In translating the first of the above stanzas, I have substituted the feminine for the masculine pronoun; for, in the original, the former is meant, though the latter is used, as is commonly the case in similar compositions of the Egyptians. One of my Muslim friends having just called on me after my writing the above remarks, I read to him the last four stanzas of this ode, and asked him if he considered it proper thus to mix up religion with debauchery. He answered, “Perfectly proper; a man relates his having committed sins, and then prays to God for forgiveness, and blesses the Prophet.”—“But,” said I, “this is an ode written to be chanted for the amusement of persons who take pleasure in unlawful indulgences; and see here, when I close the leaves, the page which celebrates a debauch comes in contact, face to face, with that upon which are written the names of the Deity; the commemoration of the pleasures of sin is placed upon the prayer for forgiveness.” “That is nonsense,” replied my friend; “turn the book over, place that side upwards which is now downwards, and then the case will be the reverse—sin covered by forgiveness; and God, whose name be exalted, hath said in the Excellent Book, ‘Say, O my servants, who have transgressed against your own souls, despair not of the mercy of God, seeing that God forgiveth all sins [unto those who repent], for He is the Very Forgiving, the Merciful.’”[407] His answer reminds me of what I have often observed, that the generality of Arabs, a most inconsistent people, are every day breaking their law in some point or other, trusting that two words (“Astaghfir Alláh,” or “I beg forgiveness of God”) will cancel every transgression. He had a copy of the Kur-án in his hand, and on my turning it over to look for the verse he had quoted, I found in it a scrap of paper containing some words from the venerated volume; he was about to burn this piece of paper lest it should fall out and be trodden upon; and on my asking him whether it was allowable to do so, he answered, that it might either be burnt, or thrown into running water; but that it was better to burn it, as the words would ascend in the flames, and be conveyed by angels to heaven. Sometimes the Kur-án is quoted in jest, even by persons of strict religious principles. For instance, the following equivocal and evasive answer was once suggested to me on a person’s asking of me a present of a watch, which, I must previously mention, is called “sá-’ah,” a word which signifies an “hour,” and the “period of the general judgment.”—“Verily, the ‘sá’ah’ shall come: I will surely make it to appear” (chap. xx. ver. 15).