ibn al jauzi on the meaning of the laqab al saffah as applied to the first abbasid caliph

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On the Meaning of the laqab 'al-Saffāḥ' as Applied to the First Abbasid CaliphAuthor(s): H. F. AmedrozReviewed work(s):Source: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, (Jul., 1907), pp.660-663Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25210453 .

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660 MEANING OF THE LAQAB'AL-8AFFA1I.'

to the love of beauty within us. For whether it be at

sunrise,when the land is

steepedin colours whose vivid

hue are the despair of the artist, or at sunset, when the west

is a vast ocean of resplendent light; whether one seeks it

in the market-place among the gaily clad groups in their

rainbow-hued garments and snowy turbans, or lingers by

some fruit-stall, where the garish glure of the sun falls on

the white roadway through the trembling lacework of

willow andpoplar,

audplays fantastically

on thegolden

melons aud crimson pomegranates, everywhere there is

beauty of colour?rich, generous beauty, givenas the East

gives?prodigally.

And so it is that when this land of the sun hus once laid

its spellou the traveller, his one prayer is,

"Whatever the

hardships, whatever the difficulties, let me, 0 Allah, return

thitheragain

!"

C. Mahel Rickmehs.

[Abstract of a lecture delivered before the Society on the 26th ofMarch, 1907.]

ON TUB MEANING OF TUB LAQAB'AL-SaFFAH* AS APPLIED

TO THE FIRST AltHASU) CaLIPH.

The statement on p. 19 ante that the MS. H.M. Add. 7,320

?presumablya work by Ibn al-Jauzi?explained the origin

of this 'Laqab/ drew from Professor de Goeje the enquirywhat that explanation was, as he considered the commonly

received meaning of'bloodthirsty' to be utterly absurd.

Such, nevertheless, is the explanation iu the MS.,1 but

further discussion has led to two Professors giving considered

opinionson the question, which readers of the Journal will

be glad to possess.

At what period of his life the Caliph acquired the 'laqab'

is uncertain. There aregrounds for holding that he may

have borne it throughout his life, but Professor de Goeje

1 {1^A\ -Uj J~> U) -HJb ^r^ U)l J*3



MEANING OF THE LAQAB'AL-SAFFAH.' 001

considers that he acquired it byreason of having applied

it to himself in thespeech

he delivered to thepeople

of

Kiifa immediatelyon his accession ('Lahari, iii, 29-30),

and that the term impressed his hearers aspoetical?an

impression heightened by the fact that after uttering it he

fell into a faint.

Turning, then, to the context for the suggestionof a

meaning which shall he compatible with the generalsense

of the term 'Safffih,'we

find thata

promise by the Caliphto the Kit fans of an increased stipend

as a roward for

their loyalty is followed by the words"

make ready, there

fore, to fight, for I am the Safffih," etc.1 The preamble is

afitting prelude to a claim of credit for bounty ; the question

is whether the 'laqab' will bear this meaning, and the

Professor holds that it will.

On the meanings attributed to the term in the Lisanal-'Arab, vol. iii, p. 315, the Professor points

out that that

of 'broad-shouldered,' givenon the last line and following

immediatelyon the statement that it was the Caliph's

'laqab,' does not refer to the Caliph, but is the beginningof a fresh sentence; that among the meanings previously

given is that of Ua*.* (in the preceding line), i.e.'

liberal,'

'a free giver'; thatof

the epithets applied by the Caliphto himself the first pair refer to tbe increased stipend, aud

the last,'the relentless blood avenger,' to the anticipated

fighting; and that of the first pair the second word, al-Mubih,

means 'he who allows his guests to partake of what they

like,' so that the other, 'al-SalTah,' must bear the cognate

meaningof

'

generous.'He considers this

meaningto be

derivable either from the idea of a'

copiously flowingspring'

or of a 'man who slaughters much,' and preferably

from the latter, inasmuch as the Arab Shaikhs gloried in

slaughtering many camels for their guests, and in allowing

them to partake of the flesh freely. To do this presupposes

wealth and power, but nevertheless the term has not

acquired the signification of'wealthy.' And he refers to

1 .?J\ Jh!t. ^jJA rOJl liU I.SjeOi.



662 MEANING OF TIIE LAQAB'AL-SAFFAII.'

the paragraphon "Minhar"?Lane, 2775?to show that

the aboveexplanation of

'

Saffah' is inno

way far-fetchedor

improbable.

The name had been already borne by many persons:

e.g., by the pre-Islamic Sahlmah b. Khalid (Ibn Duraid,

203), so called because he emptied the contents of the water

skins (see infra), aud his name will be found, the Professor

says, in the "Naqa'id,"now

being edited by Professor Bevan,

onp. 454,

1.7; again, by

a member of theTaghlib tribe,

Agh. xx, 134; and by the poet al-Saflah b. Itukair (Yaqiit,

iv, 877), who is mentioned also inWright's Opusc, p. 116,

and in the note thereto on p. xvii.

The question has also been considered by Professor D. S.

Margoliouth. His absence from England has prevented my

informing him of Professor de Goeje's view, but he thought

the meaning

'

liberal' likelyto

be correct, aud sent thefollowing note of his opinion

:?

"Ibn Duraid (Ishtikak, p. 277) gives 'Saffah' as au

ordinary Arabic name, which he derives from a word

meaning'to pour out water,' aud compares it with the

names Sufaih and Musafih. The same author (p. 203) tella

us of apre-Islamic personage, Salamah b. Khalid, called

Saffah,because he

spiltwater intended for the use of his

troops, in order to make them light for the possession of

the springs. This story, whether historicallytrue or not,

suggests that the word would naturally convey the notion

of 'pourer of water'; that it might also convey that of

'pourer of blood' appears from Quran, vi, 146, where tho

verb is used of blood poured out. In this sense it would

probablynot have the odious notion connected with the

word'saffak,' which is, of course, common in the sense of

'bloodthirsty.' Grammatically, too, I should think there

would be noobjection

to itssignifying

a maker or seller

of the sort of bag called'

safih.'"

The objection to supposing that the first Abbasid Caliph

earned the name iu the seuso of shedder of blood by his

conduct lies, I

apprehend,

iu the fact that the historians

seem to assume that he had the lakab before he earned it



THE NEPALESE NAVA DHARMAS. 003

in this way. And I should regard it aslikely that he

received it for some unknown reason (and in some unknownsense) at an

early period of his life, and that its interpretation

in the traditional sense was anafterthought, which may

indeed go back to his own time."

II. F. Amedroz.

The Nepalese Nava Dharmas and their Chinese

Translations.

With the exception of some Sutras, the corresponding

Chinese translations of the Nepalese Nava Dharmas may

be easily found in Nanjio's Catalogue.

Among these exceptions, the Samddhirdja was identified

to be No. 191 in the above-named Catalogue by Dr. Wogihara,

who contributed many useful notes for the lamented editorof the Siksasamuccaya, the late Professor Bcndall. He had

compared several passages from that Sutra quoted in tho

book with its Chinese version.

Of the Gandavyuha, I havo had a fortunate opportunity9

through the generosity of the libraries of the Cambridge

University and the Itoyai Asiatic Society, of copying the

whole Sanskrit text and comparing it withits

three Chinesetranslations, viz., Nos. 87 (chap, xxxix), 88 (chap, xxxiv), and

89 in the Catalogue. It is my intention topublish it in

the "Bibliotheca Buddhica," Professor Takakusu having

encouragedmo to undertake the work of publication to

which Professor S. d'Oldenburg had invited him.

Tho Dasabhftmisrara was translated live times in China.

Besides the four describedby Nanjio (Nos. lOo, 110, 88,

chap, xxvi, and 89, chap, xxii), there is yet one more version

by Siladharma, who arrived at Chan An 789 a.d., which

is preserved only in the Corean Tripitaka. Two Indian

commentaries (Nos. 1180, 1194) are also existing. In one

of them (No. 1194) the whole text of the Sutra is cited.

I washappy in being able to collate this Sanskrit text from

the two Cambridge MSS., and to find it in complete agreement with the Chinese translations. Thus, only one Siitra,

ibn al jauzi on the meaning of the laqab al saffah as applied to the first abbasid caliph

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