Although it is not necessary to speak at nearly the same Prose-writers of this period length about the prose-writers of this period as about the poets, some at least of them deserve at any rate a passing mention, including one or two who wrote chiefly or exclusively in Arabic.

Tímúr resembled another great Eastern conqueror of Turkish origin who lived four centuries before him, namely Sulṭán Maḥmúd of Ghazna, in his passion for collecting and carrying off to his capital eminent scholars from the towns which he conquered, and thus endeavouring to in­crease the splendour of his Court and his own reputation as a patron of letters. * Amongst those whom Tímúr thus abducted the most celebrated were Sa'du'd-Dín Taftázání and as-Sayyid ash-Sharíf al-Jurjání.*

This eminent scholar, who was described by the con- Sa'du'd-Dín at-Taftázání temporary 'ulamá of Transoxiana as “at the present time the chief man of learning in the world, and the exemplar of scholars amongst the sons of men,” and of whose works sixteen are enumerated by Brockelmann, * was born at Taftázán near Nasá in Khu-rásán in 722/1322, and is said to have written his first book (a commentary on az-Zanjání's Arabic Grammar) at the early age of sixteen. Another of his works, the Muṭawwal, he is said to have dedicated to Malik Mu'izzu'd-Dín Ḥusayn-i-Kurt (who reigned at Herát from A.D. 1331 to 1370). He then settled at Khwárazm, at that time a great centre of learning, where he composed his Mukhtaṣar, which he de­dicated to Jání Beg Khán of the Golden Horde, a descendant of Bátú the Mongol, who reigned in Western Qipcháq from A.D. 1340 to 1357. When Tímúr captured Khwárazm he allowed Malik Muḥammad of Sarakhs, the youngest son of the above mentioned Malik Mu'izzu'd-Dín, to take Taftázání with him to Sarakhs, where he was given a professorship; but later, learning how great was his reputation as a scholar, he summoned him to his own capital Samarqand, where he remained for some years, greatly honoured by all. He died in 791/1389 (in the same year as the poet Ḥáfiẓ), or, ac­cording to others, in 797/1394-5, * and was buried at Sarakhs. He left a son named Mawláná Muḥammad who died of the plague at Herát in 838/1434-5, and concerning whom an anecdote is related in the Ḥabíbu's-Siyar which reflects but little credit either on his filial piety or his sincerity.

Of Taftázání's works it is unnecessary to speak in detail, for not only are they written in Arabic, but they do not even fall into the category of belles lettres, being for the most part on logic, Arabic grammar, philosophy, theology, exegesis and jurisprudence. I am not aware that he wrote anything in Persian, but, by virtue of a Turkish metrical trans­lation of Sa'dí's Bústán which he composed, he is included by the late Mr E. J. W. Gibb in his History of Ottoman Poetry.*

As-Sayyid ash-Sharíf, chiefly known to European As-Sayyid ash-Sharíf al-Jurjání scholars by his book of “Definitions” (ta'rífát) of technical and especially Ṣúfí terms, was born, as his title al-Jurjání indicates, in the Caspian province of Gurgán or Jurján, near Astarábád, in 740/1339. In 779/1377 he was presented by Sa'du'd-Dín Taftázání to the Muẓaffarí prince Sháh Shujá' who was then residing at Qaṣr-i-Zard, and who took him with himself to Shíráz, where he became a professor at the Dáru'sh-Shifá. In 789/1387 Tímúr conquered Shíráz and transported him to Samarqand, where he again foregathered with Taftázání, with whom he had many scientific controversies. On the death of Tímúr in 807/1405 he returned to Shíráz, where he died in 816/1413 at the age of 76. Brockelmann enumerates 31 of his works, all of which are in Arabic. * Three Persian works, a well­known Arabic grammar commonly known as Ṣarf-i-Mír, a treatise on Logic (al-Kubrá fi'l-Manṭiq), and another on the Degrees of Existence, written by or ascribed to him, are mentioned in Rieu's Persian Catalogue, * but he seems to have composed but little in his mother-tongue.

A third but much younger writer of note who was carried Ibn 'Arabsháh off by Tímúr from his native place, Damascus, in 803/1400, when he was only twelve years of age, together with his mother and brothers, was Abu'l-'Abbás Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn 'Abdu'lláh ibn 'Arabsháh, chiefly famous for the bitterly hostile biography of Tímúr which he composed under the title of 'Ajá'ibu'l-Maqdúr fí nawá'ibi Tímúr, and to which reference has been made in the last chapter. * He studied at Samarqand with the above­mentioned al-Jurjání, mastered the Turkish and Persian languages, translated from the latter into Arabic the Mar-zubán-náma of Sa'du'd-Dín Waráwíní, * travelled widely, visiting Khaṭá (Chinese Tartary), Khwárazm, Dasht, As­trachan and Adrianople (where he became for a time private secretary to the Ottoman Sulṭán Muḥammad I). He returned to his native town, Damascus, in 825/1422, made the pil­grimage to Mecca seven years later, settled in Cairo in 840/1436, and died in 854/1450. The undisguised hatred of Tímúr revealed in every page of his history forms a piquant contrast to the fulsome flattery of Sharafu'd-Dín 'Alí Yazdí and other Persian biographers. Of Ibn 'Arab-sháh's other works the best known is the Fákihatu'l-Khulafá.

Of Arabic writers of this period who had no connection with Persia, such as al-Yáfi'í and aṣ-Ṣafadí, to both of whom we are indebted for valuable biographical and historical material, I do not propose to speak here, but two other Arabic-writing Persians deserve at least a brief mention.

'Aḍudu'd-Dín al-Íjí The first of these, 'Aḍudu'd-Dín 'Abdu'r-Raḥmán ibn Aḥmad al-Íjí, who died in 756/ 1355, wrote in Arabic a good many books * on philosophical, religious and ethical subjects, of which the Mawáqif is the most celebrated; but it is chiefly on account of his connection with the Muẓaffarí dynasty that he is mentioned here, for though his birthplace was in Fárs at Íj, a place between Dárábjird and Nayríz, * he seems to have written little or nothing in his mother-tongue, though, as we have seen above, * he is celebrated by Ḥáfiẓ as one of the chief intellectual ornaments of Shíráz. He was a Sháfi'í jurisconsult, a judge (qáḍí), and a mystic; but he was also employed at times in a diplomatic capacity, for we learn from the Fárs-náma-i-Náṣirí * that he was sent by Shaykh Abú Isḥáq, at that time ruler of Shíráz, in 753/1352-3, to the Amír Mubárizu'd-Dín Muḥammad the Muẓaffarí, who was then in the neighbourhood of Kirmán, to endeavour to dissuade him from attacking Shíráz. In this mission he failed; but he was well received by Mubárizu'd-Dín, whom he had to entertain for three days at his native town of Íj, and had the honour of reading and explaining the com­mentary on the Mufaṣṣal (a well-known work on Arabic grammar by az-Zamakhsharí) to the Amír's son Sháh Shujá', afterwards ruler of Shíráz and alternately patron and rival of the poet Ḥáfiẓ.

5. Al-Fírúzábádí.

Another Persian man of learning who met and received Al-Fírúzábádí favours from Tímúr was the great Arabic scholar and lexicographer, best known by his monu­mental dictionary the Qámús, or “Ocean,” Abu'ṭ-Ṭáhir Muḥammad ibn Ya'qúb ash-Shírází al-Fírúzábádí. * He was born in 729/1326 at Fírúzábád in Fárs, and studied His extensive travels first at Shíráz, then at Wásiṭ in Mesopotamia, then at Baghdád (745/1344), and afterwards (750/1349-1350) at Damascus, where he at­tended the lectures of as-Subkí, whom he accompanied to Jerusalem. There he lectured for some ten years, after which he set out again on his travels, in the course of which he visited Asia Minor, Cairo, Mecca (770/1368), where he re­mained fifteen years, and India, where he spent five years in Dihlí. He then returned to Mecca, where he spent another ten years. In 794/1392 he visited the court of the Jalá'ir Sulṭán Aḥmad ibn Uways at Baghdád; and he also visited Tímúr at Shíráz, probably in 795/1393, and was received with much honour. Thence he went by way of Hurmuz on His high position in Yaman the Persian Gulf to Yaman, where he arrived in the following year (796/1394), and remained at Ta'izz for fourteen months. He was then made Chief Judge (Qáḍi'l-quḍát) of Yaman, and received in marriage the daughter of the Sulṭán al-Malik al-Ashraf. In 802/1400 he again visited Mecca, where he established a small college of Máliki jurisprudence: and, after visiting al-Madína, returned to Zabíd in Yaman, and died there in 817/1414.

Of the five Arabic writers mentioned above all save Ibn 'Arabsháh (who is included on account of his connection with Tímúr) were Persians; and, for reasons which I have elsewhere given, * I consider that no literary history of the Persians which, confining itself to what is written in Persian, ignores the immense amount of valuable work produced by Persians in Arabic, can be regarded as adequate in its scope, or just to this talented people.