SABA3 AL-SABI' 9
i.x. (19001910, Somali, Mehrl, Had rami, Sokotri, Zfgr, ed. by
L. Keinisch, D. H. Mttller, A. Jahn, N. Rhodokanakis) finally M.
Bittner's Studien on Mehrl, Sokotri and SJihawri in SB Ak. Wien,
clxii. 1909 sqq. (J. TKATSCH)
[All previous works on the extensive ancient coinages of South
Arabia have been superseded by G. F. Hill, Catalogue of Greek Coins
of Arabia, Mesopotamia and Persia in the British Museum, London
1922, pp. xliv.lxxxiv., 45 80, Plates VIIXI, L and LV. A full
bibliogra-phy is given on p. xlv. It is now certain that the
greater part of the coins hitherto vaguely classed as "Himyarite"
are really Sabaean and that small groups of coins may also be
attributed to the Minaeans and Katabanians. Editorial], SABANDJA,
chief place of the nahiya of the
same name, picturesquely situated on the South-eastern bank of
lake Sabandja which is well known for its clear water and its many
fishes. S. belongs to the wilayet Stambul and to the Sandjak Ismld.
It is the residence of a Mudir and has about 8000 inhabitants (of
whom three-quarters are Muslims), 15 mosques, 2 Madrasa\ 15 schools
and about 1200 houses (cf. V. Cuinet, La Turquie tTAsie iv. 378).
Of the history of the town little is known; there are remains from
the Byzantine period, not however from antiquity. The origin of the
name is obscure; Ewliyfi Celeb! reports that a certain SabandjI
Kudja founded the town (cf. Travels, transl. by J. v. Hammer,
London 1850, ii. 91); but this report is probably not trustworthy
and the personage mentioned is apparently a hero eponymus. More
trustworthy seems the statement that the grand-wezir of Sulaiman
the Great, Sari Rustem Pasha, founded a mosque, a public bath and
an inn with 170 rooms in the town, a statement which concords with
local tradition (cf. M. Kleonymos and Chr. Papadopoulos, j3jvyixi,
Constantinople 1861, p. 41). The place was only of some importance
as a post-station; nowadays it is a railway halting-place. Of
greater importance is the lake, especially because of the projected
canalisation which was planned long ago, but never was carried out.
Pliny (Epist. ad Trajanum, ed. Kukula, Leipsic 1912, N. 41, 42, 61
and 62) mentions ancient remains (op. cit., p. 290 at); he proposed
to Trajan to bring about a communication with the Gulf of Ismld.
The lake is 15 km long and reaches a breadth of 5 km; it occupies
an area of 98 sq. km and has a circumference of 36 km (cf. Cuinet,
o.c. iv. 334). It is already mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus,
xvvi. 8, 3 under the name of lacus sumonensis ( = suphonensis ?;
cf. W. Tomaschek (S B Ak. Wien, vol. 124, 1891, N. 8, p. 7). In
mediaeval authors the mountain at the lake is called Siphones (G.
Pachyrneres, ed. Bekker ii. 332. 8), Siphon (Anna Comnena who calls
the lake Buthni Xlyunt; cf ed. Reifferscheid ii. 72, 23; the
reading Be&iy A/pyif in Euagrius ii. 14 is to be corrected into
K/anj A/py*; cf. J. Bidez and L. Parmentier in Revue de
finstruction publ. en Belgique xl. [1897], p. 13-15 and Bye.
Zeitschrift vi. 457), Sophon (Georg. CedrenuS, Hist., ed. Bekker
ii. 371, 628; Skylitzes, p. 710; Niceph. Bryenn. P- 77i 79i 82;
Michael Att., p. i89;Theophanes, p. 610). Sabandja is perhaps a
popular trans-formation of Sophon.
The project of the canal (see above) was dis-cussed several
times, but without succes, in the Muslim era, e. g. during the
reign of Murld III
in 999/1591 (the year 909 in Hadjdjl Khalifa, DjihAnnuma, p.
666, 12 is due to a-printer's error and has given rise to mistakes,
cf. J. v. Hammer, Gesch.
AL-SABI' AI^SABI'A 21
his old faith and became a Muslim. This was in the year 399 in
consequence of a dream he had. He was secretary of Fakhr al-Mulk
Aba Ghilib Mu-hammad b. Khalaf, who at his death had with him on
deposit the sum of 30,000 dinars. He was afraid to make use of the
money, fearing the interference of the wazlr Mu'ayyid al-Mulk
al-Hasan al-Rukh-Jchadjl (died 430 A. H.); but when the latter
found it out, he allowed him to keep the money. He did not use it,
however, as he was in State-employ and left it to his son Qhars
al-NiTnat. He died on Thursday the I7h of Ramadan, 448 A.H. The
nine works which he composed have all been lost except the
fragments edited by H. F. Amedroz, Leiden 1904. They consisted of
the following: 1) 7&V>, a history in continuation of that of
his father-in-law TJiabit b. Sinan, containing the events of the
years 360447. Of this the fragment published contains events of the
years 389393 only, and the portion preserved makes us regret the
loss of the remainder. He relied for the ear-lier parts upon much
valuable information supplied by his grandfather, who for so many
years had access to all the most important documents. 2) Kitab al-
Wuzara', a continuation of the works of al-SulI and al-DjahshiyBrl.
Of this only the be-ginning is preserved in the printed edition and
some of the most important lives of wazlrs are lost. This work is
quoted under the title Kitab al-jfyan wa'l-Amtkal by Ibn Zafir in
the Bad a*? al-Badti'ih (Cairo 1316, i. 63,169; ii. 102), where
fragments of a later portion are preserved. Ibn Khallikan calk this
work by the longer title Kitab al-Aniatlj.il wa'l-A'yan wa
Mutanadda 'l-cAiva(if waU-Ihsan and states that it is in one volume
and contains pleasant stories and rare anecdotes. 3) Ghurar
al-Balagha fi'l-RasS'il, a collection ot his own epistles. 4) Kitab
RisalSt 'an il-Muluk v>a'l-Wtuaray, a collection of official
letters, re-sembling that of his grandfather. 5) Kitab Rusuin DSr
il-Khilafa, probably an exposition of the various public offices in
Baghdad. 6) Kitab Aihbar Baghdad, chronicle of the city of Baghdad.
7) Kitab 3fa'at&ir Ahlihi, chronicle of his own family. 8)
Kitab ahKuttab, a manual for secretaries, pro-bably after the model
of the work with the same title by al-SnlL. 9) Kitab al-Siyasa.
Bibliography: Kitab al-WuzarcP, Intro-duction, p. 57,13; Kha{Ib,
TS'rJkh Baghdad, Ms. B. M.; Ibn Khallikan, ed. Wiistenfeld, N. 756
== Cairo 1310, ii. 202.; Ibn Hidjdja, Ttflmarat alAwrak (Cairo
1304), i. 76; jf.R.A.S. 1901, p. 501 and 749; v. Kremer, Denksch.
Ak. Wien, xxxvi. 283362 ; Wiistenfeld, Gtschichts-schr., 198;
Brockelmann, Gesch. Arab. Lit., i. 323.
Other members of the family according to the following genealogy
were
Zahrfln I
Ibrahim (d. 309) [beneath N": 3] I
Habit (d. 365) [beneath N. 5] Hilal [beneath N. 4] i
Ibrahim (d. 384)
al-Muhassin (alive 399) [beneath N. 6] Hilal (d. 448)
Muhammad Qhars al-Ni'ma (d.'480) [beneath N. 7]
1 Sinan
3. ABTJ ISHXIC. IBRXHIM B. ZAHRUN was a skill-ful doctor and
came from al-Rakka to Bagh-dad where he died on the 20* of Safar,
309 A. H. Ibn Abl Usaibica, i. 227; KiftI, Hukamtf (ed. Cairo 1326^
p. 55-
4. HILXL B. IBRXHIM B. ZAHRON ABU 'L-HUSAIN, the father of
Ibrahim, was a clever physician and in the service of the amir
TOzHn. KiftI, HukaniS' (ed. Cairo), p. 229.
5. THXBIT B. IBRXHIM B. ZAHRBN, also a phy-sician, was an old
man when cAdud al-Dawla came to Baghdad in 364 A. H. Though at
first not well received he was later granted a pension and died the
H* of Ehu'l-Ka'da, 365 A. H. He was born at al-Rakka on the 27'h of
Dhu'l-Ka'da, 283 A. H. Ibn Abl Usaibi'a, i. 227^230; Yaknt, frtiad,
i. 341.
6. AL-MUHASSIN B. IBRXHIM ABU CALI trans-mitted the books of
Sinan b. Habit b. Kurra. Ibn Abl Usaibi'a, i. 224:227; Yakut,
Irt&ad, i. 339 tga.
7. MUHAMMAD 11. HILXL ABU 'L-HASAN HARS AL-NICMA, son of the
historian Hilal. He was born in 416 A. H. and inherited at the
death of his father valuable property which was valued at 12,000
dinars; he lived a very quiet life and by improving his wealth he
was worth 70,000 dinars when he died in 480 A. H. His children soon
squandered this wealth, and with him the glory of his family ended.
He had founded a small library of 400 volumes of which Ibn
al-AksasI was made librarian, but the latter proved to be
dis-honest and sold many of the books. Ghars al-Nicmat was also for
a time in the chancellery of the ca-liph al-Ka'im. He tried to
continue the history of his father, but it was only a small volume
and became towards the end very succinct, probably because he dared
not write all he wanted to say. According to al-Safadl, Hibat-AUah
b. al-Mubarak accuses him of having included many falsehoods in his
history. We cannot verify this as all his works have been lost. His
other works were 2) al-Hafawat al-Nadira min al-Mug&affilin
al-Mahzuzln wa'l-Saiafat al-Barida min al-Mughaf-falln al-Malhuzin
which contained historical tales, and 3) Kitab al-Rabf which was
after the model of the Niiw2r al-Muhadarat of al-Tanflkhl. Ibn
Khallikan (ed. Cairo 1310), ii. 202; Ibn al-Kiftl, Hukamtf (ed.
Cairo), p. 77; Safadl, Wafi U-Wafayat, British Museum, MS. Or.
5320, fol. no r.
(F. KRENKOW) AI.-SABFA, the Sabaeans. This name has
been given to two quite distinct sects. I. the Man-daeans or
Subbas, a Judaeo-Christian sect practi-sing the rite of baptism in
Mesopotamia (Chris-tians of John the Baptist); 2. the Sabaeans of
Harran, a pagan sect which survived for a con- siderable period
under Islam, of interest for its doctrines and of importance for
the scholars whom it has produced.
The Sabaeans mentioned in the Kor'an, who are on three occasions
placed along with the Jews and Christians among the "people of the
book", i. e. possessors of a revealed book, are apparently the
Mandaeans. The name must come from the Hebrew root f-b-' "to
plunge, to immerse", by loss of
