[333]. Koran (chapt. iii. 17) “Verily the true religion in the sight of Allah is Islam” i.e. resigning or devoting myself to the Lord, with a suspicion of “Salvation” conveyed by the root Salima, he was safe.
[334]. Arab. “Sá’ikah,” which is supposed to be a stone. The allusion is to Antar’s sword, “Dhámi,” made of a stone, black, brilliant and hard as a rock (an aerolite), which had struck a camel on the right side and had come out by the left. The blacksmith made it into a blade three feet long by two spans broad, a kind of falchion or chopper, cased it with gold and called it Dhámi (the “Trenchant”) from its sharpness. But he said to the owner:—
The sword is trenchant, O son of the Ghalib clan,
Trenchant in sooth, but where is the sworder-man?
Whereupon the owner struck off the maker’s head, a most satisfactory answer to all but one.
[335]. Arab. “Kutá’ah”: lit. a bit cut off, fragment, nail-paring, and here un diminutif. I have described this scene in Pilgrimage iii. 68. Latro often says, “Thy gear is wanted by the daughter of my paternal uncle” (wife), and thus parades his politeness by asking in a lady’s name.
[336]. As will appear the two brothers were joined by a party of horsemen.
[337]. “Four” says the Mac. Edit. forgetting Falhun with characteristic inconsequence.
[338]. Muhammad (the deserving great praise) is the name used by men; Ahmad (more laudable) by angels, and Mahmúd (praised) by devils. For a similar play upon the name, “Allah, Allah, Muhammad ast” (God is God the praiseworthy), see Dabistan ii. 416.
[339]. The Mac. Edit. here gives “Sás,” but elsewhere “Sásá,” which is the correct form.