[FN#399] Lit. "The conquering King;" a dynastic title assumed by Salбh al-Dнn (Saladin) and sundry of the Ayyъbi (Eyoubite) sovereigns of Egypt, whom I would call the "Soldans."
[FN#400] "Kбhirah" (i.e. City of Mars the Planet) is our Cairo: Bulak is the port suburb on the Nile, till 1858 wholly disjoined from the City; and Fostat is the outlier popularly called Old Cairo. The latter term is generally translated "town of leathern tents;" but in Arabic "fustбt" is an abode of Sha'ar=hair, such as horse-hair, in fact any hair but "Wabar"=soft hair, as the camel's. See Lane, Lex.
[FN#401] Arab. "Adl"=just: a legal-witness to whose character there is no tangible objection a prime consideration in Moslem law. Here "Adl" is evidently used ironically for a hypocritical-rascal
[FN#402] Lane (ii. 503) considers three thousand dinars (the figure in the Bres. Edit.) "a more probable sum." Possibly: but, I repeat, exaggeration is one of the many characteristics of The Nights.
[FN#403] Calc. Edit. "Kazir:" the word is generally written
"Kazdнr," Sansk. Kastira, born probably from the Greek .
[FN#404] This would have passed for a peccadillo in the "good old days." As late as 1840 the Arnaut soldiers used to "pot" any peasant who dared to ride (instead of walking) past their barracks. Life is cheap in hot countries.
[FN#405] Koran, xii. 46 — a passage expounding the doctrine of free will: "He who doth right doth it to the advantage of his own soul; and he who doth evil, doth it against the same; for thy Lord," etc.
[FN#406] Arab. "Suffah"; whence our Sofa. In Egypt it is a raised shelf generally of stone, about four feet high and headed with one or more arches. It is an elaborate variety of the simple "Tбk" or niche, a mere hollow in the thickness of the wall. Both are used for such articles as basin. ewer and soap; coffee cups, water bottles etc.
[FN#407] In Upper Egypt (Apollinopolis Parva) pronounced "Goos," the Coptic Kos-Birbir, once an emporium of the Arabian trade.
[FN#408] This would appeal strongly to a pious Moslem.