A detail of a miniature in the Shahnama

showing a servant or slave preparing

food on a picnic.


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al-Abshihi (1450): al-Mustatraf (The Collector)  (Egyptian writer)
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Baha al-Din Abu’l-Fath Muhammad b. Ahmad b. Mansur al-Ibshihi; Egyptian writer (1388-after 1446), born in a village in the Fayyum, in Abshuya (Egypt); author of a famous anthology the Mustatraf fi kull fann mustazraf. In the Mustafraf the author appears mainly as an anthologist, anxious to make known literary characteristics, edifying discourses, wise maxims. His contribution to East Africa in not really important.

Taken from:  Bernard Lewis, Race and Slavery p93

                    ar.lib.eshia.ir المستطرف في كل فن مستطرف

Full name: Shihab-al-Dine Ibn-Ahmad Al-Abshihi

P328

My grandfather on my mother's side used to say: The worst use of money is bringing up slaves, and mulattos are even worse and wickeder than Zanj (east Africans), for the mulatto does not know his father, while the Zanji often knows both parents. It is said of the mulatto that he is like a mule, because he is a mongrel.............Do not trust the mulatto, for there is rarely any good in him.  

Is there anything more vile than black slaves, of less good and more evil than they?.....When the black slave is sated, he fornicates (4). When he is hungry, he steals.

P366

Character Zai:

Giraffe strange animal creation,

And because feeding on tree leaves God created her forelegs longer than her hind legs,

It is said to be a fantastic mixture: It is generated from three animals: wild camel and wild cow and hyena. The hyena and the camel mate and the offspring mates with a wild cow and so generates the Giraffe.

P382

It is said that in one of the islands there is a palace made of crystal (1) in the castle of the buildings of the court and around it the lamps are never extinguished. Among the islands of the sea is the island of the Moon. It is said that on this island is a tree whose height is two hundred cubits (2) and whose trunk circumference is one hundred and twenty cubits (2); this island is inhabited by tribes of blacks who have naked bodies and use a cover, of tree leaves resembling banana leaves, except that they are thicker, wider and softer. 

From a Alfiyah and Shalfiyah, 19th - 20th century
From a Alfiyah and Shalfiyah, 19th - 20th century

This island is said to be in the vicinity of the Nile of Egypt and the people who live there profess the doctrine of Imam as-Safi'i (3)- May God be propitious to him! -; they are people who possess in the supreme degree the gift of prescribing good and defending evil. In their vicinity exist mines of gold and precious stones. We find among them white elephants and ferocious animals and others, of various shapes. In this island we still find aloe wood [called] kamari, ebony wood and peacocks. There are still a host of cities there.

Note: Island of the Moon = Comoros. In Dembeni on the island of Mayotte was the centre for transhipping of the crystal rock from Madagascar on its way to the Muslim world. See my webpage: Note on Rock Crystal.

P440

Look at the plum tree, the branches of which bear fruit, and what wonderful fruit. You can see them hidden under the green leaves, just like zanj, with green loincloths wrapped around them, sitting on the ground.

P495

And it was said that the length of the mouth's applicability is inherited by the evaporation, and every wet mouth with saliva is safe from it. And it was said that zinj are among the people those whose mouths are the best (5), and wild animals are described evaporative. And the parable struck a lion and a falcon in incense, and a dog between them is good-mouthed. And among beasts none have their mouths better than antelopes.

(1) in one of the islands there is a palace made of crystal: In an article: In the article: Islamic Archaeology in the Comoros The Swahili and the Rock Crystal Trade with the Abbasid and Fatimid Caliphates by Stephane Pradines; it is stated that at Dembeni on one of the Comore islands (Mayotte) small rock crystal pieces are found scattered around coming from Madagascar and being transhipped to the Muslim world on the island. This trade in Dembeni had stopped already long-time when this book of al-Abshihi was written. But just like in some copies of Qazwini there is a crystal palace on one of the islands at the latitude of the Nile.

(2) cubits: Distance from fingers to elbow (45cm).

(3) Imam as-Safi'i: Imam al-Shafi’i: Mohammed bin Idris Shafi'i: (767–820 CE) was an Arab Muslim theologian, writer, and scholar, who was the first contributor of the principles of Islamic jurisprudence. His legacy on juridical matters and teaching eventually led to the formation of Shafi'i school of fiqh.

(4) This hadith is repeated by: Ibn Uday Al-Jurjani, (d976) Ibn Iraq (1036); al Maydani (1124); al Dhahabi (1348); al Abshihi (1450); al Sakhawi (1497); Suyuti (1505); (and many others).

(5) They have the cleanest teeth of mankind because they have much saliva. This is repeated with variations by: Al-Jahiz (869); Ibn Qutayba (880); Ibn Abd Rabbih (d940); Abu Hilal Al-Askari (1005 AD); Ibn Butlan (1066); Abu Ubayd Al Bakri (1067); Al-Raghib al-Isfahani (1109); Al-Zamakhshari (d1144); Ibn al Jawzi (1200); At Tahqiq fi sira ar raqiq (1250); al-Abshihi (1450); Al Amsati al Hanafi (1478).