Aqiq The same stone was used in ornamenting the Taj Mahal in India. The higher qualities of Aqiq (mostly found in anes and Khawlan, in North Yemen) are believed by Orientals to have certain properties, like the ability to slow down the movement of fluids in the body. If somebody is hurt, for instance, while carrying Aqiq or wearing it as a ring whose stone touches the skin, the blood is unlikely to ooze out of the wound. Some men also use it to avoid rapid ejaculation. I was told by one of the few remaining Aqiq craftsmen in North Yemen, a few years ago, that a rich Arab client believed by the craftsman to be a Saudi ambassador had proposed to pay some two hundred thousand dollars for one of those special rings, but his offer had been declined. In Sanaa, the capital of North Yemen, there is a stone that, I was told, was then in the custody of someone called Ahmad Al-Turki, who cannot sell it for its being a waqf (a property confined to public benefit, according to an Islamic code). That stone, called Al Fass Al Hanash (The Snake Stone), has the property of saving people from snakebites. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
Grape • Dreaming of black grapes: Flogging or lashes as much as there were seeds in the grapes.
• Picking a bunch of black grapes from a tree: Wife will give birth to a boy fathered by a black bondsman.
• Picking a bunch of grapes: The dreamer will take his wife’s savings.
• Pressing grape to obtain juice and turning the latter into wine: The dreamer will win the favours of the chief, along with unblessed money, in view of the story of the Prophet Yusuf as related in the Holy Quran: “And two young men went to prison with him. One of them said: I dreamed that I was pressing wine. The other said: I dreamed that I was carrying upon my head bread whereof the birds were eating. Announce unto us the interpretation, for we see thee of those good [at interpretation]. He said: The food which ye are given [daily] shall not come unto you but I shall tell you the interpretation ere it cometh unto you. This is of that which my Lord hath taught me … O my fellow-prisoners! As for one of you, he will pour out wine for his lord to drink; and as for the other, he will be crucified so that the birds will eat from his head. Thus is the case judged concerning which ye did inquire.” (“Yusuf [Joseph], verses 36–41.) Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
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