The men of the Cave.—The history of the Seven Sleepers, so famous in the Middle Ages, is an article of faith with the Moslems, since it forms the subject of the earlier part of the Eighteenth Sura, called the Cave. According to the Christian tradition, the Seven Sleepers were young men of Ephesus, who, fleeing from the persecution of the Emperor Decius, took refuge in a cave, and there slept through a long period of time. The legend, like that of Endymion among the ancients, has singu­larly attracted the imagination wherever it has become known. In Koran xviii. 8, it is said, “Hast thou considered that the men of the Cave and Ar Raḳîm were of our signs, a wonder?” The meaning of Ar Raḳîm is the subject of dispute. It was either the name of the mountain or the valley in which the cave was situated, or of their village, or the name of their dog, which is mentioned at verse 17 as sleeping at the entrance of the cave, or else it is the name of a leaden or stone tablet on which their names were engraved by their countrymen, who built a chapel on the spot (verse 20); or else “the men of Ar Raḳîm” were distinct from the “men of the Cave,” who slept, for it is related that the men of Ar Raḳîm were three, who taking refuge in a cave from a tempest were shut in by the fall of a rock. Each of them prayed for help through the merits of a good action which he had performed. When the first had thus adjured God, the mountain cracked, so that they could see the light; when the second had spoken, it split, so that they could distinguish each other, and when the third had spoken, it opened and they were delivered.—Bayḍâwi. Respecting the number of the Companions of the Cave the Koran leaves us in uncertainty. It is said, “Men will say that they were three, and the fourth was their dog; that they were five, and the sixth was their dog, con­jecturing what is hidden; and they will say that they were seven, the eighth was their dog. Say, My Lord knows best their num­ber; there are but few who know concerning them.” Nor is the exact duration of their sleep determined, for it is said, “They remained in their cave three hundred years, ;” which is explained by Bayḍâwi to mean that opinions differ as to whether they remained three hundred or three hun­dred and nine years. According to the same Commentator (verse 21) the opinion that they were seven in number is the most correct; the names of six of them and of their dog are given on the authority of ‘Ali: the six were royal counsellors, and the seventh, whose name is not given, was a shepherd who accompanied them. Some of the names are seemingly corruptions of Latin or Greek. Ibn ‘Abbâs, cited by Sherîshi, gives the names differently; the dog, however, in both versions is Ḳiṭmîr. This dog has been reckoned by some among the seven most celebrated animals; the others being the hudhud or lapwing of Solomon, which brought him the news of the Queen of Sheba (Koran xxvii. 20); the camel of Ṣâliḥ; the cow of Moses, which gives a name to the second Sura; the fish of Jonah; the serpent of Eve; and the peacock of Paradise. The history of the people of the Cave was one of the twenty-eight subjects on which the Jews of Khaybar, at the instigation of Abû Jahl and Welîd ibn Moghayrah, questioned the Prophet. They sent five learned men thus to prove him, and Mohammed, though nothing had been revealed to him on the subject, answered, in the presence of the Ḳoraysh, that he would give the due replies; trusting that Gabriel would bring him the explanations from God. But he forgot to add, “if it please God,” and, to correct him, God left him fifteen days without any divine help, so that his enemies triumphed over him. At last, at the end of the fifteenth day, Gabriel brought to him the verses of the Koran which answered the several questions; but there was also re­vealed at the same time the following, “Say not of anything ‘I will do it to-morrow,’ without adding, ‘if God will it.’” These words occur in the history of the Cave, Koran xviii. 23, and bear witness that this history was one on which the Prophet was entirely uninformed, at the time when he rashly accepted the challenge of the Jews. For the history of these questions see Ṭabari.

Blame him who wearies of thee.—It will be observed that in these sentences only the twenty-eight letters are considered, and that no account is made of teshdîd or tanwîn, or even of the hamzeh, in such a word as although it is essentially a letter.

He who completes the kindness.—On the meaning of , compare the verses at the end of the Sixth Assembly.

To mould and break, etc.—i.e., to form sentences, and then to reject them, on finding that they were deficient; to be at one moment ready to solve the difficulty, and at the next unable to utter a word.

I seek food.—That is, I seek a solution of the difficulty from those around. The word is used in a saying of ‘Ali, which is interpreted to mean, “When the Imâm seeks for a word or an explanation, give him one.” You say , when the reader of the Koran stops (through ignorance what reading to give to a particular word), and you explain to him and give him an opinion; on the other hand, he when he solicits this help. A somewhat similar use of the word occurs in the Thirty-first Assembly, p. 390, De Sacy’s edition: “Their seeking to taste of his speech.”

My breeze fell.—i.e., my efforts were given up in despair.

Iyâs has been spoken of in the notes to the Seventh Assembly.

There is One learned, etc.—These words are from Koran xii. 76, and refer to the stratagem suggested by God to Joseph, of hiding his cup in Benjamin’s sack.

Bestow on the needy. — Metre rejez. The letters of these verses are the same whether read forwards or backwards, though this is effected by counting the augmentative elif which makes the of the last syllable.

Excellent are this company.—Metre kâmil, which has been de­scribed at the Fourth Assembly.

Princes in bounty.—I have thus translated in accordance with Sherîshi, who renders by , making a form of , in use among the people of Yemen. It is said in the Twenty-seventh Assembly, “I sojourned with Arabs who were as deputies of princes;” meaning noble-spirited men. The title is explained at Assembly Eighteen. This rendering is the more consistent with the sense, since Abû Zayd praises the com­pany both for their cleverness and their liberality.

Saḥbân would be as Bâḳil. — For the former of these two persons, who is always spoken of as the pattern of eloquence, see the Fifth Assembly. Bâḳil was a man of Rabî‘ah, or, as it is otherwise said, of Iyâd. He had an impediment in his speech for which his name became proverbial, so that it is said, More tongue-tied than Bâḳil. Once, when he had a fawn under his arm, which he had bought for eleven dirhems, he was met by people who asked him how much he had given; he stretched out his arms and opened his fingers to express ten, and put out his tongue to express one. The fawn which was under his arm made its escape. When censured for his stupidity, he is said to have answered in verse that a man could not help his own stu­pidity, and that when afflicted with it, it was an advantage to him not to be able to speak fluently. Ar. Prov. II. 146.

The glooming has now set in.—These words are derived from the Sura called , at the end of the Koran. signifies to be overflowed or obscured, as the night by darkness or clouds, or the eye by tears. It is said by some to apply there to the eclipsing of the moon. (Bayḍâwi.) Sherîshi also renders the word by “moon,” and quotes a Tradition of ‘Âyisheh, that the Prophet one night, looking at the moon, said to her, “Commend thyself to God from the evil of this; for this is , the moon which is becoming eclipsed.” I have preferred to render it “glooming;” but if it refer to the moon it may mean merely that the moon had set.

Between me and my house.—On the repetition of , when it is joined to a pronoun so as to form but one word with it, read the lucid explanation of Ḥarîri, in the Durrah; Anthol. Grammat. Arabe, p. 44, Texte Arabe.

Distraction.— is described as fear and delirium caused by hunger. It is used also to express angry petulance, or caprice of mind.

Emptiness.— is a maṣdar.

To his people.— is the reserve or support of an army or attacking body; a band stationed behind soldiers for them to take refuge with in retreat.