Mudawwar, Elias Ibn Al-

Arabic poet and physician; lived at Ronda, probably in the first half of the twelfth century (the year 1184 which Jacobs gives in his "Sources," p. 179, as the date of death, refers to another physician of the same name). He was especially known by the Arab historians as a poet; and Al-Makkari relates the following anecdote of him: There was at Ronda another Jewish physician with whom Elias used to quarrel, as is generally the case between members of the same profession. One day Elias, having become master of a secret concerning his rival, which if made public might ruin him, sent him in Arabic the following distich: "Do not blame me; for no friendship can exist between two members of the same profession. Look at the two moons [that is to say, the sun and moon]: is there any light when a collision occurs between them?"

Bibliography:

  * Al-Makkari, History of the Mohammedan Dynasties of Spain (English transl. by Gayangos), i. 160, London. 1840;
  * Hammer-Purgstall, Literaturgesch. der Araber, vi. 482;
  * Steinschneider, Jewish Literature, p. 170.



E. C. M. Sel.