Tales of the Marvellous and News of the Strange (Hardcover Classics)

by Malcolm C (Tr Lyons

  ‘ “Simeon,” we told him, “your learning is deeply rooted. Do you find that the books say that they will have an empire?” He replied: “Muslims, by Him Who sent Muhammad as a prophet to convey His truth, in the days of al-Asfar the Byzantine Christians will have an empire when al-Ghadanfar al-Farisi appears. When Constantine is killed they will be defeated [lac.] and the people of Syria will be trampled underfoot. Woe be to the inhabitants of Antioch, Aleppo and Caesarea as far as the land of cities, Homs and Baalbek! Their enemies will ravage up to Faqus and Damascus with its beauties for forty days, crushing their regions as one kneads the leather of Ta’if. I can see the Persians herding the daughters of the Muslims naked and barefooted to their own lands and castles.” “When will this be, Simeon?” we asked and he told us: “Six hundred and more years after your Prophet, when heresies have made their appearance and you have changed and altered things, with the first of you reviling the last and the last the first. There will be treachery both in secret and in the open; you will abandon Friday prayer and wear brocades and silks, drinking wine to the sound of songs and music, with flutes and lutes. You will have no use for the Qur’an; you will dislike minarets and cause mosques to fall in ruins; you will openly practise adultery and no longer command what is good while forbidding what is evil. You will abandon the pilgrimage and the Holy War, being frugal in what is lawful and fond of what is unlawful. Men will content themselves with men and women with women; you will lie about what you own, swear false oaths, refuse to pay the zakat tax and abandon prayer. You will direct your oaths against God, squander what has been entrusted to you, show obvious faithlessness, treat generosity with ingratitude, and dress in the robes of falsehood. There will be one caliph in the east, another in the west, another in Yemen and another amongst the Rum. You will struggle with one another, and there will be strife in Iraq and Syria. Then the Persians and Turks will come, together with the apostates, until it will be as though you were living in Dailam. You will have as ruler a descendant of al-‘Abbas, the Prophet’s uncle, but they will overpower him and remove him as a prisoner from his empire, while you will be no more than the people of Khurasan and Hawazin. Al-Hajjaj son of Yusuf will then kill him in Mecca.

  ‘ “These people will take the Black Stone and the gutter pipe, as well as destroying the drapes of the Ka‘ba, with all the coverings there. They will crush the Syrians, spreading destruction and death and committing detestable excesses. Barbarians will come who yell like barking dogs and howl like wolves. Woe to the people of Iraq, to the children of al-‘Abbas, the uncle of your Prophet, and to the children of Hashim! I see that, after their grandeur, they will lose their empire and their lands, and others will have dominion over them. This is because of their own evil deeds, for your Lord does not wrong His servants.”

  ‘Simeon went on: “The Syrians will suffer at the hands of the Banu’l-Asfar and the lawless races of Turks, Khazars and barbarians, who will go through the lands, destroying them, for what God commands is brought about. I seem to see the Muslims barefooted and naked, their women ravished and their children herded in confusion to the lands of Rum. I can hear trumpets sounding in Jerusalem and from the top of the holy Ka‘ba. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre will be burned down in war and siege. Muslims and Rumis will do battle over Jerusalem, and only two cities will remain to the Muslims: Damascus and ‘Amman, the cities of peace. Woe to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Palestine from the Rum!”

  ‘He continued: “Woe will come to the people of Cairo, Mount Muqattam, lower Egypt and what lies between, at the hands of the Turks and after them the barbarians, and woes will come to the people of Andalus and Cordova, with their yellow banners and their geldings, at the hands of Turks and then barbarians and westerners, whose speech is like the twittering of birds. I see that they have crossed over the sea and sold the Egyptians as slaves are sold, because of their wrong-doing and their abandonment of the Holy War, the pilgrimage and the commandment to do good and to forbid evil. Their evil deeds were obvious throughout the land, and God does not wrong His servants.”

  ‘He then said: “Affliction will come to the Yemenis, the Hijazis and the people of al-Ta’if from the Abyssinians, the blacks and the various races of negroes, the children of Ham. They will be governed by slaves thanks to what they did and thanks to their heresies and wickedness and their abandonment of the Holy War and the pilgrimage. The last of them reviled the first, and they found fault with the companions of God’s Prophet, may God bless him and his family and give him peace. They failed to do what He told them, that is to command the good and forbid what was evil, and God does not wrong His servants.”

  ‘He told us: “I see Abyssinians and blacks standing on the walls of the Ka‘ba and removing stones so as to leave no trace of it. God, the Great and Glorious, gave them power over the people of Mecca, who had committed sinful excesses. It was because of what they had done that vengeance overtook them. I see the black Abyssinian drunken, with trailing robe and sleeves, singing in his own tongue and inciting his companions, Abyssinians, negroes and blacks, to tear down the Ka‘ba and destroy the stone set there by Abraham the Friend of God, upon whom be peace. He is removing the foundations of the Sacred House and passing the stones with his own hand to the man next to him, who passes it to another and so on to the last of them until they are thrown into the sea. He himself stays in his place, going neither forwards nor backwards and moving not an inch. What can you do with people whose ranks stretch from Mecca to the shores of the sea with their army drawn up from Mount Abu Qubais to the shore of the Red Sea?”

  ‘We said: “Monk, tell us how it was that you first began to acquire this knowledge.” He replied: “I was a disciple of the prophet Daniel, upon whom be peace, and it was thanks to him that I studied and acquired knowledge of hidden secrets.” “How was that?” we asked, and he told us: “I heard – and God knows better – that when He created Adam he conjured up his descendants before Him and fashioned them in the form of light, one generation, one people and one age after another, with one prophet and one messenger following another. Adam was the first of them and the last was your Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and his family and give him peace.”

  ‘He went on: “When God expelled Adam from the Garden of Eden, He thought over how things should be done and laid down His plan. Adam was afraid that the knowledge of stored secrets might be lost, thinking of the Flood, in which God was to drown the people of Noah. He used the knowledge he had and transferred it on to white skins, before removing it from them and destroying them for fear lest they be ruined in the Flood and nothing be left. He transferred the knowledge from those skins to clay tablets that he had made with his own hands, baking them in fire. When this had been done the knowledge and the texts that contained the revealed words of God were kept stored in safety.

  ‘ “Adam then put all these on the mountain of Hind and called on God, the Great and Glorious, to preserve them, as He preserved those of His books that He revealed to the prophets whom He sent out. The cave in which they are preserved is sealed under the mountain and is only opened on one day in the year, that of ‘Ashura, when it is brought up and remains open from the morning to the afternoon prayer. If anyone enters it on that day and busies himself in transcribing those tablets until the afternoon has passed, he stays there until he dies of hunger and thirst, whereas if he leaves earlier he will escape safely with the knowledge that he has written down. Many have perished, but many men of learning, wise philosophers, have escaped.

  ‘ “The prophet Daniel, upon whom be peace, was an Israelite who had heard of this and had learned that the cave was in Mount Mandaqid in India beside wadi Sarandib. He went from Jerusalem to India and climbed the mountain on the day of ‘Ashura. He entered the cave which was hollowed out in white rock for as far as the eye could see, and the tablets were arranged all around its sides, containing every branch of secret knowledge. When we came we were split up, and Daniel told us to write down what was on the tablet he assigned us
, from the beginning on. We transcribed what he wanted of the secret knowledge stored there and before afternoon came he told us to leave and took what we had written.

  ‘ “We gave great praise to God for what we had done and for our safety, while the prophet Daniel, upon whom be peace, took what had been written there, allowing him to know all he wanted, including the past and the future until the Day of Judgement, although God knows more. You must know that he wrote two books, one small and the other large.”

  ‘Simeon went on: “God created the seven heavens and the seven earths, the seven days of the week, the seven spheres and the seven climes. He created the world to last for fourteen thousand years, the first two thousand of which were to see Adam and his children, with Sheth and Idris in the next two thousand, Noah and his people, whom God destroyed in the third, Abraham the Friend of God and King Nimrod son of Kana‘an in the fourth, Isma‘il and his people, the Arabs, in the fifth, Isaac, Jacob and the Israeli tribes in the sixth, with Moses, Jesus, the disciples and the prophets who were with them, such as David, Solomon, Job, Jonah, Zakariya and Yahya, up to the time of the Messiah, the Spirit and Word of God, in the thirteen thousands. He then despatched your Prophet, may God bless him and give him peace, the seal of the prophets and lord of the apostles, after three thousand six hundred years.

  ‘ “This is what we found in the book that the prophet Daniel, on whom be peace, wrote on the history of the prophets. We were with him in the cave, and this was what Adam had recorded of God’s revelation passed by Michael from Israfil from the guarded tablet written by Almighty God in His own hand, for He is always at work. Glory be to Him Who does what He wishes and decrees what He wills!”

  ‘We said: “Monk, we should like you to tell us dates so that we may learn from you and check the truth.” He replied: “We found the dates in the Book of Battles and Strife, where Daniel wrote that from Adam to Noah was a period of 1,242 years; from Noah to Abraham was 570 years; from Moses who spoke with God to David was a thousand years; and from the Messiah to Muhammad, may God bless him and give him peace, was 624 years. These dates are found in the two books of Daniel, which I told you about when I started. You, the people of Muhammad, live in the last thousand years of the world, but knowledge is only in the hands of God, the Great and Glorious.”

  ‘We said: “Monk, the Great and Glorious God is alone without a partner, but the people of Sind and Hind have been worshipping idols for ten thousand years.” “They tell lies in their arrogance,” he said, “and thanks to their holy book they take Adam to be their god, claiming that he fled from the people of Sind to Iraq and the Hijaz and that he built the Ka‘ba at Mecca before going back to Syria and dying in the Holy Land and being buried in Jerusalem. But it was Abraham, the Friend of God, on whom be peace, who built the Ka‘ba.”

  ‘We wrote down all that we needed, Commander of the Faithful, and were taking our leave when he said: “I conjure you, followers of Muhammad, by the truth of your Prophet, to wait a while.” When we did, he said: “On the Day of Judgement you will bear witness in respect of all peoples who have preceded you, for your religion is the best, your Prophet, Muhammad, is the best of prophets, may God bless him and give him peace, and his people are the best of peoples. So do you testify for me that I bear witness that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is the apostle of God.”

  ‘Simeon then raised his hand towards the sky and said: “People of Muhammad, I should like you to repeat for me the prayer that I am about to make.” When we had willingly agreed he went on: “My Lord, I invoke you by your Sacred Names, by Your perfect words and by the books that You have sent down to Your hundred and twenty-four thousand prophets, by the writings and books that You have revealed, by Your secret Name inscribed in the light of day, by Your secret Name inscribed on the gates of Hell, by Your secret Name inscribed on the gates of Paradise, by Your secret Name written on the seven lands, by Your secret Name written on the seven heavens, by Your secret Name written on the seven seas, by Your secret Name written on the seven hills, by the secret Name written on the foreheads of the angels who surround the Throne, by Your glory, which begins and ends with ‘In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful’ and by all Your Sacred Names. Grant us Your gracious protection and direct us to what is good.”

  ‘He went on: “My Lord, look on me with favour and not anger when You take me to Yourself. You are the most merciful of the merciful, Mighty, Gracious, Noble, Omniscient, Holy King, Faithful Master, Glorious in the richness of Your grace and power, God of grandeur set on high Who listens to our prayers, One, Alone, Unique and Everlasting, Generous in Your bounty from past eternity, All-Hearing, All-Wise in Your power and might, You know what is secret and have power over all things, and there is no power and no might except with the Exalted and Omnipotent God.”

  ‘When he ended his prayer we said: “Amen, amen, Lord of the worlds.” Then, by God, he had scarcely finished speaking before he fell from his hermitage and was dead when he reached the ground, may God have mercy upon him. There was no crash or any sound at all, and it was as though he had been lowered to the ground on a rope, and his face was like a full moon, illumined by radiance. We went up to him, washed and embalmed him and buried him in his shroud beside his hermitage.

  ‘We left him, and went back to our comrades, filled with wonder at what had happened. Then our emir gave us the order to leave. We embarked and sailed off but when we had got far out to sea we were met by a violent storm wind. The waves broke over our ship, and we were confronted by such perils that I cannot describe, with our ships being driven on like lightning bolts. They were scattered, and it was only a full year later that we all met in Oman.

  ‘As for my own ship, Commander of the Faithful, it took us to the Chinese sea and from there to inner China. We reached an island in the sea of Yemen, containing a huge castle together with the abandoned well and the lofty palace [Quran 22.44]. The wind drove us on to a coast fringed by red dunes, green arak trees and the tree that drips blood on the grave of the prophet Hud, on whom be peace.

  ‘From the Yemeni sea we reached the land of the Nisnas, and the wind took us on for three nights and days. We saw marvels such as people shaped like large men but with only one foot, one hand and one eye, who when they talked to each other sounded like saluki dogs or foxes. They had less intelligence than any other race of men, and when we took a number of them they started to laugh and cry like babies, and we laughed at them in amazement.

  ‘We then left them in their own land and went on until we reached the abandoned well and the lofty palace. We looked at a huge, strongly built castle with a wall larger than any other whose like has not been seen. We measured one of its stones and found it was forty square cubits, using the old cubit measure. We discovered that the castle was filled with the dead, many lying on couches of juniper wood. They were tall, and below was an iron tablet with an inscription in red gold: “I am an example for kings to heed. I lived for a thousand years, ruled over a thousand cities and built a thousand castles. A thousand virgins were brought to me; I sent out a thousand armies and filled a thousand treasure chambers. A thousand kings submitted to me; I stored arms in a thousand chambers and gold and gems in another thousand. I had a thousand ships; I deflowered a thousand virgins and fathered a thousand sons. Then the prophet Hud, upon whom be peace, came to me and summoned me to worship the Great and Glorious God. I refused to believe him and drove him away, at which he called on God to curse me. God destroyed me, and here I lie cast down and brought low by the abandoned well and the lofty palace. Let whoever sees me take note, fear God and believe in His books and His Apostles. I have ordered this to be inscribed when I give up the ghost and my life ends, to serve as a warning to those who see it.” ’

  Sa‘id went on: ‘We left the lofty palace and the abandoned well, which we found on looking at it was more than a thousand maliki cubits deep, cut into rock and black as purgatory, one of the wonders of the world. We left that land with the grave in the dun
e of blood-red sand and the trees that drip blood with a pungent scent of musk. Above it there is a stone slab with the following inscription: “This is the grave of the prophet Hud, upon whom be peace. Whoever comes to it should confess the unity of God, for there is no other god but Him, the One God with no partner, Whose servant and apostle is Hud. He should also acknowledge the Prophet, who will be sent at the end of time, the last of the prophets, whose name in heaven is Ahmad and on earth Abu’l-Qasim Muhammad, the possessor of every excellence and merit, whose mission is to all peoples. Whoever testifies to him will succeed and be safe whereas those who do not believe in him will be amongst the infidels who will be for ever lost and punished by the Lord of the worlds.” ’ Sa‘id said: ‘We raised our voices in the confession of faith and heard a voice echoing around us that said: “Happiness and blessing be yours, people of Muhammad! Would that I had been with you and that I may join you at the Resurrection through the intercession of your Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and his family and grant him peace.”

  ‘We went back to the Valley of the Ants, where we were told that we would see wonders. When we asked what these were we were told that there was one valley ahead of us full of apes with another one beside it which contained huge ants as big as goats. This was the place where Solomon had gone, as had Dhu’l-Qarnain, Alexander the son of Philip the Rumi. We all agreed to go there and when we got to the Valley of the Apes we found that their old king had a golden tablet around his neck on which was inscribed: “In the Name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful: This is a covenant delivered by Solomon son of David, upon whom be peace, guaranteeing safety to all apes in their own lands and territories and at the edge of Yemen. Anyone, human or jinn, who comes to their land is to leave without harming them. You are those who believe in God and in His Apostle Solomon son of David, upon whom be peace.” ’