|
like that of rust and, if mixed with it, it becomes blackish and leaves a
burnt residue. This also becomes a part of its weight. All sustenance and help is from Allah. COPPER
In Roman it is khalqu.126 In Syriac it is nuhas and in Arabic nuhas,
mis and qitr. God has said:
"There will be sent, against you both, heat of fire and flash
c 127
or copper.
It is stated that Nuhas means here the smoke. In support of this God's
statement has been quoted:
"The day when the sky will produce visible smoke."128
Here also exegetes have quoted nuhas with copper. If so, God has obviously implied molten copper as in: "And when the Heaven splitteth asunder and becometh rosy
like red hide."129
Since copper is a trustee of iron. Dhu al-Qarnayn said: "Give me pieces of iron-till, when he had levelled up (the
gap) between the cliff, he said: Blow-till, when he had made
it a fire, he said: Bring me molten copper to pour there-
on."130
Some expounders have interpreted qitr to mean tin, but tin is not the trustee of iron, it only fills it. God has, therefore, said: "Their raiment of qitr-an. "131
If qitran here is used as a noun, then naphtha is meant, as their clothes must have been of naphtha to catch fire quickly, but if qitran is an adjectival noun, it would mean molten copper. The inhabitants of Khurasan and Iraq call it mis. They call chandeliers, since they are made of copper (brass), misniyah. The word, misniyah, is specific to chandeliers alone, although everything that is made
of copper (or brass) can be called misniyah. It is called mi in Persian, but since mis is the more current synonym, rui denotes the copper to which tin or lead has been added. A variety of this is the black mis. If broken, it yields fine pieces (or grains). Its reddish colour has a darkish hue interspersed with white colour. The Shibh variety is made from it. Some people have said that it is not mined, but becomes dark by melting and blowing air. A variety of copper is called mis-i-kalan, i.e., nuhas al-humlan. It
comes to Khurasan from India. It is soft and does not flacker much on heating. If silver be mixed with it, it does not confer hardness upon the latter. It is said that this is so because it has gold in it. A mine known as Naw Kazhdum occurs in Zaruban, so called be-
|
||
|
|
||
|
210
|
||
|
|
||