Note 206 — KHALIFAH THE FISHERMAN OF BAGHDAD.

Here is a double entendre. The fisherman meant a word or two. The Jew understood the Shibboleth of the Moslem Creed, popularly known as the “Two Words,”—I testify that there is no Ilah (god) but Allah (the God) and I testify that Mohammed is the Messenger of Allah. Pronouncing this formula would make the Jew a Moslem. Some writers are surprised to see a Jew ordering a Moslem to be flogged; but the former was rich and the latter was poor. Even during the worst days of Jewish persecutions their money-bags were heavy enough to lighten the greater part, if not the whole of their disabilities. And the Moslem saying is, The Jew is never your (Moslem or Christian) equal: he must be either above you or below you. This is high, because unintentional praise of the (self-) Chosen People.