Latest / Arabian Nights Tales from Volume 09 / 013 - Night 913 - 914

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013 - Night 913 - 914 · Arabian Nights Tales from Volume 09

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  Speaker 1: Section thirteen of the Book of the Thousand Knights in
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  Speaker 1: a Knight, Volume nine. This is a LibriVox recording. All
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
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  Speaker 1: are to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by
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  Speaker 1: Andre Levy andre Levy dot net, Lisbon, Portugal. The Book
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  Speaker 1: of the Thousand Knights in a Night, Volume nine by anonymous,
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  Speaker 1: translated by Richard Francis Burton Knight, nine hundred and thirteen.
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  Speaker 1: When it was the nine hundred and thirteenth night she
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  Speaker 1: pursued it, hath reached me o auspicious king, that the youth,
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  Speaker 1: the son and heir of King Jaliad, when questioned by
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  Speaker 1: the Wazir upon the subjects a foresaid, returned him satisfactory replies.
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  Speaker 1: When she must resumed, I see that brethren are of
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  Speaker 1: two kinds, brethren of trusts and brethren of society. As
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  Speaker 1: for the first who be friends, there is due to
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  Speaker 1: them that which thou hast set forth. But now tell
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  Speaker 1: me of the others who be acquaintances. As for brethren
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  Speaker 1: of society, thou gettest of them pleasant and goodly nuisance,
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  Speaker 1: and fair speech, and enjoyable company. So be thou not
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  Speaker 1: sparing to them of thy delights, but be lavish to
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  Speaker 1: them thereof like as they are lavish to THEE, and
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  Speaker 1: rendered to them that which they render to Thee, of
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  Speaker 1: affable countenance and an open favor in sweet speech. So
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  Speaker 1: shall thy life be pleasant and thy words be accepted
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  Speaker 1: of them. Tell me now of the provision decreed by
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  Speaker 1: the Creator to all creatures. Hath he allotted to men
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  Speaker 1: and beasts, each his several provision to the completion of
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  Speaker 1: his appointed life term. And if this allotment be thus,
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  Speaker 1: what maketh him who seeketh his lively hood to incur
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  Speaker 1: hardships and travail in the quest of that which he
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  Speaker 1: knoweth must come to him if it be decreed to him,
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  Speaker 1: albeit he incur not the misery of endeavor, and which
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  Speaker 1: if it be not decree to him, he shall not win,
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  Speaker 1: though he strive after it with his uttermost striving. Shall
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  Speaker 1: he therefore stint endeavor, and in his Lord put trust,
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  Speaker 1: and to his body and his soul give rest. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: we see clearly that to each in every there is
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  Speaker 1: a provision distributed and a term prescribed. But to all
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  Speaker 1: livelihood are away and means. And he who seeketh would
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  Speaker 1: get ease of his seeking by ceasing to seek withal.
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  Speaker 1: There is no help but that he seek his fortune.
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  Speaker 1: The seeker is, however, in two cases, either he gaineth
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  Speaker 1: his fortune or he faileth thereof. In the first case,
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  Speaker 1: his pleasure consisteth in two conditions, first in the having
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  Speaker 1: gained his fortune, and secondly in the laudable issue of
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  Speaker 1: his quest. And in the other case, his pleasure consisteth
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  Speaker 1: first in his readiness to seek his daily bread, secondly
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  Speaker 1: in his abstaining from being a burthen to the folk,
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  Speaker 1: and thirdly in his freedom from liability to blame. What
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  Speaker 1: sayest thou of the means of seeking one's fortune? A
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  Speaker 1: man shall hold lawful that which Allah to whom belong
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  Speaker 1: might and majesty alloweth, and unlawful whatso he forbiddeth. Reaching
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  Speaker 1: this pass, the discourse between them came to an end,
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  Speaker 1: and Shemus and all the Olemma present rose and prostrating
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  Speaker 1: themselves before the young prince, magnified and extolled him, whilst
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  Speaker 1: his father pressed him to his bosom, and seating him
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  Speaker 1: on the throne of kingship, said praised be Allah, who
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  Speaker 1: hath blessed me with a son to be the cooleth
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  Speaker 1: of mine eyes in my life lifetime, then said the
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  Speaker 1: King's son to Shemus, in presence of all the dilemma
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  Speaker 1: O sage that art versed in spiritual questions. Albeit, Allah
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  Speaker 1: have vouchsafed to me but scanty knowledge. Yet do I
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  Speaker 1: comprehend Thine intent in accepting from me what I proffered
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  Speaker 1: in answer concerning that whereof thou hast asked me whether
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  Speaker 1: I hit or missed the mark therein, And belike thou
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  Speaker 1: forgavest my errors. But now I am minded to question
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  Speaker 1: thee inent to thing whereof my judgment faileth, and where
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  Speaker 1: to my capacity is insufficient, and which my tongue availeth.
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  Speaker 1: Notus set forth, for that it is obscure to me,
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  Speaker 1: with the obscurity of clear water in a black vessel.
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  Speaker 1: Wherefore I would have thee expounded to me. So no
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  Speaker 1: iota thereof may remain doubtful to the like of me
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  Speaker 1: to whom its obscurity may present itself in the future,
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  Speaker 1: even as it hath presented itself to me in the past.
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  Speaker 1: Since Allah, even as he hath made life to be
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  Speaker 1: in lymph and strength, in food and the cure of
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  Speaker 1: the sick and the skill of the leech. So hath
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  Speaker 1: he appointed the healing of the fool to be in
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  Speaker 1: the learning of the wise. Give ear therefore to my speech,
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  Speaker 1: reply the wazir O, luminous of intelligence and master of
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  Speaker 1: casuistical questions. Thou, whose excellence all the olemma attest by
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  Speaker 1: reason of the goodliness of thy discretion of things and
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  Speaker 1: thy distribution thereof, and the justness of thine answers to
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  Speaker 1: the questions I have asked THEE. Thou knowest that thou
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  Speaker 1: canst inquire of me naught, But thou art better able
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  Speaker 1: than I to form a just judgment thereon and expound it. Truly,
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  Speaker 1: for that Allah hath vouchsafed unto Thee such wisdom as
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  Speaker 1: he hath bestowed on none other of men. But inform
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  Speaker 1: me of what thou wouldst question me, quoth the Prince
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  Speaker 1: tell me from what did the Creator, magnified be his
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  Speaker 1: almight create the world? Albeit there was before it not
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  Speaker 1: and there is not seen in this world. But it
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  Speaker 1: is created from something. And the divine Creator, extolled and
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  Speaker 1: exalted be he is able to create things from nothing.
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  Speaker 1: Yet hath his will decreed for all the perfection of
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  Speaker 1: his power and grandeur, that he shall create not but
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  Speaker 1: from something. The Wazir replied, as for those whose fashion
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  Speaker 1: vessels of Potter's clay and other handicraftsmen who cannot originate
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  Speaker 1: one thing save from another thing, they are themselves only
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  Speaker 1: created entities. But as for the Creator, who hath wrought
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  Speaker 1: the world after his wandrous fashion, and thou wouldst know
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  Speaker 1: his power extolled and exalted, be he of calling things
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  Speaker 1: into existence? Extend thy thought and consider the various kinds
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  Speaker 1: of created things, and thou wilt find signs and instances
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  Speaker 1: proving the perfection of his puissance, and that he is
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  Speaker 1: able to create the ends from the non ends. Nay,
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  Speaker 1: he call things into being after absolute non existence, for
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  Speaker 1: the elements which be the matter of created things were
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  Speaker 1: sheer nothingness. I will expound this to THEE, so thou
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  Speaker 1: mayst be in no skepticism thereof, And the marvel signs
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  Speaker 1: of the alternation of night and day shall make this
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  Speaker 1: clear to THEE. When the light goeth and the night cometh,
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  Speaker 1: the day is hidden from us, and we know not
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  Speaker 1: the place where it abideth. And when the night passeth
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  Speaker 1: away with its darkness and its terror. The day cometh,
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  Speaker 1: and we know not the abiding place of the night.
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  Speaker 1: In like manner, when the sun riseth upon us, we
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  Speaker 1: know not where it hath laid up its light, and
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  Speaker 1: when it setteth we ignore the abiding place of its setting.
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  Speaker 1: And the examples of this among the works of the Creator.
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  Speaker 1: Magnified be his name, and glorified be his might abound
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  Speaker 1: in what confoundeth the thought of the keenest witted of
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  Speaker 1: human beings, rejoined the Prince, O sage, thou hast set
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  Speaker 1: before me of the power of the Creator, what is
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  Speaker 1: incapable of denial? But tell me how he called his
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  Speaker 1: creatures into existence? Answered Shemus. He created them by the
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  Speaker 1: sole power of his one word, which existed before time,
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  Speaker 1: and wherewith he created all things, quoth the Prince. Then
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  Speaker 1: Allah be his name, Magnified in his might, glorified, only
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  Speaker 1: willed the existence of created things before they came into being,
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  Speaker 1: replied Shemus. And of his will he created them with
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  Speaker 1: his one word. And but for his speech and that
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  Speaker 1: one word, the creation had not come into existence. And
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  Speaker 1: Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say
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  Speaker 1: her permitted say end of night nine hundred and thirteen
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  Speaker 1: night nine hundred and fourteen, when it was the nine
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  Speaker 1: hundred and fourteenth night, she resumed it. Hath reached me
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  Speaker 1: o auspicious King, that after the king's son had asked
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  Speaker 1: his sire's wazir the casuistical questions afforesaid, and had received
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  Speaker 1: a sufficient answer, she must say to him, Oh, my
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  Speaker 1: dear son, there is no man can tell thee other
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  Speaker 1: but this I have said, except he twist the words
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  Speaker 1: handed down to us by the Holy Law and turned
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  Speaker 1: the truths thereof from their evident meaning. And such a
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  Speaker 1: perversion is their saying that the word hath inherent and
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  Speaker 1: positive power. And I take refuge with Allah from such
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  Speaker 1: a misbelief. Nay, the meaning of our saying that Allah,
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  Speaker 1: to whom belong might and majesty, created the world with
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  Speaker 1: his word is that he exalted be his name, is
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  Speaker 1: one in his essence and his attributes, and not that
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  Speaker 1: his word hath independent power. On the contrary, power is
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  Speaker 1: one of the attributes of Allah, even as speech and
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  Speaker 1: other attributes of perfection are attributes of Allah. Exalted be
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  Speaker 1: his dignity and extolled be his empery. Wherefore he may
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  Speaker 1: not be conceived without his word, nor may his word
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  Speaker 1: be conceived without him. For with his word, Allah extolled
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  Speaker 1: be his praise, created all his creatures. And without his
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  Speaker 1: word the Lord created not indeed he created all things.
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  Speaker 1: But by his word of truth. And by truth are
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  Speaker 1: we created it, quoth the Prince, I comprehend that which
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  Speaker 1: thou hast said on the subject of the Creator, and
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  Speaker 1: from thee I accept this with understanding. But I hear
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  Speaker 1: thee say that he created the world by his word
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  Speaker 1: of truth. Now truth is the opposite of falsehood. Whence
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  Speaker 1: then arose falsehood, with its opposition unto truth? And how
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  Speaker 1: cometh to be possible that it should be confounded therewith
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  Speaker 1: and become doubtful to human beings, so that they need
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  Speaker 1: to distinguish between the twain and doth the Creator, to
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  Speaker 1: whom belong might and majesty love falsehood or hate it?
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  Speaker 1: And thou say he loveth truth and by it created
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  Speaker 1: all things, and abhorreth falsehood. How came the false which
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  Speaker 1: the Creator hateth to invade the truth which he loveth
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  Speaker 1: quoth she mus verily, Allah, the most high created man
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  Speaker 1: all truth, loving his name and obeying his word in
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  Speaker 1: all this, wise man had no need of repentance till
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  Speaker 1: falsehood invaded the truth, whereby he was created by means
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  Speaker 1: of the capability which Allah had placed in him, being
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  Speaker 1: the will and the inclination called lust of lecre When
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  Speaker 1: the false invaded the true, on this wise right became
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  Speaker 1: confounded with wrong by reason of the will of man
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  Speaker 1: and his capability and greed of gain, which is the
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  Speaker 1: voluntary side of him, together with the weakness of human nature.
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  Speaker 1: Wherefore Allah created penitence for man to turn away from
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  Speaker 1: him untruth and establish him in truth. And he created
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  Speaker 1: for him also punishment if he should abide in the
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  Speaker 1: obscurity of falsehood. Quoth the Prince, tell me, how came
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  Speaker 1: untruth to an invade truth so as to be confounded? Therewith?
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  Speaker 1: And how came man liable to punishment and so stood
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  Speaker 1: in need of repentance? Replied Shemus. When Allah created man
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  Speaker 1: with truth, he made him loving to himself, and there
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  Speaker 1: was for him neither repentance nor punishment. But he abode
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  Speaker 1: thus till Allah put in him the soul which is
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  Speaker 1: of the perfection of humanity, albeit naturally inclined to lust,
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  Speaker 1: which is inherent therein from this sprang the growth of
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  Speaker 1: untruth and its confusion with truth, wherewith man was created
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  Speaker 1: and with the love, whereof his nature had been made.
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  Speaker 1: And when man came to this pass, he declined from
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  Speaker 1: the truth with disobedience. And whoso declineth from the truth
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  Speaker 1: falleth into falsehood, said the Prince. Then falsehood invaded truth
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  Speaker 1: only by reason of disobedience and transgression. Shimus replied, yes.
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  Speaker 1: And it is thus because Allah loveth mankind, and of
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  Speaker 1: the abundance of his love to man, he created him,
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  Speaker 1: having need of himself, that is to say, of the
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  Speaker 1: very truth. But oftentimes man lapseth from this by cause
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  Speaker 1: of the inclination of the soul to lusts, and turneth
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  Speaker 1: to frowardness. Wherefore he falleth into falsehood by the act
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  Speaker 1: of disobeying his Lord, and thus deserveth punishment. And by
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  Speaker 1: putting away from himself falsehood with repentance, and by the
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  Speaker 1: returning to the love of the truth, he meriteth future reward.
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  Speaker 1: Quoth the Prince tell me the origin of sin, whilst
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  Speaker 1: all mankind trace their being to Adam, And how cometh
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  Speaker 1: it that he, being created of Allah with truth, drew
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  Speaker 1: disobedience on himself. Then was his dis obedience coupled with
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  Speaker 1: repentance after the soul had been set in him, that
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  Speaker 1: his issue might be reward or retribution. Indeed, we see
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  Speaker 1: some men constant in sinfulness, inclining to that which He
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  Speaker 1: loveth not, and transgressing in this the original intent and
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  Speaker 1: purpose of their creation, which is the love of the truth,
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  Speaker 1: and drawing on themselves the wrath of their lord. Whilst
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  Speaker 1: we see others constant in seeking the satisfaction of their
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  Speaker 1: creator and obeying him an meriting mercy and future recompense.
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  Speaker 1: What causeth this difference prevailing between them, replied Shemus. The
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  Speaker 1: origin of disobedience descending upon mankind is attributable to Eblis,
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  Speaker 1: who was the noblest of all that Allah magnified be
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  Speaker 1: his name, created of angels and men and gin and
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  Speaker 1: a love of the truth was inherit in him, for
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  Speaker 1: he knew not but this. But whenas he saw himself
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  Speaker 1: unique in such dignity, there entered into him pride and conceit,
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  Speaker 1: vain glory and arrogance, which revolted from loyalty and obedience
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  Speaker 1: to the command of his creator. Wherefore Allah made him
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  Speaker 1: inferior to all creatures and cast him out from love,
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  Speaker 1: making his abiding place to be in disobedience. So, when
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  Speaker 1: he knew that Allah glorified be his name, loved not disobedience,
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  Speaker 1: and saw Adam and the case wherein he was of
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  Speaker 1: truth and love and obedience to his creator, envy entered
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  Speaker 1: into him, and he devised some device to pervert Adam
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  Speaker 1: from the truth, that he might be a partaker with
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  Speaker 1: himself in falsehood. And by this Adam incurred chastisement for
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  Speaker 1: this inclining to disobedience, which his foe made fair to him,
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  Speaker 1: and his subjection to his lusts. When as he transgressed,
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  Speaker 1: the child large of his lord by reason of the
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  Speaker 1: appearance of falsehood, when the Creator magnified be the praises
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  Speaker 1: of him and hall would be the names of him,
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  Speaker 1: saw the weakness of man and the swiftness of his
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  Speaker 1: inclining to his enemy, and leaving the truth, he appointed
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  Speaker 1: to him of his mercy repentance, that therewith he might
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  Speaker 1: arise from the slow of inclination to disobedience, and taking
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  Speaker 1: the arms in armor of repentance, overcome therewith his foe,
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  Speaker 1: Iblis and his hosts, and returned to the truth wherein
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  Speaker 1: he was created. When Iblis saw that Allah magnified be
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  Speaker 1: his praise, had appointed him a protracted term, he hastened
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  Speaker 1: to wage war upon man and to beset him with viles,
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  Speaker 1: to the intent that he might oust him from the
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  Speaker 1: favor of his lord and make him a partaker with
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  Speaker 1: himself in the wrath which he and his hosts had incurred. Wherefore,
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  Speaker 1: Allah extolled be his praises, appointed unto man the capability
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  Speaker 1: of penitence, and commanded him to apply himself to the
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  Speaker 1: truth and persevere therein, and forbade him from disobedience and frowardness,
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  Speaker 1: and revealed to him that he had on the earth
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  Speaker 1: an enemy, warring against him, and relaxing not from him
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  Speaker 1: night nor day. Thus hath Man a right to future
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  Speaker 1: reward if he adhere to the truth in the love
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  Speaker 1: of which his nature was created. But he becometh liable
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  Speaker 1: to punishment if the flesh master him and incline him
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  Speaker 1: to lusts. And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
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  Speaker 1: ceased to say her permitted say end of night, nine
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  Speaker 1: hundred and fourteen. Recording by Andre Levi Andre Levi dot Net, Lisbon, Portugal,