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
Bull The bull symbolizes the lad or workman, because it is a working animal. It also refers to a Bedouin or a farmer who tills the land; a revolutionary, as it turns the earth upside down by scratching and digging with its hooves (the Arabic word for bull being thawr and for revolution thawrah); a helper, a slave, a servant, or a brother, as it is of great use to the farmer in tilling the land and to the Bedouin for various purposes; or fecundity and sex, in view of its well-known nature. Bulls also symbolize foreigners. One to thirteen bulls signify animosity, more than fourteen war. • A bull with big horns: An active person, a real worker full of strength, ardour, and authority, a rich and armed man (in view of the horns, which are terrible weapons). • A hornless bull: A feeble and despicable man, the kind of person unable to earn his daily bread, a poor chief, or a pariah. • A lady owning or taming a bull: Will get married, control her husband, or marry two of her daughters. Dream Interpreter: Various Islamic Scholars
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