A time of quiet.— is weakness, langour, intermission of strength, and thus signifies a time when the fury of war languishes, an interval of quiet, a truce. Its meaning as the interval between two prophets, as betwen Jesus and Moḥammed, is founded on Koran v. 22. The frequent political disturbances which impoverished Irak in Ḥarîri’s time have been referred to in the Introduction, and will be found more fully detailed in the Introduction to the second edition of De Sacy’s Ḥarîri.

The sons of Al Furât were a family highly distinguished in the civil service of the Khalifate during the fourth century. They followed the profession of inshâ’ or official writing, and rose to the highest posts, even to the wazirate. There were four brothers of them who attained to eminence during the reign of Al Muḳtadir b ’illâh, namely Aḥmed abû ’l ‘Abbâs, and Abû ’l Ḥasan ‘Ali and Abû ‘Abd allâh Ja‘far and Abû ‘Isa Ibrahîm. They were the sons of Moḥammed ibn Mûsa ibn al Ḥasan ibn al Furât, who was an agent to Aḥmed ibn al Haḍîb the wazîr of the Khalif Al Muntaṣir son of Al Mutewekkil, a.h. 247. The most celebrated of the family was Abû ’l Ḥasan ‘Ali, who was three times wazîr to Al Muḳtadir. His life is to be found in Ibn Khallikân. He was a most gifted man, and an excellent administrator, and, though liberal even to extravagance, amassed great wealth. When he was dismissed for the first time, a.h. 299 (a.d. 912), the Khalif had him arrested in his palace, and seized on all his wealth. From that time to his reinstatement in 304 the produce of his estates to the public treasury amounted to 7,000,000 denars. On his re-appointment the Khalif showed him the highest favours, sending him seven cloaks of honour and 300,000 dirhems to be distributed among his attendants. He continued in place for two years, but was then arrested a second time, and thrown into prison. He was restored to his post for the third time in 311, and marked his resumption of office by acts which have cast a stain on his memory. He exacted large sums from many persons, and allowed his son Abû ’l Muḥassin, a violent young man, to put to death Ḥamîd ibn al ‘Abbâs, the late wazîr. He fell for the third time the next year, when it was found that he possessed upwards of ten millions of denars, and that his landed property produced a million of denars annually. A few days later he and his son Muḥassin were put to death by Nazûḳ, the chief of the police. This Abû ’l Ḥasan had been a simple kâtib, and was first raised to high posts together with his brother Abû ’l ‘Abbâs by the Khalif Al Mo‘taḍid for drawing up a financial statement. This brother died some years before in 291. The third brother, Ja‘far, was offered the wazirate, but declined it; it was then given to his son Abû ’l Fatḥ ibn Ja‘far in 320, but he was not long in power, for Al Muḳtadir was murdered the same year, and the wazîr concealed himself through fear of Al Ḳâhir, the new Khalif. Abû ’l Fatḥ, however, obtained subsequently the govern­ment of Syria, and after the deposition of Al Ḳâhir, was offered the wazirate by Ar Râḍi; but finding the State in confusion he prudently returned to his government. The son of Abû ’l Fatḥ was Abû ’l Faḍl Ja‘far ibn al Faḍl, called like himself Al Ḥinzâba from the name of Abû ’l Fatḥ’s mother. ( means a person or beast of short and strong make). This Ibn Ḥinzâba, whose life is also given by Ibn Khallikân, admin­istered Egypt under the clever and strong-minded negro eunuch Kâfûr, the patron and then the enemy of Al Mutenebbi, and the subject of his praise or satire in some of his most interesting poems. This family, distinguished generation after generation for official and administrative skill, might well be spoken of as models of excellence by one of their own profession, like the author. For more on this subject see Weil, Geschichte der Chalifen, on Al Muḳtadir b’illâh, II. 539. Sherîshi gives a specimen of Abû ’l Ḥasan’s wit. Some of the learned were maintaining in his presence the untenable doctrine that the letter sîn may in all cases be substituted for ṣâd; that, in fact, the two letters are interchangeable. Said the wazîr, “Do you read in the Koran, ‘There shall enter into Paradise as well as ?’” Another story of the same kind, given by the commentator, is that An Naḍr ibn Shemîl was sick, and a number of his friends came to see him, among them a certain man who was bye-named Abû Ṣâliḥ. Said Abû Ṣâliḥ to the sick man “.” “You should use the ṣâd, not the sîn,” said An Naḍr, “for the meaning is, ‘May God cause the sickness to depart,’ and the ṣâd is according to the speech of the Arabs.” Abû Ṣaliḥ answered that the sîn was always interchangeable with the ṣâd, and instanced and and . “Are you then Abû Sâliḥ?” said the sick man. It may be mentioned that all the words which are spelt with either of these letters indifferently are given in some verses of the 46th Assembly.

Al Ḳa‘ḳâ‘ ibn Showr, a man of the Arabs famous for his generosity, and reckoned with Ka‘b ibn Mâmeh and Ḥâtim. Of him it is said, “No ill-fate has he who sits with Al Ḳa‘ḳâ‘,” Arab. Prov. II, 540, since it was his custom to relieve all who visited him. Of Ka‘b ibn Mâmeh there are several proverbs. It is said, “More generous than Ka‘b ibn Mâmeh.” His act of generosity was the same as that of Sir Philip Sidney at Zutphen. He was in a caravan in the desert when the water ran short, so that they took to measuring it by the stone called ; that is, a stone was put into the cup, into which was then poured water until it covered the stone, so that every one might have an equal share. This stone was called . When the turn came for Ka‘b to drink he saw a man of the tribe of An Namir ibn Ḳâsiṭ look wistfully on him, and he said to him who was distributing, “Give to drink to thy brother,” meaning the man of Namir, and himself went without. The next day he saw the man of Namir look on him a second time, and he gave up his portion again. But when the time came to mount he could not move, so they put garments over him to scare the beasts, and left him to die. His father indited some verses to his memory. Hence the proverbs, “More generous than Ka‘b ibn Mâmeh,” Arab. Prov. I. 325. “Give to drink to thy brother the Namirî,” 608. Another proverb attributed to Ka‘b, is extant, “This is my bleeding,” II. 867, which he uttered when in captivity among the tribe of ‘Anazeh, II. 390. He had been told by the mistress of the house to bleed the camel to make blood-puddings for the guests. Indignant at this stinginess he had killed it; and when rated by the house­wife he uttered the above saying. But this story is also told of Ḥâtim, with the addition that the lady slapped his face. See the proverb, “If any other bracelet-wearer had slapped me,” II. 465. The bleeding of the live camel was only practised by the hospitable in time of need. Compare Ḥamâseh, p. 645, “The noble man shuns perfidy, even though his food in the evening be a portion from the blood of vein-cutting.” At Arab. Prov. II. 441, is the saying “He is not refused who has the blood let for him.” I cannot ascertain whether this Al Ḳa‘ḳâ‘ is to be identified with the bold Moslem warrior of the time of the Prophet and the early Khalifate, who took Ḥolwân under Sa‘d ibn Abî Waḳḳâṣ, and negotiated for ‘Ali with Talḥah and Az Zobayr.

Plenty after want.—Compare the use of this expression in the Thirty-fourth Assembly, near the beginning.

As the fingertop is above the finger: a proverbial expression.

Lofty-sailed boats.—The ordinary reading at Koran lv. 24, is , with the fetḥ, though, according to Bayḍâwi, both Ḥamzeh and Abû Bekr read with kesr. The meaning, however, is the same, whether the phrase be “lifted up as to their sails,” or “lifting up their sails.” Sherîshi renders the word by , which Bayḍâwi also gives as an interpretation. It hardly accords, however, with the context, “on the sea, like mountains,” or masses of rock that served as way-marks in the deserts.