2.14.45
or the ʿAṣāfīr,
“a kind of tree called ‘Who Has Seen My Like?’ which has the shape of birds (ʿaṣāfīr), plentiful in Persia”
or the Nasnās,
“a species of creature that jumps on one foot; in the hadith it says that a tribe of ʿĀd581 rebelled against their prophet, so God turned them into Nasnās, each one of whom had a hand and a foot on one side of the body and who hopped like birds and grazed like beasts; it is also said that those have become extinct and that what currently exists of that form are a separate species, or that they are of three kinds—nās, nasnās, and nasānis;582 or that the nasānis are the females, or that they are a higher form than the nasnās, or that they are Yājūj and Mājūj,583 or that they are a group of humans, or creatures that are in the shape of people but differ from them in certain things and are not of them”
or Daʿmūṣā,
“an adulterer whom God turned into a daʿmūṣā, meaning a certain creeping thing, or a black worm such as is found in rain pools when they dry up”
or ʿAbbūdā,
“a black slave, the first person to enter Paradise”
or ʿĀmir ibn Jadarah,
“the first person to write using our script”
or Murāmirā,
“the inventor of the Arabic script”
or Abū ʿUrwah,
“a man who shouted, ‘Lions!’ and then died, and when his belly was cut open, his heart was found to have moved from one place in his body to another”
or Ṭakhmūrath,
“one of the great kings of the Persians, who reigned for seven hundred years”
or al-Waḍḍāḥ,
“a man who ruled the earth; his mother was of the jinn, so he returned to them”
or the Rābiḍah,
“angels” who descended “with Adam, or the remainder of the bearers of the Proof, which no part of the earth is without”584
or the yabrūḥ,
“the mandrake root, which resembles a human”
2.14.46
or Sukaynah,
“the name of the bedbug that got up Numrūdh’s nose”
or Ṭākhiyah,
“an ant who spoke to Sulaymān,585 peace be upon him”
or ʿAyjalūf,
“the name of the ant mentioned in the Qurʾan”586
or the tukhas,
“a sea beast that rescues drowning men by offering them its back to save them from having to swim; also called the dulfīn (‘dolphin’)”
or the jassāsah,
“a beast to be found on islands that seeks out news and passes it on to the Antichrist”
or the rukhkh,
“a large bird that can lift a rhinoceros”
or the karkadan,
[“rhinoceros”] “a beast that can lift an elephant on its horn”
or the zabaʿrā,
“a beast that can carry an elephant on its horn”
or the ʿaqām,
“a fish, or a snake that lives in the sea — the lion comes from the land and whistles on the shore, the ʿaqām comes out to it, and they intertwine; then they part and each returns to its dwelling”
or bint ṭabaq,
[literally, “daughter of a plate”] “the tortoise, which lays ninety-nine eggs, all of which are tortoises, and one more, which hatches to reveal a snake”
2.14.47
or the falatān,
“a bird that hunts apes”
or the bulat,
“a bird with burning feathers which, should they fall on other birds, burn them”
or the samandal,
“a bird in India that cannot be burned by fire”
or the tihibbiṭ,
“a grayish bird that clings on with its feet and makes a sound as though it were saying anā amūt anā amūt (“I am dying, I am dying”)
or the unan,
“a bird like a dove whose sound is a moan—‘ouhi-ouhi’”
or the zummāḥ,
“a bird that takes children from their cradles”
or the hadīl,
“a chick in the days of Nūḥ, peace be upon him, that died of thirst or was caught by some bird of prey, so that every dove now weeps for it”
or the qarqafannah,
“a bird that wipes the eyes of the complacent wittol with its wings, making him yet more pliant”
or the faqannas,
“a large bird with forty holes in its beak that sings every exhilarating, wonderful tune and air; it comes to the top of a mountain and collects as much firewood as it wants and sits and mourns for itself for forty days, during which everyone gathers to listen to it and take pleasure; then it climbs atop the firewood and claps its wings, and fire is struck from them, and the firewood and the bird catch fire, and it turns to ashes; then a new bird just like it is formed from them; Ibn Sīnā mentions it in the Shifāʾ (The Cure)”587
he would crane his neck and cup his ears with his hands588 and cry to all the world, “Hey! Hey! A woman! A woman! Show me a woman! Nothing can take the place of a woman for me,” and if you were to seek to divert him with
2.14.48
a junābā,
“a child’s game”
or a ḥadabdabā,
“a game of the Nabataeans”
or a ṭabṭābah,
“a broad stick used when playing ball”
or qarṭibbā,
“a way of playing, or a kind of wrestling”
or kibkib,
“a game”
or kūbah,
“backgammon, or chess”
or habhāb,
“a children’s game”
or kutkutā,
“a game”
or buḥḥaythā,
“a game using buḥāthah (i.e., ‘soil’)”
or kuthkuthā,
“a game using soil”
2.14.49
or ṭathth,
“a children’s game, in which they throw a round piece of wood called a miṭaththah”