Mythology among the Hebrews and Its Historical Development

(Metamorph. I. 101–2, 109–10.)

214. History of Herodotus, tr. G. Rawlinson, IV. c. 46, note 5.

215. Muslim’s Collection of Traditions (ed. of Cairo with commentary), I. 138; al-Jauharî, s.r. fdd. Cf. Dozy, Geschichte der Mauren in Spanien, Leipzig 1874, I. 17.

216. Al-Buchârî, Recueil des Traditions Musulmans (ed. Krehl), II. 385 (LX. No. 29).

217. Al-Buchârî, Recueil &c., II. 74 (XL I. No. 20).

218. Al-Buchârî, Recueil &c. p. 67, No. 2. It is true these expressions might be balanced by a few somewhat opposite in character, such as that which declares that in the judgment of the Prophet the best business is Trade; according to other reporters Manufacture; according to others (whose version is regarded as the correct one) Agriculture (see al-Nawawî on Muslim’s Collection of Traditions, IV. 32). Still such sentences, even when confirmed by others, cannot weaken the force of those cited in the text. I must also mention in conclusion that al Shaʿrânî in his Book of the Balance (Kitâb al-mîzân, Cairo [Castelli], 1279, II. 68) mentions this question as a point of difference among the canonical authorities of Islamic theology: the school of al-Shâfeʿî regards trade as the noblest occupation, whilst the three other Imâms (Abû Ḥanîfâ, Mâlik b. Anas, and Aḥmed b. Ḥanbal) declare for field-labour and manufactures.

219. See Alfred von Kremer, Culturgeschichte des Orients unter den Khalifen, I. 16.

220. Von Kremer, ibid. pp. 71, 77; Culturgeschichtlichte Streifzüge, p. xi.

221. Ibn ʿAbdi Rabbihi, Kitâb al-ʿiḳd al-ferîd, ed. Bûlâḳ 1293 A.H., vol. III. p. 347.

222. Futuh as-Shâm, being an account of the Moslem conquests in Syria, ed. Nassau Lees, Calcutta 1854, I. 9 et seq.

223. This satirical reproach of the Bedâwî often occurs, e.g. sometimes in the Romance of ʿAntar in passages which are not accessible to me at the present moment. We meet with it also in the Persian king Yezdegird’s satire on the Arabs (Chroniques de Tabari, transl. by Zotenberg, III. 387). Later also, in Ibn Baṭûṭâ, Voyages, III. 282, where the Indian Prince describes his Beduin brother-in-law Seif al-Dîn Ġada, who had at first charmed him, but afterwards been disgraced for his want of manners, by the epithet mûsh châr, i.e. ‘field-rat-eater;’ ‘for,’ adds the traveller, ‘the Arabs of the Desert eat field-rats.’ See also Aġânî, III. 33, l. 4 from below, where Bashshâr b. Burd accuses a Bedâwî of hunting mice (ṣeydu faʿrin).

224. Prolégomènes, trad. par de Slane, pp. 255–273.

225. A collection of similar poetical passages is to be found in Freytag’s Commentary on the amâsâ, pp. 601 and 606.

226. Ḥamâsâ, Text, p. 340, 3 infr.

227. E.g. Yâḳûṭ, Geograph. Dict., II. 118. s.v. gamal.

228. al-Nâbiġâ, III. 2.

229. Journal Asiatique, 1868, II. 378.

230. Just as can be said of another passage closely connected with the above, Is. XL. 26. On the contrary, especially in the latter passage, the host of stars is compared to a war-host, ṣâbhâ; and the idea that each star is a valiant warrior is also not strange to Arabic poetry (e.g. Ḥamâsâ, p. 36, l. 5, comp. Num. XXIV. 17); for the conception of ṣebâ hash-shamayîm ‘host or army of heaven,’ has taken as firm root among the Arabs as among the Hebrews. ‘For thou art the Sun,’ says al-Nâbiġâ (VIII. 10) to king Noʿmân, ‘and the other kings are stars; when the former rises, not a single star of these latter are any longer visible.’ With this is connected the expression juyûsh al-ẓalâm ‘the armies of darkness’ (Romance of ʿAntar, XVIII. 8. 6, XXV. 60. 69). In the last passage, indeed, it stands in parallelism with ʿasâkir al-ḍiʾâ w-al-ibtisâm ‘armies of light and smiling,’ just as with the synonymous juyûsh al-ġeyhab (ʿAntar, XV. 58. 11).

231. On this peculiarity of the poets of the towns an opinion of ʿAjjâj very much to the point occurs in the Kitâb al-aġânî, II. 18.

232. The Heart of Africa, I. 28.

233. Quer durch Afrika, I. 121.

234. Palgrave, Central and Eastern Arabia, I. 463.

235. De Sacrificio Kajin, p. 169, ed. Mangey, Oxford 1742. In another treatise Philo distinguishes two kinds of shepherds and two kinds of agriculturists, of which one kind is blameworthy, and the other praiseworthy. There is a distinction between ποιμήν and κηνοτροφός, and on the other hand between γῆς ἐργάτης (probably answering to the Hebrew ʿôbêd adâmâ), and γεωργός (probably intended to represent the Hebrew îsh adâmâ). See De Agricultura, p. 303 et seq.

236. Geographische und ethnologische Bilder, pp. 191–97.

237. Lettres persanes, Lettre CXXI.

238. See Herberstein, Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii, Vienna 1549, p. 61, where a Tatar formula of execration is said to be ‘ut eodem in loco perpetuo tamquam Christianus haereas.’

239. Travels in Arabia, ed. Ouseley, 1829, p. 381.

240. A notable illustration of this relation is presented by the Arabic proverb, ‘If you hear that the smith (of the caravan) is packing up in the evening, be sure that he will not go till the following morning’ (al-Meydânî, Bûlâḳ edition, I. 34). Notice the occasion of the origin of this proverb, in the commentary on the passage.

241. Personal Narrative of Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, 2nd ed. 1857, I. 117.

242. Burton’s First Footsteps in Eastern Africa, p. 240.

243. Kant’s Kleinere Schriften zur Logik und Metaphysik, herausgegeben von Kirchmann, II. 4 (Philosoph. Bibliothek, Hermann, Bd. XXXIII.).

244. Osiander (Zeitschrift der D. M. G., 1853, VII. 437) is inclined to combine with this the old Arabic Rayâm or Riyâm.

245. The added Abh in Abhrâm, compared with the other expressions in which the quality of father is not emphasized, finds an exact parallel in Δη ( = Γη)-μητήρ and Γαῖα.

246. Opuscula Arabica (ed. W. Wright, Leyden 1859), p. 30. 2; 34. 5. This usage is made possible by the signification Cloud, which is peculiar to the word samâ in Arabic (Sprenger, Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammed, I. 544).

247. Schweinfurth, The Heart of Africa, I. 311.

248. See the Count von Baudissin, Studien zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte, Leipzig 1876, I. p. 306 et seqq.

249. Or Future, or Imperfect, as it is more generally termed.—Tr.

250. It is worthy of note that in Arabic pluralia fracta can be formed from this class of proper names. An interesting example of this is Tanʿumu b. Ḳamiʾata, the name of the ancestor of the tribe Tanâʿum. See Ibn Dureyd, Kitâb al-ishtiḳâḳ, p. 85 and gloss h.

251. Strictly the Dawn.—Tr.

252. This theory explains the connexion of ṣârach with zârach ‘to be bright.’ Accordingly, I should like to place the Hebrew ṣâraʿath lepra in this same etymological group, as the relationship between ע and ה does not require demonstration; the signification would then be that of ‘whiteness’ (see Lev. XIII. 3, 4).