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Zaid b. Rifa^a and his Abridgment of Ibn as-Sikkit's Isläh al-Mantiq

By A. Ahmedali-Aligarh-Oxford

I.

When in Bonn last summer, I was able through the

kindness of Professor Kahle to study a MS. bearing the title

öawämi' Isläh al-Mantiq, preserved in the- Staatsbibliothek,

Berlin. He very kindly had it transferred to his Oriental

Seminar for my study. It is an abridgment of a very impor¬

tant lexicographical work, the Isläh al-Mantiq of Abü Yüsuf

Ya'qüb b. Ishäq as-Sikkit (t244)^). It has been noticed by

Brockelmann in his Geschichte der Arabischen Literatur

(vol. I, p. 117) as one of the extant MSS. of the Isläh al-

Mantiq. Ahl WARDT has described it in detail in the Catalogue

of the Berlin Library (vol. VI, No. 6929). But, surprisingly

enough, he overlooked the name of the author of this abridg¬

ment, and declared, "Verfasser fehlt", calling him "der un¬

genannte Verfasser" in the course of the description. He

even goes to the extent of suggesting that Abü Mansür

Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Azhari (f 370) might be the author;

but he is not sure because Hägi Halifa mentions a commen¬

tary of the Isläh by him, and not an abridgment^).

The interesting fact is that the name of the author of this

abridgment appears on the very title-page of the MS. He is

1) As I am preparing an edition of the Isläli al-Mantiq itself, I will

not discuss this work or its author here.

2) Ahlwardt, op. cit. ,, Diese Zeit würde für t5_yb;Vl-w>-l cX'^

jy^y \ passen, welchem aber Hkh. einen Kommentar, nicht einen Aus¬

zug, beilegt."

Cf. HH I, 328: J^l ^jiyyVl .a^I c. -»^ jj^ y}3 ■ ■ ■

rv«

(2)

2U2 A. -.üMBDALi, Zaid b. Rifä'a and his Abridgment etc.

Abu 'I-Husain Zaid b. Rifä'a b. Mas'üd al-Kätib i). From

the scanty details of his life that have come down to us it

is clear that he was not a mere man of letters. He was engaged

in religio-socio-political literary activities of his time, especi¬

ally those of the Ihwän as-Safä', as will be shown later.

Hardly any exact dates concerning his life are known to

us, not even those of his birth and death, due perhaps to the

secrecy in which he, and for the matter of that, all the I^wän

as-Safä', lived their lives. The only date mentioned in con¬

nection with him is 373 A. H. when the Wazir of the Bu-

waihid Amir Samsäm ad-Daula enquired of Abü Hayyän

at-Tauhidi (f ca. 400) about him. It is also recorded by the

Hatib al-Bagdädi that he related the works of adab which he

had heard from Abü Bakr Muhammad b. al-Hasan ibn Duraid

(t 321) and Abü Bakr Muhammad b. al-Qäsim al-Anbäri

(t 328); while he himself records in the preface to his work

that, besides having heard the Isläh al-Mantiq from Abü

Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Anbäri, he read it to Abü 'Amr az-

Zähid Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Wähid (f 345). The Hatib al-

Bagdädi also records that he related these works of adab

in the provinces of öibäl and Horäsän. Again,- Abü Hayyän

at-Tauhidi mentions the fact that before he came to Bagdäd

and met the Wazir, he had lived for a long time in Basra.

These scanty facts are, however, helpful in reconstructing

just a bare sketch of his life in a fairly correct chronological

order. As between the two dates, viz., 321 A. H., the death-

date of Abü Bakr ibn Duraid, under whom he had studied,

1) For his biographical notices see T. Bagdäd, VIII 450 (where,

however, his kunya is given as y\ which is erroneous; Oy^X

and jJ-\j>\ could be easily confused in old MSS., but I do not doubt that tlie account given is of our author) ; Ibn Hagar, Lisän al-Mizän, II , 506

(based on Abü 5ayyän at-Tauhidi's al-Imtä' wa '1-Mu'änasa [The name

of this work is wrongly given in the Lisän al-Mizän as "al-Imtinä' wa '1-Mu'änasa"]) ; Qifti, T. al-Hukamä' (Lippert), p. 82 (most detailed

account); Abü Hayyän at-TauhidI, al-Muqäbasät, Cairo, 1347 (Qiftl's

account in the Introduction, but also see p. 19); Ahmad Zeki Pasha's

Introduction to the Rasä'il, Cairo 1347 (Qifti's account); Hg 111,460;

Bbockelmank, I, 213.

(3)

A. Ahmedali, Zaid b. Rifä'a and his Abridgment etc. 203

and 373 A. H., about when the Wazir of Samsäm ad-Daula

enquired about him, there is a period of 52 years, we may

safely conclude that these two dates belong, the one to the

prime of his life when he was engaged in literary pursuits,

and the other to the latter part of his life, very probably

the last few years of his life. Further, we conclude that

having pursued his studies in Basra and Bagdäd, the centres

of literary pursuits in those days, under the masters mentioned

above, he started life in the provinces of Öibäl and Horäsän,

then came to Basra where he came in contact with the

Ihwän as-Safä' and where he lived for a long time; and

finally he came over to Bagdäd. It is likely that he at one

time or the other held some office in the state, as the title

"Al-Kätib" added to his name in the MS. and the words of

Abü Hayyän to the Wazir with regard to him signify: —

"It is you who knew him before I did, both his past and

present, by trying him and employing his services, and of old

he enjoys from you an authority (office) and a wellknown asso¬

ciation with you."

It seems, he was also called "Al-Hä§imi", which fact was

doubted by the Hatib al-Bagdädi^).

As to his character, there are two divergent views about

him. Probably the best appreciative characterisation of Zaid

b. Rifä'a that we have is by Abü Hayyän at-Tauhidi in the

account of the dialogue that took place between him and

Abü 'Abdalläh ibn Sa'dän, the wazir of Samsäm ad-Daula,

as reproduced by al-Qifti in the Tärih al-Hukamä' *). It seems

that long before the date mentioned above, viz., 373, he had

become known to the Wazir, perhaps even before he became

known to Abü Hayyän. But it is also clear that while the

Wazir knew Zaid b. Rifä'a superficially and wished to know

more about him, Abü Hayyän knew him intimately, as one,

1) T. Bagdäd, 1. c.

2) Op. cit. The dialogue took place between Abfl Hayyän and the

wazir of Samsäm ad-Daula, and not the latter himself. The wazir was

Aba 'Abdalläh al-Husain b. Ahmad b. Sa'dän. See Qiftl's Text and

Hasan as-Sandflbi's Introduction to the "Muqäbasät", p. 45; see also

p. 19, where AbO Hayyän mentions him by name.

1

(4)

204 A. Ahmedali, Zaid b. Rifä'a and his Abridgment etc.

it seems, who appreciated his ideals and abilities. It is not

unlikely that his frequent visits to the Wazir were part of

his activities as an agent of the Ihwän as-Safä', trying to

convert a big official to their views. For his conversations on

those occasions used to be of a mystifying nature, couched

in mysterious language. At last the Wazir became keenly

interested in him and asked Abü Hayyän: —

"Inform me about a matter which is preoccupying my mind

and is more important than this *). I have been constantly

hearing from Zaid b. Rifä'a a certain view which causes doubt

in me and a religion with which I have no acquaintance. He

mentions letters and diacritical points, declaring that has

not been pointed below once but for a reason, and Cj has

not been pointed above twice but for a cause . . . and so

on . . . So what is his account, what is his affair, and what

is his whole secret^)?"

Further, it was known to the Wazir that he was intimately

known to Abü Hayyän: —

"It has reached me, Abü Hayyän! that you visit him and

sit with him and stay with him long; you have interesting

incidents with him. Whoever has long association with a man,

his experience of him is true, and the knowledge of his secret

views and his concealed rehgion becomes possible •')."

Abü Hayyän then characterised him thus: —

"There is great intelligence and keen intellect; command

over composition of prose and poetry, along with an excellent

mastery of the art of writing; and over arithmetic and re¬

membering accounts of men and well-known sayings; an in¬

sight into different views and religions; and versatility in

every art: what with slow, dehberate acquisition, or intelli¬

gent penetration, or overpowering (ht. silencing) achievement."

In answer to the question as to what his religion was, Abü

Hayyän said: —

"He is not connected with anything, and is not associa¬

ted with any party, because of his exuberant disposition to

everything and restless incHnation to every department (of

knowledge), and the alternation of the power of his eloquence

and the force of his tongue."

1) A reference to a previous conversation.

2) Qifti, op. cit. 3) Ibid.

(5)

A. Ahmbdali, Zaid b. Rifä'a and his Abridgment etc. 205

And then he describes how, while in Basra, he came upon a

band of people who were engaged in the pursuit of different

sciences :—

"And there he met a band of people engaged in different

sciences and various arts; of them were Abu Sulaimän Mu¬

hammad b. Ma'Shar al-Bistl, known as al-MuqaddasI, Abü

'1-Hasan 'All b. Härün az-Zanjäni, Abü Ahmad al-Mihragäm,

al-'Aufi, and others. He remained with them and served

themi)."

It is difficult to determine the relation in which they

stood to one another. Abü Hayyän mentions that Zaid b.

Rifä'a and the other Ihwän as-Safä' used to assemble in the

house of .^bü Sulaimän who was their shaikh, though he

did not enjoy the fame they did"). As to Zaid b. Rifä'a, his

position seems to be more or less subsidiary: probably he

mostly acted as their agent ^).

It is significant that Abü Hayyän regarded Zaid b. Rifä'a

and these people as some of the Ihwän as-Safä', probably

the most important of them, and as the authors of the Rasä'il

Ihwän as-Safä': —*)

1) These names have variously been given: cf. HH. 1. c,

£.1 iSjyrM^^ -^Ixb 'tj Cr^^x^i ^V^' tr-:" -r* a -»^ oU- y}^

Lisän al-Mizän, 1. c, Jj>-_^l and JUsJI; the name also occurs

as HE Boeb in E. I. gives (Art. Ikhwän as-Safä), as also

Bbockelmann. For the nisbahs J ■ l |, JU=;)I and JU,^! see Sa-

m'äni, K. al-Ansäb, p. 99, 278b, and 545b.

2) Ahmad Zeki Pasha's Introduction, p. 38:

^y^. lyß^f^^Vl j» ^W-J *^^J CJ. -^.j iljl -jL-"^' •r'^

rtvt^-^- '^i-' ^'^^ W ^^j^^^' ^' j-

I must confess I have failed to trace this statement in the "Muqäbasät".

3) Cf. "i^j^jij in the above citation.

4J I do not agree with the conclusions of Husain F. al-HamdänI

in his otherwise admirable dissertation, "Rasä'il Ikhwän as-Safä in the literature of the Ismä'Ili Taiyibi Da'wat" in "Der Islam"] Bd. XX, Heft 4, 1932, when he asserts Qifti being "so sceptical about the prob¬

ability of these men having compiled the Rasä'il", and yet "acknow¬

ledging the prevalence of the belief that the Rasä'il were' written by an

'Alid Imäm". I am afraid the sequence of Qiftl's statement has been

(6)

206 A. Ahmedali, Zaid b. Rifä'a and his Abridgment etc.

"And these people were knit together by friendship and

were sincere towards one another with truthfulness. They had

resolved on piety, purity and sincerity and propounded amongst

themselves a religion by which, they declared, they had

brought the path nearer to attainment of the pleasure of

God. It was because they said that religion had been cor¬

rupted by ignorance and confused with errors . . . they de¬

clared that when Greek philosophy and the Arabian s h a r T ' a

were fused together, perfection would be attained. So they

composed fifty treatises on all the branches of philosophy,

both theoretical and practical, to which they added a separate

index (fihrist), and they named them the 'Rasä'il Ihwän as-

f?afä' ')."

As the aim of the Ihwän as-Safä' was not only to base

religion on a philosophical basis, but to subvert» the then

existing basis of society and religion, the orthodox view, in

spite of whatever high literary and philosophical attainments

Zaid b. Rifä'a might have possessed, could not be very

complimentary. The Hatib al-Bagdädi denounces him as a

liar and declares that he followed the way of the philo¬

sophers"). Ibn Hagar elaborates this view by saying that he

was notorious for assigning philosophical interpretation to

the Hadith, and that he was one of the most ignorant of

God's creation as regards the Hadith, and most daring and

shameless in lying*).

much distorted and the context overlooked. Firstly, there is nothing in

the Arabic passaige to warrant Qiftl's scepticism about Abfl EEayyän's statement; secondly, "mentioning the existence", or even "acknow¬

ledging the prevalence, of a belief" do not mean acknowledging the

belief itself. On the contrary, Qiftl's words: ^ Jai My 1^1» (-y JO

cjyidlj ij-uil (and every one said something by way of conjecture and

surmise) show that he did not acknowledge the b e 1 i e f ; while his words :

tja^jdl jCf. jy c'^^J^ cJi) l^i-*« wilaJlj .i.»JI Jjl |Jj

(and I continued diligently to investigate and search for a mention of

their author till I came upon the work of Abü Hayyän at-Tautildl)

show as if he had made a discovery as to the probable authors. ■

1) Qifti, op. cit.

2) T. Bagdad, 1. c; iuiUl 4i\ ... U'jS' j'f). The "philo¬

sophers" here obviously standing for the'irreligioüs learned.

3) Lisän aUMIzän, 1. c. : J^l^ Cj'^. .. <i ii-ii ^ .i.* oil ^y.

^iCll ^>lj .U j.1 <UI jli. '

(7)

A. Ahmbdali, Zaid b. Rifä'a and his Abridgment etc. 207 II.

As the MS. of Zaid b. Rifä'a's öawämi' Isläh al-Mantiq

in the Staatsbibliothek, Berlin, has been described in detail

by Ahlwardt, I shall add only a few words about it here.

It is probably the only known work of his and the only one

that has come down to us. Till quite recently it was the only

extant MS. of the work known to European scholars, though,

as has been shown above, not as a work of Zaid b. Rifä'a.

But as is now known, there exists another MS. of this work

in the Äsafiyya Library in Hyderabad, India^). The latter

MS. is much older, viz., dated 599 A. H., while the Berlin

MS. is as recent as 1191 A. H. About 15 different commen¬

taries and abridgments of the Isläh al-Mantiq are mentioned

by different biographers and bibliographers; but the öawämi'

of Zaid b. Rifä'a has escaped the notice of all of them"). This

fact may perhaps be accounted for by the elusive and mys¬

terious personality of the author himself.

On the title-page (fol. la) appear, besides the names of

the work and the author, the following words as sub-title :—

jIocMI j» yLJI ^ \* Jä:: ^.j^J ^W—. T*^' vly.' ^j^^^ Jj"^ '"^

wiUl dllj VfJiäjJ\ <i)i'ä (^l_,ia:Jj

Folios lb — 5a are the numbered table of contents.

After the usual preliminary hutba (of about a page) the

object of the abridgment is mentioned as follows: —*)

tS-^ (i" «t^l *^ ^) c)- S:^^ "H/ ^

jjiill J<. j»- ^ tT'li' O-^ö T'j*" ^ j^s Oj-J^l-»:*»

1) For a description of this MS. see Tadldrat an-Nawädir (Dä'irat

al-Ma'ärif, Hyderabad), p. 116—117, or, as cited therein, the Catalogue

of the Äsafiyya Library, vol. II, p. 1428. An edition based on this MS.

is being published in Hyderabad. At the time of the preparation of

this edition, unfortunately the Berlin MS. was not known to be Zaid

b. Rifä'a's work. (Information from Dr. Krbnkow.)

2) I do not mention these commentaries, etc. here, as I shall deal

with them in my edition of the Isläh al-Mantiq.

3) It may be mentioned here that the original work is noted for

the absence of a hutha.

(8)

208 A. Ahmedali, Zaid b. Ritä-a and his Abridgment etc.

witf^ SjJu^ji . . . (v,— I -r'^' -V ' jyy'.--^'^'

<d^l öliyi» . . . <J| (jryjcllj i-lilM ilt J j6^jl .:~Ol Jjse-I j:

. . . i"! I O ..2—1 U Cjj^C^ Ij -O^^ ^

The isnäds of the work are given as: —

jJ- J\ ^ ^ iJjLVIjLIj ^, »-üi ^ Jjf' Jl Cjj ._jllC'I Ijjtj

iJ Jlsj ajbljll Jj-iyi -LC Cl--'^ ^/"^ —'I;') 'r'>**' J,*^ »-"J ^-

1) ^1 L'lj ^uJl ^ .^döl Ii* J^

The contents have been treated in opposite columns

thus: —

^jjill >_j5tiL Ji»»j 'uj wHi

_ij.| _ui.i

4x.i>.j ^uU- j!_^...i ,,'Ijij __,.^i jc- j'uij-i ^ i^'b J

}j\ }j\

and so on.

As to the merits of this abridgment, its usefulness is very

doubtful. Clarity and brevity are two different things. Often

the latter is achieved at the expense of the former. Needless

to say, in lexicographical works clarity and precision are far

more important, even if they be at the expense of brevity.

At any rate, it cannot be doubted that Zaid b. Rifä'a's

öawämi' cannot be a substitute for the original work.

PS. (1) See also HH III, 369 where al-'Aufi and his work

zjSiyyS -Lil j <)U, are mentioned, and where his kunya is

given as y\.

(2) There is extant another work by Zaid b. Rifä'a, K.

al-Amthäl, published at Hyderabad in India.

1) These are well-lcnown isnäds, with which I shall deal later.

New College. Oxford, December, 1935.

(9)

Eingegangene Bücher

Angezeigt von Wilhelm Printz

Meixhof, Carl: Die Entstehung flektierender Sprachen. Eine

Untersuchung. — Berlin: D.Reimer 1936, 108 S. 8". Kart.

RM. 6.-.

Dem Indogermanisten tut es recht gut, weim er über den Umkreis

seiner Sprachen hinaus in fremde, fremdartige Sprachgruppen Ein¬

blick gewiimt. Hierzu dient ihm vortrefflich das vorliegende Buch,

das eine eigentümliche Spracherscheinung vom afrikanistischen

Blickpunkt aus beleuchtet. Für die Entstehimg der Flexion kann man

im Idg. und Semit. Rekonstruktionen versuchen, aber der Afrikanist

vermag mehr : er kann bei einigen Sprachen die Entwicklung geradezu

vorführen; ebenso die Entstehung der Klassenpräfixe. Es wird nicht

behauptet, daß es im Idg. und Semit, genau so zugegangen sein muß,

aber es lohnt doch wohl, an Hand des hier Gebotenen diese Probleme

erneut durchzudenken. Abschließendes will M. nicht geben, darum

beschränkt er sich auch im allgemeinen auf die beiden Nachbar¬

gruppen und bringt nur selten einen Hinweis auf andere ferner liegende Sprachen. Beachtlich sind die Ausführungen über „rhythmischen"

und ,, etymologischen" Akzent. Die ablautähnlichen Erscheinungen

(S. 46) freilich erwecken den Eindruck, daß das idg. Ablautsystem

eben doch etwas ganz Besonderes darstellt; auch bei der Reduplikation

finden sich merkliche Unterschiede (nebenbei zu S. 52: dt. hielt zeigt

Verlust der Reduplikationssilbe und lat. feci ist Aorist, nicht Perfekt) ;

ist Reduplikation des Stammauslautes nur afrikanisch? Zur

Klassenbildung werden (58 f.) idg. Beispiele gegeben, aber die Ver¬

wandtschaftsnamen haben nicht alle ,,urspr. gleichlautende En¬

dungen", sondern ein Teil hat sie erst später bekommen (vgl. lat.

soror, nepos), wir können also den Ausbau dieser Klasse verfolgen.

S. 60 ein schöner Hinweis auf geschriebene Klassifikation in ägyp¬

tischer, chines, und Keilschrift. Gegen H. Paul wird M. recht haben,

wenn er (64) die Nichtunterscheidung des Genus bei Interrogativ für

ursprünglich hält (also lat. quis/quid älter als skr. kah/kä/kim). Mask,

ist die urspr. Personenklasse, zuweilen tritt an Stelle von Person:

Sache die Vorstellung groß : klein, wobei dann auch einiges Weibliche

der Kategorie „groß" zugeteilt werden kann. Unterscheidung durch

Vokale, u/o für Mask., i für Fem. läßt sich vielfach nachweisen, auch

im Semitischen. W^ichtig der Abschnitt „Die Mannigfaltigkeit der

Pluralbildung" (77 ff., wo aber 78 Zahl- und Zählwort, vielleicht nur 15«

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