A Literary History of the Arabs

by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson

The ascetic "lives the life of a king" (ibid., p. 187, l. 5). Contented men are the noblest of all (p. 148, l. 2). So the great Persian mystic, Jalálu ’l-Dín Rúmí, says in reference to the perfect Ṣúfí (Díván-i Shams-i Tabríz, No. viii, v. 3 in my edition): Mard-i khudá sháh buvad zír-i dalq, "the man of God is a king 'neath dervish-cloak;" and eminent spiritualists are frequently described as "kings of the (mystic) path." I do not deny, however, that this metaphor may have been originally suggested by the story of Buddha.

[542] Díwán, p. 25, l. 3 sqq. Abu ’l-‘Atáhiya took credit to himself for introducing 'the language of the market-place' into his poetry (ibid. p. 12, l. 3 seq.).

[543] Díwán (Beyrout, 1886), p. 23, l. 13 et seqq.

[544] Ibid., p. 51, l. 2.

[545] Ibid., p. 132, l. 3.

[546] Ibid., p. 46, l. 16.

[547] Díwán, p. 260, l. 11 et seqq.

[548] Ibid., p. 295, l. 14 et seqq.

[549] Ibid., p. 287, l. 10 seq.

[550] Ibid., p. 119, l. 11.