he said it is a correct Arabic word and has been so employed by 'Ajjaj in
his couplet.
However, Mutanabbi has borrowed this theme from Jarir:
As if it is a white cloud at the gloaming and a pearl with the brightness which no nacreous shell could hope to match.
Ibn al-Rumi says:
When they donned precious pearls, the pearls blushed. They became
pearls and the pearls, mother-of-pearl.
Another poet says:
Where would you find in the clouds the beauty that is in rain-drops?
How can you get the beauty of the pearl in the sea-shell?
Still another poet has said:
She had a look of surprise when she looked at my tattered clothes.
How would the pearl know that it has had its birth in the mother-ofpearl?
The mother-of-pearl has two layers joined to each other at their backs
and the mechanism is such that the animal inside can open and close
them at will. The animal is encased between these two, and clings to
them. It crawls on the ground with the help of these. The animal is extremely slender and these two sides perform the function of pedals when
it crawls. This crawling is taken to be swimming. These two layers move
one behind the other, and secure food together, as they have neither eyes
nor ears.
It is said that its mouth and ears are inside the head, but the ears are
there to hear, just as the eyes are to see. This animal is composed of a
snotty sticky viscous liquid matter, and its flesh, joined to the two sides,
is blackish. While it is very young, it visits the littoral areas and in this
state it is called bulbul-i-ratb, as it is very fatty then. The best kind is
that known as mahar which is adult and firm, and becomes hardened on
attaining old age. It sheds off its fat, and becomes more handsome. It
begins to inhabit the lower regions of the sea. Even if it goes to feed at
night, it does not go far beyond the depth. It prefers solitude, and does
not move near its compatriots. It is this kind that is known as mahar. It
is said the Sea of Oman has a mother-of-pearl called khargush in that it
looks, because of its length, like the ear of the hare. It contains large,
excellent and clean grains. The deeper the mother-of-pearl, the less will
be the heat reaching it and its grain will be excellent and lustrous. This is
what the Qur'an implies when it refers to concealed pearls, i.e., concealed but it is the pearls hidden in darkness that shed lustre. Big
mothers-of-pearl are generally devoid of pearls.
If these mothers-of-pearl contain pearls, they are large. Those that
contain pearls in abundance are not larger than the palm. The mothersof-pearl in Bahrayn are half of these.
