1856.] Alfred von Kremers edition of Wahidy. 55 



of the Musalmans" which will contain a very full account of all 

 these matters, I deem it loss of time to dwell here any further on 

 this subject than to the extent it was necessary to make intelligible 

 what follows. 



Mr. Von Kremer's copy is what I call an authenticated one. It was 

 written by Mas'iid b. 'Alyy for Abii-1-iZasan 'Alyy Ibn al-^arra^. 

 In order to comply with the above condition — to have a witness 

 that every part of the work is genuine, and to correct his copy, Ibn 

 al-Tarra& read it in A. H. 532 before his Shaykh Ibn 'Abd al-Baqiy 

 who compared what he read with his own copy. Subsequently, in 

 549, Mas'iid b. 'Alyy copied from the MS. of the Shaykh the Sama' 

 into it. It was usual, for the Shaykh, if pupils read, to say in the 

 commencement of each lecture, Akhbarana fulan, i. e. " What thou 

 art going to read, has been communicated to me and my fellow- 

 students by A. B." Or the Shaykh remained silent and the pupil 

 read Akhbarakum, i. e. " 0. D. has communicated to thee and thy 

 school-fellows what follows." This form is used here. Ibn 'Abd 

 al-Baqiy had been instructed in the book by Jawhary. In this 

 instance the book was read by a fellow-student of Ibn 'Abd al-Baqiy 

 and he as well as the Shaykh (Jawhary) were listening. 



The instructor of Jawhary, and his witness for the authenticity 

 of the book was Ibn iZayyiiyah a pupil of Ibn Aby iZayyah before 

 whom his own copy was read by a student and he (Abu JTayyah) 

 as well as Ibn Hayyuyah listened and he (Abu iZayyah) stated that 

 it was really what he had heard from his teacher al-IZarith Thaljy 

 (died at the age of 76 in 206 ?) who had attended Wakidy's own 

 lectures. Mr. Kremer gives us learned notices of some of these 

 persons. It so happens that some of them are links in the chain 

 of witnesses through which the Cawnpore copy, of Ibn Sa'd was 

 propagated to the celebrated biographer of Mohammad, iZafitz 

 Dimyaiy, the teacher of Hakkary, by whom that copy was copied 

 from Ibn .Hayyuyah' s text in 718. The isnad in the coni- 



rare work) from the /♦**-'l &^£^ of the Khatyb Baghdady which treats on the 

 introduction and progress of writing among the Moslims for the sake of preserving 

 traditions, and throws a flood of light on the literary history of the first two cen- 

 turies — and from a number of other works. My labour is nearly finished, but I left 

 it among my books at Damascus, which have not yet reached me. 



