Kerej.—The city of Kerej, between Ispahan and Hamadân, situated in the hill country of Persian Irak, was the seat of the family of Al ‘Ijli, a powerful Arab house descended from Bekr ibn Wâ’il. Kerej, according to Sherîshi, was sixty parasangs from Ispahan. It was rebuilt and greatly enlarged by Al Ḳâsim ibn ‘Îsa the ‘Ijli, commonly known as Abû Dulaf, a celebrated general, and a great patron of letters in the time of the Khalifs Al Ma’mûn and Al Mo‘taṣim. A life of him, or rather some fragmentary anecdotes respecting him, may be found in Ibn Khallikân. When Ar Reshîd inquired of Abû Dulaf respecting the state of his country, and received for answer that it was wasted and desolate, spoiled by Arabs and Kurds, a certain person present declared that Abû Dulaf had had a chief share in this devastation. Abû Dulaf then promised that with the help of the Khalif he would restore the country to prosperity, which he did by rebuilding the city of Kerej.

Scorching cold.— signifies the scorching or blasting by a cold wind, as by a hot one. At Koran xxi. 47, it is said “If but a blast of the chastisement of thy Lord reach them.”

Sorest torment.—The phrase is derived from a Tradition of the Prophet, and is defined as such extreme suffer­ing as makes a man desire death. Abû Horayrah relates that Moḥammed taught him the following rhythmical prayer: Another Tradition makes the Prophet say that to be refused in one’s need is jahd al belâ’. It is conventionally applied to great worldly distress, as hopeless indebtedness, or small means with a large family. The word signifies energy or effort, and is used several times in the Koran in a phrase signifying “the most energetic or forcible of your oaths.” See v. 58; vi. 109; xvi. 40, and other places.

Attendance at the congregation.—Sherîshi says that the cold in the province of Granada had a still greater effect on his countryman Ibn Ṣârah, for it prevented him from going even to prayer. The poet thus addresses the people of the place:

Sure we may fail at the prayer in your land, and even drink the strong wine, though a thing forbidden;

Since we would gladly go to the eternal flame as more gentle and merciful than the cold of Shalîr;

If my Lord were to cast me into hell on such a day as this I should say “How comfortable is hell.”

The author of these irreverent verses was Abû Moḥammed ibn Ṣârat ash Shantarîni (of Santarem), a poverty-stricken poet of Spain, who lived by bookbinding. He died at Almeria in the year 517 (a.d. 1123).

And heeded nought.—For this word see Lane’s Lexicon, .

O people.—The metre of these verses is the fifth of the , the last foot being . I have divided the translation into lines as if the measure were mashṭûr, in accordance with the exceptional principle of the rejez, but it may be that in this particular ‘arûḍ the verse is made up of two hemistiches.

Destroyed: caused them to pass away and perish. Thus, “I think not that this garden will ever perish,” Koran xviii. 33.

My humped camels mourned the morning I made the feast.— However poorly the Arabs might fare when alone they thought it due to their reputation for hospitality to feast the stranger to the utmost extent of their means; and this was generally done by killing a camel for him, the joints of which were either roasted at the fire or boiled in large cauldrons: all who chose to come shared in the feast, and what remained was distributed among the poor. The eating of camel’s flesh seems not to have been universal in the early times among the Arabs. There is no mention of its having been used for food by the Hebrew patriarchs, and it is forbidden by the Mosaic law: Leviticus xi. 4; Deuteronomy xiv. 7. At the proverb “Barâḳish has sinned against her people,” Arab. Prov. II. 89, it is related that Barâḳish was a wife of Loḳmân ibn ‘Âd. Her husband’s tribe did not feed upon camel, but a son of hers by a former marriage, going to visit his mother’s family, brought back a joint of camel, which Loḳmân, tasting, pronounced to be good food. Barâḳish, hearing this and desiring to feed upon camel, said to her husband, “Camel us and camel thyself,” meaning, “Give us camel to eat and eat it thyself,” which words became proverbial, Arab. Prov. I. 295. The eating of camel which had been confined to Hijâz and Nejd then became general among the descendants of ‘Âd; so that Loḳmân, who was a powerful prince and exacted tribute, destroyed the camels of his wife’s people for food. Hence the origin of the proverb. Loḳmân is described as a person of enormous strength; he could dig with his nails a well for his camels to drink at: see the proverb “Stronger than Loḳmân,” Arab. Prov. I. 701. This legend may be connected with the tradition which places his home in the Aḥḳâf, tracts of sand in the region of Ash Shiḥr, where such a feat may not be im­possible. He was also said to be of boundless voracity, inas­much as he ate one camel’s carcass in the morning and another in the evening; “More voracious than Loḳmân,” Arab. Prov. I. 134. This may be explained by supposing him to have been profusely hospitable. His courtiers were as liberal as himself. At the proverb “More gambling than Loḳmân,” Arab. Prov. II. 938, it is said that Loḳmân used to play at the game of maysir with arrows, for portions of camel, as described in a former note; and that his companions were eight persons renowned for their generosity; so that it came to be said proverbially of liberal persons, “They are like Loḳmân’s gamblers.” These various legends point to the adoption of the camel as food by the Arabs of the south, under the influence of a powerful prince.

A spindle in nakedness.—The spindle is made an example of nakedness, since the woman spins the wool from it and leaves t bare. Arab. Prov. II. 160.

Warmth.—There is a tradition connected with the word , which may be worth relating, as it exhibits a remarkable peculiarity in the speech of Ḳoraysh. Though this tribe is reputed to have spoken the purest Arabic, and the Koran is n conformity with their tongue, they are said to have frequently omitted the hamzeh in words which, according to the pure speech of the Arabs, contained it. One of these was the verb , “he was warm,” which they pronounced like , “he despatched the wounded man,” . On one occasion a man of Johayneh brought the Prophet a prisoner, who trembled with cold, on which the Prophet said , “Despatch him,” meaning to say , “Warm him.” They took out their prisoner and killed him. According to Ṭabari and others, the death of Mâlik ibn Nowayrah and his companions of the tribe of Yarbû‘ was due to a mistake of the same kind, since the Ḳorayshi crier of Khâlid ibn Al Welîd, intending to proclaim in the camp “Warm your prisoners,” it being a cold night, said “Despatch your prisoners,” and the soldiers fell upon the Benû Yarbû‘ and slaughtered them. An instance of this omission of the hamzeh is mentioned by Bayḍâwi at Koran xvii. 103, where it is said that Ḳoraysh use for . The clear pronunciation of the hamzeh was called .

Sinn and Ṣinnabar.—There were seven days in the early apring which were thought to bring with them a return of the winter’s cold, before the warmer weather set in. According to Sherîshi they are the four last days of February and the first three of March. The two days mentioned in the text were the first two of them. The names are united in some verses by Ibn Aḥmar, quoted in De Sacy’s commentary; they are also united by Naṣîf, in his Ṣixth Assembly.

An ample robe.—One liberal and beneficent.

Let him expend.—Koran lxv. 7.

Of his day: of his yesterday.—The meaning of these phrases is that a man must depend for approbation and reward on what he himself does in his own age, and not on what his ancestors have done in times past.

Bidden us to ask of thee.—The allusion here is to Koran iv. 36 and xl. 62.

Prefers even from his straitness.—Compare Koran lix. 9.