or, more properly, BOH-A-EDDYN, an eminent Arabian writer and statesman, better known in the East under the appellation of Ibn-Sjeddad. He was born at Mossul A.D. 1145 (A.H. 539), and early became eminent in the study of the Koran, as well as in jurisprudence. At the age of twenty-seven he obtained the place of lecturer at Baghdad, and, soon after, a professor's chair at Mossul. In 1187 he made the pilgrimage to Mecca, and then proceeded to visit Jerusalem and Hebron. In passing through Damascus he was sent for by Saladin, who was then employed in the siege of Kanach. Bohaddin observed, as he himself mentions (Vita Saladinii, ch. v.), that the whole soul of the monarch was engrossed by the war which he was then waging against the enemies of the faith; and that the only mode of acquiring his favour was by urging him to its vigorous prosecution. With this view he composed a treatise on the Laws and Discipline of Sacred War; and this work, on his return, he presented to Saladin, who received it with peculiar favour. Bohaddin, from this time, remained constantly attached to the person of the sultan, and was employed in various important embassies and departments of civil government. That prince seems also to have sought, by the friendship of so eminent a doctor, to exalt his reputation for sanctity. Often, while riding through the ranks, Bohaddin rode by his side, and read to him passages out of the Koran. Bohaddin was now appointed judge of the army, and judge of Jerusalem. In this latter capacity an incident occurred which proves the impartial justice exercised by the sultan. A merchant presented himself at the tribunal of Bohaddin, and complained that he had been unjustly deprived of a large sum of money. On being asked to name the author of the injury, he replied "the sultan himself." Saladin, on learning the circumstances, denied the truth of the charge; but said that the man should have justice. Accordingly he was introduced into his presence; and the sultan, descending from his throne, pleaded his own cause before Bohaddin. The latter decided in favour of Saladin, and even hinted that the plaintiff merited chastisement. The sultan, however, dismissed the person not only unpunished, but with handsome presents.

Bohaddin continued in favour with Saladin during the whole of that monarch's life; and after his death, he was active in securing the throne to his son Melik-al-Dhaker. That prince created him kadi of Aleppo, which gave Bohaddin an opportunity of founding in that city a college, of which he himself was the principal professor. Under his auspices, the sciences, which had greatly declined in Aleppo, soon rose to more than their former lustre. When Melik-al-Dhaker died, his son Melik-al-Aziz was a minor, and Bohaddin obtained the principal sway in the regency. This gave him an opportunity of introducing learned men at court, and loading them with honours. As the prince, however, approached to manhood, Bohaddin, though he still retained his offices, found it expedient to retire from court. Even after he was unable to go to college, he continued to give lectures in his own house; and he persevered in these learned labours till the age of ninety, when he died A.D. 1235 (A.H. 633).

Bohaddin wrote on jurisprudence and Moslem divinity; but his principal work is his Life of Saladin; which, with several other pieces connected with the same subject, was published by Schultens, at Leyden, in 1732, accompanied by a Latin translation, with notes and a geographical index. This work affords a favourable specimen of the historical compositions of the Arabs. It is written with some spirit, and yet is free from that inflation which so frequently disfigures oriental composition. Whatever relates to Saladin, breathes the highest tone of panegyric; yet the enthusiasm with which everything concerning him is narrated, and the anecdotes which the author, from his personal knowledge, is able to communicate respecting that extraordinary character, give his work a great degree of interest.