[426]. i.e. That which is ours shall be thine, and that which is incumbent on thee shall be incumbent on us = we will assume thy debts and responsibilities.
[427]. This passage is sadly disjointed in the text: I have followed Mr. Payne’s ordering.
[428]. The Arab of noble tribe is always the first to mount his own mare: he also greatly fears her being put out to full speed by a stranger, holding that this should be reserved for occasions of life and death; and that it can be done to perfection only once during the animal’s life.
[429]. The red (Ahmar) dromedary like the white-red (Sahab) were most valued because they are supposed best to bear the heats of noon; and thus “red camels” is proverbially used for wealth. When the head of Abu Jahl was brought in after the Battle of Bedr, Mahommed exclaimed, “’Tis more acceptable to me than a red camel!”
[430]. i.e. Couriers on dromedaries, the only animals used for sending messages over long distances.
[431]. These guest-fires are famous in Arab poetry. So Al-Harírí (Ass. of Banu Haram) sings:—
A beacon fire I ever kindled high;
i.e. on the hill-tops near the camp, to guide benighted travellers. Also the Lamíyat al-Ajam says:—
The fire of hospitality is ever lit on the high stations.
This natural telegraph was used in a host of ways by the Arabs of The Ignorance; for instance, when a hated guest left the camp they lighted the “Fire of Rejection,” and cried, “Allah, bear him far from us!” Nothing was more ignoble than to quench such fire: hence in obloquy of the Fazár tribe it was said:—