ed
Nihayatu'l-irab fi Akhbari'l Furs wa'l-Arab," particularly of that part
which treats of the Persian kings, J.R.A.S. (900, 243-245).]

This name is Mushk Daneh or a grain of Musk. The book of Musk Daneh and
the _mobed_ became famous in Arabic literature as a separate Persian
composition.[2]

[Footnote 2: Similarly the title Shahzanan in the Fihrist is possibly
Mobedan, (See Browne 244, 2, 3, 11, 15; 245, 4, 15; and Van Vloten 255,
16; 256, 1, 4, 14; 257, 7, 9; or Shaikh al mobedan, Browne 245.)]

CHAPTER IV

The Persian, sources of the compilation of Ibn Miskawaihi 54

Preponderance of the Persian element in the evolution of the Musalman
morals 57

The "Book of Adab" by Ibn al Muqaffa and other similar Arabic works 59

_IRANIAN COMPONENTS OF ADAB LITERATURE IN ARABIC_

At the head of works under the title of ethico didactic writings, which
have come down to us stands a group most characteristically denominated
_Adab ul Arab val Furs_ belonging to the pen of a writer of the 10th and
11th centuries, Ibn Miskawaihi whose name is pronounced in Persian Ibn
Mushkuya. At the basis of this collection lies the ancient Persian
pseudepigraphical book _Javidan khired_, or "Eternal wisdom." But in the
body of it there is a series of literary monuments of Sasanian
literature and its descendants.[1] The author is known, besides, by his
philosophical works, as a historian[2] and as such he is particularly
important for the history of the Buides.[3] And his Persian origin would
point to his sympathy for Persian literary tradition. As a matter of
fact, his ethico-didactic collection is based on a book of the Sasanian
epoch. It would appear that this circumstance has undoubted significance
for the determination of the influence in the compilation of Moslem
ethical ideals. However, in contradiction to this basal fact and
notwithstanding that in the province of the development of Islam as a
religion, Persian element played an important part,[4] the development
of the Moslem ethical tracts in contemporary literature, for the most
part, is dependent upon more antique, specially Greek, tradition. J.
Goldziher recognizing the importance of the influence of Parsism on
Islam says the exact demonstration of the dependence of these phenomena
on the culture historical facts, whose consequences they are, would be
the most interesting task which those studying Islam in its present
position can place before themselves. Many of the do