lord over all the prophets, and before them all. May God bless and grant salvation to him* and his family and his associates! +

To proceed: There are the words of the poor and feeble slave, endowed all his life with weaknesses and deficiencies, and much error and many sins

* This formula, Sálla Allâhu 'alaihi wa-sállama, is always used by Muslims after naming the Prophet. The expression is not easy to translate idiomatically. It means literally, " May God look with favour upon him, and grant him salvation." Either the first or last verb, but more especially the last, is like "God save (the Queen).” In a somewhat similar formula, “Salawâtu 'lâhi'alaihi wa-salâmáhu," the first word is equivalent to Mercy, and the last to Salvation, or Eternal Peace; and the whole means, May the mercy of God be upon him, and His salvation." Perhaps the first-mentioned phrase may be rightly translated, "May God grant him grace and salvation.” Redhouse has it : "May God grant him eternal peace," i. e., salvation. But there is a double meaning in the formula to the sense of a Muslim. The verbs being in the past tense, the phrase would abstractedly mean, "God has blest and granted to him salvation." But a Muhammadan whilst uttering the formula must also inwardly pray that God will continue to bless and grant him His grace.

+ The word suhâbah, “friends,” also means "companions" or "associates," and when applied to followers of the Prophet, signifies those who were personally acquainted with him, and those only. Their names to the number of 7,500 are given in the 'Usd-el-Ghâbah fi Ma'arafat es-Suhábah by Ibn-el-Athîr, 5 vols. large 8vo, Cairo, A.H. 1280 (A.D. 1863). Ibn-el-Athîr died A.H. 630 (A.D. 1233).

Muhammad, who is known as Diyâb-el-Itlîdy, from the region of el-Minyeh-el-Khasibiyyeh.*

Some of the pious brethren whom it would be impossible for me to refuse, have asked me to collect for them accounts of events which occurred during the times of the early Khalifahs of the Benu-'Omeyyah and the Benu-'Abbâs. And I consented to do this, though knowing myself to be unequal to it; for verily it is said: Obedience is better than Politeness.

And I called my work, Warnings for Men, or 'Ilâmen-Nâs, on account of what befell the el-Barâmakah at the hands of the Benu-'Abbâs.†

And I have begun my subject with the Commander

* A town so called after el-Khasîb-ibn-'Abd-el-Hamid, who was the collector of the revenues of Egypt for Harûn-er-Rashîd. It is in Upper Egypt in lat. 28° 5' N., on the west bank of the Nile.

† I have not in this volume reached the point here alluded to. The el-Barâmakah were one of the most illustrious families of the East, being originally descended, according to some authors, from the ancient kings of Persia. The uncertainty of human happiness is the moral which the author in alluding to them evidently intends to point. For during the reign of Harûn-erRashîd, A.H. 171 to 193 (A.D. 787 to 808), the whole family fell under the Khalifah's displeasure; and from the topmost pinnacle of wealth, consideration, and power, descended to the lowest depths of poverty and misery. Different reasons are assigned for the change in er-Rashîd's feelings towards these great men, into which it is useless now to enter. But I may remark that after

of the Faithful, 'Omar-ibn-el-Khattâb [may God be satisfied of him],* in whom, and in the mention of whom, I, the author, am blest.

this illustrious family had been abandoned by fortune, the people had a more lively sense than ever of the important services the members of it had rendered them. Their exalted merit and excellent qualities then appeared in a stronger light than even when they were in the zenith of their power, and in after ages they found as many historians to celebrate their virtues as did the greatest conquerors and most powerful princes of the East.

* This formula is used after mentioning the names of the first Khalifahs, and of the Associates of the Prophet, and of the disciples of Christ. It is more honourable than the formula May God have pity upon him," which is used for doctors of the law and other persons of note. May God bless and grant salvation to him," is used only for the Prophet.

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I may

remark here, once for all, that these formulæ are always used, but they cause such awkwardness in breaking the sentence, that I have in almost every case omitted them. Even Muslims abbreviate them to the utmost.

ANECDOTE OF 'OMAR'S JUSTICE.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFATORY NOTE.

'Omar-ibn-el-Khattâb was the second Khalifah of the Rashîd * dynasty, and traced connection with the Prophet through Ka'ab the son of Lúwa, from whom the Prophet was descended in the eighth generation. 'Omar was born thirteen years after the Prophet, and was the fortieth person who professed el-Islám, which profession greatly increased the spread of the true faith. Muslims affirm that his conversion was a miracle wrought in answer to the Prophet's prayer. 'Omar-ibn-el-Khattâb and Amr-abi-Jahl were two of the Prophet's bitterest enemies, and were of high estate and greatly esteemed amongst the Arabs. The Prophet, therefore, knowing that the conversion of either of them would much aid the progress of el-Islám, prayed that God would cause one of them to profess. And in answer to this prayer 'Omar-ibn-el-Khattâb became a true believer, but Amr-abi-Jahl died an infidel. Hafsah, 'Omar's daughter, was one of the Prophet's wives. 'Omar succeeded Abu-Bekr in the Khalîfate A.H. 13. He was murdered by a Persian of the Magian religion named Abi

* Rashid means taking a right course, holding a right belief, orthodox. It is an appellative specially applied to the four first Khalifahs, Abu-Bekr, 'Omar, 'Othmân, and 'Aly; but also applicable to other Imâms who followed the same course as those four.

Lulŭah el-Fayruz, who was a slave belonging to el-Mughîrahibn-Shuảbah, in A.H. 23, aged 63 years. He was buried at el-Medînah, in the same building as the Prophet and his first successor Abu-Bekr.

T is related of 'Omar that on his return from

IT

Damascus to el-Medinah, he withdrew himself from the public in order to study more minutely the circumstances of his subjects. Happening to pass by the hovel of an old woman, and turning towards her, she addressed him, saying, "And what is 'Omar doing?"

"He has returned from Damascus in safety," was his reply. Whereupon she exclaimed, "Has the fellow, indeed? May he obtain no recompense from God on my account!"

"And wherefore?" asked 'Omar.

"Because," she replied, "since he has held rule over the Muslims he has never given me one dinâr; no, nor even a dirhem.” *

* "The dinâr of the Arabs was a perpetuation of the golden solidus of Constantine, which appears to have borne the name of denarius in the eastern provinces, and it preserved for many hundred years the weight and intrinsic value of the Roman coin, though in the fourteenth century the dinâr of Egypt and Syria had certainly fallen below this. The dirhem more vaguely represented the drachma, or rather the Roman (silver) denarius, to

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