A madman to his malady

Muhammad told us: al-Hasan told us: Abu Musa told us: Abu ‘Awana said: Abu ‘Ali said: Muhammad ibn al-Husayn said: Abu 'l-Muwaffaq Sayf ibn Jabir, a judge of Wasit, said:

We had a neighbor whose name was ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Ash‘ath. Handsome and well-formed, he was a stand-out among his family, and a quintessential man of his day. He had been in the presence of [the first and second caliphs,] Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, may God be pleased with them.
          It happened that this man fell prey to a melancholic imbalance that scorched his wits and sent them flying. When he went out, groups of boys delighted in hooting at him and calling him "Rahmawayh!" to which he would never respond. But if he were addressed as ‘Abd al-Rahman, he would answer, "I am ‘Abd al-Rahman." I saw him one day when boys were pelting him with rocks, and I said, "Fight back, and get them off you!" He responded, "Two things prevent me from reacting: fear of God, and fear of being just like them."

He passed by one day as I was conducting a lecture of Muhammmad ibn al-Hasan's treatise on prayer. Seated next to me was my saintly brother, who was much older than me and had lost his vision. I said, "O ‘Abd al-Rahman, why don't you join the group and listen?" He said: "How can I, when [as the proverb says (no. 771)] 'Every bird hunts according to its ability'?"
          He then said, "O Ibn Jabir, if it pleases you to be at the center of this company, then your brother will certainly be pleased with the place God has for him on the Day of Resurrection." At this, my brother fell face down, weeping, while ‘Abd al-Rahman stood regarding him. "O Ibn Jabir," he said, "when I look at you I seem to see the angels rejoicing; your brother, on the other hand, I see covered up and hauled away." Then he said to me: "O Sayf ibn Jabir, store your tongue the way you store up dirhams, and cultivate a love of silence before you speak again. As long as speech is what you love, stay silent."
          "Sit [with us]!" I said to him. "In the spirit of pure friendliness, I enjoin you." He said: "Ask God to forgive you, and ask Him: 'With whom must You exercise greater mercy than Your mercy towards me?'" He then said: "O Ibn Jabir, I say what the prophet Job said, peace be upon him: 'I am touched by adversity, and You are most merciful of the merciful.'
          "While we remain alive, not one of us goes without weeping. What causes you to weep? [Consider] what was taken from me: is it not inferior to what remains? namely, my love for Him and for His prophets and His pious servants? and [my memory of] the presence of Abu Bakr and ‘Umar?" Then as he turned away he said [to God], "If the ordeal comes from You, so does the healing. And if You take away, so do You allow to remain."

Muhammad told us: al-Hasan told us: Abu Musa told us: Abu  ‘Awana related to us, saying that Abu ‘Ali Muhammad ibn al-Husayn [sic] related that Sayf ibn Jabir said:

One day I set out for the cemetery to attend a funeral. After the interment, I went wandering among the graves, where I came upon ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Ash‘ath. He was seated between two tombs with his cheek upon his knee, saying, "You who have caused me to wander the earth have driven me to this cemetery, and made me an intimate of the graves." Then he said, "I beg for God's forgiveness! I know very well that you were ordained [as my tormentor], and that if you were to disobey, you would be put back onto me by an even harsher master."
          I said to him, "‘Abd al-Rahman, who are you talking to?" He said, "To a mistress that was imposed upon me." I asked, "Who is she?" "Melancholia," he said. I said: "Why don't you pray to God, and ask Him to dispel her from you?" He said, "It may be that I do pray, Ibn Jabir, and that I attain my wish. My call for God's help is my prayer, and what I attain is submission to His command and joy in His judgment."
          I said to him, "Shall I sit with you and keep you company?" He said, "No. For companionship, God gave me solitude, just as He gave you the company of law students." And then he said, "O Sayf ibn Jabir, is it not taught that Mu’arriq al-‘Ijli said: 'I asked God for a thing twenty years ago, and He has not given it to me, and [yet] I have not given up hope'?" "Of course," I said. He then said to me, his voice raised in anger, "O Sayf! If God were to make an amputee of me, or a leper, I would know Him to be the cause, and I would know Him to be a just arbiter who does what He will."

From Madmen Who Were Intelligent by Abu 'l-Qasim al-Nisaburi

Men who loved women

Most of the [poets of the] desert Arabs—nay, all of them—were impassioned lovers. Among those of frequent mention and widespread fame for passion and love-song were:

   Qays Majnun of the Banu ‘Amir, who was the lover of Layla
   Qays ibn Dharih, who loved Lubna
   Tawba ibn al-Humayyir, who loved Layla al-Akhyaliyya
   Kuthayyir, who loved ‘Azza
   Jamil ibn Ma‘mar, who loved Buthayna
   al-Mu’ammil, who loved al-Dhalfa’
   al-Muraqqish, who loved Asma’
   al-Muraqqish the Younger, who loved Fatima bint al-Mundhir
   ‘Urwa ibn Hizam, who loved ‘Afra’
   ‘Amr (sic) ibn ‘Ajlan, who loved Hind
   ‘Ali ibn Udaym, who loved Manhala
   al-Muhadhdhib, who loved Ladhdha
   Dhu 'l-Rumma, who loved Mayya
   Qabus, who loved Munya
   al-Mukhabbal al-Sa‘di, who loved al-Mayla’
   Hatim al-Ta’i, who loved Mawiya
   Waddah al-Yaman, who loved Umm al-Banin
   al-Ghamr ibn Dirar, who loved Juml
   al-Nimr ibn Tawlab, who loved Hamza
   Badr, who loved Nu‘m
   Shubayl, who loved Falun
   Bishr, who loved Hind
   ‘Amr who loved Da‘d
   ‘Umar ibn Abi Rabi‘a, who loved Thurayya
   al-Ahwas, who loved Salama
   As‘ad ibn ‘Amr, who loved Layla bint Sayfi
   Nusayb, who loved Zaynab
   Suhaym ‘Abd Bani 'l-Hashas, who loved ‘Umayra
   ‘Ubayd Allah ibn Qays, who loved Kuthayyira
   Abu 'l-Atahiya, who loved ‘Utba
   al-‘Abbas ibn al-Ahnaf, who loved Fawz
   Abu 'l-Shis who loved Umama

These are just a few of the many impassioned lovers. We have limited ourselves to these few in preference to others so as not to go on too long and mar our book. For every one of these men there is a love story, relating the circumstances of their passions, with much to comment upon and describe.

From The Book of Refinement and Refined People
by Muhammmad ibn Ishaq ibn Yahya al-Washsha’ (Cf.)

al-Damiri on the owl

Al-Būm ("The Owl") is said for the male bird, and
al-Būma ("The Owless") for the female.
Al-Ṣadā ("The Night Cry") and
al-Fayyād ("The Strutter") are said for the male only.

The female is called by the filionyms:
Umm al-Kharāb ("Mother of Ruins") and
Umm al-Ṣibyān ("Mother of Boys"), and is also called
Ghurāb al-layl ("Crow of the Night").

Al-Jahiz says that along with al-ṣadā, ghurāb al-layl and al-būma,
al-Hāma ("The Vengeful Head")
al-Ḍuwa‘ ("The Night Terror") and
al-Khaffāsh, ("The Bat") are all of a type, i.e. nocturnal flying creatures that leave their homes at night. He goes on to say that some of them feed on mice, sparrows, geckoes and small reptiles, and that others live on tiny insects.

It is in the owl's nature to break into the nests of all other birds, kick them out, and feed on their eggs and chicks. Its powers are greatest by night, when it remains awake. At night, no bird is capable of defending against it. If it is spotted by other birds in the daytime, they will kill it and pluck out its feathers, so great is the enmity between them and the owl. For this reason, hunters will bait their nets with [the carcass of] the owl, as a trap for other birds to fall into.

[In a now-inextant work, perhaps his Book of Problems and Experiences,] al-Mas‘udi says that al-Jahiz said that the owl imagines itself to be the most handsome of the animals, and that its high opinion of its own beauty is the reason it is only seen by night: for fear of the evil eye, it refuses to go out by day.

Among the falsehoods spread by the early Arabs is that after the soul of a slain or otherwise deceased person is separated from its body, it takes the form of a bird and screeches from atop that person's grave. The form it takes is that of the owl called the ṣadā, mentioned by the poet Tawba ibn al-Humayyir, one of the great lovers among the Arabs (meter: ṭawīl):

   Though stone and a slab of wood be my covering,
      when I am greeted by Laylā al-Akhyaliyya,
   joyfully I will return her greetings, and if not
      a screeching ṣadā will greet her on my behalf beside my grave.

The story is told that when Laylā passed by Tawba's grave and recited these verses, something like a bird rose from from the earth and startled her camel, which threw her to her death, and that she was buried there by Tawba's side.

There is more than one kind of owl, but they all love privacy and solitude, and are by nature enemies of the crow. In Ibn al-Najjār's History, it is told that Chosroes ordered his servant: "Hunt down for me the worst of birds, roast it over the worst of firewood, and serve it to the worst of men." So the servant killed an owl, roasted it over a fire of oleander-wood, and fed it to a slanderer.

In chapter 47 of The Lamp of Kings, the imam Abū Bakr al-Turtūshi tells that one night when the caliph ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwān was unable to sleep, he called for a courtier to help him pass the time in nocturnal conversation. It was in the course of this that the courtier said: "There is a she-owl in Mosul, O Commander of the Faithful, and in Basra there is another. On behalf of her son, the Mosuli owl asked the Basran owl for her daughter's hand in marriage. 'Not unless you pay me a bride-price of one hundred ruined estates,' said the owl of Basra. 'I can't offer you that right now,' the owl of Mosul responded, 'but if our present governor - God save him! - remains in his post for one more year, I will fulfill it.' " At this, ‘Abd al-Malik was brought to his senses, and took a role in hearing criminal cases and rendering justice to the people, and pursued inquiries into his governors' affairs.

I have seen it in written in the hand of a major scholar in a certain codex that al-Ma'mūn once looked down from his palace and saw a man standing at the foot of the wall, and writing on it with a piece of coal. He said to one of his servants, "Go see what that man is writing, and bring him to me." The servant sped down to the man and, seizing him, took in what he had written. It was this (meter: basīṭ):

   O castle, repository of badness and blame,
      when will the owl build its nest in your corners?
   The day when that happens will be my delight:
      among dry-eyed mourners, I will take first place.

"You'll answer to the Commander of the Faithful for this," said the servant. "I beg of you, by God, do not take me to him," said the man. "There is no other way," said the servant, and escorted him off.
      When the man was brought before the king, the servant made known what he had written. "Woe betide you!" said al-Ma'mūn. "What inspired you to write this?" The man said:
      "O Commander of the Faithful, you are well aware of all the wealth your castle's treasurehouses contain, and the clothes and jewelry, the food and drink, the beds and furniture and fine vessels, the slave-girls and eunuchs, and other goods surpassing my powers of description and comprehension. Passing by it in the furthest extreme of hunger and poverty, I fell to contemplating my own state, and asked myself, 'What good is there for me in this lofty castle's prosperity while I starve?' If it lay in ruins, I would not lack for stone and lumber, and firewood and nails that I might sell and have enough to live on by the revenue. Or does the Commander of the Faithful not know the words of the poet (meter: ṭawīl):

   If a man has no stake in another mans's rule, nor shares
      in its benefits, his thoughts will turn to its fall.
   It's not out of hate, only desire for something else,
      that he longs for the the state's overthrow.

Al-Ma'mūn told his servant, "Give him a thousand dinars," then said to the man, "Every year, as long as this castle prospers its tenants, this sum is yours." Here is another pair of verses on the same theme (meter: ṭawīl):

   If you are in government, do a good job of it.
      Soon enough you will pass away and leave it behind.
   How many lords of state have the days swept away
      whose fiefdoms were double your own?

Legal rulings. It is forbidden to eat every sort of owl. Al-Rāfi‘ī said that Abū ‘Āṣim al-‘Abbādī compared owls to vultures in this regard - the ḍuwa‘ [= the curlew?] as well as the būm. Al-Shāfi‘ī, God have mercy on him, said that the flesh of the ḍuwa‘ was not forbidden. The affirmation that ḍuwa‘ and būm are separate species is contravened by [al-Jawharī's dictionary, entitled] the Ṣaḥāḥ (Correct Usage), according to which al-ḍuwa‘ is said for all nocturnal birds, but belongs to the genus of the owl. And al-Mufaḍḍal says al-ḍuwa‘ is a male owl. So whatever one says about the ḍuwa‘ must be true for the būm also. Male and female are of one species, and the same dietary code applies to both, as [al-Nawawī says] in Garden of the Seekers: "The prevailing opinion is that al-ḍuwa‘ belongs to the genus of the owl. We rule that it is forbidden to eat it."

Useful information. Ibn al-Sunnī says [in The Work of Day and Night, no. 623] that al-Hasan ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Talib (may God exalted be pleased with him) narrated: "The Prophet, God's blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'If a man recites the call to prayer in the right ear of his newborn child, and the iqāma into the left ear, the child will not be afflicted by Umm al-Ṣibyān.'" This was the practice of ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz, may God have mercy on him. Opinion is divided on the meaning of Umm al-Ṣibyān here. Some say it is the owl, while others say it is the effect of demonic possession.

Magical properties. When an owl is killed, one of its eyes remains open while the other closes. If the ball of the open eye is placed beneath the gemstone of a ring, anyone who wears the ring will remain awake as long as it is on their finger. And the other eye has the inverse property. "If you cannot tell the eyes apart," al-Tabari says, "put them in water. The wakeful eye will float, and the sleep-inducing eye will sink to the bottom."
      Hermes said that if you take the heart of an owl and put it in the left hand of a sleeping woman, she will begin to speak about everything she did that day. And if the heart is removed from a large owl, wrapped in a piece of wolfskin, and bound to the upper arm, its wearer will be protected from thieves and night-crawlers and will not fear anyone.
      If the bile of an owl is smeared around the eyes, it improves vision. And if the fat of an owl is rendered and smeared around the eyes, night scenes will be viewable as if by day.
      The owl lays two eggs, one fertile and one barren. To tell them apart, prick them with a feather. The fertile egg will be shown by [the movement of?] the feather.

Dream interpretation. The owl seen in a dream indicates a crafty thief, and some say it indicates a fearsome king so dreaded by his subjects that they suffer liver damage. It symbolizes heroism and the cessation of fear, because it is one of the birds of the night. And God knows best.

From The Greater Life of Animals by Kamal al-Din al-Damiri

Comic Tales of Sayfawayh

The preacher Sayfawayh was a byword for dull-wittedness. Muhammad ibn al-‘Abbas ibn Hayyawayh said:

Sayfawayh was asked: "You who instruct the people, why do you not relate hadith?"
     He said: "Write this down: 'I was informed by Shurayk on the authority of Mughira on the authority of Ibrahim ibn ‘Abdallah likewise, with the same wording.' "
     "Likewise to what?" they asked him.
     "That's how I heard the hadith," he said, "and that's how I relate it."

Ibn Khalaf said: One day, a man was coming from a wedding, and Sayfawayh asked him what he'd had to eat. In the middle of the man's description, he said: "If only I could swallow the contents of your stomach!"

[...]

Abu 'l-‘Abbas ibn Mashruh tells that Sayfawayh bought a quantity of flour and took it home for his breakfast, then went out to seek his evening meal. "We baked no bread," [his patrons told him], "for lack of firewood."
     He said: "So did you bake any pies?"

Abu Mansur al-Tha‘alibi narrated that a man asked Sayfawayh the meaning of al-ghislīn ["suppuration"] in God's Book. He said: "God only knows. One time I put the same question to an elderly legal scholar whose family were from the Hijaz, and could not get the slightest bit from him."

Sayfawayh stopped at a graveyard while mounted on his ass. From one grave in particular the ass shied away, and he said: "This man must have been a veterinarian."

[Incorrectly,] Sayfawayh recited the Qur'anic verse (69:32): "Then set him in a chain of ninety cubits' length."
     "You added twenty cubits," they told him.
     "This chain was made for harlots and full-grown reprobates," he said. "For you, a ten-penny length of ribbon will suffice."

In his presence, the Qur'anic verse (10:27) was recited: "As if their faces were overshadowed by pieces of the night." Sayfawayh said: "This, by God, is what happens to people who indulge in night prayer!"

When the verse (55:58) was recited: "As if they were ruby or coral." Sayfawayh remarked: "Not like the shameless womenfolk of today!" [as if in response to 55:56 two verses prior].

Sayfawayh was asked: "When the inhabitants of Paradise crave asida, what do they do?" He said:
     "God sends them rivers of syrup, wheat and rice, and they are told: 'Make it and eat it, and excuse Us from your repast.' "

From Reports of Imbeciles and Simpletons by Ibn al-Jawzi

Names of Simpletons

Names of simpletons whose comic tales have been written up as books by unknown authors:

    Comic Tales of Juha
    Comic Tales of Abu Damdam
    Comic Tales of Ibn Ahmar (?)
    Comic Tales of Sawra the Bedouin
    Comic Tales of Ibn al-Mawsili
    Comic Tales of Ibn Ya‘qub
    Comic Tales of Abu ‘Ubayd al-Hazmi
    Comic Tales of Abu ‘Alqama
    Comic Tales of Sayfawayh

(Ibn) al-Nadim, Fihrist VIII.3 (circa 987 CE). (Ibid).

Attributed to al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad (2011 throwback)

Deliberative measures

Between judgment by analogy (qiyās) and independent reasoning (ijtihād), the difference is as follows. Analogy is the act of holding one thing against another in view of some likeness adjudged between them. Others say that it is the imposition of one's judgment of the former thing upon the latter by virtue of a perceived likeness. Abū Hāshim al-Jubbā’ī, may God have mercy on him, defined it as "holding one thing against another and imposing one's judgment of the latter upon the former," explaining that a standardized measurement is for this reason called an "analogical implement" (miqyās): whatever one wants measured must be held against it. In this way, the shoemaker's template used for matching soles to one another is called a miqyās.
       Qiyās therefore refers exclusively to the use of one thing in order to make a judgment about another thing, and its root verb qāsa yaqīsu is used in this same sense. Mere likeness between two things is not analogy; qiyās is not said unless the two are correlated such that a judgment incumbent upon one is applied to the other. In this sense, God (be He exalted) might well be called al-Qāyis ("The Analogist"), for the likeness He enforces between the unbelieving and the dead (35:22), the believer and the living (36:70), unbelief and darkness (6:122) and belief and light (61:8).
       Whoever defines analogy as "the abstraction of what is true from what is invalid" is way off. This may define something, but it can't be called analogy. Here is an example of analogy: "If a good person is susceptible to committing an offense that a wise man is not, then the good person is liable to a penalty that the wise man is not." In the parlance of legal scholars, it is to hold a "branch" [i.e. the case under consideration] against a "root" [a precedent case whose judgment is secure] in order that the rationale of the latter ruling be applied to the former.
       The original meaning of ijtihād is "utmost exertion." One can be said to "exert one's utmost" in carrying a stone, but in carrying a date pit there is no exertion. Theologians define it as the process that determines the preponderance of one opinion [above all others] in matters that call for judgment, such that all who practice it will reach the same conclusion. And their reference to statements by "the people of qiyās" and "the people of ijtihād" proves that these methods are not the same. Analogy is more specialized than ijtihād, which includes analogy and other methods besides. [Even so,] al-Shāfi‘ī says that ijtihād and analogy are the same thing; according to his definition, ijtihād means applying the rationale of legal precedent to the exclusion of all else. Legal scholars define it as exerting one's utmost in figuring out how the law applies to a given situation, in a way that is neither obvious nor coeval with the law's original intent.
      This is what Mu‘ādh ibn Jabal meant by saying: "I will exert my utmost to reach an opinion (ajtahidu ra’yī) in those cases wherein I find no answer in the Qur'ān or sunna." "Opinion" (ra’ī) here is the outcome of deduction and analogy applied toward legal judgment. ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb [once reprimanded a scribe who concluded a legal brief with the words: "This is the opinion of God and ‘Umar." Seizing the document, he crossed them out and] wrote: "This is the opinion of 'Umar." And ‘Alī, peace be upon him, once said: "My opinion and the opinion of 'Umar is that [slave women who have borne children to their masters] must not be sold." Those who denigrate opinion are refuted by these statements, which uphold the validity of rulings based on rationale and report, when these have been tested against an opposing view.
      Ijtihād is said only for reasoning applied to legal matters. [...] The study of physics cannot be spoken of as a form of ijtihād in the way that ijtihād is applied to inheritance law. Nor is ijtihād applicable to calculations like how many five-dirham shares are in a hundred dirhams, where there is no difference of opinion. Qiyās, on the other hand, is applicable to a variety of intellectual pursuits. The difference between them is therefore clear.

Abū Hilāl al-‘Askarī, The Book of Lexical Distinctions

Night and Day

A young man from the alpine community between Dīnawar and Nahāwand asked me to compose something reliable on the subject of Night and Day, and whether one might justly be preferred to the other. So I improvised this short text in order to gratify his wishes, and it begins with the speech of

THE PARTISAN OF NIGHT: When God, be He magnified and exalted, says: "We made the night and day to be two signs" (17:12), and opens Sūrat al-Layl with the words: "By the night when it covers up / And the day when it comes to light" (92:1-2), it is night that He mentions first, making day subsequent to it. And in any case [of their being mentioned together] the night takes precedence.
        ("Give precedence to Quraysh," said the Prophet, God's blessings and peace be upon him, "and do not seek precedence over them.")
        "Night He made for you to be at rest within it, and day to enable sight," says God (10:67), magnified be His adoration. And, blessed be His name, [He instructs His Prophet to] "Say: 'Do you see? Were God to give your night no end until the Day of Resurrection, what divinity could bring you brightness, other than God?' " (28:71). And this [sequence] is attested in abundance throughout the Qur'ān.

THE PARTISAN OF DAY: Mentioning something first dictates neither preference nor virtue. Do you not see that He also says, magnified be His adoration, that He "created death and life" (67:2), when the preferability of life is so well known? And, be He magnified and exalted, He also says that He "created jinn and humankind for no reason other than to serve Him" (51:56). And humankind is without doubt the preferred category.
        Along with this we find that day is in fact given precedence over night in Sūrat al-Shams, be He magnified and exalted: "By the day when it brings [the sun] to light / And the night when it covers up" (91:3-4).
        He also says, magnified be His adoration: "The likeness of the two parties [disbelievers and believers] is like the blind and the deaf and the sighted and the hearing" (11:24), on which interpretive consensus holds that the blind are contrasted to those with sight, and the deaf to those with hearing. What is preferable about coming first in this case? Nothing whatsoever.

THE PARTISAN OF NIGHT: But it is night's innate merit that gives it precedence. God, be He exalted, says: "Do disbelievers not see that the heavens and earth were [formerly] conjoined, and that We separated them?" (21:30). Now there is no disputing that this conjoined pair was in darkness. When He effected their separation, He brought about a new state of affairs. Darkness therefore precedes light, by nature and in order of creation; this being so, night comes before day.

THE PARTISAN OF DAY recited [line 8 of poem 16 by Ḥassān ibn Thābit]:
    "When [the caravan of Quraysh] makes for Ḥawrān
       across the sandy bottoms, tell them: The way lies not thither!"
By my life, the matter's not the way you think it is. Light came before darkness. "God is the Light of the heavens and earth" (24:35), says God, exalted be His every mention. This means that He illuminated both, with a light He Himself kindled, magnified be His adoration. So you've goofed in this. You base your judgments on the world that we inhabit. But He says, be He magnified and exalted: "It is He who made the sun to be a brightener and the moon to be a light" (10:5). And by these lights He shed brightness on what was conjoined. Only then did He divide brightness from darkness. And day is what is bright, as you must know.

THE PARTISAN OF NIGHT: It is well known that time consists in movements of the sphere in its rotation, and [is measured in] years and months and weeks. When does the new month come into being? Between the beginning of the night and the beginning of the day is when it is proclaimed. The month would begin at daybreak, if day were preferred. But no - its beginning is on the first night of the month.

THE PARTISAN OF DAY: This point is not in your favor but against you. Etc., etc., etc.

From Night and Day by Abu 'l-Ḥusayn Aḥmad ibn Fāris

Apologia pro libris suis

It has struck my ear from the mouths of those who were at Khwarazm, and from the tongues of those who were passing through, that our master - may God perpetuate his superiority over all who lack his richness of soul, and over the officers who give him counsel - invited a gathering of men to revile me, impelling them to extravagance in their censure and abuse, and that he was deliberate in tearing aside the veiling curtains of gentility, on the charge that my library was wrongly acquired. Does this seem worthy of his merits and his virtue? Is it congruent with his nobility and and gentlemanly character? I am vexed by his dishonesty and injurious slander, which is a calumny against his Muslim brother. By God, when the horn is sounded on the Day of Resurrection, and these worn-out bones are resurrected from their tombs, armored in the clothes of the life to come, and the worshipers of God are gathered in the open spaces, and the record of every deed flies in the face of its doer, and every soul is asked about its acquisitions - on that day, the evildoer will be dragged face-down to the Fire, and the good-doer will be escorted to Paradise at the side of angels. On that frightening occasion, no one will be tugging at the tail of my cloak, asking for the return of any properties which I appropriated, or any wealth I took by force, or any blood that I shed, or any curtain I have torn, or any person I have killed, or any right that I have trampled on. With God's help, I have acquired some 1,000 manuscript volumes of crucial texts and vital writings, and endowed them all to libraries whose construction was ordered by God for the benefit of Muslims in all the countries of Islam. How does a fellow believer allow himself to envy the books of one of knowledge's foremost teachers, who has striven his whole life to obtain some modest papers, when their market value is unequal to the cost of a single feast? By God beside Whom there is no god, I swear that our master - may God perpetuate his superiority – has committed a false calumny against the likes of me, and done a wrong which will tangle his train and cause him to stumble on the Day of Resurrection. Let him fear God, beside Whom there is no god, and let him remember the Day on which the truthful will be repaid for their truthfulness and liars will be punished for their lies, wa-salām.

A letter to al-Qattan al-Marwazi by Rashid al-Din Watwat
(d. 578/1182)

Bookmen of Baghdad and Cairo

"Bookmen" [al-kutubiyyūn] were those who specialized in the sale of books, some of whom also did their own copying by hand. Among those who gained fame in this type of work were Jamal al-Din ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Yahya, known as al-Watwat ["The Bat"], Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Dimashqi, and the poet Ibn Sham‘un al-Kutubi. In Damascus, Muhammad ibn Shakir al-Darani al-Dimashqi was renowned. And there were many other bookmen of this class.

By itself, "the bookmen" was generally used without the word sūq to designate the book market. We find this usage in [al-Dhahabi's] text describing the events of 279 A.H./892 CE when, on assuming the caliphate, Abu 'l-‘Abbas al-Mu‘tadid ibn al-Muwaffaq forbade the sale of philosophical texts: "In that year, Abu 'l-‘Abbas banned the story-tellers and astrologers, and ordered the bookmen to stop selling works of philosophy and dialectic."

With the invention of paper, the markets and shops of stationers and bookmen became conspicuous throughout the Islamic world, and those who practiced the stationer's trade became a prominent class in society. Ibn Khaldun described them as "those who busy themselves with copying and correcting and bookbinding and other matters relating to books," mainly their traffic and sale. Scores of shops began to sell not only books, but the materials necessary for their manufacture, such as paper, ink, and writing implements - the most decisive indicator of the book trade's prevalence. For these had become indispensable to students and the learned alike, who copied what they needed out of books in addition to buying them in great numbers from the stationers' markets.

These shops began to spread through the urban centers of Islam, taking hold to the point that some parts of Arab cities became known as "the district of the bookmen" (or "books" or "stationers"). In Baghdad, seat of the Abbasid caliphate, stationers' markets appeared all over, but only one was known as "the stationers' district." This was a large area containing a large number of shops specializing in the sale of books - one hundred of them in the vicinity of the Basra Gate alone. Ibn Nadim gives evidence of one such market in his remarks on Ahmad ibn Abi Tahir: "The son of Khorasani parents, he used to sit in the stationers' market in the southeastern part of Baghdad." Another booksellers' district of renown was in the area around the Archway of al-Harrani, on the western side of the new bridge. It is mentioned that on the death of Ja‘far ibn Ahmad al-Marwazi in 274/888, "his books were taken to Baghdad and sold by the Archway of al-Harrani." And Abu 'l-Qasim al-Harith ibn ‘Ali, a stationer of Baghdad, is said to have sold and copied books for people in the western neighborhood of Qasr Waddah.

The stationers and bookmen's markets of Cairo are known from the description of al-Maqrizi: "To the best of my knowledge, the market between El Sagha and the madrasa of al-Malik al-Salih emerged around the year 700/1300, in the neighborhood of the mosque-hospital of al-Mansur Qalawun.... For a time, the book market was moved from this location to a roofed esplanade between the poultry market and the market of the mat-weavers, by the anointed pillar of the Grey Mosque. A number of the district's inhabitants joined in the raising of the roof, but the dampness of their cellars proved detrimental to books and some were ruined. So the market was removed to its current location, which is still a habitual gathering place for scholarly types."

"There used to be a book market in Fustat, on the eastern side of the mosque of ‘Amr ibn al-‘As, next to ‘Amr's house in the chandlers' quarter. Its vestiges were still there when I visited in 780/1378, but have since been swept away, and its onetime location is no longer common knowledge."

From The Traffic in Manuscripts by Dr. Abed Suleiman al-Mashwakhi (Cairo: Institute of Arabic Manuscripts, 2011)

On the earthquake that struck Syria on the idesof Sha'bān 744/January 2, 1344

In God we seek refuge from the harm of what runs deep inside the earth and what comes out from it, and we beg Him for success in describing it and escaping from it. We beg for God's help and seek His protection from what has poisoned the current year, it being the 44th [of the eighth century of Islam], in which an earthquake struck Syria, turning its men, horses, and all who drag a tail into direct objects of the earth's transitive action. May there be no return of earthquakes! They hamper the intellect and halt it, and drive people out to the deserts and the wastes, where they exhaust themselves with constant prayer.

          Time is a deceiver of man.
              It enfeebles and abases him and does him harm.
          When the Earthquake strikes, how much is left
              of Ornament that captivated formerly?

Sixty days have passed, and one family is warned by another's example. When I was asked how the wall [of a certain house] could remain standing for two consecutive months, I said: "It is seeking atonement." For on a day of Ramadan it collapsed onto its people.

          In the Merciful we seek refuge from the like
              of earthquakes which rout all hope of sleep.
          It sprang violently upon the unresistant
              and condemned the chaste to death by stoning.
          It was the sentence of the Almighty, Powerful and Triumphant,
              Whose kindliness is unconditional and eternal.

In fear we eyed the shaking stones as they separated from each other. "Some there are that split apart... and some fall down in fear of God" and fly to pieces. How many houses did workers and technicians enter whose hard stones were freshly spattered, "wherein they found a wall about to collapse"! How many high places brought low, never to be raised! and how many buildings reduced in height, to await the Day of Judgment! How many nights we stayed awake - as on nights of travel - and called on God, praised be He, that there be "peace, until the rising of the dawn"! We ask God for recompense without affliction, and we seek refuge in God from affliction without recompense.
     The refugees avoid the valleys and remain out of doors in January, hobbled by the cold:

          Fear of the heaving earthquake
              hurled us "onto the open shore"
          of the empty desert, where nothing can land on us
             but rain from the sky.

The natural philosopher said: "This was caused by vapors of the pent-up wind." The astrologer said: "It was provoked by the movement of a star." Whereupon the legal scholar declaimed:

         In the agency of God I am the first believer,
             and the first to disbelieve that this was star-ordained.
         The philosopher is without grace or warrant,
             and the star-struck have nothing to back them up.

The scholars have a clearer perspective, for God's law is more on point.
     Aleppo prevailed over the disaster. Cracks appeared in its mosque, and its minaret waved and fell to leaning. and had the call been stronger it would have been apocopated. Thanks to God, however, the mosque remained intact and its minaret was spared emasculation, in order that God's word might still resound. But tears for [the neighborhood of] al-'Aqaba flow like water from the sky. "What will make you know what is al-'Aqaba?" Men's and women's quarters were thrown together inside the moving buildings, whose walls came together in a farewell embrace, and many necks were broken and rib cages intermixed, inspiring this rajaz couplet:

         The earthquake took a special delight
         in the flesh of the neckbone of the 'Aqabite.

Downcast by the whole catastrophe, Aleppo's provincial deputy left the city. His grief and remorse were evident, as he walked with a copy of the Qur'ān shielding his head.

         I guarantee that if you saw him
             promenading beneath that Qur'ān
         you would have thought him the very picture of Joseph
             with a copy of Sūrat Yūsuf on his head.

And if you had seen the citadels and fortresses, when all their guardhouses were brought down:

         The earthquake flew at the Citadel of citadels
             without fear of archers or traps.
         When the fortress learned who was the Aimer of the blow
             it left its foundation and went to its knees before Him.
         Those who escaped the ruin to live on in dread
             of the joint extinction of novelty and antiquity know that
         the matter belongs to God. And many a speculator
             does not err until he acts.

The people were reduced to camping next to the sites vacated by their houses when the earthen tide swept them away.
     But if you had seen Manbij, birthplace of streams and source of the early morning's blowing breeze—Manbij, in the grip of obliterating force—"as if it had not flourished yesterday," and the gloom of the sun and full moon on its rubble!

         Their deaths in the rubble did not fall short
             of His decree, and they entered the company of martyrs.
         The Creator's might is blameless
             and there is no disgrace in His creation brought low.

Alas for Manbij, the splendid city! It became a ruin whose description wearies the tongue, enveloped in dust and shadow and ridden by a dark black wind.

         They and their houses perished in an instant
             as if on schedule.
         May there be a disinterment of their bright faces
             like swords taken out from sheaths.

I am told that the stones of its minaret flew across the sky like missiles:

         Drunk on the earthquake's wine, it danced
             like a sportive camel under a hasty rider.
         Its libation set my tears to pouring out
             for what befell its house and the people in it.

When they heard the horrible sound, "they left their homes by the thousands, fearing death." But their fear was no protection, nor were the tears they shed, nor the porticoes of their kings when their kings lay dead.

         With the walls around our young maids fallen,
             what can I say to Him? "Be Thou our wall"?

The feebleness of my descriptive powers is too great, and my own greatness is too feeble, and with these verses I conclude:

         The people of Manbij were like silkworms,
             whose homes turn into graves.
         Blessed were they, whose mulberry tree
             was a garden paved with silk.

The Epistle of the Earthquake by Zayn al-Din ibn al-Muzaffar ibn al-Wardi

Allegory of the Violet

Heaving the deep sigh of a distant lover, the violet said: "For those who end a happy life with a martyr's death I pour out my fragrance until I am reduced to ash by cruel fortune. Clad in the garment of emaciation, I am wasted away by the passing days, which admit no stay and dictate my corruption, leaving me no protective wrapper nor withstanding power. How brief a floruit was appointed me! And how long must I go on cut and dried! All the days of my existence I am battered up and down, cut from my roots and prevented from fruiting. The strong take advantage of my weakness, and my delicacy, grace and elegance are no protection against ill use. To enter my presence is to be blessed! and to see me is to marvel at me. But no more than a day or part of a day goes by until I am sold for a pittance, and a minute later I am found blameworthy. By nightfall you see me torn and tousled by the hands of happenstance, a husk hopeless of recovering its bloom.

"I am prized by pharmacists and those who attend to hidden wisdom, for by me are swelling cysts reduced, and violent pains made easier to bear, and recalcitrant bowels made pliant, and pernicious illnesses repulsed. Dried or fresh, I am a source of blessings to the people, who are ignorant of the magnitude of my oration, and the wisdom deposited in me by my Lord. To those who contemplate me attentively I am an exhortation, and an admonition to the mindful. Within me is an oracular indication for those who are attuned, and 'consummate wisdom - but warnings avail not.' " And I exclaimed:

        "I marveled at the violet, when it burst
                  into narration through its petals set on branching stems:
         an army bearing emerald spears, tipped with
                  ruby gems held aloft
         as if confronting an enemy host
                  tall as the tops of high palms."

From Revelation of the Secret Wisdom of the Birds and Flowers by 'Izz al-Din ibn Ghanim al-Maqdisi (d. 678/1279)

At ‘Ayn Wabār

Abū Ḥātim said: One of our most dependable elders told of a man of Yemen who saw a camel like a beautiful white star, frisking amid his she-camels until all were mounted. When they had conceived, the he-camel went away and stayed away for one year's time. It was after the man had delivered his camels of their offspring live and kicking that again he saw the he-camel, which stayed among the she-camels until they were fecundated anew. When the camel went away again, its offspring followed it, the man following them whither he knew not until he came to ‘Ayn Wabār. (This is a spring of water belonging to the jinn, and its location is no longer known.) Among the wild camels, asses, gazelles and wild cows he found his flock under palms whose dates reached to their shoulders, such as no man had ever cultivated nor had any knowledge of.

He said: One of the jinn came up to the man and said: "What caused you to alight here?" "I followed these, my camels," the man said. The jinn said: "Finding you here on any day before today, I would have killed you. But go [with your life] and do not return. This he-camel is one of our herd." The jinn rounded up the camel's offspring and drove them out along with the man. From this stock it is claimed that the noble Mahrī camels are descended.

On his return, the man told one of the kings of Kinda about ‘Ayn Wabār. The king wore himself out with long seeking but was never able to find it, and from that time up til now its location has remained unknown. And that is ‘Ayn Wabār.

Similar expressions are mentioned by Abū Zayd and others: "I left him in a country that was tongue-tied," "I left him at the wild cow-licks," "I left him by the fox-ford," "I left him at the pond of last resort," and "I left him in a wasteland that was tongue-tied" are all said as one says "I left him at ‘Ayn Wabār." All are places of which no one has any experience or knowledge.

From The Book of the Palm by Abū Ḥātim al-Sijistānī (d. 869/255)

On the ignorance of our preceptors

You (may you learn what's best, from the best!) should know what a grave hazard that ignorant authorities and misleading sources pose to humankind. This has been humankind's affliction from the earliest and most bygone eras and days, and is only worse in our own time, in which we have wound up at the pinnacle of confusion and the murkiest extreme of turbidity.

Our education comes from those without education, nor judgment, sense, or comprehension. Devoid of understanding, they give explanations, and without learning of their own they give instructions. All their learning is forged and feigned, and there is no slander they won't drum up and pass on. Being ignorant, they think themselves learned, and find fault with those whose learning is sound (meter: majzū’ al-ramal):

        Busy in all things,
            he masters none of them.
        His guidance gives increase
            in nothing but misdirection.

Furthermore, his pretensions to being the wisest of men are his only joy in life. In reality, he is a blight on his students, and to those seeking an education he is poison. In his mind, however, even an assembly of his own teachers would be in need of his instruction. When he narrates, he prevaricates, and when questioned he vacillates. When disputed he yells, when contradicted he brawls, and when the proof against him is decisive he answers with foul language (meter: ṭawīl):

       "He attacks and advances without awareness or knowledge.
            What else is stupidity, if not that?"

The ignorance of such preceptors is off the scale established by al-Khalil when he declared the rankings of men, as related by Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn al-‘Abbas [al-Suli] on the authority of Abu Ahmad Muhammad ibn Musa al-Barbari, on the authority of al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar [ibn al-‘Awwam] who was told by al-Nadr ibn Shumayl:

"I heard al-Khalil say: 'Some people have knowledge, and know that they have knowledge. These are the learned, who should be followed. Some have knowledge without knowing that they have it; such people go astray, and should be led aright. Some do not have knowledge, and know that they lack it. These are the students, who should be taught. And some have no knowledge, and do not know that they lack it. These are the ignorant, and they should be avoided.' "

From Echelons of the Grammarians by Abu 'l-Tayyib al-Lughawi

Princeton MS Garrett 1156H, fol. 20r

       

[Siraj al-Din al-Warraq wrote in answer to a poem by Nasir al-Din al-Hammami:]

    He summons the village to prayer, and the party
        whose worship is mischief and liquor and cups.
    His magnanimous nature alternates with his jealousy
        and his rival is never allowed to forget it.
    The pleasure he takes in his wives is apparent,
        as are his bright crown and his striped, fringed vestment.
    A heart full of fire in a breast that is slender:
        no better way to describe him than this."

And God, be He praised and exalted, knows best.

Chapter 4: Reports describing the Rooster of the Throne, peace be upon him, with scrupulous attention to the rare words they contain.

The Rooster of the Throne is an angel of great size in the form of a rooster. Abu 'l-Shaykh quotes Abu Bakr ibn [Abi] Maryam on the authority of [Abu] Mughira [that Abu Sufyan said:] "God has an angel in heaven called the Rooster, and when he praises God in heaven the roosters on earth praise Him also. He says: 'Praise be to the Most Holy, the Merciful, Compassionate and Divine King! There is no God but He.' And God will relieve the distress of any sick or troubled person who says the same."

Abu 'l-Shaykh also quotes Yusuf ibn Mahran on the authority of 'Abd al-Rahman that a man of Kufa said: "It was told to me that beneath the Throne is an angel in the form of a rooster, with talons of pearl and a breast of green chrysolite. When the first third of the night has passed, it beats its wings and calls aloud, saying: 'Arise, ye wakers!' When half the night has passed, it beats its wings and calls aloud, saying 'Arise, ye watchers!' When the final third of the night has passed, it beats its wings and calls aloud, saying: 'Arise, ye worshipers!' And at the breaking of dawn it beats its wings and calls aloud, saying: 'Arise, ye sleepers,' and they resume their burdens."
    This hadith is also related with the word ghāfilūn "heedless ones" in place of nā’imūn "sleepers." Alternate wordings are heard for the rooster's speech: "Praise be to the Noble and Uncreated!" after the first third of the night, "Praise be to the Generous unto those who disobey Him!" after the second third, and "Awake, ye heedless ones, for the hour before dawn belongs to God!" after the third. Burāthin ("talons") is pronounced with ḍamma after the initial bā', followed by the letters rā', thā' and nūn…

A page from The Book of Pointers and Indicators that Shed Clarity
on the Attributes and Merits of the Rooster by Ahmad ibn Ahmad
al-Fayyumi al-Gharqawi

Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya MS 21620 ب, fol. 4r

...that al-Lahabi said: "Muhammad ibn al-Mukandar related that according to Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah, the Prophet (God's blessings and peace be upon him) ordered his followers to keep a white rooster." But al-Bayhaqi says this chain of transmission is to be rejected, being related by al-Lahabi only, and that a similar tradition with a discontinuous chain of transmission is also related. Al-Bayhaqi goes on to report that Abu Ahmad 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn [al-]Hasan al-Mahrajani related on the authority of Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Isma'il that on the authority of Yahya ibn Yahya, Ibrahim ibn 'Ali al-Dhuhli said: "Ibn Isma'il ibn 'Ayyash related that on the authority of 'Abd Allah, son of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may God Exalted be pleased with him), 'Amr ibn Muhammad ibn Zayd reported that the Prophet (God's blessings and peace be upon him) said: 'Roosters sound the call to prayer, and whoever keeps a white one enjoys threefold protection from the harm of every devil, sorcerer and soothsayer.' "

In his Middle Compilation, al-Tabarani says that Ahmad ibn 'Ali al-Abar related on the authority of Mu'al[lal that] Muhammad b. Mihsan heard from Ibrahim ibn Abi 'Abla that Anas ibn Malik said: "The Prophet, God's blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Take for yourselves a white rooster, for no devil nor any sorcerer will approach a house with a rooster in it, nor the houses surrounding it.' " And in the collection entitled al-Firdaws, al-Daylami says: "We are informed by Abu Talib al-Husayn that Mansur [ibn Wamish] heard Yusuf ibn ['Umar] ibn Masrur say: 'Muhammad ibn Makhlad said' 'Under the tutelage of Muhammad ibn Makhlad I recited a report by Sa'id ibn 'Abd Allah ibn 'Ajib that Wahb ibn Hafs related on the authority of 'Uthman ibn 'Abd al-Rahman that 'Anbasa heard from Muhammad ibn Zadan that Umm Muhammad bint Zayd ibn Thabit said: "The Prophet, God’s blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'There are three voices that God loves: the voice of a rooster, the voice of someone reciting the Qur'an, and the voice of those who pray for forgiveness in the hour before daybreak.' " ' "

Al-Bukhari and Muslim narrate on Masruq's authority that he asked 'A'isha: "At what times did the Prophet pray, God’s blessings and peace be upon him?" She said: "Whenever he heard al-sārikh, he would stand up and pray.” Al-Nawawi said: "The consensus of the learned is that al-sārikh here means the rooster, so called by the frequency of its crowing at night." And Ibn 'Adiyy relates on the authority of Ibn 'Umar that the Prophet (God’s blessings and peace be upon him) forbade castration of the rooster, along with the goat and the horse.

Abu 'l-Shaykh said: "Ahmad ibn Ruh reported on the authority of Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Yazid that al-Fadl ibn Dawud al-Wasiti said: 'I heard 'Abd Allah ibn Salih al-'Ijli enumerate ten [sic] characteristics of the rooster: "Of all birds, it is the most beloved by God, be He exalted and Magnified. Its voice carries the furthest, it is the most jealous, the fiercest in battle, and the most magnanimous. It is best-informed about the times of prayer, and keeps watch over its neighborhood. Of all the birds, it is the best, and mates more frequently than any other." ' And Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al-Salt said: 'Wahb ibn Baqiya related on the authority of Khalid that Humayd reported that a man of Muzayna said: "I heard a rooster praising God."'

"Ja'far ibn Ahmad related on the authority of 'Ali ibn Bishr that 'Abd al-Rahim reported that Hammād ibn ['Amr] quoted 'Abd al-Hamīd ibn Yusuf as saying: 'A rooster crowed in the presence of Solomon son of David, blessings and peace be upon them both. He asked: "Do you know what it is saying?" "No," his companions said. "It says: 'Remember God, O heedless ones!" ' And on the authority of Ahmad al-Dawraqi, Ahmad ibn al-Hasan [al-Hadda'] related that Ibrahim ibn 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi heard from Mujalid ibn 'Ubayd Allah that al-Hasan ibn Dhakwan heard the story from Farqad al-Sabkhi: 'Solomon the son of David (blessings and peace be upon them both) passed by a nightingale that had alighted in a tree, wagging its head and dipping its tail. He said to his companions: "Do you know what this one is saying?" They said: "God and His prophet know best." He said: "It is saying: 'I have eaten half a piece of fruit, so let the world go to its ruin!' " Then he passed by a rooster that was crowing, and said: "Do you know..." ' "

From In Praise of the Rooster by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti

Agriculture in Ancient Egypt

Oleiferous plants. The Egyptians took much care in pressing oils from different plants, as required by their cuisine, the blending of their ointments, perfumes and drugs, and their need for artifical light. In Arabic, the word for "oil" (zayt) is primarily applied to the oil of the olive (zaytūn), whose Coptic name is dʒi:t. Oils were also pressed from seeds of flax and safflower, juniper berries, and the nuts of the thorn tree, cedar, castor plant and Egyptian willow.

Medicinal plants. The advancement of ancient Egyptian botanical learning is best appreciated in their use of plants for fighting disease, most importantly: anise (Arabic yansūn, Egyptian ytkwn), cumin, dill, thistle, peppermint, boxthorn, poppy, juniper, henbane, pomegranate, fig, onion, garlic, coriander, the milk of the sycamore, and various oils. Space does not permit the mention of all the medical uses listed in the various papyri.

Fibrous plants. Flax was known in Egypt since the earliest times, and fragments of linen cloth have been discovered in the [Neolithic-era] graves of Merimde and Maadi. The stages in the production of linen are represented on the walls of the Beni Hasan tombs, from maceration, pounding and combing to its spinning, weaving and dyeing. The flax seeds preserved in the Fouad I Agricultural Museum and the Egyptian Museum of Berlin attest to the nobility of the ancient species.
        The special importance of papyrus was not limited to writing surfaces, as it was also used to line the bottoms of boats.

Garlands and bouquets. Flowers were of the highest importance in Egypt for their use in religious and funerary ceremonies. The flowers of the papyrus, lotus, acacia, and willow were bundled into garlands and bouquets, along with shoots of sycamore, celery and artemisia and sprays of camomile and saffron.

Timber. The most widespread of the big trees in Egypt were the sycamore, which was held sacred, and the acacia. The wood of the acacia was used in boat-building, its fruit (known in Arabic as qarad) was used in medicine and tanning hides, and its flower (called fotna) was woven into garlands for the dead. Most agricultural tools were made from acacia wood and from the tamarisk (known in Arabic as athl, which is its Egyptian name). The leaves of the weeping willow were used in funeral garlands, and knife handles made from its wood have been found to pre-date the Dynastic period. And pieces made from henna wood were among the finds of Schweinfurth.
        When the timber reserves of Egypt were no longer sufficient, trade with Lebanon was established in order to import lumber in pieces large enough for building their sarcophagi, ships and funerary and domestic furniture. Egypt's ebony came from Sudan, and myrrh was imported from the Somali land of Punt.

Peasant Life in Ancient Egypt. We end our account with a tale out of old Egypt. It comes from a story about the life of two brothers named Anubis and Bata, who were tillers of the earth. According to this story... [Here begins an abridged passage from The Literature of Ancient Egypt (Cairo, 1945), ed. & tr. by Selim Hassan:]
        Bata was a skilled farmer who made clothes for his brother and pastured his brother's herds. He broke the soil for his brother and harvested his brother's crops, and was filled to overflowing with God's breath, which increased his stature. Every day he went out with the herds to pasture, and every evening he returned to his brother's house with a load of milk and greens and dry kindling, and rendered them unto his older brother, bringing him pleasure as he sat with his wife. After eating and drinking his rations, Bata made his bed in the corral to watch over the cattle. At night's end, the new day's dawn found him preparing his older brother's meal. Then he would set it before him, and set off for pasture with his own, driving the cattle to lead him to the fertile fields. And the cattle grew fat, and their offspring were stout and numerous.
        When the time for plowing had come, the older brother said to Bata: "Yoke a pair of oxen to the plow, for the earth is no longer saturated, but ready for the plow. Prepare also the grain for sowing, and we will break ground in early morning." And the younger brother was delighted at all he commanded. At the new day's dawn, they went into the field, and took their place behind the bulls with firm resolve, and gladness filled their hearts, for they had begun the task of the new year. But their seed ran out before all the ground was sown, and the older brother sent the younger to the farm for another load.
        The young man entered the house "at a time of distraction of its folk", and found his brother's wife combing her hair. When he came out of the granary bearing his load, "she in whose house he was sought to seduce him," saying: " 'Come here, you,' " and promising him finer clothes and a better station. When he scorned her, she contrived to accuse him to his brother, and played the liar after the fashion of the well-known story of our master Joseph, peace be upon him.

Mahmud Darwish (Supervisor of General Education for Egypt's Ministry of Information), "al-Zira‘a al-Misriyya al-qadima," al-Filāha: Majalla Zira‘iyya Iqtisadiyya (a publication of the Association of Agricultural College Graduates / The Agricultural Club), 28:1 (Jan-Feb 1948). 28-30.
(See also: Veterinary Medicine in Ancient Egypt)

Veterinary Medicine in Ancient Egypt

Enclosed within the temple complexes of ancient Egypt (among them the temple of Memphis which predates 3000 BCE) were structures called "Houses of Life," where teachers and students were trained in the life sciences. Dissection and anatomy, chemistry, diagnosis of diseases and their remedies, the principles of mummification—the Houses of Life were the ideal place for study in all these fields, due to the embalming process which required the cutting open of human cadavers and animal carcasses, and the removal of their innards in preparation for mummification. This was the job of the medical diviners, who also tended to sacred animals and to the animals fattened for slaughter, whether as offerings to their gods or for human consumption.

Animal care flourished in ancient Egypt, and wealth in livestock increased among peasants and the landowners who kept large herds of cattle, sheep, goats and other ungulates. For horses and asses great care was also taken. They set up canopies in the fields, so that the animals might find rest and tranquility in their shade. Meanwhile, the herdsmen sat in the shade of trees, from where they would watch over them and apportion their feed—a scene that appears in the [tomb paintings representing the] fields of Ti, ca. 2550 BCE. In these settings, herdsmen gained experience in care and husbandry, tending to pregnant animals and supervising their delivery, seeing to their milking and the nursing of their calves, and isolation of the sick and their cure.

Mastaba of Ti, Saqqara. Detail from a photo by Richard T. Mortel

As the care of sick animals was left up to shepherds with experience and knowledge of cures, it was from their ranks that the veterinary doctor emerged, as affirmed by the English scholar Wilkinson in his book of 1878.

The life of the traveler Khuf Har is dated to the Sixth Dynasty, so it was 2350 years before Christ that he made his famous journey to the upper regions of Nubia in search of incense and ivory. For transport and communication outside the country he used 300 asses, and that same season he brought them all back, loaded with impressive treasures. This reflects the level of the ancient Egyptians' ability and their skill in tending animals.

In 1889, the English archaeologist Flinders Petrie discovered a Twelfth-Dynasty papyrus on veterinary medicine, whose date goes back to 2000 BCE, in the Ilahun subdistrict of the province of Fayyum. This text indicates remedies for bulls suffering from tear duct infections, as well as depression and sadness, and for dogs afflicted with internal parasites.

From Veterinary Medicine Between Past, Present and Future,
a 1990 publication of the Egyptian Veterinary Syndicate.
(See also: Agriculture in Ancient Egypt)

Avicenna on the same

The rainbow is an atmospheric phenomenon that occurs during conditions of humidity, in no position other than standing upright. At its height, it traverses the sphere of [sublunar frigidity called] al-zamharīr, while its extremities hang just above the surface of the earth. Its appearance is limited chiefly to the beginning and end of the day, opposite the rising or the setting of the sun. The visible share of the rainbow amounts to no more than half a circle, and is always a lesser segment unless the sun is on the horizon. In that case, a semicircular rainbow is seen, such that a ray emerging from the center of the sun will graze the surface of the earth until it meets the geometric center of the rainbow standing on the opposite horizon. With any elevation of the sun above the horizon, less than half a circle's worth of rainbow will be seen. Since the area occupied by the rainbow is defined inversely by the sun's position, its height and length decrease according to the increase in the solar elevation angle.

Know that between the apex of the rainbow and the circular area of the solar halo (mentioned earlier in our treatise) there is a certain equivalence. They have the same cause, which is the impact of sunshine on particles of humid vapor that are present, and its reflection back in the direction of the sun.

The visible hues are four. These correspond to the four qualities which are heat, humidity, cold and dryness; and also to the elements which are fire, air, water and earth; and also to the seasons which are summer, autumn, winter and spring. And also to the four humors - which are the black and yellow bile, the phlegm, and blood - do they bear a similarity. To the colors of the flowers of plants and trees they bear a formal analogy, for when the seven colors of the rainbow come out it is a sign of the air's humidity, the proliferation of rain, and the increase of the grasses, orchard fruits and grain crops. Its appearance is as a joyful proclamation which nature presents to animals and humans, announcing the fecundity of the season.

As for those vulgar interpretations of the rainbow which read indications of the coming year into the relative intensity of its colors - with predominance of red for the spilling of blood, yellow for victims of illness, blue for war and green for fertility - these are altogether a matter for omen-readers.

From his treatise On the Cosmos

On rainbows

Al-Khalil said: "The 'Bow of Quzah' is a band that comes together in the sky during the rainy season." "Do not call it 'Quzah's Bow,' " we are told in a hadith reported by Ibn 'Abbas, "for 'Quzah' is a demon's name. Call it instead the 'Bow of God,' be He Exalted and Magnified." But Abu Ruqaysh said: "Quzah are the bands contained within the rainbow, sg. quzaha. And al-taqzih is the branching of a tree or a plant such that it takes the shape of a dog's foot." Another hadith forbids praying behind a tree so formed. And in the verse of al-A'sha, "Quzah" is a man's name:

    "Huddled in a flock that had given up hope
        in the welcome appearance of Quzah's companions..."

[...] The rainbow is called al-dah ["The Gewgaw"], as in the proverbial expression: "He doesn't know al-mah from al-dah." Al-mah is an egg yolk, and al-dah is a name for the rainbow. Al-dah also names the celestial halo seen mostly at night, and less frequently during the rising and setting of the sun. All such halos are caused when the light of a heavenly body meets a large quantity of wet vapor in the air, and is bent and turned round in the air by that vapor. And that is how you come to see the halo effect.

It has been observed that rainbows are fleeting occurrences, seen mostly in late afternoon and early evening, and never in the morning. In the autumn they are most frequent, and in summer they do not occur. The double rainbow you might see is caused by the reflection of the sun's rays on a barrier of moist vapor, after the fashion of light in water, and its subsequent retroflection. And a rainbow may be seen at night (though rarely) when the light of the full moon is at its height.

The turbidity or clarity of the rainbow depends on the humidity of the air, which (prior to the air's turbidity or clarity) determines the clarity and brightness of its colors. This is analogous to the color of fire, which is red and turbid when the wood is damp, and clear yellow when the wood is dry. And so it is with the colors of the rainbow.

From The Book of Seasons and Places
by Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Marzuqi (d. 1030 AD), ch. 33.