Ikẖwanu-ṣ-ṣafā / tr. from the Arabic into Hindūstānī by Maulavī Ikrām ʼAlī.

  • Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ.
Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ikẖwanu-ṣ-ṣafā / tr. from the Arabic into Hindūstānī by Maulavī Ikrām ʼAlī. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/194
    but also for its fine moral sentiments. The feathered songsters raise their notes one after another in praise to their Creator, and admoni¬ tory addresses to man. The reader is not only pleased, but charmed and delighted, to find the thorny road of learning strewed with such beautiful flowers. “ The envoys from the tribes of animals are at last assembled, and the court is opened. The King, looking round upon the company before he actually enters upon business, asks some questions con¬ cerning the contending parties. Observing men of different habits and appearance, he enquires who they are. And here the repre¬ sentatives of the different nations of the earth pass in review before the reader. They all give an account of themselves in succession, in strict conformity to- historical truth. Observing next the envoys of animals, these form the subject of his enquiries; And these are also described in conformity to natural history, as it was known to the author. After these preliminaries, which occupy a great space, and would be tedious to the reader but for the liveliness of the style and the interesting nature of the subject, the pleadings commence. Tlio men produce all their strong arguments, and insist on their noble arts and sciences, their numerous comforts and luxuries, their know¬ ledge of religion and practice of divine worship, their ornaments and rich clothing, their laws and governments, their poets and philosophers, their grammarians and orators, their artizans and mechanics, their attention to education, their knowledge of astrology, etc, as affording so many distinct and incontrovertible proofs of man’s natural superiority and right of dominion over the animals. “To these arguments the envoys of the different animals reply in their order, and the reader is entertained with a series of descrip¬ tions, wherein the skill of the animals is exhibited, and their powers shewn in many points greatly to exceed those of men. The argu¬ ments, indeed, are such as naturally suggest themselves to the mind, yet they are so ably brought and so nicely adjusted to their places that they cannot fail of amusing the reader in his progress. “ The termination of the cause is finely conceived. It appears at length that men are destined for another world, in which they will