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 I 41 Al-Mamun 'Al-Kama etli Jamad I, 322 A. H. and raised al-Eazi Billah the son of Muktadir to tlie throne. It is said that al-Kahir, after this, as long as he lived, was ohliged to beg for charity in -the mosque of Baghdad, calling out to the people tliat assembled there, " Have pity and give charity to one, who had once been your khalifa." 'Al-Kama, son of Kys was one of the pupils of Abd- ullah bin Masaiid, and an eminent man. He died in C81 A. D., 61 A. H. Al-Khassaf, ol-^^l^ vide Abu-Bakr Ahmad bia-'Umar al- Khassaf. 'AUama Dawani, vide Dawanf. 'Allama Hilli, (j^"- "■^^^ (Shaikh) the great Shia lawyer, whose full name is Shaikh al-'Allama Jamal- uddin Hasan bin Yusuf al-Mutakhir Hilli, was the author of the " Khulasat-ul-Akwiil" a biography of eminent Shias. His chief works on the subject of traditions, are the Istiksa al-Ya'tbar, the Masabfh al-Anwar and the Durar-wa al- Marjan. He died in 1326 A. D., 726 A. H. Vide Jamal- uddin Hasan bin Ytisaf. 'Allami, vide Afzal Khan. 'AUami, is^^} the poetical name of Shaikh Abiil Fazl the favorite wazir and secretary of the emperor Akbar. 'AUami Sllirazi, LSjb^ cs^^j or the philosopher of Shfraz, a very learned man, so generally called that his proper name is almost forgotten. He is the author of a celebrated collection of tracts on pure and mixed mathe- matics, entitled Durrat-ut-Taj. Al-Malldi, iS'^i*^^} the third khalif of the race of Abbas, succeeded his father Abd Ja'far al-Mansiir to the throne of Baghdad, and was inaugurated on Sunday the 8th of October, 775 A. D., 6th Zil-liijja, 158 A. H. From the accession of al-Mahdi to the year 781 A. D., 164 A. H., the most remarkalile event was the rebellion of al-Makna (or al-Makanna) which see. All this time war had been car- ried on with the Greeks, but without any remarkable success on either side. But after the suppression of the rebellion of al-Makna, the khalif ordered his son Harun- al-Kashfd to penetrate into the Greek temtories with an army of 95,000 men. Harun, then, having entered the 2^ dominions of the empress Irane, defeated one of her com- manders that advanced against him ; after which he laid waste several of the imperial provinces with fire and sword, and even threatened the city of Constantinople itself. By this the empress was so ten-ifled, that she pur- chased a peace with the khalif by paying him an annual tribute of 70,000 pieces of gold, which for the present at least, delivered her from the depredations of these barba- rians. After the signing of the treaty, Harun returned home laden with spoils and glory. This year {i. e. the 164th year of the Hijrl or 781 A. D.) according to some of the oriental historians, the sun one day a little after his rising, totally lost his light in a moment without being eclipsed, when neither any fog nor any cloud of dust appeared to obsciire him. This frightful dark- ness continued till noon, to the great astonishment of the people settled in the countries where it happened. Al-Mahdi was poisoned, though undesignedly, by one of his concubines, named Hasana. She had designed to destroy one of her rivals whom she imagined to have too o-reat an ascendancy over the khalif, by giving her a poisoned pear. This the latter, not suspecting anything, o-ave to the khaHf ; who had no sooner eaten it than he felt himself in exquisite torture, and soon after expired. This event took place on the eve of Thursday the 4th of August, 785 A. D., 23rd Muhurram, 169 H. in a village called Ar Bad in the dependencies of Masabadan. He was succeeded by his eldest son al-Hadi. AJ-Mahdi, LfH*^^, a khalif of Barbary, vide Obeid-ullah al-iIahdi aud Midiammad al-Mahdi. Al-Makna, or al-Makanna, ^^♦■'tj a famous impostor of Ehui'asan who lived in the reign of al-Mahdf the khalifa of Baghdad. His true name was Hakam ibn Hasham, and had been an under secretary to Abii Muslim governor of that province. He afterwards turned soldier, and passed thence into Mawarunnahr, where he gave himself out as a prophet. The name of al-Makna, as also that of al-Burkai, that is, the veiled, he received from his custom of covering his face with a veil or girdle mask, to conceal his deformity ; he having lost an eye in the wars, and being otherwise of a despicable appearance, and a stutterer ; though his fol- lowers pretended he did this for the same reason that Moses did, viz., lest the splendor of his countenance should dazzle the eyes of his beholders. In some places he made a great many proselytes, deluding the people with a niun- ber of juggling tricks which they swaUowed as miracles, and particularly by causing the appearance of a moon to rise out of a well for many nights together ; whence he was also called in the Persian tongue, Sazinda Mah, or the Moon -maker. This wretch, not content with being reckoned a prophet, arrogated to himself divine honors ; pretending that the Deity resided in his person. He had first, he said, assumed the body of Adam, then that of Xoah and subse- quently of many other wise and great men. The last human form he pretended to have adopted was that of Abii Muslim a prince of Khm-asan, from whom it proceeded to him. At last this impostor raised an open rebellion against the khalif, and made himself master of several fortified places in Kiurasan, so that al-Mahdi was obliged to send one of his generals with an army against him about the year 780 A. D., 163 H. Upon the approach of the kha- lifa's troops, cii-Makna retii-ed into one of his strong fortresses which he had well proided for a siege. But being closely besieged by the khalifa's forces, and seeing no possibility of escaping, he gave poison in wine to his whole family and all that were with him in the castle ; when they were dead, he burnt their bodies, together with all their furniture, provisions, and cattle ; and lastly he threw himself into the flames. He had jiromised his followers, that his soul should transmigrate into the form of an old man riding on a greyish coloured beast, and that after so many years he would return and give them the earth for then- possession ; which ridiculous expectation kept the sect in being for several years. 'English readers will remember the use made of this story by the author of Lalla Kookh. Al-Mamun, ci>^'*^', sumamed 'Abdullah, was the seventh khalif of the race of the Abbasides, and the second son of Harun-al-Kashid. He was proclaimed khalif at Baghdad on the 6th October, 813 A. D., 6th Safar, 198 A. H., the day on which his brother al-Amin was assassinated. He con- ferred the government of Khurasan upon Tahir ibn Husain his general, and his descendants with ahnost absolute and imlimited power. This happened in the year 820 A. D., 205 A. H., from which time we may date the dismember- ment of that province from the empire of the kljalifs. During the reign of this khalif nothing remarkable hap- pened ; only the African Moslems invaded the island of Sicily, where they made themselves master of several places. Al-Mamun conquered part of Crete, had the best Greek writers translated into Arabic, and made a collec- tion of the best authors. He also calculated a set of astronomical tables and founded an academy at Baghdad. In Khurasan he made Tus, at that time the capital of the kingdom, his place of residence. Under his patronage Khu- rasan became the resort of learned men ; and the city of Tus, the great rival of Baghdad. He died of a surfeit on the 18th of August, 833 A. D., 17th Bajab 218 A. H., after a reign of 20 years and some months in Asia Minor, aged 48 years, and was buried at Tarsus a city on the frontiers 11