Note 52 — UNS AL-WUJUD AND THE WAZIR’S DAUGHTER AL-WARD FI’L-AKMAM OR ROSE-IN-HOOD.[30]
Richard Francis Burton translation
Arab. “Istikhárah,” before explained as praying for direction by omens of the rosary, opening the Koran and reading the first verse sighted, etc., etc. At Al-Medinah it is called Khírah and I have suggested (Pilgrimage, ii. 287) that it is a relic of the Azlam or Kidah (divining arrows) of paganism. But the superstition is not local: we have the Sortes Virgilianæ (Virgil being a magician) as well as Coranicæ.