THE BAYAZI. 



405 



' O Thou who seest the midge extend her wing 

 Athwart the gathered glooms of gloomiest night,' 



and to end life in the firm conviction of fate and 

 predestination. His commentary (the Kashshaf 

 'an Hikaik el Tanzil) displayed a logical reason- 

 ing, a profundity of learning, and purity of style 

 which made it popular throughout El Islam, and 

 it cleared the way for a long procession of similar 

 productions. 



In modern degenerate days the Bayazis of 

 Zanzibar have little education and no learning : 

 they must even borrow from the Sunnis com- 

 mentaries (Tafsir) and other religious works, 

 whence they can extract food for their own crav- 

 ings of belief. Of these the most popular are El 

 Bokhari, the Jelalayn, and El Baghawi; the 

 abstruse Bayzawi is seldom troubled. Logic is 

 neglected : history, philosophy, and the exact 

 sciences are unknown. Being Arabs, they do not 

 require El Sarf (accidence or the changes of the 

 verb), and the Alfiyyeh of Ibn Malik is the only 

 popular treatise upon the subject of El INahw 

 (syntax, and the changes of non-verbal parts of 

 speech). The Kazis of the Bayazi and the Sunni 

 schools lecture in their own houses upon the 

 religious sciences, and the elementary establish- 

 ments may number on the Island 15 or 16. Here 



