Bestriding the back of [a steed like] Ibnu ’n-na‘âmeh.—The Beyrout edition of the Assemblies says in a note that Ibnu ’n-na‘âmeh [son of the young ostrich] was the name of a celebrated horse belonging to Al Ḥaris̤ bin ‘Abbâd. According to other authorities, it means a generous horse in general, the road, the sole of the foot, the leg, and human sweat, and Ḥarîri may have left purposely to his readers the choice between these various interpretations. For the expression, “with the swiftness of the ostrich,” comp. Ar. Prov., ii. 151.

And garlanded [coronated] with begging-baskets, in Arabic mukallal, from iklîl, a crown, i.e., surrounded with a row of ornamental knobs, here formed by the begging-baskets, as the draperies of the vestibule consisted of tattered garments. The various terms for mendicants employed in the subsequent passage are muqaiyif, one who follows your track [qîfah] to importune you with his solicitations; mudarwiz, probably from the Persian darwâz [for dar-bâz], an open gate, one who goes from door to door asking for alms, or offering his services; mushaqshiq, one who recites verses of poetry alternately with another, both standing on opposite platforms, and etymologically related to shiqshiqah, the throatbag of a camel, which has been men­tioned before, from the verb shaqshaq, to emit a sound, cry out, roar; mujalwiz, in the argot of beggars, the rehearser of the merits and virtues of Mohammed’s Companions before a popular audience in the mosques.

Reluctantly, in the Arabic idiom mutajarri‘an al-ghuṣaṣ, gulping the choking draughts.

Then lo! there were in it richly adorned state-chairs, etc.—This display of furniture indicated, according to Sherîshi, that a wedding was to be celebrated in the house, while the begging-baskets sus­pended in the vestibule and the tattered garments hung around it characterized the building as an inn [finduq] of the beggar tribe, not appertaining to any distinct owner.

As if he were the (a) son of Mâ’u ’s-samâ [water of heaven], the surname of a woman from the tribe Namir bin Ḳâsiṭ, so called on account of her beauty, whose son was Munẕir bin Imr al-Kais, king of Ḥîra. It is also a laqab of ‘Âmir bin Ḥarîs̤ah al-Azdî (father of ‘Amr, who emigrated from Yemen after the bursting of the dyke ‘Arim), and to whom this name was given on account of his generosity, which was as rain to his people in the times of drought. Hence his progeny, who reigned in Syria, were called Benû Mâ ’as-samâ [comp. Ar. Prov., iii., P. 1, p. 340].

The day and nights . . . morning and evening, the former in Arabic al-malawân, dual of malá, in the sense of time, the latter al fatayân, dual of fatá, youth.

When he had sat down on his carpet.—Zurbiyyah or Zirbiyyah, a word the plural of which, Zarâbiyyu, occurs in the Koran, lxxxviii. 16: “And carpets spread forth.”

And has sternly forbidden the refusal of supplicants . . . and com­manded to feed him that begs and him that refuses to beg.—An allusion to Koran, xciii. 10, “And as to him that asketh of thee, chide him not away”; and to xxii. 37, “And feed him who asketh humbly, and him who scorneth to ask though poor.”

Those who know well that the supplicant and the destitute have a claim on their riches, lit., and in whose riches is a known claim, etc. Another allusion to the Koran, lxx. 24, 25.

I take refuge with Him from hearing a prayer void of intention, meaning the formula bûrika fîka, may a blessing be bestowed on thee, with which beggars are politely refused, and from which, in consequence of its frequent use, the noun bûrik, in the sense of refusal, is derived. To this the commentaries quote the lines: “Many a crone, cunning and crafty, and quick to refuse the poor, thinks that a be-blessed is enough for me, when I come forward, stretching out my right hand.” The expression, “void of intention,” originates in the anecdote that an Arab, who asked alms from some people, was answered with bûrika fîka, whereupon he retorted: “May Allah consign you to the tender mercies of a prayer, in which there is no intention.”

“And secure to the poor a share from the rich,” i.e., create the institution of zakât, or legal alms, by which the claim of the indigent for assistance from the rich is acknowledged and vouchsafed. The same idea is repeated lower down in the words: he made obligatory the claims on the possessions of the wealthy, and it runs, as Sherîshi remarks, in varied forms through the whole of the address, naturally enough, as the preacher speaks for the edification of the begging fraternity.

And lowered his wing to the lowly, or showed humility to the humble, allusion to Koran, xvii. 25.

As well as his elected of the people of the stone-bench, in Arabic ahl aṣ-ṣuffah, a name given to a number of aliens amongst the com­panions of Mohammed, the so-called “guests of Islâm,” poor strangers without friends or place of abode, who took shelter on a stone-bench, roofed with palm-branches, in the porch of the Temple of Medina.

For He said so that you may know: “O ye men,” etc., quotation from Koran, xlix. 13.

Abû ’d-Darrâj Wallâj, son of Kharrâj, fanciful names, truly appropriate for members of the craft, which may be translated, Father of the Tramp, In-slipper, son of Out-goer, the last two epithets probably meaning one who makes himself at home under all circum­stances, and knows how to extricate himself from all difficulties. Equally graphic are the names given to the wooed bride: Kanbas, daughter of Abû ‘Anbas, somewhat like Spitfire, daughter of the Sire of the frowning Lion. There is much humour in this Assembly, which, I hope, will be duly appreciated by my readers.

And if you fear poverty or want, Allah will give you a sufficiency out of His abundance, quotation from Koran, ix. 28. In the Koranic passage the dreaded event is explained as to be brought about through the breaking off commercial relations, here, of course, it is apprehended from the increase of family.

By Him who created the heavens one above another, etc., allusion to Koran, lxvii. 3.

Whose engrossing cares distract the mind; or, Whose carking sorrow sore perplexes and distracts me.—A somewhat free translation of the Arabic khat̤bu-hâ khat̤bun marîjun, lit., whose calamity is a perplexing calamity (comp. Koran, l. 5, where the word marîj is joined with amr, “perplexed therefore is their state.”