By This Means The Badawin Discover The Dignitary’S Place. [FN#8] “Abu Sham,” A Familiar Address In Al-Hijaz To Syrians.

They are called “abusers of the salt,” from their treachery, and “offspring of Shimr” (the execrated murderer of the Imam Hosayn), because he was a native of that country.

Such is the detestation in which the Shi’ah sect, especially the Persians, hold Syria and the Syrians, that I hardly ever met with a truly religious man who did not desire a general massacre of the polluted race. And history informs us that the plains of Syria have repeatedly been drenched with innocent blood shed by sectarian animosity. Yet Jalal al-Din (History of Jerusalem) says, “As to Damascus, all learned men fully agree that it is the most eminent of cities after Meccah and Al-Madinah.” Hence its many titles, “the Smile of the Prophet,” the “Great Gate of Pilgrimage,” “Sham Sharif,” the “Right Hand of the Cities of Syria,” &c., &c. And many sayings of Mohammed in honour of Syria are recorded. He was fond of using such Syriac words as “Bakhun! Bakhun!” to Ali, and “Kakhun! Kakhun!” to Hosayn. I will not enter into the curious history of the latter word, which spread to Egypt, and, slightly altered, passed through Latin mythology into French, English, German, Italian, and other modern European tongues. [FN#9] There is a regular language to camels. “Ikh! ikh!” makes them kneel; “Yahh! Yahh!” urges them on; “Hai! Hai!” induces caution, and so on. [FN#10] Both these names of the Almighty are of kindred origin.

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