246 MIKAVAT SAIF-AL-YEZAN. 



s. v. Kiswah), says, " According to Muslim historians the 

 Kaabah was first dressed with a Kiswah or robe by a Him- 

 yarite chief named Tubba'u '1 Arkan." 



6. Medinah Yasrib. This is a good example of the 

 myth which is invented to account for a name. The place 

 was called 'Yasrib' until after the Hejrah. Afterwards it 

 was named ' Al Medinah ' The city, par excellence ; and ' Madi- 

 natu 'n Nabi,' The city of the Prophet. 



The legend in the text has the further interest of being 

 an attempt to explain the readiness of the Ansari. ' Auxiliaries,' 

 of Medinah to accept the faith and the claims of Mohammed. 

 For a (quasi) historical account of an expedition to Medi- 

 nah undertaken by a Tobba, including the story of the letter, 

 see Burton Pilgrimage ch. xvii. The letter itself, according 

 to Burton was as follows : — 



" I testify of Ahmad that he of a truth 



Is a Prophet from Allah, the Maker of souls. 



Be my age extended into his age, 



I would be to him a Wezir and a cousin." 



7. Abshci. This is probably intended for the word 

 ' I labaschah,' by which the Arabian writers meant Ethiopia. 

 The repeated mention of " Absha dan Sudan" together, and 

 the iact that the cities of the story were in the vicinity of the 

 Nile leads us to suppose that the author intends to inform us 

 that Zu-al-Yezan established an Arab eclony in Ethiopia, 

 probably in Nubia. 



8. Zulial. The planet Saturn. The Sabian religion was 

 spread over most of Arabia before Mohammed. Sale says of 

 them, (Sale Koran Prel. Disc. sec. i) the Sabians believe in 

 one God " though they also pay an adoration to the stars, or 

 the angels and intelligences which they suppose reside in 

 them, and govern the world under the supreme Deity." 



f J. A iniii Jibrail. The faithful (Archangel) Gabriel, 

 whose recognised title is " Ruh-al-Amin," The faithful Spirit. 

 "This Book is certainly a revelation from the Lord of all 

 creatures, which the Faithful Spirit hath caused to descend 

 upon thy heart.'' Koran, Sur. xxvi. 



Jour. Straits Branch 



