Note 72 — ALA AL-DIN ABU AL-SHAMAT.”[24]

Lit. “The father of side-locks,” a nickname of one of the Tobba Kings. This “Hasan of the ringlets” who wore two long pig-tails hanging to his shoulders was the Rochester or Piron of his age: his name is still famous for brilliant wit, extempore verse and the wildest debauchery. D’Herbelot’s sketch of his life is very meagre. “His poetry has survived to the present day and (unhappily) we shall hear more of Abu Nowás.” On the subject of these patronymics Lane (Mod. Egypt, chapt. iv.) has a strange remark that “Abu Dáúd is not the Father of Dáúd or Abu Ali the Father of Ali, but whose Father is (or was) Dáúd or Ali.” Here, however, he simply confounds Abu = father of (followed by a genitive), with Abu-h (for Abu-hu) = he, whose father.