1335

Ibn Khaldun is thinking here of Bedouin Arabic.

1336

Cf. p. 415, below.

1337

Bisat al-hal "the circumstances."

1338

Cf. p. 341, above.

1339

He died in 149 [766/671. Cf. GAL, I, 98 f.; Suppl., I, 158. For the story, Cf. pp. 333 f., above.

1340

A and B have "methods and power."

1341

Cf. pp. 397 f., below.

1342

Cf. Issawi, pp. 150 f. For the traditional picture of the corruption of the Arabic language, to which Ibn Khaldun has already alluded many times in the preceding pages, see, for instance, Majd-ad-din Ibn al-Athir, Nihayah, 1, 4: "Among (the early Muslims,) the Arabic language was preserved in a form that was correct and unaffected by defects and errors. Then, the great cities were conquered. The Arabs mixed with peoples of other races, such as the Byzantines, the Persians, the Abyssinians, the Nabataeans [Aramaic­speaking Iraqis], and other peoples whose countries were conquered by the Muslims with the help of God and whose property and persons fell to them as the prize of conquest. In consequence, the different parties intermingled, the languages became mixed, and the idioms interpenetrated. A new generation grew up. They learned as much Arabic and Arabic idiom as they needed for conversation and as was indispensable to them in discussion. They had no need for anything else. They had little interest in anything that would call for a (deeper study of Arabic). Therefore they neglected it completely. Thus (the Arabic language,) which had been one of the most important subjects of study and an obligatory necessity, was rejected and avoided and came to be considered as of no account. . . . (By the time a second generation appeared) the Arabic language had become un-Arabic, or nearly so...."

1343

Bulaq does not have the relative clause.

1344

Modern scholarship, in fact, assumes that South Arabic qayl is derived from the same root as qawl.

1345

The text should probably be corrected to hamala(t) 'ala dhalika. Bulaq suggests: hamala dhalika 'ala. A has wa-hamala . . .

1346

The following reference to the pronunciation of k is found in Bulaq, and in the margins of C and D. The clause at the end ("as it is . . .") also appears in the other text, where it belongs to the preceding sentence, and this may be its original and correct position.

1347

The MSS usually do not have a dot under the k, which would indicate a sound like g. Such a dot under the k is, however, found in C in the passage below, p. 349,1. 32, which appears in C on a separately inserted sheet.

1348

The Arab authorities disagree as to whether 'Aylan was the father of Qays, or whether 'Aylin was added to the name of Qays as an epithet. Cf., for instance, Ibn Hazm, Jamharat ansab al-'Arab (Cairo, 1368/1948), pp. 232 ff:; Lisan al-'Arab, XIII, 519.

1349

Cf. Bombaci, p. 468.

1350

The express reference to the Banu Kahlan is not found in Bulaq.

1351

Qur'an 1.6 (5).

1352

The remainder of the section is not found in Bulaq. C has it on an inserted sheet.