[92] Muhammed’s “Cave-Mate” was Abū-Bekr, who was his sole companion on quitting Mekka at the Emigration or “Flight.” They concealed themselves in a cave; and Muhammed remarked: “God is the third in our little party.” Hence the title of “Cave-Mate,” applied to Abū-Bekr. [93] A species of nightmare in the form of a lascivious dream. [94] Qur’ān xxv. 47. [95] Qur’ān vi. 76. [96] See “Anecdotes,” Chap. iv. [97] See his name as an honorific title in a note to the author’s preface; and in the “Anecdotes,” Chap. vi. [98] Qur’ān ii. 119. [99] “_The Lion of God_,” so called from his courage and strength. Shīr-Ali, Hayder-Ali, are among the forms of the title. [100] One of the sayings attributed to him and become proverbial. [101] In Persian, empty promises and boastings are also called “wind.” Hence, the poet suggests ablution to cleanse from such;--mental ablution. [102] “_Syntheism_” is the correct rendering of the “_shirk_” of Islām. “_Polytheism_” is very incorrect. Dualists (Magians) and Trinitarians (Christians) are _Syntheists_, but they are not polytheists in a correct sense. [103] An allusion to the idea that a pearl is a raindrop caught and nourished by an oyster. [104] “The Illiterate Prophet,” or, rather, “the Gentile Prophet,” reputed barbarous and illiterate by the Jews and Christians, is one of Muhammed’s highest titles. [105] The original here uses the simile of a certain “_cunning bird_,” known also as the “_Truth-calling bird_,” that hangs by a claw and calls all night: _haqq! haqq!_ (Truth! Truth!). [106] Such is an eastern myth. Poets call the planet Venus the “_Harpist of the Spheres_.” [107] In Qur’ān ii. 32, God commands the angels to fall down in adoration to Adam, when first created. Iblīs, Satan, alone refused, through pride and envy. [108] In Qur’ān iv. 124, Abraham is called the _Chosen Friend_ of God; and in xxi. 69, the story is mentioned of his being saved from the fire into which he was cast by Nimrod. [109] _The Fountain of Life_, or _Water of Life_, is imagined to take its rise in a land of darkness beyond the limits of the inhabited earth. [110] In the original I have not found it possible to feel sure where the break should be made from the remonstrance to the poet’s reflections. Much of what precedes seems addressed to God; but Eastern hyperbole is wide. [111] Qur’ān viii. 17. Muhammed cast sand at the foe in two battles, Badr and Hunayn. [112] This account of the Vazīr’s various forged books is an allusion to the various Gospels and Epistles, canonical and spurious, that sprang up in the early Christian Church. [113] The Roman conquest of Greece, Asia Minor, and Syria completely effaced from the Eastern mind all recollection of previous actors on those scenes. Even “Alexander the Great” is to them “_Alexander the Roman_,” like our Jelālu-’d-Dīn, “_Er-Rūmī_.“ [114] An allusion to the contests of the bishops of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, &c., &c.