[409] Qur’ān ix. 130, &c. [410] Qur’ān lxv. 2. [411] ‘Aliyyu-’l-Murtadzā--“_in whom_ (God) _is well pleased_”--is the chiefest of the titles of ‘Alī, Prince of Princes, Captain-General of Saints. [412] Muhammed is reported to have declared: “I am the City of Science, and ‘Alī is the Portal thereof;” alluding to the heavenly secrets he had intrusted to the latter, for communication to the worthy. See Anecdotes, chap, iii., No. 79. [413] Qur’ān cxii. 4. [414] “Commander of the Faithful;” but “Commander of _the Believers_” would be more correct. [415] Qur’ān viii. 17. [416] ‘Umer swore he would kill Muhammed, and went to execute his design. Arrived at the house of his own sister, who was already a secret Muslim, he heard chanted the twentieth chapter of the Qur’ān, and was immediately converted. He then went to Muhammed, and publicly professed the faith. [417] The shooting stars. [418] Shanfarà says: “The most excellent is he who confers a favour.” [419] Qur’ān ii. 100. [420] Idem. [421] Qur’ān iii. 163, 164. [422] Qur’ān ii. 175. [423] Qur’ān iii. 6. [424] Qur’ān xxv. 66. [425] Qur’ān ii. 191. [426] Qur’ān ii. 149. [427] Qur’ān ii. 151. [428] All Muslim poets speak of wounds as “flowers.” [429] Qur’ān liii. 17. There is a pun here. The Arabic for “swerved” and the Persian for “a crow,” are identical in orthography,—_zāg_. Muhammed has been called by other Persian poets: “The nightingale of the garden of _mà zāg_;” which really means “swerved not,” but may be rendered: “we, the crows.” [430] The “Limner” is, here, God, of course. He was intoxicated with love, not wine. [431] Qur’ān ii. 88. [432] These were the Christian Arabs of Nejrān. They sent an embassy to Muhammed at Medina. He proposed to them a trial by invocation of God’s curse on the liars, their wives, and children. He uttered it; they shrank, and accepted submission to him, on condition of paying tribute. [433] The “_canda draconis_” was the “descending node,” one of the ecliptical points. The “forbidden fruit,” in Islām, is held to have been _wheat_. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mesnevi, by Jalal al-Din Rumi