The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume V Part 39

[FN#281] Lane (ii. 636) omits this tale, "as it would not only require a volume of commentary but be extremely tiresome to most readers." Quite true; but it is valuable to Oriental Students who are beginning their studies, as an excellent compendium of doctrine and practice according to the Shafi'i School.

[FN#282] p.r.o.nounced Aboo 'l-Husn = Father of Beauty, a fancy name.

[FN#283] As in most hot climates so in Egypt the dead are buried at once despite the risk of vivisepulture. This seems an instinct with the Semitic (Arabian) race teste Abraham, as with the Gypsy.

Hence the Moslems have invoked religious aid. The Mishkat al-Masabih (i. 387) makes Mohammed say, "When any one of you dieth you may not keep him in the house but bear him quickly to his grave"; and again, "Be quick in raising up the bier: for if the dead have been a good man, it is good to bear him gravewards without delay; and if bad, it is frowardness ye put from your necks."

[FN#284] This biting of the hand in Al-Hariri expresses bitterness of repentance and he uses more than once the Koranic phrase (chapter vii., 148) "Sukita fi aydihim," lit. where it (the biting) was fallen upon their hands; i.e. when it repented them; "sukita" being here not a pa.s.sive verb as it appears, but an impersonal form uncommon in Arabic. The action is instinctive, a survival of the days when man was a snarling and snapping animal (physically) armed only with claws and teeth.

[FN#285] Arab. "'Alam," applied to many things, an "old man" of stones (Kakur), a signpost with a rag on the top, etc.

[FN#286] The moon of Ramazan was noticed in Night ix. That of Sha'aban (eighth month) begins the fighting month after the conclusion of the Treuga Dei in Rajab. See Night ccclxxviii.

[FN#287] These lines have occurred in Night cccxix. I give Mr.

Payne's version for variety.

[FN#288] i.e. in her prime, at fourteen to fifteen.

[FN#289] i.e. pale and yellow.

[FN#290] The word means the wood; but it alludes to a preparation made by levigating it on a stone called in India "Sandlasa." The gruel-like stuff is applied with the right hand to the right side of the neck, drawing the open fingers from behind forwards so as to leave four distinct streaks, then down to the left side, and so on to the other parts of the body.

[FN#291] Arab. "Haykal" which included the Porch, the Holy and the Holy of Holies. The word is used as in a wider sense by Josephus A. J. v. v. 3. In Moslem writings it is applied to a Christian Church generally, on account of its images.

[FN#292] These lines having occurred before, I here quote Mr.

Payne.

[FN#293] Arab writers often mention the smile of beauty, but rarely, after European fashion, the laugh, which they look upon as undignified. A Moslem will say "Don't guffaw (Kahkahah) in that way; leave giggling and grinning to monkeys and Christians."

The Spaniards, a grave people, remark that Christ never laughed.

I would draw the reader's attention to a theory of mine that the open-hearted laugh has the sound of the vowels a and o; while e, i, and u belong to what may be roughly cla.s.sed as the rogue order.

[FN#294] i.e. gaining the love of another, love.

[FN#295] i.e. the abrogated pa.s.sages and those by which they are abrogated. This division is necessary for "inspired volumes,"

which always abound in contradictions. But the charge of "opportunism" brought against the Koran is truly absurd; as if "revelation" could possibly be aught save opportune.

[FN#296] Koran iv. 160, the chapter "Women."

[FN#297] She unveiled, being a slave-girl and for sale. If a free woman show her face to a Moslem, he breaks out into violent abuse, because the act is intended to let him know that he is looked upon as a small boy or an eunuch or a Chriastian--in fact not a man.

[FN#298] Ilah=Heb. El, a most difficult root, meaning strength, interposition, G.o.d (Numen) "the" (article) "don't" (do not), etc.

etc.

[FN#299] As far as I know Christians are the only worshippers who kneel as if their lower legs were cut off and who "join hands"

like the captive offering his wrists to be bound (dare ma.n.u.s).

The posture, however, is not so ign.o.ble as that of the Moslem "Sijdah" (prostration) which made certain North African tribes reject Al-Islam saying, "These men show their hind parts to heaven."

[FN#300] i.e. saying "I intend (purpose) to pray (for instance) the two-bow prayer (ruka'tayn) of the day-break," etc.

[FN#301] So called because it prohibits speaking with others till the prayer is ended.

[FN#302] Lit. "any thing opposite;" here used for the Ka'abah towards which men turn in prayer; as Guebres face the sun or fire and idolators their images. "Al-Kiblatayn" (= the two Kiblahs) means Meccah and Jerusalem, which was faced by Moslems as well as Jews and Christians till Mohammed changed the direction. For the occasion of the change see my Pilgrimage, ii. 320.

[FN#303] Which includes Tayammum or washing with sand. This is a very cleanly practice in a hot, dry land and was adopted long before Mohammed. Cedrenus tells of baptism with sand being administered to a dying traveller in the African desert.

[FN#304] The Koranic order for Wuzu is concise and as usual obscure, giving rise to a host of disputes and casuistical questions. Its text runs (chapt. v.), "O true believers, when you prepare to pray, wash (Ghusl) your faces, and your hands unto the elbows; and rub (Mas-h) your hands and your feet unto the ankles; and if ye be unclean by having lain with a woman, wash (Ghusl) yourselves all over." The purifications and ceremonious ablutions of the Jews originated this command; and the early Christians did very unwisely in not making the bath obligatory. St. Paul (Heb.

xi. 22) says, "Let us draw near with a true heart...having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with clean (or pure) water." But this did not suffice. Hence the Eastern Christian, in hot climates where cleanliness should rank before G.o.dliness, is distinguished by his dirt which as a holy or reverend man he makes still dirtier, and he offers an ugly comparison with the Moslem and especially the Hindu. The neglect of commands to wash and prohibitions to drink strong waters are the two grand physical objections of the Christian code of morality.

[FN#305] Arab. "Istinshak"=snuffing up water from the palm of the right hand so as to clean thoroughly the nostrils. This "function" is unreasonably neglected in Europe, to the detriment of the mucous membrane and the olfactory nerves.

[FN#306] So as to wash between them. The thick beard is combed out with the fingers.

[FN#307] Poor human nature! How sad to compare ita pretensions with its actualities.

[FN#308] Complete ablution is rendered necessary chiefly by the emission of s.e.m.e.n either in copulation or in nocturnal pollution.

The water must be pure and not less than a certain quant.i.ty, and it must touch every part of the skin beginning with the right half of the person and ending with the left. Hence a plunge-bath is generally preferred.

[FN#309] Arab. "Ta'mim," lit. crowning with turband, or tiara, here=covering, i.e. wetting.

[FN#310] This practice (saying "I purpose to defer the washing of the feet," etc.) is now somewhat obsolete.

[FN#311] Arabs have a prejudice against the hydropathic treatment of wounds, holding that water poisons them: and, as the native produce usually contains salt, soda and magnesia, they are justified by many cases. I once tried water-bandages in Arabia and failed dismally.

[FN#312] The sick man says his prayers lying in bed, etc., and as he best can.

[FN#313] i.e. saying, "And peace be on us and on the worshippers of Allah which be pious."

[FN#314] i.e. saying, " I seek refuge with Allah from Satan the Stoned."

[FN#315] Certain parts should be recited aloud (jahr) and others sotto voce (with mussitation=Khafi). No mistake must be made in this matter where a Moslem cannot err.

[FN#316] Hence an interest of two-and-a-half percent is not held to be "Riba" or unlawful gain of money by money, usury.

[FN#317] The meal must be finished before the faster can plainly distinguish the white thread from the black thread (Koran ii.

183); some understand this literally, others apply it to the dark and silvery streak of zodiacal light which appears over the Eastern horizon an hour or so before sunrise. The fast then begins and ends with the disappearance of the sun. I have noticed its pains and penalties in my Pilgrimage, i. 110, etc.

[FN#318] For the "Azan" or call to prayer see Lane, M. E., chapt.

xviii. The chant, however, differs in every country, and a practical ear will know the land by its call.

[FN#319] Arab. "Hadis" or saying of the Apostle.

[FN#320] "Al-I'itikaf" resembles the Christian "retreat;" but the worshipper generally retires to a mosque, especially in Meccah.

The Apostle practised it on Jabal Hira and other places.

[FN#321] The word is the Heb. "Hagg" whose primary meaning is circularity of form or movement. Hence it applied to religious festivals in which dancing round the idol played a prime part; and Lucian of "saltation" says, dancing was from the beginning and coeval with the ancient G.o.d, Love. But man danced with joy before he worshipped, and, when he invented a systematic saltation, he made it represent two things, and only two things, love and war, in most primitive form, courtship and fighting.

[FN#322] Two adjoining ground-waves in Meccah. For these and for the places subsequently mentioned the curious will consult my Pilgrimage, iii. 226, etc.

[FN#323] The 'Umrah or lesser Pilgrimage, I have noted, is the ceremony performed in Meccah at any time out of the pilgrim-season proper, i.e. between the eighth and tenth days of the twelfth lunar month Zu 'l-Hijjah. It does not ent.i.tle the Moslem to be called Hajj (pilgrim) or Haji as Persians and Indians corrupt the word.