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1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Ibo
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Ibo Version of the Scriptures
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
• Paramar`ibo

a district of British West Africa, on the lower Niger immediately above the delta, and mainly on the eastern bank of the river. The chief town, frequently called by the same name (more correctly Abo or Aboh), lies on a creek which falls into the main stream about 150 m. from its mouth and contains from 6000 to 8000 inhabitants. The Ibo are a strong well-built Negro race. Their women are distinguished by their embonpoint. The language of the Ibo is one of the most widely spoken on the lower Niger. The Rev. J. F. Schon began its reduction in 1841, and in 1861 he published a grammar (Oku Ibo Grammatical Elements, London, Church Miss. Soc.). (See [[Nigeria.) Ibrahim Al-Mausili]] (742-804), Arabian singer, was born of Persian parents settled in Kufa. In his early years his parents died and he was trained by an uncle. Singing, not study, attracted him, and at the age of twenty-three he fled to Mosul, where he joined a band of wild youths. After a year he went to Rai (Rei, Rhagae), where he met an ambassador of the caliph Mansur, who enabled him to come to Basra and take singing lessons. His fame as a singer spread, and the caliph Mandi brought him to the court. There he remained a favourite under Hadi, while Harlin al-Rashid kept him always with him until his death, when he ordered his son (Ma`mun) to say the prayer over his corpse. Ibrahim, as might be expected, was no strict Moslem. Two or three times he was knouted and imprisoned for excess in wine-drinking, but was always taken into favour again. His powers of song were far beyond anything else known at the time. Two of his pupils, his son Ishaq and Muhariq, attained celebrity after him.

See the Preface to W. Ahlwardt's Abu Nowas (Greifswald, 1861), pp. 13-18, and the many stories of his life in the Kitab ul-Aghani, v. 2-49. (G. W. T.)