and then the_ Mahometan _Religion which includes it, and if it
had not been for the word_ Asshariyato, _which, if I mistake not,
is never us'd to express any particular Sect, but signifies a Religion,
or Law of God, I should have understood those Words of the
Sect of_ Mahomet Ebn Edris Asshaphiensis. _See Dr._ Pocock _'s
Specimen_ p. 295. _Or else the_ Hanifitick _Sect and the_ Mahometan
_Religion may signifie the same thing, because_ Abraham,
_(whose Religion the_ Mahometans _pretend to follow) is called in
the_ Alcoran Hanif. _Dr._ Sike.]

[Footnote 12: Alpharabius,--_Without Exception, the greatest of all the_
Mahometan _Philosophers, reckon'd by some very near equal to_
Aristotle _himself_. Maimonides, _in the Epistle which I just
now mention'd, commends him highly; and tho' he allows_
Avicenna _a great share of Learning, and_ Acumen; _yet be prefers_
Alpharabius _before him. Nay_, Avicenna _himself confesses, that
when he had read over_ Aristotle's _Metaphysicks forty times, and
gotten them by heart; that he never understood them till he
happened upon_ Alpharabius_'s Exposition of them. He wrote Books
of Rhetorick, Musick, Logick, and all parts of Philosophy; and
his Writings have been much esteemed; not only by_ Mahometans
_but_ Jews _and_ Christians _too. He was a Person of singular
Abstinence and Continence,and Despiser of the things of this World.
He is call'd_ Alpharabius _from_ Farab, _the place of bis Birth,
which according to_ Abulpheda _(who reckons his Longitude not
from the Fortunate Islands, but from the extremity of the Western
Continent of_ Africa) _bar_88 deg. 30 min. _of Longitude and_
44 deg. _of Northern Latitude. He died at_ Damascus _the Year
of the Hegira_ 339, _that is, about the Year of Christ 950,
when he was about fourscore Years Old_.]