The Book of Khalid begins with a short section entitled "Fatihah," which means prologue in Arabic. But more significantly, it is the opening chapter of the Quran, which you can read and listen to for comparison here.
As with the poetry we've read, you'll probably notice Whitman's influence here. I'd like you to keep your eyes open for references to Whitman's ideas and words as you read The Book of Khalid.
Otherwise, what are your thoughts on the character of Khalid? What do you think about this complicated account of how the narrator came to possess this story?
Here's a useful list of Arabic terms you'll encounter in the first parts of The Book of Khalid.
Saki: n. a young man who either bears a cup or a jug of wine to serve at court.
Muhdi (or mehdi, mahdi): n. a divinely guided leader.
Chobok: n. hash pipe.
Al-Farid, Omar ibn (or al-Fared): 12th-century Sufi poet.
Rumy, Jelal’ud-Deen (or Jellalidin Rumi): 13th-century Sufi poet.
Abd’ul-Hamid: Ottoman Sultan ruling over the Middle East at the turn of the last century.
Bulbul: n. nightengale.
Sakka: n. like a saki, a peddler who sells drinks from a jug on his back.
Muazzen: n. the person who calls out the time of prayer.
Wali, pasha: n. a political distinction, those who have a privileged seat in the court; a wali is a sort of regional governor.
Arak: n. a licorice-flavored distillate of grapes, drunk with ice and water.
Najma: n. a star.
Billah!: exclamation meaning, “By God!”
Ksarah (or Ksara): a wine region in Lebanon.
Juhannam (or Gehenna): Hell in Arabic, historically a smoldering trash heap outside of Jerusalem.
Allahu akbar: exclamation meaning, “God is greatest.”
Bismillah: exclamation meaning, “In the name of God.”
Jinn: Genies; in Islamic cosmology, the jinn were created by God like humans, but live in a plane of existence somewhere between Earth and the other world.
Iblis: the Devil in Arabic.
Izraël: the Angel of Death.
Mojadderah: a dish of lentils, onions and rice.
Torquemada: First Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition (15th century).
Boheira: A Syrian monk who educated the prophet Muhammad.
Mashallah: exclamation meaning, “What God wills!”
Zikr: n. a Sufi ceremony, literally “remembering.”
Aba: n. an Arab gown, worn by men.
Huris: the oft talked-about virgins that await Muslim men in Heaven.
Al-Hadith: stories about the prophet Muhammad, transmitted from eyewitnesses by word-of-mouth until recorded several centuries after his death.