Kufa, and was of Iranian descent, his father belonging to Merv. Having studied tradition and philology he became cadi in Dinawār and afterwards teacher in Bagdad, where he died. He was the first representative of the eclectic school of Bagdad philologists that succeeded the schools of Kufa and Baṣra (see Arabia: Literature, section “Grammar”). Although engaged also in theological polemic (cf. I. Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien, ii. 136, Halle, 1890), his chief works were directed to the training of the ideal secretary. Of these five may be said to form a series. The Adab ul-Kātib (“Training of the Secretary”) contains instruction in writing and is a compendium of Arabic style. It has been edited by Max Grünert (Leiden, 1900). The Kitāb ush-Sharāb is still in manuscript. The Kitāb ul-Ma’ārif has been edited by F. Wüstenfeld as the Handbuch der Geschichte[1] (Göttingen, 1850); the Kitāb ush-Shi’r wash-Shu’arāi (“Book of Poetry and Poets”) edited by M. J. de Goeje (Leiden, 1904).[2] The fifth and most important is the ’Uyūn ul-Akhbār, which deals in ten books with lordship, war, nobility, character, science and eloquence, asceticism, friendship, requests, foods and women, with many illustrations from history, poetry and proverb (ed. C. Brockelmann, Leiden, 1900 sqq.).
For other works (which were much quoted by later Arabian writers) see C. Brockelmann, Gesch. der arabischen Literatur, vol. i. (Weimar, 1898), pp. 120-122. (G. W. T.)
IBN ṢA‛D [Abū ‛Abdallāh Maḥommed ibn Ṣa‛d ibn Mani‛ uz-Zuhrī], often called Kātib ul-Waqidī (“secretary of Waqidī”) of Baṣra] (d. 845), Arabian biographer, received his training in tradition from Waqidī and other celebrated teachers. He lived for the most part in Bagdad, and had the reputation of being both trustworthy and accurate in his writings, which, in consequence, were much used by later writers. His work, the Kitāb ul-Ṭabaqāt ul-Kabīr (15 vols.) contains the lives of Mahomet, his Companions and Helpers (including those who fought at Badr as a special class) and of the following generation (the Followers) who received their traditions from the personal friends of the Prophet.
This work has been edited under the superintendence of E. Sachau (Leiden, 1904 sqq.); cf. O. Loth, Das Classenbuch des Ibn Sa‛d (Leipzig, 1869). (G. W. T.)
IBN TIBBON, a family of Jewish translators, who flourished
in Provence in the 12th and 13th centuries. They all made
original contributions to philosophical and scientific literature,
but their permanent fame is based on their translations. Between
them they rendered into Hebrew all the chief Jewish writings
of the middle ages. These Hebrew translations were, in their
turn, rendered into Latin (by Buxtorf and others) and in this
form the works of Jewish authors found their way into the learned
circles of Europe. The chief members of the Ibn Tibbon family
were (1) Judah Ben Saul (1120–1190), who was born in Spain
but settled in Lunel. He translated the works of Baḥya, Halevi,
Saadiah and the grammatical treatises of Janaḥ. (2) His son,
Samuel (1150–1230), translated the Guide of the Perplexed
by Maimonides. He justly termed his father “the father of
the Translators,” but Samuel’s own method surpassed his
father’s in lucidity and fidelity to the original. (3) Son of
Samuel, Moses (died 1283). He translated into Hebrew a
large number of Arabic books (including the Arabic form of
Euclid). The Ibn Tibbon family thus rendered conspicuous
services to European culture, and did much to further among
Jews who did not understand Arabic the study of science and
philosophy. (I. A.)
IBN ṬUFAIL, or Ṭofail [Abū Bakr Maḥommed ibn ‛Abd-ul-Malik
ibn Ṭufail ul-Qaisī] (d. 1185), Moslem philosopher, was
born at Guadix near Granada. There he received a good training
in philosophy and medicine, and is said to have been a pupil of
Avempace (q.v.). He became secretary to the governor of
Granada, and later physician and vizier to the Mohad caliph,
Abu Ya‘qūb Yūsuf. He died at Morocco.
His chief work is a philosophical romance, in which he describes the awakening and growth of intellect in a child removed from the influences of ordinary life. Its Arabic title is Risālat Hayy ibn Yaqzān; it was edited by E. Pococke as Philosophus autodidactus (Oxford, 1671; 2nd ed., 1700), and with a French translation by L. Gauthier (Algiers, 1900). An English translation by S. Ockley was published in 1708 and has been reprinted since. A Spanish translation by F. Pons Boigues was published at Saragossa (1900). Another work of Ibn Ṭufail, the Kitāb Asrār ul-Hikma ul-mashraqīyya (“Secrets of Eastern Science”), was published at Bulāq (1882); cf. S. Munk, Mélanges (1859), pp. 410 sqq., and T. J. de Boer, Geschichte der Philosophie im Islam (Stuttgart, 1901), pp. 160 sqq. (also an English translation). (G. W. T.)
IBN USAIBI‛A [Muwaffaquddīn Abū–l-‛Abbās Aḥmad ibn
ul-Qāsim ibn Abī Usaibi‛a] (1203–1270), Arabian physician, was
born at Damascus, the son of an oculist, and studied medicine
at Damascus and Cairo. In 1236 he was appointed by Saladin
physician to a new hospital in Cairo, but surrendered the appointment
the following year to take up a post given him by
the amir of Damascus in Salkhad near that city. There he
lived and died. He wrote ‛Uyūn ul-Anba‛fī Ṭabaqāt ul-Aṭibba‛
or “Lives of the Physicians,” which in its first edition (1245–1246)
was dedicated to the vizier of Damascus. This he enlarged,
though it is uncertain whether the new edition was made public
in the lifetime of the author.
Edition by A. Müller (Königsberg, 1884). (G. W. T.)
IBO, a district of British West Africa, on the lower Niger immediately above the delta, and mainly on the eastern bank of the river. The chief town, frequently called by the same name (more correctly Abo or Áboh), lies on a creek which falls into the main stream about 150 m. from its mouth and contains from 6000 to 8000 inhabitants. The Ibo are a strong well-built Negro race. Their women are distinguished by their embonpoint. The language of the Ibo is one of the most widely spoken on the lower Niger. The Rev. J. F. Schön began its reduction in 1841, and in 1861 he published a grammar (Oku Ibo Grammatical Elements, London, Church Miss. Soc.). (See Nigeria.)
IBRAHĪM AL-MAUṢILĪ (742–804), Arabian singer, was born
of Persian parents settled in Kufa. In his early years his parents
died and he was trained by an uncle. Singing, not study,
attracted him, and at the age of twenty-three he fled to Mosul,
where he joined a band of wild youths. After a year he went to
Rai (Rei, Rhagae), where he met an ambassador of the caliph
Manṣūr, who enabled him to come to Baṣra and take singing
lessons. His fame as a singer spread, and the caliph Mahdī
brought him to the court. There he remained a favourite under
Hādī, while Harūn al-Rashīd kept him always with him until
his death, when he ordered his son (Ma‛mūn) to say the prayer
over his corpse. Ibrahīm, as might be expected, was no strict
Moslem. Two or three times he was knouted and imprisoned
for excess in wine-drinking, but was always taken into favour
again. His powers of song were far beyond anything else known
at the time. Two of his pupils, his son Isḥāq and Muḥāriq,
attained celebrity after him.
See the Preface to W. Ahlwardt’s Abu Nowas (Greifswald, 1861), pp. 13-18, and the many stories of his life in the Kitāb ul-Aghāni, v. 2-49. (G. W. T.)
IBRAHIM PASHA (1789–1848), Egyptian general, is sometimes
spoken of as the adopted son of Mehemet Ali, pasha of
Egypt. He is also and more commonly called his son. He was
born in his father’s native town, Kavala in Thrace. During
his father’s struggle to establish himself in Egypt, Ibrahim,
then sixteen years of age, was sent as a hostage to the
Ottoman capitan pasha (admiral), but when Mehemet Ali was
recognized as pasha, and had defeated the English expedition
under General A. M. Fraser, he was allowed to return to Egypt.
When Mehemet Ali went to Arabia to prosecute the war against
the Wahhabis in 1813, Ibrahim was left in command in Upper
Egypt. He continued the war with the broken power of the
Mamelukes, whom he suppressed. In 1816 he succeeded his
brother Tusun in command of the Egyptian forces in Arabia.
Mehemet Ali had already begun to introduce European discipline
into his army, and Ibrahim had probably received some training,
but his first campaign was conducted more in the old Asiatic
