The Arabic poet Abu al-Hasan Ali Ibn Muhammad al-Tihami (? – 1025) is said to have taken the name Tihami in one of two possible ways that may hint at his family’s origins, according to our trusted chronicler Ibn Khallikan. Tihami was used both as an informal name for the city of Mecca, and as a name for the mountains between the Hijaz and Yemen. But it is not clear which of these geographic references apply to our poet.
It is an unhappy fate for a philosopher to be known to posterity only through his enemies. Quotes may be taken out of context, writings may be warped or obfuscated, and conclusions may be cherry-picked to present a picture far out of accord from the writer’s original intention. We do not know if this is precisely the fate of the Chinese philosopher Yang Zhu (440-360 B.C.), but one suspects that if more of his writings had come down to us, we might have a more favorable view of his doctrines. But we have what we have, and this does not exactly inspire man’s noblest sentiments. Or does it? Each reader will have to judge for himself. It would be wrong to ignore him, even if we disagree with his doctrines.
By any standard Daniel Defoe (1659?-1731) is one of the most remarkable authors in English history. In versatility, energy, and practical wisdom, few can claim to be his peer in life experiences or in skill with the pen. He came to writing by a circuitous route. After fathering seven children, he threw himself into business and politics; bankruptcy was the result in 1692, but his repayment plan would eventually compensate his creditors almost in full with an amount of 17,000 pounds.
The following anecdote is related in Ibn Khallikan’s short biographical profile of the philologist and rhetorician Al-Said. His full name was Abu al-Said Ibn al-Hasan Ibn Isa Al-Raba’i. Verbal abilities are highly prized in cultures with rich literary traditions, and this tale bears testament to this fact.
As Europe took shape in the early medieval period, the vernacular languages found their voices in popular epics and ballads. This was not an accident; access to Latin and its literature required literacy, and this was something not easy to come by at that time. But the lay audiences of Europe began to develop their own voices, and these soon coalesced by degrees into coherent form. The tradition was mostly oral at first, until these songs and ballads began to be written down. In every new civilization it seems that the epic ballad occupies the first stage of literary expression; perhaps this is because a people must first master their environments before they can have the leisure to philosophize. And mastery of the environment means capability in war.
Sometimes being away from the fray and the fracases of life can allow us to compose our thoughts and regenerate our spirits. This has the effect of spurring the creative soul on to higher amplitudes of output. We forget just how distracting it is for the mind to be bombarded with invasive stimuli; and while periods of withdrawal from the fray should not be permanent, they can, in the right doses, provide just that right proportion of flint and steel to spark great works.
The biographer Ibn Khallikan relates the following anecdote about a man named Abu Amir Orwa Ibn Uzaina, a scholar and poet who died around A.D. 736. Not much is known of his life except that he was a member of the Iraqi tribe of al-Laith. It illustrates the importance of not chasing things in life too much. From personal experience I can attest to this principle’s soundness. When I was younger, there were times when I would try too much to chase things or control events.
This story is found in Giovanni Boccaccio’s On Famous Women (De mulieribus claris). The same qualities of greatness of soul (magnitudo animi and munificentia animi) and moral character that make men great also serve the same purpose for women, as I have recounted in these pages many times before. It is right, then, for us to praise these virtues wherever we find them.
The minister Al Rabi’ Ibn Yunus (الربيع بن يونس) lived from about A.D. 730 to 785 and served the Abbasid caliphs Al Mansur and his successor Al Mahdi. Amusing and instructive anecdotes have come down to us from the medieval Arabic historians about the interactions of the minister with his sovereigns. We will relate two of them here, acknowledging our debt to Ibn Khallikan’s Biographical Dictionary (وفيات الأعيان وأنباء أبناء الزمان). The stories illustrate the importance of honoring one’s word as well as the power of Fate.
The biographer Ibn Khallikan tells the following amusing anecdote about the Abbasid caliph Al-Mu’tadid (المعتضد بالله). He lived from about 860 to 902 A.D. The story makes the point that one must be decisive in matters of love and seduction. To hesitate with a beautiful woman can be ruinous.
Quintus Curtius 
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