Page:Muhammad Diyab al-Itlidi - Historical Tales and Anecdotes of the Time of the Early Khalîfahs - Alice Frere - 1873.djvu/33

4 Muhammad, who is known as Diyâb-el-Itlîdy, from the region of el-Minyeh-el-Khasibiyyeh.

Some of the pious brethren whom it would be impossible for me to refuse, have asked me to collect for them accounts of events which occurred during the times of the early Khalîfahs of the Benu-ʾOmeyyah and the Benu-ʾAbbâs. And I consented to do this, though knowing myself to be unequal to it; for verily it is said: Obedience is better than Politeness.

And I called my work, Warnings for Men, or ʾIlâm-en-Nâs, on account of what befell the el-Barâmakah at the hands of the Benu-ʾAbbâs.

And I have begun my subject with the Commander