[49]. Arab. “Dání wa gharíb” = friend and foe. The lines are partly from the Mac. Edit. and partly from the Bresl. Edit., v. 55.
[50]. Arab. “Wá Rahmatá-hu!” a form now used only in books
[51]. Before noted. The relationship, like that of foster-brother, has its rights, duties and privileges.
[52]. Arab. “Istikhárah,” before explained as praying for direction by omens of the rosary, opening the Koran and reading the first verse sighted, etc., etc. At Al-Medinah it is called Khírah and I have suggested (Pilgrimage, ii. 287) that it is a relic of the Azlam or Kidah (divining arrows) of paganism. But the superstition is not local: we have the Sortes Virgilianæ (Virgil being a magician) as well as Coranicæ.
[53]. Arab. Wujúd al-Habíb, a pun, also meaning, “Wujúd my beloved.”
[54]. Arab. “Khilál,” as an emblem of attenuation occurring in Al-Hariri (Ass. of Alexandria, etc.); also thin as a spindle (Maghzal), as a reed, and dry as a pair of shears. In the Ass. of Barka’id the toothpick is described as a beautiful girl. The use of this cleanly article was enjoined by Mohammed:—“Cleanse your mouths with toothpicks; for your mouths are the abode of the guardian angels; whose pens are the tongues, and whose ink is the spittle of men; and to whom naught is more unbearable than remains of food in the mouth.” A mighty apparatus for a small matter; but in very hot lands cleanliness must rank before godliness.
[55]. The sense is ambiguous. Lane renders the verse:—“Thou resemblest it (rose) not of my portion” and gives two explanations “because he is of my portion,” or, “because his cheek cannot be rosy if mine is not.” Mr. Payne boldly translates—
If the rose ape his cheek, “Now God forfend,” I say, “That of my portion aught to pilfer thou shouldst try.”
[56]. Arab. “líf” (not “fibres which grow at the top of the trunk,” Lane ii. 577); but the fibre of the fronds worked like the cocoa-nut fibre which forms the now well-known Indian “coir.” This “líf” is also called “filfil” or “fulfil” which Dr. Jonathan Scott renders “pepper” (Lane i. 8) and it forms a clean succedaneum for one of the uncleanest articles of civilisation, the sponge. It is used in every Hammam and is (or should be) thrown away after use.
[57]. Arab. “Shinf;” a coarse sack, a “gunny-bag;” a net compared with such article.