Abu 19 said ttat lie had by heart 100,000 verses of different authors. He died in 993 A. D., 383^ A. H., and was a contemporory of the author of the 'Ayyar. Abu-Muhammad Husain bin-Mas'ud Farra al- Baghawi, cfr>-*Jt ^j^^ c^^l '^♦=^^1, author of a collection of traditions, called the " Masabih," in Arabic ; also of the " Ma'alim-ut-Tanz£L" and " Sharh- us-Sunnat." He died in 1122 A. D., 516 A. H. He was a vendor of furs, consequently he was called Farra. Baghawi also wrote a " Jami' baina-l-Sahihaia." Abu-Muhammad Hisham bin-al-Hakim al-Kin- di al-Shaibani, who lived in the time of the Kha- lifa Hariin-ur-Eashid, and died in A. D. 795, 179 A. H., is famed as one of the first compilers of Shi' a traditions. Abu-Muhammad Nasihi, ^=^^ a+n^^t, was a man of eminent learning in the time of Sultan Mas'ud I of Ghazni. He wrote a book entitled " Mas'udi," in support of the doctrine of Abu-Hanifa, which he presen- ted to the king. He flourished about the year 1036 A. D. Abu-Muhammad Rozbihan Bakali Shirazi, LS)b^ (^^- jjf '^♦^'^ author of the " Safwat- ul-Masharib." He died in July 1209 A. D., Muliarram, 606 A. H. ; vide Eozbihan (Shaikh). Abu-Muhammad Shatibi, tS->^^-*"^'-*^J'^', avery learned Musalman and author of the " Kasida Shatibiya." He died in 1194 A. D., 590 A. H. His proper name was Kasim ; he was born at Shatibiya in Andalusia, from which lie derived his title of Shatibi. He is also the author of several other works. Abu-Muhammad Tabrizi, author of the Persian history, called " Tarikh-i-Tabari". The original of this book was written in Arabic by Abu- Ja' far bin-Jarir Tabari, in A. D. 912, 300 A. H., and was afterwards translated into Persian and continued by Abu-Muhammad, and dedicated to Abii-Salilj bin-Nuh, about the year 1118 A. D., 612 A. H. Abu-Musa/Ta'far al-Sufi, whose poetical name is Jabar, was the founder of the Arabian school of chemistry, flourished towards the end of the 8th, or the commence- ment of the 9th century. According to the majority of authorities, he was bom at Tiis in Khurasan. He wrote an immense number of treatises ori alchemy, also a work on astronomy. An edition of his works in Latin was published at Dantzic in 1662, and another in English by Eussel in 1678. Abu-Musa al-Ash'ari, iS^'^'^ ij'^j^yj, one of the arbitrators between 'AH and Mu'awiya I, by whose decision 'AH was deposed in the year 658 A. D., 37 A. H. Eight months after the battle of Siffia between 'AH and Mu'awiya, the two arbitrators Abu-Musa and ' Amr the son of 'As met at a place between Mecca and Kufa, where a tribunal was erected. Abii-Musa fii-st ascending it, pronounced these words with a loud voice: — "'I depose 'AH and Mu'awiya from the Khilafat (or government) to which they pretend, after the same manner as I take this ring from my finger," and immediately came down. 'Amr then went up and said, " You have heard how Abu-Musa has on his part de- posed 'AH ; as for my part I depose him too, and I give the khilafat to Mu'awiya, and invest him with it after the same manner as I put this ring upon my finger ; and this I do with so much the more justice, because he is 'Usman's heir and avenger and the worthiest of aU men to succeed him." Abu-Muslim, a great general, to whom the Abbasides entirely owed their elevation to the khilafat, for which he is commonly called Sabib-ud-Da'wat, or author of the vocation of the Abbasides. For his good conduct and bravery, he occupied the fijst posts in the service of the Ommaides. He was governor of Khm-asan A. D. 746, when he proclaimed the Abbasides the lawful heirs of the khilafat, and in 749 A. D. transferred the dignity of Khalifa from the family of Umayya to that of tho Abbasides. This revolution occasioned the death of above 600,000 men ; and when Abti-Ja'far Al-Mans&r, the second Khalifa of the race of 'Abbas, was opposed on his accession by his uncle 'Abdullah, son of 'Ali, 'Abu- MusHm was despatched against him. This general having harassed Viim for five months together, at last brought him to a general actiou, and having entirely defeated him, forced him to fly to Basra. Notwithstand- ing all his services, however, Abu-MusHm was soon after, on Thursday the 13th February, 755 A. D., 24th Sha'ban 137 A. H., ungratefully and barbarously murdered by Al-Manstir, and his body was thrown into the Tigiis. Abii- Muslim took his origin (as Isfahani, a Persian historian relates) from Hamza, who pretended to descend from Gaudarz, one of the ancient kings of Persia. Abu-Na'im, *^-'t yf, son of 'Abdullah, author of tho works called " 'Ulya" and " DalaU-i-Nubuwwat." He died in the year 1012 A. D., 403 A. H. Abu-Nasr rarabi, ^i^j^i Farabf. Abu-Nasr, author of a Persian work on Sufism, called " Anis-ul-Talibin." Abu-TTasr Farahi, ts*!/'* J^ t flourished about the year 1220 A. D. in the time of Bahram Shah, son of Taj-uddin, ruler of Si'stan (also called Nimruz), who began to reign in the year 1215 A. D. He is the author of a vocabulary in verse, called " Nisab-us-Sibyan". His real name is Muhammad Badr-uddin, and he belongs to Farah, a town in Sijistan ; vide Ain Translation I, 41«.] Abu-Wasr Isma'ilbin-Hammad al- Jauhari,j_^A^sr't ^U^^ (iH (Ja*^! is the author of the Dictionary called Sihah-ul-Lughat. He was bom at Farab, and died about the year 1003 A. D., 394 A. H. Abu-Wasr Khan, cj'^^*^ v'^j (Nawab) an amir of the reign of the emperor ' Alamgir. The mosque of Jajna- gar in Orisa was built by him in the year 1687 A. D., 1098 A. H. Abu-Wasr Maskati, J^^L^ j.Jt^ a native of Maskat, and author of the book called " Makamat." Abu-Nasr Sabur, (Shapur) son of Ardsher. He built in the year 954 A. D. an edifice at Baghdad, dedicated to scientific and literary exercises, and collected a large quantity of books, designed for the use of Musalmans ; there were, it is said, upwards of 10,400 volumes of all kinds, including a hundi-ed Kurans, copied by the celebrated caHgrapher Ibn-Mukla." Abu-Nawas, cr'j-'^tj al-Hasan bin-Hani, a celebrated Arabian poet, bom in the city of Basra. His merit was acknowledged at the coui-t of Hariin-ur-Eashid. His principal works have been collected by several persons, on which account there is a great difference between the copies of his works. His proper name is Abii-'AH. He died A. D. 810, 195 A. H. Abu-Eaihan al-Biruni,^yj^Jf>J| sj^i) or Abti-Kaihan Muhammad bin- Ahmad al-Birunf, was born about the year 971 A. D. in the town of Biriin, said to be situated in the province of Biwarazm. He was astronomer, geome- trician, historian, scholar, and logician. Besides meta- physics and dialectics, he studied and appears to have drawn his chief lustre from attainments in the magical art. Of this, the following instance is related. One day Sultan Mahmud ordered him to deposit with a third person a statement of the precise manner in which the monarch would quit the haU where he then was sitting. The paper being lodged, the king, instead of going out by one of the nmnerous doors, caused a breach to be made in the wall, by which he effected his exit ; — but how was
