Come  of  with  the  reward. — Perhaps  it  would  be  better  to  read
•U  "rise,"  as  in  the  12th,  "He  rose  up  with  that  by  which  to
mend  his  poverty,"  since  'b  is  always  used  in  the  Koran  in  a
bad  sense,  as  "They  returned  with  anger  from  God,"  ii.  58;
"  I  would  rather  that  thou  return  laden  with  my  guilt  (or  the
guilt  of  killing  me)  and  thy  guilt,"  Abel  to  Cain,  v.  82.
A  few  years, — ^This  expression  is  used  at  Koran  xii.  42,  "  He
(Joseph)  remained  in  the  prison  some  (or  a  few)  years."  The
word  w^  is  generally  interpreted  to  mean  a  number  more  than
two  and  less  than  ten.  Compare  Baydftwi  on  ^  and  L^  at
Koran  xxvii.  49 ;  also  Hariri  in  the  Durrah,  Anthol.  Gramm.
Arabe,  p.  41,  Arab.  Text.
Praise  to  God. — The  na^b  of  iXA.^  as  a  masdar  after  an


NOTES.  539

elided  verb  is  the  fundamental  phrase.    For  the  reason  of  the
rqf  see  Bayd&wi^  Koran  i.  1.
Cool  of  eye;  a  common  expression  for  content  and  tranquillity.
According  to  Al  Asma'l  the  expression  "  God  cool  thine  eye  "
^  signifies  "  God  make  thy  tears  cool ; "  since,  as  he  asserts,  the
tears  of  joy  are  cool,  while  those  of  grief  are  hot.  AbA  Amr
ash  Shayb&ni  says  that  its  meaning  is  "  God  give  thee  sleep
that  thou  may  not  heat  thine  eye  in  watching  f  commentary  to
Mo'allakah  of  *Amr  ibn  KulthAm,  v.  11.  In  the  Twenty-
seventh  Assembly  it  is  said  of  a  scorching  noon  that  it  was
*'  hotter  than  a  childless  mother's  tear."


NOTES  TO  THE   INTRODUCTION.
