[FN#236] Note the difference between "Takaddum" ( = standing in presence of, also superiority in excellence) and "Tak á dum" (priority in time).
[FN#237] Lane (ii. 427) gives a pleasant Eastern illustration of this saying.
[FN#238] A Koranic fancy; the mountains being the pegs which keep the earth in place. "And he hath thrown before the earth, mountains firmly rooted, lest it should move with you." (Koran, chaps. xvi.) The earth when first created was smooth and thereby liable to a circular motion, like the celestial-orbs; and, when the Angels asked who could stand on so tottering a frame, Allah fixed it the next morning by throwing the mountains in it and pegging them down. A fair prolepsis of the Neptunian theory.
[FN#239] Easy enough for an Englishman to avoid saying "by God," but t
