[FN#393] Syria, the "left-hand land" as has before been explained. The popular saying about its people is "Shámi shúmi!"—the Syrian is small potatoes (to render the sense Americanicè). Nor did Syrus, the slave in Roman days, bear the best of names. In Al-Hijaz the Syrian is addressed "Abú Shám" (Father of Syria) and insulted as "Abuser of the Salt" (a traitor). Yet many sayings of Mohammed are recorded in honour of Syria, and he sometimes used Syriac words. Such were "Bakh, bakh" (=euge, before noticed), and "Kakh," a congener of the Latin Cacus and Caca which our day has docked to "cack." (Pilgrimage iii. 115)
[FN#394] Koran xiv. 34. "They (Unbelievers) shall be thrown therein (i.e., the House of Perdition=Hell); and an unhappy dwelling shall it be."
[FN#395] The leg-cut is a prime favourite with the Eastern Sworder, and a heavy two-handed blade easily severs a horse's leg.
[FN#396] Mohammed repeatedly declared (Koran lxi.) that the Christians had falsified the passage ("I go to my Father and the Paraclete shall come," John xvi. 7) promising the advent of the Comforter, (ibid. xiv. 20; xv. 26) by substituting the latter word for glorious, renowned, i.e., Ahmed or Mohammed=the praised one. This may have been found in the Arabic translation of the Gospels made by Warakah, cousin to Mohammed's first wife; and hence in Koran lxi. we find Jesus prophesying of an Apostle "whose name shall be Ahmad." The word has consequently been inserted into the Arabic Gospel of Saint Barnabas (Dabistan iii. 67). Moslems accept the Pentateuch, the Psalter and the Gospel; but assert (Koran, passim.) that all extant copies have been hopelessly corrupted, and they are right. Moses, to whom the Pentateuch is attributed, notices his own death and burial—"the mair the miracle," said the old Scotch lady. The "Psalms of David" range over a period of some five hundred years, and there are three Isaiahs who pass with the vulgar for one. The many apocryphal Gospels, all of which have been held genuine and canonical at different times and in different places, prove that the four, which are still in use, were retained because they lack the manifest absurdities of their discarded rivals.
[FN#397] Arab. " Labbayka; " the Pilgrimage-cry (Night xxii.) which in Arabic is,
Labbayk' Allahumma, Labbayk'!
Lá Sharíka lake, Labbayk'!
Inna 'l-hamda w'al ni'amata lake wa'l mulk!
Labbayk' Allahumma, Labbayk'!
Some add "Here am I, and I honour Thee, the son of Thy two slaves; beneficence and good are all between Thy hands."With the "Talbiyah" the pilgrims should bless the Prophet, pray Allah to grant Heaven and exclaim, "By Thy mercy spare us from the pains of Hell-fire!" (Pilgrimage iii. 232.) Labbayka occurs in the verses attributed to Caliph Ali; so labba=he faced, and yalubbu=it faces (as one house faces another); lastly, he professed submission to Allah; in which sense, together with the verbal noun "Talbiyah," it is used by Al- Hanri (Pref. and Ass. of Su'adah).
[FN#398] Arab. "Kissís" (plur. Kusús) from ‘ .
[FN#399] Koran ii. The "red cow" is evidently the "red heifer" of
Barnabas, chaps. vii.
[FN#400] Arab. "Al-Jásalík"= .