called to his wife, she came forth from the inner room; and her face
beamed like the new moon; and she wore a gown and a veil of wool. Then
said the King, “O my brother, dost thou desire to hear our story or that
we should pray for thee and dismiss thee?” Answered the hermit; “Nay, I
wish to hear the tale of you twain, for that to me were preferable.”
Said the King, “My forefathers handed down the throne, one to the other,
and it descended from great one to great one, in unbroken succession,
till the last died and it came to me. Now Allah had made this hateful to
me, for I would fain have gone awandering over earth and left the folk
to their own affairs; but I feared lest they should fall into confusion
and anarchy and misgovernment so as to swerve from divine law, and the
union of the Faith be broken up. Wherefore, abandoning my own plans, I
took the kingship and appointed to every head of them a regular stipend;
and donned the royal robes; and posted slave-officers at the doors, as a
terror to the dishonest and for the defence of honest folk and the
maintenance of law and limitations. Now when free of this, I entered
this place and, doffing my royal habit, donned these clothes thou seest;
and this my cousin, the daughter of my father’s brother, hath agreed
with me to renounce the world and helpeth me to serve the Lord. So we
are wont to weave these palm-leaves and earn, during the day, a
wherewithal to break our fast at nightfall; and we have lived on this
wise nigh upon forty years. Abide thou with us (so Allah have mercy on
thee!) till we sell our mats; and thou shalt sup and sleep with us this
night and on the morrow wend thy ways with that thou wishest,
Inshallah!” So he tarried with them till the end of the day, when there
came a boy five years old who took the mats they had made and carrying
them to the market, sold them for a carat;[484] and with this bought
bread and beans and returned with them to the King. The hermit broke his
fast and lay down to sleep with them; but in the middle of the night,
they both arose and fell to praying and weeping. When daybreak was near,
the King said, “O my God, this Thy servant beseecheth Thee to return him
his cloud; and to do this Thou art able; so, O my God, let him see his
prayer granted and restore him his cloud.” The Queen amen’d to his
orisons and behold, the cloud grew up in the sky; whereupon the King
gave the hermit joy and the man took leave of them and went away, the
cloud companying him as of old. And whatsoever he required of Allah
after this, in the names of the pious King and Queen, He granted it
without fail and the man made thereon these couplets:—
My Lord hath servants fain of piety; ✿ Hearts in the Wisdom-garden
ranging free:
Their bodies’ lusts at peace, and motionless ✿ For breasts that bide in
purest secresy.
Thou seest all silent, awesome of their Lord, ✿ For hidden things unseen
and seen they see.
And they tell a tale of
-----
Footnote 484:
See vol. iii., p. 239. The system is that of the Roman As and Unciæ.
Here it would be the twenty-fourth part of a dinar or miskal;
something under 5d. I have already noted that all Moslem rulers are
religiously bound to some handicraft, if it be only making toothpicks.
Mohammed abolished kingship proper as well as priestcraft.
THE MOSLEM CHAMPION AND THE CHRISTIAN DAMSEL.
The Commander of the Faithful, Omar bin al-Khattáb (whom Allah accept!),
once levied for holy war an army of Moslems, to encounter the foe before
Damascus, and they laid close siege to one of the Christians’
strongholds. Now there were amongst the Moslems two men, brothers, whom
Allah had gifted with fire and bold daring against the enemy; so that
the commander of the besieged fortress said to his chiefs and braves,
“Were but yonder two Moslems ta’en or slain, I would warrant you against
the rest of their strain.” Wherefore they left not to set for them all
manner of toils and snares and ceased not to manœuvre and lie in wait
and ambush for them, till they took one of them prisoner and slew the
other who died a martyr. They carried the captive to the Captain of the
fort, who looked at him and said, “Verily, to kill this man were indeed
a pity; but his return to the Moslem would be a calamity.”—And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Seventy-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the enemy
carried their Moslem captive before the Captain of the fort, the
Christian looked at him and said, “Verily to kill this man were a pity
indeed; but his return to the Moslem would be a calamity. Oh that he
might be brought to embrace the Nazarene Faith and be to us an aid and
an arm!” Quoth one of his Patrician Knights, “O Emir, I will tempt him
to abjure his faith and on this wise: we know that the Arabs are much
addicted to women, and I have a daughter, a perfect beauty, whom when he
sees, he will be seduced by her.” Quoth the Captain, “I give him into
thy charge.” So he carried him to his place and clad his daughter in
raiment, such as added to her beauty and loveliness. Then he brought the
Moslem into the room and set before him food and made the fair girl
stand in his presence, as she were a handmaid obedient to her lord and
awaiting his orders that she might do his bidding. When the Moslem saw
the evil sent down upon him, he commended himself to Allah Almighty and
closing his eyes, applied himself to worship and to reciting the Koran.
Now he had a pleasant voice and a piercing wit; and the Nazarene damsel
presently loved him with passionate love and pined for him with extreme
repine. This lasted seven days, at the end of which she said to herself,
“Would to Heaven he would admit me into the Faith of Al-Islam!” And the
tongue of her case recited these couplets:—
Wilt turn thy face from heart that’s all thine own, ✿ This heart thy
ransom and this soul thy wone?
I’m ready home and kin to quit for aye, ✿ And every Faith for that of
sword[485] disown:
I testify that Allah hath no mate: ✿ This proof is stablished and this
truth is known.
Haply shall deign He union grant with one ✿ Averse, and hearten heart
love-overthrown;
For ofttimes door erst shut, is opened wide, ✿ And after evil case all
good is shown.
At last her patience failed her and her breast was straitened and she
threw herself on the ground before him, saying, “I conjure thee by thy
Faith, that thou give ear to my words!” Asked he, “What are they?” and
she answered, “Expound unto me Al-Islam.” So he expounded to her the
tenets of the Faith, and she became a Moslemah, after which she was
circumcised[486] and he taught her to pray. Then said she to him, “O my
brother, I did but embrace Al-Islam for thy sake and to win thy
favours.” Quoth he, “The law of Al-Islam forbiddeth sexual commerce save
after a marriage before two legal witnesses, and a dowry and a guardian
are also requisite. Now I know not where to find witnesses or friend or
parapherne; but, an thou can contrive to bring us out of this place, I
may hope to make the land of Al-Islam, and pledge myself to thee that
none other than thou in all Al-Islam shall be wife to me.” Answered she,
“I will manage that”; and, calling her father and mother, said to them,
“Indeed this Moslem’s heart is softened and he longeth to enter the
faith, so I will grant him that which he desireth of my person; but he
saith:—It befitteth me not to do this in a town where my brother was
slain. Could I but get outside it my heart would be solaced and I would
do that which is wanted of me. Now there is no harm in letting me go
forth with him to another town, and I will be a surety to you both and
to the Emir for that which ye wish of him.” Therefore her father went to
their Captain and told him this, whereat he joyed with exceeding joy and
bade him carry them forth to a village that she named. So they went out
and made the village where they abode the rest of their day, and when
night fell, they got ready for the march and went their way, even as
saith the poet:—
“The time of parting,” cry they, “draweth nigh”: ✿ “How oft this
parting-threat?” I but reply:
I’ve naught to do but cross the wild and wold ✿ And, mile by mile, o’er
fount-less wastes to fly,
If the belovèd seek another land ✿ Sons of the road, whereso they wend,
wend I.
I make desire direct me to their side, ✿ The guide to show me where the
way doth lie.
And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the prisoner and
the lady abode in the village the rest of their day and, when night
fell, made ready for the march and went upon their way; and travelled
all night without stay or delay. The young Moslem, mounting a swift
blood-horse and taking up the maiden behind him, ceased not devouring
the ground till it was bright morning, when he turned aside with her
from the highway and, alighting, they made the Wuzu-ablution and prayed
the dawn-prayer. Now as they were thus engaged behold, they heard the
clank of swords and clink of bridles and men’s voices and tramp of
horse; whereupon he said to her, “Ho, such an one, the Nazarenes are
after us! What shall we do?: the horse is so jaded and broken down that
he cannot stir another step.” Exclaimed she, “Woe to thee! art thou then
afraid and affrighted?” “Yes,” answered he; and she said, “What didst
thou tell me of the power of thy Lord and His readiness to succour those
who succour seek? Come, let us humble ourselves before Him and beseech
Him: haply He shall grant us His succour and endue us with His grace,
extolled and exalted be He!” Quoth he, “By Allah, thou sayst well!” So
they began humbling themselves and supplicating Almighty Allah and he
recited these couplets:—
Indeed I hourly need thy choicest aid, ✿ And should, though crown were
placed upon my head:
Thou art my chiefest want, and if my hand ✿ Won what it wisheth, all my
wants were sped.
Thou hast not anything withholdest Thou; ✿ Like pouring rain Thy grace
is showerèd:
I’m shut therefrom by sins of me, yet Thou, ✿ O Clement, deignest
pardon-light to shed.
O Care-Dispeller, deign dispel my grief! ✿ None can, save Thou, dispel a
grief so dread.
Whilst he was praying and she was saying, “Amen,” and the thunder of
horse-tramp nearing them, lo! the brave heard the voice of his dead
brother, the martyr, speaking and saying, “O my brother, fear not, nor
grieve! for the host whose approach thou hearest is the host of Allah
and his Angels, whom He hath sent to serve as witnesses to your
marriage. Of a truth Allah hath made His Angels glorify you and He
bestoweth on you the meed of the meritorious and the martyrs; and He
hath rolled up the earth for you as it were a rug so that, by morning,
you will be in the mountains of Al-Medinah. And thou, when thou
foregatherest with Omar bin al-Khattab (of whom Allah accept!) give him
my salutation and say to him:—Allah abundantly requite thee for
Al-Islam, because thou hast counselled faithfully and hast striven
diligently.” Thereupon the Angels lifted up their voices in salutation
to him and his bride, saying, “Verily, Almighty Allah appointed her in
marriage to thee two thousand years before the creation of your father
Adam (with whom be peace evermore!).” Then joy and gladness and peace
and happiness came upon the twain; confidence was confirmed and
established was the guidance of the pious pair. So when dawn appeared,
they prayed the accustomed prayer and fared forward. Now it was the wont
of Omar son of Al-Khattab (Allah accept him!) to rise for morning-prayer
in the darkness before dawn and at times he would stand in the
prayer-niche with two men behind him, and begin reciting the Chapter
entitled “Cattle”[487] or that entitled Women;[488] whereupon the
sleeper awoke and he who was making his Wuzu-ablution accomplished it
and he who was afar came to prayer; nor had he made an end of the first
bow, ere the mosque was full of folk; then he would pray his second bow
quickly, repeating a short chapter. But, on that morning he hurried over
both first and second inclinations, repeating in each a short chapter;
then, after the concluding salutation, turning to his companions, he
said to them, “Come, let us fare forth to meet the bride and
bridegroom”; at which they wondered, not understanding his words. But he
went out and they followed him, till they came to the gate of the city,
where they met the young Moslem who, when the day broke and the
standards of Al-Medinah appeared to him, had pushed forward for the gate
closely followed by his bride. There he was met by Omar who bade make a
marriage-feast; and the Moslems came and ate. Then the young Moslem went
in unto his bride and Almighty Allah vouchsafed him children,——And
Shahrazad, perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted
say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Seventy-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Omar (on whom be
peace!) bade make a marriage-feast; and the Moslems came and ate. Then
the young Moslem went in unto his bride and Almighty Allah vouchsafed
him children, who fought in the Lord’s way and preserved genealogies,
for they gloried therein. And how excellent is what is said on such
theme:—
I saw thee weep before the gates and ‘plain, ✿ Whilst only curious wight
reply would deign:
Hath eye bewitcht thee, or hath evil lot ✿ ‘Twixt thee and door of
friend set bar of bane?
Wake up this day, O wretch, persist in prayer, ✿ Repent as wont repent
departed men.
Haply shall wash thy sins Forgiveness-showers; ✿ And on thine erring
head some ruth shall rain:
And prisoner shall escape despite his bonds; ✿ And slave from thraldom
freedom shall attain.
And they ceased not to be in all solace and delight of life, till there
came to them the Destroyer of delights and the Sunderer of societies.
And a tale is told by Sídi Ibrahim bin Al-Khawwás[489] (on whom be the
mercy of Allah!) concerning himself and
-----
Footnote 485:
Al-Islam, where salvation is found under the shade of the swords.
Footnote 486:
Moslems like the Classics (Aristotle and others) hold the clitoris
(_Zambúr_) to be the sedes et scaturigo veneris which, says Sonnini,
is mere profanity. In the babe it protrudes beyond the labiæ and
snipping off the head forms female circumcision. This rite is supposed
by Moslems to have been invented by Sarah who so mutilated Hagar for
jealousy and was afterwards ordered by Allah to have herself
circumcised at the same time as Abraham. It is now (or should be)
universal in Al-Islam and no Arab would marry a girl “unpurified” by
it. Son of an “uncircumcised” mother (Ibn al-bazrá) is a sore insult.
As regards the popular idea that Jewish women were circumcised till
the days of Rabbi Gershom (A.D. 1000) who denounced it as a scandal to
the Gentiles, the learned Prof. H. Graetz informs me, with some
indignation, that the rite was never practised and that the great
Rabbi contended only against polygamy. Female circumcision, however,
is I believe the rule amongst some outlying tribes of Jews. The rite
is the proper complement of male circumcision, evening the
sensitiveness of the genitories by reducing it equally in both sexes:
an uncircumcised woman has the venereal orgasm much sooner and oftener
than a circumcised man, and frequent coitus would injure her health;
hence I believe, despite the learned historian, that it is practised
by some Eastern Jews. “Excision” is universal amongst the negroids of
the Upper Nile (Werne), the Somál and other adjacent tribes. The
operator, an old woman, takes up the instrument, a knife or
razor-blade fixed into a wooden handle, and with three sweeps cuts off
the labia and the head of the clitoris. The parts are then sewn up
with a pack-needle and a thread of sheepskin; and in Dar-For a tin
tube is inserted for the passage of urine. Before marriage the
bridegroom trains himself for a month on beef, honey and milk; and, if
he can open his bride with the natural weapon, he is a sworder to whom
no woman in the tribe can deny herself. If he fail, he tries
penetration with his fingers and by way of last resort whips out his
whittle and cuts the parts open. The sufferings of the first few
nights must be severe. The few Somáli prostitutes who practised at
Aden always had the labiæ and clitoris excised and the skin showing
the scars of coarse sewing. The moral effect of female circumcision is
peculiar. While it diminishes the heat of passion it increases
licentiousness, and breeds a debauchery of mind far worse than bodily
unchastity, because accompanied by a peculiar cold cruelty and a taste
for artificial stimulants to “luxury.” It is the sexlessness of a
spayed canine imitated by the suggestive brain of humanity.
Footnote 487:
Koran vi. so called because certain superstitions about Cattle are
therein mentioned.
Footnote 488:
Koran iv. So called because it treats of marriages, divorces, etc.
Footnote 489:
Sídi (contracted from Sayyidí = my lord) is a title still applied to
holy men in Marocco and the Maghrib; on the East African coast it is
assumed by negro and negroid Moslems, _e.g._ Sidi Mubárak Bombay; and
“Seedy boy” is the Anglo-Indian term for a Zanzibar-man. “Khawwás” is
one who weaves palm-leaves (Khos) into baskets, mats, etc.: here,
however, it may be an inherited name.
THE CHRISTIAN KING’S DAUGHTER AND THE MOSLEM.
My spirit urged me, once upon a time, to go forth into the country of
the Infidels; and I strove with it and struggled to put away from me
this inclination; but it would not be rejected. So I fared forth and
journeyed about the land of the Unbelievers and traversed it in all its
parts; for divine grace enveloped me and heavenly protection encompassed
me, so that I met not a single Nazarene but he turned away his eyes and
drew off from me, till I came to a certain great city at whose gate I
found a gathering of black slaves, clad in armour and bearing iron maces
in their hands. When they saw me, they rose to their feet and asked me,
“Art thou a leach?”; and I answered, “Yes.” Quoth they, “Come speak to
our King,” and carried me before their ruler, who was a handsome
personage of majestic presence. When I stood before him, he looked at me
and said, “Art a physician, thou?” “Yes,” quoth I; and quoth he to his
officers, “Carry him to her, and acquaint him with the condition before
he enter.” So they took me out and said to me, “Know that the King hath
a daughter, and she is stricken with a sore disease, which no doctor
hath been able to cure: and no leach goeth in to her and treateth,
without healing her, but the King putteth him to death. So bethink thee
what thou seest fitting to do.” I replied, “The King drove me to her; so
carry me to her.” Thereupon they brought me to her door and knocked; and
behold, I heard her cry out from within, saying, “Admit to me the
physician, lord of the wondrous secret!” And she began reciting:
Open the door! the leach now draweth near; ✿ And in my soul a wondrous
secret speer:
How many of the near far distant are![490] ✿ How many distant far are
nearest near!
I was in strangerhood amidst you all: ✿ But willed the Truth[491] my
solace should appear.
Joined us the potent bonds of Faith and Creed; ✿ We met as dearest fere
greets dearest fere:
He sued for interview whenas pursued ✿ The spy, and blamed us envy’s
jibe and jeer:
Then leave your chiding and from blame desist, ✿ For fie upon you! not a
word I’ll hear.
I care for naught that disappears and fleets; ✿ My care’s for Things nor
fleet nor disappear.
And lo! a Shaykh, a very old man, opened the door in haste and said to
me, “Enter.” So I entered and found myself in a chamber strewn with
sweet-scented herbs and with a curtain drawn across one corner, from
behind which came a sound of groaning and grame, weak as from an
emaciated frame. I sat down before the curtain and was about to offer my
salam when I bethought me of his words (whom Allah save and assain!),
“Accost not a Jew nor a Christian with the salam salutation;[492] and,
when ye meet them in the way, constrain them to the straitest part
thereof.” So I withheld my salutation, but she cried out from behind the
curtain, saying, “Where is the salutation of Unity and Indivisibility, O
Khawwás?” I was astonished at her speech and asked, “How knowest thou
me?”; whereto she answered, “When the heart and thoughts are whole, the
tongue speaketh eloquently from the secret recesses of the soul. I
begged Him yesterday to send me one of His saints, at whose hands I
might have deliverance, and behold, it was cried to me from the dark
places of my house:—Grieve not; for we soon will send thee Ibrahim the
Basket-maker.” Then I asked her, “What of thee?” and she answered, “It
is now four years since there appeared to me the Manifest Truth, and He
is the Relator and the Ally, and the Uniter and the Sitter-by; whereupon
my folk looked askance upon me with an evil eye and taxed me with
insanity and suspected me of depravity, and there came not in to me
doctor but terrified me, nor visitor but confounded me.” Quoth I, “And
who led thee to the knowledge of what thou wottest?” Quoth she, “The
manifest signs and visible portents of Allah; and, when the path is
patent to thee, thou espiest with thine own eyes both proof and prover.”
Now whilst we were talking, behold, in came the old man appointed to
guard her and said, “What doth thy doctor?”; and she replied, “He
knoweth the hurt and hath hit upon the healing.”——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Seventy-eighth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Shaykh,
her guardian, went in to her he said, “What doth thy doctor?”; and she
replied, “He knoweth the hurt and hath hit upon the healing.” Hereupon
he manifested joy and gladness and accosted me with a cheerful
countenance, then went and told the King, who enjoined to treat me with
all honour and regard. So I visited her daily for seven days, at the end
of which time she said to me, “O Abú Ishák, when shall be our flight to
the land of Al-Islam?” “How canst thou go forth,” replied I, “and who
would dare to aid thee?” Rejoined she, “He who sent thee to me, driving
thee as it were;” and I observed, “Thou sayest sooth.” So when the
morrow dawned, we fared forth by the city-gate and all eyes were veiled
from us, by commandment of Him who when He desireth aught, saith to it,
“Be,” and it becometh;[493] so that I journeyed with her in safety to
Meccah, where she made a home hard by the Holy House of Allah and lived
seven years; till the appointed day of her death. The earth of Meccah
was her tomb, and never saw I any more steadfast in prayer and fasting
than she, Allah send down upon her His mercies and have compassion on
him who saith:—
When they to me had brought the leach (and surely showed ✿ The signs of
flowing tears and pining malady),
The face-veil he withdrew from me, and ‘neath it naught ✿ Save breath of
one unsouled, unbodied, could he see.
Quoth he, “This be a sickness Love alone shall cure; ✿ Love hath a
secret from all guess of man wide free.”
Quoth they, “An folk ignore what here there be with him ✿ Nature of ill
and eke its symptomology,”
How then shall medicine work a cure? At this quoth I ✿ “Leave me alone;
I have no guessing specialty.”
And they tell a tale of
-----
Footnote 490:
_i.e._ in spirit; the “strangers yet” of poor dear Richard Monckton
Milnes, Lord Houghton.
Footnote 491:
Al-Hakk = the Truth, one of the ninety-nine names of Allah.
Footnote 492:
The Moslem is still unwilling to address Salám (Peace be with you) to
the Christian, as it is obligatory (Farz) to a Moslem (Koran, chapt.
iv. and lxviii.). He usually evades the difficulty by saluting the
nearest Moslem or by a change of words Allah Yahdí-k (Allah direct
thee to the right way) or “Peace be upon us and the righteous
worshippers of Allah” (not you) or Al-Samm (for Salam) alayka = poison
to thee. The idea is old: Alexander of Alexandria in his circular
letter describes the Arian heretics as “men whom it is not lawful to
salute or to bid God-speed.”
Footnote 493:
Koran xxxvi. 82. I have before noted that this famous phrase was
borrowed from the Hebrews, who borrowed it from the Egyptians.
THE PROPHET AND THE JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE.