Ma‘arrat an No‘mân, or No‘mân’s Bane, is the name of a town in the north of Syria, formerly called Thât al Ḳoṣûr. It received its new name from No‘mân ibn Beshîr, one of the Companions (of the Prophet) and governor of Ḥimṣ (Emesa), after he had lost a son there. In its neighbourhood were the tombs of ‘Omar, son of ‘Abd al ‘Azîz, and of Seth, son of Adam. It is celebrated as the dwelling-place of the poet Abû ’l ‘Ala.
The two excellencies.—Various interpretations of this phrase are given, but it is generally taken to mean appetite or relish for food, and sexual desire.
The ben tree.—This tree, which produces the ben nut and oil, is of erect and shapely growth, with long, delicate branches, and is used by the poets as a similitude for the stature of youths and maidens. Imr al Ḳays describes his mistress Hirr, “White, beautiful, tender, like a shoot of the ben tree breaking into leaf.” Dîwân, p. 43.
Smooth of cheek.—◌ is the cheek or part extending from the circuit of the eye to the part where the beard grows; it is used also to signify the side planks of the litter, and the side of a tract of high and rugged ground. (Lane). Hence, it may possibly be applied here to the side or length of the needle. But it is perhaps better to suppose that ◌ is a maṣdar with the meaning to mark or furrow, and the sense as regards the needle will then be smooth and even as to the furrows which it makes. Or ◌ may be a noun signifying, like ◌, the furrow itself. Bayḍâwi, Koran lxxxv. 4.
Patient to labour.—◌ has not the feminine form, because it is fa‘ûl with the meaning fâ‘il; for fa‘ûl only takes the hâ when it has the meaning of mef‘ûl, like ◌ applied to a she-camel, or ◌ to a ewe. “Abû Moḥammed accuses the higher classes in Irak of speaking incorrectly when they say ◌ or ◌, for the epithets of intensity are changed from their natural form to indicate the peculiar sense in which they are used; and ◌ applied to a female has a masculine form, as ◌ and ◌ applied to a man have a female form.” Sherîshi. This is, I conceive, a better explanation than that of De Sacy, who says, “Il semble que dans ce cas le ◌ ajoutè à la fin de ces adjectifs verbaux soit destinè à les transformer en des noms d’ individualité; en sorte que ◌ signifieroit proprement un savant unique en son genre.”
July.—◌. The use of the Syrian months appears to have been common among the Moslems of Irak, no doubt because they were more in accordance with the seasons. Moḥam-med having abolished the ◌ or ancient Arab intercalation shortly before his death, the Moslem year is hopelessly unfitted for practical life. For an account of this intercalation see Mémoire sur l’ Histoire des Arabes avant Mahomet, par M. Sylvestre de Sacy, extracted from the Mémoires de l’ Académie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, vols. 47 and 48.
Understanding and discretion.—◌ as applied to the girl is a noun with the meaning understanding; applied to the needle it is a maṣdar meaning to hold fast. ◌ “rein” applies to the discretion with which she could “rein” her caprices, and to the long “rein” or string which the needle draws through the cloth.
A hand with fingers.—The meaning of ◌, as applied to the needle, is to hem the border of anything after it has been basted, ◌ or ◌. Sherîshi says ◌ and ◌ are two well-known processes in tailoring; the latter appears to mean the quilting of a garment by sewing between it and the lining a layer of cotton.
Pique as with tongue of snake.—As applied to the girl this probably means that she was witty or satirical; as applied to the needle it simply relates to the pricking of the sewer’s fingers by its point.
She was displayed in blackness and whiteness.—This refers to the contrast of her black hair and eyebrows with the white of her skin. In the Second Assembly it is said of a maiden, “Night lowered on the morn,” meaning that her black hair drooped over her shoulders. Or it may refer to the contrast between the black and white of the eye, which when very marked was esteemed a great beauty by the Arabs. Such a contrast is expressed by the word ◌, which means “intense whiteness of the white of the eye, and intense blackness of the black thereof, with intense whiteness or fairness of the rest of the person.” Lane. ◌ houri is a maiden possessing this quality. In the Tenth Assembly it is said, “Swear by Him who has adorned eyes with ◌,” i.e. contrasted blackness and whiteness.
She drank (or was watered) but not from cisterns.—It is difficult to discover any meaning in these words as applied to the slave girl. As applied to the needle, the words mean either that it is bedewed with the perspiration of the sewer’s brow or hand, or that when the cutler fashioned it he threw it red-hot into water to temper it.
Now truth-telling, now beguiling; now hiding, now peeping forth.—By the description that follows the author desires to express the archness and coquetry of the girl, as well as her habitual goodness and obedience to her master. As referring to the needle ◌ is a synonym of ◌, he sewed; ◌ means “to double or fold one part of a garment or piece of cloth on another.” The other plays on words will be sufficiently intelligible from the double translation given in the text.
Forced on her too hard a work—returned her to me broken in health.—◌. SeeLane sub voce ◌.
A compensation.—For the special names applicable to various forms of payment, see the commentary on the Seventh Assembly, p. 79 of De Sacy’s Ḥarîri.
More truthful than the Ḳaṭa.—The Ḳaṭa is a bird about the size of a pigeon, which flies in flocks, and utters but one sound, Ḳaṭa, Ḳaṭa, whence its name. The proverb, More truthful than the Ḳaṭa, is derived, according to Maydâni (Arab. Prov. I. 741), from its constant repetition of one and the same cry, which tells its name. He cites a verse of the poet Nâbighah to the effect that if one asks the Ḳaṭa its name, it replies Ḳaṭa! and is therefore a truthful bird. Another explanation is that the Ḳaṭa is never found save where there is good pasturage and water, so that the sight of the bird is an unerring indication to the traveller in the desert that he is near what he seeks. The former opinion is supported by several verses from the poets. Komayt says, “Speak not falsely, for the Ḳaṭa speaks truly; though each man, in pedigree, arrogates what does not belong to him.” For the latter opinion the authority of Al Asma‘î is given. The sureness of the Ḳaṭa in finding its way back to its nest after long flights is alluded to in the beginning of the Twenty-third Assembly: “I crossed rocky places, to which the Ḳaṭa would not find its way.” The poet Ash Shanfara, in the celebrated ḳaṣîdeh, called Lâmîyet al ‘Arab, boasting of his speed of foot, says, “The ash-coloured Ḳaṭa, though it fly to the water all the night, while its (wing-beaten) sides resound, does but get my leavings.” In the notes to this passage, given in De Sacy’s Chrestomathie, a long account of the Ḳaṭa may be found. See also “Chalef elahmar’s Qasside,” by W. Ahlwardt, Greifswald, 1859, p. 183, where the subject would seem to be exhausted.
Of equal birth as regards either kin.—That is, whose father and mother were both of pure Arab blood, and whose birth was consequently most honourable. One who was the son of a freeborn Arab and a slave mother was called ◌. As applied to the pencil, the meaning is that the pencil could be used at either end to place the koḥl on the eye.
Tracing his lineage to Al Ḳayn.—Ḳayn was a branch of the Benû Asad. The Commentator tells us that Belḳayn is a contraction of Benû ’l Ḳayn, like Belḥârith and Belhojaym. As applied to the pencil Ḳayn signifies a blacksmith or cutler. The word ◌, “a smith,” Syriac ◌, is related to the Hebrew ◌ or ◌, “to beat,” hence to hammer iron. The word ◌, in Arabic, signifies a singing or playing female slave; the derivation of which, according to Abû ’l Faraj, is that “the daughters of Cain first made musical instruments and sang to them; whence, in the Syriac tongue, a song is called ◌, with kesreh, while the Arabs called the singing girl ◌, with fetḥah (Gese-nius). The plays on words which follow are sufficiently explained by the two translations in the text.
Rarely visited his wives save two by two.—The same idea is expressed in one of the riddles of the Forty-second Assembly:
What is it that marries two sisters openly or secretly, and there is no fault to find with him for it?
When he visits one wife, he visits also the other, and if other husbands show their preferences he shows none.
He increases his attention and affection as they grow gray, and this is indeed rare among husbands.
The answer to this is a koḥl pencil, which is always used to apply the pigment to both eyes at once, and which is the more used as the eyes grow older and require a higher adornment. The custom of painting the lids of the eye, as it exists in Egypt at the present day, is described as follows by Mr. Lane, in the first Chapter of his Modern Egyptians:—“Eyes more beautiful can hardly be conceived; their charming effect is much heightened by the concealment of the other features, and is rendered still more striking by a practice universal among the females of the higher and middle classes, and very common among those of the lower orders, which is that of blackening the edge of the eyelids, both above and below the eye with a black powder called ‘koḥl.’ This is a collyrium commonly composed of the smoke-black which is produced by burning a kind of ‘libân,’ an aromatic resin. Koḥl is also prepared of the smoke-black produced by burning the shells of almonds. These two kinds, though believed to be beneficial to the eyes, are used merely for ornament; but there are several kinds used for their real or supposed medical qualities; particularly the powder of several kinds of lead ore, to which are often added sarcocolla, long pepper, sugar-candy, fine dust of a Venetian sequin, and sometimes powdered pearls. Antimony, it is said, was formerly used for painting the edge of the eyelids. The koḥl is applied with a small probe of wood, ivory, or silver, tapering towards the end, but blunt. This is moistened, sometimes with rose-water, then dipped in the powder, and drawn along the edges of the eyelids; it is called ‘mirwed,’ and the glass vessel in which the koḥl is kept, ‘mukḥulah.’”
He lent me a needle.—Es verdient bemerkt zu werden, dasz Ḥarîri hier, und in ähnlichen Fällen, gerade da mit den Versen anhebt, wo die Poesie des Gegenstandes zu Ende geht, gleichsam um durch die neue und höhere Form der Darstellung einen neuen und höhern Schwung zu geben. Ohne diesen Kunstgriff würde die Folgende Auflösung des Räthselstreites höchst langweilig geworden seyn, statt dasz sie uns jetzt durch das komische Pathos, womit die Bettlerlumpen aufgestutzt werden, gar anmuthig vorkommt. (Rückert.)
The metre of these verses is ◌, a metre belonging to the fourth circle, or ◌, which has been already described. The measure in the circle is ◌ twice. This, however, is rare, the more usual measure being that of the verses in the present case. The ◌ is ◌, and the ◌ is ◌, (◌ being the elision of the quiescent fourth letter of a foot): thus ◌ becomes ◌, which is equivalent to ◌. Of the ◌, there enter into this metre ◌, and ◌, and ◌, which is the union of the former two, though it is said that ◌ is not permitted in this ◌. By the second of these licences the ◌ is often made identical with the ◌.
I swear by the holy place.—Metre ◌ again. ◌ is the place called Muzdalifeh, which is divided from Mina by the Wadi Moḥassir (see Bayḍâwi on Koran ii. 194). It is described as a broad plain between mountains, and as surrounded by ancient cisterns. It is also called ◌ (without the article like ◌), because the people assemble there, or because Adam there met with Eve, after their fall from Paradise. Here the pilgrims remain one night, that between Friday and Saturday; and here most of them collect the stones for casting, though it is lawful to collect them in the neighbourhood of the mosque of the Khayf, at Mina. After hurrying through the Wadi Moḥassir, they arrive at Mina, where they cast the stones, ◌, for the first time, and offer the sacrifice.
After his stone had dripped—After his rock had oozed.—The meaning of these two phrases is nearly the same; they refer to the unwilling bestowal of a petty dole. To be moist, to drip, to bedew, and the like, are metaphors which occur continually in the sense of liberality.
My perception—My guess.—◌ is the faculty of sense, by which anything is perceived, as a sound or a motion: ◌ is the forming of a surmise or opinion without distinct proof; a rapidity of passing from premises to conclusions, being the opposite to reflection. Ta‘rîfât.
The knowing one.—◌. For verbs which unite the two significations of slaughtering and of doing or knowing a thing effectively, energetically, and well, see ◌. Compare Ḥarîri’s preface, “We are thorough in humility.”
His following.—The word ◌ presents a double meaning; one is a live coal, or a smokeless burning fire; of which the intelligent attendant, suddenly making a suggestion, may be spoken of as the spark. The other meaning is a large, independent tribe, not joined in alliance to any other. The authorities given by Lane thus define it: “Any body of men that have united together, and become one band, and that do not form a confederacy with any others; or a body of men that congregate by themselves because of their strength and their great valour.” The term ◌ was especially applied to three tribes, two of which became extinct by confederating with other tribes, while the third alone remained a ◌. In the present passage it would mean the Kadi’s large following or company.
Tell me truly your camel’s age.—Arab. Prov. I. 710. The origin of this proverb is thus related: A man who was about to sell a camel assured the purchaser that it was ◌, that is, that it had cut its ◌ or tush, and had consequently entered its ninth year, and attained its full strength. At this moment the camel started away, and the seller inadvertently called out to it ◌, the cry by which young foals are called back. The purchaser thus found that he was being deceived, and exclaimed, “Thou hast now told me truly thy camel’s age,” which words passed into a proverb. For other explanations see Arab. Prov. as above.
I am the Serûji.—The metre of these lines is rejez, as in Third Assembly.
Oh rare! ◌. This very idiomatic expression of approval signifies, literally, To God be ascribed thy milk-flow, and was originally used by the Arabs when they passed one who was milking his camel. It meant with them either a pious wish that the owner of the beast might have an abundant yield, or a complimentary remark that she did actually yield abundantly. Afterwards it became a general expression of admiration, answering to our “Well done!” and was commonly used to applaud literary compositions.
Between Farghânah and Ghânah.—Between the two extremities
of the Moslem world. Farghânah is the name of a region
and city of Mawarannahr or Transoxiana, and is now contained
in the Khanate of Kokan. It lies close to the borders of the
Chinese Empire, between Kokan and Kashgar. It was in former
times a place of much importance, having a ◌ or temple of
the Sun, built by the Persians, which the Khalif Mo‘taṣim
destroyed. It is described as being distant fifty-three parasangs
from Samarcand, on which it was dependent. The building of
it is ascribed to the Persian monarch Nushirvan, who transported
to it people from other cities. Farghânah was conquered by the
celebrated general Kotaybet ibn Muslim in the year 95 (
The well-bred, the sagacious. — ◌: This is a
compound epithet, denoting an intelligent and educated gentleman,
something like the Greek
An ill-looking old man.—The word ◌ ‘Ifrît, so well known to the readers of the Arabian Nights, appears originally to have been associated with the ideas of strength, cunning, and malignity; the etymology of the word, as given by the Commentators, is very far-fetched. See note in De Sacy’s Chrestomathie. Its use in the sense of a powerful and gigantic genie is derived from Koran xxvii. 39: “Said an ‘Ifrît of the Jinn.” It is there explained as wicked, rebellious. Bayḍâwi.
A young matron.—De Sacy, in his Chrestomathie, says, “On explique le mot ◌ de deux manières, selon Ocbari; il peut signifier une femme qui a de petits enfans, ou une femme dont la beauté ravit tous les cœurs.” The former translation has been adopted as supported by more numerous authorities, though the latter would give the better antithesis to the description of the husband.
Among his people: that is, among the people of my father, his male kindred. In the Durrah, Ḥarîri says that ◌ differs from ◌ in that the former is applied only to the descendants of the same father. Anthologie. Gram. Arabe., p. 42, Texte Arabe. Bayḍâwi (Koran xxvii. 49) says that ◌ is applied to a number of men from three or seven to ten, while ◌ is from three to nine. It seems in any case to be applied only to male persons.
His habitation.—The ◌ was originally the lower part of the tent, an attached curtain which came down to the ground. It was then applied to the side wall of a house, and generally to an abode.
Goodly show, etc.—◌ is the enhancing of beauty or grace by elegant dress. According to Sherîshi ◌ is originally with hamzeh; that is, it is derived from ◌, the teshîl and idghâm taking place that it may correspond with ◌, the meaning being good condition, such as is produced by comfort and affluence. According to ‘Okbari, cited by De Sacy, it means a goodly aspect as if bedewed with water, which expresses nearly the same idea.
Greedy feeding.—◌ signifies to eat with the back teeth, as when the mouth is filled; ◌ to eat with the front teeth, as is done when the food is scanty. The proverb, “Back-tooth eating is reached by front-tooth eating,” (Arab. Prov. II. 245) inculcates patience and contentment with moderate success at the beginning of an enterprise; and in a verse of a poet is made equivalent with, “Be content with old clothes till you can get new ones.” Ibn Abî Ṭarafeh said, “An Arab of the desert who came to visit one of his cousins at Mecca said to him, ‘This is a country where men eat with front teeth and not with back teeth,’” the meaning of which probably is that at Mecca moderation of conduct must be more regarded than in the desert.
Altogether destroyed.—◌, like ◌, signifies literally “rope and all;” and is an idiomatic phrase, derived from the giving or selling of a beast. It means entirely or altogether.
There is no concealment after distress, no perfume after the medding.—i.e., it is now time for business, and to make an end of indolence and festivity. Ḥarîri, accidentally or intentionally, somewhat perverts the proverb ◌ (Arab. Prov. II, 482.) The story, which may be read there of a woman having married a man of the name of Nowfal, after the death of her husband ‘Arûs, and which De Sacy has given more at length in his Chrestomathy, and in the commentary to his edition of Ḥarîri, seems but a fabrication to explain a popular saying. At any rate, Ḥarîri clearly uses ◌ in the sense of wedding, and, perhaps, introduces the words of the proverb without regard to its original signification.
Through the violence that was abroad in the earth.—This is an allusion to Koran ii. 28, “Wilt thou set in it (the earth) one who will work violence in it?” It will be remembered that Abû Zayd represents his native town to have been ravaged by the Christians of the first Crusade, and the political disorders of the time might explain the little attention that was paid to learning and learned men.
Neither of us.—In connection with the disquisition on ◌, given in De Sacy’s commentary, the student is referred to a passage in the Durrah (p. 51, Anthol. Gram. Arabe). The essence of Ḥarîri’s statement is that ◌ is a singular noun, expressing the idea of duality, like our word “each.” You say of two men “each was blind.”
He looked down as looks the serpent.—This phrase is taken from a verse of Mutelemmis, “He looked down as looks down the snake, and if he had seen the chance to bite he would have bitten.” Arab. Prov. II. 30. ◌ has the meaning to look down in silence, as if considering to do or say something. The expression occurs again in the Fortieth Assembly.
Hear my story, for it is a wonder.—The metre of these verses is munsariḥ, which has been described in the notes to the last Assembly.
Honour deems base.—◌ is thus defined: “Grounds of pretension to respect or honour consisting in any qualities (either of one’s self or of one’s ancestors) which are enumerated or recounted as causes of glorifying;” and hence it signifies nobility, rank, or quality, honourableness or estimableness, from whatever source derived. It is said that ◌ and ◌ may apply to those who have not celebrated ancestors, but ◌ and ◌ only to those who have.
I burdened my neck.—Compare the Twenty-sixth Assembly, “I haltered myself with debt.”
I swear by Him to whose Ka‘beh the companies journey.— Rückert notices the propensity of Abû Zayd to swear on all occasions by objects connected with Mecca and the pilgrimage, and seems to regret this irreverent habit of the Arabs. Ḥarîri, however, makes his characters go much further in speaking familiarly of sacred things. Had it not been for the relaxation of religious discipline, such verses as those at the beginning of the Forty-fifth Assembly, which I shall have the task of translating and explaining in my next volume, could never have been produced. It is wonderful, indeed, that they should have been permitted in any age of Islam.
Chaste ladies.—Of Mary it is said in the Koran (xxi. 91 and lxvi. 12) ◌. Hence some read in Koran iv. 29 and v. 7, ◌, with kesreh. In iv. 28, the word is read with fetḥah, and has the signification of “married.” In other places it means of free and lady-like condition, or continent and chaste of life. Technically ◌ has the meaning of being kept legally and honourably in the marriage state. The word corresponds nearly with our “lady.”
I imagine.—The anomalous form ◌ is always used by Ḥarîri as more chaste. It is said to have been originally peculiar to the tribe of Ṭay, but to have become of such general use that the regular form was retained only by the Benû Asad.
Thy chamber.—◌ is the curtain by which the sleeping place of a woman is concealed in a tent or room, and is applied generally to a woman’s chamber; a chamber has not this name if a woman be not in it, says Ḥarîri in the Durrah. The word is very old; see Genesis xliii. 30; and, in the strict Arabic sense, Judges xv. 1; xvi. 9, 12; Song of Solomon i. 4; iii. 4.
The master of thy virginity.—Literally the father. This phrase occurs in the Preface, “My mind is the father or lord of its virginity.” With respect to a married woman, it is applied to her first husband.
The will of thy Lord.—Lord here means God and not her husband. The word ◌ by itself, and not in connexion with another noun, is applied only to the Deity. You may say, “the lord of the house,” or “the lords of eloquence,” (compare Sixth Assembly) in the sense of “possessor;” but “the Lord,” or “thy Lord” signifies God.
It may be that God will bring victory.—Koran v. 57.
Abû Maryam.—“Father of Mary,” according to Moṭarrezi, is an expression peculiar to certain modern authors, who designate under that name the officers or ushers of a Kadi’s court. The metre of the two lines is ◌, which is formed from the third circle, or ◌, like the hezej and rejez. Its normal measure is ◌ twice. The present verses belong to the second ◌, which is ◌; its second ◌ is ◌, and the measure is ◌ Of the ◌ there enter into this metre ◌ and ◌, and ◌, which is the union of the two. They have been already explained.
Followed excess by prayer for pardon.—The excess is the sinful immoderation of laughter.
The latter state is better for him, etc.—Koran xciii. 4.
The repentance of Al Farazdaḳ, when he put away Nawâr, or of Al Kosa‘î, when the daylight appeared.—These are two proverbial instances of repentance; though only the latter is derived from the Arabs of the desert. Farazdaḳ, one of the chief poets of the post-Islamic period, was born about the year 46 of the Hijra, and died about the year 110, under the Khalifate of Hishâm. He belonged to the tribe of Temîm, to which belonged also the great poets Jerîr and Al Akhṭal; so that it was said that before Islam poetry had set its habitation among the tribe of Ḳays, but that in Islam it had migrated to the sons of Temîm. His grandfather, Ṣa‘ṣa‘ah was known by the honourable name of ◌, the Reviver of the maidens buried alive; because once, when he was seeking two milch camels which had strayed, he came to a tent where a woman lay in the pains of childbirth, and knowing that if she gave birth to a female child it would be buried alive, according to the barbarous practice of the Arabs, he ransomed it at the price of the two beasts. This act of generosity the poet is said often to have alluded to in his compositions. He was eminent for his eulogistic and satirical verses, and was one of the first who introduced antitheses and conceits into poetry, thus setting a bad example, which was afterwards only too largely followed. Farazdaḳ was a nickname which he received on account of his dark complexion, the word being, according to De Sacy, a corruption of the Persian ◌, which means a piece of burnt dough. Like other poets of the time, he was a partisan of the House of ‘Ali, and one of his chief poems is in praise of Zayn al ‘Âbidîn, son of Al Ḥosayn. For this composition he was imprisoned in Ḥijâz by Hishâm, son of ‘Abd al Melik. He must have been a dissolute Moslem, for he gave rise to a proverb, “a night of Farazdaḳ and Ḥalfeh,” used to signify a night spent in debauchery. With other rakes he penetrated into a Christian convent, and passed the night with a nun named Ḥalfeh, drinking wine, eating pork, and dressing up in the nuns’ habits. His adventure with his wife Nawâr is very celebrated, but is told by different writers with certain discrepancies. She was the daughter of one ‘Ayn ibn Ḍobay‘, and Farazdaḳ had been commissioned to ask her in marriage; but becoming enamoured of her, he took her for himself. She afterwards forced him to divorce her, and he pronounced the necessary words in the presence of witnesses. When he found that the parting was irrevocable, he exclaimed:
I feel a repentance like that of Al Kosa‘î, now that Nawâr has been put away by me:
She was my Paradise, and I have left her like Adam when Aḍ Ḍirâr drove him forth. (Ḍirar is the angel of Paradise.)
I have been as one who puts out his eyes wilfully; who rises in the morning and the sun shines not to him. (See Ar. Prov. II, 376.)
In the commentary of Sherîshi it is said that in the same year, 110, died Al Farazdaḳ and Jerîr, Al Ḥasan al Baṣrî and Ibn Sîrîn; so that Basra lost at once its two great poets and its two great lawyers.
Al Kosa‘î is said by some to have been a man of the tribe of Kosa‘, in Yemen, whose name was Moḥârib ibn Ḳays; by others he is said to have been of the Benû Sa‘d ibn Thobyân, and to have been named ‘Âmir ibn Ḥârith. His story, and all the verses which he is said to have improvised, are given at length by Sherîshi, and are translated from Moṭarrezi in De Sacy’s Chrestomathy. I have space for only a very brief narrative. Al Kosa‘î had found a fine naba‘ tree, of which bows and arrows are made, and had fashioned a bow for himself. He took his stand in the night to shoot wild asses; he shot and pierced one, but the bow was so strong and good that the arrow went through the body, and struck on the rock behind. Al Kosa‘î, hearing the sound in the darkness, thought he had missed his aim. Another troop came by, and he shot again, with the same seeming want of success. At last, after shooting five times, he broke the bow in a rage. When morning dawned he saw that five asses lay dead, pierced with his arrows. His repentance at having destroyed so excellent a bow passed into a proverb, and it is said “More repentant than Al Kosa‘î.” Ar. Prov. II. 776. It would appear that Al Kosa‘î was less prudent than Pandarus, who only threatened that he would burn his bow if ever he returned home. Iliad V. 212.
Raḥbah.—A town on the Euphrates, between ‘Ânah and
Raḳḳah. It was restored and embellished by Mâlik ibn Ṭowḳ,
who was governor of Al Jezîreh, and died under the Khalifate of
Mo‘tamid,
Shaving my head.—Sherîshi speaks of this practice as peculiar to the people of the East when they took the bath. We may conclude that it was not observed in Spain.
Slain his son.—The word ◌ expresses exactly the meaning of our word assassinate. It is when one comes suddenly upon a man, or lies in wait for him, and kills him unawares.
To refer to the Governor.—◌ is commonly used in the sense of referring to an arbitrator to decide priority in respect of nobility or pedigree.
Sulayk in his career.—Sulayk, a ◌, or vagrant robber of the Arabs, was famous for his speed of foot. He was, like ‘Antarah and Khofâf ibn Nedbeh, one of the ◌ or mulattoes, his mother being a black slave, named Sulekeh, and his father ‘Âmir ibn Sinân of the tribe of Temîm. His speed was so great that he could outrun horses, and when the tribe of Bekr ibn Wâ’il made an incursion on Temîm, and saw Sulayk, they said, “If Sulayk sees us he will warn his people:” they accordingly mounted two of their number on fleet horses, to take him. He fled, and they pursued him all day without success; but the next morning they saw by his traces that he had fallen and broken his bow. They thought then that probably he had been exhausted by the first day’s course; but as they followed they found that his footprints were still wide apart, and deep sunk in the sand, so that he could not be overcome with fatigue. When he reached his people and warned them, they did not believe him, for they judged it impossible that he could have run so great a distance. Arab. Prov. II. 152. He was captain of a band of from thirty to forty vagabonds, and made depredations on the Benû Rabî‘ah, and the tribes of Yemen, sparing the descendants of Moḍar. During the winter he is said to have filled ostriches’ eggs with water, and hidden them in the sand, so as to have a supply in time of heat. He was at last killed in one of his incursions by a certain Asad, son of Mudrik, shortly before the islâm of his tribe. Other Arabs have become proverbial for their speed of foot, and among them the poets Shanfara and Ta’abbaṭa Sherran, also ‘Amr son of Barrâḳ. These three were companions, and an exploit of theirs, at the expense of the tribe of Bajîleh, is given in the Commentary of Sherîshi, but is too long to relate here. It may be found in De Sacy’s Chrestomathie, Vol. II. p. 346. The most celebrated of these vagabond poets was Shanfara, the author of the poem called Lâmîyet al ‘Arab. Shanfara belonged to the Benû Azd, and led a wandering life in the utmost misery and squalor, of which he boasts in the above-mentioned poem. The legend of his death is a strange one. It is said that he vowed to kill one hundred men of the Benû Salâmân. Whenever he met one of them he exclaimed, “To thine eye!” and he shot his arrow with such skill that he always pierced the eye of his foeman. Thus he slew ninety-nine; but at last Asîd ibn Jâbir, one of the hostile tribe, and himself a famous runner, together with his brother’s son, Khâzim the Noḳmî, lay in wait for him. The Benû Salâmân tortured and killed him; but some time after one of them, seeing the mouldering body, gave the head a kick, and a piece of the skull, breaking off, fixed in his foot, of which wound he died. Thus, after death, Shanfara slew his hundredth enemy. See in Ḥamâseh the commentary on verses spoken by Shanfara before death, p. 242.
Made the boy speak.—◌ is always used by the author in the sense of eliciting a sound in order to judge of it. The meaning here is that he made the boy speak to judge of his voice. In the Twelfth Assembly it is said, “he elicited the utterances of the lutes.” The Governor did not want to hear the defence of the boy, but the sweetness of his tones.
Adorned foreheads with forelocks.—Literally, with hair evenly disposed over the forehead. A girl would cut off the ends of the hair over her forehead and dispose the short locks along the forehead so as to leave a clear space above the eyebrows. According to ‘Âyisheh the Prophet said, “The Angels in heaven adore God by the locks of women and the beards of men; and say, ‘God be praised, who adorned men with beards and women with locks!’” He also said, “If one of you desire to marry a wife, let him have regard to her hair as much as he has regard to her face.” I cannot refrain from giving Rückert’s version of this passage, as it not only shows the extraordinary genius of the German poet, but also how entirely his work is an imitation and not a translation of the original:
Da sprach der Alte dem Jungling: Sprich: Bei dem der die
Stirne geschmückt mit dem Lockenkranz,—und die Augen mit
dem dunklen Glanz,—die Augenbraunen mit der leisen Schei-dung,—und
die Wimpern mit der Saumbekleidung,—die Augen-lieder
mit der Schwere,—die Nasenwölbung mit der Hehre,—
die Wangen mit dem Tagesanbruch,—und das Kinn mit dem
Jugendanflug,—die Knospe des Mundes mit dem Aufsprung,—
die Saüle des Halses mit dem Aufschwung,—die Haltung des
Hauptes mit dem Sinken,—und das Lächeln mit dem Zahn-blinken!—ich
habe deinem Sohn nichts gethan zu Leide,—noch
seinen Busen gemacht zu meines Schwertes Scheide.—Wo nicht,
so schlage Gott mein Auge mit Decken,—und meine Wange mit
Flecken,—meine Schläfe mit der Kahlheit,—meine Rose mit der
Fahlheit, — meine süsse Frucht mit der Schaalheit, — meine
Stirne mit den Falten,—meine Zähne mit den Spalten,—meinen
Odem mit dem Dampfe,—meine Lippen mit dem Krampfe,—
mein Feuer mit dem Froste,—meinen Spiegel mit dem Roste,—
meinen Mond mit dem Schwinden,—meine Sonne mit dem
Erblinden,—das Silber meines Kinns mit der Schwärze,—und
das Elfenbein meiner Hüfte mit dem Schmerze! With respect
to the ◌ of the Arabs, it may not be out of place to refer to the
description of Herodotus, Book III. 8,
Eyes with their black and white.—Various definitions are given of ◌. One says that it means intense blackness of the black of the eye, with intense whiteness of the white thereof; another, that it is the blackness of all that appears of the eye, as is found in animals, such as gazelles, meaning, I presume, that when a woman has the black of her eye so large that little or no white appears she possesses this quality. It is also said that ◌ is a woman beautiful as to the ◌, i.e. the parts below or around the eyes, which appear when the rest of the face is veiled; also one, the white of whose eye appears in contrast with the black of the koḥl. The first opinion is probably the soundest, and has been adopted in the translation. Sherîshi remarks that the poets have been lavish in their praises of black eyes, but that the praises of a ◌ or woman having blue or light-coloured eyes is rare; although it is related by ‘Âyisheh of the Prophet that he said, “Blue-eyed women are of good omen.” The Arabs appear to have associated softness and langour with the word ◌, while ◌ expressed, not only a light-coloured, but a glittering and fierce eye. Thus, when it was said to one, “Thou art ◌,” he answered, “The hawk is ◌.” Imr al Kays says (Dîwân, p. 34, Ar. Text):
And there rushed on him (a stag) in the morning, at the rising of the sun, early, the dogs of Ibn Morr, or the dogs of Ibn Sinbis,
Hungry, fierce-eyed (◌), as if from ardour and hasting, their eyes had become (bright as) the flower of the ‘aḍras.
The expression ◌, He is blue or light-eyed, is used in speaking of one who cherishes malice, and is to be dreaded. A common, but not a satisfactory explanation, is that the Greeks, with whom the Arabs were often at war, had light eyes, so that a “light-eyed man” came to be synonymous with a deadly enemy. Compare Thirteenth Assembly, “my light or fierce-eyed enemy.” For a censure on light eyes compare Ḥamâseh, Vol. I. p. 622; “Maidens not light-eyed, not blear-eyed.”
Eyebrows with separation.—The having a clear space between the eyebrows, so that they are not joined, expresses to the Arabs the qualities of pleasantness and cheerfulness.
Smiling teeth with regularity.—◌ is the quality of having an opening or space between the roots of the teeth, given by nature. The making an artificial space between them by filing or pointing them (◌ or ◌) is held to be forbidden by Koran iv. 118, where it is said to be Satan who tempts people to “alter the creation of God.” According to Bayḍâwi the prohibition applies, among other things, to the plucking out the camel-stallion’s eye (as was done to avert the Nemesis from excessive wealth), to tattooing the skin, and to filing the teeth.
Noses with straightness, or elevation, so that they should not be flat, for an elevated nose is among the attributes of beauty and princeliness.
Mouths with purity—More exactly the front teeth, or, as one might say, “the mouthful of teeth.” ◌ is sweetness and coolness of the mouth and teeth. Moṭarrezi says, “I found in the handwriting of my father that Rûbeh was asked concerning the meaning of this word, and he took a grain of pomegranate and said, ‘This is ◌,’ referring to its purity and the delicacy of its juice.”—Commentary to Second Assembly.
At the beginning of the Assembly Sherîshi expatiates in his commentary on beauty and its attributes, as described in the terms of this oath, and each passage he annotates as it occurs with long quotations from the poets. These it is unnecessary to reproduce; but if the student desires a further acquaintance with the Arab ideas concerning female beauty he may be referred to the proverb, “What hast thou left behind thee, ‘Aṣâm?” (Arab. Prov. II. 589). Al Ḥârith ibn ‘Amr, king of Kinda, desired to wed a young lady, of whose charms he had heard; but being a cautious prince, he first sent an old woman named ‘Aṣâm to learn from actual inspection whether she deserved her reputation. When she returned the king questioned her in the above words, and she gave him a full description of the transcendent beauties she had seen.
Made his head a sheath to my sword.—The word ◌ often occurs in this sense; but there may possibly be an allusion to the belief of the pagan Arabs that a bird called ◌ or ◌ sprang from the head of a murdered man, and cried ◌, “Give me to drink,” until revenge was taken. This bird was supposed to be the soul or personality of the murdered man, so that one might translate, “I have not sheathed my sword in his life.” Moḥammed put an end to this superstition. The Arabs considered the head the seat of life. It is, perhaps, in this sense that Shanfara says of his enemies, “They bear away my head, and in my head is the chief part of me, while my body is left on the field.” Ḥamâseh, p. 243. The Commentator observes that four out of the five senses have their seat in the head.
My palm shoot with greenness: my white teeth with discolour-ation. ◌ is used as in the Second Assembly as a similitude for the teeth. ◌ is applied to dates while they continue green and small.
My rose with the ox-eye.—In Lane’s Lexicon ◌ is said to be “buphthalmum or ox-eye,” a plant having a yellow flower, growing in spring. The meaning is, “may my rosy cheek be smitten with yellowness.”
My musk with a foul steam.—The pleasant odour of my breath with offensiveness.
My full moon with waning; literally, with interlune, the period before the new moon, when the moon does not appear at all. The meaning here is “may my beauty decay and vanish.”
My silver with tarnishing—“May my white cheeks be blackened with the hairs of a coming beard!” The succeeding metaphors have a similar meaning.
Tempted: or suggested to him. For the use of this word see Koran xlvii. 27.
The pupil of my eye.—◌, literally “the man of the eye,”
is the image that is seen reflected in the black of the eye as in a
mirror: Hebrew ◌. Gesenius remarks that the same figure
is to be found in several languages, as in Persian, ◌ and
◌; in Greek,
Shell may get clear of chick.—A proverb attributed to an Arab of the Benû Asad, who acting as escort to a merchant said to him, “When we have reached such a place shell will be clear of chick,” meaning that there would be no more need of his protection.
As the wolf went guiltless of the blood of the son of Jacob.— When Joseph’s brethren sold him they told his father that he had been devoured by a wolf: when their falsehood was discovered the wolf was held guiltless. Koran xii., called Joseph.
Ibn Surayj was a great doctor of the rite of Shâfi‘î and Kadi of Shiraz, in Persia. His full name was Abû ’l ‘Abbâs Aḥmed ibn ‘Omar ibn Surayj; for his zeal and learning he was surnamed The Bright Fire. His life is given by Ibn Khallikân, who says, “He surpassed in talent all the pupils of Ash Shâfi‘î. The catalogue of his works contains four hundred articles. He was an active defender of the sect of Ash Shâfi‘î, and refuted its adversaries; he wrote also observations on the works of Moḥam-med ibn al Ḥasan al Ḥanafi. The Shaykh Abû Ḥâmid al Isfarayni said of him, ‘In our knowledge of the plain points of jurisprudence we keep pace with Abû ’l ‘Abbâs, but he surpasses us in the niceties of that science.’” The Moslems had a notion that every century some great man was raised up for the defence of the faith, and it was said to him, “God raised up ‘Omar ibn ‘Abd al ‘Azîz at the beginning of the first century after the Hijra, that he might manifest orthodoxy and destroy innovation; then God, in his mercy, placed at the opening of the next century the Imâm Ash Shâfi‘î, that he might manifest orthodoxy and force innovation to be hid; and God graciously conferred thee on the beginning of the third century.” He wrote verses, some of which have been preserved, and though a hot and apparently a rude controversialist, was not deficient in liberality to his opponents. He died in the year 306, at the age of fifty-seven. Ḥarîri, it must be remembered, belonged to his sect.
The Wolf’s Tail.—This is the name given to a deceptive brightness which appears in the heavens before the dawn, and then passes away: it is called the “false” or “lying” dawn. It is not improbable that this is the Zodiacal light.
A letter of Mutelemmis.—This phrase, which is equivalent to the classic literœ Bellerophonteœ had its origin in one of the most celebrated incidents of early Arab history; the treachery of ‘Amr, King of Hira, which caused the destruction of the young poet Ṭarafeh, author of one of the Mo‘allaḳât, and nearly involved in the same fate Ṭarafeh’s uncle Mutelemmis, also a poet. Ṭarafeh was the most perfect type of the wild and dissolute but gifted poets of the Ignorance. He was the son of Al ‘Abd, son of Sofyân, son of Ḥarmaleh, of the tribe of Bekr Wâ’il, and of the race of Moḍar. From early youth his genius for poetry, and his license of tongue, were remarkable. One day, when he was playing with the children of his age, his uncle Mutelemmis was reciting a poem which described, as was common among the Arabs, the rare qualities of a camel. He said—
I mount a dark-red male-camel, firm of flesh, or else a she-camel of Ḥimyar, fleet in course, driving the pebbles with her hoof that crushes them.
“See the he-camel transformed into a she,” exclaimed Ṭarafeh, and the phrase became proverbial to express a sudden and inelegant transition. Arab. Prov. II. 246. Mutelemmis, much offended, told the boy to put out his tongue. Ṭarafeh did so; it was dark in colour, and Mutelemmis said, “That black tongue will be thy ruin.” When Ṭarafeh grew up, he surpassed all his contemporary poets in debauchery, and addicted himself completely to love, wine, and gambling. His great poem was composed on the occasion of the loss of the herd of camels belonging to himself and his brother, which was carried off by a hostile tribe, while Ṭarafeh was spending his time in pleasure. A few verses from this composition will give an idea of his character and his genius:
If all my tribe were gathered, thou wouldst find me at the head of a kin that is generous, sought of suppliants.
My two companions in wine are youths noble of aspect, and at eve comes a singing girl to us, clad in a bright robe or a saffron-dyed tunic.
The bosom of her dress is open; she resists not the caresses of the guests; delicate are her naked breasts.
When we say, “Let us hear thy melody,” she begins gently, with a soft gaze at us; she puts not forth her voice:
But presently she raises her song, so that thou wouldst think mothers be wailing over a babe that is dead.
My ever-drinking of wine ceases not, nor my pleasure, nor my selling and spending my wealth inherited or gotten:
Until all my kindred have shunned me; I am separated from them as men separate the sickly camel.
Yet do the poor, the kinless, not deny my acquaintance; no, nor the lords of the wide-stretched tent. (Though his own tribe have abandoned him for his profligacy, yet he always has a friend among the poor whom he relieves, and the rich who delight in his society.)
O thou who blamest me for that I seek the shout of war, and give myself to pleasures, say, canst thou make me live for ever?
If thou hast no power to ward off fate, leave me to enjoy before it comes, though I squander all I have.
I swear that but for three things, which are a man’s joys, I would not care if the visitors turned away despairing from my bed of death.
The first of these is to elude the women of my family, who would censure me, and to drink the dark-red wine that foams as the water mixes with it.
Another is to urge into the fight, when one in danger calls to me, a broad-made steed, that rushes like the wolf of the ghaḍa wood which a man rouses to flight as it comes to drink.
The third is to while away a dark dull day (for then darkness is a pleasure) with a young beauty, under a lofty-columned tent.
The man of noble spirit drinks deep while he lives; should we both die to-morrow, fault-finder, thou shalt know which of us will thirst.
I see that the grave of him that is careful, that hoards his wealth, differs not from the grave of the dissolute, the spendthrift:
A hillock of earth is on each, with some flat stones laid together.
The young poet, at length, thoroughly ruined, left his kindred and repaired to the Court of ‘Amr, son of Munthir III., king of Hira, commonly called ‘Amr son of Hind, from the name of his mother. He was accompanied by his uncle Mutelemmis, whose real name was Jerîr son of ‘Abd al Masîḥ. ‘Amr appointed them to attend on his brother Ḳâbûs, according to the Arab custom by which a man had, generally, two boon companions. Ḳâbûs was a boorish prince, and treated the two poets with great indignity; sometimes wearying them by forcing them to make long excursions in attendance on him; at others keeping them at the door of his tent while he drank within. At last the passionate and satirical Ṭarafeh made some verses upon him, beginning:
Oh would that in place of king ‘Amr we had but a few milch-cows lowing about our tent!
Sure Ḳâbûs, son of Hind, will ruin his kingdom; he is an exceeding fool.
These verses were brought to the ears of ‘Amr in the following manner:—A certain ‘Abd‘Amr, a favourite of the king, had married a sister of Ṭarafeh. The poet, however, had said satirically of him,
There is nought good about him but his money, and that waist which is so slender when he stands.
The point of this was that ‘Abd ‘Amr was enormously fat. The king was one day rallying him while he was naked in the bath, and said, “Your brother-in-law Ṭarafeh must have seen you as you now are when he made that verse.” “Ṭarafeh,” answered ‘Abd ‘Amr, “makes verses on you and your brother as well as on me;” he then repeated to the king the satirical lines of the poet on the king’s brother Ḳâbûs. Now this ‘Amr ibn Hind was a most ferocious and vindictive prince. He had burned alive ninety-nine men and one woman of the tribe of Temîm in accordance with a vow of vengeance he had made to destroy a hundred of the race. This deed, which is known in Arab history as the “second Day of Owârah,” had gained for him the appellation of Al Moḥarriḳ, the Burner. Compare the proverb, “Ill-fated is he of the Barâjim who approaches.” Arab. Prov. I. 5. He now determined to destroy both Ṭarafeh and Mutelemmis. Sending for them he asked them if they desired to leave his Court. They answered in the affirmative; and he then told them that he would give them letters to Abû Kârib, Governor of Hejer or Baḥrayn for the king of Persia. Taking the letters, Mutelemmis and Ṭarafeh set out. Mutelem-mis suspected treachery, and as neither of the poets could read, he presented his letter to a young man in the way, and asked him what it contained. It was a request to the Governor of Hejer to put the bearer to death. Mutelemmis destroyed the letter, and implored Ṭarafeh to fly with him into Syria. Ṭarafeh obstinately refused, continued his journey to Abû Kârib, who arrested him, and caused him to be buried alive. Thus perished one of the most gifted of the early Arab poets, when he had scarcely attained manhood. He is often called Ibn al ‘Ishrîn, the youth of twenty years. ‘Amr ibn Hind was afterwards slain by the poet warrior ‘Amr ibn Kulthûm, author of the Mo‘al-laḳah, in revenge for an insult offered to his mother by Hind, the mother of ‘Amr; whence the proverb, “Quicker to slay than ‘Amr ibn Kulthûm.” Arab. Prov. II. 233.
Tell the Governor.—The verses are of the ◌, which is a metre of the fourth circle, or ◌. This circle consists of the primitive feet ◌, which is the normal form of the ◌. The measure of the ◌ is ◌ twice; the ◌ of the first and third feet being ◌, and that of the second ◌. The measure of the present verses is ◌, or normal; being of the first ◌ of the first ◌. Of the ◌, there enter into this metre ◌, and ◌, and ◌, which is the union of the two former. It is evident that these licences may affect any of the feet, since in ◌ the ◌ and the ◌ are ◌, and also in ◌, the ◌ and the ◌ are ◌, the ◌ being a ◌. So that in the ◌, the foot ◌ may become ◌, and ◌ may become ◌. Instances of these licences will be found on examining the verses in the text.
To seek the traces after the substance.—These words, which have become proverbial, were first spoken by Mâlik ibn ‘Amr al ‘Âmili when he slew the king of Ghassân. The story is told in the commentary to the proverb: Arab. Prov. I. 221. The king, to punish the tribe of ‘Âmileh had imprisoned Mâlik and his brother Simâk. One day he called them before him and told them that he should put one of them to death. Each begged to be the victim, that his brother might be spared. The king selected Simâk, and he was executed. While going to his doom he improvised a poem, in which was the verse:
I swear that if they had slain Mâlik I would have been to them as a snake that watches to bite. (Two more lines are given by Sḥerîshi).
One day their mother heard a horseman reciting these lines, and she roused Mâlik to take vengence for his brother. He watched the king until he was on a journey with a small escort, and then fell upon him. The attendants offered Mâlik a hundred camels, the usual blood-wit for a murder, if he would spare the king. He said, “I will not seek a trace (or, as we should say, a shadow) after a substance,” and at once killed the king. The proverb corresponds to Æsop’s fable of the dog and the bone.
The ill-fate of Al Ḥosayn. — The misfortunes and death of Al Ḥosayn, son of ‘Ali, are too well known to require notice here.
The shoes of Ḥonayn: that is a bad bargain or a bootless errand. Ḥonayn was a shoemaker with whom an Arab of the desert haggled about the price of a pair of shoes. At last the man would not purchase, and they parted angrily. Ḥonayn resolved on revenge; so he went forward on the road by which he knew the Arab must pass and threw down one of the shoes. The Arab, when he came up, said, “How like this is to one of Ḥonayn’s shoes; if the other were with it I would take them.” In the mean time Ḥonayn had gone on and thrown down the other shoe, and then hidden himself near. When the Arab came to the second shoe he repented that he had not picked up the first; and fastening his camel, he returned to fetch it. Ḥonayn at once mounted and rode off, having thus gained a camel in exchange for a pair of shoes. When the Arab went back to his tribe they said to him, “What hast thou brought from thy journey?” He said, “I have brought back nothing but Ḥonayn’s shoes,” which became proverbial for a bootless errand. Compare the Twenty-sixth Assembly, “I will depart from thee with the shoes of Ḥonayn.” This is the legend as told by Sherîshi; but two others are given (Arab. Prov. I. 461), in the commentary on the proverb, More bootless than Ḥonayn. They were all probably fabricated to explain a popular phrase, the origin of which was lost.
Piece-meal.—Naṣîf al Yazaji, in his letter to De Sacy, says that the original form is not ◌ but ◌; and that the first half is indeclinable as being part of a word, and the second as containing the meaning of the elided conjunction. Compare Alfîyeh, verse 15.
Cared not.—For the form ◌ see Lane’s Lexicon, Book I., p. 255.
Sâweh is a town between Rayy and Hamadân, at a distance of twenty-two parasangs from the former.
By visiting the tombs.—Said the Prophet, “Visiting the tombs makes men self-denying in this world and mindful of the next.” An authoritative Tradition of Anas says, “Said the Prophet of God, ‘I forbade you once to visit the tombs; but visit them, for they soften the heart, and fill the eye with tears, and bring to mind the next world.’” This is the Tradition referred to in the text. A man said to ‘Âyisheh, “Mother of the Faithful, I have a disease; hast thou a remedy for it?” She said, “What is thy disease?” He said, “Hardness of heart.” She said, “A bad disease is thine; but visit the sick, and attend funerals, and keep in mind death.” It was said to ‘Ali, “Why dost thou dwell near the burying-ground?” He said, “I find them good neighbours, and truthful; they restrain their tongues, and yet they speak of the next world.” ‘Omar ibn ‘Abd al ‘Azîz is related to have visited the tombs of his predecessors of the House of Omayyeh and moralized on their being brought thus low. ‘Omar ibn al Khaṭṭâb (the Khalif) related, “We went forth with the Prophet and he took seat at a grave, and I was the nearest of the people to him; and he wept, upon which we wept also. He said, ‘What makes you weep?’ We said, ‘Because thou weepest.’ He said, ‘This is the grave of my mother Âmineh; I asked leave of my Lord to visit her and he permitted me: then I asked leave that I might pray forgiveness for her and he refused me: and I feel the pity of a son.’” ‘Othmân wept when he stood by a tomb.
A corpse; literally, one enshrouded or gathered up in his grave clothes. ◌ is a bier when the corpse is on it; otherwise it is ◌ or ◌.
Sepulchred the dead.—It would be more accurate to say niched, for ◌ is the niche or compartment in the side of the grave where the corpse is placed in a sitting posture. On the subject of funerals there is much interesting information in the Kitâb al janâ’iz in the first volume of Al Bokhâri.
Leaning on a staff.—Holding it in his hand as a ◌, and leaning on it. For this word, see Lane. A staff was the common symbol of dignity carried by a preacher, and was introduced early in Islam when it was defended by the precedent of Moses, who carried a staff.
Let those who work, etc.—Koran xxxvii. 59. “Truly this is a mighty gain: let each that works work for the like of this.” These words, which refer to the happiness of the next world, are taken by Abû Zayd as a sort of text.
As ye laughed not…as ye walked not.—These are manṣûb on the maṣdar. See note to Fourth Assembly on words an earliness beyond the earliness of the crow.
Gifts, usually applied to the present which a poet receives from a prince. (De Sacy’s Ḥarîri, p. 79). For the occurrence to which the origin of the word is attributed, see Lane, Book I. p. 485. The more probable explanation is that it was originally the supply of water or provision with which a man passed from one place to another in the desert; it then came to mean a supply of provision, such as a host gave to a traveller for his journey after having entertained him. Lastly, it was applied generally to a voluntary present or largess.
The preparing of banquets.—Naṣîf al Yazaji, in his Critical Epistle, finds fault with De Sacy for explaining ◌ by ◌. He proceeds to mention the various names of entertainments among the Arabs, as follows:—If it be a feast at child-birth, it is called ◌; if it be for (the first shaving of) the child, it is called ◌; if at circumcision, ◌; if on the day that the child finishes the learning of the Koran, it is called ◌; if on occasion of an offer of marriage, it is ◌; if at a wedding, ◌; if on the finishing of a house, ◌; if on return from a journey, ◌; if at beginning the month of Rejeb, ◌; if for a guest, ◌; if for any other cause, ◌. It is impossible to deny the critic’s learning, and that De Sacy uses a word that is not synonymous.
Again no: surely ye shall learn.—Koran cii. 4.
O thou who claimest understanding.—These verses are of the metre ◌, which belongs, like rejez and reml, to the third circle; the normal measure is ◌ three times in each hemistich; but this is seldom used, the ordinary measure being the repetition of the foot twice in each hemistich, as here. Of the ◌, there enter into this measure ◌ and ◌. The peculiarity of the poem in the text is that the metre is what is called ◌. The meaning of this word is strung as beads, and it is used to denote that a certain constant rhyme recurs throughout, as an emerald or a piece of gold recurs at regular intervals among the beads of a chaplet. There are various kinds of the verses called musammaṭât, and they may be composed of lines of any metre, but they present always the same feature of a continuous rhyme running through the poem. It is, in fact, the variation and lightening of the ancient monotonous, one-rhymed ḳaṣîdeh of the Arabs by the introduction of the stanza, a change to which parallels may be found in other literatures. The stanzas in the text are made up of two verses of hezej, of which the three first hemistiches rhyme together, and the fourth has the recurring rhyme. In analogy with ordinary versification the rhyme of the first triplet is identical with the recurring rhyme; the other triplets have each its independent rhyme. Many varieties of musammaṭât are to be found, sometimes the hemistiches having the varying rhyme are in fours or fives; sometimes, it is said, the number changes in the same poem. The recurring rhyme is called ◌, the prop of the poem. In Freytag’s Darstel-lung der Arabischen Verskunst, page 406, a specimen is given of one of these compositions, into which verses of an ancient poem of the Ḥamâseh have been introduced. At a later period the fancy of the Arabs for variations of metre produced the elaborate poems called ◌, in which the poets of Andalusia excelled. In these compositions the strangest liberties are taken with the old versification; as, for instance, the giving one rhyme to the first hemistiches of a series of verses, while the second hemistiches have a different rhyme; the mingling of various metres, or various forms of the same metre, in the poem; the rhyme of the opening verses recurring, like a refrain, at intervals throughout the poem. Abû Bekr Yaḥya ibn ‘Abd ar Raḥmân, who lived in the sixth century of the Hijra, was highly esteemed for these compositions. Seven of the most celebrated of them, ◌, have been published, together with some modern imitations, by the American missionaries at Beyrout. For a survey of these and other metrical eccentricities, the student is referred to Freytag’s Darstellung. A specimen of Musammaṭât is to be found in the Huthalî Dîwân. They are by Jenûb, the sister of ‘Amr thû ’l kelb. Fâris Shid-yaḳ says that they should be read with the ḳâfiyeh muḳîdeh. Aventures de Fariac, p. 13 of Theneb al kitâb.
Ṣirâṭ.—This word signifies originally a way or path, and is used in this sense in Koran i. 5. Its special signification as the path over which men must pass after death,—a path like a bridge, as narrow as a hair and as sharp as a sword—is derived from a Tradition of Moḥammed, “On the day of resurrection the people shall be sent over the Path, and they shall be scattered off it like moths into the fire, but God shall save whom he will.” Compare Koran ci. 3. Khadîjeh, and one or two others will be excused this perilous trial. On the form of the word there is a difference of opinion. According to Bayḍâwi, on Koran i., the primitive form is ◌, from ◌, he swallowed, since the road or way may be said to swallow, or devour, those who walk in it; analogous to which is ◌. But the ◌ is changed into ◌, that it may correspond with the ◌ which is of the letters called ◌; that is of the letters formed by bringing the tongue in contact with the roof of the mouth. These letters are four in number—◌, and ◌. (See his commentary on ◌, at the beginning of the second Sura). By this the pronunciation was rendered more easy. But in order that the original may not be too far departed from, the sound of the ◌ is sometimes turned slightly (◌) to the sound of ◌, which is between those of ◌ and ◌. But ◌ is according to the dialect of Ḳoraysh, and is the authoritative reading. On the interchangeability of ◌ and ◌, see De Sacy’s Chrest. Arabe. vol. II., p. 230; Bayḍâwi on word ◌, at xxxi. 19; also Forty-sixth Assembly.
Plume him whose plumage hath fallen.—Compare Forty-first Assembly: “Plume the wing of the noble if his fortune have stripped it.”
The garb of impudence.—The word in the text is specially applied to the dress in which a slave is exposed for sale. For “strong of sinew,” or “strongly braced,” see Koran lxxvi. 28.
How many, Abû Zayd?—A pretty effect is produced by making Ḥârith address the impostor in verses like his own, and Abû Zayd reply in the same manner.
The Ghûṭah.—This is the fertile plain in which the city of Damascus is situated. A ghûṭah is a low, well-watered plain; and the name is applied especially to one of the richest spots with which the Arabs were acquainted. Some writers have rather fancifully identified the ◌ of Job with this place. (See Gesenius, sub voce). A commentator says, “The Ghûṭah of Damascus is reckoned among the gardens or paradises of the earth, which, according to Al Wâḥidi, are four in number; the Ghûṭah of Damascus, the valley or pass of Bawwân, the Ubulleh of Basra, and the Sughd of Samarcand.” To these the Andalusians would add the Vega of Granada. According to Al Aṣma‘î, the beautiful places of the earth were three, Damascus, Samarcand, and Basra. Sherîshi compares Damascus with Irem thât al ‘Imâd, for its beauty and splendour. Irem with the Columns was the city which Sheddâd, son of ‘Âd, built for himself before his accursed race was destroyed by God; it is mentioned in Koran lxxxix. 6. It remains invisible to the eyes of mortals in the desert near Aden, though God sometimes permits it to be seen, as was the case in the days of the Khalif Mu‘âwiyeh, when one Abû Kilâbeh, crossing the deserts of Yemen in search of a run-away camel, came upon it, and brought back some of the jewels with which its streets are strewed. When a place is exceedingly beautiful and magnificent it is said to be like Irem al ‘Imâd. It is a Tradition that Mohammed, before his death, held out to his disciples the possession of Damascus as the chief incentive to an invasion of Syria. The Moslem legend is that the city received its name from its founder Dimeshḳ, son of Nimrod, son of Canaan, or as others say, Dimeshḳ, son of Bâtir, son of Mâlik, son of Arphaxad, son of Shem, son of Noah.
Steeds.—Having short and fine hair, which is one of the signs of a good breed.
Freedom of arm; fulness of store: Literally, “of udder.” These metaphors are used to signify ease of life and affluence. Compare Job xxi, 24: “His breasts are full of milk.”
Agreement was completed.—◌, it became complete and in a right state; literally, it demanded loss, or diminution, or destruction; because these sometimes follow completeness: or the ◌ may be substituted for ◌, the meaning being ◌ (Lane).
From every tribe.—The largest division or tribe of Arabs descended from a common ancestor was called ◌; a part of this was ◌; a part of this again was ◌; a part of this was ◌; a part of this ◌; and, lastly, a part of this ◌. The single family was called ◌.
In the clans.—◌ appears to be a word of general signification, applied to the descendants of one ancestor, whether many or few. It is sometimes equivalent to ◌, sometimes to ◌, and sometimes to ◌.
The gate of Jayrûn.—A gate of the great mosque of Damascus, built by the magnificent Khalif Welîd, son of ‘Abd al Melik, on the site of a church of St. John, and still known as the mosque of the Benû Omayyeh. This celebrated structure, which is the exemplar after which so many great works have been executed, both in the East and in Spain, has been so often described that it is needless to speak further of it here. It occupied the Khalif during the ten years of his reign, from 86 to 96; but did not prevent him from enriching Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem with costly monuments. In Mecca he adorned the Ka‘beh with gold; in Medina he enlarged the mosque of the Prophet’s tomb. Jayrûn is said to be the name of an ancient patriarch, son of the builder of Damascus. It was probably applied also to one of the gates of the city, for in De Sacy’s Commentary we find, “Jayrûn is the name of one of the gates of Damascus, on the eastern side,” and it is more likely that the travellers assembled outside the city.
Tying and untying, and plaiting and twining.—Metaphorical expressions, signifying the formation of schemes, complicated or simple, and the subsequent abandonment of them.
The rosary of women.—A string of beads, used in worship to count the number of prayers or ejaculations. The use of this rosary is described in Lane’s Modern Egyptians. The worshipper, at a certain period of his devotions, repeats “The perfection of God;” “Praise be to God;” and “God is most great,” each thirty-three times, and he counts these repetitions with a string of beads. The beads are 99, and they have a mark between each thirty-three. They are of aloes, or other odoriferous or precious wood, or of coral, or of certain fruit-stones, or seeds, &c. Chapter iii.
As the garb of monks.—Religious devotees in Islam assimilated their practices to those of the Christian monks, in spite of a celebrated Tradition of the Prophet; “No monkery in Islam, and no celibacy.” This Tradition is alluded to in the Forty-third Assembly. The Prophet said to ‘Akâf ibn Wadâ‘ah, “Hast thou a wife?” He answered, “No.” “Then,” said the Prophet, “thou belongest to the brotherhood of the devils. If thou wilt be one of the Christian monks, then keep with them; but if thou wilt be one of us, know that it is our custom to marry.”
Giddiness from watchings.—Literally, the look of religious intoxication produced by watching and contemplation.
To steal a hearing.—As the devils do when they approach heaven to listen to what passes there. It is said, in Koran xv. 16: “We have set towers (constellations of the zodiac) in heaven, we have made them goodly to those who look thereon. —And we guard them from every devil, cast at with stones:— Save when one steals a hearing, and then a flame, visible to all follows him.”—This is the foundation of the belief that shooting stars are darts hurled by the angels against listening demons. Compare xxxvii. 6. I have seen it somewhere stated that a great flight of shooting stars, no doubt one of those whose period modern science has so accurately determined, was seen in the time of the Prophet, and gave rise to the revelations on this subject in the Koran. Certain days on which such phenomena occurred were afterwards known as ◌.
Their secret was manifest to him.—Either the state of concealment departed or ceased, or else what was in a state of concealment became apparent, from ◌, meaning “what is open and apparent of land.” This is a phrase from a traditional verse of Shiḳḳ the Diviner, one of the most famous personages of ancient Arabia. As Shiḳḳ and Saṭîḥ are often alluded to, and the latter is spoken of in the Eighteenth Assembly, it may be as well to give some account of them. Ibn Khallikân says, in his life of Khâlid al Ḳasri, one of the officers of the Khalif Hishâm, “Shiḳḳ was a son of the aunt of Saṭîḥ, the diviner, who foretold the coming of the Prophet, as is related in the Sîrat ar Resûl of Ibn Hishâm.” He then proceeds to describe them. We learn from him, and other authorities, that they were two deformed beings. Shiḳḳ was only half a man, and for this reason was called Shiḳḳ (half). He had but one cheek, one arm, and one leg. Saṭîḥ was without bones; he was a mere mass of flesh, with his face in his stomach, for he had neither head nor neck. He could not sit up except when angry. He then swelled and took a sitting posture. They received the gift of prophecy from Ẓarîfeh, the same who predicted to her husband, ‘Amr Muzayḳîyâ, the bursting of the dyke of Mareb. In an extract from the book called Kitâb al Jomân, given by De Sacy (Mémoires de l’Académie Royale, Vol. 48), the following account is given of this occurrence: “Shiḳḳ had received from God only half the form of a man. Saṭîḥ was a shapeless mass of flesh; he had no limbs, and his face was in his breast. In their time there was among the Arabs a woman called Ẓarîfeh, daughter of ‘Amr ibn ‘Âmir. None of the children of Adam had ever had more intercourse with Jinn, or was more able to make them speak by divination and auguries. When she was about to die she sent for Shiḳḳ and Saṭiḥ, on account of their deformity, and the influence that demons had possessed upon them, and she spat in their mouth, and bequeathed to them her Jinn, after which she died, and was buried at Al Joḥfah.” The narrative goes on to say that they succeeded her in the functions of divination, and rose to the highest degree of skill. Shiḳḳ died leaving behind him children. Saṭîḥ also died about the time Moḥammed was born; each of them having lived three hundred, or, as some say, six hundred years. The prophecy of Saṭîḥ respecting the Prophet is told as follows by the same author: The Tobba‘ of Yemen had a troublesome dream, the matter of which he could not remember. He summoned his wise men, who declared themselves ready to interpret if he could tell them what he had dreamed; but only Shiḳḳ and Saṭîḥ were able to tell him the dream itself. It was that a dove had flown from a holy place, and had settled in the Tihâmeh, the sea-coast region south of Mecca; and Saṭîḥ interpreted it to mean that a noble prophet would arise who would destroy idols, and teach the best of religions. According to Ṭabari, from whom de Sacy also gives an extract, the two diviners predicted to Rabî‘ah, son of Naṣr, a Jewish king of Yemen, that the Abyssinians should conquer the country and govern it, that they should be expelled, and that afterwards a prophet should arise among the Arabs, bringing a new religion, which all men should embrace, and which should endure in Yemen to the Day of Judgment. These theological prophecies have obtained for the two soothsayers great celebrity. The narrative in the Sîrat ar Resûl will be found at page 9, Wüstenfeld’s edition, Göttingen 1860. It relates, like that of Ṭabari, to Rabî‘at ibn Naṣr. The Jinn of this Arab divineress may be compared with the ◌ of the Israelite wizards and witches: Levit. xx. 27; 1 Sam. xxviii. 8.
Your care relieve itself: or get rid of its cause, as the egg gets rid of the chick. For a similar expression see Arab. Prov. II. 220.
The Semâweh.—The Syrian desert, said to be called so because of the ruins and traces of the dwellings of Thamûd found in it; the word meaning the same as shakhṣ. European travellers have fully confirmed the existence of these remarkable ruins.
For carrying him; literally for balancing with him on the same camel; one riding on the right side of the saddle, and the other on the left.
The Mother of the Koran is the first chapter, and is said to be so called because it contains the doctrines or principles of the whole book; namely, due praise to God, exhortations to duty by bidding and forbidding, promises and threats. At Koran ci. 6, it is said of him whose works shall be light in the balance, that his ◌ is the Pit of Fire.
The Lights of his kindred, the Keys of his victory.—Under these symbols the Muhâjirûn and the Anṣâr are supposed to be designated.
Place me by thy mercy among thy servants who do aright.— This is part of the prayer of Solomon, which he uttered when he heard the ant bid its swarm return to the nest for fear of being trodden by his armies. Koran xxvii. 19.
From thyself helping power.—Koran xvii. 82.
The heaven with its constellations.—These are the first words
of the 85th Sura, called the Towers or Constellations. ◌,
The earth with its plains.—◌ is a broad valley between hills, or a path leading up to or between them. Compare Koran lxxi. 19 and xxii. 28, where it is rendered by Bayḍâwi, ◌.
The pouring flood and the blazing sun.—Koran lxxviii. 13.
The house-tops of ‘Ânah.—◌ is a common word signifying anything that appears standing in the distance, particularly a building or its ruins. The older poets often began their song with a lamentation on beholding the ◌ of the camp or habitation which had been deserted by the tribe of their mistress. Here it is applied to the summits of the buildings of the city appearing at a distance over the desert plain. ‘Ânah on the Euphrates was at an early period celebrated for its wine, which was carried into the heart of Arabia, and inspired the wild and dissolute poets of the Ignorance with their impassioned declamation. In one of his poems, Imr al Ḳays says of a place from which one or more of his beloved ones had departed,—
“I lingered, amid the traces of the camp, like one drunken, who has been drinking of wine at early morn,
“Of wine the first of the cask, red as the blood of gazelles; old wine of ‘Ânah, or of the vines of Shebâm.” Dîwân, p. 36, Arabic text.
The exposed and the kidden; the corded and the sealed, i.e. the various kinds of goods they brought with them, both what was open to view and what was corded in bales or sealed up in boxes.
The light, the adorning, i.e. he chose only the most portable, such as gold and silver, and such as served for ornament, as jewels.
The lutes.—From ◌ is derived our word lute.
I cling to journeying.—The metre of these verses, which are musammaṭât, like those in the last Assembly, is muteḳârib, which has been already described.
Pride.—◌ is literally the contention before an umpire on the titles of a man or tribe to nobility or honour over others; as was the custom with the Arabs of the Ignorance. It was called so because each one said, after recounting his claims to honour, ◌. The most celebrated munâfarah of the Ignorance was that between ‘Âmir ibn aṭ Ṭofayl ibn Mâlik ibn Ja‘far and Alḳamat ibn ‘Olâthah, a descendant of the same Ja‘far, for the leadership of the Benû ‘Âmir ibn Ṣa‘ṣa‘ah. The two chiefs staked a hundred camels, and applied to two men of the Ḳoraysh, afterwards very celebrated in the history of Islam, Abû Sofyân ibn Ḥarb and Abû Jahl, to judge between them. These declined, as did also some others; but at last the task was undertaken by Haram ibn Koṭbah, who reconciled the two rivals by declaring that they were equal in merit. See commentary to De Sacy’s Ḥarîri, p. 316, and Caussin de Perceval, Essai, vol. II., p. 564. Haram on this occasion made use of a phrase which has become proverbial, “Ye are as equal as the two knees of the full-grown tawny (◌) camel stallion which come to the ground together;” that is, as the knees of a good and well-trained camel. This is often said of two things that are equal. Compare Prov. Arab. II. 361. In the munâfarah between ‘Abbâd ibn Anf and Ma‘bad ibn Naḍlah, the judge, Ḍamrah son of Ḍamrah, took a bribe of a hundred camels from the former and decided for him: the judge became infamous, as the first before Islam who had taken a bribe. On learning what had been done, Ma‘bad exclaimed, “There is no leap left in the wild ass;” a phrase which became proverbial with reference to any who had had honourable qualities and had lost them. Prov. Arab. II. 603. Compare Ḥamâseh, vol. I., p. 115, where are given certain verses addressed to Ḍamrah by a man whom he had upbraided. A singular munâfarah was that between the Benû Fezârah and the Benû Hilâl ibn ‘Âmir, as to which had been the more disgraced by an act of one of their people. Among the Benû Hilâl was a man named Mokhâriḳ, who had received the nickname of Mâdir, the Befouler, because, being of a morose and envious disposition, he had watered his own camels at a cistern, and then befouled with dung the little that remained of the water in order that no others might drink. On the other hand, a man of the Fezârah being in company with some who were hunting, objectum est eum asini sylvestris veretrum edisse. The stake was a hundred camels, and it was decided against the Benû Hilâl, the deed of Mâdir being looked upon as the more shameful. Compare the proverb, “More sordid than Mâdir;” Arab. Prov. I. 190. An idea of the vauntings that were poured forth on these occasions may be formed from the Mo‘allaḳah of Amr ibn Kulthûm, who celebrates the exploits and virtues of his branch of the race of Taghlib. In the mouth of Abû Zayd, it simply means family pride, and what we should call keeping up a character.
A well-filled house: a house filled with the hum of visitors. The word is originally applied to a wooded place, in which the wind whispers through the trees, or to a place full of grass in which grasshoppers and flies make a noise. ◌ is defined to be the making a sound in the nose, i.e. humming.
And rebel against the adviser.—Imr al Ḳays says, “See, I have oft repelled the obstinate censurer concerning thee; him that is sincere in his blaming, not remiss.” Mo‘allaḳah, v. 43.
Comes by thee.—◌ is applied to an animal which turns its right side to the spectator, passing by him from his left to his right hand. The contrary is ◌. The former was esteemed lucky, probably because the animal passing in that manner was more easy to shoot. But some Arabs considered the ◌ lucky, and there was a difference of belief in this matter between Ḥijâz and Nejd. See Lane, Book I., p. 182.
From what thicket is thy root: what is thy origin and tribe? There may possibly be an allusion in the word ◌ to the five A‘yâṣ of Ḳoraysh; these were five sons of ‘Abd Shems, who had all similar names, so that the question might be understood, “From which of the A‘yâṣ is thy origin?”
Arabs and foreigners.—The word ◌ is applied to foreign nations generally, but more particularly, it would seem, to the Persians. The idea connected with it is that of not speaking Arabic correctly. The phrase ‘Ajam and ‘Arab occurs in the verses which Abû Adîneh (or Odayneh) addressed to his cousin Al Aswad son of Munthir, king of Hira, urging him to put to death the captives he had made from Ghassân. They are given by Schultens, Monumenta Vetustiora Arabiæ, ed. 1740, p. 57. These verses were very celebrated, and were probably in the mind of Ḥarîri.
Like meat on the tray.—An ancient proverbial expression, signifying the being vile and worthless, or exposed to contempt. The proverb, “Women are like meat on the tray,” is derived from a saying of the Khalif ‘Omar, quoted at Arab. Prov. I. 21, and means that they are worthless creatures and soil men’s reputations.
The tovern of a liquor-seller.—The word ◌ is thought by some to be derived from the Persian ◌, but the more reasonable opinion is that it is another form of ◌, the shop or vault of a vintner. At Jeremiah xxxvii. 16, where, in the English version, we read “When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon and into the cabins,” the meaning of the word is no doubt underground vaults or cells, and the name must have been afterwards applied to the cellars where vintners kept and sold their wine. ◌ is the shop of a vintner, and also the vintner himself; it is also used for any shop. The derivation from ◌, because it destroys men’s property and wounds their honour is, of course, only the guess of a grammarian.
The white camels: camels of a white colour lightly mixed with yellow.
The last darkness of night.—◌ is the setting forth on the journey after the ◌ or halt which is made in the later part of the night. It takes place either before dawn, or between the first dawn and the rising of the sun.
Left together those two old ones, i.e. left the way or space free between them; meaning, left the two free, each to do to the other as he pleased (Lane). We left Abû Zayd and the Devil alone together.
Iblîs.—The Moslem name for the Devil, probably a corruption of diabolos, though said to be from ◌, because he despairs of the mercy of God; his former name, before his impiety, having been ◌. It is also said to have been Al Ḥârith, and the first child of Eve was named ‘Abd al Ḥârith, in honour of him: Ṭabari. According to Koran ii. 28, he was of the number of the angels, and sinned by refusing to bow down to Adam when he was created. God had created the angels to inhabit heaven, and then purposed the creation of man upon earth. He said to the angels, “I am about to place a vicar, ◌, in the earth.” They said to him, “Wilt thou place in it one who will work violence in it, and shed blood?” He said, “I know what ye know not.” Having created Adam, God told him the names of all things, and then brought him to the angels, and bade them name them if they could. When they were unable to do this, God bade Adam tell the names, and when Adam had done so, God bade the angels bow down to him. God did this as a trial of their faith, not intending that they should commit idolatry by worshipping Adam, but making Adam the ◌, or point to which the prostration should be directed, the worship being received by God himself. All obeyed except Iblîs, who, according to repeated narratives of the event in the Koran, refused on the ground that he was made of fire, while Adam was only made of earth. He then appears to have been ejected from heaven, and to have become the enemy of man, whom he caused to be banished from Paradise. A difficult question in connection with Iblîs is his relation to the Jinn. At Koran xviii. 48, it is said, “We said to the angels, ‘Bow down before Adam;’ and they all bowed down except Iblîs, and he was of the Jinn. . . . Will ye take Iblîs and his progeny as patrons, instead of me? They are your enemies.” From this it would appear that Iblîs belonged at once to the angels and the Jinn, though the Jinn are held to be a subordinate and a very different race of beings, for the angels dwell in heaven, have no distinction of sex, and do not propagate their species; while the Jinn, or at least some kinds of them, as the ◌, the ◌, and the ◌, are both male and female, and engender. Jinn are also both good and bad, and will be judged at the last day. Some will go to hell, like men, Koran xi. 120, and some will be rewarded. There are also Jinn who are Moslems, and others who are infidels, for Khorâfeh, who was carried away by Jinn, related, when he returned, that there had been a war between the Jinn of the two religions. Moreover, we learn from Koran xlvi. 28, that God assembled a number of Jinn to hear the Koran read, and that then they returned as apostles to their race. Also in the Seventy-second Sura, called The Jinn, it is revealed that a number of them having listened to the Koran, believed in it, and at once renounced idolatry. On the other hand there are some that are of an essentially wicked nature, and resemble the ◌. Such was the ‘Ifrît of the Jinn (interpreted by Bayḍâwi as one abominable and rebellious among the Jinn), who offered to bring to Solomon the throne of the Queen of Sheba, Koran xxvii. 39. From this difference of nature it is difficult to understand that Iblîs was of the Jinn; for though it is held that the Jinn, or, at least, those of them essentially wicked in their nature, are descended from Iblîs, who propagated them in a miraculous manner, yet he must have been himself originally of a different nature. Bayḍâwi, at Koran ii. 32, treats this question at length, and gives various opinions, one of which is that Iblîs, though an angel by nature, became of the Jinn by act, that is, adopted their character, which seems to be the prevalent opinion, though the high authority of Ibn ‘Abbâs is given for the opinion that there was an order of angels which begat children, and was called Jinn, to which order Iblîs belonged. He, like other devils, is cast at with fiery darts, according to the curse pronounced upon him by God: Koran xxxviii. 78. It is said that ◌ is a foreign word, and that for this reason, and also because it is a proper name, it is imperfectly declined.
The banks of the Zowrâ.—Zowrâ is a name applied to the Tigris in the neighbourhood of Bagdad, and to the city itself, or the eastern part of it. The general name for the Tigris is ◌, the ◌ of Genesis ii. 14 and Daniel x. 4; ◌ being prefixed to signify the velocity of the current. Gesenius.
Trotted.—With regard to a horse it is defined as rose in his running.
Some children.—Plural of paucity.
That are kept jealously.—◌ is the most noble and precious part of anything. Compare Ṭarafeh, Mo‘allaḳah, v. 66,—
“If death selects noble spirits, it also chooses and takes away the most precious of the miser’s hoardings.”
The word is also used of a she-camel, at v. 89.
The Heart, i.e., the centre or head-quarters of the army. An army had five divisions ◌, and ◌.
The Arms.—◌ is used of the upper arm between the elbow and shoulder. By a natural transition it came to signify a helper. The genius of the Arabic language, like that of the Hebrew, is to form new ideas by giving a metaphorical signification to material objects, and this character is strongly marked throughout the present passage.
The Limbs.—◌ are the members or limbs of a man by which gain is made, as the hand, the foot, and the eye.
Turned about till back was belly.—This phrase answers to our topsy-turvy, and denotes confusion; but it is also said, he examined the matter “back and belly,” that is, thoroughly. Arab. Prov. II. 243.
Front-tooth nor eye-tooth.—◌ signifies one of the front teeth; that is, one of the central incisors, four in number. As the feminine of ◌ it signifies the she-camel that has shed the tooth called ◌, that is, a camel in the sixth year. The name is also applied to a horse in the fourth, or as is otherwise said, in the third year; and to a sheep or goat, or an animal of the bovine kind in the third year (Lane). Similarly ◌ signifies the canine tooth, and also an aged camel in which this tooth is conspicuous.
Tarnished.—◌ is explained in De Sacy’s commentary, as falling away and being reft from the possessor. But it is evident that the series of words are all intended to express the idea of colour. I have therefore translated as above. ◌ has properly the signification of being discordant and confused in colour.
The Yellow loved one.—Compare the Assembly of the Denar.
My blue-eyed enemy.—This is usually explained to refer to the Greeks, who were the enemies of the Arabs, and a light-eyed race. Thus also ◌, having red moustaches, had the meaning of hostile, as being a mark of the Greeks. It may be that as the Byzantine Court had men of the northern nations in its service, so blue or light eyes, and red or yellow hair, might be found opposed to the Arabs in the field. See further a note on the Tenth Assembly. At Koran xx., 102, where it is said, “When the trumpet shall be sounded, and we shall gather together the wicked ◌,” Bayḍâwi says that the wicked are thus described because this is the most hateful colour of the eye to the Arabs, since the Greeks were distinguished by it; and men in describing an enemy said, “Black of heart, ruddy of moustache, blue of eye.” But it may also be rendered “staring,” or rather “blear-eyed” with terror It appears also to describe a light, wild, glittering eye, in con tradistinction to the soft and languid black which the Arabs admired. Compare Arab. Prov. II. 848, and I. 715. It seems to have been connected with the idea of a piercing sight in the legend of ‘Anz al Yemâmeh, commonly called Zarḳâ ’l Yemâmeh, the first woman who used koḥl. She was a woman of the primeval tribe of Jedîs, and when Jedîs had destroyed the tribe of Ṭasm, all but Ribâḥ ibn Murrah, this solitary survivor fled to Ḥassân ibn Tobba‘, king of Yemen, and sought vengeance on Jedîs. The Ḥimyarite army set forth, and, in order that its numbers might be concealed from Jedîs, the king commanded that each soldier should cut down the bough of a tree and bear it before him. This is, perhaps, the original of the story in Macbeth. Zarḳâ ascended an ◌, a fortress or tower, and, though the army was three days’ march distant, she saw it, and called out, “O people, either trees or Ḥimyar are coming against you.” They would not believe her, and she then exclaimed, in the metre rejez:—
I swear by God that trees creep onward, or Ḥimyar bears something which he draws along.
She then described that she saw a man mending his sandal. The tribe still disbelieved, and in the end were surprised and destroyed. The legend is told in various ways: compare proverb “More keen-sighted than Zarḳa ’l Yemâmeh;” Ar. Prov. I. 192; also De Sacy’s Ḥarîri, commentary to Fiftieth Assembly. For another instance of her keenness of sight see the ḳaṣîdeh of Nâbighah the Thobyâni, in De Sacy’s Chresto-mathie. Queen Zebbâ and Basûs are also described by the Arabs as blue-eyed.
Red death.—By red death, death in war is said to be meant. Arab. Prov. II. 670. White death is a natural and quiet death, with forgiveness of sins; and black death is a violent and dreadful death, as by strangling. It is to be noticed that in this address Ḥarîri abandons rhyme; the parts of the body, and the series of the form ◌, giving enough of rhythm to the composition. Compare Forty-ninth Assembly, where names compounded of Abû are introduced.
Their look is a sufficient examining.—“The eye of the horse is as good as a look in his mouth,” is a proverb used of any one whose aspect plainly shows his real condition. In the Thirty-third Assembly, Abû Zayd says, “To you who are clear-sighted the looking on me suffices for a description.”
A mess.—◌ is a mess of crumbled bread, moistened with broth, and generally having small pieces of meat cut up in it,— a mess resembling pillaw, but made with bread instead of rice. In the thirteenth Assembly of Naṣîf al Yazaji are some verses recording the principal dishes of the Arabs; and in the commentary to these it is said that tharîd is made of meat, milk, and bread. Hâshim, the ancestor of Moḥammed, received that name because he crumbled the bread for the tharîd of the pilgrims; that is, because he was the first to distribute to them necessary provisions. When prepared luxuriously with eggs and marrow, as was the tharîd of Ghassân, it was the food of the wealthy, and esteemed above every other. It is said of ‘Âyisheh that she excelled all other women, as tharîd excels other kinds of food. The word ◌ is given as synonymous with tharîd.
The soul that dwells in me.—For a similar use of ◌ compare the Thirty-fourth Assembly.
Sets a mote.—The figure of a mote in the eye is used commonly to express any trouble or humiliation. In the Twenty-second Assembly it is said of a company who are convicted of behaving ungenerously, “Each one drooped his eyelid over his mote.” So also in the Thirty-seventh, “The noble-minded man, if his eye have caught a mote, conceals it even from the pupils of his own eyes.” The metaphor is ancient, for in the Mo‘al-laḳah of Ḥârith it is said, “If ye will be silent we will be as those who close the eye when the motes are under their eyelids.” Line 32.
Among thy Reciters.—In the early days of Arab poetry, when writing was almost unknown, the reputation of a poet depended on the number of persons whom his genius induced to commit his poems to memory, and to recite them in public gatherings, or in the houses of great men. Such a reciter was called ◌; and many stories are current of the marvellous powers of memory displayed. In these Assemblies Ḥârith is supposed to be the Râwi of Abû Zayd, as is stated by Ḥarîri in the Preface. Sometimes a poet was the Râwi of another; the last who was so is said to have been Kothayyir Ṣâḥib ‘Azza, or “the Lover of ‘Azza,” who died in the year of the Hijra 105. His life is given by Ibn Khallikân. One of the most celebrated of these reciters was Abû ’l Ḳâsim Ḥammâd, who flourished at the close of the first and the beginning of the second century, and was in high favour with Welîd ibn ‘Abd al Melik and Hishâm. He was called Ar Râwiah ◌, for the multiplicity of his knowledge of Arab poetry, anecdotes, and traditions. Ibn Khallikân gives a life of him, and speaks of his wonderful powers. He is said to have first collected the Seven Mo‘allaḳât, which probably owe to him their present form. Ibn Khallikân relates that the Khalifs of the House of Omayyeh treated him with much distinction, and tells of him the anecdote which will be found in my Introduction. In the Durrah of Ḥarîri (Anthologie Gram. Arabe) is the story of his being sent for from Irak to Syria by the Khalif Hishâm to inform him of the origin of a verse of an ancient poet. Ḥammâd was famous for his knowledge of the Days, or battles and adventures of the desert Arabs, and all that related to their history, poetry, genealogy, and idioms; but in the Arabic language he was not very skilful, for having learnt the Koran by heart from a written copy, he mistook the pronunciation of three hundred ◌ or words which may be variously pronounced. As manuscripts increased the profession of Râwi declined, but it still continued one of the chief accomplishments of the learned to know by heart vast quantities of verse. There is a play on the verb ◌, which I have passed over in the translation.
I complain to God.—The metre of these lines is ◌, which has been explained in the notes to the Second Assembly. This and other similar Arab lamentations seem to have been suggested by the beautiful lines attributed to ‘Amr ibn Al Ḥârith ibn Al Moḍâḍ, prince of the Jorhom, at the expulsion of his family from Mecca. Schultens, Monumenta Vetustiora Arabiœ, p. 1. I may say that I totally disbelieve in the great antiquity of these or any other extant Arabic verses.
In the ashy year.—A year of drought and barrenness, when all vegetation is dried up to the appearance of ashes.
Choking hinders me.—The full proverb is, “Choking hinders the verse,” i.e., “stops the way of the verse.” In Arab. Prov. I. 340, two explanations of this proverb are given. One is that a father forbad a poetical son to recite, until the youth saddened, and fell into an illness. The father then relented, but it was too late, and the son, in his last moments, uttered the words of the proverb. The more popular tradition ascribes the words to the poet ‘Obayd ibn Al Abraṣ. The King of Hira, Munthir ibn Mâ’ as Semâ, had, in a fit of drunkenness, ordered his two boon-companions, named Khâlid and ‘Amr to be buried alive. When he returned to his senses he was filled with grief, and constructed two mausoleums over his friends, at which he determined to spend two days in mourning every year. He further made a vow that one day should be called the Day of Good, and the other the Day of Evil. The first person whom he should meet on the Day of Good he would present with a hundred camels, and the first he should meet on the Day of Evil he would put to death. Ill fate brought one year to the spot the poet ‘Obayd, on the morning of the Day of Evil. Munthir told him that he must die, but bade him first repeat his poem, beginning “Mal-ḥûb has gone desertward from his people; he is gone to the open plain, and returns not,”—a poem which Munthir much admired. ‘Obayd answered, “The choke stops the verse,” a phrase which became proverbial. The poet then desired to have wine to enliven him before death, and when he had well drunk his veins were opened, and the two tombs washed with his blood. This horrible act is attributed to various kings of Hira, and, in the Commentary of De Sacy, to No‘mân, son of Munthir. The most trustworthy narrative, however, is that of the Kitâb al Aghâni, which has been translated by M. Caussin de Perceval, Essai, II. 105, and to it the reader may be referred. For proverbial expressions connected with the legend, see Ar. Prov. I. 25, 185, 499. In the commentary on the proverb “To-morrow he will be near to him who looks for him,” I. 118, it is said that this kind of human sacrifice was abrogated by No‘mân ibn al Munthir, who was converted to Christianity by the virtue and devotion of a Christian Arab. The tale is identical with that of Damon and Pythias. On the proverb “The wolf is bye-named Abû Ja‘deh,” see De Sacy’s Ḥarîri, p. 662.
The forelocks shall bow down.—God is called the Master of thy forelock, in the First Assembly. In Koran xi. 59, it is said “There is no creature but he holds it by the forelock,” and in lv. 41, “The wicked shall be known by their mark; they shall be taken by the forelocks and the feet.” These expressions may owe their origin to the usage of the Arabs, who gloried in possessing the forelocks of their enemies, as an American Indian glories in his scalps. They were said to cut off the hair of prisoners before they released them, and to carry it home in their quivers, as a token of their own victory and the abasement of their adversaries. See the proverb, “More unlucky than Khowta‘ah.” Arab. Prov. I. 687. In the life of Imr al Ḳays, from the Kitâb al Aghâni, it is said that when Hojr, the father of the poet, was slain, he bade that his arms, camels, and goods should be given to the one of his sons who did not afflict himself at his death. The messenger came to Nâfi‘, the eldest, and told him what had happened, on which Nâfi‘ threw dust on his head. The messenger came then to another, who did likewise; and so he came to all, and found none who did not afflict himself. At last he came to Imr al Ḳays, the youngest, whom he found drinking and playing with a friend at ◌ (probably dice). The messenger said, “Hojr is dead,” but Imr al Ḳays said to his friend, “Play on;” and they played till the game was over. Imr al Ḳays then inquired the cause of his father’s death, and, having been told, exclaimed, “Wine and women are forbidden to me, till I have slain a hundred of the Benû Asad, and cut off the forelocks of a hundred.”
The faces of the assemblage shall be black and white.— God has said that in the day of judgment there shall be faces white and black; that is, the faces of the believers shall be lighted with joy, and those of the infidels black with despair. Koran iii. 102.
Cleft our hearts in pieces.—Compare commentary on Mo‘al-laḳah of Imr al Ḳays, v. 22.
A-stretch.—◌ signifies to stretch out the neck as one does when about to drink water at a stream, and then to stretch forth the neck in expectation of anything. The word answers to our “a-tip-toe.”
Her cloak.—The ◌ is a woman’s wide outer garment, enveloping her whole body.
Oh! would I knew.—The metre of these lines is ◌, which has been explained in the notes to the First Assembly.
One mind by vinegar and another by wine,—i.e., each mind in one way or another.—Compare Arab. Prov. II. 628, and Ḥamâseh 558, Arab. Text. It may also mean “with good or bad,” since the Arabs of the desert figured these two qualities by wine and by vinegar, which is the corruption of wine.
Being at one time Ṣakhr, at another time the sister of Ṣakhr. —The most celebrated female name in Arab poetry is that of Al Khansâ, the sister of the warriors Ṣakhr and Mu‘âwiyeh, and famous for her elegies on the two brothers. Her name was Tumâḍir, and she was the daughter of ‘Amr, son of Ḥârith, son of Sherîd . . . . . son of Sulaym. The name Khansâ, (having a turned-up nose like the gazelle or the wild cow), was given her, as some say, by Durayd ibn Aṣ Ṣimmah, her rejected lover. Mu‘âwiyeh and Ṣakhr, her brothers, were two of the chief men of the tribe of Sulaym. In their childhood their father ‘Amr had shown them to the assembled Arabs at the fair of ‘Okâẓ, and proclaimed them, amid the assent of all, to be the two noblest boys of the posterity of Moḍar. Years after, Mu‘âwiyeh had met at ‘Okâẓ a certain Hâshim son of Ḥarmalah, of the tribe of Murrah of Ghaṭafân; and a quarrel had arisen between them. When the sacred truce was at an end, Mu‘âwiyeh determined to attack the Benû Murrah. A battle was fought which is known in tradition as the first Day of Ḥowrâ, and Mu‘âwiyeh was killed by Durayd, brother of Hâshim. Hâshim himself was thought to have been killed, as he had been unhorsed and his mare had galloped into the ranks of the Benû Sulaym; but Ṣakhr having during the ensuing sacred month of Rejeb gone among the Benû Murrah, discovered that he was still alive, and was informed that he and Durayd had killed Mu‘âwiyeh. “Have ye buried him?” asked Ṣakhr. “Yes,” said the brothers, and in costly stuff of Yemen, which was purchased for five-and-twenty young camels.” “Show me his tomb,” said Ṣakhr. When he was conducted to it he wept, so as to excite the scorn of the Arabs, who held it not good that a hero should show signs of sorrow. “I weep thus every night,” said Ṣakhr, “and know no repose since Mu‘âwiyeh is dead.” This passionate affection for each other distinguished the family. Khansâ bewailed her brother in elegies, and Ṣakhr prepared to avenge him. When the sacred month was over he penetrated into the camp of the sons of Murrah, slew Durayd, and then escaped by the fleetness of his mare, which was that which had formerly belonged to Hâshim. Some of Durayd’s kindred pursued, but were repulsed by the Benû Sulaym. This is called the second Day of Ḥowrâ. In the Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Poesie der alten Araber, of Theodor Nöldeke, some verses are to be found composed by Al Khansâ on the death of Mu‘âwiyeh. They have all the spirit of ante-Islamic poetry; and, as far as can be judged from such fragments, justify her high reputation. These events took place about ten years before the Hijra, at the time when Moḥammed had just entered on his religious career. Ṣakhr did not long survive his brother. Being at feud with the Benû Asad ibn Khozaymeh he made an incursion upon them, and carried away a number of their camels. The Benû Asad pursued and came up with the spoilers at a place called Thât al Athl. The combat which took place is called the Day of Thât al Athl. The companions of Ṣakhr fled from him, and he was wounded by a lance which drove a ring of his breast mail into his body. He regained his people, but sickened, and lay long helpless; for though the wound seemed to heal, yet the place swelled, and there grew out a thing like a wen upon it. Now Ṣakhr had a wife named Bathîleh or Sulayma, whom he had carried off by force from the Benû Asad; and one day he overheard a woman ask her how was her husband. She replied bitterly, “He is neither a living man to be hoped in, nor a dead one to be forgotten.” Then Ṣakhr knew that she was weary of him. But when they asked his mother, he heard her say, “Hope with me, he will recover.” Then he improvised these verses:—
The mother of Ṣakhr is not weary in her attendance; but Sulayma is weary of my bed and my seat;
Whosoever esteems a wife as a mother, let him not live but in misery and scorn.
Then, resolved to linger no longer, he bade them cut out the ring, which they did, and he shortly afterwards died.
It was on Ṣakhr that the principal elegies of Al Khansâ were composed. Her Dîwân is still extant, but only in manuscript. Fragments of it may be found at p. 516 of De Sacy’s Ḥarîri, and in Nöldeke’s Beiträge. The courage, generosity, and hospitality of the warrior are praised in impassioned verse. “With one hand he was strong to smite, with the other free to bestow.” When the lance-points crossed he handed round the cup of death, he was a defence when his people were dismayed. Who now is there to entertain guests when the north-wind blows, while the echo replies, and the cold forces the camels to seek the pens? Thus lamented Al Khansâ for many years; so as, at last, to incur the reproaches of those who thought her grief too long-lived. In the eighth year of the Hijra the Benû Sulaym made their submission to the Prophet, and joined his forces to the number of a thousand warriors, at the head of whom was ‘Abbâs ibn Merdâs, the son of Khansâ. She came with her son, and was received with great respect by Moḥammed, to whom she recited her poetry. It now remains to give some account of the personal history of this heroine. Though her poetry was elegiac, she was, if the Arabs are to be believed, proud and masculine in temper, and with little delicacy, even if judged by the standard of her own primitive age. At the fair of ‘Okâẓ, the poet An Nâbighat ath Thobyâni erected for her a red leather tent in token of honour; and in the contest of poetry gave her the highest place, above all but Al A‘sha (Maymûn al A‘sha the Great, son of Ḳays). “If I had not heard him,” said Nâbighah to her, “I would say that thou didst surpass every one in poetry. Verum confiteor te omnes mamillis prœditas (scilicet fœminas) superare.” Cui illa superbissimè, “Nec minus omnes testiculis prœditos.” She was first married to Rawâḥat ibn ‘Âbd al ‘Azîz of her own tribe of Sulaym, and afterwards to Merdâs ibn ‘Âmir of the same tribe. She was probably a widow for the second time when she attracted the admiration of Durayd ibn Aṣ Ṣimmah, one of the most celebrated heroes and poets of the time, and held by the Arabs to be the equal of ‘Antarah in genius and knightly prowess. But he was about sixty years old when he beheld the young poetess in a light undress applying pitch to the sores of her camels. He fell in love with her at once, and sang—
Greet ye Tumâḍir, O my companions; halt here and dwell; your halting here is all I seek.
I have ne’er seen or heard till to day that one anointing scabby camels
In common garb should be beautiful, putting the pitch on the sore places;
With bare arms smearing the pitch, as the perfume is smeared on a striped vest of Yemen.
Khansâ, however, was not inclined to wed him, and refused him, after ascertaining, by an indelicate expedient, that he had lost the strength of youth. Caussin de Perceval, Essai, II. 549. In her later years, after the establishment of Islam, she knew ‘Omar and ‘Âyisheh, who rebuked her for persisting in her grief for Ṣakhr. From an anecdote told of her behaviour at her daughter’s marriage in Hammer-Purgstall’s life of her (Vol. I., p. 550) she appears to have been of an imperious and unamiable character when advanced in years. It may be noticed that the words of Durayd, “putting the pitch on the sore places,” became proverbial to express the putting of anything in the right place, or making an apposite observation: compare Thirty-eighth Assembly, near the beginning.
In the commentary to the proverb “The wild ass is stopped in his rush” the full legend of Ṣakhr and his wife is given. It is there said, “Alii referunt virum quendam uxorem Sachri, quæ e marito tædium cepisset, interrogâsse Num podex venditur? (erat enim pulchra et magnis coxis prædita mulier) eamque respondisse Certè! brevi tempore,” by which she meant that she was only waiting for her husband’s death to marry again. When Ṣakhr heard these words he swore that he would kill her; and when she entered he said, “Give me my sword.” She gave it to him, and he tried to strike her with it, but his strength failed him. He then recited the verses of which the first two have been translated above. In these verses occurs the phrase “The wild ass is stopped in his rush” or “leap,” which became proverbial. Arab. Prov. II. 251. In the Forty-fifth Assembly Ḥarîri makes Al Khansâ proverbial for contentious eloquence. The judge says to Abû Zayd’s wife, “If Al Khansâ were to dispute with thee she would be silenced.” Some eulogistic words on Ṣakhr are given at Arab. Prov. I. 31. Some verses by Ṣakhr are to be found at Ḥamâseh, p. 489.
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.
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.
Whose beast has fallen.—Literally, “Who has been broken down with;” for the word camel or beast is not expressed. ◌ is said when the ridden camel stops in her pace from fatigue or lameness, as if doing a new or unaccustomed thing, and ◌ is the ordinary phrase to express the losing a beast from fatigue and the having to go on foot during a journey. Sherîshi says that a man came to the Prophet and said, “Give me a mount; for ◌.” The construction is of course impersonal; or in the language of Arabic grammarians the jârr and mejrûr ◌ are set in the place of the agent. Compare ◌ used by the Prophet in describing his miraculous journey.
My sighing, etc.—A kind of double meaning is probably intended here. It may be taken literally that he sighs as he mounts each hill and weeps as he enters each dale; but there is also an allusion to the ascending of sighs, and the flowing down of tears.
Your grist; your bounty.—The literal meaning is the corn with which the mill is fed.
Dwells in sanctuary, etc.—While you befriend and protect your neighbour, so that he lives secure, you allow him, through your generosity, to spoil and make use of your wealth. The allusion is to the sacred places and seasons of the old Arabs, and to the forays which they made on each other when not restrained by these obligations.
O ye Lords.—Metre mujteth.—It is useless to enlarge on the precise nature of the viands mentioned in these verses. ◌ is said to be flour made consistent by boiling; ◌ has been already explained in the notes to the Thirteenth Assembly; and ◌ in the notes to the Sixth Assembly; ◌ is a sauce for dates, made by boiling to a thick consistency the seeds of the colocynth. The laborious Naṣîf al Yazaji has introduced the names of many dishes of the ancient Arabs into his thirteenth Assembly. In asking for food at Mecca the boy may have relied on the prayer of Abraham for the dwellers or visitors at the Holy Place, which is a command to all the faithful, “Dispose towards them the hearts of men, and nourish them with earth’s fruits; so may they give thanks.” Koran xiv. 40.
Through me may reward be gotten.—It is a Tradition of ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr ibn al ‘Âṣi, that the Prophet said, “Whoever gives his brother enough food to fill him and enough water to quench his thirst, God shall put seven moats between him and hell.” This ‘Abd Allah was of Ḳoraysh, and was brought by his father who was a Muhâjir to Medina in early childhood. He handed down seven hundred Traditions. He was one of the four transmitters of Traditions of the same name in the first century, who were called the four ‘Abâdileh (Abdallahs); the others were ‘Abd Allah ibn Mas‘ûd, ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abbâs, and ‘Abd Allah ibn az Zobayr.
The waist-folds of the skirt.—The ◌ is the part of the ◌ (or waist wrapper) where it is tied round the waist, which part is folded or doubled. The ancient dress of the Arabs consisted of a ◌ or ◌, which were wrappers for the whole body, and an ◌, which was a wrapper fastened round the waist and hanging down to the ankles. The two together composed a ◌ or dress. The izâr being only fastened above the hips might be pulled off or drop; thus it is related of Jebelet ibn al Ayham, the last king of Ghassân, who submitted to the Khalif ‘Omar and entered Islam in the 16th year of the Hijra, that he made the pilgrimage to Mecca clothed according to the command of the Prophet, with an izâr, and without serâwîl or drawers. A man of the Fezârah put his foot on the skirt of the king’s izâr and pulled it off, so that his nakedness was exposed. The quarrel that ensued ended in the flight of Jebeleh to Constantinople, and his return to the Christian religion. The ◌ is described as a kind of izâr worn by women, girt round the waist in such a manner that the upper part hangs down over the lower; the upper part descending to the knee, and the lower to the feet; it has ◌ and is fastened by a ◌ or band, which runs through the doubled upper part. The place or part of the izâr where it is fastened round the waist is also called ◌. On this subject see De Sacy’s Chrestomathie Arabe, vol. II., p. 303, second edition. The phrase in the text is proverbial, and means “when they were girding themselves or preparing for departure.”
The promise of ‘Orḳûb.—‘Orḳûb was a man proverbial among the Arabs for breaking his promises. He is said by some to have been a Jew of Khaybar, by others to have been an inhabitant of Yathrib (either Medina or another Yathrib or Yatrib, near Hojr, in Yemâmeh), or lastly a man of Amalek. It is said proverbially, More promise-breaking than ‘Orḳûb: Arab. Prov. I. 454. It is related that a brother of his came to ask him for something. Said ‘Orḳûb, “When this palm-tree shoots the shoot is thine.” When the shoot was out the brother came again, and ‘Orḳûb bade him wait until the fruit was in the state called ◌; that is, until the dates had formed, but were green and small. When this took place the brother came again; but ‘Orḳûb bade him wait until they were in the state called ◌, that is till the dates began to redden; then to wait until they were ◌, or freshly ripe; and then until they were ◌ or fully ripe and turning to dryness, and therefore fit to cut. When they were in this state ‘Orḳûb went by night and cut them, and gave his brother nothing. For the names of dates in their various stages of growth, see Lane, under ◌ and ◌; and also the Ḳâmûs cited in Freytag’s Lexicon, under ◌. That ‘Orḳûb was held in early times to be a man of Yathrib (Medina) and of the Ows, appears from the tradition that the mention of him as a promise-breaker by Ka‘b ibn Zohayr in his Burdeh, v. 11, gave offence as a slight to the Anṣâr. See note to Freytag’s edition of the poem.
A need in the mind of Jacob.—This is an allusion to the history of Joseph. When the sons of Jacob went a second time into Egypt, taking with them Benjamin, their father commanded them not to enter at one gate, but at several. This is explained to mean that he feared on account of their beauty, and comeliness, and their celebrity in Egypt as enjoying the favour of the Governor, and thought that if they entered together they might be struck with the evil eye. They entered the city as their father commanded them, and though this could not have protected them against the will of God, it satisfied a need or want that was in the mind of Jacob. Koran xii. 67, 68.
Serûj is my dwelling.—These verses are also of the metre mujteth.