_PEACE, O READER! Constant, blessed and abundant salutations_.
_Of a verity the groves of my hopes have been refreshed by cooling
showers from the clouds of Allah's blessing, my rose garden has been
weeded of the thorns of despondency, and the tree of my prosperity has
become fruit-bearing from the breeze of his bounty. He is the Giver of
Gifts, the Source of Liberality, the Sovereign, the dust of whose
sandals is deservedly the collyrium of the eyes of mortal men; and I,
called by my fellows El-Motardjim, am the servant who, in compliance
with the exalted command, have placed my finger of acquiescence on the
vision of obedience. During many hopeless nights I waited for the
radiation of the sun of the benefits of prosperity, and counted the
stars till the rise of dawn, but, by my ill-luck and the machinations of
enemies, was deprived of the felicity of penetrating the mystery of the
Land Forbidden_.
_At length, however, on a happy day when the fire of my anguish burned
so brightly that it was not easy to extinguish it with the water of
patience, the Abolisher of the signs of darkness and aberration invested
me with the robe of the favoured, guarded me through the calamities and
vicissitudes of fortune during long journeys, directed my footsteps
through the mazes of paths untrodden, and revealed unto my dazzled eyes
weird and wondrous marvels stranger than men have dreamed_.
_Therefore, O Reader! wipe the dust of ennui and fatigue from the
speculum of thy mind, withdraw the tongue of blame into thy palate, and
lend a willing ear to this my Tarik; for, verily, I have elucidated the
secret of the mystic Land of the No Return; I have torn the veil that
hideth the Great Sin from the eyes of men, and have gazed into the Eye
of Istar. "Imsh Allah_!"