1

Cf. Issawi, pp. 26 f., and J. Sauvaget, Historiens arabes (Paris, 1946), pp. 138-42.

2

"Personality criticism" (al jarh wa-t-ta'dil) is concerned with investigating the reliability or unreliability of the transmitters of traditions. Ibn Khaldun often has occasion to refer to it; see, for instance, p. 76 and 2:16off., 447ff., below.

2a

Cf. n. 379 to Ch. i, below.

3

Cf. al-Mas'udi, Muruj adh-dhahab, II, 425 ff. The story goes back ultimately to the snake (dragon) that frightened the workmen who built Alexandria. Cf. Pseudo-Callisthenes, Historia Alexandri Magni, ed. Kroll (Berlin, 1926), p. 32.

4

Gharar "risk" is a legal term, used mainly in connection with commercial matters. In this context it implies unlawful gambling.

5

The "vital spirit" which, according to Galenic and Muslim medicine, was believed to originate in the left cavity of the heart. See also pp. 210, 329, and 2:136, 374, below.

6

Mas'uq may refer to death by lightning, but also includes other kinds of inexplicable sudden death. Cf. Lisan al-'Arab, XII, 66.

7

Cf. al-Mas'udi, Muruj adh-dhahab, IV, 94. The story of the Statue of the Starling was mentioned before al-Mas'i di by Ibn Khurradadhbih, Kitdb al-Masalik wa-l-mamalik, tr. M. J. de Goeje (Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum, No. 6) (Leiden, 1889), p. 88. Many other geographers refer to it; cf. J. Marquart, Osteuropaische and ostasiatische Streifzage (Leipzig, 1903), pp. 260 ff.; and, more recently, M. J. Deny, "La Legende de l'eau des sauterelles et de l'oiseau qui detruit ces insectes," Journal asiatique, CCI1 (1923), 325. Marquart sought the origin of the story in a popular etymology for the Capitol: Campidoglio, campo d'oglio "olive oil field."

8

Al-Bakri s Masalik contains a brief reference to the "Copper City." Cf. MS. Nuru Osmaniye, 3034, fol. 186a, Laleli, 2144, fol. 58a. This reference does not appear in W. M. de Slane, Description de l'Afrique septentrionale (2d ed.; Algiers, 1913). None of the available texts says anything about a Gate City," A village called Dhat al-abwab, which, however, is different from the one mentioned here, is referred to by al-Bakri in Mu'jam ma sta'jam, p. 218. Cf. also below, 2:245.

9

Cf. 2:237 f., below.

10

Ibn Khaldun refers to Muruj adh-dhahab, IV, 95. However, he adds some details to al-Mas'udi's very brief statement, from his own knowledge of the famous story. An earlier contemporary of al-Mas'udi gives it in considerable detail: Ibn al Faqih, Kitab al-buldan (Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum, No. 5) (Leiden, 1885), pp. 71 (n.g), 88 ff., quoted by Yaqut, Mujam al-buldan, ed. Wustenfeld, IV, 455 ff, and other geographers. In the eleventh century, the theologian al-Khatib al-Baghdadi studied it in monograph form under the title of "The Story of the Bronze City and the Leaden Cupola." Cf. Yusuf al-'Ashsh, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (Damascus, 1945), p.109. Cf. also G. Ferrand in Journal asiatique, CCVII (1925, 61 ff. Through its inclusion in The Arabian Nights, the story has become familiar to Western readers.

Instead of "Copper City," the city is referred to as "Bronze City" by al-Mas'udi and elsewhere. The word "bronze" (sufr) is at times wrongly translated as "brass." Cf. M. Aga-Oglu, "A Brief Note on the Islamic Terminology for Bronze and Brass," Journal of the American Oriental Society, LXIV (1944), 218-32. The vacillation between "Bronze City" and "Copper City" is due to the fact that the Arabic words for bronze and copper were often used interchangeably without regard to their precise meaning. Cf. G. Levi Della Vida, "The 'Bronze Era' in Muslim Spain," Journal of the American Oriental Society, LXIII (1943), 183 (n. 7).

11

The great general (A.D. 640-716/17) who completed the conquest of the Muslim West. Cf. E. Levi-Provencal in EI, s.v. "Musa b. Nulair."

12

The same argument occurs above, pp. 24 and 27.

13

Cf. Issawi, pp. 34 f.

14

Referring to the injunctions of the religious law.

For this paragraph, one should compare what Ibn Khaldun says in 'Ibar, II, 116: "In connection with happenings that can be referred to sensual perception, the information transmitted by a single informant (khahar al­wahid) is sufficient, if its soundness appears probable."

15

Cf. R. A. Nicholson, Translations of Eastern Poetry and Prose, pp. 179 f.

16

Cf. Issawi, pp. 36 f.

17

"Conventional" is used here in the sense of the more common "traditional."

18

Cf. 3:368, below.

19

In later Muslim scholarship, it was considered disrespectful to suggest that earlier scholars knew less than oneself or than other, more recent men. Cf., for instance, F. Rosenthal, "Al-Asturlabi and as-Samaw'al on Scientific Progress," Osiris, IX (1950, 563.

20

See 3:114 ff., below, where 'Umar's alleged action and al-Ma'mun's translating activities are discussed again.

21

Qur'an 17.85 (87).

22

Cf. p. lxxv, above, and 2:417, below.

23

Cf., for instance, al-Amidi, al-Ihkdm fi usul al-a/kdm (Cairo, 1914), I, 16 f. Ibn Khaldun was well acquainted with this author's works.

24

Cf. also 2:295, below.

25

Cf. Muruj adhdhahab, II, 169 ff. Mobedh (magupat) is the title of the Zoroastrian priest. Mobedhan actually is the Persian plural of the word. Cf. also 2:104 f., below.

In an abbreviated form, the speech is quoted as made by 'Abdallah b. Tahir (cf. 2:139, below), in Ibn Abi Hajalah at-Tilimsani, Sukkarddn as­sultdn (Cairo, 1317/1899, in the margin of al-'Amili, Mikhldh), p. 86.

26

Imarah, from the same root as 'umran, and practically identical with it. Cf. al-Mubashshir b. Fatik, Mukhtar al-hikam, No. 3 of the sayings of Seth: "If a ruler thinks that he can amass property through injustice, he is wrong, for property can be amassed only through cultivation of the soil ('imarat al-arl)." Cf. the Spanish translation published by H. Knust, Mittheilungen aus dem Eskurial, p. 82.

27

Cf. al-Mas'udi, Muruj adh-dhahab, II, 210. Anosharwan is the celebrated Sassanian ruler Khosraw I, A.D. 531-579. A shortened form of the saying is quoted anonymously by Ibn Qutaybah,'Uyun al-akhbar (Cairo, 1343-49/1925-30), I, 9. A similarly shortened form is ascribed to 'Ali in a marginal note in one of the MSS of the Secretum Secretorum; cf. Badawi s edition (cited below, n. 29), p. 128 (n. 1).

28

C and D: al-kulliyat. B: al-kalimat "words."

29

The pseudo-Aristotelian Politics, which Ibn Khaldun also quotes below, p. 235 and 2:48, is better known as Sirr al-asrar "Secretum Secretorum." The work is supposed to have been translated from the Greek by Yahya b. al-Bitriq; cf. GAL, I, 203; 2d ed., 1, 221 f.; Suppl., I, 364. It had even greater success in European languages than in Arabic.

The Arabic text has recently been published by 'Abd-ar-Rahman Badawi, Fontes Graecae doctrinarum politicarum Islamicarum (Cairo, 1954), I, 65-171. A modern English translation of the Arabic was prepared by IsmaiL 'Ali and A. S. Fulton, and published in Vol. V of the works of Roger Bacon, ed. R. Steele (Oxford, 1920). Cf. M. Plessner, Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, XXVIII (1925), 912 ff. An edition and French translation were prepared by P. Sbath but have remained unpublished. Cf. P. Sbath, Al-Frhris (Cairo, 1938), 1, 9 (n. 4).

The passage quoted appears at the end of the third chapter dealing with justice. Cf. pp. 126-28 of Badawi's ed., and Roger Bacon, ed. cit., V, 226; cf. also pp. L11 f. and 126. Cf., further, M. Steinschneider, "Die arabischen Ubersetzungen aus dem Griechischen," in Zwolftes Beiheft zum Central­blatt fur Bibliothekswesen (Leipzig, 1893), p. 82. A fifteenth-century English rendering may be found in R. Steele, Three Prose Versions of the Secreta Secretorum (Early English Text Society, Extra Series No. 74) (London, 1898), p. 207.

Among other Arabic authors who quote this passage, mention may be made of Ibn Juljul [tenth century] (cf. Badawi, op. cit., p. 37 of the introd.), and al-Mubashshir b. Fatik [eleventh century], Mukhtar al-hikam, at the end of the chapter on Aristotle. Ibn Juljul, in turn, was quoted by Ibn Abi Ulaybi'ah, 'Uyun al-anba', ed. Muller, I, 66 f. Ibn Abi Usaybi'ah shows the eight sentences inscribed along the sides of an octagon. Cf. also R. Blachere's translation of Sa'id al-Andalusi, Kitab Tabaqat al-umam (Paris, 1935), p. 68. There are quite a few minor variations in the text as it appears in the various sources. Cf. now Wad Sayyid's edition of Ibn Juljul, Les Generations des medecins et des sages (Cairo, 1955), p. 26.

The MSS of the Muqaddimah usually leave an empty space for insertion of the circle in which the saying is to be inscribed. The drawing is executed in B and C. The artistically executed drawing of an inscribed octagon re­produced here comes from an Istanbul MS of the Secretum, Reis el-kuttap (Asir 1), 1002, fol. 121b. (Cf. Frontispiece, Vol. 2.)

30

Ma'luf "familiar" may here possibly mean "harmonious." Arabic ta'lif translates Greek armonia. Cf., for instance, P. Kraus and R. Walzer, Galeni Compendium Timaei Platonis (Corpus Platonicum Medii Aevi, Plato Arabus i) (London, 1951), p. 106.

31

Cf. pp. 313 ff., below.

32

Abdallah b. al-Muqaffa', d. 142 [769/60]. Cf. GAL, I, 151 f.; Suppl., I, 233 ff. Cf. also below, 3:393.

33

Muhammad b. al-Walid, ca. 451 to 520 or 525 [1059 to 1126 or 1131]. Cf. GAL, I, 459; Suppl., I, 829 f. Cf. also above, p. lxxxv.

34

The wazir of Khosraw I Anosharwan who appears in Arabic literature and is the chief representative of Persian wisdom.

35

Ibn Khaldun here uses two proverbial expressions for truthful information. They are: "Juhaynah has the right information," and "He gave me the true age of his camel."

36

Cf. Qur'an 24.35 (35).

37

Cf. R. A. Nicholson, Translations of Eastern Poetry and Prose, pp. 180 f.

38

Cf. 2:411 ff., below.

39

Arabic uses the same word (waby) for Prophetical "inspiration" and for what we would translate in this context as "instinct." The "inspiration" of bees is mentioned in Qur'an 16.68 (70).

40

Qur'an 20.50 (52).

41

Cf. Issawi, p. 26.

42

Cf. above, p. lxxxi, and below, p. 249.