midnight
He who came first was the eldest . His white beard reached to his girdle , his mouth was hidden by his mustache , and his eyes were covered by his white eyebrows . These men were fakirs of the Omarite Order , whose rule obliges them to endure the most terrible of all renunciations -- abstention from all enjoyment of the light of day . Plunging themselves into eternal darkness for the glory of Allah , they make of life a long midnight , and the sun never beholds them on the face of the earth . The night was well advanced when the six Omarites came forth to the sleepers , and while five of the fakirs stood round them in silence , the sixth -- the one with the long flowing beard -- bent over the children and examined their features attentively in the darkness of the night , which was only mitigated by the light of a few faint stars half hidden among errant clouds . At last he whispered to his comrades , `` It is they . '' Then , turning the tips of his thumbs downwards , he laid them softly on Thomar 's head .