[FN#15] "Na'íman" is said to one after bathing or head-shaving: the proper reply, for in the East every sign of ceremony has its countersign, is "Allah benefit thee!" (Pilgrimage i. 11, iii. 285; Lane M. E. chaps. viii.; Caussin de Perceval's Arabic Grammar, etc., etc.) I have given a specimen (Pilgrimage i., 122) not only of sign and countersign, but also of the rhyming repartee which rakes love. Hanien ! (pleasant to thee! said when a man drinks). Allah pleasure thee (Allah yuhanník which Arnauts and other ruffians perverted to Allah yaník, Allah copulate with thee); thou drinkest for ten! I am the cock and thou art the hen! (i.e. a passive catamite) Nay, I am the thick one (the penis which gives pleasure) and thou art the thin! And so forth with most unpleasant pleasantries. [FN#16] In the old version she is called "The Fair Persian," probably from the owner: her name means "The Cheerer of the Companion." [FN#17] Pronounce "Nooraddeen." I give the name as written in Arabic. [FN#18] Amongst Moslems, I have said, it is held highly disgraceful when the sound of women's cries can be heard by outsiders. [FN#19] In a case like this, the father would be justified by Rasm (or usage) not by Koranic law, in playing Brutus with his son. The same would be the case in a detected intrigue with a paternal concubine and, in very strict houses, with a slave-girl. [FN#20] Orientals fear the "Zug" or draught as much as Germans; and with even a better reason. Draughts are most dangerous in hot climates. [FN#21] The Unity of the Godhead and the Apostleship of Mohammed. [FN#22] This would be done only in the case of the very poor. [FN#23] Prayers over the dead are not universal in Al-Islam; but when they are recited they lack the "sijdah" or prostration. [FN#24] Or, "Of the first and the last," i.e. Mohammed, who claimed (and claimed justly) to be the "Seal" or head and end of all Prophets and Prophecy. For note that whether the Arab be held inspired or a mere impostor, no man making the same pretension has moved the world since him. Mr. J. Smith the Mormon (to mention one in a myriad) made a bold attempt and failed. [FN#25] i.e. flatterers. [FN#26] In one matter Moslems contrast strongly with Christians, by most scrupulously following the example of their law-giver: hence they are the model Conservatives. But (European) Christendom is here, as in other things, curiously contradictory: for instance, it still keeps a "Feast of the Circumcision," and practically holds circumcision in horror. Eastern Christians, however, have not wholly abolished it, and the Abyssinians, who find it a useful hygienic precaution, still practise it. For ulcers, syphilis and other venereals which are readily cured in Egypt become dangerous in the Highlands of Ethiopia. [FN#27] Arab. "Sabab," the orig. and material sense of the word; hence "a cause," etc. [FN#28] Thus he broke his promise to his father, and it is insinuated that retribution came upon him.