24. Jmam Ismail. 
By W. Ivanow. 
Some interesting casual references to Imam Isma‘il are 
found in a little known and rare Shi‘ite book, Ma'‘rifat akhbari r- 
rjal,! composed some time in the fourth century A.H. (X A.D. 
Aba ‘Amrw Muhammad b. ‘Umar b. ‘Abdi’l-‘Aziz al- 
Kashi. Although they add not very much to our knowledge 
of Isma‘il’s biography, they deserve attention, firstly, because 
such references are extremely rare in Muhammadan literature, 
and, secondly, because they come apparently from early and 
well-informed sources.’ 
ashi’s ° book is not mentioned in C. Brockelmann’s 
Geschichte d. Arabischen Litteratur, and therefore it may 
inferred that no copy of it is known in Europe.* But al- 
though this work is not common, it is not very rare in the 
East, and many Shi‘ite writers quote it in their compilations. 
It does not explicitly mention the date of its composition, but 
must have been compiled some time between 280 A.H./ 
893 A.D. and the beginning of the Ve. A.H/XIc. A.D. The 
first date is the latest of the dates mentioned in the book 

S ! Printed in Bombay, 1317. Concerning this book see Tisi’s List 
No. 668 (p. 309) ; also Kitabu'r-rijal by Abi’l-‘Abbas Ahmad b. ‘Ali b. 
(1922), pp. 60:61. In these publications a bibliography is given 
3 Persian monosyllabic names of cities like Kash, Qum, Bam, etc., 
are often Arabicised into Kashsh, Qumm, Bamm, etc. It seems more 
reasonable, however leave them as they are in their original language, 
and therefore I uniformly write Kashi, Qumi, ete, acs 
rently the only author who refers to it is I. Friedlander, The 
of the Shiites i al of 
Haz 
e American Oriental Society, 1907, pp. 1-80, and 1998, pp. 1-183. (Hi 
statement that ‘ Kashsh’ is in Jurjan, found on p. 4 of J.A.O.S., 1908, is 
certain ong. Kash, the present Shahrisabz, is a dependency of 
Samarqand). 
6 Abé Ja‘far Muhammad b. al-Hasan at-Tiist, d. 459 or 460 A.H./ 
1067-1068 A.D., see C. Brockelmann, Geschichte d. Arab. Litt., vol. I, 
- 405. His ‘ List of Shy’ah books ’ was edited by A. Sprenger, Calcutta, 
1853-1855. 
§ See Tiisi’s List, p. 309. ae lies 
a, jt Neo to A, feats (see his Introduction to Tisi’s List, p. 1), 
Najjashi died in 450 A.H./1058 A.D. He is not mentioned by C. Brockel- 
