Who doth kindness to men shall be paid again; ✿ Ne’er is kindness lost betwixt God and men.
Then he offered to pay them, from the Treasury, the blood-wit for their father; but they refused, saying, “We forgave him only of our desire unto Allah,[[151]] the Bountiful, the Exalted; and he who is thus intentioned followeth not his benefits with reproach or with mischief.”[[152]] And amongst the tales they relate is that of
[144]. P. N. of the tribe, often mentioned in The Nights.
[145]. Adnan, with whom Arab genealogy begins, is generally supposed to be the eighth (Al-Tabari says the fortieth) descendant from Ishmael and nine generations are placed between him and Fahr (Fihr) Kuraysh. The Prophet cut all disputes short by saying, “Beyond Adnan none save Allah wotteth and the genealogists lie” (Pilgrimage ii. 344). M. C. de Perceval dates Adnan about B.C. 130.
[146]. Koran xxxiii., 38.
[147]. Arab. “Arab al-Arabá,” as before noticed (vol. i. 12) the pure and genuine blood as opposed to the “Musta’aribah,” the “Muta’arribah,” the “Mosarabians” and other Araboids; the first springing from Kahtan (Yaktan?) and the others from Adnan. And note that “Arabi” = a man of pure Arab race, either of the Desert or of the city, while A’arábi applies only to the Desert man, the Badawi.
[148]. Koran xxxviii. 2, speaking of the Unbelievers (i.e. non-Moslems) who are full of pride and contention.
[149]. One of the Asháb, or Companions of the Apostle, that is them who knew him personally (Pilgrimage ii. 80, etc.). The Asháb al-Suffah (Companions of the bench or sofa) were certain houseless Believers lodged by the Prophet (Pilgrimage ii. 143).
[150]. Hence Omar is entitled “Al-Adil” = the Just. Readers will remember that by Moslem law and usage murder and homicide are offences to be punished by the family, not by society or its delegates. This system reappears in civilisation under the denomination of “Lynch Law,” a process infinitely distasteful to lawyers (whom it abolishes) and most valuable when administered with due discretion.