Note 294 — ALI SHAR[254] AND ZUMURRUD.

Arab. “Sifr”: I have warned readers that whistling is considered a kind of devilish speech by the Arabs, especially the Badawin; and that the traveller must avoid it. It savours of idolatry: in the Koran we find (chapt. viii. 35), “Their prayer at the House of God (Ka’abah) is none other than whistling and hand-clapping;” and tradition says that they whistled through their fingers. Besides many of the Jinn have only round holes by way of mouths and their speech is whistling—a kind of bird-language like sibilant English.