"But never before have the Franks come to this center of the Empty Abodes." "Even Allah had to say 'Be!' before anything was!" (_i.e._, there must be a first time for everything).
This answer, pat from a favorite verse of the Koran, greatly pleased Bara Miyan.

He smiled gravely, and nodded.
"Allah made all men," he affirmed.

"Mayhap the Franks and we be brothers.

Have ye come by way of Mecca ?" "Yea.

And sorry brotherhood did the Mecca men offer us, O Sheik! So, too, the men of Beni Harb.