The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights

by vol 02 (tr Malcolm C

  A story is told that Alexander the Great passed by a people who were so poor that they owned no worldly goods at all. They used to bury their dead in graves dug at the doors of their houses, which they would constantly visit to clean and to sweep away the dust, and where they would worship Almighty God. Their only food was grass, together with plants that they got from the earth. Alexander sent them an envoy summoning their king to visit him, but he refused to answer the call, saying: ‘I have no need of Alexander.’ Alexander then visited him and asked about the condition of his people, saying: ‘I don’t see that any of you has any gold or silver or any worldly goods,’ to which the king replied: ‘No one is satisfied with the goods of this world.’ ‘Why do you dig graves by your house doors?’ Alexander asked, and the king replied: ‘This is so that we may have them before our eyes and remind ourselves of death as we look at them. In this way, as love for this world leaves our hearts, we shall not forget the world to come, and we shall not be distracted by it from our worship of Almighty God.’ ‘How is it that you eat grass?’ asked Alexander. ‘We do not want to make our bellies into graves for animals,’ said the king, ‘and the pleasure to be got from food goes no further than the throat.’

  The king then reached out and produced a human skull, which he placed before Alexander. ‘Alexander,’ he said, ‘do you know whose skull this is?’ When Alexander said no, the king told him: ‘This belonged to one of the kings of the world who used to treat his subjects unjustly and oppressively, wronging the weak and spending his days in amassing ephemeral goods. God took his soul and condemned him to hellfire. This is his skull.’ He then reached out and put another skull before Alexander, again asking him whether he knew whose it was. When Alexander said no, the king said: ‘This belonged to a ruler who treated his subjects justly and with compassion. When God took his soul, He placed him in Paradise and exalted him.’ He then laid his hand on Alexander’s head and said: ‘Which of these two, do you think, will be yours?’

  Alexander wept bitterly, clasped the king to his breast and said: ‘If you would like to stay with me, I would hand over the vizierate to you and share my kingdom with you.’ ‘Never, never!’ exclaimed the king. ‘I have no desire for this.’ ‘Why is that?’ asked Alexander. ‘Because all mankind are your enemies, thanks to the wealth and the kingdom that you have been given,’ replied the king, ‘whereas for me they are all true friends because I am content with my poverty. I have no kingdom; there is nothing that I want or seek in the world. I have no ambition here and set store by nothing except contentment.’

  Alexander clasped him to his breast, kissed him between the eyes and went on his way.

  A story is told that King Anushirwan the Just pretended one day that he was ill and sent out some of his trusted and reliable officers with orders to go through all the regions and quarters of his realm to look for an old brick in a ruined village, telling them that the doctors had prescribed this as a cure for his ailment. They toured every part of his empire but had to come back and tell him: ‘In the whole of your realm we have found no ruined place and no old brick.’ This delighted Anushirwan, who gave thanks to God and said: ‘I wanted to have my lands inspected and surveyed to see whether there were still any ruins there that needed restoration, but as every single place now is flourishing, then everything that needs to be done in my kingdom has been completed; it is in good order and its prosperity has reached the stage of perfection.’

  Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the four hundred and sixty-fifth night, SHE CONTINUED:

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that when his officers came back to Anushirwan and told him that they had not found a single ruined place throughout the kingdom, he gave thanks to God and said: ‘Everything that needs to be done in my kingdom has been completed; it is in good order and its prosperity has reached the stage of perfection.’ Your majesty should know that in the old days these kings used to concern themselves to do their best to bring prosperity to their realms, knowing that the more prosperous they were, the better off their subjects would be. They also knew that the wise men and philosophers were undeniably right in saying that religion depends on the king, the king on his troops, his troops on money, money on the prosperity of the land, and this prosperity on the justice with which the subjects are treated. As a result they would not allow anyone to act oppressively or unjustly, nor would they permit their retainers to commit acts of aggression, knowing, as they did, that their subjects would not endure injustice and that all the lands would be ruined if they fell into the hands of wrongdoers. If that happened, their inhabitants would disperse and escape to the lands of some other ruler. Their own kingdoms would thus be diminished, revenues would fall, treasuries would be emptied and the lives of their subjects would be made wretched. They would have no fondness for an unjust ruler and would constantly be cursing him; he would get no enjoyment from his kingdom and there would be no halting the process of his destruction.

  A story is told that among the Israelites there was a certain judge whose wife was not only extremely beautiful but was also chaste, patient and long-suffering. The judge wanted to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and he left his brother to hold his post for him, asking him to look after his wife. His brother had heard of her beauty and had fallen in love with her. When the judge had left, his brother went to the woman and tried to seduce her, but she rejected his advances, taking refuge in her piety. Although he tried again and again, she kept on refusing, until, when he had given up hope of her, he became afraid that when his brother returned, she would tell him what he had done. So he collected false witnesses to testify that she had committed adultery and took her case to the king who was ruling at the time. The king ordered her to be stoned to death and so they dug a pit, placed her in it and stoned her until she was under a heap of rocks. Then her accuser said: ‘This pit will be her grave.’

  In the dark of night the woman started to moan in the intensity of her pain, and a man passing on his way to a village heard her and went to her, bringing her out of the pit and carrying her back home. On his instructions his wife tended her until she was cured. As it happened, this woman had a child whom she entrusted to her patient and who was looked after by her, spending the night with her in a second room. A clever rogue caught sight of the woman and, fired by lust, he sent a message to her in an attempt to seduce her, and when she rejected him, he made up his mind to kill her. He came by night into the room where she was sleeping and attacked her with a knife, but as it happened, it was the child whose throat he cut. When he realized what he had done, he took fright and left the room, God having protected the woman from him. In the morning she found the child with its throat cut; its mother came and accused her of having killed him. His mother gave her a painful beating and was about to kill her when the husband arrived and saved her, saying: ‘By God, this woman did not do that.’

  The woman then ran off, not knowing where she was going. She still had some money with her and she passed a village where the inhabitants were clustered around a man who had been crucified on the trunk of a palm tree but was still alive. She asked about him and was told that the crime he had committed could only be atoned for by his death or by the payment of such-and-such a sum of money. ‘Take the money,’ she said, ‘and set him free.’ The man then repented at her hands and swore to himself that he would serve his rescuer for the sake of Almighty God until he died. He built her a cell in which he installed her, and he provided her with food by selling wood that he cut.

  The woman applied herself to her devotions, and if any sick person or madman came to her, she would bless them and they would immediately be cured.

  Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the four hundred and sixty-sixth night, SHE CONTINUED:

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that the woman was sought out by people, as she applied herself to her devotions in her cell.

  As had
been decreed by Almighty God, her husband’s brother, the man who had had her stoned, became afflicted by a growth on his face, the woman who had beaten her contracted leprosy and the rogue was crippled by a painful illness. When her husband, the judge, returned from his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he had gone to his brother and asked about his wife. His brother had told him that she was dead, and the judge had mourned her, thinking her to be in God’s keeping. Rumours now started to spread among the people of a woman whose cell had become a goal for pilgrims from every part of the land, and the judge said to his brother: ‘Why not go to this pious woman, as it may be that God will cure you at her hands?’ ‘Carry me to her,’ his brother replied. Similarly, the husband of the leprous woman brought her there, as did the family of the crippled rogue when they heard of her.

  All these people met at the door of her cell, where she could see everyone who approached without being seen herself. They waited for her servant to come, and when he did, they asked him to get permission for them to go in to see her. He did this and she herself, veiled and covered up, stood by the door looking at her husband and his brother, the rogue and the woman. She recognized them while they could not recognize her, and she told them that they would find no release from their sufferings until they confessed their sins, explaining: ‘When the servant does this, God forgives him and grants him what he is seeking from Him.’

  The judge said to his brother: ‘Repent to God, brother, and do not persist in your disobedience. This will help to rescue you, as the tongue of conscience says:

  On Judgement Day God brings together the wrongdoer and the wronged,

  And He brings out those secrets that were hidden.

  This is a gathering where sinners are abased,

  And God will then exalt His faithful servants.

  Our Lord and Master will show forth the truth

  Against the wishes and desires of those who disobey.

  Woe to the man who openly offends the Lord,

  As though he does not know about God’s punishment!

  You who seek glory, glory lies

  In piety, so take refuge with God.’

  At this, the judge’s brother said: ‘Now I shall tell the truth. I did such-and-such to your wife and this is my sin.’ The leprous woman said: ‘I had a woman staying with me whom I accused of a crime, without knowing whether she had committed it, and I beat her. This is my sin.’ The cripple said: ‘I tried to seduce a woman, and after she had refused me, I went in to kill her but instead I killed a child in her arms. This is my sin.’

  The woman then prayed: ‘My God, as You have shown them how disobedience has brought them low, show them now the glory of obedience to You, for You have power over all things.’ At this, God cured them all. The judge began to look closely at the woman and when she asked him why, he said: ‘I had a wife and, if it were not for the fact that she is dead, I would swear that you were she.’ His wife then revealed herself to him and together they began to praise the Great and Glorious God for the favour He had shown them in reuniting them. The judge’s brother, the thief and the other woman started to ask for her forgiveness. She forgave them all and they stayed there, worshipping God constantly with her, until they were parted by death.

  A story is told that ONE OF THE DESCENDANTS OF THE PROPHET SAID:

  One dark night I was circumambulating the Ka‘ba when I heard the sound of a plaintive voice speaking from a sorrowful heart and saying: ‘Generous God, Your grace is eternal and my heart remains faithful to the covenant.’ I was so moved by listening to this that I almost died, but I followed the sound of the voice and found that the speaker was a woman. ‘Peace be on you, servant of God,’ I said, and she replied: ‘Peace be on you, together with the mercy and blessing of God.’ ‘In the Name of God, the Omnipotent,’ I said, ‘tell me what this covenant is to which your heart is faithful.’ ‘Had you not invoked the Name of Almighty God,’ she answered, ‘I would not tell you my secret. But look at what I am holding.’ I looked and saw a child sleeping heavily in her arms, and SHE CONTINUED:

  When I was pregnant, I left my home to make a pilgrimage here. I boarded a ship, but we were met by stormy waves and contrary winds and the ship was wrecked. I escaped on a plank and it was then that I gave birth to this child. While I was holding him in my lap, with the waves buffeting me…

  Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the four hundred and sixty-seventh night, SHE CONTINUED:

  I have heard, O fortunate king, that THE WOMAN SAID:

  When the ship was wrecked I escaped on a plank and then gave birth to this child. While I was holding him in my lap, with the waves buffeting me, one of the sailors from the ship reached me and joined me on the plank. ‘By God,’ he said, ‘I wanted you when we were on the ship and now that I am here with you let me have you, or else I’ll throw you into the sea.’ ‘Damn you,’ I told him, ‘has the storm you have seen not been warning enough for you?’ ‘I’ve seen this kind of thing many times and escaped, so it doesn’t worry me,’ he replied. ‘We must hope to be saved from this misfortune by obedience to God and not by disobeying Him,’ I told him, but he kept pressing me, and as I was afraid of him, I tried to trick him by saying: ‘Wait until the baby goes to sleep.’ At that, he took the child from my lap and threw it into the sea. When I saw the reckless way in which he had done this, in my agitation and great distress I raised my head towards heaven and said: ‘You Who can come between a man and his own heart, come between me and this beast, for You are Omnipotent.’ By God, I had not finished speaking when out of the sea came a creature that snatched the sailor from the plank, leaving me there alone.

  As I mourned for my child, my distress and sorrow increased and I recited these lines:

  The delight of my eyes, my darling child

  Is lost, and passionate longing weakens me.

  I see my body drowning, while my inmost parts

  Are roasted by the fires of my emotion.

  There can be no relief from my distress

  Except through the grace of Him, on Whom I lean.

  My Lord, You see what has afflicted me –

  The passion that is caused by my child’s loss.

  Bring him to me again; be merciful,

  For I have nothing stronger than my hope in You.

  For a day and a night I stayed in that state, but the following morning I caught sight of the sails of a ship in the distance. Wind and waves kept tossing and driving me on until I got to it and was taken on board by its crew. I looked around and there, among them, I saw my child. I threw myself on him and exclaimed: ‘This is my child! Where did you find him?’ The sailors said: ‘While we were sailing along, the ship came to a halt and we saw a monster as big as a huge city with this child on its back, sucking his thumb, and so we took him on board.’ When I heard that, I told them my own story and gave thanks to God for what He had given me, and I promised that I would never leave His house or quit His service. After that, whatever I have asked from Him, He has given me.

  THE PROPHET’S DESCENDANT CONTINUED:

  I put my hand in the purse that I used for charity, intending to give her something, but she said: ‘Go away, you futile fellow. After telling you of His grace and bounty, am I to take help from any other hand?’ I could not get her to accept anything from me and so I left her and went off reciting these lines:

  How many secret bounties God bestows,

  Whose hidden virtues are too subtle for the wise to grasp.

  How often does good fortune follow bad!

  How often does He bring relief to the sad heart!

  How many mornings bring distressing cares,

  But in the evening joy comes on their heels.

  So if one day you are in narrow straits,

  Trust in the One Eternal and Exalted God.

  Seek intercession from the Prophet, for God’s servants

  Are granted their desires when he pleads for them.

  The woman
continued to serve God, without leaving His house, until she died.

  A story is told that MALIK IBN DINAR, MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON HIM, SAID:

  We had had no rain in Basra and although we went out several times to pray for it, our prayers were not answered. I then went with ‘Ata al-Sulami, Thabit al-Banani, Nujaiy al-Bakka, Muhammad ibn Wasi‘ Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani, Habib al-Farisi, Hassan ibn Abi Sinan, ‘Utba al-Ghulam and Salih al-Mazani. We arrived at the oratory when the boys were coming out of school, and although we prayed for rain we could see no signs of any answer. At midday the others went off, leaving me there with Thabit al-Banani. Then, as the night darkened, we caught sight of a black man with a pleasant face, thin shanks and a large belly, who was coming towards us. He was wearing a woollen waist-wrapper and had a price been put on them all, his clothes would not have fetched two dirhams. He brought water, performed the ablution and then went to the prayer niche and quickly performed two rak‘as, each of whose individual movements, standing, bowing and prostration, exactly matched the others. He then looked up to the heavens and said: ‘My God, my Lord and my Master, how long will You refuse to grant your servants something that does not diminish Your kingdom? Are Your resources exhausted or Your treasuries empty? I conjure You by Your love for me to send down Your rain on us now.’ Before he had finished speaking, the sky clouded over and rain poured down as though from the mouths of water skins, and as soon as we left the oratory we were wading knee-deep in water.

  Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the four hundred and sixty-eighth night, SHE CONTINUED: