It is narrated (and God knows best the true state of the case) by Abu
Ali Jafir Bin Yakub-ulisfahani that when, in His determinate Will,
The Benefactor had decided to create the Greatest Substitute (Adam),
He despatched, as is known, the faithful and the excellent Archangel
Jibrail to gather from Earth clays, loams, and sands endowed with
various colours and attributes, necessary for the substance of our
pure Forefather’s body. Receiving the Command and reaching the place,
Jibrail put forth his hand to take them, but Earth shook and lamented
and supplicated him. Then said Jibrail: “Lie still and rejoice, for
out of thee He will create that than which (there) is no handsomer
thing--to wit a Successor and a Wearer of the Diadem over thee through
the ages.” Earth said: “I adjure thee to abstain from thy purpose, lest
evil and condemnation of that person who is created out of me should
later overtake him, and the Abiding (sorrow) be loosed upon my head. I
have no power to resist the Will of the Most High, but I take refuge
with Allah from thee.” So Jibrail was moved by the lamentations and
helplessness of Earth, and returned to the Vestibule of the Glory with
an empty hand.
After this, by the Permission, the Just and Terrible Archangel Michael
next descended, and he, likewise, hearing and seeing the abjection of
Earth, returned with an empty hand. Then was sent the Archangel Azrael,
and when Earth had once again implored God, and once again cried out,
he closed his hand upon her bosom and tore out the clays and sands
necessary.
Upon his return to the Vestibule it was asked if Earth had again taken
refuge with Allah or not? Azrael said: “Yes.” It was answered: “If
it took refuge with Me why didst thou not spare?” Azrael answered:
“Obedience (to Thee) was more obligatory than Pity (for it).” It was
answered: “Depart! I have made thee the Angel of Death to separate the
souls from the bodies of men.” Azrael wept, saying: “Thus shall all
men hate me.” It was answered: “Thou hast said that Obedience is more
obligatory than Pity. Mix thou the clays and the sands and lay them
to dry between Tayif and Mecca till the time appointed.” So, then,
Azrael departed and did according to the Command. But in his haste
he perceived not that he had torn out from Earth clays and minerals
that had lain in her at war with each other since the first; nor did
he withdraw them and set them aside. And in his grief that he should
have been decreed the Separator of Companions, his tears mingled with
them in the mixing so that the substance of Adam’s body was made
unconformable and ill-assorted, pierced with burning drops, and at
issue with itself before there was (cause of) strife.
This, then, lay out to dry for forty years between Tayif and Mecca
and, through all that time, the Beneficence of the Almighty leavened
it and rained upon it the Mercy and the Blessing, and the properties
necessary to the adornment of the Successorship. In that period, too,
it is narrated that the Angels passed to and fro above it, and among
them Eblis the Accursed, who smote the predestined Creation while it
was drying, and it rang hollow. Eblis then looked more closely and
observing that of which it was composed to be diverse and ill-assorted
and impregnated with bitter tears, he said: “Doubt not I shall soon
attain authority over this; and his ruin shall be easy.” (This, too,
lay in the foreknowledge of The Endless.)
When time was that the chain of cause and effect should be surrendered
to Man’s will, and the vessels of desire and intention entrusted to
his intelligence, and the tent of his body illuminated by the lamp of
vitality, the Soul was despatched, by Command of the Almighty, with
the Archangel Jibrail, towards that body. But the Soul being thin and
subtle refused, at first, to enter the thick and diverse clays, saying:
“I have fear of that (which is) to be.” This it cried twice, till it
received the Word: “_Enter unwillingly, and unwillingly depart._” Then
only it entered. And when that agony was accomplished, the Word came:
“_My Compassion exceedeth My Wrath._” It is narrated that these were
the first words of which our pure Forefather had cognisance.
Afterwards, by the operation of the determinate Will, there arose in
Adam a desire for a companion, and an intimate and a friend in the
Garden of the Tree. It is narrated that he first took counsel of Earth
(which had furnished) his body. Earth said: “Forbear. Is it not enough
that one should have dominion over me?” Adam answered: “There is but
one who is One in Earth or Heaven. All paired things point to the
Unity, and my soul, which came not from thee, desires unutterably.”
Earth said: “Be content in innocence, and let thy body, which I
gave unwillingly, return thus to (me) thy mother.” Adam said: “I am
motherless. What should I know?”
At that time came Eblis the Accursed who had long prepared an evil
stratagem and a hateful device against our pure Forefather, being
desirous of his damnation, and anxious to multiply causes and occasions
thereto. He addressed first his detestable words to the Peacock among
the birds of the Garden, saying: “I have great amity towards thee
because of thy beauty; but, through no fault of mine, I am forbidden
the Garden. Hide me, then, among thy tail-feathers that I may enter it,
and worship both thee and our Lord Adam, who is Master of thee.” The
Peacock said: “Not by any contrivance of mine shalt thou enter, lest
a judgment fall on my beauty and my excellence. But there is in the
Garden a Serpent of loathsome aspect who shall make thy path easy.”
He then despatched the Serpent to the Gate and after conversation and
by contrivance and a malign artifice, Eblis hid himself under the
tongue of the Serpent, and was thus conveyed past the barrier. He then
worshipped Adam and ceased not to counsel him to demand a companion and
an intimate that the delights might be increased, and the succession
assured to the Regency of Earth. For he foresaw that, among multitudes,
many should come to him. Adam therefore made daily supplication
for that blessing. It was answered him: “How knowest thou if the
gratification of thy desire be a blessing or a curse?” Adam said: “By
no means; but I will abide the chance.”
Then the somnolence fell upon him, as is narrated; and upon waking he
beheld our Lady Eve (upon whom be the Mercy and the Forgiveness). Adam
said: “O my Lady and Light of my Universe, who art thou?” Eve said: “O
my Lord and Summit of my Contentment, who art thou?” Adam said: “Of
a surety I am thine.” Eve said: “Of a surety I am thine.” Thus they
ceased to inquire further into the matter, but were united, and became
one flesh and one soul, and their felicity was beyond comparison or
belief or imagination or apprehension.
Thereafter, it is narrated, that Eblis the Stoned consorted with them
secretly in the Garden, and the Peacock with him; and they jested
and made mirth for our Lord Adam and his Lady Eve and propounded
riddles and devised occasions for the stringing of the ornaments and
the threading of subtleties. And upon a time when their felicity was
at its height, and their happiness excessive, and their contentment
expanded to the uttermost, Eblis said: “O my Master and my Mistress
declare to us, if it pleases, some comparison or similitude that lies
beyond the limits of possibility.” Adam said: “This is easy. That the
Sun should cease in Heaven or that the Rivers should dry in the Garden
is beyond the limits of possibility.” And they laughed and agreed,
and the Peacock said: “O our Lady, tell us now something of a jest
as unconceivable and as beyond belief as this saying of thy Lord.”
Our Lady Eve then said: “That my Lord should look upon me otherwise
than is his custom is beyond this saying.” And when they had laughed
abundantly, she said: “O our Servitors, tell us now something that is
further from possibility or belief than my saying.” Then the Peacock
said: “O our Lady Eve, except that thou shouldst look upon thy Lord
otherwise than is thy custom, there is nothing further than thy saying
from possibility or belief or imagination.” Then said Eblis: “Except
that the one of you should be made an enemy to the other, there is
nothing, O my Lady, further than thy saying from possibility, or
belief, or imagination, or apprehension.” And they laughed immoderately
all four together in the Garden.
But when the Peacock had gone and Eblis had seemed to depart, our Lady
Eve said to Adam: “My Lord and Disposer of my Soul, by what means did
Eblis know our fear?” Adam said: “O my Lady, what fear?” Eve said: “The
fear which was in our hearts from the first, that the one of us might
be made an enemy to the other.” Then our pure Forefather bowed his head
on her bosom and said: “O Companion of my Heart, this has been my fear
also from the first, but how didst thou know?” Eve said: “Because I am
thy flesh and thy soul. What shall we do?”
Thus, then, they came at moonrise to the Tree that had been forbidden
to them, and Eblis lay asleep under it. But he waked merrily and said:
“O my Master and my Mistress, this is the Tree of Eternity. By eating
her fruit, felicity is established for ever among mankind; nor after
eating it shall there be any change whatever in the disposition of the
hearts of the eaters.”
Eve then put out her hand to the fruit, but Adam said: “It is
forbidden. Let us go.” Eve said: “O my Lord and my Sustainer, upon my
head be it, and upon the heads of my daughters after me. I will first
taste of this Tree, and if misfortune fall on me, do thou intercede
for me; or else eat likewise, so that eternal bliss may come to us
together.”
Thus she ate, and he after her; and at once the ornaments of Paradise
disappeared from round them, and they were delivered to shame and
nudity and abjection. Then, as is narrated, Adam accused Eve in the
Presence; but our Lady Eve (upon whom be the Pity and the Recompense)
accepted (the blame of) all that had been done.
When the Serpent and the Peacock had each received their portion for
their evil contrivances (for the punishment of Eblis was reserved) the
Divine Decree of Expulsion was laid upon Adam and Eve in these words:
“_Get ye down, the one of you an enemy to the other._” Adam said: “But
I have heard that Thy Compassion exceeds Thy Wrath.” It was answered:
“I have spoken. The Decree shall stand in the place of all curses.” So
they went down, and the barriers of the Garden of the Tree were made
fast behind them.
It is further recorded by the stringers of the pearls of words and the
narrators of old, that when our pure Forefather the Lord Adam and his
adorable consort Eve (upon whom be the Glory and the Sacrifice) were
thus expelled, there was lamentation among the beasts in the Garden
whom Adam had cherished and whom our Lady Eve had comforted. Of those
unaffected there remained only the Mole, whose custom it was to burrow
in earth and to avoid the light of the Sun. His nature was malignant
and his body inconspicuous but, by the Power of the Omnipotent, Whose
Name be exalted, he was then adorned with eyes far-seeing both in the
light and the darkness.
When the Mole heard the Divine Command of Expulsion, it entered his
impure mind that he would extract profit and advancement from a secret
observation and a hidden espial. So he followed our Forefather and
his august consort, under the earth, and watched those two in their
affliction and their abjection and their misery, and the Garden was
without his presence for that time.
When his watch was complete and his observation certain, he turned him
swiftly underneath the Earth and came back saying to the Guardians of
the Gate: “Make room! I have a sure and a terrible report.” So his
passage was permitted, and he lay till evening in the Garden. Then
he said: “Can the Accursed by any means escape the Decree?” It was
answered: “By no means can they escape or avoid.” Then the Mole said:
“But I have seen that they have escaped.” It was answered: “Declare
thy observation.” The Mole said: “The enemies to each other have
altogether departed from Thy worship and Thy adoration. Nor are they
in any sort enemies to each other, for they enjoy together the most
perfect felicity, and moreover they have made them a new God.” It was
answered: “Declare the shape of the God.” The Mole said: “Their God is
of small stature, pinkish in colour, unclothed, fat and smiling. They
lay it upon the grass and, filling its hands with flowers, worship it
and desire no greater comfort.” It was answered: “Declare the name of
the God.” The Mole said: “Its name is Quabil (Cain), and I testify upon
a sure observation that it is their God and their Uniter and their
Comforter.” It was answered: “Why hast thou come to Us?” The Mole said:
“Through my zeal and my diligence; for honour and in hope of reward.”
It was answered: “Is this, then, the best that thou canst do with
the eyes which We gave thee?” The Mole said: “To the extreme of my
ability!” It was answered: “There is no need. Thou hast not added to
their burden, but to thine own. Be darkened henceforward, upon Earth
and under Earth. It is not good to spy upon any creature of God to whom
alleviation is permitted.” So, then, the Mole’s eyes were darkened and
contracted, and his lot was made miserable upon and under the Earth to
this day.
But to those two, Adam and Eve, the alleviation was permitted, till
Habil and Quabil and their sisters Labuda and Aqlemia had attained
the age of maturity. Then there came to the Greatest Substitute and
his Consort, from out of Kabul the Stony, that Peacock, by whose
contrivance Eblis the Accursed had first obtained admission into the
Garden of the Tree. And they made him welcome in all their ways and
into all their imaginings; and he sustained them with false words and
flagitious counsels, so that they considered and remembered their
forfeited delights in the Garden both arrogantly and impenitently.
Then came the Word to the Archangel Jibrail the Faithful, saying:
“Follow those two with diligence, and interpose the shield of thy
benevolence where it shall be necessary; for though We have surrendered
them for awhile (to Eblis) they shall not achieve an irremediable
destruction.” Jibrail therefore followed our First Substitute and the
Lady Eve--upon whom is the Grace and a Forgetfulness--and kept watch
upon them in all the lands appointed for their passage through the
world. Nor did he hear any lamentations in their mouths for their sins.
It is recorded that, for a hundred years they were continuously upheld
by the Peacock under the detestable power of Eblis the Stoned, who by
means of magic multiplied the similitudes of meat and drink and rich
raiment about them for their pleasure, and came daily to worship them
as Gods. (This also lay in the predestined Will of the Inscrutable).
Further, in that age, their eyes were darkened and their minds were
made turbid, and the faculty of laughter was removed from them. The
Excellent Archangel Jibrail, when he perceived by observation that they
had ceased to laugh, returned and bowed himself among the Servitors and
cried: “The last evil has fallen upon Thy creatures whom I guard! They
have ceased to laugh and are made even with the ox and the camel.” It
was answered: “This also was foreseen. Keep watch.”
After yet another hundred years Eblis, whose doom is assured, came to
worship Adam as was his custom and said: “O my Lord and my Advancer
and my Preceptor in Good and Evil, whom hast thou ever beheld in all
thy world, wiser and more excellent than thyself?” Adam said: “I have
never seen such an one.” Eblis asked: “Hast thou ever conceived of
such an one?” Adam answered: “Except in dreams I have never conceived
of such an one.” Eblis then answered: “Disregard dreams. They proceed
from superfluity of meat. Stretch out thy hand upon the world which
thou hast made and take possession.” So Adam took possession of the
mountains which he had levelled and of the rivers which he had diverted
and of the upper and lower Fires which he had made to speak and to work
for him, and he named them as possessions for himself and his children
for ever. After this, Eblis asked: “O, my Upholder and Crown of my
Belief, who has given thee these profitable things?” Adam said: “By my
Hand and my Head, I alone have given myself these things.” Eblis said:
“Praise we the Giver!” So, then, Adam praised himself in a loud voice,
and built an Altar and a Mirror behind the Altar; and he ceased not
to adore himself in the Mirror, and to extol himself daily before the
Altar, by the name and under the attributes of the Almighty.
The historians assert that on such occasions it was the custom of the
Peacock to expand his tail and stand beside our First Substitute and to
minister to him with flatteries and adorations.
After yet another hundred years, the Omnipotent Whose Name be exalted,
put a bitter remorse into the bosom of the Peacock, and that bird
closed his tail and wept upon the mountains of Serendib. Then said
the Excellent and Faithful Archangel Jibrail: “How has the Vengeance
overtaken thee, O thou least desirable of fowl?” The Peacock said:
“Though I myself would by no means consent to convey Eblis into the
Garden of the Tree, yet as is known to thee and to the All Seeing, I
referred him to the Serpent for a subtle device, by whose malice and
beneath whose tongue did Eblis secretly enter that Garden. Wherefore
did Allah change my attuned voice to a harsh cry and my beauteous
legs to unseemly legs, and hurled me into the district of Kabul the
Stony. Now I fear that He will also deprive me of my tail, which is
the ornament of my days and the delight of my eye. For that cause and
in that fear I am penitent, O Servant of God.” Jibrail then said:
“Penitence lies not in confession, but in restitution and visible
amendment.” The Peacock said: “Enlighten me in that path and prove
my sincerity.” Jibrail said: “I am troubled on account of Adam who,
through the impure magic of Eblis, has departed from humility, and
worships himself daily at an Altar and before a Mirror, in such and
such a manner.” The Peacock said: “O Courier of the Thrones, hast thou
taken counsel of the Lady Eve?” Jibrail asked: “For what reason?” The
Peacock said: “For the reason that when the Decree of Expulsion was
issued against those two, it was said: ‘_Get ye down, the one of you
an enemy unto the other_,’ and this is a sure word.” Jibrail answered:
“What will that profit?” The Peacock said: “Let us exchange our shapes
for a time and I will show thee that profit.”
Jibrail then exacted an oath from the Peacock that he would return
him his shape at the expiration of a certain time without dishonour
or fraud, and the exchange was effected, and Jibrail retired himself
into the shape of the Peacock, and the Peacock lifted himself into
the illustrious similitude of Jibrail and came to our Lady Eve and
said: “Who is God?” The Lady Eve answered him: “His name is Adam.” The
Peacock said: “How is he God?” The Lady Eve answered: “For that he
knows both Good and Evil.” The Peacock asked: “By what means attained
he to that knowledge?” The Lady Eve answered: “Of a truth it was I
who brought it to him between my hands from off a Tree in the Garden.”
The Peacock said: “The greater then thy modesty and thy meekness, O my
Lady Eve,” and he removed himself from her presence, and came again
to Jibrail a little before the time of the evening prayer. He said to
that excellent and trusty one: “Continue, I pray, to serve in my shape
at the time of the Worship at the Altar.” So Jibrail consented and
preened himself and spread his tail and pecked between his claws, after
the manner of created Peacocks, before the Altar until the entrance
of our pure Forefather and his august consort. Then he perceived by
observation that when Adam kneeled at the Mirror to adore himself the
Lady Eve abode unwillingly, and in time she asked: “Have I then no part
in this worship?” Adam answered: “A great and a redoubtable part hast
thou, O my Lady, which is to praise and worship me constantly.” The
Lady Eve said: “But I weary of this worship. Except thou build me an
Altar and make a Mirror to me also I will in no wise be present at this
worship, nor in thy bed.” And she withdrew her presence. Adam then said
to Jibrail whom he esteemed to be the Peacock: “What shall we do? If I
build not an Altar, the Woman who walks by my side will be a reproach
to me by day and a penance by night, and peace will depart from the
earth.” Jibrail answered, in the voice of the Peacock: “For the sake of
Peace on earth build her also an Altar.” So they built an Altar with a
Mirror in all respects conformable to the Altar which Adam had made,
and Adam made proclamation from the ends of the earth to the ends of
the earth that there were now two Gods upon earth--the one Man, and the
other Woman.
Then came the Peacock in the likeness of Jibrail to the Lady Eve and
said: “O Lady of Light, why is thy Altar upon the left hand and
the Altar of my Lord upon the right?” The Lady Eve said: “It is a
remediable error,” and she remedied it with her own hands, and our
pure Forefather fell into a great anger. Then entered Jibrail in
the likeness of the Peacock and said to Adam: “O my Lord and Very
Interpreter, what has vexed thee?” Adam said: “What shall we do? The
Woman who sleeps in my bosom has changed the honourable places of the
Altars, and if I suffer not the change she will weary me by night
and day, and there will be no refreshment upon earth.” Jibrail said,
speaking in the voice of the Peacock: “For the sake of refreshment
suffer the change.” So they worshipped at the changed Altars, the Altar
to the Woman upon the right, and to the Man upon the left.
Then came the Peacock, in the similitude of Jibrail the Trusty One,
to our Lady Eve and said: “O Incomparable and All-Creating, art thou
by chance the mother of Quabil and Habil (Cain and Abel)?” The Lady
Eve answered: “By no chance but by the immutable ordinance of Nature
am I their Mother.” The Peacock said, in the voice of Jibrail: “Will
they become such as Adam?” The Lady Eve answered: “Of a surety, and
many more also.” The Peacock, as Jibrail, said: “O Lady of Abundance,
enlighten me now which is the greater, the mother or the child?” The
Lady Eve answered: “Of a surety, the mother.” The disguised Peacock
then said: “O my Lady, seeing that from thee alone proceed all the
generations of Man who calls himself God, what need of any Altar to
Man?” The Lady Eve answered: “It is an error. Doubt not it shall
be rectified,” and at the time of the Worship she smote down the
left-hand Altar. Adam said: “Why is this, O my Lady and my Co-equal?”
The Lady Eve answered: “Because it has been revealed that in Me is
all excellence and increase, splendour, terror, and power. Bow down
and worship.” Adam answered: “O my Lady, but thou art Eve my mate and
no sort of goddess whatever. This have I known from the beginning.
Only for Peace’ sake I suffered thee to build an Altar to thyself.”
The Lady Eve answered: “O my Lord, but thou art Adam my mate, and by
many universes removed from any sort of Godhead, and this have I known
from the first. Nor for the sake of any peace whatever will I cease
to proclaim it.” She then proclaimed it aloud, and they reproached
each other and disputed and betrayed their thoughts and their inmost
knowledges until the Peacock lifted himself in haste from their
presence and came to Jibrail and said: “Let us return each to his own
shape; for Enlightenment is at hand.”
* * * * *
So restitution was made without fraud or dishonour and they returned to
the temple each in his proper shape with his attributes, and listened
to the end of that conversation between the First Substitute and his
august Consort who ceased not to reprehend each other upon all matters
within their observation and their experience and their imagination.
When the steeds of recrimination had ceased to career across the plains
of memory, and when the drum of evidence was no longer beaten by the
drumstick of malevolence, and the bird of argument had taken refuge in
the rocks of silence, the Excellent and Trustworthy Archangel Jibrail
bowed himself before our pure Forefather and said: “O my Lord and Fount
of all Power and Wisdom, is it permitted to worship the Visible God?”
Then by the operation of the Mercy of Allah, the string was loosed in
the throat of our First Substitute and the oppression was lifted from
his lungs and he laughed without cessation and said: “By Allah I am no
God but the mate of this most detestable Woman whom I love, and who
is necessary to me beyond all the necessities.” But he ceased not to
entertain Jibrail with tales of the follies and the unreasonableness of
our Lady Eve till the night time.
The Peacock also bowed before the Lady Eve and said: “Is it permitted
to adore the Source and the Excellence?” and the string was loosened in
the Lady Eve’s throat and she laughed aloud and merrily and said: “By
Allah I am no goddess in any sort, but the mate of this mere Man whom,
in spite of all, I love beyond and above my soul.” But she detained the
Peacock with tales of the stupidity and the childishness of our pure
Forefather till the Sun rose.
Then Adam entered, and the two looked upon each other laughing. Then
said Adam: “O my Lady and Crown of my Torments, is it peace between
us?” And our Lady Eve answered: “O my Lord and sole Cause of my
Unreason, it is peace till the next time and the next occasion.” And
Adam said: “I accept, and I abide the chance.” Our Lady Eve said: “O
Man, wouldst thou have it otherwise upon any composition?” Adam said:
“O Woman, upon no composition would I have it otherwise--not even for
the return to the Garden of the Tree; and this I swear on thy head and
the heads of all who shall proceed from thee.” And Eve said: “I also.”
So they removed both Altars and laughed and built a new one between.
Then Jibrail and the Peacock departed and prostrated themselves before
the Throne and told what had been said. It was answered: “How left
ye them?” They said: “Before one Altar.” It was answered: “What was
written upon the Altar?” They said: “The Decree of Expulsion as it was
spoken--‘_Get ye down, the one of you an enemy unto the other_.’”
And it was answered: “Enough! It shall stand in the place of both Our
Curse and Our Blessing.”