[758] See Asin Palacios, Islam and the Divine Comedy, London, 1926.
[759] Abridged from Ibnu ’l-‘Idhárí, al-Bayán al-Mughrib, ed. by Dozy, vol. ii, p. 61 seq.
[760] Ibn Khallikán, ed. by Wüstenfeld, No. 802; De Slane's translation, vol. iv, p. 29 sqq.
[761] Muqaddasí (ed. by De Goeje), p. 236, cited by Goldziher, Die Zâhiriten, p. 114.
[762] Dozy, Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne (Leyden, 1861), vol. iii, p. 90 sqq.
[763] ‘Abdu ’l-Raḥmán III was the first of his line to assume this title.
[764] Maqqarí, vol. i, p. 259. As Maqqarí's work is our principal authority for the literary history of Moslem Spain, I may conveniently give some account of it in this place. The author, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Tilimsání al-Maqqarí († 1632 a.d.) wrote a biography of Ibnu ’l-Khaṭíb, the famous Vizier of Granada, to which he prefixed a long and discursive introduction in eight chapters: (1) Description of Spain; (2) Conquest of Spain by the Arabs; (3) History of the Spanish dynasties; (4) Cordova; (5) Spanish-Arabian scholars who travelled in the East; (6) Orientals who visited Spain; (7) Miscellaneous extracts, anecdotes, poetical citations, &c., bearing on the literary history of Spain; (8) Reconquest of Spain by the Christians and expulsion of the Arabs. The whole work is entitled Nafḥu ’l-Ṭíb min ghuṣní ’l-Andalusi ’l-raṭíb wa-dhikri wazírihá Lisáni ’l-Dín Ibni ’l-Khaṭíb. The introduction, which contains a fund of curious and valuable information—"a library in little"—has been edited by Dozy and other European Arabists under the title of Analectes sur l'Histoire et la Littérature des Arabes d'Espagne (Leyden, 1855-1861).
[765] The name of Slaves (Ṣaqáliba) was originally applied to prisoners of war, belonging to various northern races, who were sold to the Arabs of Spain, but the term was soon widened so as to include all foreign slaves serving in the harem or the army, without regard to their nationality. Like the Mamelukes and Janissaries, they formed a privileged corps under the patronage of the palace, and since the reign of ‘Abdu ’l-Raḥmán III their number and influence had steadily increased. Cf. Dozy, Hist. des Mus. d'Espagne, vol. iii, p. 58 sqq.
[766] Dozy, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 103 seq.
[767] Qazwíní, Átháru ’l-Bilád, ed. by Wüstenfeld, p. 364, l. 5 sqq.