Page:The Perfumed Garden - Burton - 1886.djvu/27

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Concerning Praiseworthy Men
11


USE OF PERFUMES FOR THE COITION. THE HISTORY OF MOCAILAMA

The use of perfumes by men as well as by women, excites to the act of copulation. The woman inhaling the perfumes employed by the man gets like into a swoon; and the use of scents has often proved a strong help to man, and assisted him in getting possession of a woman.

On this subject it is told of Mocailama,[1] the imposter, the son of Kaiss (whom God may curse!), that he pretended to have the gift of prophecy, and imitated the Prophet of God (blessings and salutations to him). For which reasons he and a great number of Arabs have incurred the ire of the Almighty.

Mocailama, the son of Kaiss, the imposter, misconstrued likewise the Koran by his lies and impostures; and on the subject of a chapter of the Koran, which the angel Gabriel (Hail be to him) and brought to the Prophet (the mercy of God and hail to him), people of bad faith had gone to see Mocailama, who had told them, "To me also has the angel Gabriel[2] brought a similar chapter.

  1. This Mocailama was one of the strongest competitors of Mohammed. He sprang from the tribe of Honcifa, in the province of Yamama. He was the head of a deputation sent by his tribe to the prophet Mohammed, and embraced Islamism in the year 9 of the Hegira.
  2. This angel plays a great part in the Koran, and consequently in the Oriental books. He conveyed to Mohammed the heavenly revelations. He forms part of that order of spirits which the Mussulmans call "Mokarrabine," which means approaching nearest to God.