[848] That it was extant in some shape before 1150 a.d. seems to be beyond doubt. Cf. the Journal Asiatique for 1838, p. 383; Wüstenfeld, Gesch. der Arab. Aerzte, No. 172.
[849] Antar, a Bedoueen Romance, translated from the Arabic by Terrick Hamilton (London, 1820), vol. i, p. >xxiii seq. See, however, Flügel's Catalogue of the Kais. Kön. Bibl. at Vienna, vol. ii, p. 6. Further details concerning the 'Romance of ‘Antar' will be found in Thorbecke's ‘Antarah (Leipzig, 1867), p. 31 sqq. The whole work has been published at Cairo in thirty-two volumes.
[850] Sha‘rání, Yawáqít (ed. of Cairo, 1277 a.h.), p. 18.
[851] In 1417 a.d. The reader will find a full and most interesting account of Nasímí, who is equally remarkable as a Turkish poet and as a mystic belonging to the sect of the Ḥurúfís, in Mr. E. J. W. Gibb's History of Ottoman Poetry, vol. i, pp. 343-368. It is highly improbable that the story related here gives the true ground on which he was condemned: his pantheistic utterances afford a sufficient explanation, and the Turkish biographer, Laṭífí, specifies the verse which cost him his life. I may add that the author of the Shadharátu ’l-Dhahab calls him Nasímu ’l-Dín of Tabríz (he is generally said to be a native of Nasím in the district of Baghdád), and observes that he resided in Aleppo, where his followers were numerous and his heretical doctrines widely disseminated.
[852] The 112th chapter of the Koran. See p. 164.
[853] Founder of the Shádhiliyya Order of Dervishes. He died in 1258 a.d.
[854] A distinguished jurist and scholar who received the honorary title, 'Sultan of the Divines.' He died at Cairo in 1262 a.d.
[855] An eminent canon lawyer († 1370 a.d.).
[856] It was the custom of the Zoroastrians (and, according to Moslem belief, of the Christians and other infidels) to wear a girdle round the waist.
[857] See Materials for a History of the Wahabys, by J. L. Burckhardt, published in the second volume of his Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys (London, 1831). Burckhardt was in Arabia while the Turks were engaged in re-conquering the Ḥijáz from the Wahhábís. His graphic and highly interesting narrative has been summarised by Dozy, Essai sur l'histoire de l'Islamisme, ch. 13.