[FN#144] Breslau Text, vol. vii. pp. 251-4, Night dlxv.
[FN#145] Syn. doorkeper (hajib).
[FN#146] Ibn Khelbkan, who tells this story in a somewhat different style, on the authority of Er Reshid's brother Ibrahim ben El Mehdi, calls the person whom Jaafer expected "Abdulmelik ben Behran, the intendant of his demesnes."
[FN#147] The wearing of silk and bright colours is forbidden to the strict Muslim and it is generally considered proper, in a man of position, to wear them only on festive occasions or in private, as in the text.
[FN#148] The Abbasides or descendants of El Abbas, the Prophet's uncle, were noted for their excessive pride and pretensions to strict orthodoxy in all outward observances. Abdulmelik ben Salih, who was a well-known general and statesman of the time, was especially renowned for pietism and austerity of manners.
[FN#149] i.e. Do not let my presence trouble you.
[FN#150] As a member of the reigning family, he of course wore black clothes, that being the especial colour of the house of Abbas, adopted by them in opposition to the rival (and fallen) dynasty of the Benou Umeyyeh, whose family colour was white, that of the house of Ali being green.
[FN#151] About £25,000. Ibn Khellikan makes the debt four millions of dirhems or about £100,000
[FN#152] Breslau text, vol vii, pp.258-60, Night dlxvii.
[FN#153] Fourth Khalif of the house of Abbas, A.D. 785-786.