[701] Cf. the saying "Aẓrafu mina ’l-Zindíq" (Freytag, Arabum Proverbia, vol. i, p. 214).
[702] As Professor Bevan points out, it is based solely on the well-known verse (Aghání, iii, 24, l. 11), which has come down to us without the context:—
"Earth is dark and Fire is bright, And Fire has been worshipped ever since Fire existed."
[703] These popular preachers (quṣṣáṣ) are admirably described by Goldziher, Muhamm. Studien, Part II, p. 161 sqq.
[704] The Arabic text of these verses will be found in Goldziher's monograph, p. 122, ll. 6-7.
[705] See a passage from the Kitábu ’l-Ḥayawán, cited by Baron V. Rosen in Zapiski, vol. vi, p. 337, and rendered into English in my Translations from Eastern Poetry and Prose, p. 53. Probably these monks were Manichæans, not Buddhists.
[706] Zaddíq is an Aramaic word meaning 'righteous.' Its etymological equivalent in Arabic is siddíq, which has a different meaning, namely, 'veracious.' Zaddíq passed into Persian in the form Zandík, which was used by the Persians before Islam, and Zindíq is the Arabicised form of the latter word. For some of these observations I am indebted to Professor Bevan. Further details concerning the derivation and meaning of Zindíq are given in Professor Browne's Literary Hist. of Persia (vol. i, p. 159 sqq.), where the reader will also find a lucid account of the Manichæan doctrines.
[707] Ibnu ’l-Athír, vol. viii, p. 229 seq. (anno 323 a.h. = 934-935 a.d.).
[708] Ibid., p. 98.
[709] Ibid., p. 230 seq.