Page:The Oriental Biographical Dictionary.djvu/30

This page needs to be proofread.

Abul is Abu Abul-Ma'ali, whose proper name is Miihammad Sadr-uddm, is claimed by the Turks as the first of their poets, though his labours were not confined to their language alone, for he wrote in Arabic also, and was La Persian the rival and opponent of Nasir-uddin. He was contemporary with Jalal-uddin Eunu and his son Walad, and died about the year 1270 A. D. He is not, however, according to Baron von Hammer, strictly considered to be a Turkish poet by his countrymen ; but the mystic tone which he adop- ted from Persian literature, and which he was undoubtedly the first to impress upon the national mind, gives him an unquestionable right to the place assigned him. The names of his works, such as the " Seal of Perfection," and the " Key of Mysteries," indicate the peculiarity of his taste and genius ; but amidst all the confusion of style and thenght, some passages of gi-eat beauty and even simplicity are found in his works. He is lost, how- ever, in the fame of his successor ' Ashik. Abul-Ma'ali, •^■t.^*^'<^->^ d> ci-"**-'!.?^', the son of 'Abdul- Majid, the most eloquent of the Persians, who flourished in the time of Sultan Bahram Shah Ghaznawi, by whose order, in the year 1118 A. D., 612 A. H., he wrote in prose his " KalQa Damna" (or Pilpay's Fables) from a copy which Eudakf, the celebrated poet, had formerly used for poetry. This version continued in vogue till the time of Sultan Husain Mu'za, fourth in descent from 'Umar Shaikh, the second son of Amir Timur, when his prime- minister Amir Shaikh Ahmad Suhaili got Husain Wa'iz to modernize it, in A. D. 1505, 910 A. H., under the name of " Anwar Suhaili", or the Eays of Canopus. Abul- Fazl, the able prime minister of Akbar, compressed this work, and gave it the name of " 'Ayar-Danish," or the touch-stone of knowledge. He is called by Daulat Shah, Hamid-uddin Nasr-ullah. Vide Nasr-ullah, the son of 'Abdul-Hamid. Abul-Ma'ali, (^j'**^L»^t (Shah) a chief in the service of the emperor Akbar, who having revolted was com- pelled to seek safety ia Eabul, where Mu-za Muhammad Hakim, the brother of Akbar, gave him his sister, named Mihr-un-Nisa Begam, in marriage, and raised him to the first office in that kingdom. The ungrateful refugee, however, had not been many months in office, before he aspired to the kingdom of Kabul, and in March 1564 A. D., Sha'ban, 971 A. H., basely assassinated Mirza Muham- mad Hakim's mother, his own mother-in-law, who was a woman of uncommon abilities, and might with truth be said to have ruled that kingdom. He then pretended to act as regent to the young prince, who was still in his mi- nority, with a view to get rid of him as soon as he could conciliate the Umaras. In the meantime Mirza Sulaiman, prince of Badakhshan, attacked him, and slew him in a battle on the 13th May, 1664 A. D., 1st Shawwal, 971 A. H., and took possession of that country, which he held for two years. Abul-Ma'ali was an elegant poet, and his poetical name was Shahbadf. Abul-Ma'ali, ^^^LfiUt jj| ^^-i, (Shaikh) of Allahabad, author of the work called " Tuhfat-ul-Kadi- riya," or the life of Shaikh 'Abdul-Kadir Gilanl He resided in Labor, and died there on the 6th April 1615, 16th Rabi' I, 1024. Abul-Mafakbir Eazi, (J^b-r^^*^' a poet who flour- ished in the reign of Sultan Muhammad Saljuki. Abxil-Maliasiii, tu'*'^*^!^-}', author of the work called « Manhal-i-Saff." Abul-Makarim bin-' Abdullah. There are three com- ments on the Nikaya of 'Ubaidulla bin-Mas'ud, which are much esteemed : they were v,Titten respectively by Abul-Makarim in 1501 A. T>., 907 A. H. ; Abu-'Ali bin- Muhammad al-Bujindf in 1528 A. D., 935 A. H., and Shams-uddm Muhammad al-Khurasani in 1534 A. D., 941 A. H. Abul-Ma'shar, who is called by some older authors Albumassar and Albumazar, was a learned Arabian astronomer, who flourished in the ninth century in the reign of the khalifa Al-Mamun of Baghdad, and wrote a treatise on the revolutions of the years. His full name is Ja'far bin-Muhammad bin-'Umar Abul-Ma'shar. He is called the prince of the Arabian astrologers. He was born in Balkh. In his famous work, called " TJluf" or " Kitab-ul-Uluf", which he wrote from a Sanskrit work on astronomy, he asserts that, when the world was created, the seven planets were together in the first point of the sig-n of Aries, and that it vnll end when the same planets shall meet again in the last point of Pisces in their exaltation or Dragon's head. He died in A. D. 885, 272 A. H. His works were printed in Latin at Venice in 1586, 8vo. Abul-Najib al-Bukhari, "^.^h^K poeti- cally called also 'Am'ak, was a Persian poet who flourished in the fifth century of the Hijra at the court of the Sultan Kadr Khan, king or khakan of Turkistan, who made him president of the academy of poets which he had estabHshed. His poem of the loves of Yusuf and Zalikha, which can be read in two different metres, is much admired. He was particularly famous for his elegies. He lived nearly 100 years. Daulat Shah says, he lived in the time of Sultan Sanjar, who requested him to write an elegy on the death of his daughter Malik Khatun, which he did, although he was then blind on account of old age. He appears to have died some years before or after 1145 A. D., 540 A. H. Abul-Sa'adat Mubarak Ibn-Asir, ish^^^^^^ ui^ ijijl^/o al-Jazari, author of an Arabic Diction- ary called "Al-Nihaya fi gharib-U-Hadis." He died in 1209 A. D., 606 A. H. ; vide Ibn-Asir, Abul-Wafa, (Khwaja), one of the great saints of Khwarazm, and author of several works on Sufism. "He died 1432 A. D., 835 A. H. Abu-Maaz Muslim, ^Jwo i(*/o ji]^ an Arabian gram- marian, who died in 803 A. D., 187 A. H. Abu-Mansur, surnamed al-Hakim bi-amr-illah, succeeded his father Al-'Aziz to the throne of Egyjot in A. D. 990, 381 A. H., when only 11 years of age. In the latter part of his reign he fancied himself a god, and found no fewer than 16,000 persons who owned him as such. ' These were mostly the Dararians, a new sect sprung iip about this time, who were so called from their chief, Muhammad Ibn-Isma'fl, surnamed Darar'i. He is supposed to have inspired the mad khalifa with this impious notion ; and as Dararf set up for a second Moses, he did not scruple to assert that Abii- Mansur was the great creator of the universe. He was assassinated in the year 1020 A. D. His son Tahir succeeded him. Abu-Mansur, JJ"*^ j'-^, author of the " Kitab-ut-Tanhid," and several other works. Abu-Mansir 'Abdul-Kahir al-Baghdadi, author of a treatise on the law of inheritance according to Shafl'i. He died A. D. 1037, 429 A. H. Abu-Mas'ud, surnamed Shaikh-ul-Islam, a native of Con- stantinople, and aiithor of the valuable commentary on the Kuran, entitled " Irshad-ul-'akl," flourished in the reign of Sultan Salim Khan, emperor of Constantinople, and died in 1516 A. D., 922 H. Abu-Muhammad, ls^ <^'*=^^^I, of Mecca, son of Abii. Talib, author of a commentary on the Kuran, and several other works. He died in 1045 A. D., 437 A. H. Abu-Mubammad, son of 'Abbas, the son of a sister of Abu-Ja'far bin-Muliammad bin-Jarir al-Tabari. It is •1