[256] Luqmān’s story may be read in D’Herbelot, voce “Locman.”
[257] Arabian poets sing of women; often imaginary. In Persia, this is considered very immodest. In Persian poetry, a boy, imaginary also, is always assumed to be the beloved object. Muhammed so addressed his youthful wife, ‘Ā’isha. Humayrā means Rosina,—little rosy-cheeks. See also No. 9, distich 184.
[258] A horseshoe, as a charm, with an absent one’s name on it, placed in the fire, is supposed to exercise a magical influence over him, and make him come there in all speed, even though his feet bleed from his haste.
[259] That “Soul” is God, the “animus mundi.”
[260] Through humility.
[261] The “call” of God is the call to divine service, the ‘Adhān (ezān).
[262] Bilāl, a negro, was the first caller to divine service. He was an early convert, a slave, then ‘Abū-Bekr’s freedman; then Mu’edhdhin.
[263] Mustafà, Chosen, Elect, is one of Muhammed’s titles.
[264] The night of his marriage with Safiyya, after the capture of Khaybar, in the seventh year of the Hijra, as he was returning to Medīna. That night has a special name, based on this circumstance: the night of the early morning halt (laylatu ’t-ta’rīs).
[265] An explanation of this wild expression were much to be desired. Doubtless there is one.