The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 02...

417. Koran, x. 25, "until the earth receive its vesture and be adorned with various plants."

418. i.e. the young hair sprouting on the boy's cheek.

419. A fighter for the faith and now a title which follows the name, e.g. Osmán Páshá Gházi, whom the English press dubbed "Gházi Osmán."

420. That is the King of Constantinople.

421. Cassia fistularis, a kind of carob: "Shambar" is the Arab. form of the Persian "Chambar."

422. Koran, ii. 149. Hence the vulgar idea that Martyrs are still alive in the flesh. See my Pilgrimage (ii. 110 and elsewhere) for the romantic and picturesque consequences of that belief. The Commentators (Jalál al-Dín, etc.) play tricks with the Koranic words, "they (martyrs) are not dead but living" (iii. 179) by placing the happy souls in the crops of green birds which eat of the fruits and drink of the waters of Paradise; whereas the reprobates and the (very) wicked are deposited in black birds which drain the sanies and the boiling waters of Hell. Amongst the Greeks a body remaining entire long after death suggests Anathema Maranatha: it is the contrary with Catholic Christians (Boccaccio iv. 5, of the Pot of Basil). Concerning this creed see Maundrell, Letter of 1698.

423. Tor is "Mount Sinai" in the Koran (xcv. I). I have only to repeat my opinion concerning the present site so called: "It is evident that Jebel Serbal dates only from the early days of Coptic Christianity; that Jebel Musa, its Greek rival, rose after the visions of Helena in the fourth century; whilst the building of the Convent by Justinian belongs to A.D. 527. Ras Safsáfah, its rival to the north, is an affair of yesterday, and may be called the invention of Robinson; and Jebel Katerina, to the South is the property of Rüppell" (Midian Revisited i., 237.). I would therefore call the "Sinaitic" Peninsula, Peninsula of Paran in old days and Peninsula of Tor (from its chief port) in our time. It is still my conviction that the true Mount Sinai will be found in Jabal Aráif, or some such unimportant height to the north of the modern Hajj-road from Suez to Akabah. Even about the name (which the Koran writes "Sainá" and "Sínín") there is a dispute: It is usually derived from the root "Sanah"=sentis, a bush; but this is not satisfactory. Our eminent Assyriologist, Professor Sayce, would connect it with "Sin," the Assyrian Moon-god, as Mount Nebo with the Sun-god and he expects to find there the ruins of a Lunar temple as a Solar fane stands on Ba'al Zapuna (Baal Zephon) or the classical Mount Casius.

424. Alluding to the miracle of Aaron's rod (the gift of Jethro) as related in the Koran (chapts. vii. I., xx., etc.), where the Egyptian sorcerers threw down thick ropes which by their magic twisted and coiled like serpents.

425. Arab. "Ayát" lit. "signs," here "miracles of the truth," l.c. Koranic versets as opposed to chapters. The ranks of the enemy represent the latter, sword-cuts the former—a very persuasive mode of preaching.

426. Lane (M. E. chapt. iii.) shows by a sketch the position of the worshipper during this "Salám" which is addressed, some say, to the guardian angels, others suppose to all brother-believers and angels.

427. i.e., where the Syrians found him.

428. i.e., Dedianus Arabised; a name knightly and plebeian.

429. In such tales the Wazir is usually the sharp-witted man, contrasting with the "dummy," his master.

430. Carrier-pigeons were extensively used at this time. The Caliph Al-Násir li-Díni 'llah (regn. A. H. 575=1180) was, according to Ibn Khaldún, very fond of them. The moderns of Damascus still affect them. My successor, Mr. Consul Kirby Green, wrote an excellent report on pigeon-fancying at Damascus. The so-called Maundeville or Mandeville in A.D. 1322 speaks of carrier-pigeons in Syria as a well-known mode of intercourse between lord and lord.

431. Mohammed who declared "There is no monkery in Al-Islam," and who virtually abolished the priest, had an especial aversion to the shaveling (Ruhbán). But the "Gens æterna in quâ nemo nascitur" (Pliny v. 17) managed to appear even in Al-Islam, as Fakirs, Dervishes, Súfis, etc. Of this more hereafter.

432. i.e. her holiness would act like a fascinating talisman.

433. The "smoking out" practice is common amongst the Arabs: hence Marshal Pelissier's so-called "barbarity." The Public is apt to forget that on a campaign the general's first duty is to save his own men by any practice which the laws of fair warfare do not absolutely forbid.

434. i.e., Mohammed, who promised Heaven and threatened Hell.

435. Arab. "Ahr" or "ihr," fornication or adultery, i.e., irreligion, infidelity as amongst the Hebrews. (Isaiah xxiii. 17).

436. A sign of defeat.

437. In English "last night": I have already noted that the Moslem day, like the Jewish and the Scandinavian, begins at sundown; and "layl," a night, is often used to denote the twenty-four hours between sunset and sunset, whilst "yaum," a day, would by us be translated in many cases "battle-day."

438. Iterum the "Himalayan Brothers."

439. Again, Mohammed who promised Good to the Good, and vice versâ.

440. They are sad doggrel like most of the pièces d'occasion inserted in The Nights.

441. Here "Kahwah" (coffee) is used in its original sense of strong old wine. The derivation is "Akhá"=fastidire fecit, causing disinclination for food, the Matambre (kill-hunger) of the Iberians. In old days the scrupulous called coffee "Kihwah" in order to distinguish it from "Kahwah," wine.

442. i.e. Mohammed, a common title.

443. That is, fatal to the scoffer and the impious.

444. Equivalent to our "The Devil was sick," etc.

445. i.e. to the enemy: the North American Indians (so called) use similar forms of "inverted speech"; and the Australian aborigines are in no way behind them.

446. See Vol. i., p. 154 (Night xvi.).

447. Arab. "Sauf," a particle denoting a near future whereas "Sa-" points to one which may be very remote.

448. From the root "Shauh"=having a fascinating eye, terrifying. The Irish call the fascinater "eybitter" and the victim (who is also rhymed to death) "eybitten."

449. i.e., not like the noble-born, strong in enduring the stress of fight.

450. i.e., of Abraham. For the Well Zemzem and the Place of Abraham, see my Pilgrimage (iii. 171-175, etc.), where I described the water as of salt-bitter taste, like that of Epsom (iii. 203). Sir William Muir (in his excellent life of Mahomet, I. cclviii.) remarks that "the flavour of stale water bottled up for months would not be a criterion of the same water freshly drawn;" but soldered tins-full of water drawn a fortnight before are to be had in Calcutta and elsewhere after Pilgrimage time; and analysis would at once detect the salt.

451. Racing was and is a favourite pastime with those hippomanists, the Arabs; but it contrasts strongly with our civilised form being a trial of endurance rather than of speed. The Prophet is said to have limited betting in these words, "There shall be no wagering save on the Khuff (camel's foot), the Hafir (hoof of horse, ass, etc.) or the Nasal (arrow-pile or lance head)."

452. In the Mac. Edit. "Arman"=Armenia, which has before occurred. The author or scribe here understands by "Cæsarea" not the old Turris Stratonis, Herod's city called after Augustus, but Cæsareia the capital of Cappadocia (Pliny, vi. 3), the royal residence before called Mazaca (Strabo).

453. An idiom meaning "a very fool."

454. i.e. Kána (was) má (that which) was (kána).

455. A son being "the lamp of a dark house."

456. When the Israelites refused to receive the Law (the souls of all the Prophets even those unborn being present at the Covenant), Allah tore up the mountain (Sinai which is not mentioned) by the roots and shook it over their heads to terrify them, saying, "Receive the Law which we have given you with a resolution to keep it" (Koran chapt. xlx. 170). Much of this story is from the Talmud (Abodah Sar. 2, 2, Tract Sabbath, etc.) whence Al-Islam borrowed so much of its Judaism, as it took Christianity from the Apocryphal New Testament. This tradition is still held by the Israelites, says Mr. Rodwell (p. 333) who refers it to a misunderstanding of Exod. xix. 17, rightly rendered in the E. version "at the nether part of the mountain."