God is he who most gives me success in what I seek, and piety is a man’s best saddle-bag.
It may be remarked that when an extravagant metaphor or comparison occurs in Ḥarîri, it may generally be traced to some popular or archaic usage, which the author desires to commemorate. The word is again used in the Thirty-third Assembly, (page 426, De Sacy’s edition.)
‘Unnâb.—A red fruit, of an oval shape, about an inch in
length, and with a large stone inside. It is sold in the English
market under the name of “Chinese Japonica.” Schultens, in
his edition of the Six Assemblies, is in error when he writes
I asked her when she met me, etc.—Abû Zayd here describes the parting between a lover and his mistress. The meaning of the second line is, “She removed the red veil which hid the lustre of her face, and dropped tears from her eye.”
Night lowered on her morn, etc.—He compares the black hair which she let down to night, her face to the morning, her slender waist to a branch, and her teeth and fingers to pearls and crystal. A great number of parallel passages from the poets are given by the Commentator, but it would be useless to refer to them. The single verses quoted from Al Boḥtori and Abû ’l Faraj al Wâwâ are those referred to in the Preface.
His dark night was moonlit.—His hair had become silvered with age.
The stroke of calamities.—The metre is mujteth, like that of the verses in the First Assembly.
Trust not the gleam of its lightning.—The heavy showers that give life to the parched plains are usually preceded by lightning; which sometimes, however, fails to fulfil its indications; the cloud passing away without having discharged any rain. Hence he who deceives expectations is said to have lightened deceitfully. These metaphors, as has been observed, are of frequent occurrence in the author. Compare, in the next Assembly, “The rain-cloud pours if it has thundered.”