[276] Qur’ān xlvii. 17.
[277] Qur’ān vii. 171.
[278] Tradition relates that at first, Muhammed used to pronounce his sermon seated on the floor in the midst of his congregation, with his back against a certain wooden pillar. The congregation increasing, he was obliged to adopt the use of a raised platform, a kind of pulpit, so as to be seen and heard of all. The deserted pillar is the one spoken of.
[279] This is a traditionary legend.
[280] The circumambulation of the “House of God” at Mekka, is one of the ceremonies of a pilgrimage, &c.
[281] Qur’ān i. 5.
[282] Hātim Tāyī is the proverbial prince of Arabian generosity. Many anecdotes are current respecting him. His full name was Hātim, son of ‘Abdu-’llāh, son of Sa’d, of the tribe of Tayyi’. For instances of his generosity, as handed down by tradition from a time shortly prior to the promulgation of Islām, see Mr. Clouston’s “Arabian Poetry for English Readers,” p. 406; London, 1881; Trübner & Co., Ludgate Hill. But Hātim lived and died before the Caliphs ruled. He, too, was a poet.
[283] Qur’ān xx. 97, makes the wandering Jew, Sāmirī, who produced the golden calf, to shun every one, saying, “Touch me not!”
[284] Vicar of God is one of the Caliph’s titles. This “pretender” must have been some particular adversary of the poet’s. The satire is bitter.
[285] Bāyezīd of Bestām, in Persia, an early Gnostic saint; died A.D. 874 (A.H. 261).