Dhu'ayb has already been reproduced in praise of the pearl:
'The Euphrates always sends its waves upon it."
'Ubayd Allah bin Qays al-Ruqayyat says:
As if their backs have been apparelled with the rays of the sun or
molten gold.
This poet has mentioned gold because of the esteem in which it is held.
otherwise gold, silver and copper at the time of melting become red.
Hind bint 'Utbah says:
Some people are of unknown lineage, but we are from liquid gold.
Hamzah writes:
Si bah was a ball made of dissolved gold. It was sportively held and
rolled by the rulers in their hands, as today they dally with the balls
made from an unguent. When the king pressed it, gold oozed out
between his fingers as if he had squeezed it.
As a matter of fact, mustafshar is the wine that is squeezed by the
feet for the public but the oozing of gold by squeezing looks surprising.
It can ooze out only if pressed between two iron tongs. In order to
establish the truth of his false claim, he has called it "dissolved". Chemists do have gold in solution. It is kept in a bottle and is water in constant motion. Its "goldness" has been lost, and its paleness is like that of
arsenic.
A story occurs in the Safr al-Muluk (Record of the Kings), a book of
the Jews. Hiram, the King of Sur, had sent certain gifts to King Solomon.
Among these were shields, mails and liquid gold, which was used for gilding. It is easy to explain this phenomenon, but a false thing is false all
the same. Abu Nuwas or Ibn al-Mu'tazz has employed this theme in the
following verse:
We gave for her congealed gold, and she became liquid gold.
The gold twines which we shall shortly discuss were probably liquid,
but when were these liquid? Who knows? A person saw in the possession of a merchant a gold piece which dripped like wax from the candle.
It was natural, not artificial.
Abu Sa'id bin Dust says:
It is not a degrading thing for pure gold that pans of the balance are
kept opposite to it.
if gold is compared to any other thing in weight, it remains less in volume.
The pans of the balance for weighing it are usually made of iron.
An equivalent weight of gold in relation to that of iron is in the ratio
of 151 to 163. You can understand it in this way. If a thing belonging
to the same kind and having the same weight is placed in both pans of
the balance, both pans will be balanced. But, if you weigh gold with
something having the same weight, dip both pans in water and lift both
of them. You will find the pan having gold to be heavier. God knows
