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43 fixed Iiabit of abbreviating, but may have been resorted to only sporadiciilly; for example, at the end of a line; and, in some eases, laeuna', wliieh were not treated as siicli by eopyisls. slioidd ])erlmps appear. It is eerlainly hazardous to ascribe so early a date to the rabbinic signs of abbreviation. BiBLioiiKAPMY

Jtic. Quart.



Rev.

ill.

363,

ii01-."itS6.

M.

L.

M.

ABD=(" Servant"): An the

fif

many

part of

lirsl

Jews

Amble

Arabic word tliat forms compound proper names of

spe.-diinir countries.

name

'I'lic

fol-

invariably that of a deity, and is either (1) the proiier name of a god. as in early limes, or (2) an adji(tive expressing some attribute of God which is thus used asa synonym of the Deity. The former usage was current among the early Semites, as is shown by the existence of such names among llie preislainitic Arabs as Abd-l'tzu or A/nl-S/im/is (" of the Sun god "); among the I'hcnicians. as .IIkIEiihiiiiiii; among the Aranicans, as .VitlJImlml, and even among the Hebrews, in the form Ali<ht (ObaWith the growth of monotheism among the diah). Jews and later among the Mohammedans, it became customary to substitute for the name of the idol that of God or an adjective signifying one of His attribThis utes, as Ah<i-iil-.ziz ("Sliive of tiie Mighty "). dilference in formation enables Ibesludi'iit of history and literature todistiuguish the dates of persons bearing the names. lowini:

it

is

Buil.lonRAIMiv: (lennn. I,i» XomnTliioyihitre* A)Vtenf,i»tan»

Ancinnni* Laintitf.'* SiiiiitUiufr', tt /?<T. Kt..jHir''A, 1M82. pp. UK-UlT; Wi'lllinliwn. Itmlf i/<« ArtihiKiln ii llfiilriitlmiHK. ISirr, pp. l-»: steliiwlmeider. Ill iUmalioehrifl. lt*«.'. pp. 3S5-33U; Idem, In Jf U'. yiKirt.Kci'. xl. 333, 338.

}fs

L. G.

ABDA

("Servant of the Lord"): 1. The father of .dni]lrain, the superintendent of the tax levied by Soi.oMox (I Kings, iv. (!). 2. . Levile residing in Jeru.saleni iNih. xi. 17). called u.L)1aii in the corresponding list of I Chron. ix. 16. UliiLiuGii.ii-av



Itcimii. In Iter.

El. Jiiirtx,

li$fi, v.

lil'i.

G. B. L.

ABD-AL-DAIM:

Son of Abd-al-Aziz, son of physician and descendant of a Abd al Daini llouri-^hed line of Jewish physicians. about i;iiHl, and on .ugusl :i(l. l:il(i. Iw compl<ti<l an Arabic work enlitled "The Two Sciences." in two parts, one on physics, the other on metaphysics. It is nrrangi-d as a series of (|uestions and answers. The manuscript of the work is in the Bodleian Librarv in Oxford. .Miilia^aii lia Uracli.

Ilnii.iooiuriiv: sl.'i

Abbreviations Abdallab ibn Salam

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

43



Ni'iihaiier,

linmi. Hrr.

xi.

XC.

K.

Onimiad calif who ruled at Damascus lis.'i to 7ii."i. and who. luilike his predecessors, was not very religious, bul showed a certain toleraiK'c toward the Jiws, who hitherto hail been roughly liaiidlcd. .Vbil alMalik. indeed, employed as minister a



Jew nainid

Someir.

the accession of the Ominiad dynasty, in 60L a marked ehani:c look place in the policy of the califs, religious intiresls being siipei-si'did by a policy i alculaled to pcrpeluale Ihcdyiiasiy. In .Mid-al-.Malik's time Damascus displaced Medina as the seal of the califate, and this eveiil was regarded as evidence that the spread of the Moslem faith was no longer to be the sole care of the princes of the ruling house. Close upon Ibis and oilier iniiovalions fnllnwed the splitting up of Islam into various seels, which brniiil ciied the religious hori/on and brouglit to ihe .lews in Mohaniinedan countries a period of comparative H. Hiii. peace.

On

As a Jewisii name the Arabic Hebrew Obadiah and similar names. Its lirst appearance among the Jews was not due The name Abdallab was comto religious motives.

mon

of Islam, and

in .rabic liefore the rise

—

— though

be

if it

not very frequently among Jews, il has licen, like many other pure Arabic names, only adopted by them. The lirst Jew of this name is not Abdallab ibn Salam, as Steinschneider assumes

found

("Jew. (Ju.'irt. Hev." xi. 'iiS')), for he was called AbdOn the only on being converted to Islam. other hand, we lind Abdailali Inn Dlieif. of the Haiiu Kainiika'a. and Abdallab ibn S:iiini. the rabbi of the Banu Thalaba ibn Fityaun. For the other and very allab

rare instances see Steinschneider's article referred to

H.

above.

ABDALLAH IBN SABA A

.Viabi.i.

.lew of

Hiit.

Yemen,

srvciith riiiury. who settled in MeHaving adversely criticmlinicccl Islam.

cpf ilir

(

dina and ci/cd ( 'all ft Ithman'sadminislralion. be waslianishcd from the town. Thence be went to Egypt, where he founded an aniiothmaniaii sect, to promote the interests of Ali. On account of his learning he obtained great intluence there, and formulated the doctrine that, just as every prophet had an assistant who afterward succeeded him. Mohammed's vizier was Ali, who had therefore been kept out of the califate by deceit. Ollunan had no leu'al claim whatever to the ealirat<>;and the general dissjitlsfaction with his irovernment greatly contriliulcd to the spread of .Vbdallah's teachings. Tradition relates that when Ali had assunicd power. .-Vbdallah ascribed divine honors to him by addressing him with the words, "Thou art Tlioui" Thereupon Ali banished him to Jladaiu. After All's assassination Abdallab is said to have taught that Ali was not dead liut alive, and had never been killed: that a jiart of the Deity was hidden in him: and thai after a certain time he would reliiru Till then the divine to lill the earth willi justice. character of Ali was to remain hidden in the imams, who temporarily tilled his place. It is easy lo see that the whole idea rests on that of the Messiah in combination with the legend of Elijah the prophet. The attribution of divine honors to Ali was probably but a later development, and was fostered by the circumstance that in the Koran Allah is olteu styled " Al-Ali " (The Most High). Biiii.ioonAPnv: SlialrastanI al-Mllal. pp. lirfiikiMr.s Iniiislatiun, I.

lT:t-ir4. -Mil.

i.

a)0--1lll



1.32 et

Haar-

scq. (In

WbII, OckcIi. dcr Cholifcii,

•J.-iii.

II.

Hiu.

Cal. Bmll. /ff/ir. .V.'^S. Nos. 8U.

SIi'liiMliiii'lilir, In .li-ir.

ABD-AL-MALIK

ABDALLAH

eiiuivaleni of the

ABDALLAH IBN SALAM:

.Jewish convert

hi 1-lam in lln- time of Mnliammed: died lilil!. cordiiig to the .Moslems, he w;is one of the

.c-

most

important Jewish personages in the history of JIohamined's career at .Medina, owing to the fad that His reputation among lie was converted to Islam. believers is so great that Ihe standard works on Moslem tnidition have special chapters devoled lo Inthe "High (^iialilies of .Vbdallah ibn Salam." deed, he is Ihe prolotyiic of Jewish converts to number during Islam, of whom there i xisled a small Mohammed's lifetime. He belonged to the tribe of His name was Al-Husjiiii. and the Banu Kainu^a'a. .fler his he claimed lo be a descendant of Josi'ph. conversion he a.s,siimed Ihe name of Abdallab ibn

There are several more or less fanciful .stoall of which are unreliable, bccaus<' they describe him as a Moslem soon after Mohammed ciilered Medina, whereas he was not eoii-

.Sdain. ries

about bis conversion,

vcrii d

lill

hammid's

ciglil yeai-s later,

dcaili.

or

two years

bi'fore

Mo-