A literary history of Persia

THE SHU'tfBIYYA 265Christian than to a non-Christian native, but rather the contrary; indeed, the comparisonhere is on the whole to theadvantage of Islam, where at least the professedly pious steadilyopposed this,dominant racial prejudicein a way very rareamongst our missionaries a fact which, without doubt,accounts for their slender success in most parts of Asia.With the fall of the Umayyads and the rise of the " Persianand Khurasinian " dynasty of the 'Abbasids*there came true,as has been already sufficiently indicated, part at least of Nasrb. Sayyar's warning to his master Marwan " the Ass " :thumma qtiliFa-firri 'an rihdliki,'Ala'l-Isldmi wa'l-'Arabi 's-saldmu I" Flee from thine abode, and bid farewell to Islam and the"Arabs !There now appears on the scene a definite party, theShu l ubiyya^ or " partisans of the Gentiles," a who, beginningwith the contention that all Muslims were equal, finished insome cases by declaring the Arabs inferior to many other races." Already under the Caliph Abu Ja'far al-Mansur," saysGoldziher (op.cit. t p. 148), "we are witnesses of how theArab waits vainlyfor entrance before the Caliph's Gate, whilemen of Khurasan freely go in and out through it,and mockthe rude Arab." The poet Abu Tammam (t A.D. 845-46)was rebuked by the Wazir, because he had compared theCaliph to Hatim of the tribe of Tayy and other personagesin whom the Arabs gloried, with the words, " Dost thou1Goldziher, op. cit., i. p. 148. CJ. p. 247 supra.*To this party Goldziher devotes two chapters of his remarkable book{vol. i, pp. 147-216 and 272). The word shn'ub (pi. of sha'b) is used forthe " nations " of the Gentiles ('Ajam) as opposed to the " tribes " (qa bd'il)of the Arabs, in reference to Qur'an, xlix, 13 "0 men : I verily We havecreated you from a male and a female, and have made you nations andtribes, that ye might recognise that the noblest of you in God"s sight is heamongst you who most fears God :verily God is All-knowing amiInformed."