[FN#389] Arab. "Al-Amin," a title of the Prophet. It is usually held that this proud name "The honest man," was applied by his fellow-citizens to Mohammed in early life; and that in his twenty-fifth year, when the Eighth Ka'abah was being built, it induced the tribes to make him their umpire concerning the distinction of placing in position the "Black Stone" which Gabriel had brought from Heaven to be set up as the starting-post for the seven circuitings. He distributed the honour amongst the clans and thus gave universal satisfaction. His Christian biographers mostly omit to record an anecdote which speaks so highly in Mohammed's favour. (Pilgrimage iii. 192.)
[FN#390] The idea is that Abu Nowas was a thought-reader such being the prerogative of inspired poets in the East. His drunkenness and debauchery only added to his power. I have already noticed that "Allah strike thee dead" (Kбtala-k Allah) is like our phrase "Confound the fellow, how clever he is."
[FN#391] Again said facetiously, "Devil take you!"
[FN#392] In all hot-damp countries it is necessary to clothe dogs, morning and evening especially: otherwise they soon die of rheumatism and loin disease.
[FN#393] =Beatrice. A fragment of these lines is in Night cccxv.
See also Night dcclxxxi.
[FN#394] The Moslems borrowed the horrible idea of a "jealous God" from their kinsmen, the Jews. Every race creates its own Deity after the fashion of itself: Jehovah is distinctly a Hebrew, the Christian Theos is originally a Judжo-Greek and Allah a half-Badawi Arab. In this tale Allah, despotic and unjust, brings a generous and noble-minded man to beggary, simply because he fed his dogs off gold plate. Wisdom and morality have their infancy and youth: the great value of such tales as these is to show and enable us to measure man's development.
[FN#395] In Trйbutien (Lane ii. 501) the merchant says to ex-Dives, "Thou art wrong in charging Destiny with injustice. If thou art ignorant of the cause of thy ruin I will acquaint thee with it. Thou feddest the dogs in dishes of gold and leftest the poor to die of hunger." A superstition, but intelligible.
[FN#396] Arab. "Sarrбf" = a money changer.
[FN#397] Arab. "Birkah," a common feature in the landscapes of Lower Egypt: it is either a natural-pool left by the overflow of the Nile; or, as in the text, a built-up tank, like the "Tбlбb" for which India is famous. Sundry of these Birkahs are or were in Cairo itself; and some are mentioned in The Nights.
[FN#398] This sneer at the "military" and the "police" might come from an English convict's lips.