The Thousand and One Nights Volume I Part 4

NOTE 39. The famous Sa?dee attained the age here mentioned; but instances of equal longevity, among the Orientals, are rare.[110]

NOTE 40. To perform the ablution preparatory to prayer in the expectation of almost immediate death, is a supererogatory act which, I believe, is seldom observed.

NOTE 41. Both religion and climate make the Muslim an early riser. It is his duty to perform the first of the five daily prayers at, or soon after, daybreak; and he generally awakes before this period. While Shahriyar, therefore, was waiting for the dawn of day to acquit himself of this duty, in accordance with the common custom of Mohammadan kings, Shahrazad amused him by the recitation of her tales. That he should be described as thus strict with regard to religious exercises, when about to give orders for the murder of his innocent wife, needs not excite our surprise: such conduct is consistent with the character of many Muslims.

In the year 1834, when I was residing in Cairo, a General in the service of Mo?ammad 'Alee hired a large party of men to perform a recital of the ?ur-an, in his house in that city, and then went up into his ?areem, and strangled his wife, in consequence of a report which accused her of incontinence. The religious ceremony was designed as preparatory to this act, though the punishment of the woman was contrary to the law, since her husband neither produced four witnesses of the imputed crime, nor allowed her to clear herself of the charge by her own oath. Another case of diligence in the performance of a religious duty, accompanied by the contemplation of murder, but murder on a larger scale, occurred in the same city shortly after. Suleyman agha, the Sila?dar, being occupied in directing the building of a public fountain, as a work of charity to place to the account of a deceased brother, desired to extend the original plan of the structure; and to do this, it was necessary that he should purchase two houses adjoining the plot in which the foundations had been laid: but the owners of these houses refused to sell them, and he therefore employed a number of workmen to undermine them by night, and cause them to fall upon their inhabitants. His scheme, however, but partially succeeded, and no lives were sacrificed.

This man was notorious for cruelty, but he was a person of pleasing and venerable countenance, and engaging manners: whenever I chanced to meet him, I received from him a most gracious salutation. He died before I quitted Egypt.

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[Ill.u.s.tration]

[12] An Apostle is distinguished from a mere Prophet by his having a _book_ revealed to him.

[13] In quoting the ?ur-an, I distinguish the verses in accordance with the numbers in Fluegel's excellent edition of the original text: 4to Lipsiae 1834. These numbers agree (excepting in a few cases, where a disagreement was found absolutely necessary) with those in Hinckelmann's edition, which is that most commonly quoted by the learned. I am sorry to see that Marracci's numbers have been adopted in a late edition of Sale's translation, and that the distinction between the words of the text and the explanatory interpolations has there been neglected. Its utility to Arabic scholars, and its general fidelity, have been thus greatly lessened; and it appears to me very desirable that it should be superseded as soon as possible by another edition.

[14] Mo?ammad's answers to 'Abd-Allah Ibn-Selam, quoted by Ibn-El-Wardee (MS. in my possession); and Mek-?ool, quoted by the same author, and Mishkat el-Ma?abee?, vol. ii. pp. 652 and 653.

[15] Ibn-Esh-She?neh (MS. in my possession).

[16] In another MS. of the same author in my possession, "yellow."

[17] In his "Khi?a?" (MS. in my possession).

[18] ?ur-an, ch. xiii. v. 3, and several other places.

[19] Idem, ch. ii. v. 20, and ch. lxxviii. v. 6.

[20] Idem, ch. lxxi. v. 18.

[21] Mek-?ool, quoted by Ibn-El-Wardee.

[22] Wahb Ibn-Munebbih, quoted by El-Ma?reezee, is his "Khi?a?."

[23] Ibn-El-Wardee, however, says that its name is derived from its terrors and difficulties.

[24] These are monsters who will be described in a subsequent note.

[25] History of El-Khi?r in the "Mir-at ez-Zeman" (MS. in my possession), a great history, whose author died in the year of the Flight 656.

[26] El-?azweenee (MS. in my possession).

[27] Mo?ammad's answers to 'Abd-Allah Ibn-Selam, quoted by Ibn-El-Wardee.

[28] Ibid.

[29] El-?azweenee.

[30] ?ur-an, ch. ii. v. 22, and ch. lxvi. v. 6.

[31] Mir-at ez-Zeman.

[32] Tradition from the Prophet, recorded by Ibn-'Abbas, and quoted by Ibn-El-Wardee; and by El-Is-?a?ee, in describing an earthquake that happened in his life-time.--On the subject of earthquakes, see also the next foot-note.

[33] In Ibn-Esh-She?neh, "Kuyoothan:" the orthography of this word is doubtful, as the vowel-points are not written. As the tradition is related in Ibn-El-Wardee, this bull takes a breath twice in the course of every day (or twenty-four hours); when he exhales, the sea flows; and when he inhales, it ebbs. But it must not be imagined that none of the Arabs have any notion of the true theory of the tides: the more learned among them explain this phenomenon by the influence of the moon.--Many of the Arabs attribute earthquakes to the shaking of this bull.

[34] In Ibn-El-Wardee, a quant.i.ty of sand is introduced between the bull and the fish.

[35] Ed-Demeeree, on the authority of Walib Ibn-Munebbih, quoted by El-Is-?a?ce, _loco laudato_.

[36] Ibn-El-Wardee.

[37] ?ur-an, ch. x.x.xix. v. 67.

[38] Idem, ch. xiv. v. 49.

[39] Idem, ch. lx.x.xix. v. 24.

[40] Khaleel E?-?ahiree, in De Sacy's Chrestomathie Arabe, 2nde ed. tome ii. pp. 10 and 11 of Ar. text.

[41] Ibid.

[42] El-Ma?reezee, quoted by De Sacy, _ubi supra_, pp. 58-62.

[43] Ibn-Khaldoon, in the same, pp. 168 and 169.

[44] Ch. x.x.xii. v. 13.

[45] Mish?at el-Ma?abee?, vol. ii. p. 329.

[46] Burckhardt's "Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys," 8vo ed.

vol. i. pp. 178 and 179.

[47] This tree is called, in Arabic, "ban" and "khilaf" or "khalaf."

[48] The Anacreon of Persia affected to prize the mole upon the cheek of his beloved above the cities of Samar?and and Bukhara.

[49] Lawsonia inermis.

[50] In another a.n.a.lysis of the same kind, it is said that four should be _short_; the hands, the feet, the tongue, and the teeth; but this is metaphorically speaking; the meaning is, that these members should be kept within their proper bounds.

(Kitab el-'Onwan fee Mekaid en-Niswan. MS. in my possession.)

[51] An unnamed author quoted by El-Is-?a?ee, in his account of the 'Abbasee Khaleefeh El-Mutawekkil.

[52] Mir-at ez-Zeman. See also, ?ur-an, ch. v. v. 65.

[53] The term "'Efreet" is sometimes improperly applied to a _good_ Jinnee [and also, in Egypt, to the ghost of a dead person. See "Modern Egyptians," vol. 1. ch. x. Ed.].

[54] Mir-at ez-Zeman.