Eyebrows with separation.—The having a clear space between the eyebrows, so that they are not joined, expresses to the Arabs the qualities of pleasantness and cheerfulness.

Smiling teeth with regularity.— is the quality of having an opening or space between the roots of the teeth, given by nature. The making an artificial space between them by filing or point­ing them ( or ) is held to be forbidden by Koran iv. 118, where it is said to be Satan who tempts people to “alter the creation of God.” According to Bayḍâwi the prohibition applies, among other things, to the plucking out the camel-stallion’s eye (as was done to avert the Nemesis from excessive wealth), to tattooing the skin, and to filing the teeth.

Noses with straightness, or elevation, so that they should not be flat, for an elevated nose is among the attributes of beauty and princeliness.

Mouths with purity—More exactly the front teeth, or, as one might say, “the mouthful of teeth.” is sweetness and coolness of the mouth and teeth. Moṭarrezi says, “I found in the handwriting of my father that Rûbeh was asked concerning the meaning of this word, and he took a grain of pomegranate and said, ‘This is ,’ referring to its purity and the delicacy of its juice.”—Commentary to Second Assembly.

At the beginning of the Assembly Sherîshi expatiates in his commentary on beauty and its attributes, as described in the terms of this oath, and each passage he annotates as it occurs with long quotations from the poets. These it is unnecessary to reproduce; but if the student desires a further acquaintance with the Arab ideas concerning female beauty he may be re­ferred to the proverb, “What hast thou left behind thee, ‘Aṣâm?” (Arab. Prov. II. 589). Al Ḥârith ibn ‘Amr, king of Kinda, desired to wed a young lady, of whose charms he had heard; but being a cautious prince, he first sent an old woman named ‘Aṣâm to learn from actual inspection whether she deserved her reputation. When she returned the king questioned her in the above words, and she gave him a full description of the trans­cendent beauties she had seen.

Made his head a sheath to my sword.—The word often occurs in this sense; but there may possibly be an allusion to the belief of the pagan Arabs that a bird called or sprang from the head of a murdered man, and cried , “Give me to drink,” until revenge was taken. This bird was supposed to be the soul or personality of the murdered man, so that one might translate, “I have not sheathed my sword in his life.” Moḥammed put an end to this superstition. The Arabs considered the head the seat of life. It is, perhaps, in this sense that Shanfara says of his enemies, “They bear away my head, and in my head is the chief part of me, while my body is left on the field.” Ḥamâseh, p. 243. The Commentator observes that four out of the five senses have their seat in the head.

My palm shoot with greenness: my white teeth with discolour-ation. is used as in the Second Assembly as a similitude for the teeth. is applied to dates while they continue green and small.

My rose with the ox-eye.—In Lane’s Lexicon is said to be “buphthalmum or ox-eye,” a plant having a yellow flower, growing in spring. The meaning is, “may my rosy cheek be smitten with yellowness.”

My musk with a foul steam.—The pleasant odour of my breath with offensiveness.

My full moon with waning; literally, with interlune, the period before the new moon, when the moon does not appear at all. The meaning here is “may my beauty decay and vanish.”

My silver with tarnishing—“May my white cheeks be blackened with the hairs of a coming beard!” The succeeding metaphors have a similar meaning.

Tempted: or suggested to him. For the use of this word see Koran xlvii. 27.

The pupil of my eye.—, literally “the man of the eye,” is the image that is seen reflected in the black of the eye as in a mirror: Hebrew . Gesenius remarks that the same figure is to be found in several languages, as in Persian, and ; in Greek, <Greek>; in Latin pupa, pupilla; in Spanish, la niña del ojo, etc.

Shell may get clear of chick.—A proverb attributed to an Arab of the Benû Asad, who acting as escort to a merchant said to him, “When we have reached such a place shell will be clear of chick,” meaning that there would be no more need of his pro­tection.

As the wolf went guiltless of the blood of the son of Jacob.— When Joseph’s brethren sold him they told his father that he had been devoured by a wolf: when their falsehood was discovered the wolf was held guiltless. Koran xii., called Joseph.

Ibn Surayj was a great doctor of the rite of Shâfi‘î and Kadi of Shiraz, in Persia. His full name was Abû ’l ‘Abbâs Aḥmed ibn ‘Omar ibn Surayj; for his zeal and learning he was surnamed The Bright Fire. His life is given by Ibn Khallikân, who says, “He surpassed in talent all the pupils of Ash Shâfi‘î. The cata­logue of his works contains four hundred articles. He was an active defender of the sect of Ash Shâfi‘î, and refuted its ad­versaries; he wrote also observations on the works of Moḥam-med ibn al Ḥasan al Ḥanafi. The Shaykh Abû Ḥâmid al Isfarayni said of him, ‘In our knowledge of the plain points of jurisprudence we keep pace with Abû ’l ‘Abbâs, but he surpasses us in the niceties of that science.’” The Moslems had a notion that every century some great man was raised up for the defence of the faith, and it was said to him, “God raised up ‘Omar ibn ‘Abd al ‘Azîz at the beginning of the first century after the Hijra, that he might manifest orthodoxy and destroy innovation; then God, in his mercy, placed at the opening of the next century the Imâm Ash Shâfi‘î, that he might manifest orthodoxy and force innovation to be hid; and God graciously conferred thee on the beginning of the third century.” He wrote verses, some of which have been preserved, and though a hot and apparently a rude controversialist, was not deficient in liberality to his op­ponents. He died in the year 306, at the age of fifty-seven. Ḥarîri, it must be remembered, belonged to his sect.

The Wolf’s Tail.—This is the name given to a deceptive bright­ness which appears in the heavens before the dawn, and then passes away: it is called the “false” or “lying” dawn. It is not improbable that this is the Zodiacal light.

A letter of Mutelemmis.—This phrase, which is equivalent to the classic literœ Bellerophonteœ had its origin in one of the most celebrated incidents of early Arab history; the treachery of ‘Amr, King of Hira, which caused the destruction of the young poet Ṭarafeh, author of one of the Mo‘allaḳât, and nearly in­volved in the same fate Ṭarafeh’s uncle Mutelemmis, also a poet. Ṭarafeh was the most perfect type of the wild and dissolute but gifted poets of the Ignorance. He was the son of Al ‘Abd, son of Sofyân, son of Ḥarmaleh, of the tribe of Bekr Wâ’il, and of the race of Moḍar. From early youth his genius for poetry, and his license of tongue, were remarkable. One day, when he was playing with the children of his age, his uncle Mutelemmis was reciting a poem which described, as was common among the Arabs, the rare qualities of a camel. He said—

I mount a dark-red male-camel, firm of flesh, or else a she-camel of Ḥimyar, fleet in course, driving the pebbles with her hoof that crushes them.

“See the he-camel transformed into a she,” exclaimed Ṭarafeh, and the phrase became proverbial to express a sudden and inelegant transition. Arab. Prov. II. 246. Mutelemmis, much offended, told the boy to put out his tongue. Ṭarafeh did so; it was dark in colour, and Mutelemmis said, “That black tongue will be thy ruin.” When Ṭarafeh grew up, he surpassed all his contemporary poets in debauchery, and addicted himself completely to love, wine, and gambling. His great poem was composed on the occasion of the loss of the herd of camels belonging to himself and his brother, which was carried off by a hostile tribe, while Ṭarafeh was spending his time in pleasure. A few verses from this composition will give an idea of his character and his genius:

If all my tribe were gathered, thou wouldst find me at the head of a kin that is generous, sought of suppliants.