. ii; and Seljúqs, ibid., chaps, iii to v.

499 Ibn Abí Usaybi‘a, Ṭabaqátu ’l-Atibbá, ed. by A. Müller, vol. ii, p. 4, l. 4 sqq. Avicenna was at this time scarcely eighteen years of age.

500 ‘Abdu ’l-Hamíd flourished in the latter days of the Umayyad dynasty. See Ibn Khallikán, De Slane's translation, vol. ii, p. 173, Mas‘údí, Murúju ’l-Dhahab, vol. vi, p. 81.

501 See Professor Margoliouth's Introduction to the Letters of ‘Abu ’l-‘Alá al-Ma‘arrí, p. xxiv.

502 Abu ’l-Mahásin, al-Nujúm al-Záhira, ed. by Juynboll, vol. ii, p. 333. The original Ráfiḍites were those schismatics who rejected (rafaḍa) the Caliphs Abú Bakr and ‘Umar, but the term is generally used as synonymous with Shí‘ite.

503 Mutanabbí, ed. by Dieterici, p. 148, last line and foll.

504 D. B. Macdonald, Muslim Theology, p. 43 seq.

505 I regret that lack of space compels me to omit the further history of the Fáṭimids. Readers who desire information on this subject may consult Stanley Lane-Poole's History of Egypt in the Middle Ages; Wüstenfeld's Geschichte der Faṭimiden-Chalifen (Göttingen, 1881); and Professor Browne's Lit. Hist. of Persia, vol. ii, p. 196 sqq.

506 Ibn Khallikán, De Slane's translation, vol. iv, p. 441.

507 See the Introduction.

508 Ibn Khaldún, Muqaddima (Beyrout, 1900), p. 543 seq.—De Slane, Prolegomena, vol. iii, p. 296 sqq.

509 Cf. Goldziher, Muhamm. Studien, Part I, p. 114 seq.

510 Read mashárátí ’l-buqúl (beds of vegetables), not mushárát as my rendering implies. The change makes little difference to the sense, but mashárat, being an Aramaic word, is peculiarly appropriate here.

511 Aghání, xii, 177, l. 5 sqq; Von Kremer, Culturgesch. Streifzüge, p. 32. These lines are aimed, as has been remarked by S. Khuda Bukhsh (Contributions to the History of Islamic Civilisation, Calcutta, 1905, p. 92), against Nabatæans who falsely claimed to be Persians.

512 The name is derived from Koran, xlix, 13: "O Men, We have created you of a male and a female and have made you into peoples (shu‘úb^an) and tribes, that ye might know one another. Verily the noblest of you in the sight of God are they that do most fear Him." Thus the designation 'Shu‘úbite' emphasises the fact that according to Muḥammad's teaching the Arab Moslems are no better than their non-Arab brethren.

513 Muhamm. Studien, Part I, p. 147 sqq.

514 The term Falsafa properly includes Logic, Metaphysics, Mathematics Medicine, and the Natural Sciences.

515 Here we might add the various branches of Mathematics, such as Arithmetic, Algebra, Mechanics, &c.

516 ‘Abdu ’l-Raḥman Jámí († 1492 a.d.).

517 I am deeply indebted in the following pages to Goldziher's essay entitled Alte und Neue Poesie im Urtheile der Arabischen Kritiker in his Abhand. zur Arab. Philologie, Part I, pp. 122-174.

518 Cf. the remark made by Abú ‘Amr b. al-‘Alá about the poet Akhṭal (p. 242 supra).

519 Diwan des Abu Nowas, Die Weinlieder, ed. by Ahlwardt, No. 10, vv. 1-5.