[51] Juneyd, surname of Abū-’l-Qāsim Sa’īd son of ‘Ubayd, entitled Sultan of the Sūfī Community, a saint who died at Bagdad in A.H. 287 (A.D. 900).
[52] Urmiyya, on the lake of that name, south-west from Tebrīz, the capital city of Azerbāyjān, the north-west province of Persia.
[53] The expression of: “The venerated Sheykh,” might, perhaps, at first, be thought to indicate the Caliph Abū-Bekr, the Sheykh par excellence, as he and his successor ‘Umer (Omar) were designated “the two Sheykhs,” from each being a father-in-law to Muhammed, whereas the third and fourth caliphs, ‘Uthmān (Osmān) and ‘Alī, were his sons-in-law. If this supposition were correct, Jelāl and Husām would have been descended from the same remote ancestor. The commentators, however, I am informed, name a certain “Seyyid Abū-’l-Wefā, the Kurd,” as being intended. Particulars as to his individuality and history have not, unfortunately, reached me.
[54] I have not met with an explanation of this expression, which is again introduced in Tale xiv., distich 40.
[55] The reed-flute is the sacred musical instrument of the Mevlevī dervishes, commonly known as the Dancing Dervishes, from their peculiar religious waltz to the sound of the reed-flute, &c., with outstretched arms and inclined head, in their special public services of commemoration. They love the reed-flute as the symbol of a sighing absent lover.
[56] There is a poetical Eastern notion that pearls are formed in the oysters by dewdrops or raindrops falling into them at a certain season.
[57] Qur’ān vii. 139, where the words are: “And Moses fell down, swooning.”
[58] In Islām a free person cannot legally be bought and sold.
[59] By way of hyperbole, a clever physician is always compared to Jesus, in his miraculous healing powers, by Muslims.
[60] Qur’ān xviii. 23, teaches: “Say not, ‘I will do so and so,’ unless (thou add): ‘God willing.’”