The Mesnevi

429 Qur’ān liii. 17. There is a pun here. The Arabic for “swerved” and the Persian for “a crow,” are identical in orthography,—zāg. Muhammed has been called by other Persian poets: “The nightingale of the garden of mà zāg;” which really means “swerved not,” but may be rendered: “we, the crows.”

430 The “Limner” is, here, God, of course. He was intoxicated with love, not wine.

431 Qur’ān ii. 88.

432 These were the Christian Arabs of Nejrān. They sent an embassy to Muhammed at Medina. He proposed to them a trial by invocation of God’s curse on the liars, their wives, and children. He uttered it; they shrank, and accepted submission to him, on condition of paying tribute.

433 The “canda draconis” was the “descending node,” one of the ecliptical points. The “forbidden fruit,” in Islām, is held to have been wheat.