This is Sakâbi, not for loan or sale.—Sakâbi, an indeclinable noun terminating in kasrah, is the name of a famous horse belonging to a man of the tribe Temîm, who refused to sell it with the above words. It was thus called from its swiftness, compared to the rushing of water when poured out.

My value was lost to them, and what a value.—Literally, “they have lost me, and what a man have they lost,” meaning, according to the commentators, they have not understood or appreciated my worth, This is an instance of the rhetorical figure taẓmîn, which consists in the quotation of part of a well-known couplet or number of couplets to apply it to the circumstances of the quoter. The words are borrowed from a poem ascribed to Umaiyah bin Aṣ-Ṣalt, by others to ‘Abdallah bin ‘Amr bin Us̤mân, and the conclusion of the line is: “lost for the day of battle or stopping breaches.” The words may also signify “They have undone me,” and if taken in this double meaning, are more particularly addressed to Abû Zayd; if taken in the sense of “lost,” they contain at the same time another warning to Ḥarîth to be on his guard.

And distinguish him not from the lobes of my liver, in the Arabic idiom, “from the slices of my liver,” meaning from my children, in the sense in which one of the poets says: “Our children are amongst us but our hearts walking on the ground.”

I commend thee to the keeping of one who is an excellent master or patron.—Allusion to Koran, viii. 41: “But if they turn their back, know ye, that God is your patron: Excellent patron and excellent helper!”

For clear as daylight should it be what Joseph meant, namely, that my sale was as unlawful as that of freeborn Joseph.

And (had) read to him the Sura, i.e., told him our story, in playful allusion to the chapter of the Koran in which is related the story of Joseph. For the following, he who has given a warning is excused, comp. Ar. Prov., xi. 119.

For whose wound there is no retaliation.—In Arabic jurḥu-hu jubâran, i.e., whose blood might be shed with impunity, as it is said in tradi­tion, that there is no retaliation or blood-money due for the blood of ‘Ajams, or non-Arabs. The expression jubâr for the more usual hadar occurs in the legal maxim founded on another tradition, al-ma‘danu jubârun, which means that for one who has been killed by the collapse of a mine no retaliation can be exacted from the owner or the employer of the man.

Then I gnashed my teeth.— Taḥarraqtu, the fifth conjugation of ḥaraqa, with fathah on the second radical, he kindled, etc., may mean, “I burned with rage.” But Sherîshi explains it, “I ground my teeth, so that they gave forth a sound, on account of the violence of my anger,” which is the signification of the form harîqa, with medial kasrah of the primitive verb.

Thy money is not lost, if it has taught thee a lesson, in the original: “Not has gone from thy substance that which has admonished thee;” i.e., the money which thou hast lost will not be thrown away if it teaches thee to be more careful of the remainder, and he who has roused thee to circumspection and cautiousness has not done thee an injury (comp. Ar. Prov., i. 435).

He puffed his cheek and cracked it at me in derision.—Aẓraṭa, he produced a sound in bad odour with good company, means here he produced an imitation of that sound, and has obtained the sanction of tradition, which reports that Mohammed, on visiting the public treasury, expressed in this manner his contempt for the gold and silver coin accumulated therein.

Heretofore the tribes sold Joseph, though they were what people know they were.—Under the tribes (asbât̤) the sons of Jacob are under­stood, and the laconical expression, wa-humu humu, literally, “and they (are) they,” signifies, “They are what they are known to be,” i.e., revered patriarchs. The words in the preceding line, “I am not the first (lit. an innovator) therein,” are taken from Koran, xlvi. 8: “Say, ‘I am not the first of Apostles (lit., new amongst them).’”

I am not of those who sting twice and make one tread upon two cinders. —The first part of this sentence is an allusion to, or rather perver­sion of, a reported saying of Mohammed’s: “The believer is not bitten twice from out of a snake’s hole.” In the second part, “upon two cinders” stands for “twice upon cinders or burning coals,” and the meaning is, “I am not one who injures the same person a second time.”

Flinging the remembrance of his deed behind me.—In Arabic, nabaẕtu fa‘lata-hu z̤ihriyyan, which last word occurs Koran xi. 94: “He said, ‘O my people! does my family stand higher in your esteem than I do? Cast ye Him behind your back,’” where Baydâwi explains z̤ihriyyan by manbûẕ warâ’a ’z̤-z̤ahr.