‘ÍSÁ IBN HISHÁM related to us and said: When I was coming back from the Pilgrimage with those who were returning, and I alighted at Ḥulwán 3 with those who alighted, I said to my slave: 'I find my hair is long and my body somewhat dirty, 4 so chose for us a bath that we may enter it, and a barber whom we may make use of. Let the bath be of spacious yard, of clean locality, of pure atmosphere and the water of moderate temperature; and let the barber be deft of hand, with a sharp razor and clean dress, and little given to gossip.' So he went out for a long time, 5 returned late, and said: 'I have chosen it as thou described it.' Then we took the direction of the bath and arrived there, but we did not see the keeper. But I went in, and there entered in my track a man who betook himself to a lump of clay, besmeared my forehead with it, and then placed it on my head. Then he went out, and in came another and he began to rub me with a rubbing that grazed my bones, to knead
I will not shave my head as long as I live, even though I suffer inconvenience."'
131:3 Ḥulwán: A town in ‘Iráq in the mountains east of Baghdad.
131:4 My body somewhat dirty: Cf. Ḥarírí, i, 46.
131:5 He went out for a long time: Cf. Qur’án, xix, 47.
132:1 To knead me: Literally, to pinch or squeeze me.
132:2 Destroyed his dignity: Literally, rent his veil.
132:3 Impose upon thyself the task: From a difficult or inconvenient affair. It means to undertake something in spite of the inconvenience.
132:4 God bless thee! Literally, may God preserve thee from sickness, etc.
132:5 The Ancient House: The name given to the Ka‘ba in Qur’án, xxii, 30, because Muslims believe that this was the first edifice built and appointed for the worship of God. See also Qur’án, iii, 90.
133:1 Gypsum: Said to be arabicized because (ﺝ) and (ﺹ) do not ordinarily occur in an Arabic word. Probably from the Persian
133:2 An image, or a likeness: Metonymically applied to a woman or anything that is deemed beautiful. A loan word from Aramaic דִמְיון from the root דמה damá To be like. Cf. Ḥarírí, ii, 611 and Arab Proverbs, i, 408.
133:3 Qúm: A town south-west of Hamadhán; next to Meshed it is the most important place of pilgrimage in Persia. Yaqút writing in the thirteenth century says there was no trace of a non-Muslim in it.
133:4 The city of the Sunnís: Literally, of the practice and the agreement. The point here is that the people of Qum were exclusively Shí‘ah, there was not a Sunní in the city. (See Yaqút, iv, 175.) 'And all its inhabitants are Shí‘ah of the Imámí sect?' Also de Goeji, Collection of Arabian Geographers, id, 259, line 7 where Ibn Ḥauqal, a contemporary of the author, says: 'Shí’sm prevails at Qum'; also see Letters, p. 423. This is the first of a number of amazing malapropisms.
133:5 Taráwiḥ prayers: A form of prayer performed at some period during the night in the month of Ramadan, after the ordinary prayer of nightfall, consisting of twenty or more rak’as, according to the different persuasions, so called because the performer rests after each which consists of four rak’as, or because they used to rest between every two pairs of salutations. (Lane, Lexicon, p. 1183; See also Letters, p. 424.)
134:1 The evening prayer: Literally, the first part or third of the night. after the setting of the light of the and the time of the prayers of nightfall; but the calling of that prayer the prayer of the as the Arabs of the desert named it, instead of calling it is forbidden by the Shafa’í code (Minhadj at-Ṭalibin, ii, 61). Hence the malapropism.
134:2 When the shadow is equal: Another malapropism.
134:3 Al-Harísah: A kind of thick pottage prepared of cooked bruised wheat, fleshmeat, butter, almonds, vegetables, etc. (See Mas‘údí, viii, 402-3.) It is said to have been invented by the Sásánians and to have been the favourite dish of Anushirwán.
134:4 Al-Mubarrad (A.H. 210-286): The well-known eminent philologer and grammarian, author of the Kámil (edited by Wright). Ibn Khallikan, iii, 31.
134:5 Now if ability preceded action: A reference to the technical language of the Ash’arite school representing the orthodox opinion that 'the ability (istitá’a) to do the action goes along with the action and is the essence of the power (Qudra) by which the action takes places'. (Macdonald, Muslim Theology, p. 310.) This was how the orthodox disposed of the doctrine of free will. On the other hand, the partisans of the Freedom of the Will maintained that the ability to do is always present. It is possible that Hamadhání may have been aware of the Aristotelian treatment of the question of ἐνεργεια and δυναμις. Translations of Aristotle's works were to be found in the library of the Ṣáḥib to which the author probably had free access during his stay at the Wazír's court from A.H. 380.
135:1 I make a firm promise: Metre, ramal.
