I noted the signs of the coming feast.—Literally “I had observed the flash or lightning of the feast.” The metaphor is the one common with Ḥarîri of calling the index or promise of anything its “flash.” As has been remarked in a note to an earlier Assembly, the allusion is to the lightning-flash of a cloud, from the aspect of which the Arabs prognosticated rain. The name Barḳa‘îd enables the author to make an indifferent play on words. The derivation of the word given by Sherîshi is that Adam was expelled from Paradise; but afterwards God relented towards him and restored him on this day; which was thence­forth called , because Adam was restored () to favour upon it.

Its rites, bounden or of free will.—According to the commen­tators the obligatory rite, which no Moslem might neglect, was the giving of alms at the end of the fast; while that which was optional, though praiseworthy, was to attend the public prayer on the day of the feast. The usual meaning of farḍ is an observance commanded in the Koran, or by the most weighty tradition; while nefl relates to something recommended as be­coming in a believer, and undertaken spontaneously by him. For the literal meaning of the latter word, see Ta‘rîfât, p. 265. But the limits of obligation varied according to the interpretation of the Doctors, and one commentator interprets the passage according to the rite of Ash Shâfii‘î, to which Ḥarîri belonged.

In new apparel.—This is a Tradition originating with ‘Âyisheh, who related that the Prophet had said, “It is incumbent upon all of you besides your suit (of two garments) for common use, to have a suit for Friday and for the Feast.” Compare Koran vii. 29.

Brought up its horsemen and its footmen.—Paraphrased by De Sacy, “accompagné de toute sa pompe et de tout son éclat.” It may, however, be here taken literally, though used in a meta­phorical sense in Koran xvii. 66. See notes to Ḥarîri’s Preface.

A pair of cloaks, or overalls, worn by beggars, instead of the usual , or waist wrapper, and , or wrapper for the whole body, which made up the , or dress.

Like a goblin.— is explained to be the female of the race of , the male being called . The Ghûl is well known from the tales of the Thousand and One Nights. It was a malig­nant demon, of a nature akin to the Jinn. It would light a fire to attract travellers in the desert, and then assume various and horrible forms, which either killed the wanderer with fright, or made him powerless against its attacks. But if his courage was proof against these terrors, it would not hurt him, and he sat and warmed himself by its fire. De Sacy’s Ḥarîri, p. 480. Moḥammed denied the existence of these beings, or rather of their so murdering mankind. Jinn, however, are expressly men­tioned in the Koran, and give their name to the 72nd Sura. When a man was lost in the desert, the belief was that he had been carried off by Ghûls. Compare the proverb, More wandering than Sinân: Arab. Prov. II. 17. The was akin to the Ghûl. From the Arabian Nights it would appear that the ‘Afrît was, in the popular estimation, a being of superior nature and more formidable powers.

Each simple one.—Each that appeared as if he could be easily imposed upon, and cheated of his money by the arts of the men­dicant couple. A long dissertation on the word is given by De Sacy in the Chrestomathie.

Sure I have become crushed, etc.—The metre of these verses is , the first metre of the third circle or . Its mea­sure is , twice. It is, however, rarely found complete; the usual measure being that of the present verses which is . Of the there enter into this metre and , making and . An instance of the latter occurs in the sixth line.

To kin or lord.—This rendering of is authorized by Sherîshi, and seems the most reasonable. It is certainly better than “mi­serly.” De Sacy translates “les grands et les puissans.”

The garb of the verses, i.e., the elaborate dress of assonance and rhyme in which they were arrayed.

A fee to an informer is lawful.—To one who is employed to make a discovery, or to find lost articles. These words have re­ference to the prohibition of Mohammed against paying money to a divineress, , to discover anything lost, or any secret, by magical rites. But it was still allowable to give a fee to one who should obtain information by legitimate means.

The Return.—I have thus rendered the word by which Mos­lems express the exclamation “We belong to God, and to Him we return.”

There remains not any pure.—The measure of these verses is the third of the which is . It is of the variety called .

Not any of worth. Much controversy has arisen on the law­fulness of in this sense; and Ḥarîri himself in the Durrah has been cited as a witness against it. But whether it be chaste Arabic or not, there can be no doubt that Ḥarîri has used it both in the Fourth Assembly and here in the sense of “valuable, of worth.” De Sacy, who gives the passage from the Durrah in his Chrestomathie, points out that it does not really condemn the use of the word in the sense here attributed to it.

Perdition on thee, Wretch.— is the feminine form for blaming, and the masculine. The former is indeclinable with kesr; but only as a vocative. De Sacy’s Ḥarîri, p. 527. Compare also Alfîyeh, verse 595.

Both of the prey and the net, etc.—By these metaphors Abû Zayd means to say “Shall we not only receive no alms from this company, but also lose the written petitions by which we are ac­customed to obtain them?” A handful to the load is a proverbial expression for ill upon ill, or in an opposite sense luck upon luck. The word signifies a bundle of fire-wood or dry herbage; hence a great bundle of anything, and in this sense it is used in Koran cv. 3. “Hast thou not seen what thy Lord has done with the Men of the Elephant (the soldiers of Abraheh the Abyssinian); how he made their stratagems to err, and sent upon them birds in bundles or heaps?” But Bayḍâwi says that is here a plural noun without a singular, meaning in heaps. By some Abâbîl has been erroneously supposed to be the name of the birds.

A mite.—A small unstamped piece of metal used as a coin.

The polished, the engraved.—These words are adopted from the Mo‘allaḳah of ‘Antarah, v. 37. “After the heat of the noon subsides, I drink of old wine gotten by the polished, the en­graved.” The epithets, however, in the opinion of some, apply to the goblet, so that the sense is “I drink of old wine from the polished, the engraved.” (Mo‘allaḳât, edition of Fr. Aug. Arnold, page 156).

It troubled my heart.—The sentence is here the fâ‘il to and is the mef‘ûl.

I might test the quality.—Literally, that I might bite the wood, as an Arab bites a piece of wood to test its soundness for making an arrow or lance. In the Thirty-seventh Assembly it is said, Henceforth be not hasty in censure, nor plane the wood till thou hast bitten it; that is, proceed not in a charge until thou hast made sure that it is well founded. Firâseh is originally skill in judging of a horse, faras; and secondarily, the art of physiog­nomy, or of discovering the disposition of men from their face and form; and then discernment generally. A similar art was that of , the skilful in which discerned the tribe and pedi­gree of a man by his bodily form and features. Compare Forty-ninth Assembly, p. 664, De Sacy’s edition; and Ta‘rîfât, p. 177. He who divined the future of a man from bodily signs was called, according to Maydâni (Arab. Prov. II. 132), ; but this is a name for any diviner. The art of Ḳiyâfeh was hereditary in the tribe of Methḥij: note to Ḥamâseh, Vol. II., part 2, p. 245.

Save by treading on the necks of the congregation, a thing for­bidden in the law.—It is forbidden to break through the rows of worshippers, and, as it were, to tread on their necks while they are making their prostrations. This prohibition is derived from the Prophet, who said, “Whoso treads on the necks of the people on the day of Congregation (Friday) is making for himself a bridge to hell.”