1.

What the sun has here been likened to is a callus that forms on the foreheads of some devout Muslims as a result of frequent bowing of the foreheads down on rought prayermats. The callus is regarded as a mark of distinction.

2.

Azar. Abraham’s father, who was a maker and worshipper of idols.

3.

Sikandar (Iskandar). Alexander the Great.

4.

Khizar (Khizr). The prophet Khizr, who discovered and drank of the water of life, thereby becoming immortal. According to Oriental tradition, lie was a wazir of Iskandar. He is also regarded as the guardian spirit of the sea.

5.

Kaikobad. A famous king of Iran.

6.

Jamshid (Jamshed). A famous king of Iran.

7.

Jamshid’.s cup. A wine-bowl, said to have been manufactured at the command of Jamshid, which, legend has it, reflected the whole universe.

8.

Razi. Fakhr-al-Din of Ray (Iran), a famous philosopher, jurist and exegete.

9.

Sikandar. See note no. 3.

10.

Jamshid. See note no. 6.

11.

Farabi. Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi, a famous philosopher of Iran.

12.

Prophet of the Sea (Khizar). See note no. 4.

13.

Somnath (Sumnat). An idol-temple in Gujerat (India) destroyed by Mahmud Ghaznawi.

14-.

Seena (Sina). Bu All Sina, the famous physician and philosopher known to Europe as Avicenna.

15.

Farabi. see note no. 11

16.

Bu Ali. See note no. 14.

17.

Laila. Beloved of Manjuun, the famous lover of Arabic poetry and folklore.

18.

Rumi (Jalal al-Din Rumi). A famous poet-mystic of Turkey, who wrote in Persian.

19.

Tartar country. The deer of Tartary are spoken of in Persian poetry as symbols of grace and beauty.

20.

Laila. See note no. 17.

21.

Tariq. Conqueror of Spain under the Umayyad Caliphs.

22.

Shabbir. A title of Imam Husain , grandson of the Prophet of Islam, martyred at Karbela in Iraq.

23.

Zuleikha. Potiphar’s wife, whose passion for Joseph is a common theme of Persian poetry.

24-.

Ahriman. The principle (or god) of evil in Zoroastrian cosmology.

25.

Mozdak. A famous heresiarch of Iran.

26.

Kohkan. A title of Farhad, lover of Shirin, who, according to the legend, cut a canal, single-handed, through a mountain to prove his love.