HAMM

hamm, a town of germany, in the prussian province of westphalia, on the lippe, 19 m. by rail n.e. from dortmund on the main line cologne-hanover. pop. (1905) 38,430. it is surrounded by pleasant promenades occupying the site of the former engirdling fortifications. the principal buildings are four roman catholic and three evangelical churches, several schools and an infirmary. the town is flourishing and rapidly increasing, and possesses very extensive wire factories (in connexion with which there are puddling and rolling works), machine works, and manufactories of gloves, baskets, leather, starch, chemicals, varnish, oil and beer. near the town are some thermal baths. hamm, which became a town about the end of the 12th century, was originally the capital of the countship of mark, and was fortified in 1226. it became a member of the hanseatic league. in 1614 it was besieged by the dutch, and it was several times taken and retaken during the thirty years' war. in 1666 it came into the possession of brandenburg. in 1761 and 1762 it was bombarded by the french, and in 1763 its fortifications were dismantled. hammad ar-rawiya [abu-l-qasim hammad ibn abi laila sapur (or ibn maisara)] (8th century a.d.), arabic scholar, was of dailamite descent, but was born in kufa. the date of his birth is given by some as 694, by others as 714. he was reputed to be the most learned man of his time in regard to the "days of the arabs" (i.e. their chief battles), their stories, poems, genealogies and dialects. he is said to have boasted that he could recite a hundred long _qasidas_ for each letter of the alphabet (i.e. rhyming in each letter) and these all from pre-islamic times, apart from shorter pieces and later verses. hence his name _hammad ar-rawiya_, "the reciter of verses from memory." the omayyad caliph walid is said to have tested him, the result being that he recited 2900 qasidas of pre-islamic date and walid gave him 100,000 dirhems. he was favoured by yazid ii. and his successor hisham, who brought him up from irak to damascus. arabian critics, however, say that in spite of his learning he lacked a true insight into the genius of the arabic language, and that he made more than thirty--some say three hundred--mistakes of pronunciation in reciting the koran. to him is ascribed the collecting of the _mo'allakat_ (q.v.). no diwan of his is extant, though he composed verse of his own and probably a good deal of what he ascribed to earlier poets. biography in mcg. de slane's trans. of ibn khallikan, vol. i. pp. 470-474, and many stories are told of him in the _kitab ul-aghani_, vol. v. pp. 164-175. (g. w. t.)