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The resemblance between these four passages leaves little doubt that they share a
common source, the likelihood being that the passage in Mab4ith is the source
of the other three. At the same time there are a number of differences between the
four passages. The most striking of these occurs in part (4). According to Mub@aith
and Cand. "salty" and ''oily" substances such as vitriol and sulphur belong to the
category of weaklycomposed bodies, whereas according to 'Aj&'ib and Dial.
they comprise subdivisions of the hard non-malleable bodies.
Mabcijzith & Cand.
Minerals Minerals
Strongl y-composed
Malleable: the 7 metals
Not malleable
Moist: mercury
Dry: corundum etc.
Weaklycomposed
Solubldsalty: vitriol etc.
Insolubldoily: sulphur etc.
cA~3ib & Dial.
Strongl y-composed
Malleable: the 7 metals
Not malleable
Soft: mercury
Hard: corundum
Solubldsalty: vitriol etc.
Insolubldoily: sulphur etc.
Weakly-composed
It is obvious that the classification we have in 'Aji'ib and Dial. makes little sense
and it is also in disagreement with the classification in Ibn Sins's K. al-shijii'
from which these classifications all ultimately derive,36 so that the system of
classification found in 'Aja'ib and Dial. must have arisen from some error in the
transmission of the text on which these two depend.37 The view that 'Aji'ib and
Dial. share a common source, which is close to Mwth but is not Mahihith
itself, is supported by further instances where passages resembling each other are
found in these three works butf Dial. shares certain features with 'Aja'ib which
are absent from ~ubhhith.~*
Shifd' Min. [Montqir et al.] 20.5-9.
The error in Qazwini was already noted by de Chdzy (in the chrestomathy of de Sacy [1826/7]
vol. 111). who retains the manuscript reading in his Arabic text (\V.3) but gives the requircd
sense in his translation (p. 390: "ceux dont la composition est llche") and explains his correction
in his comments (p. 466f. n.8). In his translation of Qazwini, EthC (1 868) 41 7 circumvents the
problem by rendering the problematic phrase as "the latter (Letztere)". Garbers-Weyer (1980)
42 and Giese (1986) 118, on the other hand, translate as the text stands without .comment and
Garbers-Weyer, evidently unaware of the problem involved here, kindly present us with a
diagram of the classification of minerals based on Qazwini's text (p. 98).
In the part of Did. dealing with meteorology (M. 11.2.3. Questio'ns [shu"'aW 13-17, ms.
Gottingen 18c. 300r-303r; cf. Ruska [I8971 152), 1 find the following instances where Dial.
stands closer to 'Ajd'ib than to Md@ith: beginning of Q. 13 (300r a1 8-b3, b7-10; cf. 'Aj.. ed.
Wiistenfeld 93.28-30, tr. Ethk 192; the material here is combined with De rmurdo syr. 14 1.13-22,
as noted by Ruska [I8971 154 n.1); account of dew, fog and frost in Q. 14 (300v b9-19; cf.
'Aj. 94.16-1 8, tr. 193f.; the question as a whole corresponds to Mob. 11.172.19- 173.10.174.3-6);
accounts of thunder, lightning and thunderbolt (301v b ult.-302r bl; cf. 'Aj. 97.20-26, tr. 200;
Mob. 11.187.5-16) and of winds (302v a12-b14; cf. 'Ai. 94.29-95.4, tr. 194f.; Mob. 11.190.21-