GIRAFFE

az-Zarafah and az-Zurafah.— [The giraffe].

Its sobriquet is umm-isa. It is a certain beast of a beautiful make, having long fore legs and short hind ones, the collective length of both the hind and fore legs being nearly ten cubits (1). Its head is like that of a camel, its horn is like that of a cow, its skin is like that of a leopard, its legs and hoofs are like those of a cow, and its tail is like that of a gazelle. It has no knees to its hind legs, but its two knees are attached to its fore legs. When it walks, it advances its left hind leg first and then its right fore leg, contrary to the rule of all other quadrupeds, which advance the right fore leg first and then the left hind leg. Among its natural qualities are affection and sociableness. It ruminates and voids globular dung. As God knew that it would derive its sustenance from trees. He has created its fore legs longer than the hind ones, to enable it to graze on them easily. — so al- Kazwini (2) says in Aja’ib al makhlukut.

 

It is related in the History of Ibn-Khaldun, in the biography of Muhammad b. 'Abd-Allah al-Utbi al-Basrì al-Akhbari, the well-known poet, that he used to say, Az-zarafah, which may be pronounced with a fathah (3) or a dammah (4) over the j , is a certain well-known animal, the product of three animals, namely, the wild she- camel, the wild cow, and the male hyena. The hyena mounts the she-camel, which then begets an animal between a she-camel and a hyena ; if the offspring is a male animal, it mounts the cow, which then brings forth the giraffe. This occurs in Abyssinia, and on account of what is mentioned above, it is called az-zarafah, which originally means a collection; and because this animal is the product of several animals, it is thus called. The Persians call it ushtur gaw yalank (palank), because ushtur is a camel, gaw a cow, and yalank (palank) a hyena.

 

One party of authorities states that it is the product of several animals, the reason being that during summer beasts and wild animals collect together over the water (in the watering places), and have (promiscuous) sexual intercourse with one another, as the result of which some of the females conceive and others do not ; sometimes several males mount the same female animal, thus causing the seminal fluids to he mixed up; and, in consequence of it, the females give birth to animals varying in appearance, colours, and forms. But al-Jahiz is not satisfied with this explanation, and states that it is the outcome of sheer ignorance and emanates only from people who lack the faculty of discrimination, for God creates whatever He pleases; The giraffe, on the contrary, is a distinct species of animal, independent (sui generis) like the horse or the ass. This is proved by the fact that it is able to produce one like itself, a fact which has been ascertained by observation itself, a fact which has been seen and ascertained. As to its lawfulness or unlawfulness, (to eat the meat)….................. long legal discussion partly taken out.............

It is possible that it may be said that the Shaikh has said so, depending on the statement of the lexicologists, namely, that it is one of the beasts of prey, their calling it thus indicating its unlawfulness. As it is so, the author of Kitab al’Ayn (5) states that as-zarafah, with a fathah (3) or a dammah (4) over the J, is one of the beasts of prey and is called in Persian ushur gaw yalank (palank)(26). It is mentioned in another place that the giraffe is the product (of connection) between a wild she-camel and a hyena, the offspring being partly like a she-camel and partly like a hyena ; if the offspring be a male one, it mounts a wild cow and causes it to conceive, the cow then giving birth to a giraffe, which is called as-zarafah because it is (partly) a he-camel and (partly) a she-camel As such is the case and as the Shaikh heard that it was one of the beasts of prey, he believed it to be truly so, but he could not have seen it. He therefore concluded that it is unlawful to eat it. It has however, been already mentioned that al-Jahiz was not satisfied with this statement and said: This statement is rank ignorance, the giraffe being a certain independent species of animal like the horse and the ass. I (the author) say that this, what al-Jahiz states, is opposed to what Ibn-Abi'd-Dam (6) has copied from the author of Kitab al-Ayn, namely, that the giraffe is the offspring of two (different) edible animals, whilst the likeness which Ibn Abi'd-Dam considers to exist between it and the camel on the one hand, and the cow on the other, is a distant one, as its fore legs are long and its hind legs short. If a distant resemblance were sufficient, the eating of a cricket would have been also lawful, on account of its resemblance to a locust, and so would the giraffe hare also been lawful to eat, because its foot resembles that of the camel. It is said in Sharh al-Muhadhdhab (7) that some hold the opinion that the giraffe is the offspring of an edible and an unedible animal, which points to its being unlawful. But al-Jahiz’s statement sets this aside and shows that it is lawful, which is the opinion accepted in al'Fatawa al-halabiyat (8), as has been already mentioned ; this is the doctrine of the Imam Ahmad (9), and is conformable with that of Malik, the Hanafi (10) doctrine also tending towards it. If, then, the statements (of the different authorities) conflict and reasoning over the proofs for them is out of the question, we must return to the original permission (for the use of such animals as are not declared to be unlawful), whilst this animal enters the class of those in regard to which there is no distinct declaration as to their unlawfulness or lawfulness, and which will be mentioned hereafter under the letter j in the art.

(Properties.) Its flesh is coarse and atrabilious, and gives rise to a corrupt humour (chyme).

(Interpretation of it in dreams.) A giraffe in a dream indicates a calamity affecting property. Sometimes it indicates a glorious or a beautiful wife, or the receipt of wonderful news from the direction from which it is seen to come ; there is, however, no good in the news. If it he seen (in a dream) to enter a country or town there is no gain to be obtained from it, for it indicates a calamity affecting property, and do not be sure of the security of whatever you take a pleasure in through it (the property), whether it be a friend, a spouse, or a child. It may sometimes be interpreted to mean a wife who is not faithful to her husband, because it differs from the riding beasts in its back.

 

AMBERGRIS (24)

….and the dead fishes  float on the water like a great mountain. And the people of Zinj  track them, and throw hooks in them, pull them to the coast, and cut open the stomach and dug out the amber….

 

Some say that the odoriferous ambergris (al-anbar) comes out from the bottom of the sea, is eaten by some of the beasts in it on account of its oiliness, is then vomited out by them, and found in a state like that of a stone ; the larger masses out of it float on the sea,and are then thrown by the wind on the beach. It strengthens the heart and the brain, and is useful in hemiplegia (11), facial palsy (12), and thickness of phlegm (13). Ibn-Sidah (14) states that ambergris comes out of the sea, and that the best kind of it is the ash-coloured variety, then comes the blue variety then the yellow, and then the black. He states that it is mostly found in the interior of the fish which eat it which die (in consequence of it). Some merchants assert that the sea of East of Africa (bahr az-Zanj) throws it up like the skull of a man, the largest lump of it being a thousand mithkals (15) weight, and that it is mostly eaten by fish, which then die; the beast which eats it is called al-anbar.

(Lawfulness or unlawfulness.) Al-Mawardi (16) and ar-Ruyani (17) state that there is no poor-rate tax on ambergris. Abu-Yuauf (18) states with regard to them that a fifth is the tax on them. Al-Hasan, 'Umar b. 'Abd-al-Aziz (19), 'Abd-Allah al-'Anbari state that it is necessary to pay a fifth as the tax on ambergris whilst ash-Shafi'i (20) argues against them, on the strength of the statement of Ibn-Abbas with regard to ambergris, namely, that something which the sea throws up and is not found in a mine, so it is not necessary to pay a fifth as a tax on it It is also related regarding him as having said that there is no poor tax on it. Jabir related that the Prophet said: Ambergris is not regarded rikaz (21) which saying therefore excludes the necessity of paying the tax on it. Al-Mawardi (16), ar-Ruyani (17), and most of the jurisconsults state that ambergris is clean. Ash-Shafi’i (20) states: I have heard one who said: I have seen ambergris spring up in the sea, moulded like the neck of a goat (or sheep). Some say that it is originally a plant having a diffusive odour in the sea, and that there is a beast in the sea which seeks it, on account of its diffusive odour, but it is a poison for it; when that beast eats it, it kills it; the sea then throws the beast out, upon which the ambergris comes cut of its belly. The two (al-Mawardi and ar-Ruyani) state in Kitab as-Salam (22) that it is allowable to make payments in ambergris, but it is necessary to mention explicitly the variety and weight of it, for ambergris is of the ash-coloured, white, green, and black varieties, and unless the variety and weight are mentioned, it is not allowable. Ash-Shafi'i (20) states that it is allowable to sell ambergris, and that the learned state with regard to it that it is a vegetable product, whilst no part of  a vegetable substance is unlawful. He (further) states, One of them (the learned) has informed me that having gone out on the sea, he was cast on an island, here he saw a tree like the neck of a goat (or sheep); he found the fruit of it to be ambergris. He related: We left it alone, so that it might grow and then we might take it, but the wind blew hard and threw it into the sea. Ash-Shafi (also) states that fish and the beasts of the sea swallow it when it first falls into the sea, because it is then soft, and that when they swallow it, few of them escape (death), as it kills them on account of the excessive heating property in it, and when a fisherman therefore takes a fish (in that condition) and finds it in its belly, he thinks it to be a part of the fish, but it is really speaking the fruit of a plant. 

(As to its properties,) al-Mukhtar b. Abdun states that ambergris is hot and dry, but is less so than musk. The best kind of it is the ash-coloured variety having a little oiliness in it. It strengthens the heart and the brain, increases the nervous fluid, is useful in hemiplegia (11), facial palsy (12), and thick phlegm (13), and produces courage, but it is injurious to persons suffering from pilos; its injnrious effects may be warded off by means of camphor and the smelling of cucumbers. It suits persons with a cold and moist constitution and old men. The best time for using it is winter. Some say that ambergris is (found) in masses like skulls, the largest of them being a thousand mithkals (15) in weight, and that they come out of springs in the sea and float on the water, upon which birds alight on them, eat them, and die. Some say that it is the excrement of a certain beast, and others say that it is a part of the rubbish of the sea. The best kind of it is the ash-coloured variety, and the opposite of it the red-coloured variety. It has greasiness in it, on account of its having been swallowed by a fish, and it becomes free from it at the time of its rolling about in the sand.

 

ABOUT THE CROW

Al Jahiz states that the author of Mantik al-tayr (27) says: The crow is one of the ignoble birds and not one of the noble or good ones ; it is in the habit of eating carrion and rubbish. It is (either) intensely black, as though highly burnt, like which among men are Zanjis, for they are the worst of people in form and nature, (or partli-coloured), (this) being like (the case of) those whose country is cold and whom wombs have not cooked or ripened, or those whose country is hot and whom wombs have burnt; thus, the reasoning powers of the people of Babylon are higher than those of others, and their perfection is greater than that of others, on account of the temperate climate (of that place); so, in the same manner, the crow that is intensely black possesses neither intelligence nor perfection, whilst the pied crow possesses much intelligence, but is more sordid than the black one.

 

STORK

Al-Kazwini (2) then relates regarding Ya'kub b. Ishak as-Sarraj as having said, " I met a man out of the people of Rumiyah (23), who told (me), I once started on a voyage in the sea of Zanj, and was thrown on one of the islands by a (heavy) wind. I went then to a city, the people of which were men of the height of about a cubit (1), and most of them were one-eyed (25). A party of them collected round me, and seizing me carried me to their king, who ordered me to be imprisoned. I was then imprisoned in a timing like a cage. Then, one of those days, I saw them preparing for a fight ; so I asked them (about it), and they replied: We have an enemy who usually comes to us at a time like this. We had not waited long when a flock of storks came over them. The one-eyed men among them were rendered so by these birds pecking at their eyes (25). I then took a stick and attacked them vigorously, upon which they flew away and disappeared. They (the men) gave me great honour for that.

 

SAW-FISH (28)

A fish in the Sea of Zinj Kaljbl with a big head, and such teeth that resemble a saw from black bones, …, every bone amounts to ten arms, it hits the sea water right and left, you hear its enormous voice is and the water blown out through the nose zooms towards the sky, then falls back like the rain. If it goes under a ship it breaks it,…

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

(2) al- Kazwini: See my webpage on Al-Qazwini(d. 1283).

(3) fathah; Fatha is the A vowel in Arabic

(4) dammah is the vowel u in Arabic.

(5) Kitab al’Ayn: see my webpage on Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi: Kitab al-'Ayn (d791).

(6) Ibn-Abi'd-Dam: better known as Ibn Abiʾl-Dam (1187 – 1244), was a medieval Syrian historian and the chief Islamic judge in his native Hama.

(7) Sharh al-Muhadhdhab: is a comprehensive manual of Islamic law according to the Shafi'i school.

(8) al'Fatawa al-halabiyat: a clarification of the creed.

(9) the doctrine of the Imam Ahmad: Ahmad ibn Hanbal, of the Hanbali school of Sunni jurisprudence.

(10) the Hanafi doctrine: Abu Hanifa (d. 767), of one of the four schools of Sunni law.

(11) Hemiplegia: brain injury, that results in a varying degree of weakness, stiffness (spasticity) and lack of control in one side of the body.

(12) facial palsy: a paralysis of the facial muscles on one side of the face.

(13)phlegm: mucus produced by the respiratory system.

(14) Ibn-Sidah: see my webpage Ibn Sida (d1066).

(15) Mithkals; mithqals: 4-5 gr of gold

(16) Al-Mawardi: (972–1058 CE), was an Islamic jurist of the Shafi'i school.

(17) ar-Ruyani: (d1109) ), was an Islamic jurist of the Shafi'i school who copied a lot from al Mawardi.

(18) Abu-Yuauf: Abu Yusuf (d.798) was a student of jurist Abu Hanifah (d.767).

(19) 'Umar b. 'Abd-al-Aziz: was the eighth Umayyad caliph (682-720).

(20) ash-Shafi'i: founder of one of the four schools of Sunni law.

(21) Rikaz: buried treasure

(22) Kitab as-Salam: The Book on Salutations and Greetings.

(23) Rumiyah: Rome.

(24) His account on ambergris: The earliest source in which this information is found is Ibn Masawaih (857), others who repeated it are: Ibn Wadih al-Ya'qubi (d897), Ibn Rosteh (903), al Masudi (916), Ibn Serapion (950), al Tamimi (980), Abu al Mutahhar al Azdi (1010); Ibn Butlan (1066); Ibn al-Wafid (1074); Nuwayri (1333); Musa Ud-Damiri (1405); Al Qalqashandi (1418). Off course much was added and discarded on the way. The most extensive article on ambergris is from Musa Ud-Damiri (1405).

(25) The Isle of the one-eyed: also found with Al Qazwini (1283); Musa Ud-Damiri (d1405); al Dimashqi (1325). The story was also known in China: Tu Yu (801): The little people are to the south of great Ch'in (Rome). Their bodies are barely three feet long. At the season of plowing and planting their crops they fear lest they be eaten by the cranes. But great Ch'in provides guards to protect them, and the little people exhaust their treasures to repay and reward them.

(26) repeated among many others: Ibn al-Fakih al Hamadhani (903); Musa Ud-Damiri (d1405); Zad Sparam (9^th); Ibn Bakhtishu (1295); Al-Raghib al-Isfahani (1109); Hassan Bar Bahlul (10^th); Mohammad ebn Mahmud ebn Ahmad Tusi (1160); Jahiz's Kitab al-Hayawan (869); Tha'alibi (d1038); Ibn Manzur (1290);

(27) the Mantik al-tayr of Feriduddin Attar from 1177. So much later then Jahiz.

(28) also mentioned by Mustawfi, Hamd-Allah ibn Abi Bakr Qazvini (1340) as the Minshar. And the northern cape of Zanzibar is also called Minchar by Ibn Majid (1470)