eyes on the city.[1] Moreover, Allah blotted out the road which led to the city, and it stands in its stead unchanged until the Resurrection Day and the Hour of Judgement." So Mu'awiyah wondered greatly at Ka'ab al-Ahbar's story and said to him, "Hath any mortal ever made his way to that city?" He replied, "Yes; one of the companions of Mohammed (on whom be blessing and peace!) reached it, doubtless and forsure after the same fashion as this man here seated." "And (quoth Al-Sha'abi[2]) it is related, on the authority of learned men of Himyar in Al-Yaman that Shaddad, when destroyed with all his host by the sound, was succeeded in his Kingship by his son Shaddad the Less, whom he left vice-regent in Hazramaut[3] and Saba, when he and his marched upon Many-columned Iram. Now as soon as he heard of his father's death on the road, he caused his body to be brought back from the desert to Hazramaut and bade them hew him out a tomb in a cave, where he laid the body on a throne of gold and threw over the corpse threescore and ten robes of cloth of gold, purfled with precious stones. Lastly at his sire's head he set up a tablet of gold whereon were graven these verses,
'Take warning O proud, * And in length o' life vain!
I'm Shaddád son of Ad, * Of the forts castellain;
Lord of pillars and power,* Lord of tried might and main,
Whom all earth-sons obeyed* For my mischief and bane
And who held East and West* In mine awfullest reign.
He preached me salvation * Whom God did assain,[4]
But we crossed him and asked * 'Can no refuge be ta'en?'
When a Cry on us cried * From th' horizon plain,
And we fell on the field * Like the harvested grain,
And the Fixt Day await * We, in earth's bosom lain!'"
- ↑ The Deity in the East is as whimsical-a despot as any of his "shadows" or "vice regents." In the text Shaddád is killed for mere jealousy a base passion utterly unworthy of a godhead; but one to which Allah was greatly addicted.
- ↑ Some traditionist, but whether Sha'abi, Shi'abi or
Shu'abi we cannot decide.
- ↑ The Hazarmaveth of Genesis (x. 26) in South Eastern Arabia. Its people are the Adramitae (mod. Hazrami) of Ptolemy who places in their land the Arabiæ Emporium, as Pliny does his Massola. They border upon the Homeritæ or men of Himyar, often mentioned in The Nights. Hazramaut is still practically unknown to us, despite the excursions of many travellers; and the hard nature of the people, the Swiss of Arabia, offers peculiar obstacles to exploration.
- ↑ i.e. the prophet Hud generally identified (?) with Heber. He was commissioned (Koran, chaps. vii.) to preach Al-Islam to his tribe the Adites who worshipped four goddesses, Sákiyah (the rain-giver), Rázikah (food-giver), Háfizah (the saviouress) and Sálimah (who healed sickness). As has been seen he failed, so it was useless to send him.
