A Literary History of the Arabs

by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson

[828] See Sir T. W. Arnold, The Caliphate, p. 146.

[829] Ed. of Buláq (1283 a.h.), pp. 356-366.

[830] Ibid., p. 358.

[831] These verses are cited in the Ḥadíqatu ’l-Afráḥ (see Brockelmann's Gesch. d. Arab. Litt., ii, 502), Calcutta, 1229 a.h., p. 280. In the final couplet there is an allusion to Kor. iv, 44: "Verily God will not wrong any one even the weight of an ant" (mithqála dharratⁱⁿ).

[832] Hartmann, Das Muwaššah (Weimar, 1897), p. 218.

[833] Literally, 'The Shaking of the Skull-caps,' in allusion to the peasants' dance.

[834] See Vollers, Beiträge zur Kenntniss der lebenden arabischen Sprache in Aegypten, Z.D.M.G., vol. 41 (1887), p. 370.

[835] Ibn Khallikán, De Slane's translation, vol. i, p. 3.

[836] It should be pointed out that the Wafayát is very far from being exhaustive. The total number of articles only amounts to 865. Besides the Caliphs, the Companions of the Prophet, and those of the next generation (Tábi‘ún), the author omitted many persons of note because he was unable to discover the date of their death. A useful supplement and continuation of the Wafayát was compiled by al-Kutubí († 1363 a.d.) under the title Fawátu ’l-Wafayát.

[837] The Arabic text of the Wafayát has been edited with variants and indices by Wüstenfeld (Göttingen, 1835-1850). There is an excellent English translation by Baron MacGuckin de Slane in four volumes (1842-1871).