Abu Al-Aswad And His Slave-Girl
Abu al-Aswad bought a native-born slave-girl, who was blind of an eye, and she pleased him; but his people decried her to him; whereat he wondered and, turning the palms of his hands upwards,[FN#114] recited these two couplets,
"They find me fault with her where I default ne'er find, *
Save haply that a speck in either eye may show:
But if her eyes have fault, of fault her form hath none, *
Slim-built above the waist and heavily made below."
And this is also told of
Footnotes:
[ FN#114] When reciting the Fátihah (opening Koranic chapter), the hands are held in this position as if to receive a blessing falling from Heaven; after which both palms are pa**ed down the face to distribute it over the eyes and other organs of sense.