On the Knowledge of the Creator, Miracles of the Prophets and Saints, History and Biography of the Ancient Kings of Persia, and on the Accounts of the Caliphs and Religious and other Secular Worthies.
| A. | G. | Serial. | TITLES OF THE ANECDOTES. |
| f19b | f1b | General Preface to the whole work containing doxology, introduction, dedication, contemporary events, object of the compilation and the headings of the hundred chapters. | |
| f21b | f5b | Introduction to the first chapter containing proofs on the existence of the Supreme Being and arguments against heretics and disbelievers. | |
| f22a | ” | 1 | The Origin of Idolatry: How, after the Ascension of the prophet Idrís, the Devil tempted the people to worship his own image. |
| ” | ” | 2 | The evil designs of Namrúd; the birth of the prophet Ibráhím. |
| f22b | f6a | 3 | Ibráhím challenges Namrúd, the latter’s sophistry causes his own ruin and death. |
| ” | ” | 4 | Pharaoh chastised by Iblís for his false pretensions as a God. |
| ” | ” | 5 | Pharaoh’s believing wife Ásiya reproaches him for his blasphemy. |
| ” | ” | 6 | The Imám Ja‘far b. Muḥammad aṣ-Ṣádiq inculcates faith in God and converts a heretic. |
| ” | ” | 7 | Conversion of ‘Imrán ibnu'l-Ḥuṣayn at the hands of the Prophet Muḥammad. (The Adyánu'l-‘Arab as the source, see above, p. 39). |
| f23a | ” | 8 | The Imám Abú Ḥanífa baffles the Zindíq conspirators and converts them to Islám. |
| ” | f6b | 9 | The Imám Sháfi‘í astounds a believer in ‘Nature’ by proving that, natural objects being the same, properties are imparted to them by God, e. g. his illustration of the leaf of the raspberry plant — its uses, effects and results. |
| ” | ” | 10 | Argument of the Imám Sháfi‘í against the Zindíqs as to whether sex can be determined by the will of the parents. |
| ” | ” | 11 | The Creator’s existence proved by the Imám Ja‘far from the formation of an egg. |
| ” | ” | 12 | The Imám Málik illustrates before the Caliph Hárún the manifestation of the Omnipotence of the Creator in the Unity and Diversity observable in mankind. |
| ” | ” | 13 | The Arab and the Zindíq: the famous lines about the Design and the Designer. |
| ” | ” | 14 | A Muslim physician’s two illustrations to convince a Zindíq: the bee with its poisonous sting and sweet honey; and the myrobalan, as an aperitive in spite of its coolness and dryness. |
| A. | G. | Serial. | TITLES OF THE ANECDOTES. |
| f23b | f6b | 15 | The Imám Ja‘far aṣ-Ṣádiq proves the existence of the Creator through his own coming into existence. |
| ” | ” | 16 | The Caliph ‘Alí’s conception of the Creator as explained by himself. |
| ” | ” | 17 | How Dhu’n-Nún-i-Miṣrí knew the Creator through Himself. |
| ” | f7a | 18 | The falling leaf and the philosophical statement recorded on it. |
| ” | ” | 19 | A Zindíq king converted by his minister through the argument of the Design and the Designer. |
| f24a | ” | 20 | Jibrá'íl’s explanation to the Prophet of his contradictory answer of “No and Yes” about the setting sun. |
| ” | ” | 21 | The utility of gnats in the scheme of the universe as pointed out by the Imám Sháfi‘í. (Anecdote repeated, cf. below, I. xvi. 894). |
| ” | ” | 22 | The three correct answers and one pertinent question of a Muslim divine imprisoned in Rúm, and the consequent conversion of the Christian monks. |
| f24b | f7b | 23 | ‘Anbasa, moved by the piety and extreme faith in the justice of God of a condemned Khárijite, implores Ḥajjáj b. Yúsuf ath-Thaqafí to spare the life of the victim. (Probably from Tanúkhi’s Faraj b‘ad a’sh-Shidda). |
| ” | ” | 24 | The Caliph Hishám b. ‘Abdu'l-Malik and the terrible fate of Ghaylán, the Mu‘tazilite. |
| ” | ” | 25 | Ibnu’s-Sammák appears in vision and recounts his celestial reception in reward for his preaching the Unity of God. |
| ” | ” | 26 | The Caliph ‘Abdu’llah b. Muḥammad Abu’l-‘Abbás as-Saffáḥ’s clever argument, and the discomfiture of a Dualist. |
| f25a | f8a | 27 | The wilful defiance of Bakht-Ázmáy, a proud king of Egypt, to the authority of God against the sound advice of his Wazír, his utter defeat at the hands of Salúḥ or Sabúkh (?) and his penitence. |
| f25b | ” | 28 | A drunken libertine’s fatal punishment for his blasphemy. |
| ” | f8b | 29 | The withering of the hand of a blaspheming calligraphist. (The Kitáb-i-Khalqu’l-Insán as the source, see above, p. 66). |
| ” | ” | 30 | The marvellous story of the Jewish ascetic who cast a suspicion on the raising to life from decayed bones, the dry bone, the virgin who bears a child, and the illustration of the resurrection of the dead. |
| f26b | f9a | 31 | ‘Amr b. Murra’s sincere advice not to cavil at the “Mutashábihát” Verses in the Qur’án. (The Tafsír of Najmu’d-Dín ‘Umar an-Nasafí as the source, see above, p. 65). |
| ” | ” | 32 | The Prophet Muḥammad and the two Jewish Rabbis who accept Islám. (The Tafsír of Ibnu’l-Kalbí as the source, see above, p. 39). |
| f27a | ” | 33 | The Caliph ‘Umar and the Syrian Jews whose six puzzling questions were solved by the Caliph ‘Alí. |
| ” | f9b | 34 | The conversion of Ṭalḥa by the Caliph Abú Bakr. |
| ” | ” | 35 | Thumáma b. Ashras’s interpretation of the saying of the Prophet regarding the ‘delivered’ sect out of the seventy-two in Islám, and the Caliph al-Ma'mún’s appreciation. (Anec. repeated, see below, II. xxiii. 1509). |
| f27b | ” | 36 | Jibrá'íl’s appearance before the Prophet in the guise of an Arab and instruction as regards the four cardinal principles of Islám. |
| ” | ” | 37 | The Jew and the Zoroastrian — their beliefs and their deserts. |
| A. | G. | Serial. | TITLES OF THE ANECDOTES. |
| f28a | f10a | 38 | Abíqas (Ibycus), the Greek “philosopher”, killed by robbers, is avenged by cranes miraculously. (Cf. F. Schiller, ‘die Kraniche des Ibykus’). |
| The chapter ends with a eulogy upon his patron-wazír Abú Ḥámid Muḥammad b. Abí Sa‘d al-Junaydí Qiwámu’d-Dín entitled the Niẓámu’l-Mulk and upon the ruling Sultan of Dihlí, Shamsu’d-Dín Iltutmish. | |||