SUPERIOR MAGHRIB WRITING

ان ابقراط لم ياذن لمن دعته شهوته الى الشرب بالليل ان يشرب او لا يشرب لكنه ان شرب ونام بعد شربه فانه اجود من ان لا ينام وذلك لان النوم يتدارك ضرر الشرب وذلك ان العادة لم تجر بالشرب بالليل فاذا شرب فيه فلا محالة ان ذلك الشرب يحدث فى الهضم فجاجة وفسادا كحال الماء البارد اذا صب فى قدر فيها طعام وهو يغلى على النار‎ Inna Abuqrāt̤a lam yaʾẕan li-man daʿat-hu shahwatu-hu ilā ʾsh-shurbi bi-ʾl-laili an yashraba aw lā yashraba lakinna-hu in shariba wa nāma baʿda shurbi-hi faʾinn a-hu ajwadu min an lā yanāma wa ẕālika liʾanna ʾn-nauma yatadā­raku ẓarar a ʾsh-shurbi wa ẕālika anna ʾl-ʿādata lam tajri bi-ʾsh-shurbi bi-ʾl-laili fa ʾiẕā shariba fī-hi fa-lā maḥālat a anna ẕālika ʾsh-shurba yuḥdis̤u fī ʾl-haẓmi fajājatan wa fasādan ka-ḥāli ʾl-māʾi ʾl-bārid i iẕā ṣubba fī qadrin fī-hā t̤aʿāmun wa huwa yag͟hlī ʿala ʾn-nāri . “Hippo crates neither allows nor forbids a man, who has a desire to drink at night-time, to satisfy his desire. If, however, he drinks, and sleeps after drinking, it is better than not to sleep, this being so because sleep counteracts, in this case, the evil effect of drinking; for it is not customary to drink at night-time, and if one does so, this will of nece ity produce a disturbance and derangement in the digestion, just as if cold water were poured into a ve el containing food that is being boiled.” These two fragments scarcely call forth any further remark, except that in the last both forms of the Tashdīd are employed, the ordinary form even more frequently than the Maghrebian; for the latter occurs only twice, in bi-ʾsh-shurbi , which is the second word in the fourth line, and in ash-shurba , which is the last word but one in the same line . Moreover, it will be useful to notice the peculiar shape which the letters د‎ ( d ) and ذ‎ ( ẕ ) take in the Mag͟hrib character, as in the words ajwadu towards the end of the second line, and yaʾẕan near the beginning of the first. Dismi ing the Mag͟hrib-Berber style of Arabic writing, with its numerous local varieties, as le interesting for the English reader, we now turn to the Oriental style, where we meet again with a bipartition, viz. into the Eastern Nask͟hī, as it is written in Arabia itself, Egypt, and Syria, and the T̤aʿlīq, current in Persia, India, and Central Asia. No. 7 is a specimen of the Nask͟hī in the more limited sense of the word, meaning the style generally employed in manuscripts, and derived from nask͟h or nusk͟hah , “copy.” IMG:3048615538088815629_p690.png:No 7. No 7.