Quraysh

“ In traditions, Dhū-Nuwās was the name of the Jewish king of Yaman, who burnt the Christians of Nejrān in a fiery trench on their refusing to forsake their faith. The idol is imaginary; from Nebuchadnezzar.
126 Qur’ān xvi. 41; xxxvii. 72; xl. 76; speaks of the “Gates of Hell;” and a commentary to the last says they are held to be seven.
127 Abū-Jahl was a surname given by Muhammed to one of his most inveterate enemies of the Quraysh, killed at Badr. The word means: “Father of Ignorance,” and here indicates fleshly pride. ”

“ A tremendous character. "And Subadar-Major Farman Ali Bahadar. He got the D.S.M. when he was with us in Egypt, led a handful of his men across the open at Touffoum, and turned the Turkish flank very neatly. He got an I.O.M. at Sheikh Saad. And he led the regiment back at Sannaiyat when all the British officers were down. He was a Khoreshi, by the way."
A Khoreshi is a member of the tribe of the Prophet. A good Khoreshi is a man to be sought for and honoured, for his influence is great; but a bad Khoreshi among the P. Ms. is as big a nuisance as a Mir among Pathans. ”

“ The Szowaleha are divided into several branches: 1. The Oulad Said [Arabic] , whose Sheikh is at present the second Sheikh of the Towara Arabs. They are not so poor as the other tribes, and possess the best valleys of the mountains. 2. Korashy [Arabic] , or Koreysh, whose Sheikh, Szaleh Ibn Zoheyr, is at present the great Sheikh of the Towara, and transacts the public business with the government of Egypt. The Korashy are descendants of a few families of Beni Koreysh, who came here as fugitives from the Hedjaz, and settled with the Szowaleha, with whom they are now intimately intermixed. ”

“ The most flourishing period of Kūrdish power was probably during the 12th century of our era, when the great Saladin, who belonged to the Rawendi branch of the Hadabāni tribe, founded the Ayyubite dynasty of Syria, and Kūrdish chiefships were established, not only to the east and west of the Kūrdistān mountains, but as far as Khorāsān upon one side and Egypt and Yemen on the other. During the Mongol and Tatar domination of western Asia the Kūrds in the mountains remained for the most part passive, yielding a reluctant obedience to the provincial governors of the plains. ”

“ In the sky a saffron streak showed on the edge of the sandy plain, heralding the sun’s coming. I watched it gradually spread, knowing that each moment brought me nearer to an end of agony. I lifted my voice in supplication to Allah, and showered voluble curses upon the expedition about to be attempted by my tribe. The pale, handsome face of Kheira was ever before me, haunting me like a half-remembered dream, its beauty fascinating me, and even causing me to forget the horror of those hours of dawn. ”

“ I enquired, much interested in this most remarkable statement.
“We have, O Sheikh!” he answered. “The face of Allah is in the darkness as a shining light. Verily the promise in the sura is fulfilled. He hath come in person to lead the Faithful unto conquest.”
Alone I sat in my tent that night, smoking and pondering deeply over the strange report. In the camp the excitement had already risen to fever-heat. The aged Ajrab was addressing the crowd of men and women, urging them to earnest supplication. ”

“ I cried in amazement. “Then thou art Kheira!” I added, for the extraordinary beauty of the only daughter of the Sultan of Abea was proverbial throughout the Great Desert, from Lake Tsâd, even to the Atlas.
“Yes,” she replied. “And from thy speech and dress I know thou art of the Azjar, our deadliest enemies.”
“True,” I answered. “To-morrow my tribe, to the number of ten thousand, now lying concealed in the valley called Deforou, will swarm upon thine impregnable city and—”
“Ten thousand?” she gasped, pale and agitated. “And thou wilt kill my father, and reduce our people to slavery. Ah, no!” ”

“ Khosrul may be loved and feared by a certain number of superstitious malcontents who look upon a madman as a sort of sacred wild animal,—but the actual population of Al-Kyris,—the people who are the blood, bone, and sinew of the city,—these are not in favor of change either in religion, laws, manners, or customs. But Khosrul is old,—and that the King humors his vagaries is simply out of pity for his age and infirmity, Niphrata,—not because of fear! ”

“ May the judgment of Allah fall upon thee! upon thy father, and upon thy tribe of murderers and harlots, and may their vitals be devoured by the fire unquenchable! Thou, bringer of evil upon our house, hast done thy best to thwart the Jihad, (Holy War) against the dogs of Infidels.”
“I cannot understand thy meaning,” she said, puzzled. “Thine accusations are as complicated as the lock of the Holy Ka’abah.”
“Vile offspring of Shirm!” he cried in a sudden paroxysm of passion, seizing her roughly by the wrist. “To feign ignorance will not avail thee. I have discovered the depths of thy perfidy. ”

“ And Abú Jandal bin Suhail escaped and joined himself to Abú Baṣír. And it came to pass that no man who had embraced Islám went out from the Quraish without joining himself to Abú Baṣír, until there was gathered together from them a troop of men. And by God! they never heard of a caravan of the Quraish going out to Syria without attacking it and killing them and taking their goods. Then the Quraish sent to the Prophet and adjured him by God and their family ties to remonstrate with Abú Baṣír, and his companions. And whoever came to him was safe. Then he sent to them.'—Al Bukhárí. ”

“ Population.—The total Kūrd population probably exceeds two and a half millions, namely, Turkish Kūrds 1,650,000, Persian 800,000, Russian 50,000, but there are no trustworthy statistics. The great mass of the population has its home in Kūrdistān. But Kūrds are scattered irregularly over the country from the river Sakarīa on the west to Lake Urmia on the east, and from Kars on the north to Jebel Sinjar on the south. There is also an isolated settlement in Khorasan. The tribes, ashiret, into which the Kūrds are divided, resemble in some respects the Highland clans of Scotland. ”

“ The proud Sultan of Abea would never consent to a brigand as a son-in-law, even if Kheira, known popularly as “the light of the eyes of the discerning,” looked upon him with favour.
“To-night, O Daughter of the Sun, we meet as friends, to-morrow as enemies. Our spies have reported that thy city remaineth undefended, and, alas! there is a blood feud between my people and thine; therefore, when the hosts of the Kanouri enter with fire and sword, few, I fear, will be spared. Wilt thou not remain here with my tribesmen and escape?” ”

“ It is a mistake to suppose that there is no Kūrdish literature. Many of the popular Persian poets have been translated into Kūrdish, and there are also books relating to the religious mysteries of the Ali-Illāhis in the hands of the Dersimlis to the north and of the Gurāns of Kermānshāh to the south. The New Testament in Kurdish was printed at Constantinople in 1857. ”

“ I have kept a pot of kshir for the hermit. You will find it concealed under the skirt of my lower garment. You all did not notice it under my illusion. Take the kshir quickly to Madhav Puri who is sitting in the market place." The priest arose, bathed, opened the shrine, and found the kshir under the lappet of the god's dhoti. He washed the spot and went into the village with the pot of kshir and walked through the market crying, "Take this kshir, whosoever is named Madhav Puri! For your sake Gopinath had concealed this kshir. Take it and eat it, Puri, thou luckiest man in the three worlds." ”

“ Arabia.—Arabian writing before the time of Mohammad is only known to us under the name of Haurani and Nabathæan in the North, of Himyaritic in the South. None of these scripts resembles the Islamic characters called distinctively Arabic. The Gospel-script (Estrangelo) of the Syrians is the nearest of all the Aramaic hands to that used by the earliest Mohammadans, which (from its special cultivation in the town of Cufa) is called Cufic. But even here, the resemblance is not so close as to make it improbable that there was a link between them in some lost script of pre-Christian days. ”

“ He nodded.
"For as often as we passed by," he said, "we found food and a little room prepared upon the wall. 'Thou hast been careful for us,' said I, 'with all this care. What is to be done for thee? Shall I speak to the King for thee, or to the captain of the host?' Thine answer was, 'I dwell in Shunem, among my own people.'"
"There is no greener spot in Israel."
"'But,' said my servant Gehazi, 'Every spot is greener where a child plays.' Therefore this child was promised thee."
She said, "But once a year the plain is yellow and not green; yellow away to the foot of Carmel ”

“ Quarle, in a dismal condition, remained the succeeding night in the clift, being continually beaten with the dashing back of the sea, and being both bruised and numbed, pulled off his clothes, which were dripping wet, and spread them in the sun; and being over-fatigued, lays himself down on the smoothest place of the rock he could find, being quite spent with the hardships he had undergone, and slept while his clothes were drying. ”

“ All the dead were Persians except two Arabs of Baghdád who had come out with Ṭáhirih from `Iráq. [12]
Quddús was taken to Bárfurúsh, his native town, where Sa`ídu'l-`Ulamá, his pitiless foe, awaited him. Prince Mihdí-Qulí Mírzá, oblivious to his pledge, forsook Quddús and gave him into the hands of that bloodthirsty priest. Imprecations were heaped upon the head of the captive. He was made to suffer refined tortures and searing agonies which an insanely jealous adversary had devised for him. At the height of his torments he was heard to say:
Forgive, O my God, the trespasses of this people. ”

“ They go together to war, they live in the same tent, and are allowed to see each other’s wives. They become, indeed, more than brothers. Khoraif was of the tribe of the Aneyza, who have a deadly feud with the Shammar, and was consequently able to render equal services to any of his old or new friends, who might fall into each other’s hands. It is on this account that a warrior generally chooses his rediff from a warlike tribe with which he is at enmity, for if taken in war, he would then be dakheel, that is, protected, by the family, or rather particular sept, of his companion. ”

“ For, there, in `Asiyah, is the main grip of the aspect of TOLA`, which is an utterly hard Qelipah, as from it descend all the worms that swarm on the earth, which are the power of `Asiyah's impurity, which are subdued by the Qorbanoth/Offerings, the aspect of Korban Tamid, the aspect of `Olat Tamid as mentioned. For, the Qorbanoth are extremely lofty, and they have the power to purify the force of `Asiyah's impurity (as explained in the Ketavim) . ”

“ He was the lord of Sejestan, and extended his domination over Zabulistan and Kabul; but the circle of his actions comprehends a great part of Asia between the Indus, the Indian and the Caspian seas.
[292] Khizar is confounded by many with the prophet Elias, who is supposed to dwell in the Terrestrial Paradise, in the enjoyment of immortality. According to Eastern traditions, Khizr was the companion, vizir or general of the ancient monarch, named Zu-al-Kurnain, or “the Two-horned;” a title which was also assumed by Alexander the Great. ”

“ The educational influence of the Bible—apart entirely from its claims to supernatural importance—in spreading the use of letters and creating schools for the study of reading and writing, has been incalculable. The historical and religious traditions of the Jews would probably have had but little effect upon the world, if the result of the various wars by which Syria was so often desolated had not been to expatriate the chosen people of the Lord. A large Jewish population occupied Northern Egypt at the time when Alexander's conquests revolutionised the old world. ”

“ The Kuraysh, amongst other alterations, raised the walls
[p.323] from nine to eighteen cubits, built a staircase in the northern breadth, closed the western door and placed the eastern entrance above the ground, to prevent men entering without their leave.
When the eighth house was being built Mohammed was in his twenty-fifth year. His surname of Al-Amin, the Honest, probably induced the tribes to make him their umpire for the decision of a dispute about the position of the Black Stone, and who should have the honour of raising it to its place. ”

“ For this reason the tribes of the Kuzzulbash admire a truculent Shah, such as Aga Mohammed Shah, and they like a Grand Vizir who lets nobody rob and plunder except himself. When he is fat and fit for killing, the blood-drinker on the throne cuts off his head, or strangles him, as the case may be, and then takes possession of his property, throwing a sop to the mob occasionally by allowing them to sack the great man’s house. ”

“ Under such circumstances I hardly think it wise that thou shouldst venture alone through the Valley of Aïr.”
“It is imperative,” I answered; “I must not halt until I enter the gates of Agadez. To me also the result of my mission is a matter of life—or death.”
“May thy treasure be preserved unto thee, and may Allah—the One Merciful to whom be boundless praise—give thee strength to overcome all thine enemies. May they be vanquished and be swept from the earth to the burning land of Al Sâhira like grains of sand before the sirocco,” said he earnestly, hitching up his burnouse. ”