Like all men of the Library, I have travelled in my youth…For a long time it was believed that these impenetrable books belonged to past or remote languages…
-The Library of Babel, Borges
I have spent more time lately in the Library than travelling, so I can say that it is easier to read Lane’s Lexicon from a chair than it would ever have been in a saddle, searching for a word like Whoa! But seeking Kabbāshi equivalents of his Classical vocabulary was fruitless.
I’d say, O KhairAllah, Let us alight from these our dung makers to rest under this Father of Sweetness tree, a lone respite on the Darb of the Forty to the Mother of Cities, Qāhira, She the Victorious. And KhairAllah would say with a shake of his head, No.