| Автор: | Richard Francis Burton |
| Издательство: | Public Domain |
| Серия: | |
| Жанр произведения: | Зарубежная классика |
| Год издания: | 0 |
| isbn: |
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1
The name is indifferently derived from the red sand about the town or the reeds and mud with which it was originally built. It was founded by the Caliph Omar, when the old Capital Madáin (Ctesiphon) opposite was held unwholesome, on the West bank of the Euphrates, four days’ march from Baghdad and has now disappeared. Al-Saffáh, the first Abbaside, made it his Capital and it became a famous seat of Moslem learning; the Kufi school of Arab Grammarians being as renowned as their opponents, the Basri (of Bassorah). It gave a name to the “Cufic” characters which are, however, of much older date.
2
“Ni’amat” = a blessing; and the word is perpetually occurring in Moslem conversation, “Ni’amatu ‘lláh” (as pronounced) is also a favourite P. N. and few Anglo-Indians of the Mutiny date will forget the scandalous disclosures of Munshi Ni’amatu ‘llah, who had been sent to England by Nana Sahib. Nu’m = prosperity, good fortune, and a P. N. like the Heb. “Naomi.”
3
i. e. “causing to be prosperous”; the name, corrupted by the Turks to “Tevfik,” is given to either sex, e. g. Taufik Pasha of Egypt, to whose unprosperous rule and miserable career the signification certainly does not apply.
4
Lane (ii. 187) alters the two to four years.
5
i. e. “to Tom, Dick or Harry:” the names like John Doe and Richard Roe are used indefinitely in Arab. Grammar and Syntax. I have noted that Amru is written and pronounced Amr: hence Amru, the Conqueror of Egypt, when told by an astrologer that Jerusalem would be taken only by a trium literarum homo, with three letters in his name, sent for the Caliph Omar (Omr), to whom the so-called Holy City at once capitulated. Hence also most probably, the tale of Bhurtpore and the Lord Alligator (Kumbhir), who however did not change from Cotton to Combermore for some time after the successful siege.
6
Bin Yúsuf al-Sakafi, a statesman and soldier of the seventh and eighth centuries (A.D.). He was Governor of Al-Hijaz and Al-Irak under the fifth and sixth Ommiades, and I have noticed his vigorous rule of the Moslems’ Holy Land in my Pilgrimage (iii. 194, etc.). He pulled down the Ka’abah and restored it to the condition in which it now is. Al-Siyuti (p. 219) accuses him of having suborned a man to murder Ibn Omar with a poisoned javelin, and of humiliating the Prophet’s companions by “sealing them in the necks and hands,” that is he tied a thong upon the neck of each and sealed the knot with lead. In Irak he showed himself equally masterful; but an iron hand was required by the revolutionists of Kufah and Basrah. He behaved like a good Knight in rescuing the Moslem women who called upon his name when taken prisoners by Dahir of Debal (Tathá in Sind). Al-Hajjaj was not the kind of man the Caliph would have chosen for a pander; but the Shi’ahs hated him and have given him a lasting bad name. In the East men respect manly measures, not the hysterical, philanthropic pseudo-humanitarianism of our modern government which is really the cruellest of all. When Ziyád bin Abihi was sent by Caliph Mu’awiyah to reform Bassorah, a den of thieves, he informed the lieges that he intended to rule by the sword and advised all evil-doers to quit the city. The people were forbidden, under pain of death, to walk the streets after prayers; on the first night two hundred suffered; on the second five and none afterwards. Compare this with our civilised rule in Egypt where even bands of brigands, a phenomenon perfectly new and unknown to this century, have started up, where crime has doubled in quantity and quality, and where “Christian rule” has thoroughly scandalised a Moslem land.
7
The old bawd’s portrait is admirably drawn: all we dwellers in the East have known her well: she is so and so. Her dress and manners are the same amongst the Hindus (see the hypocritical female ascetic in the Katha p. 287) as a
1
The name is indifferently derived from the red sand about the town or the reeds and mud with which it was originally built. It was founded by the Caliph Omar, when the old Capital Madáin (Ctesiphon) opposite was held unwholesome, on the West bank of the Euphrates, four days’ march from Baghdad and has now disappeared. Al-Saffáh, the first Abbaside, made it his Capital and it became a famous seat of Moslem learning; the Kufi school of Arab Grammarians being as renowned as their opponents, the Basri (of Bassorah). It gave a name to the “Cufic” characters which are, however, of much older date.
2
“Ni’amat” = a blessing; and the word is perpetually occurring in Moslem conversation, “Ni’amatu ‘lláh” (as pronounced) is also a favourite P. N. and few Anglo-Indians of the Mutiny date will forget the scandalous disclosures of Munshi Ni’amatu ‘llah, who had been sent to England by Nana Sahib. Nu’m = prosperity, good fortune, and a P. N. like the Heb. “Naomi.”
3
4
Lane (ii. 187) alters the two to four years.
5
Arab. “Ana fí jírat-ak!” a phrase to be remembered as useful in time of danger.