But there is little time for regret in the desert…
-In Darfur: Travels of an Arab Merchant in Sudan, Muhammad ibn Umar al-Tunisi (1789-1857)
In the desert it was usually but not always more likely to feel Nadam, Regret, than it was to meet a Nadīm, Drinking Companion. On Day 1, Day 2, or Day 3 of the Darb al-’Arba’īn, Way of the Forty, it was only human to regret the decision to ride 40 days to Egypt. But Bilal in his cups felt no Nadam at all. A happy Merissa drunk, he fell off his camel and remounted with a smile.