Were it not for Omaymeh, I would not be saddened at want, nor would I endure the gloom in the dark night.

She makes me wish to live, since I know how she will be contemned as an orphan, when her brothers of the womb are churlish to her. (Bro­thers by her mother but not by her father.)

I fear that poverty may some day reach her, and tear away her veil, so that she will be as meat on the tray. (See Assembly Twelve.)

She desires my life, but I long for her death, through compassion on her; for to women death is the most generous guest.

Yet, with the comparative softening of manners which took place in the age before Moḥammed, the inhumation of daughters seems gradually to have been abandoned. It was kept up longest in the tribe of Temîm (see the proverb “More wander­ing than the maid buried alive;” Ar. Prov. II. 16): an evil which is attributed to Ḳays ibn ‘Âṣim, chief of Temîm, a hero praised by Moḥammed as the noblest of the Arabs of the desert: some elegiac verses on him are to be found at p. 367 of the Ḥamâseh. As Temîm had refused tribute to No‘mân, king of Hira, the latter had sent his squadron of cavalry, called Dowsar, (for which see the proverb “More valorous than Dowsar:” Ar. Prov. I. 198) and had carried off, among others, the daughter of Ḳays. Negotiations were entered into for the restoration of the prisoners, and the king gave leave to all who chose to depart. The daughter of Ḳays, being in love with one of her captors, refused to return to her tribe, and her father swore to bury all his future female children, which he did to the number of ten, and thus re-established the usage among the Benû Temîm. The story is told differently by others: see C. de Perceval’s Essai, II. 574. Humanity, however, revolted at the practice, and rich men would buy the lives of the female infants. The grandfather of the poet Al Farazdaḳ, named Ṣa‘ṣa‘at ibn Nâjiyeh, thus rescued many, as has been mentioned in the notes to Assembly Nine; compare also commentary at p. 118 of Ḥamâseh. After the establishment of Islam the practice was wholly abrogated, as may be seen from the verses of Jez’ ibn Kolayb, at p. 117 of Ḥamâseh, where it is said, “Since the Prophet arose men have nourished their girls.” On this subject, compare Pocock, Specimen, p. 323. is, like and , a masculine form, as being an epithet particularly applicable to a female. The Arabs believe that a charming voice would rouse the dead.

The pipes of David.—Of David it is said at Koran xxxiv. 10, “We gave David a grace (the art of singing); O ye mountains repeat with him the praises of God, and ye birds.” Compare also xxxviii. 16. The Prophet hearing one read the Koran harmoniously said, “He is gifted with the pipes of David,” the pipes being a metaphorical expression for the voice. is pleonastic, as in the verse cited by De Sacy; compare Lane, Book I. p. 127.

Ma bad.—The life of Ma‘bad, the greatest musician and singer of the early Khalifate, is given in the Kitâb al Aghâni, p. 29, edition of Kosegarten, and to this the student is referred. Ma‘bad ibn Wahb or ibn Ḳaṭan was a mulatto , and a freedman, as some say, of Mu‘awiyeh. He was not, like some of his con­temporary singers, of an effeminate and attractive person, for he was brown, tall, and squinting. He died at Damascus during the reign of Al Welîd ibn Yezîd. A number of anecdotes are related of him in the Kitâb al Aghâni, where his superiority to Ṭoways and Ibn Surayj, two of his contemporaries, is asserted on the authority of a poet, p. 31. But when Ma‘bad composed seven songs of surpassing merit, the musicians of Mecca selected seven from the works of Ibn Surayj, which they declared were equal to the former. For an account of these early musicians see the Proœmium to Kosegarten’s Kitâb al Aghâni, cap. I. De citharœdis cantricibusque Arabibus. Ma‘bad appears to have been a scientific musician of great merit.

Isaac.—This was Isḥâḳ ibn Ibrâhîm, commonly known as Ibn an Nadîm al Mowṣili. His father Ibrâhîm was a celebrated musician of his time, but was surpassed by his more eminent son, who appears to have been a paragon of accomplishments. In the life of him by Ibn Khallikân it is said that he was the companion of the Khalifs, a man of taste, and of great talents as a singer. He was also well acquainted with pure Arabic and the ancient poets, the history of the poets and the adventures of the tribes. He was born a.h. 150, and died about 235, being thus contemporary with Hârûn ar Reshîd, Al Ma’mûn, and Al Mo‘ta-ṣim. Al Ma’mûn said of him that were he not known as a musician he would have given him the place of Kadi, so large was his knowledge of law. An anecdote related of him testifies to his accomplishments. At an entertainment he discussed with the theologians present and worsted them; then treated on a point of law with success; after which he discoursed on poetry and the Arabic language, surpassing all the company. He then, being somewhat elated, asked those present how it was that he, who could treat these sciences with as much ability as their professors, should be known only as the master of the single art of music. But some who were there showed him that though eminent in all these sciences over the company present there was yet to be found some one who surpassed him in each singly, whereas in music he was incomparable. He wrote lives of his predecessors in the art, and gave the highest place among the earlier ones to Ma‘bad. Sherîshi, who gives an account of both these personages in his Commentary, says that Ma‘bad was the most gifted of the older, and Isaac of the later singers.

Away, begone.—The Arabs of the Ignorance, when they de­sired that a man who was on a journey should not return, were accustomed to light a fire and call out . This fire was called .

Zonâm was flute player to Hârûn ar Reshîd, who was so fond of his performance, that he would not drink without hearing it. According to Sherîshi he invented a sort of flute or fife.

The red camels, i.e. all that is excellent and valuable. Ac­cording to the Arabs the red she-camel could best bear the mid­day heat, and the best were the and the or white-red. Hence, the red camels are used proverbially for wealth. When the head of Abû Jahl was brought to the Prophet, after the Day of Bedr, he exclaimed, “It is more acceptable to me than a red camel.”

Saṭîḥ.—Saṭîḥ has been already spoken of.

The court of his Prince; or his Ḳayl. The Ḳayls or petty princes of Ḥimyar governed a great part of southern Arabia, as tributaries, from the earliest times. They are sometimes called because they generally had names compounded with Thû as Thû’l Mulk, Thû Jadan. When the people of Ḥaḍramowt accepted Islam, the principal Ḳayl of the country, Wâ’il son of Ḥojr, came to make his submission to Moḥammed. According to the Arabic grammarians, is allied to as one who speaks or commands (De Sacy’s Ḥarîri, p. 494), but Ibn Khaldûn condemns this etymology as fanciful (Anthol. Gram. Arabe, p. 171 Texte Arabe), and asserts, with great probability, that is a word of the language of Ḥimyar which was un­known to the descendants of Moḍar.

And I had no alarm.—. This idiom is adopted from the Mo‘allaḳah of ‘Antarah, v. 11.

Pharaoh.—For the history of Pharaoh see Koran x. 76; xxvi. 9; xxviii.; xl. 24, etc. He is called , for the meaning of which see Bayḍâwi on xxxviii. 11.

He shouted, from the voice; or he accused me, from

The informer gained nought.— signifies he became fortunate by such a thing. According to Sherîshi, it means he got a , that is, an arrow or lot, like . The meaning, therefore, will be, he got as his share nothing save, etc.

Now since I have explained.—Metre ṭawîl.

Resources, old or new: that is, inherited or acquired. Com­pare Ṭarafeh, Mo‘allaḳah, v. 53.

Long since treachery vexed the Best of Mankind, so that there was declared concerning the woman that carried firewood that which was declared.—The 111th Sura of the Koran is entitled Perish, from its first word. It runs as follows:—“Perish the two hands of Abû Lahab, and perish he. His riches shall not avail him, nor his gain (or his works in which he trusted). He shall be burned in the flaming fire: And his wife, the Carrier of Firewood; Round her neck a twisted rope.” Abû Lahab and his wife Umm Jemîl hold among Moslems the same posi­tion as Judas Iscariot among Christians. They are persons of whose damnation there can be no doubt whatever, since it is positively announced in the Word of God. It is, therefore, usual, when they are spoken of, to add, “On them be a curse.” They were closely connected with Moḥammed. Abû Lahab, whose real name was ‘Abd al ‘Ozza, was his uncle, being a son of ‘Abd al Moṭṭalib; his wife was a daughter of Ḥarb, and sister to Abû Sofyân. She was consequently aunt to Mu‘âwiyeh. This couple were among the most fanatical opponents of the Prophet. ‘Abd al ‘Ozza and others befouled his house with ordure; and Umm Jemîl maligned him among the Ḳoraysh. The carrying of firewood is explained either to mean that she added “fuel” to the hatred of the Prophet’s enemies by her calumnies; or that she will carry wood to Hell for her own tortures. It is also said that she was in the habit of literally strewing thorns during the night before the entrance of the Prophet’s house, on the path where he must pass in the morning. But it is probable that this is but a misunderstanding of a common figurative expression. The unbelieving pair are always known by the names which were fixed upon them in the above Chapter, “The Father of Flame,” and the “Bearer of Fuel.” Abû Lahab died of the disease called , a kind of malignant pustule, seven days after the news of the battle of Bedr reached Mecca; his end being perhaps hastened by a blow he received in a broil caused by his rage at the event. Sîrat ar Resûl, p. 460. It is a Tradition that Abû Lahab squinted, and that his wife had but one eye: so apt is the popular creed to attribute bodily defects and ugliness to the reprobate. It is also a Tradition that the Prophet said, “Whoso recites the Sura , I have hope that God will not unite him and Abû Lahab in the same abode.”