Aktham b. Ṣayfī

AkthamEI.pdf Aktham b. Ṣayfī b. Riyāḥ b. al-Ḥārith b. Mukhāshin, Abū Ḥayda (or Abu ɇlḤaffād, Ansāb; the verse quoted there is, however, attributed in K. al-Muʿammarīn, 92, to RabīɈa b. ɈUzayy, also of Usayyid) of the clan of Usayyid, a branch of the tribe of Tamīm, was one of the judges of the djāhiliyya. The biography of Aktham consists mostly of legendary stories. Numerous traditions tell of missions by kings and chiefs to ask advice from him. The utterances of Aktham contain wise sayings about life, friendship, behaviour, virtue, women, etc. His personality as reflected in these sayings may be compared with that of Luḳmān to whom some of the wise sayings attributed to Aktham are actually attributed in other traditions. Aktham is famous as one of the muʿammarūn. Muslim tradition tries to bring him into relation with the person of the Prophet and stresses that Aktham approved of Islam; he is even said to have spurred on his people to embrace Islam and to have died as a martyr on his way to the Prophet, but these traditions are certainly spurious. Aktham is said to have had descendants in al-Kūfa, particularly the ḳāḍī Yaḥyā b. Aktham. (M. J. Kister) Bibliography Naḳāʾiḍ of Djarīr and Farazdaḳ (Bevan), index Balādhurī, Ansāb al-Ashrāf, Istanbul MS, fols. 964r, 1070r-1075r Ibn Ḥabīb, Muḥabbar, index Sidjistānī, K. al-Muʿammarīn (Goldziher), 9-18 Djāḥiẓ, Bayān, index Ibn Ḳutayba, Maʿārif, Cairo 1935, 35, 130, 240 idem, ʿUyūn, index Mubarrad, Kāmil, Cairo 1355, index Washshāɇ, Fāḍil, MS Brit. Mus., Or. 6499, fols. 118r, 121r Aghānī, Tables Ibn ɈAbd Rabbih, ʿIḳd, index abbī, Fākhir (Storey), index Ibn Ḥazm, Djamharat Ansāb al-ʿArab, 200 Ibn al-Athīr, Usd, Cairo 1280, i, 111-3 Ibn Ḥadjar, Iṣāba, no. 482. [Print Version: Volume I, page 345, column 1] Citation: Kister, M. J. “Aktham b. Ṣayfī b. Riyāḥ b. al-Ḥārith b. Mukhāshin, Abū Ḥayda.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C.E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; and W. P. Heinrichs.