12 illustration(s) from this book
el-Baḥr el-Muẓlim) the Atlantic Ocean is described by the author just
mentioned; though, in the introduction to his work, he says that the Sea
of Darkness surrounds the Moḥeeṭ. The former may be considered either as
the western or the more remote portion of the latter. In the dark
regions (Eẓ-Ẓulumát, from which, perhaps, the above-mentioned portion of
the Moḥeeṭ takes its name),[23] in the south-west quarter of the earth,
according to the same author, is the Fountain of Life, of which El-Khiḍr
drank, and by virtue of which he still lives, and will live till the day
of judgment. This mysterious person, whom the vulgar and some others
regard as a prophet, and identify with Ilyás (Elias, or Elijah), and
whom some confound with St. George, was, according to the more approved
opinion of the learned, a just man, or saint, the Wezeer and counsellor
of the first Zu-l-Ḳarneyn, who was a universal conqueror, but an equally
doubtful personage, contemporary with the patriarch Ibráheem, or
Abraham. El-Khiḍr is said to appear frequently to Muslims in perplexity,
and to be generally clad in green garments; whence, according to some,
his name. The Prophet Ilyás (or Elias) is also related to have drunk of
the Fountain of Life. During the day-time, it is said, El-Khiḍr wanders
upon the seas, and directs voyagers who go astray; while Ilyás
perambulates the mountains or deserts, and directs persons who chance to
be led astray by the Ghools:[24] but at night, they meet together, and
guard the rampart of Yájooj and Májooj,[25] to prevent these people from
making irruptions upon their neighbours. Both, however, are generally
believed by the modern Muslims to assist pious persons in distress in
various circumstances, whether travelling by land or by water.--The