The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume II Part 23

[FN#322] This should have a.s.sured him that he stood in no danger.

[FN#323] Here ends the wearisome tale of the brother and sister, and the romance of chivalry begins once more with the usual Arab digressions.

[FN#324] I have derived this word from the Persian "rang"=colour, hue, kind.

[FN#325] Otherwise all would be superseded, like U. S. officials under a new President.

[FN#326] Arab. "Nimshah" from the Pers. Nimchah, a "half-sword," a long dagger worn in the belt. Richardson derives it from Namsh, being freckled (damasked).

[FN#327] The Indian term for a tent large enough to cover a troop of cavalry.

[FN#328] Arab. "Marhum" a formula before noticed. It is borrowed from the Jewish, "of blessed memory" (after the name of the honoured dead, Prov. x. 17.); with the addition of "upon whom be peace," as opposed to the imprecation, "May the name of the wicked rot!"

[FN#329] The speeches of the five damsels should be read only by students.

[FN#330] i.e. Those who look for "another and a better."

[FN#331] The t.i.tle of Caliph Abu Bakr because he bore truthful witness to the Apostle's mission or, others say, he confirmed the "Mi'raj" or nocturnal journey to Heaven.

[FN#332] All this is Koranic (chaps. ii., etc.).

[FN#333] This may have applied more than once to "hanging judges"

in the Far West.

[FN#334] A traditionist and jurisconsult of Al-Medinah in the seventh and eighth centuries.

[FN#335] The Alexander of the Koran and Eastern legends, not to be confounded with the Alexander of Macedon. He will be noticed in a future Night.

[FN#336] aesop, according to the Arabs: of him or rather of the two Lukmans, more presently.

[FN#337] Koran ii. 185.

[FN#338] Mohammed.

[FN#339] One of the Ashab or Companions of Mohammed.

[FN#340] A noted traditionist at Cufa in the seventh century.

[FN#341] Koran, chaps. lxxiv. I (and verse 8 follows). The Archangel Gabriel is supposed to address Mohammed and not a few divines believe this Surah (chapter) to have been first revealed.

Mr. Rodwell makes it No. ii. following the Fatrah or silent interval which succeeded No. xcvi. "Clots of Blood." See his 2nd Edit. p. 3 for further details.

[FN#342] i.e. dangerous to soul-health.

[FN#343] In the Mac. Edit. "Abd" for "Sa'id." The latter was a black and a native of Cufa during the first century (A.H ) and is still famous as a traditionist.

[FN#344] Arab. "s.h.i.+rk," giving a partner to Allah, attending chiefly to Christians and idolaters and in a minor degree to Jews and Guebres. We usually English it by "polytheism," which is clumsy and conveys a wrong idea

[FN#345] Grandson of the Caliph Ali. He is one of the Imams (High-priests) of the s.h.i.+'ah school.

[FN#346] An eminent traditionist of the eighth century (A.D.).

[FN#347] The prayers of the Fast-month and Pilgrimage-month are often said in especial places outside the towns and cities; these are the Indian Id(Eed-)gah. They have a screen of wall about a hundred yards long with a central prayer-niche and the normal three steps for the preacher; and each extremity is garnished with an imitation minaret. They are also called Namaz-gah and one is sketched by Herklots (Plate iii. fig. 2). The object of the trips thither in Zu'l-Ka'adah and Zu'l-Hijjah is to remind Moslems of the "Ta'arif," or going forth from Meccah to Mount Arafat.

[FN#348] Arab. "Al-Hafi," which in Egyptian means sore-footed as well. He was an ascetic of the eighth and ninth centuries (A.D.).

He relates a tradition of the famous soldier saint Khalid bin Walid who lies buried like the poet Ka'ab al-Ahbar near Hums (Emessa) once the B?otia, Phrygia, Abdera, Suabia of Syria now Halbun (p.r.o.nounced Halbaun) near Damascus. I cannot explain how this Kuraysh n.o.ble (a glorious figure in Moslem history) is claimed by the Afghans as one of their countrymen and made to speak Pukhtu or Pushtu, their rough old dialect of Persian. The curious reader will consult my Pilgrimage iii. 322 for the dialogue between Mohammed and Khalid. Again there is general belief in Arabia that the English sent a mission to the Prophet, praying that Khalid might be despatched to proselytise them: unfortunately Mohammed was dead and the "Ingriz" ratted. It is popularly held that no armed man can approach Khalid's grave; but I suppose my revolver did not count.

[FN#349] When he must again wash before continuing prayer.

[FN#350] Bin Adham; another noted ascetic of the eighth century.

Those curious about these unimportant names will consult the great Biographical Dictionary of Ibn Khallikan, translated by Baron MacGuckin de Slane (1842-45).

[FN#351] Thus making Bishr the "Imam" (artistes) lit. one who stands in front. In Koran xvii. 74 it means "leader": in ii. 118 Allah makes Abraham an "Imam to mankind."

[FN#352] A favourite sentiment in the East: we find it at the very beginning of Sa'di's Gulistan: better a weal-bringing lie than a harm-dealing truth.

[FN#353] A penny, one sixth of the drachma.

[FN#354] Founder of the Hanbali, fourth (in date) of the four orthodox Moslem schools. The Caliph al-Mu'atasim bi'llah, son of Harun al-Ras.h.i.+d, who believed the Koran to have been created and not a Logos (whatever that may be), co-eternal with Allah, scourged this Imam severely for "differing in opinion" (A.H. 220=833). In fact few of the notable reverends of that day escaped without a caress of the scourge or the sword.

[FN#355] A learned man of the eighth century at Ba.s.sorah (A.D.).

[FN#356] A traditionist of Khorasan in the ninth century (A.D.).

[FN#357] "Azal," opp. to "Abad," eternity without end, infinity.

[FN#358] Koran lxvi. 6.

[FN#359] A traditionist of Al-Medinah, eighth century (A.D.).

[FN#360] Arab. "Musa": the Egyptian word was "Mesu," the "child" or the "boy" (brought up in the palace?), and the Hebrews made it "Mosheh" or "one drawn out of the water;" "Mu" in Egypt being water, the Arab "Ma"; whence probably the moderns have derived the dim. "Moyeh ," vulg. Egyptian for water.

[FN#361] Koran, chaps. xxviii.: Shu'ayb is our Jethro: Koran, chaps. vii. and xi. Mr. Rodwell suggests (p. 101) that the name has been altered from Hobab (Numb. x. 29).

[FN#362] Arab. "Taub" (Saub), the long s.h.i.+rt popularly written in English Tobe and p.r.o.nounced so by Egyptians. It is worn by both s.e.xes (Lane, M. E. chaps. i. "Tob") in Egypt, and extends into the heart of Moslem Africa: I can compare it with nothing but a long nightgown dyed a dirty yellow by safflower and about as picturesque as a carter's smock-frock.

[FN#363] There is nothing of this in the Koran; and it is a most unhappy addition, as Moses utterly and pretentiously ignored a "next world."

[FN#364] Koran xxviii. 22-27. Mohammed evidently confounded the contract between Laban and Jacob. (Gen. xxix. 15-39.)

[FN#365] So says Al-Hariri (a.s.s. of Sasan), "The neighbour before the house and the traveller before the journey." In certain cities the neighbourhood is the real detective police, noting every action and abating scandals (such as orgies, etc.) with a strong hand and with the full consent of public opinion and of the authorities.

This loving the neighbour shows evident signs of being borrowed from Christianity.

[FN#366] Al-Asamm a theologian of Balkh, ninth century (A.D.).

[FN#367] The founder of the Senior School, for which see Sale Prel.

Disc. sect. viii.

[FN#368] Thus serving the Lord by sinning against his own body.