Note 21 — Chapter IX

Anśar signifies “protectors, defenders,” and is a word particularly applied to the citizens of Madína who assisted Muhammed when he was obliged to fly from Mecca. Herbelot mentions as one of the most illustrious who bore this surname Abul Abbas Ahmed ben Abdallah, without the date of his birth or death, a Spaniard who wrote a Commentary upon the Moâllakat, or poems suspended in the temple of Mecca; another who wrote upon physiognomy; and a third who composed a treatise upon coffee. The last was, according to Silvestre de Sacy (see Chrestom. ar., t. I. p. 441), originally from Madina, a native of Jejireh, and wrote in the year of the Hejira 966 or 996 (A. D. 1558 or 1587). The family and native place of the above-mentioned Anśari, were in the Panjab, although his ancestors might have come from Arabia.