nd ran to the Prophet to announce
his conversion, and to make his profession of Islam. Even Ali, the
cousin, son-in-law, and first convert of Muhammad, was a poet, but it
is uncertain which of the Diwans attributed to him are genuine, and
how many of his maxims of wisdom, over a hundred in number, are his
own.

During the period under review the number of Arabic authors was
legion. Some idea of the number of writers, and of the subjects on
which they wrote, can be gathered from the Fihrist of An-Nadim, from
Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, and from Haji Khalfa's
Encyclopaedia. With such a mass of information as is contained in the
above-mentioned works, it is difficult to deal in a small work. To put
them together in an intelligible form, the idea of classing the
authors, according to the subjects on which they principally wrote,
naturally presented itself. This plan, therefore, has been followed,
and a few details of the most celebrated writers will be given,
classified under the following heads:

Jurisconsults.
Imams and lawyers.
Traditionists.
Alchemists.
Astronomers.
Grammarians.
Geographers and travellers.
Historians.
Lexicographers, biographers and encyclopaedists.
Writers on natural history.
Philologists.
Philosophers.
Physicians.
Poets.
Collectors and editors of poems.
Translators.
The Omaiyide Khalifs.
The Abbaside Khalifs.
The Spanish Khalifs.

During the latter part of the first century of the Hijrah (July,
622--July, 719), the first persons of note in the Muhammadan world
after Muhammad and his immediate successors were probably the seven
jurisconsults, viz., Obaid Allah, Orwa, Kasim, Said, Sulaiman, Abu
Bakr and Kharija, who all lived at Madinah about the same time; and it
was from them, according to Ibn Khallikan, that the science of law and
legal decisions spread over the world. They were designated by the
appellation of the Seven Jurisconsults, because the right of giving
decisions on points of law had passed to them from the companions of
Muhammad, and they became publicly known as Muftis. These seven alone
were acknowledged as competent to give Fatmas, or legal decisions.
They died respectively A.D. 720, 712, 719, 710, 725, 712 and 718.

The jurisconsults were followed by the doctors of theology and law,
or, as they were styled, Imams, or founders of the four orthodox
sects. Now, among the Sunni Muslims an Imam may be described as a
high-p