[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
near by stealth to [listen to the talk of the angels in]
heaven. Quoth God the Most High, Verily, we have decked the
sky of the earth with lamps and have appointed them for
projectiles against the demons. [FN333] Quoth the astronomer,
I have one more question to ask, which if she answer, I will
250
avow myself beaten. Say on, answered she. Then said he,
What four incompatible things are based upon other four
incompatibles? The four elements, replied she; for of heat
God created fire, which is by nature hot and dry; of dryness,
earth, which is cold and dry; of cold, water, which is cold and
moist; of moisture, air, which is hot and moist. Moreover, He
created twelve signs of the Zodiac, Aries, Taurus, Gemini,
Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn,
Aquarius and Pisces and appointed them of four [several]
humours, three, Aries, Leo and Sagittarius, fiery, Taurus, Virgo
and Capricorn, earthy, Gemini, Libra and Aquarius, airy, and
Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces, watery. With this, the astronomer
rose, and saying, Bear witness against me that she is more
learned than I, went away beaten.
Then said the Khalif, Where is the philosopher? whereupon one
came forward and said to Taweddud, What is Time? Time,
answered she, is a name applied to the [lapse of the] hours of
the day and night, which are but the measures of the courses of
the sun and moon in their several orbits, even as God the Most
High telleth us, when he saith, And a sign to them [is] the
night, from which we strip off the day, and behold, they are in
darkness, and the sun runneth to a fixed abode, [appointed] to
it; this is the ordinance of the Sublime, the All-knowing.
[FN334] (Q.) How comes unbelief to the son of Adam? (A.) It
is reported of the Prophet that he said, Unbelief runs in a man,
as the blood runs in the veins, when he reviles the world and Time
and night and the hour. And again, Let none of you revile Time,
for Time is God; neither the world, for it saith, May God not
help him that reviles me! neither the hour, for Verily, the hour
cometh, without doubt; [FN335] neither the earth, for it is a
portent, according to the saying of the Most High, From it we
created you, to it we will return you and from it we will bring
you forth yet again. [FN336] (Q.) What are the five that ate
and drank, yet came not out of loins nor belly? (A.) Adam and
Simeon and Salih s she-camel[FN337] and Ishmael s ram and the
bird that Abou Bekr the Truth-teller saw in the cave. [FN338]
(Q.) Tell me of five that are in Paradise and are neither
mortals, Jinn nor angels? (A.) Jacob s wolf and the Seven
Sleepers dog and Esdras s ass and Salih s camel and the
Prophet s mule. (Q.) What man prayed a prayer neither on
earth nor in heaven? (A.) Solomon [son of David], when he
prayed on his carpet, borne by the wind. (Q.) A man once
looked at a handmaid in the morning, and she was unlawful to
him; but, at noonday, she became lawful to him. By mid-afternoon,
she was again unlawful, but at sundown, she was lawful to him.
At evensong, she was a third time unlawful, but by daybreak, she
became once more lawful to him. (A.) This was a man who looked
at another s handmaid in the morning, and she was then unlawful
to him, but at midday he bought her, and she became lawful to him.
251
At mid-afternoon he enfranchised her, and she became unlawful to
him, but at sundown he married her and she was again lawful to
him. At evensong, he divorced her and she was then a third time
unlawful to him, but, next morning, at daybreak, he took her back,
and she became once more lawful to him. (Q.) Tell me what tomb
fared on with him that lay buried therein? (A.) The whale,
when it had swallowed Jonah. (Q.) What spot of ground is it,
upon which the sun shone once, but will never again shine till
the Day of Judgment? (A.) The bottom of the Red Sea, when Moses
smote it with his staff, and the sea clove asunder in twelve
places, according to the number of the tribes; then the sun
shone on the bottom and will do so never again till the Day of
Judgment. (Q.) What was the first skirt that trailed upon the
surface of the earth? (A.) That of Hagar, out of shame before
Sarah, and it became a custom among the Arabs. (Q.) What is
that which breathes without life? (A.) Quoth God the Most
High, By the morning, when it breathes! [FN339] (Q.) A
number of pigeons came to a high tree and lighted, some on the
tree and others under it. Said those on the tree to those on
the ground, If one of you come up to us, ye will be a third
part of us [all] in number; and if one of us descend to you, we
shall be like unto you in number. How many pigeons were there
in all? (A.) Twelve: seven alighted on the tree and five
beneath.
With this the philosopher put off his clothes and fled forth:
whereupon she turned to those present and said, Which of you
is the rhetorician that can discourse of all kinds of
knowledge? There came forward Ibrahim ben Siyyar and said to
her, Think me not like the rest. Quoth she, It is the more
sure to me that thou wilt be beaten, for that thou art a
boaster, and God will help me against thee, that I may strip
thee of thy clothes. So, if thou sentest one to fetch thee
wherewithal to clothe thyself, it would be well for thee. By
Allah, cried he, I will assuredly conquer thee and make thee
a byword among the folk, generation after generation! Do
penance [in advance] for thy [void] oath, rejoined she. Then
said he, What five things did God create, before He made man?
And she replied, Water and earth and light and darkness and
the fruits [of the earth]. (Q.) What did God create with the
hand of omnipotence? (A.) The empyreal heaven and the tree
Touba[FN340] and Adam and the garden of Eden; these God
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]