[9] At Mecca are 'evident signs, with the standing place of Abraham; and
he who enters it is safe' (Koran, iii. 90). On the north side of
the Ka'aba, just by its door, is a slight hollow in the ground, lined
with marble. The spot is called Mi'jan, and it is supposed to be the
place where Abraham and Ishmael kneaded the chalk which they used in
building the Ka'aba: the stone, with the mark of Abraham's feet, is
shown.—Burckhardt, quoted by Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, p. 337;
Burton, ii. 311; Sale, Preliminary Discourse, p. 84.
[10] The Asiatics, generally, have faith in certain properties of chemical productions to alter the nature of the common to the precious metals. I have often witnessed the anxious exertions of Natives in India, who try all sorts of experiments in alchemy, expecting to succeed; but I have never known any other issue from the many laborious efforts of individuals than waste of time and property in these absurd schemes. [Author.]
[11] One of the best-known versions of this famous tale is found in The Decameron of Boccaccio, Day 5, novel 9. It goes back to Buddhist times, and is told of Hatim Tai, the model of Oriental liberality. For numerous parallels, see A.C. Lee, The Decameron of Boccaccio, its Sources and Analogues, 1909, pp. 170 ff.
[12] Labada, 'a rain coat, wrapper'.
[13] This is probably some local tradition, of which no record appears in travellers' accounts of the Ka'aba.
[14] On the north-west side of the Ka'aba is a water-spout, called Mi'zabu'r-Rahmah, 'the spout of Mercy'. It is made of gold, and was sent from Constantinople in A.D. 1573. It carries the rain-water from the roof, and discharges it on the grave of Ishmael.—Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, pp. 257, 337.
[15] The Sharif, 'honourable,' is the local ruler of Mecca and the Hajaz: see Encyclopaedia Britannica, xvii. 952; Burton, Pilgrimage, ii. 3.
[16] As-Salamu-'alai-kum, 'Peace be with you!'
[17] Nadir Shah, born a shepherd, A.D. 1687, aided Shah Tahmasp against Ashraf, leader of the Afghans, defeated him, and restored his master in 1730. Afterwards he deposed Tahmasp, and raised his infant son to the throne of Persia, under the title of 'Abbas III. But he continued to rule the country, and on the death of 'Abbas in 1736 he became king. He marched on India in 1739, defeated the Emperor Muhammad on the historic field of Panipat, sacked Delhi, and perpetrated a horrible massacre. He returned to Persia laden with spoil, but his tyranny excited the hostility of the nobles, and he was assassinated in 1747, and buried at Mashhad.
[18] Sayyid Hashim.