One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  When it was the Eighty-first Night,

  She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir Dandan said to Zau al-Makan, “Thus spake the second hand maid to the King who hath found mercy, Omar bin al-Nu’uman. ‘Quoth a man to Mohammed bin Abdillah, Exhort thou me!’ ‘I exhort thee,’ replied he, ‘to be a self ruler, an abstainer in this world, and in the next a greedy slave.’ ‘How so?’ asked the other and Mohammed answered, ‘The abstinent man in this world conquereth both the world that is and the world to come.’ And quoth Ghaus bin Abdillah, ‘There were two brothers among the sons of Israel, one of whom said to the other, ‘What be the most perilous342 thing thou hast done?’ Replied the brother, ‘I once came upon a nest of young birds; so I took out one and threw it back into the nest; but among the chickens were some which drew apart from it. This is the most perilous thing I ever did; now what be the most perilous thing thou hast ever done?’ He rejoined, ‘When I arise for prayer I am fearful that it is only for the sake of the reward.’ Now their father heard these words and exclaimed, ‘O Allah, an say they sooth take them to Thyself!’ It was declared by one of the wise men, ‘Verily, these were of the most virtuous of children.’ Quoth Sa’íd bin Jubayr,343 ‘I was once in company with Fuzalah bin ‘Ubaydand said to him, ‘Exhort thou me!, Replied he, ‘Bear in mind these two necessaries, Shun syntheism344 and harm not any of Allah’s creatures.’ And he repeated these two couplets,

  ‘Be as thou wilt, for Allah still is bounteous Lord, * And care

  dispeller dread not therefore bane and ban

  To two things only never draw thee nigh, nor give * Partner to

  Allah trouble to thy brother man.’

  And how well saith the poet,

  ‘An thou of pious works a store neglect * And after death meet

  one who did collect,

  Thou shalt repent thou diddest not as he, * Nor madest ready as

  he did elect.’

  Then the third damsel came forward, after the second had with drawn, and said, ‘Of a truth, the chapter of piety is exceeding wide; but I will mention what occurreth to me thereof, concerning the pious of old. Quoth a certain holy man, ‘I congratulate myself in death, though I am not assured of rest therein, save that I know death interveneth between a man and his works; so I hope for the doubling of good works and the docking off of ill works.’ And Ita’a al Salami, when he had made an end of an exhortation, was wont to tremble and grieve and weep sore; and as they asked him why he did this he answered, ‘I desire to enter upon a grave matter, and it is the standing up before Almighty Allah to do in accordance with my exhortation.’ In similar guise Zayn al-Abidín,345 son of Al-Husayn, was wont to tremble when he rose to pray. Being asked the cause of this, he replied, ‘Know ye not before whom I stand and whom I address?’ It is said that there lived near Sufyán al-Thauri346 a blind man who, when the month of Ramazan came, went out with the folk to pray,347 but remained silent and hung back. Said Sufyan, ‘On the Day of Resurrection he shall come with the people of the Koran and they will be distinguished by increase of honour from their fellows.’ Quoth Sufyan, ‘Were the soul established in the heart as befitteth, it would fly away for joy and pining for Paradise, and for grief and fear of hell-fire.’ It is related also of Sufyan Al-Thauri that he said, ‘To look upon the face of a tyrant is a sin.’ Then the third damsel retired and came for ward the fourth, who said, ‘Here am I to treat of sundry traditions of pious men which suggest themselves to me. It is related that Bishr Barefoot348 said, ‘I once heard Khálid say, ‘Beware of secret polytheism.’ I asked, ‘What may secret polytheism be?’; and he answered, ‘When one of you in praying prolong his inclinations and prostrations till a cause of impurity349 come upon him.’ And one of the sages said, ‘Doing works of weal expiateth what is ill.’ Quoth Ibrahim,350 ‘I supplicated Bishr Barefoot to acquaint me with some theological mysteries; but he said, ‘O my son, this knowledge it behoveth us not to teach to every one; of every hundred five, even as the legal alms upon money.’ Said Ibrahim, ‘I thought his reply excellent and approved of it and while I was praying behold, Bishr was also praying: so I stood behind him351 making the prayer bow till the Mu’ezzin called his call. Then rose a man of tattered appearance and said, O folk, beware of a truth which bringeth unweal, for there is no harm in a lie bringing weal,352 and in time of need no choice we heed: speech booteth not in the absence of good qualities even as silence hurteth not in the presence of good. Presently I saw Bishr drop a danik,353 so I picked it up and exchanged it for a dirham which I gave him. Quoth he, ‘I will not take it.’ Quoth I, ‘It is perfectly lawful change’; but he rejoined ‘I cannot take in exchange the riches of the present world for those of the future world.’ It is related also that Bishr Barefoot’s sister once went to Ahmad bin Hanbal”354 — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

  When it was the Eighty-second Night,

  She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir Dandan continued to bespeak Zau al-Makan on this wise, “And quoth the maiden to thy father, ‘Bishr Barefoot’s sister once went to Ahmad bin Hanbal and said to him, ‘O Imam of the Faith, we are a family that spin thread by night and work for our living by day; and oftentimes the cressets of the watch of Baghdad pass by and we on the roof spinning by their light. Is this forbidden to us?’ Asked Ahmad:’Who are thou?’ ‘I am the sister of Bishr Barefoot,’ answered she. Rejoined the Iman, ‘O household of Bishr, I shall never cease to drink full draughts of piety from your hearts.’ Quoth one of the sages, ‘When Allah willeth well to His servant He openeth upon him the gate of action.’ Málik bin Dinár,355 when he passed through the bazar and saw aught he desired, was wont to say, ‘O soul, take patience, for I will not accord to thee what thou desirest.’ He said also (Allah accept him!), ‘The salvation of the soul lies in resistance to it and its damnation in submission to it.’ Quoth Mansúr bin Ammár,356 ‘I made a pilgrimage and was faring Meccahwards by way of Cufa, and the night was overcast, when I heard a voice crying out from the deeps of the darkness saying, ‘O Allah, I swear by Thy Greatness and Thy Glory, I meant not through my disobedience to transgress against Thee; for indeed I am not ignorant of Thee; but my fault is one Thou didst foreordain to me from eternity without beginning;357 so do Thou pardon my transgression, for indeed I disobeyed Thee of my ignorance!’ When he had made an end of his prayer he recited aloud the verse, ‘O true believers, save your souls and those of your families from the fire whose fuel is men and stones.’358 Then I heard a fall, but not knowing what it was I passed on. When the morning morrowed, as we went our way, behold, we fell in with a funeral train, followed by an old woman whose strength had left her. I asked her of the dead, and she answered, ‘This is the funeral of a man who passed by us yesterday whilst my son was standing at prayer and after his prayers he recited a verse from the Book of Allah Almighty when the man’s gall bladder burst and he fell dead.’ Therewith the fourth damsel retired and the fifth came forward and said, ‘I here will also repeat what occurreth to me regarding the acts of devotees in olden time. Maslamah bin Dinár used to say, ‘By making sound the secret thoughts, sins great and small are covered’; and, ‘when the servant of Allah is resolved to leave sinning, victory cometh to him.’ Also quoth he, ‘Every worldly good which doth not draw one nearer to Allah is a calamity, for a little of this world distracteth from a mickle of the world to come and a mickle of the present maketh thee forget the whole of the future.’ It was asked of Abú Házim,359 ‘Who is the most prosperous of men?’; and he answered, ‘Whoso spendeth his life in submission to Allah.’ The other enquired, ‘And who is the most foolish of mankind?’ ‘Whoso selleth his future for the worldly goods of others,’ replied Abu Hazim. It is reported of Moses360 (on whom be peace!) that when he came to the waters of Midian he exclaimed, ‘O Lord, verily I stand in need of the good which thou shalt send down to me.’361 And he asked of his Lord and not of his folk. There came two damsels and he drew water for them bot
h and allowed not the shepherds to draw first. When the twain returned, they informed their father Shu’ayb (on whom be peace!) who said, ‘Haply, he is hungry,’ adding to one of them, ‘Go back to him and bid him hither.’ Now when she came to Moses, she veiled her face and said, ‘My father biddeth thee to him that he may pay thee thy wage for having drawn water for us.’ Moses was averse to this and was not willing to follow her. Now she was a woman large in the back parts, and the wind blowing upon her garment362 covered the hinder cheeks to Moses; which when Moses saw, he lowered his eyes and said to her, ‘Get thee behind while I walk in front.’ So she followed him till he entered the house of Shu’ayb where supper was ready.” — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

  When it was the Eighty-third Night,

  She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir Dandan continued to Zau al-Makan, “Now, quoth the fifth damsel to thy sire, ‘When Moses (on whom be peace!) entered the home of Shu’ayb where supper was ready, Shu’ayb said to him, ‘O Moses, I desire to pay thee thy wage for having drawn water for these two.’ But Moses answered, ‘I am of a household which selleth nothing of the fashion of the next world363 for what is on earth of gold and silver.’ Then quoth Shu’ayb, ‘O youth! nevertheless thou art my guest, and it is my wont and that of my forbears to honour the guest by setting food before him.’ So Moses sat down and ate. Then Shu’ayb hired Moses for eight pilgrimages, that is to say, eight years, and made his wage marriage with one of his two daughters, and Moses’ service to him was to stand for her dowry. As saith the Holy Writ of him, ‘Verily I will give thee one of these my two daughters in marriage, on condition that thou serve me for hire eight pilgrimages: and if thou fulfil ten years, it is in thine own breast; for I seek not to impose a hardship on thee.’364 A certain man once said to one of his friends whom he had not met for many days, ‘Thou hast made me desolate, for that I have not seen thee this long while.’ Quoth the other, ‘I have been distracted from thee by Ibn Shiháb: dost thou know him?’ Quoth his friend, ‘Yes, he hath been my neighbour these thirty years, but I have never spoken to him.’ He replied, ‘Verily thou forgettest Allah in forgetting — thy neighbour! If thou lovedst Allah thou wouldst love thy neighbour. Knowest thou not that a neighbour hath a claim upon his neighbour,365 even as the right of kith and kin?’ Said Huzayfah, ‘We entered Meccah with Ibráhím bin Adham, and Shakík al-Balkhí was also making a pilgrimage that year. Now we met whilst circumambulating the Ka’abah and Ibrahim said to Shakik, ‘What is your fashion in your country?’ Replied Shakik, ‘When we are blest with our daily bread we eat, and when we hunger we take patience.’ ‘This wise,’ said Ibrahim, ‘do the dogs of Balkh; but we, when blest with plenty, do honour to Allah and when an hungered we thank Him.’ And Shakik seated himself before Ibrahim and said to him, ‘Thou art my master.’ Also said Mohammed bin Imrán, ‘A man once asked of Hátim the Deaf366 ‘What maketh thee to trust in Allah?’ ‘Two things,’ answered he, ‘I know that none save myself shall eat my daily bread, so my heart is at rest as to that; and I know that I was not created without the knowledge of Allah, and am abashed before Him.’ Then the fifth damsel retired and the ancient dame came forward and, kissing the ground before thy father nine times, said, ‘Thou hast heard, O King, what these all have spoken on the subject of piety; and I will follow their example in relating what hath reached me of the famous men of past times. It is said that the Imam al-Sháfi’í departed the night into three portions, the first for study, the second for sleep and the third for prayer. The Imam Abú Hanífah367 was wont also to pass half the night in prayer. One

  day a man pointed him out to another, as he walked by and remarked, ‘Yonder man watcheth the whole night.’ When he heard this Abu Hanifah said, ‘I was abashed before Allah to hear myself praised for what was not in me’; so after this he used to watch the whole night. And one of the Sages hath said,

  ‘Who seeketh for pearl in the Deep dives deep; * Who on high would hie robs his night of sleep.’

  Al-Rabí a relates that Al-Shafi’i used to recite the whole Koran seventy times during the month of Ramazan, and that in his daily prayers. Quoth Al-Shafi’i (Allah accept him!), ‘During ten years I never ate my fill of barley bread, for fullness hardeneth the heart and deadeneth the wit and induceth sleep and enfeebleth one from standing up to pray.’368 It is reported of Abdullah bin Mohammed al-Sakrá that he said, ‘I was once talking with Omar and he observed to me, ‘Never saw I a more God fearing or eloquent man than Mohammed bin Idris al-Shafi’i.’ It so happened I went out one day with Al-Háris bin Labíb al-Saffár, who was a disciple of Al-Muzani369 and had a fine voice and he read the saying of the Almighty, ‘This shall be a day whereon they shall not speak to any purpose, nor shall they be permitted to excuse themselves.’370 I saw Al-Shafi’i’s colour change; his skin shuddered with horripilation, he was violently moved and he fell down in a fainting fit When he revived he said, ‘I take refuge with Allah from the stead of the liars and the lot of the negligent! O Allah, before whom the hearts of the wise abase themselves, O Allah, of Thy bene ficence accord to me the remission of my sins, adorn me with the curtain of Thy protection and pardon me my shortcomings, by the magnanimity of Thy Being!’ Then I rose and went away. Quoth one of the pious, ‘When I entered Baghdad, Al-Shafi’i was there. So I sat down on the river bank to make the ablution before prayer; and behold, there passed me one who said, ‘O youth, make thy Wuzu-ablution well and Allah will make it well for thee in this world and in the next.’ I turned and lo! there was a man behind whom came a company of people. So I hastened to finish my ablution and followed him. Presently, he turned and asked me, ‘Say, dost thou want aught?’ ‘Yes,’ answered I, ‘I desire that thou teach me somewhat of that which Allah Almighty hath taught thee.’ He said, ‘Know then that whoso believeth in Allah shall be saved, and whoso jealously loveth his faith shall be delivered from destruction, and whoso practiseth abstinence in this world, his eyes shall be solaced on the morrow of death. Shall I tell thee any more?’ I replied, ‘Assuredly;’ and he continued, ‘Be thou of the world that is, heedless; and of the world to come, greediest. Be truthful in all thy dealings, and thou shalt be saved with the Salvationists.’ Then he went on and I asked about him and was told that he was the Imam Al-Shafi’i. Al-Shafi’i was wont to remark, ‘I love to see folk profit by this learning of mine, on condition that nothing of it be attributed to me.” — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

  When it was the Eighty-fourth Night,

  She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir Dandan continued to Zau al-Makan, “The old woman bespake thy sire, saying, ‘The Imam Al-Shafi’i was wont to remark, I love to see folk profit by this learning of mine on condition that nothing of it be attributed to me.’ He also said, ‘I never disputed with any one, but I would that Almighty Allah should give him the knowledge of the Truth and aid him to dispread it: nor did I ever dispute with anyone at all but for the showing forth of the Truth, and I reck not whether Allah manifest it by my tongue or by His.’ He said also (whom Allah accept!), ‘If thou fear to grow conceited of thy lore, then bethink thee Whose grace thou seekest and for what good thou yearnest and what punishment thou dreadest.’ It was told to Abu Hanífah that the Commander of the Faithful, Abú Ja’afar al-Mansúr, had appointed him Kazi and ordered him a salary of ten thousand dirhams; but he would not accept of this; and, when the day came on which the money was to be paid him, he prayed the dawn prayer, then covered his head with his robe — and spoke not. When the Caliph’s messenger came with the money, he went in to the Imam and accosted him, but he would not speak to him. So the messenger said, ‘Verily this money is lawfully thine.’ ‘I know that it is lawfully mine,’ replied he: ‘but I abhor that the love of tyrants get a hold upon my heart.’371 Asked the other, ‘If thou go in to them canst thou not guard thyself from loving them?’ Answered Abu Hanifah, ‘Can I look to enter the sea without my cl
othes being wet?’ Another of Al-Shafi’i’s sayings (Allah accept him!) is,

  ‘Oh soul of me, an thou accept my rede, * Thou shalt be wealthy

  and of grace entire:

  Cast off ambitious hopes and vain desires, * How many a death was

  done by vain desire!’

  Among the sayings of Sufyán al-Thaurí, with which he admonished Ali bin al-Hasan al-Salami was, ‘Be thou a man of truth and ‘ware lies and treachery and hypocrisy and pride. Be not indebted save to Him who is merciful to His debtors; and let thine associate be one who shall dissociate thee from the world. Be ever mindful of death and be constant in craving pardon of Allah and in beseeching of Allah peace for what remaineth of thy life. Counsel every True Believer, when he asketh thee concerning the things of his faith; and beware of betraying a Believer, for whoso betrayeth a Believer, betrayeth Allah and His Apostle. Avoid dissensions and litigation; and leave that which causeth doubt in thee for things which breed no doubt:372 so shalt thou be at peace. Enjoin beneficence and forbid malevolence: so shalt thou be loved of Allah. Adorn thine inner man and Allah shall adorn thine outer man. Accept the excuse of him who excuseth self to thee and hate not any one of the Moslems. Draw near unto those who withdraw from thee and excuse those that misuse thee: so shalt thou be the friend of the Prophets. Let thine affairs, both public and private, be in Allah’s charge, and fear Him with the fear of one who knoweth he is dead and who fareth towards Resurrection and Judgement stead between the hands of the Lord of Dread; and remember that to one of two houses thou art sped, either for Heavens eterne or to the Hell fires that burn.’ Thereupon the old woman sat down beside the damsels. Now when thy father, who hath found mercy, heard their discourse, he knew that they were the most accomplished of the people of their time; and, seeing their beauty and loveliness and the extent of their wisdom and lore, he showed them all favour. Moreover, he turned to the ancient dame and treated her with honour, and set apart for her and her damsels the palace which had lodged Princess Abrizah, daughter of the King of Greece, to which he bade carry all the luxuries they needed. They abode with him ten days and the old woman abode with them; and, whenever the King visited them, he found her absorbed in prayer, watching by night and fasting by day; whereby love of her took hold upon his heart and he said to me, ‘O Wazir, verily this old woman is of the pious, and awe of her is strong in my heart.’ Now on the eleventh day, the King visited her, that he might pay her the price of the damsels; but she said to him, ‘O King, know that the price of these maidens surpasseth the competence of men; indeed I seek not for them either gold or silver or jewels, be it little or much.’ Now when thy father heard these words he wondered and asked her, ‘O my lady and what is their price?’; whereto she answered, ‘I will not sill them to thee save on condition that thou fast, watching by night a whole month, and abstaining by day, all for the love of Allah Almighty; and, if thou do this, they are thy property to use in thy palace as thou please.’ So the King wondered at the perfection of her rectitude and piety and abnegation; she was magnified in his eyes and he said, ‘Allah make this pious woman to profit us!’ Then he agreed with her to fast for a month as she had stipulated, and she said to him, ‘I will help thee with the prayers I pray for thee and now bring me a gugglet of water.’ They brought one and she took it and recited over it and muttered spells, and sat for an hour speaking in speech no one understood or knew aught thereof. Lastly she covered it with a cloth and, sealing it with her signet ring, gave it to thy sire, saying, ‘When thou hast fasted the first ten days, break thy fast on the eleventh night with what is in this gugglet, for it will root out the love of the world from thy heart and fill it with light and faith. As for me, tomorrow I will go forth to my brethren, the Invisible373 Controuls, for I yearn after them, and I will return to thee when the first ten days are past. Thy father took the gugglet and arose and set it apart in a closet of his palace, then locked the door and put the key in his pocket. Next day the King fasted and the old woman went her ways.” — And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.