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«
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.
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
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.
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
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. '
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.
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.
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«