92 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

"suggest a Hebrew original" NTNYHW (Na- have presented, at a glance, the personal ele-
thaniah) or YWNTN (Jonathan), since these ment involved in the movement and the rapid-
Hebrew forms are used only as men's names. ity of its wide geographic expansion. The
Apparently Gray means that these Jewish themes of the remaining chapters are ade-
Greek names of women have the same meaning quately presented in the light of the sources
as the Hebrew men's names-namely, "gift used. Due emphasis is given to the role that
of God." It also seems doubtful that the name Qurdnic literalism on the one hand and ra-
Arimmos or Arimmas, occuring several times, tionalism on the other played in the evolution
is derived from Ahiram, Jehoram, or Jeremiah. of Kharijite doctrine. The character, functions,
The two Hebrew inscriptions, here published limited powers, and sex of the caliph receive
and translated for the first time, are undoubt- full treatment as does also the basis for Khari-
edly medieval, as Gray suggests (similar to jite tolerance of non-Muslims in contrast to
those from Tripoli published by N. Slouschz their intolerance of other Muslim sects. Islam
in Travels in North Africa, 1927). But the as a whole has been frequently maligned as
Barce inscription is noteworthy in that the a religion of the sword. The chapter on jihdd,
word CMYDHoccurs, pretty clearly in the or war, indicates that only some of the early
unusual sense of "resurrection." The Hebrew Kharijites answered this description. The posi-
Christian monogram is interpreted to read tion of women, the status of children, and
Iota, Sigma, Chi, Rho, Tau, Aleph (N.B.), the ascetic way of life are also touched upon.
and Omega--signifying "Jesus Christ, aleph The Kharijite subordination of the "state"
(for alpha) and omega." to the "church," where both these institutions
RALPH MARCUS were but means to personal salvation, produced
The University of Chicago a militant theocratic tyranny in the guise
of local democracy within the framework of
the law. The author's brief summary of his
Political Theory and Institutions of the Kha- conclusions (p. 106) are too generalized to
warij. By ELIE ADIB SALEM. ("Johns Hop- do sufficient justice to his work.
kins University Studies in Historical and The study lacks adequate identification of
Political Science," Series LXXIV, No. 2.) persons and events. The use of full names
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1956. Pp. and dates, especially when leading characters
iv+117. Paper binding. $3.00. and authorities are first introduced, would
The present monograph, on a theme that be helpful to readers new to or not sufficiently
still awaits its definitive treatment, is an at- familiar with the period and/or theme. Though
tempt to describe the theories and practices manuscript perfection, typographical or other-
of this early major politico-religious sect in wise, is seldom attained, the present work
Islam. An introductory chapter treats briefly is unnecessarily marred by far too many in-
of the history of the Khawarij and touches accuracies and inconsistencies in the trans-
on the Wahhabi movement. This latter, despite literation, particularly in the spelling of per-
its several points of difference from the earlier sonal names. Most of these errors stem from
Khawarij, is seen as playing a similar role incorrect vowels and poor proofreading, e.g.
in modern Islam. Six short chapters cover Nafic, cAkrama, (see the index) should
the KhArijite sects, their creed, theory of state, be Ndfic, clkrima, and I.Iittdn, respectively.
.Hattan
judicial theory, jihad and the conduct of state, Other errors stem from a confusion of names,
and social theory. A classified bibliography e.g. Jabir ibn Ziyad (p. 29), Abu Hajar, and
and an index are also provided. Abu Mazhar al-AsfarAyini (p. 107 et passim
The treatment of the major sub-sects is for both) should read Jdbir ibn Zaid, Ibn
based largely, and rightly so, on the religious IIajar, and Abu Muzaffar al-Isfarayini, re-
points at issue. The addition of a chart that spectively. The work suffers also, though only
indicated these same issues together with the in spots, from a losing struggle with English,
date and location of the new branches would particularly with the prepositions.

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 BOOK REVIEWS
The main criticism of the work, however,
is in reference to the sources and the degree
of their effective use. A short preface of less
than two pages, headed "Khariji sources,"
indicates an inadequate approach to the prob-
lem conditioned, no doubt, by a too ready
acceptance of the assumption that hardly any
of the earliest materials are available. Much
of the earliest extant materials consist of the
correspondence between the several Kharijite
leaders and between one or more of these and
their prominent non-Kharijite contemporaries.
A fresh sifting and analysis of such materials,
especially the correspondence of Ndfic and
Najda could dramatize the basic issues that
almost from the start divided the movement
into several sects. A similar treatment of the
correspondence between Najda and Ibn cAbbAs
could highlight some of the basic differences
between early Kharijite and Sunnite thought.
Nor should one continue to neglect, as has
been generally done hitherto, the standard
collections of hiadithas an early source of such
materials.' Again, though the author recognizes
the existence of Kharijite sources as yet un-
explored (p. 7), he gives no evidence of any
fresh attempt to reach these sources in these
days of travel and microfilm. The Arab League
is making available in microfilm a steadily
increasing number of manuscripts. At least
one relevant and comparatively early manu-
script source could have been explored in the
interest of the study under review. This is
the hitherto neglected Al-kamil al-munir ft
al-radd cala al-khawarij of the Zaidite heresi-
ologist Ibrahim ibn QAsim (d. 246/860),2 an
older contemporary of a major authority on the
Khawxrij, ammad ibn YazId al-Mubarrad
Muh.
(d. 285/998), though this latter gives no evi-
dence in his Kamil of having either known
the author or used his work.
Even some of the Kharijite sources that
1E.g. Ibn IIanbal (Cairo, 1895) I 248 f., 294,
308, 320. A diligent use of the new Concordance et
Indices de la Tradition musulmane (Leiden, 1936---)
should yield parallels to these traditions and other
pertinent materials.
2 See Majialat machad al-makht(itdt al-cArabiyah
(French tr., Revue de l'Institut des manuscrits arabes),
1 (1955), 204. For Q•sim ibn Ibrihim see GAL,
I, 185 and S, I, 314 f., where this particular work of
his is, however, not mentioned.
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93
have been long in print are overlooked, such
as the sizeable sixth/twelfth century ar-
rangement, the Jdmic of the Musnad
al-rahi-,
of the Ibadi Rabic ibn HIabib and the adshiyah
or commentary on the same by cAbd Allah
ibn al-SalimT.3Rabic is mentioned once
in the study but only to register the loss of
.Hamid
yet another and larger work of his (p. 68).
The author's underestimate of the probable
survival of early materials is unduly influenced
by the ready acceptance, though he is not
alone in this, of the theory that literary trans-
mission in early Islam was almost exclusively
oral (pp. 7 and 16)-a theory that became
suspect largely as a result of the researches
of Sprenger, among others, and one that is
in the process of being disproved as a result
of the recent recovery and publication of some
early literary papyri.4
The author has brought together facts and
theories known to most Islamists and has
made a judicious selection of these for the
most part. In failing to uncover and explore
new materials he has by-passed an opportunity
to present a more vitalized and assured ap-
proach to the subject.
NABIAABBOTT
The Oriental Institute
A Survey of Islamic Astronomical Tables.By E.
S. KENNEDY. ("Transactions of the Ameri-
can Philosophical Society," New Series,
Volume XLVI [1956], Part 2.) Philadelphia:
American Philosophical Society, 1956. Pp.
123-77. $1.50.
Thousands of medieval astronomical manu-
scripts exist in Greek and several oriental
languages. Some of these are catalogued, but
most of the manuscripts are overlooked by
modern scholarship. The author surveys over
one hundred Arabic and a few Persian titles
extant or known to have been extant. These
consist of numerical tables, zijat, written dur-
ing the period from the eighth through the
fifteenth centuries for the use of practicing
aTwo vols. Cairo, 1326/1908; see GAL S, I, 259,
691 f.
4 See the writer's Studies in Early Arabic Papyri
I ("OIP," LXXV [Chicago, 1957]).