The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Volume 4: by John Payne
Footnotes
1. A very famous legist and wit of the eighth century and a prime favourite with Er Reshid.
He was one of the chief pupils of the Imam Abou Henifeh (see note, Vol. II. p. 131{see Vol. 2 FN#91}) and was
Cadi of Baghdad under the third. fourth and fifth Khalifs of the Abbaside dynasty.
3. Governor of the two Iraks (i.e. Bassora and Cufa) in the reign of Hisham, tenth Khalif of
the Ommiade dynasty (A.D. 723-741). He was celebrated for his beneficence and liberality.
8. The word Sherif (lit. noble) signifies strictly a descendant of the martyr Hussein, son of
the Khalif Ali; but it is here used in the sense of "chief [of the bazaar].
9. Quære Mensour en Nemri, a well-known poet of the time and (originally) a protege of
Yehya's son, El Fezl.
10. Intendant of the palace to Haroun er Reshid and captain of his guards.
12. i.e. As if he were an old Bedouin, with forehead disfigured by the friction of the rope of
camel's hair, which is part of the Bedouin headdress.
13. Mohammed said, "Change the whiteness of your hair, but not with anything black."
Henna is the approved hairdye for a true-believer; it changes the hair to a reddish-brown.
14. i.e. thou that art as dear to me as my sight and hearing.
23. The bridge that spans Hell, finer than a hair and sharper than a sword, and over which all
must pass on the Day of Judgment.
24. Or leader of the people at prayer, who stands opposite the niche sunk into or painted on
the wall of the mosque, to indicate the direction of Mecca.
25. All this is an audacious parody of the Muslim ritual of prayer.
26. Lit. "exclamations of 'Glory be to God!'" which are of frequent recurrence in the
Mohammedan formulas of prayer. See last note.
28. The word ucwaneh, here used in the dual number, usually designates the teeth, in its
common meaning of "camomile-flower": but the lips are here expressly mentioned, and this fact,
together with that of the substitution, in the Breslau edition, of the word akikan (two cornelians
or rubies) for ucwanetan (two camomiles), as in the Calcutta and Boulac editions, shows that the
word is intended to be taken in its rarer meaning of "corn-marigold."
30. One of the tribes of the Arabs and that to which the renowned Maan ben Zaideh (see Vol.
III. p. 17, {Vol. 3, FN#121}) belonged.
31. The Muslims accuse the Jews of having corrupted the Pentateuch and others of their
sacred books, even as the Christians the Gospels (see Vol. II. page 149, note {Vol. 2, FN#97}),
by expunging or altering the passages foretelling the coming of Mohammed.
34. The force of this comparison will best appear from the actual figuration of the Arabic
double-letter Lam-Alif (Anglice L.A.) which is made up of the two letters *<arabic character>,
(initial form of Lam) and *<arabic character> (final of Alif,) and is written thus, *<arabic
character>.
35. i.e. O thou, whose glance is as the light of the glowing embers.
66. Muwelledat, women born in Muslim countries of slave-parents; syn. mulatto-women.
67. El Hakim bi Amrillah, sixth Fatimite Khalif of Egypt (A.D. 995-1021), "cruel and
fantastic tyrant, who claimed to be an incarnation of the Deity. He was the founder of the
religion of the Druses, who look to him to reappear and be their Messiah.
72. Sufreh, a round piece of leather used (mostly by travellers) as a table-cloth and having a
running string inserted round its edge, by means of which it can be converted into a bag or
budget for holding provisions, as in this instance.
81. One of the months in which war was forbidden to the pagan Arabs and a sort of Trève de
Dieu prevailed.
82. The Arabic word fakir means literally, "a poor man;" but it would appear, from what
follows, that Uns el Wujoud had disguised himself as a religious mendicant and was taken for
such by the people of the castle.
83. i.e. one absorbed in the contemplation of supra- terrestrial things.
85. To salute them and wish them joy, according to Oriental custom.
86. Mosul is called the land of purity, in a religious sense, it having never been polluted with
idolatrous worship.
87. The people of Aleppo seem to have been noted for debauchery.
88. i.e. Do not express admiration openly, lest it attract the evil eye, but vent your wonder by
saying, "God bless and preserve the Prophet!" according to general Muslim wont.
89. A gorge near Mecca, the scene of one of Mohammed's battles.
90. i.e. as made out of a crooked rib, according to the tradition.
92. The word Jamiaïn means "two congregational mosques," which would only be found in a
large town like Baghdad. It is possible, therefore, that the expression, "land of Jamiaïn," may
mean Baghdad or some other great city, noted for its debauched manners.
113. A.D. 530-579. The founder of the great Persian dynasty of the Kisras (Chosroës).
Mohammed was born in the reign of this monarch, whose name is a synonym with Eastern
writers for all that is just and noble in a King.
116. Lit. "of the ancestors," i.e. those pious and blessed persons who have gone before. The
word es selef (the ancestors) is specially applied to Mohammed, his wife Aaisheh, the first three
Khalifs and certain other early Muslims.
117. Khusrau Perviz, grandson of Kisra Anoushirwan (see supra, p. 228). {Here, FN#113}
118. The famous beauty, daughter of Maurice, Emperor of the East, and heroine of Nizami's
well-known poem.
158. The desireful servant of God. Abdallah is the name commonly given to a Christian
convert to Islam. This question and answer are a good example of the jingle of rhymes so much
affected by the Arabs.
184. Abou Temmam et Tai (of the tribe of Tai), a famous poet of the first half of the ninth
century and postmaster at Mosul under the Khalif Wathic Billah (commonly known as Vathek),
A.D. 842-849. He was the compiler of the famous anthology of ancient Arabian poetry, known
as the Hemaseh (Hamasa).
185. Aboulcasim el Heriri, the famous poet and grammarian, author of the Mecamat, the most
celebrated single work in Arabic literature. He holds much the same rank in Arabic letters as
Pope and Boileau in the literature of England and France and may, with much better reason, be
styled "le legislateur du Parnasse (Arabe)." He was a native of Bassora and died early in the
twelfth century.
193. Or "freeborn," the Arabic word used here having this double meaning. The Arabs hold
that the child of freeborn parents (Lat. ingenuus) must of necessity be noble and those born of
slave parents or a slave mother the contrary.
194. Or "freeborn," the Arabic word used here having this double meaning. The Arabs hold
that the child of freeborn parents (Lat. ingenuus) must of necessity be noble and those born of
slave parents or a slave mother the contrary.
195. A famous statesman, soldier, poet and musician, governor of Khorassan, Egypt and other
provinces under the Khalif El Mamoun.
196. Abou Abdallah ibn el Casim el Hashimi, surnamed Abou el Ainaa, a blind traditionist
and man of letters of Bassora, in the ninth century, and one of the most celebrated wits of his
day.
197. An island near Cairo, on which is situate the Nilometer. It is a favourite pleasure-resort
of the Cairenes.
200. i.e. by the Sortes Coranicæ or other similar process.
201. The word shabb (young man) is applied by the Arabs to men of all ages from early
adolescence to forty or even (according to some authorities) fifty.
202. i.e. recited the first chapter of the Koran seven times.
203. i.e. affixed the tughraa, the royal seal or rather countermark.
206. A pile of stones or other land-mark, set up to show the way to travellers in the desert.
207. The eyebrows of a beautiful woman are usually compared to the new moon of Ramazan
(see note, Vol. I. p. 71{see Vol. 1 FN#26}). The meaning here is the same, the allusion being apparently to the
eagerness with which the pagan Arabs may be supposed to have watched for the appearance of
the new moon of Shaaban, as giving the signal for the renewal of predatory excursions, after the
enforced close-time or Trêve de Dieu of the holy month Rejeb.
212. i.e. saying, "I purpose to pray such and such prayers."
213. i.e. saying, "God is most Great!" So called, because its pronunciation after that of the
niyeh or intent, prohibits the speaking of any words previous to prayer.
227. Eaten a little before the break of day, the fast commencing as soon as there is light
enough to distinguish a black thread from a white and lasting till sunset.
236. One of the followers of Mohammed, i.e. those who had known some of the Companions
[of the Prophet] though they had never seen himself. The freedman [and adopted son] of
Abdallah, son of Omar ben El Khettab, the most authoritative of all the Companions and
reporters of the sayings and doings of the Prophet.
237. i.e. at a profit. The exchange must be equal and profitless.
247. i.e. that which does not require to be cut with a knife. "Cut not meat with a knife, because
it is of the manners and customs of the barbarians; but eat it with your teeth."--Mishcat ul
Masabih.
249. Apparently referring to the verse, "The earth all [shall be] His handful [on the] Day of
Resurrection and the heavens rolled up in His right [hand]."--Koran xxxix. 67.
262. Koran ii. 256, "God, there is no god but He, the Living, the Eternal. Slumber taketh him
not, neither sleep, and His is what is in the heavens and what is in the earth. Who is he that
intercedeth with Him but by His leave? He knoweth what is before them and what is behind
them, nor do they comprehend aught of the knowledge of Him but of what He willeth. His
throne embraceth the heavens and the earth and the guarding of them oppresseth Him not, for He
is the Most High, the Supreme."
272. Koran xvi. 100. The Muslims fable the devil to have tempted Abraham to disobey God's
commandment to sacrifice Ishmael (Isaac) and to have been driven off by the Patriarch with
stones. Hence he is called "The Stoned."
273. Abdallah ibn Abbas, first cousin of Mohammed and the most learned theologian among
the Companions.
277. i.e. the day of the sacrifice at Mina, which completes the ceremonies of the pilgrimage.
278. The better opinion seems to be that this omission (unique in the Koran) arose from the
ninth chapter having originally formed part of the eighth, from which it was separated after
Mohammed's death.
319. The Korah of Numbers xvi. fabled by the Muslims (following a Talmudic tradition) to
have been a man of immense wealth. "Now Caroun was of the tribe of Moses [and Aaron], but
he transgressed against them and we gave him treasures, the keys whereof would bear down a
company of men of strength."--Koran xxviii. 76.
337. A she-camel, big with young, miraculously produced, according to Muslim legend, from
a rock by the Prophet Salih, for the purpose of converting the Themoudites.
338. Where he was hiding with Mohammed from the pursuit of the Benou Curaish.
342. The Muslims attribute this miracle to Moses, instead of Aaron. See Koran vii. 110 et seq.
343. [Quoth God] "What is that in thy right hand, O Moses?" Quoth he, "It is my staff, on
which I lean and wherewith I beat down leaves for my flock, and I have other uses for it."--Koran xx. 18, 19.
344. Then He turned to the heaven (now it was smoke) and said to it and to the earth, ''Come
ye twain, obedient or loathing."And they said both, "We come, obedient."--Koran xli. 10.