"Love [Arabic:] beginneth in contemplation, passeth to meditation; hence proceeds desire; then the spark bursts forth into a flame, the head swims, the body wastes, and the soul turns giddy. If we look on the bright side of love, we must acknowledge that it has at least one advantage; it annihilates pride and immoderate self-love; 364 true love, whose aim is the happiness and equality of the beloved object, being incompatible with those feelings.
"Lust is so different from true love [arabic], and so far from a perfection, that it is always a species of punishment sent by God, because man has abandoned the path of his pure love."
In their epistolary writing, the Arabs have generally a regular and particular style, beginning and ending all their letters with the name of God, symbolically, because God is the beginning and end of all things. The following short specimen will illustrate this:
Translation of a letter written in the Korannick Arabic by Seedy Soliman ben Muhammed ben Ismael, Sultan of Marocco, to his Bashaw of Suse, &c. &c.
"Praise be to the only God! for there is neither power, nor strength, without the great and eternal God."
Containing the Emperor's name and titles, as Soliman ben Muhamed ben Abdallah, &c, &c.
"Our servant, Alkaid Abdelmelk ben Behie Mulud, God assist, and peace be with thee, and the mercy and grace of God be upon thee!"
"We command thee forthwith to procure and send to our exalted presence every Englishman that has been wrecked on the coast of Wedinoon, and to forward them hither without delay, and diligently 365 to succour and attend to them, and may the eye of God be upon thee!" [207]
[Footnote 207: When they write to any other but Muhamedans, they never salute them with the words, "Peace be with thee," but substitute--"Peace be to those who follow the path of the true God," _Salem ala min itaba el Uda_.]
"26th of the (lunar), month Saffer, year of the Hejra 1221. (May, 1806.)"
The accuracy of punctuation in the Arabic language is a matter that ought to be strictly attended to.
The foregoing observations will serve to prove the insufficiency of a knowledge of this language, as professed or studied in Great Britain when unaccompanied with a practical knowledge. These observations may apply equally to the Persian language.[208]