|
1 |
Cf. Issawi, pp. 26 f., and J. Sauvaget,
Historiens arabes
(Paris, 1946), pp. 138-42. |
2 |
"Personality criticism" (al jarh wa-t-ta'dil) is
concerned with investigating the
reliability or unreliability of the transmitters of traditions.
Ibn Khaldun often has occasion to refer to it; see, for
instance, p. 76 and 2:16off., 447ff., below. |
2a |
Cf.
n. 379 to Ch. i, below. |
3 |
Cf.
al-Mas'udi, Muruj adh-dhahab, II,
425 ff. The story goes back ultimately
to the snake (dragon) that frightened the workmen who built
Alexandria. Cf. Pseudo-Callisthenes,
Historia Alexandri Magni, ed. Kroll
(Berlin, 1926), p. 32. |
4 |
Gharar "risk" is a legal term, used
mainly in connection with commercial matters. In this context it
implies unlawful gambling. |
5 |
The
"vital spirit" which, according to Galenic and Muslim medicine,
was believed to originate in the left cavity of the heart. See
also pp. 210, 329, and 2:136, 374, below. |
6 |
Mas'uq may refer to death by
lightning, but also includes other kinds of inexplicable sudden
death. Cf. Lisan al-'Arab, XII,
66. |
7 |
Cf.
al-Mas'udi, Muruj adh-dhahab, IV, 94. The story of
the Statue of the Starling was mentioned before al-Mas'i di by
Ibn Khurradadhbih, Kitdb al-Masalik wa-l-mamalik, tr. M.
J. de Goeje (Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum, No. 6)
(Leiden, 1889), p. 88. Many other geographers refer to
it; cf. J. Marquart, Osteuropaische and ostasiatische
Streifzage (Leipzig, 1903), pp. 260 ff.; and, more
recently, M. J. Deny, "La Legende de l'eau des sauterelles et de
l'oiseau qui detruit ces insectes," Journal asiatique,
CCI1 (1923), 325. Marquart sought the origin of the story
in a popular etymology for the Capitol: Campidoglio,
campo d'oglio "olive oil field." |
8 |
Al-Bakri s Masalik contains a brief
reference to the "Copper City." Cf. MS. Nuru Osmaniye, 3034,
fol. 186a, Laleli, 2144, fol. 58a. This
reference does not appear in W. M. de Slane, Description de
l'Afrique septentrionale (2d ed.; Algiers, 1913).
None of the available texts says anything about a Gate
City," A village called Dhat al-abwab, which, however, is
different from the one mentioned here, is referred to by al-Bakri
in Mu'jam ma sta'jam, p. 218. Cf. also below, 2:245. |
9 |
Cf.
2:237 f., below. |
10 |
Ibn Khaldun refers to Muruj adh-dhahab,
IV, 95. However, he adds some details to al-Mas'udi's
very brief statement, from his own knowledge of the famous
story. An earlier contemporary of al-Mas'udi gives it in
considerable detail: Ibn al Faqih, Kitab al-buldan
(Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum, No. 5) (Leiden,
1885), pp. 71 (n.g), 88 ff., quoted by Yaqut,
Mujam al-buldan, ed. Wustenfeld, IV, 455 ff,
and other geographers. In the eleventh century, the theologian
al-Khatib al-Baghdadi studied it in monograph form under the
title of "The Story of the Bronze City and the Leaden Cupola."
Cf. Yusuf al-'Ashsh, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (Damascus,
1945), p.109. Cf. also G. Ferrand in Journal asiatique,
CCVII (1925, 61 ff. Through its inclusion in
The Arabian Nights, the story has become familiar to Western
readers.
Instead of "Copper City," the city is referred to
as "Bronze City" by al-Mas'udi and elsewhere. The word "bronze"
(sufr) is at times wrongly translated as "brass."
Cf. M. Aga-Oglu, "A Brief Note on the Islamic Terminology for
Bronze and Brass," Journal of the American Oriental Society,
LXIV (1944), 218-32. The vacillation between "Bronze
City" and "Copper City" is due to the fact that the Arabic words
for bronze and copper were often used interchangeably without
regard to their precise meaning. Cf. G. Levi Della Vida, "The
'Bronze Era' in Muslim Spain," Journal of the American
Oriental Society, LXIII (1943), 183 (n. 7). |
11 |
The
great general (A.D. 640-716/17) who completed the
conquest of the Muslim West. Cf. E. Levi-Provencal in EI, s.v.
"Musa b. Nulair." |
12 |
The
same argument occurs above, pp. 24 and 27. |
13 |
Cf.
Issawi, pp. 34 f. |
14 |
Referring to the injunctions of the religious law.
For this paragraph, one should compare what Ibn
Khaldun says in 'Ibar,
II, 116: "In connection with happenings that can
be referred to sensual perception, the information transmitted
by a single informant (khahar alwahid)
is sufficient, if its soundness
appears probable." |
15 |
Cf.
R. A. Nicholson, Translations of
Eastern Poetry and Prose, pp.
179 f. |
16 |
Cf.
Issawi, pp. 36 f. |
17 |
"Conventional" is used here in the sense of the more common
"traditional." |
18 |
Cf.
3:368, below. |
19 |
In later Muslim scholarship, it was considered
disrespectful to suggest that earlier scholars knew less than
oneself or than other, more recent men. Cf., for instance, F.
Rosenthal, "Al-Asturlabi and as-Samaw'al on Scientific
Progress," Osiris, IX (1950, 563. |
20 |
See 3:114 ff., below, where 'Umar's alleged
action and al-Ma'mun's translating activities are discussed
again. |
21 |
Qur'an 17.85 (87). |
22 |
Cf.
p. lxxv, above, and 2:417, below. |
23 |
Cf., for instance, al-Amidi,
al-Ihkdm fi usul
al-a/kdm (Cairo,
1914), I, 16 f. Ibn Khaldun was well acquainted with this
author's works. |
24 |
Cf.
also 2:295, below. |
25 |
Cf. Muruj adhdhahab, II, 169 ff. Mobedh (magupat)
is the title of the Zoroastrian priest. Mobedhan actually is the
Persian plural of the word. Cf. also 2:104 f., below.
In an abbreviated form, the speech is quoted as
made by 'Abdallah b. Tahir (cf. 2:139, below), in Ibn Abi
Hajalah at-Tilimsani, Sukkarddn assultdn (Cairo,
1317/1899, in the margin of al-'Amili, Mikhldh), p. 86. |
26 |
Imarah, from the same root as 'umran,
and practically identical with it. Cf. al-Mubashshir b.
Fatik, Mukhtar al-hikam, No. 3 of the sayings of
Seth: "If a ruler thinks that he can amass property through
injustice, he is wrong, for property can be amassed only through
cultivation of the soil ('imarat al-arl)." Cf. the
Spanish translation published by H. Knust, Mittheilungen aus
dem Eskurial, p. 82. |
27 |
Cf.
al-Mas'udi, Muruj adh-dhahab, II, 210. Anosharwan is the
celebrated Sassanian ruler Khosraw I, A.D. 531-579. A shortened
form of the saying is quoted anonymously by Ibn Qutaybah,'Uyun
al-akhbar (Cairo, 1343-49/1925-30),
I, 9. A similarly shortened form is ascribed to 'Ali in a
marginal note in one of the MSS of the Secretum Secretorum;
cf. Badawi s edition (cited below, n. 29), p. 128 (n. 1). |
28 |
C
and D: al-kulliyat. B: al-kalimat "words." |
29 |
The pseudo-Aristotelian Politics, which
Ibn Khaldun also quotes below, p. 235 and 2:48, is better known
as Sirr al-asrar "Secretum Secretorum." The work is
supposed to have been translated from the Greek by Yahya b. al-Bitriq;
cf. GAL, I, 203; 2d ed., 1, 221 f.; Suppl., I,
364. It had even greater success in European languages than in
Arabic.
The Arabic text has recently been published by 'Abd-ar-Rahman
Badawi, Fontes Graecae doctrinarum politicarum Islamicarum
(Cairo, 1954), I, 65-171. A modern English translation of
the Arabic was prepared by IsmaiL 'Ali and A. S. Fulton, and
published in Vol. V of the works of Roger Bacon, ed. R. Steele
(Oxford, 1920). Cf. M. Plessner, Orientalistische
Literaturzeitung, XXVIII (1925), 912 ff. An edition and
French translation were prepared by P. Sbath but have remained
unpublished. Cf. P. Sbath, Al-Frhris (Cairo, 1938), 1, 9
(n. 4).
The passage quoted appears at the end of the
third chapter dealing with justice. Cf. pp. 126-28 of Badawi's
ed., and Roger Bacon, ed. cit., V, 226; cf. also
pp. L11 f. and 126. Cf., further, M. Steinschneider, "Die
arabischen Ubersetzungen aus dem Griechischen," in Zwolftes
Beiheft zum Centralblatt fur Bibliothekswesen (Leipzig,
1893), p. 82. A fifteenth-century English rendering may be found
in R. Steele, Three Prose Versions of the Secreta Secretorum
(Early English Text Society, Extra Series No. 74) (London,
1898), p. 207.
Among other Arabic authors who quote this
passage, mention may be made of Ibn Juljul [tenth century] (cf.
Badawi, op. cit., p. 37 of the introd.), and al-Mubashshir
b. Fatik [eleventh century], Mukhtar al-hikam, at the end
of the chapter on Aristotle. Ibn Juljul, in turn, was quoted by
Ibn Abi Ulaybi'ah, 'Uyun al-anba', ed. Muller, I, 66 f.
Ibn Abi Usaybi'ah shows the eight sentences inscribed along the
sides of an octagon. Cf. also R. Blachere's translation of Sa'id
al-Andalusi, Kitab Tabaqat al-umam (Paris, 1935), p. 68.
There are quite a few minor variations in the text as it appears
in the various sources. Cf. now Wad Sayyid's edition of Ibn
Juljul, Les Generations des medecins et des sages (Cairo,
1955), p. 26.
The MSS of the Muqaddimah usually leave an
empty space for insertion of the circle in which the saying is
to be inscribed. The drawing is executed in B and C. The
artistically executed drawing of an inscribed octagon
reproduced here comes from an Istanbul MS of the Secretum,
Reis el-kuttap (Asir 1), 1002, fol. 121b. (Cf.
Frontispiece, Vol. 2.) |
30 |
Ma'luf "familiar" may here possibly
mean "harmonious." Arabic ta'lif translates Greek
armonia. Cf., for instance, P. Kraus
and R. Walzer, Galeni Compendium Timaei Platonis (Corpus
Platonicum Medii Aevi, Plato Arabus i) (London, 1951), p.
106. |
31 |
Cf.
pp. 313 ff., below. |
32 |
Abdallah b. al-Muqaffa', d. 142 [769/60]. Cf. GAL, I, 151 f.;
Suppl., I, 233 ff. Cf. also below, 3:393. |
33 |
Muhammad b. al-Walid, ca. 451 to 520 or 525 [1059 to 1126
or 1131]. Cf. GAL, I, 459; Suppl., I, 829
f. Cf. also above, p. lxxxv. |
34 |
The
wazir of Khosraw I Anosharwan who appears in Arabic literature
and is the chief representative of Persian wisdom. |
35 |
Ibn
Khaldun here uses two proverbial expressions for truthful
information. They are: "Juhaynah has the right information," and
"He gave me the true age of his camel." |
36 |
Cf.
Qur'an 24.35 (35). |
37 |
Cf.
R. A. Nicholson, Translations of
Eastern Poetry and Prose, pp.
180 f. |
38 |
Cf.
2:411 ff., below. |
39 |
Arabic uses the same word
(waby) for Prophetical
"inspiration" and for what we would translate in this context as
"instinct." The "inspiration" of bees is mentioned in Qur'an
16.68 (70). |
40 |
Qur'an 20.50 (52). |
41 |
Cf.
Issawi, p. 26. |
42 |
Cf.
above, p. lxxxi, and below, p. 249. |
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