THE SAD FATE OF THE LOVERS WHO
DIED OF LOVE.
TRANSLATOR'S PREFATORY NOTE.
ʾAbd-el-Málik, the son of Marwân (for whom see Note *, p. 55), was the fifth Khalîfah of the ʾOmeyyah dynasty. He obtained the surname Rashi-el-Hájar, Sweat of a stone, or as we should paraphrase it Skin-flint, on account of his extreme avarice. The anecdote here given does not, however, answer to that character of him. In power he surpassed all his predecessors, and it was in his reign that the Muslim arms made conquests in India in the east, and in Spain in the west. He began his reign A.H. 65 (A.D. 684), and died A.H. 86. He was succeeded by his son el-Walîd, the eldest of sixteen sons, of whom three besides el-Walîd reigned over the Khalîfate.
El-Hajjâj, son of Yûsuf, was governor of ʾIrâk and Khorassân for ʾAbd-el-Málik, son of Marwân. For a further account of him see Note *, p. 151.
THE first who was called ʾAbd-el-Málik in el-Islám, was the son of Marwân; and his surname was Rashi-el-Hájar. The following tale is told of him in the Hayât-el-Haiwân, and is also mentioned by Muhammad-ibn-Wâsi ʾl Haity.
