A plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments, now entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 2 (of 17)

294

A fair specimen of the unworthy egoism which all religious systems virtually inculcate. Here a pious father leaves his children miserable to save his own dirty soul.

295

Chief of the Banú Tamím, one of noblest of tribes derived from Tamím, the uncle of Kuraysh (Koreish); hence the poets sang: —

There cannot be a son nobler than Kuraysh,

Nor an uncle nobler than Tamím.

The high-minded Tamím is contrasted with the mean-spirited Kays, who also gave rise to a tribe; and hence the saying concerning one absolutely inconsistent, "Art thou now Tamím and then Kays?"

296

Surnamed Al-Sakafí, Governor of Al-Yaman and Irak.

297

Tenth Ommiade (regn. A.H. 105-125=724-743).

298

Or "clothe thee in worn-out clothes" i. e. "Become a Fakir" or religious mendicant.

299

This gratuitous incest in ignorance injures the tale and is as repugnant to Moslem as to Christian taste.

300

The child is named either on the day of its birth or on that day week. The father whispers it in the right ear, often adding the Azán or prayer-call, and repeating in the left ear the "Ikámah" or Friday sentence. There are many rules for choosing names according to the week-day, the ascendant planet, the "Sortes Coranicæ," etc.

301

Amongst Moslems as amongst Christians there are seven deadly sins: idolatry, murder, falsely charging modest women with unchastity, robbing orphans, usury, desertion in Holy War and disobedience to parents. The difference between the two creeds is noteworthy. And the sage knows only three, intemperance, ignorance and egoism.

302

Meaning, "It was decreed by Destiny; so it came to pass," appropriate if not neat.

303

The short, stout, dark, long-haired and two bunched camel from "Bukhtar" (Bactria), the "Eastern" (Bakhtar) region on the Amu or Jayhún (Oxus) River; afterwards called Khorasan. The two-humped camel is never seen in Arabia except with northern caravans, and to speak of it would be a sore test of Badawi credulity.

304

"Kaylúlah" is the "forty-winks" about noon: it is a Sunnat or Practice of the Prophet who said, "Make the mid-day siesta, for verily at this hour the devils sleep not." "Aylúlah" is slumbering after morning prayers (our "beauty-sleep"), causing heaviness and idleness: "Ghaylúlah" is dozing about 9 a.m. engendering poverty and wretchedness: "Kaylúlah" (with the guttural Kaf) is sleeping before evening prayers and "Faylúlah" is slumbering after sunset – both held to be highly detrimental. (Pilgrimage ii. 49.)

305

The Biblical "Hamath" (Hightown) too well known to require description. It is still famous for the water-wheels mentioned by al-Hariri (assembly of the Banu Harám).

306

When they say, The leven flashes bright on the hills of Al-Yaman, the allusion is to the south quarter, where summer-lightning is seen. Al-Yaman (always with the article) means, I have said, the right-hand region to one facing the rising sun and Al-Sham (Syria) the left-hand region.

307

Again "he" for "she," in delicacy and jealousy of making public the beauty or conditions of the "veiled sex." Even public singers would hesitate to use a feminine pronoun. As will be seen, however, the rule is not invariably kept and hardly ever in Badawi poetry.

308

The normal pun on "Nuzhat al-Zaman"=Delight of the Age or Time.

309

The reader will find in my Pilgrimage (i. 305) a sketch of the Takht-rawan or travelling-litter, in which pilgrimesses are wont to sleep.

310

In poetry it holds the place of our Zephyr; and the "Bád-i-Sabá"=Breeze o' the morn, is much addressed by Persian poets.

311

Here appears the nervous, excitable, hysterical Arab temperament which is almost phrensied by the neighbourhood of a home from which he had run away.

312

Zau al-Makan and Nuzhat al-Zaman.

313

The idea is essentially Eastern, "A lion at home and a lamb abroad" is the popular saying.

314

Arab. "Hubb al-Watan" (=love of birthplace, patriotism) of which the Tradition says "Min al-Imán" (=is part of man's religion).

315

He is supposed to speak en prince; and he yields to a prayer when he spurns a command.

316

In such caravans each party must keep its own place under pain of getting into trouble with the watchmen and guards.

317

Mr. Payne (ii. 109) borrows this and the next quotation from the Bul. Edit. i. 386.

318

For the expiation of inconsiderate oaths see Koran (chapt. v.) I cannot but think that Al-Islam treats perjury too lightly: all we can say is that it improves upon Hinduism, which practically seems to leave the punishment to the gods.

319

"Kausar," as has been said, represents the classical nectar, the Amrita of the Hindus.

320

From Bul. Edit. i. 186. The couplet in the Mac. Edit. i. 457 is very wildly applied.

321

The "insula" of Sancho Panza.

322

This should have assured him that he stood in no danger.

323

Here ends the wearisome tale of the brother and sister and the romance of chivalry begins once more with the usual Arab digressions.

324

I have derived this word from the Persian "rang"=colour, hue, kind.

325

Otherwise all would be superseded, like U. S. officials under a new President.

326

Arab. "Nímshah" from the Pers. Nímchah, a "half-sword," a long dagger worn in the belt. Richardson derives it from Namsh, being freckled (damasked).

327

The Indian term for a tent large enough to cover a troop of cavalry.

328

Arab. "Marhúm" 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!"

329

The speeches of the five damsels should be read only by students.

330

i. e. Those who look for "another and a better."

331

The title of Caliph Abu Bakr because he bore truthful witness to the Apostle's mission or, others say, he confirmed the "Mi'ráj" or nocturnal journey to Heaven.

332

All this is Koranic (chapt. ii., etc.)

333

This may have applied more than once to "hanging judges" in the Far West.

334

A traditionist and jurisconsult of Al-Medinah in the seventh and eighth centuries.

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.

336

Æsop, according to the Arabs: of him or rather of the two Lukmans, more presently.

337

Koran ii. 185.

338

Mohammed.

339

One of the Asháb or Companions of Mohammed.

340

A noted traditionist at Cufa in the seventh century.

341

Koran, chapt. lxxiv. 1 (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.

342

i. e. dangerous to soul-health.

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.

344

Arab. "Shirk," 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.

345

Grandson of the Caliph Ali. He is one of the Imams (High-priests) of the Shi'ah school.

346

An eminent traditionist of the eighth century (A.D.)

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-)gáh. 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 Namáz-gah and one is sketched by Herklots (Plate iii. fig. 2). The object of the trips thither in Zu'l-Ka'adah and Zú'l-Hijjah is to remind Moslems of the "Ta'aríf," or going forth from Meccah to Mount Arafat.

348

Arab. "Al-Háfi," 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 Khálid bin Walíd who lies buried like the poet Ka'ab al-Ahbár near Hums (Emessa) once the Bœotia, Phrygia, Abdera, Suabia of Syria now Halbun (pronounced Halbáun) near Damascus. I cannot explain how this Kuraysh noble (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.

349

When he must again wash before continuing prayer.

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).

351

Thus making Bishr the "Imám" (antistes) lit. one who stands in front. In Koran xvii. 74 it means "leader": in ii. 118 Allah makes Abraham an "Imam to mankind."

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.

353

A penny, one sixth of the drachma.

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-Rashid, 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.

355

A learned man of the eighth century at Bassorah (A.D.).

356

A traditionist of Khorasan in the ninth century (A.D.).

357

"Azal," opp. to "Abad," eternity without end, infinity.

358

Koran lxvi. 6.

359

A traditionist of Al-Medinah, eighth century (A.D.).

360

Arab. "Músá": 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.

361

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

362

Arab. "Taub" (Saub), the long shirt popularly written in English Tobe and pronounced so by Egyptians. It is worn by both sexes (Lane, M. E. chapt. 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.

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."

364

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

365

So says Al Hariri (Ass. 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.

366

Al-Asamm, a theologian of Balkh, ninth century (A.D.).

367

The founder of the Senior School, for which see Sale Prel. Disc. sect. viii.

368

Thus serving the Lord by sinning against his own body.

369

An Egyptian doctor of the law (ninth century).

370

Koran lxxvii. 35, 36. This is one of the earliest and most poetical chapters of the book.

371

Abu Hanifah was scourged for refusing to take office and was put to death in prison, it is said by poison (A.H. 150=A.D. 767), for a judicial sentence authorising rebellion against the second Abbaside, Al-Mansúr, surnamed Abu'l-Dawánik (Father of Pence) for his exceeding avarice.

372

"Lá rayba fí-hi" says the Koran (ii. 1) of itself; and the saying is popularly applied to all things of the Faith.

373

Arab. "Rijál al-Ghayb," somewhat like the "Himalayan Brothers" of modern superstition. See Herklots (Qanoon-e-Islam) for a long and careful description of these "Mardán-i-Ghayb" (Pers.), a "class of people mounted on clouds," invisible, but moving in a circular orbit round the world; and suggesting the Hindu "Lokapálas." They should not be in front of the traveller nor on his right, but either behind or on his left hand. Hence tables, memorial couplets and hemistichs are required to ascertain the station, without which precaution journeys are apt to end badly.

374

A sweetmeat before noticed.

375

Door-hinges in the east are two projections for the top and bottom of the leaf playing in hollows of the lintel and threshold. It appears to be the primitive form, for we find it in the very heart of Africa. In the basaltic cities of the Hauran, where the doors are of thick stone, they move easily on these pins. I found them also in the official (not the temple) City of Palmyra, but all broken.

376

The effect of the poison and of the incantation which accompanied it.

377

King Omar who had raped her. My sympathies are all with the old woman who rightly punished the royal lecher.

378

Arab. "Zunnár," the Gr. ζώνη. Christians and Jews were compelled by the fanatical sumptuary laws of the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil (A.D. 856) to wear a broad leather belt in public; hence it became a badge of the Faith. Probably it was confounded with the "Janeo" (Brahmanical thread) and the Parsi sacred girdle called Kashti. (Dabistan i, 297, etc.). Both Mandeville and La Brocquière speak of "Christians of the Girdle, because they are all girt above;" intending Jacobites or Nestorians.

379

"Siláh-dár" (Arab. and Pers.)=a military officer of high rank; literally an "armour-bearer," chosen for valour and trustworthiness. So Jonathan had a "young man" (brave) who bare his armour (1 Sam. xiv. 1, 6 and 7); and Goliath had a man that bare the shield before him (ibid. xvii. 7, 41). Men will not readily forget the name of Sulayman Agha, called the Silahdar, in Egypt (Lane M. E. chapt. iv.).

380

It will be told afterwards.

381

The elder brother thus showed himself a vassal and proved himself a good Moslem by not having recourse to civil war.

382

Arab. "Ghazwah," the corrupt Gallicism, now Europeanised=raid, foray.

383

Turk in modern parlance means a Turkoman, a nomade: the settled people call themselves Osmanli or Othmanli. Turkoman=Turk-like.

384

Arab. "Nimsá;" southern Germans, Austrians; from the Slav. "Nemica" (any Germans), literally meaning "The dumb" (nemac), because they cannot speak Slav.

385

Arab. "Dubárá" from the Slav. "Dubrovnik," from "Dub" (an oak) and "Dubrava" (an oak forest). Ragusa, once a rival of Venice, gave rise to the word "Argosy." D'Herbelot calls it "Dobravenedik" or "Good Venice," the Turkish name, because it paid tribute when Venice would not (?).

386

Arab. "Jawarnah," or, "Júrnah" evidently Zara, a place of many names, Jadera (Hirtius de Bell. Alex. cap. 13), Jadra, Zadra (whence the modern term), Diadora, Diadosca and Jadrossa. This important Liburnian city sent forth many cruisers in crusading days; hence the Arabs came to know its name.

387

Arab. "Banu 'l-Asfar;" which may mean "Pale faces," in the sense of "yaller girls" (New Orleans) and that intended by North American Indians, or, possibly, the peoples with yellow (or rather tow-coloured) hair we now call Russians. The races of Hindostan term the English not "white men," but "red men;" and the reason will at once be seen by comparing a Britisher with a high-caste Nágar Brahman whose face is of parchment-colour as if he had drunk exsangue cuminum. The Yellow-faces of the text correspond with the Sansk. "Svetadvipa" – Whiteman's Land.

388

Arab. "Al-Musakhkham." No Moslem believes that Isa was crucified and a favourite fancy is that Judas, changed to the likeness of Jesus, thus paid for his treason. (Evangel. Barnabæ). Hence the resurrection is called not "Kiyámah" but "Kumámah"=rubbish. This heresy about the Cross they share with the Docetes, "certain beasts in the shape of men" (says Ignatius), who held that a phantom was crucified. So far the Moslems are logical, for "Isa," being angelically, miraculously and immaculately conceived, could not die; but they contradict themselves when they hold a vacant place near Mohammed's tomb for the body of Isa after his second coming as a forerunner to Mohammed and Doomday (Pilgrimage ii. 89).

389

A Diviner, a priest, esp. Jewish, and not belonging to the tribe of Levi.

390

Again the coarsest word "Khara." The allusion is to the vulgar saying, "Thou eatest skite!" (i. e. thou talkest nonsense). Decent English writers modify this to, "Thou eatest dirt: " and Lord Beaconsfield made it ridiculous by turning it into "eating sand."

391

These silly scandals, which cause us only to smile, excite Easterns to fury. I have seen a Moslem wild with rage on hearing a Christian parody the opening words of the Koran, "Bismillahi 'l-Rahmáni 'l-Rahím, Mismish wa Kamar al-din," roughly translated, "In the name of Allah, the Compassionating, the Compassionate! Apricots and marmalade." The idea of the Holy Merde might have been suggested by the Hindus: see Mandeville, of the archiprotopapaton (prelate) carrying ox-dung and urine to the King, who therewith anoints his brow and breast, &c. And, incredible to relate, this is still practised after a fashion by the Parsis, one of the most progressive and the sharpest witted of Asiatic races.

392

Meaning that he had marked his brow with a cross (of ashes?) as certain do on Ash-Wednesday.

393

Syria, the "left-hand land" as has before been explained. The popular saying about its people is "Shámi shúmi!" – the Syrian is small potatoes (to render the sense Americanicè). Nor did Syrus, the slave in Roman days, bear the best of names. In Al-Hijaz the Syrian is addressed "Abú Shám" (Father of Syria) and insulted as "Abuser of the Salt" a (traitor). Yet many sayings of Mohammed are recorded in honour of Syria, and he sometimes used Syriac words. Such were "Bakh, bakh" (=euge, before noticed), and "Kakh," a congener of the Latin Cacus and Caca which our day has docked to "cack." (Pilgrimage iii. 115).

394

Koran xiv. 34. "They (Unbelievers) shall be thrown therein (i. e., the House of Perdition=Hell); and an unhappy dwelling shall it be."

395

The leg-cut is a prime favourite with the Eastern Sworder, and a heavy two-handed blade easily severs a horse's leg.

396

Mohammed repeatedly declared (Koran lxi.) that the Christians had falsified the passage ("I go to my Father and the Paraclete shall come," John xvi. 7) promising the advent of the Comforter, παράκλητος, (ibid. xiv. 20; xv. 26) by substituting the latter word for περικλυτός glorious, renowned, i. e., Ahmed or Mohammed=the praised one. This may have been found in the Arabic translation of the Gospels made by Warakah, cousin to Mohammed's first wife; and hence in Koran lxi. we find Jesus prophesying of an Apostle "whose name shall be Ahmad." The word has consequently been inserted into the Arabic Gospel of Saint Barnabas (Dabistan iii. 67). Moslems accept the Pentateuch, the Psalter and the Gospel; but assert (Koran, passim) that all extant copies have been Hopelessly corrupted, and they are right. Moses, to whom the Pentateuch is attributed, notices his own death and burial – "the mair the miracle," said the old Scotch lady. The "Psalms of David" range over a period of some five hundred years, and there are three Isaiahs who pass with the vulgar for one. The many apocryphal Gospels, all of which have been held genuine and canonical at different times and in different places, prove that the four, which are still in use, were retained because they lack the manifest absurdities of their discarded rivals.

397

Arab. "Labbayka;" the Pilgrimage-cry (Night xxii.) which in Arabic is,

Labbayk' Allahumma, Labbayk'!

Lá Sharíka laka, Labbayk'!

Inna 'l-hamda w'al ni'amata laka wa'l mulk!

Labbayk' Allahumma, Labbayk'!

Some add "Here am I, and I honour Thee, the son of Thy two slaves; beneficence and good are all between Thy hands." With the "Talbiyah" the pilgrim should bless the Prophet, pray Allah to grant Heaven and exclaim, "By Thy mercy spare us from the pains of Hell-fire!" (Pilgrimage iii. 232.) Labbayka occurs in the verses attributed to Caliph Ali; so labba=he faced and yalubbu=it faces (as one house faces another); lastly, he professed submission to Allah; in which sense, together with the verbal noun "Talbiyah," it is used by Al-Hariri (Pref. and Ass. of Su'adah).

398

Arab. Kissís (plur. Kusús) from Ἐκκλησιαστὴς.

399

Koran ii. The "red cow" is evidently the "red heifer" of Barnabas, chapt. vii.

400

Arab. "Al-Jásalík"=Καθολικὸς.

401

This is from the first "Gospel of Infancy," wherein Jesus said to his mother, "Verily I am Jesus, the Son of God, the Word which thou hast brought forth, as the Angel Gabriel did declare unto thee; and my Father hath sent me to save the world" (chapt. i. 2). The passage is virtually quoted in the Koran (chapt. iii. 141), of course omitting "the Son of God."

402

Mohammed allowed his locks to grow down to his ear-lobes but never lower.