[178]. i.e. Koranic versets.
[179]. In the Book of Sindibad this is the “Story of the Prince who went out to hunt and the stratagem which the Wazir practised on him.”
[180]. I have noted that it is a dire affront to an Arab if his first cousin marry any save himself without his formal leave.
[181]. i.e. the flowery, the splendid; an epithet of Fatimah, the daughter of the Apostle “the bright blooming.” Fátimah is an old Arab name of good omen, “the weaner:” in Egypt it becomes Fattúmah (an incrementative = “great weaner”); and so Amínah, Khadíjah and Nafísah on the banks of the Nile are barbarised to Ammúnah, Khaddúgah and Naffúsah.
[182]. i.e. his coming misfortune, the phrase being euphemistic.
[183]. Arab. Ráy: in theology it means “private judgment” and Ráyí (act. partic.) is a Rationalist. The Hanaff School is called “Asháb al-Ráy” because it allows more liberty of thought than the other three orthodox.
[184]. The angels in Al-Islam ride piebalds.
[185]. In the Bresl. Edit. “Zájir” (xii. 286).
[186]. This is the “King’s Son and the Merchant’s Wife” of the Hitopadesa (chapt. i.) transferred to all the Prakrit versions of India. It is the Story of the Bath-keeper who conducted his Wife to the Son of the King of Kanuj in the Book of Sindibad.
[187]. The pious Caliph Al-Muktadi bi Amri ‘llah (A.H. 467 = A.D. 1075) was obliged to forbid men entering the baths of Baghdad without drawers.