Page:The Oriental Biographical Dictionary.djvu/52
'Ali
40
Al-Kaliir
' light of mercy' has descended on his soul, those -words
represent the year of his departure." One of his works is
called '• Majalis-ul-Nafaes."
'Ali Tabar, is^^ ^^Ij^) (Prince) was the son of
prince 'Azim Shah, and grandson of the emperor 'Alamgrr.
He died in the year 1734 A. D., 1147 A. H.
'Ali Waez, i^^i the son of the famous Husain Waez
Kashifi of Hirat. Vide 'Alf son of Husain "Waez.
'Ali Wardi Khan, o^^lS^JJ ij-^s also called Alah-
wardf Khan, which see.
'Ali Yezdi, CS'-^J'" U^"^} vide Sharaf-uddm 'Ali Yezdi.
Alexander tlie Great, vide Sikandar Zul-karnyn.
Al-Parghani, cs^'^t'^'j surname of Ahmad ibn Kathir or
Kasir, an Arabian astronomer of the ninth century, author
of an introduction to astronomy. Vide Farghani.
Al-Faryabi, ijikj^^, vide Faryahf.
Al- Ghazzali,(
Arabic characters), vide Ghazzalf.
'Alha and Udal, J iji _j princes of Mahoba. There
is a heroic ballad sung or recited by the Hindu sepoys
in a kind of monotonous, but not unmusical sort of
chaunt, accompanied by a sotto voce beat of the dhol,
which rise to a constrepito in the pause between the ver-
ses. Whoever has resided in a militajry cantonment must
have frequently observed the sepoys, when disengaged
from military duty, collected in small knots, listening to
one of the party reciting some poem or tale to a deeply
interested audience. The gubject of this lay is the prow-
ess of 'Alha', the raja of Mahoba, a town in Bundelkhand,
of which extensive ruins remain. The hero is described
as the terror of the Muhammadans ; his triumphs over
whom are attributed not only to his own valour, but the
favor of the goddess Kali, whom he had propitiated by the
offering of his life. There are many songs, it is said, of
this prince, and his brother Udal, a warrior of equal esti-
mation ; but they are preserved only traditionally by the
Powars, and their amateur students. The verses are in
Bhakha.
Al-Hadi, LS'^^^} the fourth khalif of the house of 'Abbas
succeeded his father al-Mahdi on the 4th of August, 785
A. D., 23rd Muharram, 169 H., to the throne of Baghdad.
He reigned one year and one month, and having formed a
design to deprive his younger brother Harun-al-Eashid of
his right of succession and even to assassinate him, was
poisoned by his prime minister about the month of Sep-
tember 786 A. D., Eabi I, 170 A. H. On his death his
brother the celebrated Harun-al-Eashid ascended the
throne.
Al-Hakm, also called ibn Abdul Hakm, an Arabian author
who (according to the chronological arrangement of the
Arab authorities by Howard Vyse and Dr. Sprenger, in
the former's second volume of ' The Pyramids of Gizeh')
lived about 1450 A. D., or six hundred years after the
death of the khalif al-Mamun of Baghdad, but by a ma-
nuscript note recorded by a gentleman of the British
Museum, (1868) it appears that al-Hakm was nearly con-
temporary with that prince who flourished between 813
and 842 A. D. Al-Hakm writes that the Great Pyramid
in Egypt was built by a certain antediluvian king Saurid,
and filled by him chiefly with celestial spheres and figures
of the stars ; together with the perfumes used in their
worship ; and that khalifa al-Mamun found the body of
a man deposited, with jewels, arms, and golden writing,
in the coffer, when he broke into the king's chamber of
the Gi-eat Pyramid. But neither Abii Mushar Jafar bin
Muhammad Balkhi, who wrote in about 890 A. D. nor ibn
Khurdalbeh, in 920 A. D. have one word about al-Mamun,
or any opening of the pyramid. But when we descend to
Masaudi, in 967 A. D. he, after an astonishing amount
of romancing on what took place at the building of the
pjTamids 300 years before the Flood, — mentions that, not
al-Mamun, but his father, khalifa Harun-al-Eashi'd, at-
tempted to break into the Great Pyramid ; and after pe-
netrating 20 cubits, found a vessel containing 1000 coins
of the finest gold, each just one ounce in weight, and
making up a sum which exactly repaid the cost of his
operations ; at which, it is added, he greatly wondered.
About the year 1170 A. D. or 340 years after al-Mamun's
age, that prince is mentioned by Abu Abd-ullah Muham-
mad bin Abdur Eahim Alkaisi, who states that he was
informed that those who went into the upper parts of the
Great Pyramid in the time of al-3Iamun, came to a small
passage, containing the image of a man in green stone,
and within that a human body with golden armour &c. &c.
Al-Hasan, (
Arabic characters), an Arabian who wrote on optics, about
the year 1100 A. D.
Alif bin Nur Kashani, i^'^-^K'J^ lyf author of
another " Matla'-ul- Anwar", besides the one of the same
name written by MuUa Husain Waez. This is a complete
history of Muhanmiad, his descendants, with Memoirs of
the khalif s.
Aljaitu, ->^^.'?^tj a Tartar king of Persia, who assumed the *
title of Muhammad Khuda Banda on his accession to the
throne, which see.
Al-Eadir Billah, ^•'^ J-^^^-'t, the twenty-fifth khalif of
the Abbaside family, was the son of Is-hak the son of
Mu^^tadir Billah. He ascended the throne of Baghdad
after the dethronement of al-Taya' in 991 A. D., 381
A. H. He was a contemporary of Sultan Mahmud of
Ghazni ; reigned 41 lunar years and 3 months, and died
in 1031 A. D., 422 A. H. He was succeeded by al-Ka-
em-bi-amr-illah.
Al-Kadiri or Kadiri, isb^^^U sect of Muhammadans.
These are a branch of the Muetazillis, and differ in their
opinions from the orthodox Musalmans, in that they
deny God's decree, and assert free will ; affirming that
the contrary opinion makes God the author of evil.
Al-Kaim Billah. or Al-Kaim-bi-amr-illah,
j«jlaJ(^ surnamed Abu Ja'far Abdullah, the 26th khalif
of the house of 'Abbas. He succeeded his father Kadir
Billah to the throne of Baghdad in 1031 A. D., 422 A. H.,
reigned 44 lunar years and 8 months, and died in 1075
A. D., 467 A. H., which was soon after Sultan Malikshah
the Saljuki had ascended the throne of Persia, and as that
monarch was the real master of the empire, the nomina-
tion of a successor was deferred till he was consulted. He
deputed a son of his prime minister Nizam-ul-Mulk to
Baghdad with ordeis to raise al-Muktadi the grandson of
al-K&im to the (nominal) rank of the commander of the
faithful.
Al-Kaim, second khalif of the Fatimite race of
Barbary; he succeeded his father Obeid-uUah al-Mahdi
A. D. 924, 312 A. H. During his reign we read of noth-
ing remarkable, except the revolt of Yezid ibn Kondat,
a man of mean extraction. Al-Kaem" reigned nearly 12
years and died in A. D. 945, 334 A. H. His son Ismail
al-Mansur succeeded him.
Al-Kahir Billah, j^^h, the nineteenth khalif of
the race of the Abbasides, and the third son of al-Mo'tazid
Billah, succeeded his brother al-Muktadii- to the crown of
Baghdad in October, 932 A. D., Shawwal, 320 A. H. He
had reigned only one year five months and twenty-one
days, when his wazir ibn Makla deprived him of his sight
with a hot iron on Wednesday the 23rd April, 934 A. D.,