Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night (Arabian Nights) Volume 09 — Night 913 - 914
When it was the Nine Hundred and Thirteenth Night, She pursued: It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the youth, the son and heir of King Jali'ad, when questioned by the Wazir upon the subjects aforesaid, returned him satisfactory replies; when Shimas resumed, "I see that brethren are of two kinds, brethren of trust and brethren of society.
[FN#114] As for the first who be friends, there is due to them that which thou hast set forth; but now tell me of the others who be acquaintances."
--As for brethren of society, thou gettest of them pleasance and goodly usance and fair speech and enjoyable company; so be thou not sparing to them of thy delights, but be lavish to them thereof, like as they are lavish to thee, and render to them that which they render to thee of affable countenance and an open favour and sweet speech, so shall thy life be pleasant and thy words be accepted of them."
Q "Tell me now of the provision decreed by the Creator to all creatures.
Hath He alloted to men and beasts each his several provision to the completion of his appointed life-term; and if this allotment be thus, what maketh him who seeketh his livelihood to incur hardships and travail in the quest of that which he knoweth must come to him, if it be decreed to him, albeit he incur not the misery of endeavour; and which, if it be not decreed to him, he shall not win, though he strive after it with his uttermost striving?
Shall he therefore stint endeavour and in his Lord put trust and to his body and his soul give rest?"
-- "Indeed, we see clearly that to each and every there is a provision distributed and a term prescribed; but to all livelihood are a way and means, and he who seeketh would get ease of his seeking by ceasing to seek; withal there is no help but that he seek his fortune.
The seeker is, however, in two cases: either he gaineth his fortune or he faileth thereof.
In the first case, his pleasure consisteth in two conditions: first, in the having gained his fortune, and secondly, in the laudable[FN#115] issue of his quest; and in the other case, his pleasure consisteth, first, in his readiness to seek his daily bread; secondly, in his abstaining from being a burthen to the folk, and thirdly, in his freedom from liability to blame."
Q "What sayst thou of the means of seeking one's fortune?"
--"A man shall hold lawful that which Allah (to whom belong Might and Majesty!
) alloweth, and unlawful whatso He forbiddeth."
Reaching this pass the discourse between them came to an end, and Shimas and all the Olema present rose and prostrating themselves before the young Prince, magnified and extolled him, whilst his father pressed him to his bosom and seating him on the throne of kingship, said, "Praised be Allah who hath blessed me with a son to be the coolth of mine eyes in my lifetime!"
Then said the King's son to Shimas in presence of all the Olema, "O sage that art versed in spiritual questions, albeit Allah have vouchsafed to me but scanty knowledge, yet do I comprehend thine intent in accepting from me what I proffered in answer concerning that whereof thou hast asked me, whether I hit or missed the mark therein, and belike thou forgavest my errors;
but now I am minded to question thee anent a thing, whereof my judgment faileth and whereto my capacity is insufficient and which my tongue availeth not to set forth, for that it is obscure to me, with the obscurity of clear water in a black vessel.
Wherefore I would have thee expound it to me so no iota thereof may remain doubtful to the like of me, to whom its obscurity may present itself in the future, even as it hath presented itself to me in the past; since Allah, even as He hath made life to be in lymph[FN#116] and strength in food and the cure of the sick in the skill of the leach, so hath He appointed the healing of the fool to be in the learning of the wise.
Give ear, therefore, to my speech."
Replied the Wazir, "O luminous of intelligence and master of casuistical questions, thou whose excellence all the Olema attest, by reason of the goodliness of thy discretion of things and thy distribution[FN#117] thereof and the justness of thine answers to the questions I have asked thee, thou knowest that thou canst enquire of me naught but thou art better able than I to form a just judgment thereon and expound it truly, for that Allah hath vouchsafed unto thee such wisdom as He hath bestowed on none other of men.
But inform me of what thou wouldst question me."
Quoth the Prince, "Tell me from what did the Creator (magnified be His all-might!
) create the world, albeit there was before it naught and there is naught seen in this world but it is created from something; and the Divine Creator (extolled and exalted be He!
) is able to create things from nothing,[FN#118] yet hath His will decreed, for all the perfection of His power and grandeur, that He shall create naught but from something."
The Wazir replied, "As for those, who fashion vessels of potter's clay,[FN#119] and other handicraftsmen, who cannot originate one thing save from another thing, they are themselves only created entities; but, as for the Creator, who hath wrought the world after this wondrous fashion, an thou wouldst know His power (extolled and exalted be He!
) of calling things into existence, extend thy thought and consider the various kinds of created things, and thou wilt find signs and instances, proving the perfection of His puissance and that He is able to create the ens from the non-ens; nay, He called things into being, after absolute non-existence, for the elements which be the matter of created things were sheer nothingness.
I will expound this to thee, so thou mayst be in no scepticism thereof, and the marvel-signs of the alternation of Night and Day shall make this clear to thee.
When the light goeth and the night cometh, the day is hidden from us and we know not the place where it abideth; and when the night passeth away with its darkness and its terror, the day cometh and we know not the abiding-place of the night.
[FN#120] In like manner, when the sun riseth upon us, we know not where it hath laid up its light, and when it setteth, we ignore the abiding-place of its setting; and the examples of this among the works of the Creator (magnified be His name and glorified be His might!
) abound in what confoundeth the thought of the keenest-witted of human beings."
Rejoined the Prince, "O sage, thou hast set before me of the power of the Creator what is incapable of denial; but tell me how He called His creatures into existence."
Answered Shimas, "He created them by the sole power of His one Word,[FN#121] which existed before time, and wherewith he created all things."
Quoth the Prince, "Then Allah (be His name magnified and His might glorified!
) only willed the existence of created things, before they came into being?"
Replied Shimas, "And of His will, He created them with His one Word and but for His speech and that one Word, the creation had not come into existence."
--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Nine Hundred and Fourteenth Night, She resumed: It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that after the King's son had asked his sire's Wazir the casuistical questions aforesaid, and had received a sufficient answer, Shimas said to him, "O dear my son,[FN#122] there is no man can tell thee other but this I have said, except he twist the words handed down to us of the Holy Law and turn the truths thereof from their evident meaning.
And such a perversion is their saying that the Word hath inherent and positive power and I take refuge with Allah from such a mis-belief!
Nay, the meaning of our saying that Allah (to whom belong Might and Majesty!
) created the world with His Word is that He (exalted be His name!
) is One in His essence and His attributes and not that His Word hath independent power.
On the contrary, power is one of the attributes of Allah, even as speech and other attributes of perfection are attributes of Allah (exalted be His dignity and extolled be His empery!
);
wherefore He may not be conceived without His Word, nor may His Word be conceived without Him; for, with His Word, Allah (extolled be His praise!
) created all His creatures, and without His Word, the Lord created naught.
Indeed, He created all things but by His Word of Truth, and by Truth are we created."
Quoth the Prince, "I comprehend that which thou hast said on the subject of the Creator and from thee I accept this with understanding; but I hear thee say that He created the world by His Word of Truth.
Now Truth is the opposite of Falsehood; whence then arose Falsehood with its opposition unto Truth, and how cometh it to be possible that it should be confounded therewith and become doubtful to human beings, so that they need to distinguish between the twain?
And doth the Creator (to whom belong Might and Majesty!
) love Falsehood or hate it?
An thou say He loveth Truth and by it created all things and abhorreth Falsehood, how came the False, which the Creator hateth, to invade the True which He loveth?"
Quoth Shimas, "Verily Allah the Most High created man all Truth[FN#123], loving His name and obeying His word, and on this wise man had no need of repentance till Falsehood invaded the Truth whereby he was created by means of the capability[FN#124] which Allah had placed in him, being the will and the inclination called lust of lucre.
[FN#125] When the False invaded the True on this wise, right became confounded with wrong, by reason of the will of man and his capability and greed of gain, which is the voluntary side of him together with the weakness of human nature: wherefore Allah created penitence for man, to turn away from him Untruth and stablish him in Truth, and He created for him also punishment, if he should abide in the obscurity of Falsehood."
Quoth the Prince, "Tell me how came Untruth to invade Truth, so as to be confounded therewith and how became man liable to punishment and so stood in need of repentance."
Replied Shimas, "When Allah created man with Truth, He made him loving to Himself and there was for him neither repentance nor punishment; but he abode thus till Allah put in him the soul, which is of the perfection of humanity, albeit naturally inclined to lust which is inherent therein.
From this sprang the growth of Untruth and its confusion with Truth, wherewith man was created and with the love whereof his nature had been made; and when man came to this pass, he declined from the Truth with disobedience and whoso declineth from the Truth falleth into Falsehood."
Said the Prince, "Then Falsehood invaded Truth only by reason of disobedience and transgression?"
Shimas replied, "Yes: and it is thus because Allah loveth mankind, and of the abundance of His love to man He created him having need of Himself, that is to say, of the very Truth.
But oftentimes man lapseth from this by cause of the inclination of the soul to lusts and turneth to frowardness, wherefore he falleth into Falsehood by the act of disobeying his Lord and thus deserveth punishment; and by putting away from himself Falsehood with repentance and by the returning to the love of the Truth, he meriteth future reward."
Quoth the Prince, "Tell me the origin of sin, whilst all mankind trace their being to Adam, and how cometh it that he, being created of Allah with truth, drew disobedience on himself; then was his disobedience coupled with repentance, after the soul had been set in him, that his issue might be reward or retribution?
Indeed, we see some men constant in sinfulness, inclining to that which He loveth not and transgressing in this the original intent and purpose of their creation, which is the love of the Truth, and drawing on themselves the wrath of their Lord, whilst we see others constant in seeking the satisfaction of their Creator and obeying Him and meriting mercy and future recompense.
What causeth this difference prevailing between them?"
Replied Shimas, "The origin of disobedience descending upon mankind is attributable to Iblis, who was the noblest of all that Allah (magnified be His name!
) created of angels[FN#126] and men and Jinn, and the love of the Truth was inherent in him, for he knew naught but this; but whenas he saw himself unique in such dignity, there entered into him pride and conceit, vainglory and arrogance which revolted from loyalty and obedience to the commandment of His Creator; wherefore Allah made him inferior to all creatures and cast him out from love, making his abiding- place to be in disobedience.
So when he knew that Allah (glorified be His name!
) loved not disobedience and saw Adam and the case wherein he was of truth and love and obedience to his Creator, envy entered into him and he devised some device to pervert Adam from the truth, that he might be a partaker with himself in Falsehood; and by this, Adam incurred chastisement for his inclining to disobedience, which his foe made fair to him, and his subjection to his lusts, whenas he transgressed the charge of his Lord, by reason of the appearance of Falsehood.
When the Creator (magnified be the praises of Him and hallowed be the names of Him!
) saw the weakness of man and the swiftness of his inclining to his enemy and leaving the truth, He appointed to him, of His mercy, repentance, that therewith he might arise from the slough[FN#127] of inclination to disobedience and taking the arms and armour of repentance, overcome therewith his foe Iblis and his hosts and return to the Truth, wherein he was created.
When Iblis saw that Allah (magnified be His praise!
) had appointed him a protracted term,[FN#128] he hastened to wage war upon man and to beset him with wiles, to the intent that he might oust him from the favour of his Lord and make him a partaker with himself in the wrath which he and his hosts had incurred;
wherefore Allah (extolled be His praises!
) appointed unto man the capability of penitence and commanded him to apply himself to the Truth and persevere therein; and forbade him from disobedience and frowardness and revealed to him that he had on the earth an enemy warring against him and relaxing not from him night nor day.
Thus hath man a right to future reward, if he adhere to the Truth, in the love of which his nature was created; but he becometh liable to punishment, if the flesh master him and incline him to lusts."
--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
