SOURCE: "Al-Jahiz," in Biographical Dictionary, Vol. II, translated by Bn Mac Guckin de Slane, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britian, 1843, pp. 403-10.

[In the following excerpt, Khallikan discusses anecdotes which al-Jahiz told about himself]

Abu Othman Amr Ibn Bahr Ibn Mahbub al-Kinani al-Laithi, generally known by the surname of al-Jahiz and a native of Basra, was a man celebrated for his learning and author of numerous works on every branch of science. He composed a discourse on the fundamentals of religion, and an offset of the Motazilite sect was called al-Jahiziya after him. He had been a disciple of Abu Ishak Ibrahim Ibn Saiyar al-Balkhi, surnamed an-Nazzam¹, and was maternal uncle to Yamut Ibn al-Muzarra, a person whose life we shall give. One of his finest and most instructive works is the Kitab al-Haiwan (book of animals), as it contains every sort of curious information. The same may be said of his Kitab al-Bayan wa 't-Tabaiyun (distinction and exposition)². His productions are extremely numerous, and his talents are fully recognised; but he was deformed in person, and the prominence of his eyes, which seemed to be starting out of his head, procured him the surnames of al-Jahiz (the starer) and al-Hadaki (goggle-eye). Amongst the anecdotes concerning him, is the following, related by himself: "I was mentioned to al-Mutawakkil as a proper person to instruct one of his sons; but, on seeing me, he disliked my looks and dismissed me with a present often thousand dirhems. On leaving the palace, I met with Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim³, who was on the point of returning to Madina-tas-Salam (Baghdad), and he proposed to me that I should accompany him in his barge. I should remark that we were then at Sarra man Raa. I embarked with him, and, on reaching the mouth of the canal al-Katul⁴, a curtained tent was set up and he called for music, on which a female lute-player commenced singing an air, of which the words were:

'Our days are passed in quarrels and reproaches; our time is spent in anger. Can it it be that such an affliction is peculiar to me alone, or is it common to every lover?'

"She then stopped, and he told a female guitar-player to begin. The words she sung were:

'Show pity to true lovers! I see no one to assist them; how often do they part! how often are they severed! how often do they separate! how great must be their patience!'

"Here the lute-player said to her:

'And then what must they do?'

"To which the other female answered:

''Tis this they have to do—'

"She then struck her hand through the curtain, and, coming out at the rent she thus made, she appeared to us like a half-moon⁵ and threw herself into the water. A young page who was standing behind Muhammad, with a fly-flap in his hand, and who resembled her in beauty, went over to the place where she fell in, and saw her borne away under the water, on which he recited this verse:

''Tis thou who drownest me⁶ after meeting with thy fate! O that thou couldst know it!'

"He then sprung in after her, and the rowers having turned the barge round, perceived them sinking and clasped in each other's arms. They were never seen after. Muhammad was greatly shocked at the circumstance, but he at length said to me: 'O Abu Amr! tell me some story which may diminish my grief for the death of that unfortunate couple, or else I shall send thee to join them!' I immediately recollected an occurrence which happened to Yazid Ibn Abd al-Malik, and I related as follows: The khalif Yazid Ibn Abd al-Malik was holding a public sitting for the redressing of grievances, and amongst the memorials which passed under his examination, he found one containing these words: 'If it be the pleasure of the Commander of the faithful, he will have such and such a slave-girl of his brought out to me, so that she may sing me three airs.' On reading this note, Yazid was seized with anger, and he sent out a person with orders to bring in the writer's head, but he then dispatched another messenger after the first, with directions to bring in the individual himself. When the man appeared before him, the khalif addressed him thus: 'What induced thee to do what thou hast done?'—'My confidence in thy mildness,' replied the man, 'and my trust in thy indulgence.' Here the prince ordered all the assembly to withdraw, not excepting the members of the Omaiyide family, and the girl was brought in with a lute in her hand. The youth then said to her: 'Sing these words:

'Gently, O Fatima! moderate thy disdain! if thou hast resolved to sever our attachment, yet be gentle⁷.'

"When she had sung it, Yazid said to him: 'Speak;' and the other said: Sing:

'The lightning gleamed in the direction of Najd, and I said: O lightning! I am too much engaged to watch thee⁸.'

"And she sung it. Yazid then said to him: 'Speak;' and he said: 'Order me a pint of wine;' and it was brought to him. He had hardly drunk it off, when he sprung up, and, having climbed to the top of the dome under which Yazid was sitting, he threw himself down and dashed out his brains. We belong to God,' exclaimed Yazid (horror-struck), 'and unto him we must return! See that madman! he was silly enough to think that if I brought out my slave-girl to him, I should take her back again into my own possession. Pages! lead her out and bear her to his family, if he have a family; and if not, sell her and let the price be distributed as alms in his name.' They immediately departed with her for the man's family, but, on crossing the court of the palace, she saw an excavation prepared for preserving the rain-waters, on which she burst from their hands, and recited this line:

Those that die of love, let them die thus; there is no good in love without death.

"And throwing herself head foremost into the cistern, she died on the spot. Muhammad received some distraction from this narration, and he made me a large present." The following anecdote is related by Abu 'l-Kasim as-Sirafi: "We went to the assembly held by the lord vizir Abu 'l-Fadl Ibn al-Amid, and, the name of al-Jahiz happening to be mentioned, a person present depreciated his abilities and spoke of him slightingly. The vizir made no observation, and, when the man had retired, I said to him: 'My lord! why did you not reply to that fellow, you who are accustomed to refute the assertions of persons like him?' To this the vizir replied: 'I thought any reply less effectual than leaving him in his ignorance; had I argued with him and brought proofs against him, he would then have commenced reading the works of al-Jahiz, and that, Abu 'l-Kasim! would have made a man of him; for they teach us to reason first, and instruct us in literature next; and I did not think that fellow worthy of such an advantage.'" Towards the close of his life, al-Jahiz had an attack of palsy, and one of his sides was so much inflamed, that he had to rub it with sandal-ointment and camphor, whilst the latter was so cold and benumbed that, were it seized with pincers, it had been insensible. During his illness he used to say: "Maladies of a contrary nature have conspired against my body; if I eat any thing cold, it seizes on my feet, and if I eat any thing hot, it seizes on my head." He would say again: My left side is paralysed to such a degree that, if it were torn with pincers, I should not be aware of it; and my right side is so affected with gout, that if a fly walked on it, it would give me pain. I am afflicted also with gravel, which prevents me from passing urine; but what bears hardest on me is the weight of ninety-six years." He would then repeat these verses:

Didst thou, who art an aged man, hope to be as thou wast in the days of thy youth? Thou deceivest thyself; a threadbare garment is not like one that is new.

The following anecdote was related by a member of the Barmek family: "Having been appointed governor of Sind, I remained there for a considerable time, till I learned that I had been removed from office. Having gained thirty thousand dinars during my administration, and fearing, if my successor arrived suddenly, that he would learn where the money was deposited and try to seize it, I had it melted down into ten thousand plum(-shaped masses,) each of them weighing three mithkals⁹. My successor arrived soon after, on which I took ship and arrived at Basra. Being informed that Al-Jahiz was in that city, laid up with the palsy, I felt desirous of seeing him before he died; and I therefore went to find him. On arriving at his house, which was but a small one, I knocked at the door, and a female slave of a tawny complexion came out and asked me what I wanted. 'I am from a foreign country,' said I, 'and wish to have the pleasure of seeing the shaikh'. She then went to inform him of my desire, and I heard him utter these words: 'Say to him: What would you have with a body bent to one side, a mouth driveling, and a complexion faded?' On this I told the girl that I should insist on seeing him, and he said, on being informed of my determination: 'This is some man passing through Basra, who, hearing that I was unwell, has said to himself: I should like to get a sight of him before he dies, so that I may say: I have seen al—Jahiz'. He then consented to receive me, and, on entering his room, I saluted him. He answered me most politely, and said: 'Who are you? may God exalt you.' I informed him of my name and family, on which he replied: 'May God have mercy on your ancestors and forefathers, the generous and beneficent! their days were as gardens in the path of time, and many were those whom they restored to prosperity! May the divine favour and blessing be upon them!' In return, I offered up an invocation for his own welfare, and said: 'I request of you to recite me some of your poetry, on which he pronounced the following verses:

'Though now some have outstripped me, how often in former times did I advance leisurely, and yet outstrip all rivals. But here is time with its vicissitudes, ruining what was firm and renewing what was ruined.'

"I then rose up to retire, but, as I was entering the court of the house, he called out: 'Tell me, sir! did you ever see a palsied man derive advantage from plums?'—'No,' said I.—'I ask you the question,' replied he, 'because plums such as you have would do me good; send some to me!' I told him that I would, and left the house, wondering in myself how he could have discovered a secret which I had concealed so carefully. I then sent him one hundred of those plums,"—Abu 'l-Hasan al-Barmaki said: "Al-Jahiz recited to me these lines:

'We had once friends, but they are now departed and passed away; they were not suffered to live for ever! They all passed about the cup of death; the friend is dead, and so is the foe.'"

Al-Jahiz died at Basra in the month of Muharram, A.H. 255 (Dec.-Jan. A.D. 868-9); aged upwards of ninety years.—Laithi means descended from Laith Ibn Bakr Ibn Abd Manat Ibn Kinana Ibn Khuzaima.

Notes

¹ See vol. I. p. 186, note (4).

²…[The] later MSS, and Hajji Khalifa give the same reading as the printed text.

³ Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Musab was governor of the province of Fars. In A.H. 236 (A.D. 850-1) his nephew Muhammad Ibn Ishak Ibn Ibrahim, made a complaint against him to al-Mutawakkil, and obtained permission to treat him as he pleased. Ibn Ishak immediately proceeded to Fars and removed his uncle from the government, which he conferred on his cousin al-Husain Ibn Ismail Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Musab. He then placed his uncle in confinement and let him die of thirst—(Ibn al-Athir.)

⁴ The Katul, a canal on the east side of the Tigris, branched off from it two parasangs lower down than Sarr man raa. It passed through Jarjarai and then returned into the Tigris.

⁵ Al-Jahiz means to say that he saw her in profile only.

⁶ The autograph alone gives the right reading….

⁷ This verse belongs to the Moallaka of Amr al-Kais.

⁸ See vol. I. page 464, note (6).

⁹ It appears from this that the dinar of that time weighed a mithkal.