[392] The Zoroastrians must still have been numerous, especially in the outlying provinces, even in the Abbasside reigns. The social and political inducements brought to bear on them, and to induce a profession of Islam that was at first but superficial, are well brought out in ‘The Apology of Al Kindy’ (Smith and Elder, 1882). See especially the speech of Al Mâmûn, pp. xii. and 33.
[393] It is difficult to account for the origin of so strange a tale. It illustrates the heterogeneous materials of which our authorities are still composed.
[394] Ascalon is stated to have fallen as late as A.H. XXIII., i.e. A.D. 643. If so, it must have held out so long only in virtue of its maritime position. But we have no details.
[395] Omar presided every year, excepting the first of his Caliphate, when the struggle with the Byzantine and Persian empires was at its height. He is also said to have thrice visited Mecca for the Omra, or Lesser Pilgrimage. (Life of Mahomet, p. xii.)
[396] The superstition attributing the cessation of the volcano to an extraordinary dole of alms is not worse than that which seeks to check the devastations of Vesuvius by the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius in the cathedral of Naples.
[397] Omar consulted Amru on the subject, who was of the same mind, and said—
Dûd ála ûd
Fa in yaksar al ’ûd
Halak al dûd.
‘An insect floating on a splinter; if the splinter break, the insect perisheth;’ signifying thereby the risks of the mariner.