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ABSTRACT OF TITLE—ABŪ ḤANĪFA

found in all the objects to which it belongs, whereas analysis considers all the qualities which belong to a single object.


ABSTRACT OF TITLE, in English law, an epitome of the various instruments and events under and in consequence of which the vendor of an estate derives his title thereto. Such an abstract is, upon the sale or mortgage of an estate, prepared by some competent person for the purchaser or mortgagee, and verified by his solicitor by a comparison with the original deeds. (See Conveyancing.)


ABT, FRANZ (1819–1885), German composer, was born on the 22nd of December 1819 at Eilenburg, Saxony, and died at Wiesbaden on the 31st of March 1885. The best of his popular songs have become part of the recognized art-folk-music of Germany; his vocal works, solos, part-songs, &c., enjoyed an extraordinary vogue all over Europe in the middle of the 19th century, but in spite of their facile tunefulness have few qualities of lasting beauty. Abt was kapellmeister at Bernburg in 1841, at Zurich in the same year and at Brunswick from 1852 to 1882, when he retired to Wiesbaden.


ABU, a mountain of Central India, situated in 24° 36′ N. lat. and 72° 43′ E. long., within the Rajputana state of Sirohi. It is an isolated spur of the Aravalli range, being completely detached from that chain by a narrow valley 7 miles across, in which flows the western Banas. It rises from the surrounding plains of Marwar like a precipitous granite island, its various peaks ranging from 4000 to 5653 feet. The elevations and platforms of the mountain are covered with elaborately sculptured shrines, temples and tombs. On the top of the hill is a small round platform containing a cavern, with a block of granite, bearing the impression of the feet of Data-Bhrigu, an incarnation of Vishnu. This is the chief place of pilgrimage for the Jains, Shrawaks and Banians. The two principal temples are situated at Deulwara, about the middle of the mountain, and five miles south-west of Guru Sikra, the highest summit. They are built of white marble, and are pre-eminent alike for their beauty and as typical specimens of Jain architecture in India. The more modern of the two was built by two brothers, rich merchants, between the years 1197 and 1247, and for delicacy of carving and minute beauty of detail stands almost unrivalled, even in this land of patient and lavish labour. The other was built by another merchant prince, Vimala Shah, apparently about A.D. 1032, and, although simpler and bolder in style, is as elaborate as good taste would allow in a purely architectural object. It is one of the oldest as well as one of the most complete examples of Jain architecture known. The principal object within the temple is a cell lighted only from the door, containing a cross-legged seated figure of the god Parswanath. The portico is composed of forty-eight pillars, the whole enclosed in an oblong courtyard about 140 feet by 90 feet, surrounded by a double colonnade of smaller pillars, forming porticos to a range of fifty-five cells, which enclose it on all sides, exactly as they do in a Buddhist monastery (vihāra). In this temple, however, each cell, instead of being the residence of a monk, is occupied by an image of Parswanath, and over the door, or on the jambs of each, are sculptured scenes from the life of the deity. The whole interior is magnificently ornamented.

Abu is now the summer residence of the governor-general’s agent for Rajputana, and a place of resort for Europeans in the hot weather. It is 16 miles from the Abu road station of the Rajputana railway. The annual mean temperature is about 70°, rising to 90° in April; but the heat is never oppressive. The annual rainfall is about 68 inches. The hills are laid out with driving-roads and bridle-paths, and there is a beautiful little lake. The chief buildings are a church, club, hospital and a Lawrence asylum school for the children of British soldiers.


ABU-BEKR (573–634), the name (“Father of the virgin”) of the first of the Mahommedan caliphs (see Caliph). He was originally called Abd-el-Ka‛ba (“servant of the temple”), and received the name by which he is known historically in consequence of the marriage of his virgin daughter Ayesha to Mahomet. He was born at Mecca in the year A.D. 573, a Koreishite of the tribe of Beni-Taim. Possessed of immense wealth, which he had himself acquired in commerce, and held in high esteem as a judge, an interpreter of dreams and a depositary of the traditions of his race, his early accession to Islamism was a fact of great importance. On his conversion he assumed the name of Abd-Alla (servant of God). His own belief in Mahomet and his doctrines was so thorough as to procure for him the title El Siddik (the faithful), and his success in gaining converts was correspondingly great. In his personal relationship to the prophet he showed the deepest veneration and most unswerving devotion. When Mahomet fled from Mecca, Abu-Bekr was his sole companion, and shared both his hardships and his triumphs, remaining constantly with him until the day of his death. During his last illness the prophet indicated Abu-Bekr as his successor by desiring him to offer up prayer for the people. The choice was ratified by the chiefs of the army, and ultimately confirmed, though Ali, Mahomet’s son-in-law, disputed it, asserting his own title to the dignity. After a time Ali submitted, but the difference of opinion as to his claims gave rise to the controversy which still divides the followers of the prophet into the rival factions of Sunnites and Shiites. Abu-Bekr had scarcely assumed his new position (632), under the title Califet-Resul-Allah (successor of the prophet of God), when he was called to suppress the revolt of the tribes Hejaz and Nejd, of which the former rejected Islamism and the latter refused to pay tribute. He encountered formidable opposition from different quarters, but in every case he was successful, the severest struggle being that with the impostor Mosailima, who was finally defeated by Khalid at the battle of Akraba. Abu-Bekr’s zeal for the spread of the new faith was as conspicuous as that of its founder had been. When the internal disorders had been repressed and Arabia completely subdued, he directed his generals to foreign conquest. The Irak of Persia was overcome by Khalid in a single campaign, and there was also a successful expedition into Syria. After the hard-won victory over Mosailima, Omar, fearing that the sayings of the prophet would be entirely forgotten when those who had listened to them had all been removed by death, induced Abu-Bekr to see to their preservation in a written form. The record, when completed, was deposited with Hafsa, daughter of Omar, and one of the wives of Mahomet. It was held in great reverence by all Moslems, though it did not possess canonical authority, and furnished most of the materials out of which the Koran, as it now exists, was prepared. When the authoritative version was completed all copies of Hafsa’s record were destroyed, in order to prevent possible disputes and divisions. Abu-Bekr died on the 23rd of August 634. Shortly before his death, which one tradition ascribes to poison, another to natural causes, he indicated Omar as his successor, after the manner Mahomet had observed in his own case.


ABU HAMED, a town of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan on the right bank of the Nile, 345 m. by rail N. of Khartum. It stands at the centre of the great S-shaped bend of the Nile, and from it the railway to Wadi Halfa strikes straight across the Nubian desert, a little west of the old caravan route to Korosko. A branch railway, 138 m. long, from Abu Hamed goes down the right bank of the Nile to Kareima in the Dongola mudiria. The town is named after a celebrated sheikh buried here, by whose tomb travellers crossing the desert used formerly to deposit all superfluous goods, the sanctity of the saint’s tomb ensuring their safety.


ABŪ ḤANĪFA AN-NU‛MĀN IBN THĀBIT, Mahommedan canon lawyer, was born at Kufa in A.H. 80 (A.D. 699) of non-Arab and probably Persian parentage. Few events of his life are known to us with any certainty. He was a silk-dealer and a man of considerable means, so that he was able to give his time to legal studies. He lectured at Kufa upon canon law (fiqh) and was a consulting lawyer (muftī), but refused steadily to take any public post. When al-Manṣūr, however, was building Bagdad (145–149) Abū Ḥanīfa was one of the four overseers whom he appointed over the craftsmen (G. Le Strange, Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate, p. 17). In A.H. 150 (A.D. 767) he died there under circumstances which are very differently reported. A persistent but apparently later tradition