There cannot be a son nobler than Kuraysh,
Nor an uncle nobler than Tamím.
The high minded Tamín is contrasted with the mean-spirited Kays, who also gave rise to a tribe; and hence the saying concerning one absolutely inconsistent, "Art thou now Tamín and then Kays?"
[FN#296] Surnamed Al-Sakafi, Governor of Al-Yaman and Irak.
[FN#297] Tenth Ommiade (regn. A H. 105-125 = 724-743).
[FN#298] Or "clothe thee in worn-out clothes" i.e. "Become a Fakir" or religious mendicant.
[FN#299] This gratuitous incest in ignorance injures the tale and is as repugnant to Moslem as to Christian taste.
[FN#300] The child is named either on the day of its birth or on that day week. The father whispers it in the right ear, often adding the Azán or prayer-call, and repeating in the left ear the "Ikámah" or Friday sentence. There are many rules for choosing names according to the week-day, the ascendant planet, the "Sortes Coranicæ," etc.
[FN#301] Amongst Moslems as amongst Christians there are seven deadly sins: idolatry, murder, falsely charging modest women with unchastity, robbing orphans, usury, desertion in Holy War and disobedience to parents. The difference between the two creeds is noteworthy. And the sage knows only three, intemperance, ignorance and egoism.
[FN#302] Meaning, "It was decreed by Destiny; so it came to pass," appropriate if not neat.
[FN#303] The short, stout, dark, long-haired and two-bunched camel from "Bukhtar" (Bactria), the "Eastern" (Bakhtar) region on the Amu or Jayhun (Oxus) River; afterwards called Khorasan. The two-humped camel is never seen in Arabia except with northern caravans, and to speak of it would be a sore test of Badawi credulity.