The City of Peace.—According to Sherîshi, Al Manṣûr called Bagdad the City of Peace, because the Dijleh (the Tigris), had been previously called the Valley and River of Peace. In the commentary on the Thirteenth Assembly he gives the varieties of the name as and , and , and , and , and , and . Maghdad is also a form, the letters B and M being easily interchanged in pronunciation, as Mecca, Becca: Koran iii. 90. It is said of Al Aṣma‘î, that he always spoke of the City of Peace, because it was said in a Tradition that in Persian Bagh is an idol and Dâd is a gift, which made an im­pious or ill-omened name. Gibbon notices that the Byzantines adopted the name Eirenopolis.

The pilgrimage of Islam.—This is the ḥajj which every Moslem ought to perform once in his life, in one of the three months Shawwâl, Thû ’l Ḳa‘dah, or Thû ’l Ḥijjah, the three last months of the Arabian calendar. It is distinguished from the , or mere visit to the holy places, which is optional though meritorious. The command on the subject is given decisively, Koran ii. 192, et seqq, and xxii. 27. The orthodox teachers are not unanimous about the exact days of the three months. Ash Shâfi‘î prescribes the two former months with nine days of Thû ’l Ḥijjah, while Abû Ḥanîfeh allows ten days, and Mâlik the whole of this last month. But it is in all cases necessary that the pilgrim should be present at a khoṭbah, which is recited on Mount ‘Arafât, on the afternoon of the 9th of the month Thû ’l Ḥijjah. It is useless to attempt to describe here the multifa­rious ceremonies of the ḥajj. A sufficient account of them will be found in Freytag’s Einleitung, p. 418. It is called the Pilgrimage of Islam, because it is one of the pillars of the religion. Said the Prophet, “Islam is founded on five things, and the Pilgrimage is one of them.” The five are, according to Al Ghazzâli, (Pocock, Specimen, p. 294): The confession that there is no God but God, and that Moḥammed is the Apostle of God; Prayer; Alms; Pilgrimage; and the Fast of Ramaḍân. But another opinion is that not the Shahâdeh or Confession, but Ablution is the first of these five; for the Prophet meant by the foundations of Islam the things the practice of which keeps men faithful to it, and not the Confession, which is the religion itself.

Fulfilled my squalor.— is the state of being dirty, and with matted hair, as one is while on the pilgrimage during the time that it is forbidden to shave the head or pubes, , to pare the nails, to clip the moustache, and to pluck out the hair of the arm-pits, all which things are unlawful during the state called iḥrâm. When the pilgrims have arrived at the spot where they assemble before entering the sacred territory, each changes his clothes for the pilgrim’s garment called ḥarîm, or vulgarly iḥrâm, or ḥirâm. “This garment,” says Mr. Lane, in his Modern Egyptians, ch. iii., “consists generally of two simple pieces of cotton, or linen, or woollen cloth, without seam or ornament, one of which is wrapped round the loins, and the other thrown over the shoulders; the instep and heel of each foot and the head must be bare; sandals, however, are allowed.” From this time until the visit to Mount‘Arafât, which follows the ceremonies in Mecca, the prohibitions mentioned above are enforced. Furthermore, it is unlawful to hunt any animal for food, during the state of iḥrâm, though fishing , is allowed for subsistence. For the interpretation of these ordinances, see Baydâwi, Koran v. 1, et seqq., also 95 et seqq. When all the rites of the ḥajj have been performed, the pilgrim quits the state of iḥrâm. The doing so is called , and then the head is shaved, the nails pared, and so on, and the pilgrim is allowed the use of perfumes, and may return to sexual intercourse.

The definition of given above is admissible, but as to the precise signification of the word there are different opinions. It occurs at Koran xxii. 30, where it is said , which Bayḍâwi interprets, let them put an end to their filthiness, but whether the word express the state of filth, or the action of doing away with it by the shaving, etc., is uncertain, since the latter would agree as well with the meaning of the verb. Accord­ing to some authorities, signifies the performance of the ceremonies of the ḥajj, so that the meaning of the words of the Koran would be, “when ye have performed your ceremonies.” The notion of impurity is attached to the Hebrew , Job xvii. 6; the name Tophet, in Sept. <Greek>, was applied to a place in the valley of the children of Hinnom which was impure with the blood of the human sacrifices to Moloch, 2 Kings xxiii. 10; Jerem. xix. It is, I think, even possible that Moḥammed took this, like so many other words, from the Jews, and meant, “let them perform their Tophet,” i.e. “their great slaughter of sacrifices.” The reason of this ambiguity is that the word is unknown except from the Koran. For abundant inform­ation on the ḥajj, see the Traditions of Al Bokhâri, vol. I.

Indulgence.—Verbo coitum significant, aut obscenum sermonem quo ad coitum invitatur.

Khayf.—The Khayf, or slope of Mina. Compare Tenth Assembly, “Those that the slope of Mina gathers.”

A leather tent.—Such is the signification of . Naṣîf al Yazaji, in his thirteenth Assembly, has united the names of habitations among the ancient Arabs in some verses. It is there said that the is of wool; the of camel’s or goat’s hair; the of skins; the of dry mud; the of cotton cloth; the of , that is of horse hair, or other hair than ; the of brick; the of trees; the of leather.

The furnace.—For another signification of see Arab. Prov. II. 263. The term seems to apply either to a large stone with a hole in it, in which meat was put to be baked by a fire made round the hole; or to stones which were made hot and then put into water to boil it. When the Arabs had no kettle they put water into a skin and boiled it in this manner.

The chameleon.— signifies the male chameleon, which follows the sun with its eye all day. It is said proverbially, Colder than the eye of the chameleon, because he loves to gaze on the sun, Arab. Prov. I. 743. When the sun is very hot he becomes active and moves about in his hole. Ḥamâseh, p. 808, Arab. Text. In the commentary to this passage it is said that when young he is ash-coloured, that afterwards he becomes yellow, and that when the sun is hot on him he turns green.

What art thou? instead of Who art thou? signifies that the speaker has no conception concerning the person about whom he asks. Thus Pharaoh said, “What is the Lord of the world?” Koran xxvi. 22.

The fragrant waving of your myrtle.— expresses the spreading of an odour by the moving or shaking of anything. Thus Imr al Ḳays (Mo‘allaḳah v. 8) “When they (his two mistresses) stood up, the musk odour was diffused from them like an air of the east breeze which brings the perfume of the pink.” Compare also his Dîwân, p. 35, line 11. The tree called is described as fragrant and growing in the desert. Al Aṣma‘î denies that it is the myrtle.

The elder, the elder.—The repetition is for emphasis, and stands in place of the verb, which though only understood still makes the two nouns manṣûb, as though it were said, “Let the elder precede.” If there be repetition the verb must be left unexpressed, but if there be no repetition, the expression of it is lawful. Compare Fourth Assembly, “Haste, haste!” Analo­gously in English one may say “Haste, haste!” or “Make haste!” but not “Make haste, haste!”

Loosed from the foot-rope.—A proverbial expression. Arab. Prov. II. 309. It is the rope with which the Arabs when they halt tie up one of the fore-feet of the camel to the part above the knee so that he stands on three legs. The meaning of is he tied in a bow, or a knot that may easily be slipped, and the hamzeh is privative. The foot-rope was fastened thus that it might be slipped easily at the moment of starting. It is said of a man who does not suddenly change, and whose friendships are constant, “Thy foot-rope is not with a slip-knot.” Arab. Prov. II. 621. The metre of these verses is rejez.