Members are assigned nicknames. "Long Devil" is assigned to the tallest member; "Boaz" goes to any member who is a varsity football captain. Many of the chosen names are drawn from literature ("Hamlet", "Uncle Remus"), from religion and from myth. The banker Lewis Lapham passed on his nickname, "Sancho Panza", to the political adviser Tex McCrary. Averell Harriman was "Thor",
Henry Luce was "Baal", McGeorge Bundy was "Odin", and
George H. W. Bush was "Magog".
In the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, both the Democratic and Republican nominees were alumni. George W. Bush wrote in his autobiography, "[In my] senior year I joined Skull and Bones, a secret society; so secret, I can't say anything more."[37] When asked what it meant that he and Bush were both Bonesmen, former Presidential candidate John Kerry said, "Not much, because it's a secret."
037.123
YUSUFALI: So also was Elias among those sent (by Us).
PICKTHAL: And lo! Elias was of those sent (to warn),
SHAKIR: And Ilyas was most surely of the messengers.
037.124
YUSUFALI: Behold, he said to his people, "Will ye not fear (Allah)?
PICKTHAL: When he said unto his folk: Will ye not ward off (evil)?
SHAKIR: When he said to his people: Do you not guard (against evil)?
037.125
YUSUFALI: "Will ye call upon
Baal and forsake the Best of Creators,-
PICKTHAL: Will ye cry unto
Baal and forsake the Best of creators,
SHAKIR: What! do you call upon
Ba'l and forsake the best of the creators,
037.126
YUSUFALI: "Allah, your Lord and Cherisher and the Lord and Cherisher of your fathers of old?"
PICKTHAL: Allah, your Lord and Lord of your forefathers?
SHAKIR: Allah, your Lord and the Lord of your fathers of yore?
037.127
YUSUFALI: But they rejected him, and they will certainly be called up (for punishment),-
PICKTHAL: But they denied him, so they surely will be haled forth (to the doom)
SHAKIR: But they called him a liar, therefore they shall most surely be brought up.
037.128
YUSUFALI: Except the sincere and devoted Servants of Allah (among them).
PICKTHAL: Save single-minded slaves of Allah.
SHAKIR: But not the servants of Allah, the purified ones.