The Thousand and One Nights, Vol. I.: Commonly Called the Arabian Nights' Entertainments — John Shaqi
The Thousand and One Nights, Vol. I.: Commonly Called the Arabian Nights' Entertainments
General
The Thousand and One Nights, Vol. I.: Commonly Called the Arabian Nights' Entertainments
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
These _terræ incognitæ_ are the scenes of
some of the greatest wonders described in the present work; and are
mostly peopled with Jinn, or Genii. On the Moḥeeṭ, or Circumambient
Ocean, is the 'Arsh Iblees, or Throne of Iblees: in a map accompanying
my copy of the work of Ibn-El-Wardee, a large yellow tract is marked
with this name, adjoining Southern Africa. The western portion of the
Moḥeeṭ is often called "the Sea of Darkness" (Baḥr eẓ-Ẓulumát,
or,--eẓ-Ẓulmeh). Under this name (and the synonymous appellation of
el-Baḥr el-Muẓlim) the Atlantic Ocean is described by the author just
mentioned; though, in the introduction to his work, he says that the Sea
of Darkness surrounds the Moḥeeṭ. The former may be considered either as
the western or the more remote portion of the latter. In the dark
regions (Eẓ-Ẓulumát, from which, perhaps, the above-mentioned portion of
the Moḥeeṭ takes its name),[23] in the south-west quarter of the earth,
according to the same author, is the Fountain of Life, of which El-Khiḍr
drank, and by virtue of which he still lives, and will live till the day
of judgment. This mysterious person, whom the vulgar and some others
regard as a prophet, and identify with Ilyás (Elias, or Elijah), and
whom some confound with St. George, was, according to the more approved
opinion of the learned, a just man, or saint, the Wezeer and counsellor
of the first Zu-l-Ḳarneyn, who was a universal conqueror, but an equally
doubtful personage, contemporary with the patriarch Ibráheem, or
Abraham. El-Khiḍr is said to appear frequently to Muslims in perplexity,
and to be generally clad in green garments; whence, according to some,
his name. The Prophet Ilyás (or Elias) is also related to have drunk of
the Fountain of Life. During the day-time, it is said, El-Khiḍr wanders
upon the seas, and directs voyagers who go astray; while Ilyás
perambulates the mountains or deserts, and directs persons who chance to
be led astray by the Ghools:[24] but at night, they meet together, and
guard the rampart of Yájooj and Májooj,[25] to prevent these people from
making irruptions upon their neighbours. Both, however, are generally
believed by the modern Muslims to assist pious persons in distress in
various circumstances, whether travelling by land or by water.--The
mountains of Ḳáf, which bound the Circumambient Ocean, and form a
circular barrier round the whole of our earth, are described by
interpreters of the Ḳur-án as composed of green chrysolite, like the
green tint of the sky.[26] It is the colour of these mountains, said the
Prophet, that imparts a greenish hue to the sky.[27] It is said, in a
tradition, that beyond these mountains are other countries; one of gold,
seventy of silver, and seven of musk, all inhabited by angels, and each
country ten thousand years' journey in length, and the same in
breadth.[28] Some say that beyond it are creatures unknown to any but
God:[29] but the general opinion is, that the mountains of Ḳáf terminate
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