The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 15 - Sir Richard Francis Burton (world best books to read txt) 📗

deprecated and was eloquent in his salutation to the Governor who returned his greeting and looking at him asked, “Who are thou, O

young man, and what hast thou to say and what is thine excuse for pushing into the assembly of the Kings even as if, O youth, thou hadst been an invited guest?[FN#44] So say me, who art thou and whose son art thou?” “I am the son of my mother and my father,”

answered he, and Al-Hajjaj continued, “In what fashion hast thou come hither?”—“In my clothes.” “Whence hast thou come?”—“From behind me.” Whither art thou intending?”—“Before me.” “On what hast thou come?”—“On the ground.” “Whence art thou O young man?”—“I am from the city Misr.” “Art thou from Cairo?”[FN#45]-

-“Why asketh thou me, oh Hajjaj?” Whereupon the Lieutenant of Kufah replied, “Verily her ground is gold and her Nile is rare to behold and her women are a toy for the conqueror to enjoy, and her men are nor burghers nor Badawis.” Quoth the youth, “I am not of them,” and quoth Al-Hajjaj, “Then whence art thou, O young man?”—“I am from the city of Syria.” “Then art thou from the stubbornest of places and the feeblest of races.”[FN#46]

“Wherefore, O Hajjaj?”—For that it is a mixed breed I ween, nor Jew nor Nazarene.” “I am not of them.” “Then whence art thou, O

young man?”—“I am of Khor�s�n of ‘Ajam�-land.” “Thou art therefore from a place the fulsomest and of faith the infirmest.

Wherefore, O Hajjaj?” “Because flocks and herds are their chums and they are Ajams of the Ajams from whom liberal deed never comes, and their morals and manners none to praise presumes and their speech is gross and weighty, and stingy are their rich and wealthy.” “I am not of them.” “Then whence art thou, O young man?” “I am from Mosul.” “Then art thou from the foulest and filthiest of a Catamite race, whose youth is a scapegrace and whose old age hath the wits of an ass.” “I am not of them.” “Then whence art thou, O young man?” “I am from the land of Al-Yaman.”

“Then art thou from a clime other than delectable.” “And why so, O Hajjaj?” “For that their noblest make womanly use of Murd[FN#47] or beardless boys and the meanest of them tan hides and the lowest amongst them train baboons to dance, and others are weavers of Burd or woollen plaids.”[FN#48] “I am not of them.” “Then whence art thou, O young man?” “I am from Meccah.”

“Then art thou from a mine of captious carping and ignorance and lack of wits and of sleep over-abundant, whereto Allah commissioned a noble Prophet, and him they belied and they rejected: so he went forth unto a folk which loved him and honoured him and made him a conqueror despite the nose of the Meccan churls.” “I am not of them.” “Then whence art thou, O

young man? for verily thou hast been abundant of prate and my heart longeth to cut off thy pate.”[FN#49] Hereupon quoth the youth, “An I knew thou couldst slay me I had not worshipped any god save thyself,” and quoth Al-Hajjaj, “Woe to thee and who shall stay me from slaying thee?” “To thyself be the woe with measure enow,” cried the youth; “He shall hinder thee from killing me who administereth between a man and his heart,[FN#50]

and who falseth not his promise.” “‘Tis He,” rejoined Al-Hajjaj, “who directeth me to thy death;” but the Youth retorted, “Allah forfend that He appoint thee to my slaughter; nay rather art thou commissioned by thy Devil, and I take refuge with the Lord form Satan the stoned.” “Whence then art thou, O young man?” “I am from Yathrib.”[FN#51] “And what be Yathrib?” “It is Tayyibah.”

“And what be Tayyibah?” “Al-Madinah, the Luminate, the mine of inspiration and explanation and prohibition and licitation,[FN#52] and I am the seed of the Ban� Gh�lib[FN#53]

and the purest scion of the Imam ‘Ali bin Ab� Tal�b (Allah honour his countenance and accept of him!), and all degree and descent[FN#54] must fail save my descent and degree which shall never be cut off until the Day of Doom.” Hereupon Al-Hajjaj raged with exceeding rage and ordered the Youth to execution; whereat rose up against him the Lords of the realm and the headman of the reign and sued him by was of intercession and stretched out to him their necks, saying, “Here are our heads before his head and our lives before his life. By Allah, ho thou the Emir, there is naught but that thou accept our impenetration in the matter of this Youth, for he is on no wise deserving of death.” Quoth the Governor, “Weary not yourselves for needs must I slay him; and even were an Angel from Heaven cry out ‘Kill him not,’ I would never hearken to his cry.” Quoth the youth, “Thou shalt be baffled[FN#55] O Hajjaj! Who art thou that an Angel from Heaven should cry out to thee ‘Kill him not,’ for thou art the vilest and meanest of mankind nor hast thou power to find a path to my death.” Cried Al-Hajjaj, “By Allah, I will not slay thee except upon a plea I will plead against thee, and convict thee by thy very words.” “What is that, O Hajjaj?” asked the Youth, and answered Hajjaj, “I will now question thee, and out of thine own mouth will I convict thee and strike off thy head.[FN#56] Now say me, O young man: - Whereby doth the slave draw near to Allah Almighty?” “By five things, prayer (1), and fasting (2), and alms (3), and pilgrimage (4), and Holy War upon the path of Almighty Allah (5).” “But I draw near to the Lord with the blood of the men who declare that Hasan and Husayn were the sons and successors of the Apostle of Allah.[FN#57] Furthermore, O young man, how can they be born of the Apostle of Almighty Allah when he sayeth, ‘Never was Mohammed the father of any man amongst you, but he was the Apostle of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets.’”[FN#58] “Hear thou, O Hajjaj, my answer with another Koranic verse,[FN#59] ‘What the Apostle hath given you, take: and what he hath refused you, refuse.’ Now Allah Almighty hath forbidden the taking of life, whose destruction is therefore unlawful.” “Thou has spoken sooth, O young man, but inform me of what is incumbent on thee every day and every night?” “The five canonical prayers.” “And for every year?” “The fast of the month of Ramazan.” “And for the whole of thy life?” “One pilgrimage to the Holy House of Allah.” “Sooth thou hast said, O young man; now do inform me”—And Sharazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased to say her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, “How sweet is thy story, O sister mine, and how enjoyable and delectable!” Quoth she, “And where is this compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night an the King suffer me to survive?” Now when it was the next night and that was

 

The Five Hundred and Twelfth Night, Dunyazad said to her, “Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of this our latter night!” She replied, “With love and good will!” It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that Al-Hajjaj said, “Now do thou inform me who is the most excellent of the Arabs and the noblest and of blood the purest?”—“The Khoraysh.”

“And wherefore so?” “For that the Prophets from them proceeded.”

“And what tribe is the knightliest of the Arabs and the bravest and the firmest in fight?”—“The Banu H�shim.”[FN#60] “And wherefore so?” “For that my grandsire the Im�m Al� ibn Ab� T�lib is of them.” “And who is the most generous of the Arabs and most steadfast in the guest-rite?”—“The Banu Tayy.” “And wherefore so?” “For that the H�tim of Tayy[FN#61] was one thereof.” “And who is the vilest of the Arabs and the meanest and the most miserly, in whom weal is smallest and ill is greatest?” “The Banu Thak�f.”[FN#62] “And wherefore so?” “Because thou, O Hajjaj, art of them.” Thereupon the Lieutenant of Kufah raged with exceeding rage and ordered the slaughter of the youth; but the Grandees of the State rose up and prayed him for mercy, when he accepted their intercession and pardoned the offender. After which he said to him, “O young man, concerning the kid[FN#63] that is in the firmament, tell me be it male or female?” for he was minded on this wise to cut short his words. The young Sayyid replied, “O

Hajjaj, draw me aside its tail so I may inform thee thereanent.”[FN#64] “O young man, say me on what pasture best grow the horns of the camel?” “From leaves of stone.” “O

lack-wit! do stones bear leaves?” “O swollen of lips and little of wits and wisdom, say me do camels have horns?” “Haply thou art a lover fond, O youth?” “Yes! in love drowned.” “And whom lovest thou?”—“I love my lord, of whom I hope that he will turn my annoy into joy, and who can save me this day from thee, O

Hajjaj.” “And dost thou know the Lord?” “Yes, I do.” “And whereby hast thou known Him?” “By the book of Him which descended upon His Prophet-Apostle.” “And knowest thou the Koran by heart?”

“Doth the Koran fly from me that I should learn it by rote?”

“Hast thou confirmed knowledge thereof?” “Verily Allah sent down a book confirmed.”[FN#65] “Hast thou perused and mastered that which is therein?” “I have.” “Then, O young man, if thou have read and learned what it containeth, tell me which verset is the sublimest (1) and which verset is the most imperious (2) and which verset is hopefullest (3) and which verset is fearfullest (4) and which verset is believed by the Jew and the Nazarene (5) and in which verset Allah speaketh purely by himself (6) and which verset alludeth to the Prophets (8) and in which verset be mentioned the People of Paradise (9) and which verset speaketh of the Folk and the Fire (10) and which verset containeth tenfold signs (11) and which verset (12) speaketh of Ibl�s (whom Allah curse!).” Then quoth the youth, “Listen to my answering, O

Hajjaj, with the aid of the Beneficient King. Now the sublimest verset in the Book of Allah Almighty is the Throne verse;[FN#66]

and the most imperious is the word of Almighty Allah, ‘Verily Allah ordereth justice and well-doing and bestowal of gifts upon kith and kin’;[FN#67] and the justest is the word of the Almighty, ‘Whoso shall have wrought a mithk�l (nay an atom) of good works shall see it again, and whoso shall have wrought a mithk�l (nay an atom) of ill shall again see it’;[FN#68] and the fullest of fear is that spoken by the Almighty, ‘Doth not every man of them desire that he enter into the Paradise hight Al-Na’im?’[FN#69] and the fullest of hope is the word of the Almighty, ‘Say Me, O My worshippers who have sinned against your own souls, do not despair of Allah’s ruth’;[FN#70] and the verset which containeth ten signs is the word of the Lord which saith[FN#71] ‘Verily in the Creation of the Heavens and the Earth and in the shifts of Night and Day and in the ships which pass through the sea with what is useful to mankind; and in the rain which Allah sendeth down from Heaven, thereby giving to the earth life after death, and by scattering thereover all the moving creatures, and in the change of the winds, and in the clouds which are made