all the way to its farthest end. Among its other peculiarities is that it flows over rocks and sand without collecting duck-weed, algae, or sludge. No stone or pebble in its bed ever turns green, and this is due solely to the soundness of its constitution, its sweetness, and its delicacy. Another unique feature is that it rises at precisely the time other rivers are receding, and it falls when they are in spate and abundant.

As for what some relate—that the Nile issues from a lofty place which certain people once reached, where they saw awe-inspiring sights, beautiful maidens, and other marvels, and that the one who witnessed this thereafter lost the power of speech (1)—such tales are nothing but the fables of chroniclers and the ravings of fabricators (2).

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Lahīʿah (3) narrated from Qays ibn al-Ḥajjāj, from someone who told him: When Egypt was conquered, its people came to ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ once the month of Buʾnah—one of the Coptic months—had begun and said, “Commander, our Nile has a custom without which it will not flow.” He asked, “What is that?” They replied, “When twelve nights of this month have passed, we take a virgin girl whose parents are both alive, obtain their consent, adorn her with the finest jewelry and clothing, and then cast her into the Nile.” ʿAmr said, “Such a thing shall never take place in Islam. Islam demolishes whatever came before it.”

They let Buʾnah pass, and the Nile did not flow at all. In another version, Buʾnah, Abīb, and Misrā (4) all passed while the river remained stagnant, until the people were on the verge of emigrating. ʿAmr wrote to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb about the matter, and ʿUmar replied, “You have acted rightly in what you did, and I have enclosed a note inside this letter; throw it into the Nile.”

When the letter arrived, ʿAmr took the note, opened it, and found written inside:

“From the servant of God, ʿUmar, Commander of the Believers, to the Nile of the people of Egypt.
Now then: If you flow of your own accord, do not flow. But if the One God, the All-Compelling, is the One Who makes you flow, then we ask God to make you flow.”

He cast the note into the river, and the next morning—Saturday—the Nile had risen sixteen cubits in a single night. God (5) abolished that practice among the Egyptians to this very day (6).

As for the Euphrates: its source lies to the north of Arzan al-Rūm. From there it passes near Malatya, then by Samosata, then south of Elbira (7); it then turns east toward Bālis (8) and the Citadel of Jaʿbar (9), then to ar-Raqqah, then to al-Raḥbah on its northern side, and then to