878 Origin and progress of writing down historical facts. [No. 5. 



dialect in which the Arabic text is written, and the style of the 

 book might throw light on the literary history of that period. 



As a farther contribution towards the literary history of the time 

 of Mohammad, I add here two passages on the Cohof Ibrahym or 

 Eolls of Abraham, which are referred to in the Qoran, as books 

 which were well known to the Arabs. 



Ibn Monajjim who wrote in A. H. 131, says in p. 28 of his his- 

 tory, after enumerating the canonical works of the Bible, that the 

 Jews have some books which are not recognized by the Chris- 

 tians, and the first of these books which he mentions is o**+^| wUtf 



%s&\jj*$\ J J^>^l <Jir-b <^ (s*^y° c^' C^' " ^ ne book al-Ashma'at. 

 This is the ' Eolls of Abraham and Moses.' It is a work which 

 contains the history from Adam to Moses in the form of divine 

 revelations, commands and prohibitions." 



In page 52 he says : U| j *$&cj ^JJ &J+*? ij* u*y^l <-!P \±* 



^Aj f*\ ^ Jy\ k° *& j ^y°i &&\yb «-»*"^ <^*-H (jsj^\ &j* 



" This is the account which the Magi give of their first king, 

 Kayumarth, and his descendants and their reigns. The account 

 which those who believe in the Bible give of him in their books 

 [follows below]. Such books are the Shama'ata. This is a work 

 which is recognized by the Jews but not by the Christians. It is 

 called the Eolls (or Volumes) of Ibrahym and Moses, and it consists 

 of those Eolls (or Volumes) which have been sent down from heaven 

 to Adam, Seth, Enoch, Abraham and Moses, and have been col- 

 lected by the last named prophet." 



Shama'ata, I believe is a mistake in this passage for Ashma'at, 

 because according to a statement in p. 28 Shama'ata is the name of 

 a collection of traditions of the Eabbins. 



There is an Arabic work in my possession which bears the title of 

 <S*y°J f^ir?' u **^i Dut it is evidently not the same which is men- 

 tioned by Ibn Monajjim. 



So much on books and writing among the Christian Arabs at and 

 before the time of the prophet. We will now turn our attention 

 to his followers. 



