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Hartmann, Richard. Zu dem Kitab al-Fusul wa l-Ghaˆyaˆt des Abu ‘l-’Ala’ al-Ma’arri, Abhandlungen Pr. Ak. hist. Berlin: Klasse, 1944. Studies concerning The Neighing and the Braying Smoor, Pieter. ’’ Journal of Arabic Literature XII (1981) and XIII (1982). S. ’’ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1902): 289–312. 8 ABU ’L-FADL ‘ALLAMI (1551–1602) particularly valuable source for the study of Ghaznavid history (see especially Bosworth), it is also clear that his personal outlook and literary style are inseparable from his recounting of events (see Waldman and Meisami).

Abd al-Latif is an encyclopedic author whose work covers almost the whole domain of the knowledge of ‘ABD AL-RAHMAN III AL-NASIR his time. Most widely known is his Kitab al-ifada wa-lI‘tibar, which is a short description of Egypt that was translated into Latin, German, and French. His intellectual autobiography is preserved by Ibn Abi Usaybi‘a; it was originally embedded in an extensive historiographical narrative (al-Sira) that has partly survived in al-Dhahabi’s Ta’rikh al-Islam. ‘Abd alLatif composed a compendium of Aristotelian metaphysics, Kitab ma ba’d al-tabi’a, which was based on the exegesis of Alexander of Aphrodisias and Themistius.

He is said to have recited prodigious 5 ABU HANIFA AL-NU‘MAN amounts of the Qur’an regularly, and, according to some sources, he performed the hajj fifty-five times. Abu Hanifa himself did not leave behind substantial works on religious law, but his legal thought may be reconstructed from the writings of his students. His best-known students were al-Shaybani (d. 189/749–750) and Abu Yusuf (d. 192/798), who have preserved Abu Hanifa’s doctrines and opinions in their works. From these works it becomes apparent that Abu Hanifa’s legal thought was based to a considerable degree on his personal opinions (ra’y) and that his conclusions were derived through legal reasoning (qiyas).