^{page 502 note 1} The religion of the Sabeans, who were natives of Harran in Mesopotamia, was a survival of the old Syrian heathenism somewhat influenced by Hellenic elements. The name ‘ Sabean ’ was adopted in the time of the Caliph Māmūu. For the history and development of the Sabean sect, see Chwolsohn's “ Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus,” St. Petersburg, 1856, and a posthumous notice by Dozy on the Harranian religion in Actes 6^eCongr. Int. Or. Leyden, 1844, part ii, p. 283. See also al-Bīrūmī, Sachau's translation, pp. 314, 315.

^{page 502 note 2} See Yatīmat ad-Dahr (Damascus, 1302 a.h.), vol. ii, p. 27, where ‘Adud ad-Daula's threat to have Ibrāhīm trampled to death by elephants is attributed, not, as stated in his life by Ibn allikān (Sl. Eng., i, 31), to his acts when in the service of ‘Izz ad-Daula Batiyār, but to his sarcastic reference to the history of the Dailamites, which he was writing ‘by command,’ as a tissue of folly and lies.

To the same effect is the account given by Yāqūt in the Mu‘jam al-Udabā, of which the portion at Oxford—Bodl. Or. 753, fol. 84b—contains a life of Ibrāhīm as-Ṣabī, with full details of his career and its vicissitudes. Much of it, and in particular the story of the treatment he underwent from ‘Aḍud ad-Daula, is quoted from Hilāl's history, and his account throws some light on what seemed to Ibn al-Aīr so inexplicable, namely, that Ibrāhīm was punished for his zeal in the service of his sovereign, ‘Izz ad-Daula, which ought to have been accounted a merit by his successor (see vol. ix, p. 11). But it appears that on the occasion of ‘Aḍud ad-Daula's first expedition to ‘Irāq in 364 a.h., undertaken ostensibly in order to support ‘Izz ad-Daula against his mutinous Turkish soldiery, Ibrāhīm had received great favours at his hands. He even wished to accompany him on his return to Fars, but was debarred from so doing by fears for the fate of his family, who would be left behind. ‘Aḍud ad-Daula did his best to ensure Ibrāhīm's safety by making express mention of him in the stipulations entered into with ‘Izz ad-Daula, but nevertheless, after his departure, Ibrāhīm thought it prudent to remain in hiding until the Qāḍi Ibn Ma‘rūf had obtained for him a promise of immunity from ‘Izz ad-Daula and his vizier, Ibn Baqiyyah. In spite of this he was later arrested at the instigation of a personal enemy, Ibn as-Sirāj, but a seasonable quarrel which followed between the latter and the led to the arrest of his enemy, and, adds Hilal, either as a statement of fact or as a touch of word painting, “ The fetters on the limbs of Abu Ishaq were transferred to the limbs of lbn as-Sirāj ” Ibrāhīm thereupon re-entered the service of ‘Izz ad-Daula as secretary. It was in this capacity that he wrote the letters which roused the resentment of ‘Adud ad-Daula, and which, as coming from his pen, may have seemed to him an act of ingratitude. Nevertheless, on his arrival in Baghdad in 367 a h. he confirmed Ibrāhīm in his salary and property, and it was only on reaching Mosul that he wrote to his vizier, Abu al-Qāsim al-Mutahhar b. ‘Abd Allah, ordering his arrest. Ililāl's explanation of this is, that among the State documents at Mosul were found letters written by Ibrahmi, in the name of ‘Izz ad-Daula, to Abu Taghlib the Hamdanid, and that it was the sight of these that prompted ‘Adud ad-Daula's order. When his letter arrived, Ibrāhim happened to be in the company of the vizier, whose concern on becoming aware of the contents was apparent to all present, and he executed the order with reluctance. Later, on the occasion of his dispatch against the ruler of the Batīhah, he begged ‘Adud ad-Daula, not merely to set Ibrahīm at liberty, but to appoint him to act as deputy for him during his absence. ‘Adud ad-Daula so far relented as to order the release of Ibrāhīm's two sons, who had been arrested with him, and to allow the vizier to supply Ibrāhīm's personal wants. Further, he signified his pleasure that his prisoner should compose a work on the glories of the ruling house, and Ibrāhīm accordingly set about his work on the Dailamite dynasty—the Kitab al-Tqi It is noticeable that the story of his having described it to a friend as “ a tissue of folly and lies.” though mentioned earlier by Yāqūt—probably on the authority of the Yatīmat ad-Dahlādoes not appear in Hilal's narrative He says that, as the work progressed, the author waited on ‘Adud ad-Daula with its several portions, which were read over and considered, and additions and alterations made thereto, and that when finished to the satisfaction of ‘Adud ad-Daula it was copied out, a few weeks sufficing for its completion. For a year longer Ibrahim remained m prison, until the vizier seized a favourable moment to induce ‘Adud ad-Daula to give the order for his release, which he acted on forthwith, knowing from experience that his master's mind was subject to change.

Hilāl further relates that his grandfather was intended for the profession of medicine, which was hereditary in the family, and held an appointment at the hospital at the monthly stipend of twenty dinars. But his literary vocation, proving irrepressible, was allowed to prevail, and he became Kātib to the vizier al-Muhallabi (who died in 352 a.h.; see his life by lbn allikan, SI. Eng., I, 410). His abilities were noticed and recognized by the vizier, who attached him to his person, and he soon found a special occasion for the display of his powers. A social gathering at the vizier's house was interrupted by a sudden order from Mu‘izz ad-Daula for the dispatch of a letter to Muhammad b. IIyās, the ruler of Kuman, to ask his daughter in marriage for ‘Izz ad-Daula. Both Kātibs and guests were for the time quite unequal to the task of preparing such a letter—indeed, one of the latter, Abu ‘Ah al-Hasan b. Muhammad al-Anbāri, was personally appealed to by his host, and had to decline—ut Ibrāhīm wrote the letter forthwith, and the vizier on reading it said that had it been written with deliberation it would remain a wonderful effort. This led to fresh favours on the vizier's part, and to his appointing Ibrāhīm to government posts of such importance that they were officially communicated by the Caliph to the minor independent rulers. The passage runs thus: —

Anecdotes follow of Ibrahim's relations with eminent persons, such as the Sāhib ibn ‘Abbād, the arif ar-Radī, and the poet al-Mutanabbi, and specimens are given of Ibrāhīm's verse. Hilal adds a personal reminiscence. He once asked his grandfather the reason why he seemed so discontented, seeing that they were all leading a prosperous life. The old man smiled, and told him that his case was that of the worm who, accustomed to honey, had been shifted to vinegar, and who, sensible of its acidity, regretted the honeved past, whereas the rest of them were like worms whose original lot was cast in vinegar, and who had never tasted sweetness nor known the charm of vinegar's opposite. Ibrāhīm's ailment was, in fact, “remembering happier things,” and it may be hoped that the statement of Ibn al-Athīr (ix, 74), that in his old age he suffered from poverty, is incorrect. He died in 384 a h., aged 71 years.

Yaqut concludes with the statement that Ibrāhīm was the author of the following works —The well-known letters, about a thousand sheets in all, the Taji, on the history of the Buwaih family; his own family history, a selection from the poetry of al-Muhallabi, and the Diwan of his own verse. It is to be noticed that this list does not include the “de Triangulis ” attributed to him by Wustenfeld, Gesch., No. 149, on the authority of Casiri, nor the Abar an-Nuhāh, attributed to him by Fluegel in “Die Grammatischen Schuler der Araber,” infra, and which was probably written by his grandson Hilāl.

^{page 504 note 1} Safadi gives a notice of him in the Wāfi bil-Wafayāt(B M Add 23, 357, 106b), see also Ibn hallikān, SI. Eng., 1, 289.

^{page 504 note 2} See “Das Einnahme Budget des Abbasiden-reiches 306” Denkschr d phil hist Cl d W A., Bd. xxxvi, pp 283 362.

^{page 509 note 1} Al-Qifṭi, loc. cit., says that his history falls off in quality after 470 a.h.

^{page 510 note 1} Ibn allikān gives 459 as the date of the opening of the College, on the authority of ars an-Ni‘ma (Sl. Eng., ii, 164).

^{page 511 note 1} ‘Utbi (Kitāb Yāmīni, Sprenger, lith., p. 302) calls Abu Naṣr, Naṣr ad-Daula Sallār, and says that he was in desperate straits and reduced to levying toll on merchandise by intercepting it and allowing it to pass only after payment, and that he subsisted by this means.

^{page 511 note 2} Situate in the province of Sābūr (Iṣṭari, 98).

^{page 511 note 3} Distant about 44 farsas from īrāz (ib., 129).

^{page 512 note 1} In Ibn al-Aīr, ix, 115 and 118, this name is spelt ‘ Siyāhajīl.’

^{page 513 note 1} Ibn al-Aīr (ix, 64) mentions a amārtikīn al-Ḥafṣi as having been sent by Bahā ad-Daula in 381 a.h. to receive the submission of the inhabitants of Raḥbah.

^{page 513 note 2} This place is spelt Dārbāī by Iṣṭari, 165, who speaks of silver-mines there.

^{page 513 note 3} Also written Dārjīn, and in Yākūt, ii, 520, Dārrazīn. See Iṣṭari, 161, n. d. Ibn al-Aīr, ix, 115, has ‘ Darzīn ’ as in the text.

^{page 514 note 1} ‘Utbi, loc. cit., has a story of his head having been brought by a soldier to Bahā ad-Daulā, and that he ordered him to be flayed as a warning against shedding the blood of princes.

^{page 514 note 2} He is mentioned in Ibn al-Aīr's narrative, ix, 115.

^{page 515 note 1} Ibn al-Aīr (viii, 448–9) says that Sulaimān and two of his nephews were defeated and killed by Kūrkīn, governor of Kirmān for ‘Aḍud ad-Daula, in 359 a.h.

^{page 516 note 1} Two eminent names representing, one the sword, and the other the pen. The former has been already mentioned under his title of ‘Amīd al-Juyūsh. He is an important figure during these three years. His secretary told Hilāl (fol. 63a) that after deserting the cause of Ṣamṣām ad-Daula and entering the service of Bahā ad-Daula, as above stated, he withdrew from affairs and remained about the Court at īrāz. After a year he asked leave to retire to urāsān, but was persuaded not to do so. On the fall of al-Muwaffaq, whom he disliked, he returned to office, and governed to the best of his ability, but on Abu ālib b. alaf being appointed deputy for him, retired to his own house. (The version of this given by al-Muwaffaq's secretary, fol. 36a, is that he proved incompetent, and that this led to the appointment of the deputy). In 391 he was appointed governor of ūzistan (Ahwāz) in succession to Abu Ja‘far al-Hajjāj, who had proved unfit, with the title of ‘Amīd al-Juyūsh, and governed exceedingly well. This is also stated by Ibn al-Aīr (ix, 116). Al-Hajjāj (fol. 64) showed some resentment, but was pacified by being summoned to the Court to give advice, and then sent to restore order at Baghdad in conjunction with Abu Nasr Sābūr, another prominent figure in the MS whose life is given by Ibn allikān (Sl. Eng., 1, 554). Here also al Hajjāj was not successful, and whilst he was absent fighting the Oqailids, disorder rose to such a pitch that ‘Amid al Juyūsh was sent to govern ‘Irāq (fol. 97b, and Ibn al Aīr, ix, 121). The story of his arrival at Baghdad, his stern repression of crime there, his administrative changes, and his excellent rule in general, is told fully in the text (fols. 98 to 103). It seems, indeed, to have become proverbial. In the Mirāt az-Zamān (B M Or. 4, 619, 198a) Sibt ibn al-Jauzī gives an anecdote, on the authority of al-atīb, of ‘Amīd al-Juyush having sent at night-time a slave carrying gold from the Najmi (an open space on the west bank of the Tigris, often used as a camping-ground for troops coming to Baghdād, Ibn al-Aīr, ix, 254 and 440, and x, 444) to the Upper Prison, as evidence of the safety of the roads. And half a century after his death a criminal judge is described as so excellent as to have been likened to ‘Amid al-Juyūsh (ib., fol. 248a).

The second named person is the poet Ibn al-Hajjāj. Extracts from his works are given in the Yatīmat ad-Dahr (11, 211–270), and his life is told by Ibn allikān (Sl. Eng., 1, 448). His death in 391 is recorded in this history, (fol. 66 et seq), where Hilal says that he had served as a State secretary under his grandfather Ibrāhīm as-Sābi, and sets out a letter he had found addressed by the poet to his grandfather, as well as fragments of his poetry, about thirty lines in all. There is one volume of his Dīwān in the Library of the British Museum, Add. 7, 588, and another among the Schefer MSS. now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, ante, p. 333.

^{page 517 note 1} “b. Mukram” in Ibn al-Aīr, ix, 115. He had been in the service of Samsām ad-Daula (ib., 78), and a daughter of his was married to Jalāl ad-Daula (ib, 258).

^{page 518 note 1} I cannot find any mention of this name elsewhere. It is not, I think, a Nisbah, but denotes the headman of a tribe of Kurds. Iṣṭari, at p. 98, tells us that Sābūr, one of the provinces of Fars, had five districts or ‘Ramm’ (in Dozy's Suppl. spelt ‘Zamm’), meaning a Kurdish camping-ground, and that one of these, the Ramm of al-Ḥusain b. Ṣāliḥ, was known as Ramm ad-Dīwān. He tells us also that each Ramm had a headman, whose duties he enumerates (p. 113), and the Dīwāni of the text is, no doubt, the headman of that Ramm. A note to the passage of Iṣṭari mentions several variants of ‘al-Dīwān,’ and in Yāqūt, ii, 821, where the passage is copied, it is written ‘Az-zīzān’; the MS. tends to confirm the text of Iṣṭarī.

^{page 518 note 2} The capital of the province of Sābūr, though, as Iṣṭari tells us, not its largest town, bore the same name, but Bilād Sābūr is situate, according to Iṣṭari (p. 112), not in that province, but in Arrajān, another province of Fars.

^{page 519 note 1} Abu'l-aṭṭāb Hamzah b. Ibrāhīm was an astrologer in the service of Bahā ad-Daula and a favourite at Court. He is mentioned at fol. 36a as actively interfering with the question of who should manage public business after the arrest of al-Muwaffaq. He survived Bahā ad-Daula, and died in solitude and poverty in 419 a.h. (Ibn al-Aīr, ix, 256). As observed by Professor Robertson Smith (J.R.A.S., 1893, p. 214), astrology was at this period a part of statecraft.

^{page 519 note 3} Mentioned later in the account of Ṭāhir's invasion of Kirmān.

^{page 520 note 1} A eunuch high in favour at the Court of Bahā ad-Daula and of Muarrif ad-Daula. Later he removed to Mosul and died in 420 a.h. (Ibn al-Aīr, ix, 215, 233–5, 249, and 278.)

^{page 521 note 1} The place is not mentioned in Iṣṭari, who, however, disclaims enumerating all the strong places in Fars, their number, either in the hills or near the towns, being, he says on p. 116, in excess of five thousand.

^{page 521 note 2} I append the very idiomatic sentence which follows, for the meaning of which I am indebted to Professor D. S. Margoliouth, who considers the use of the word ‘to traffic, merchandise,’ as suitable and witty. Two persons are mentioned as visiting the vizier, and “He talked to them and they to him, and was familiar with them and they with him. And they repeated to him stories whereby they hoped to gain his favour, and repeated (afterwards) scraps of his conversation, whereby they hoped to gain favour at his expense.”

^{page 523 note 1} A life of Badī‘az-Zamān is given by Ibn allikān (Sl. Eng., i, 112).

^{page 525 note 1} ‘Utbi, p. 203, praises alaf's patronage of letters, and says that he got together a number of learned men to make an exhaustive compilation of interpretations of the Qurān, on which object he expended a sum of 20,000 dinars; and that a copy of the work existed in the Ṣābūni College at Nīsābūr and was of inordinate length. The Persian translator of ‘Utbi, who wrote shortly after 600 a.h., states that he saw the work at Iṣfahān in the library of the family of ujand, and that it consisted of one hundred volumes. (Lith. ed. Pers., p. 253, and B.M. Add. 24, 950, 141b.) And hahabi, in his notice of halaf, loc. cit., gives a long list of those from whom he derived and to whom he transmitted traditions.

^{page 525 note 2} The mention of halaf's ill-treatment of one of his people's shaikhs, at fol. 50a of the MS., seems to refer to this incident.

^{page 526 note 1} , meaning the warm zone or district, as opposed to , also written or cold district. Iṣṭari says (p. 159), The words are Persian, ‘hot and cold’: see Johnson's Persian Dictionary.

^{page 527 note 1} Khwāja b. Siyāhajīk died later from his wounds, just as arrangements were being made for his ransom (fol. 49a). Abu Muḥammad (al-Qāsim b. Mahdar Farrū), after Ṭāhir's death, managed to escape to īrāz, where he was made an ‘Ārid and subsequently became vizier (fol. 51a). His name occurs once earlier in the narrative. On fol. 29a it is stated that the reason why al-Muwaffaq, after the defeat of Ibn Batiyār, dismissed Usta Hurmuz from Kirmān, was his having previously arrested this Abu Muḥammad without al-Muwaffaq's permission.

^{page 527 note 2} On the spelling see Iṣṭari (160, note e), who says it is situate two Marḥalas distant from Sīrjān (ib., 169).

^{page 528 note 1} In command of the troops of Bahā ad-Daula in 380 and 383 (Ibn al-Aīr, ix, 53 and 68). In the latter passage his name is given as ‘Abd Allah, but the reading in the text is confirmed by the Dīwān of al-Ḥajjāj (B M. Add. 7, 588, 140b).

^{page 530 note 1} Successor to Abu ālib in 393; see infra.

^{page 533 note 1} Al-Muḥassan b. ‘Ali’ died in 384 a h. See his life by Ibn allikān (Sl. Eng., ii, 567), where some particulars are given of the life of his son ‘Ali, Hilāl's informant.

^{page 533 note 2} In the list of Tabari's works given by ahabi in the Tārikh al-Islām (B.M. Or. 48*, fol. 53b), is one entitled “al-Maḥāḍir wa as-Sijillāt.”

^{page 533 note 3} His life is given by Ibn allikān (Sl. Eng., ii, 147), and copious extracts from his works are given in the Yatīmat ad-Dahr, vol. i, 173.

^{page 533 note 4} i.e., the Buwaihid palace on the eastern bank of the Tigris.

^{page 534 note 1} i.e. Abu'l - Ḥasan ‘Ali b. ‘Abd al - ‘Azīz b. Ḥājib an - Nu‘mān, who was appointed Kātib to the Caliph in 386 (Ibn al-Aīr, ix, 90). He is mentioned by ahabi as already in office in the reign of ‘Aḍud ad-Daula (Or. 48, fol. 14b), and also as having read the Caliph' diploma of investiture on the accession of Bahā ad-Daula in 379, where he is described as Kātib (ib., fol. 17a). He is no doubt the person referred to in the Risālatu'l-ufrān as looking for a poem in ‘Adī's dīwān (J.R.A.S., 1900, p. 648). He was still in office in the year 421 a.h. (Ibn al-Aīr, ix, 280b).

^{page 535 note 1} At fol. 37b, under the year 390, is recorded the appointment of the Qāḍi Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Ḥusain b. Hārūn ad-Ḍabbi (not to be confused with the vizier of Majd ad-Daula, Abu’l-‘Abbās Ahmad b. Ibrāhīm ad-Ḍabbi, whose story follows later) to Madīnat al-Manṣūr, i.e. Western Baghdad, in the place of Abu Muḥammad ‘Abd Allah b. Muḥammad al-Akfāni, who was then transferred from that post to ar-Ruṣāfah and its district, i.e Eastern Baghdad.

In the same passage Abu’l-Ḥasan ‘Abd al-‘Azīz b. Aḥmad al-arazi is stated to have been appointed to Ṭarīq Dijla and Ṭarīq uzrāsān in addition to the office, he already held at the capital, i.e. īrāz. At fol. 65a, under 391 a.h., we are told that he died, and was succeeded in this office by his son Abu’l-Qāsim, who, however, was dismissed soon afterwards. And at fol. 69b, that the Qāḍi al-Aktāni succeeded to his office in Eastern Baghdād, “and thus got the whole of it,” that is, the entire eastern side of the city. He died in 405 (Ibn al-Aīr, ix, 172). Ṣafadi, in the Wāfi bil-Wafayāt (B.M. Add. 23, 358, 133b), calls him chief Qāḍi of Badād, and says he spent the sum of 100,000 dinars on learned men.

Al-arazi is said to have been an adherent of the Zāhiriyyah sect, i.e. the followers of Dā’ud b. ‘Ali b. Muḥammad al-Iṣfahāni, whose tenets are described by Shahrastāni (ed. Cureton, p. 160, Haarbrücker's translation, Halle, 1850, pp. 241–2; see Ansāb, Sam‘āni, B.M. Add. 23, 355, 194a, and ahabi, Or. 48, 227a). In Ibn al-Aīr, ix, 119, he is called al-Jazari.

^{page 535 note 2} ‘Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad,’ died in 406 a h.; see his life in Ibn allikān (Sl. Eng., i, 53), and a full notice of him by ahabi (Or. 49–52b).

^{page 536 note 1} ‘Muhammad b. Aḥmad,’ Qāḍi of Mosul in 412 a.h. (Ibn al-Athīr, ix, 229), and died in 444 a.h. (ahabi), (Or. 49, 206a).

^{page 536 note 2} A suburb of Baghdad on the Nahr ‘Isa canal.