23 
1878.] C. J. Lyall —The Mo l allaqah of Zuheyr. 
ancient race of ‘Ad the people of Thamud inherited their possessions and were called 
l Ad el-A Jc Mr eh, “the later ‘Ad.” The first reason must he rejected, for it would have 
been easy to the poet so to frame the verse that Thamud might have been used instead 
of ‘Ad : for instance, he might have said— 
Fatuntej laJcum ghilmdna, hullun ha?annahu 
Quddru Thamudin : thumma turdi 1 fateftimi. 
Moreover other poets also speak of Ahmar of ‘Ad: e. g ., Abu Jundab el-Hu'Sali, 
quoted by et-Tebrizi in the Hamaseh, p. 421. The second is more probable, though 
the Biblical genealogies framed for ‘Ad and Thamud by later Muslim writers can 
hardly have been known to Zuheyr. According to these, the following was the 
descent of these two tribes— 
Nuh (Noah) 
Sam (Shem) 
Irem (Aram) 
‘Abir or Jathir (Gether) 
‘Ad Thamud 
A third hypothesis is possible—that some version of the legend of Salih and his Camel, 
and the judgment which followed its slaying, was current in the days of Zuheyr 
which dropped out of mind when el-Islam overspread the land. 
If this verse is genuine, it would seem strongly to support the opinion that 
vv. 27—28 may also be genuine ; for it refers plainly to a legend (mentioned in the 
Qur’an in a way which shows that it was well known to those addressed) of God’s 
judgment on the wicked. That it is genuine and not a Muslim interpolation appears 
highly probable from the mention of ‘Ad rather than Thamud : the latter would have 
been named by a Muslim following the version of the legend embodied in the Qur’an. 
v. 33. “ Of bushels of corn and gold,” min qafizin iva dirhemi : the coinage 
called dirhem was silver, not gold ; but the latter is here used (like the word dirhem in 
the original) in the general sense of money. The qafiz was a measure of capacity 
containing eight mehhuhs or twelve su‘s of el-‘Iraq : one sd ( of Baghdad is 5j rills, or 
pints : the qafiz is thus 64 pints. The word is originally Persian, hawizh O */)■ 
v. 37. “ Though there in their midst the Vulture-mother had entered in,” 
ledd Tieythu ’alqet rahlahd ’ TJmmu qasMami: literally, “ In that place where the Vulture- 
mother cast down her camel-saddle.” “ To cast down one’s saddle” (as “to lay down 
one’s staff” in v. 13) means to halt in a place. “The Vulture-mother” is a name of 
Death, or Calamity; qasMam means an old vulture, and is used in that sense in the 
last verse of ‘Antarah’s Mo‘allaqah. 
v. 38. “ A bulwark for men in fight,” muqcdptaf: literally, “ one whom men cast 
before them (in battle),” to shield themselves or to do a desperate deed. 
r 
‘Aus (Uz) 
