The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 2
Page 40
At this, the astrologer hung his head and Tawaddud said: ‘I shall put a question to you and if you don’t answer, I shall take your robe.’ ‘Continue,’ he told her, and she asked: ‘Where is the seat of Saturn?’ ‘In the seventh heaven,’ he answered. ‘And of Jupiter?’ ‘In the sixth.’ ‘And of Mars?’ ‘In the fifth.’ ‘And of the sun?’ ‘In the fourth.’ ‘And of Venus?’ ‘In the third.’ ‘And of Mercury?’ ‘In the second.’ ‘And of the moon?’ ‘In the first.’ ‘Well done,’ she said, ‘and now I have one more question for you.’ ‘Continue,’ he replied. ‘Into how many divisions are the stars to be separated?’ she asked, and at this he remained silent and made no reply. ‘Take off your robe,’ she said. He did this and after she had taken it, the caliph told her to explain the answer to her question. She said: ‘Commander of the Faithful, there are three divisions of stars. One of these is attached to our heaven like lamps and it is these that illumine the earth. A second group of stars is thrown at the devils when they try stealthily to listen to what is said in Paradise. This is as God Almighty said: “We have adorned the heavens and the earth with lamps and have set them there so that they may be thrown at the devils.”† The third group is fixed in the air and it illumines the seas and what is found in them.’
The astronomer then said: ‘I have one more question, and if she answers it I will acknowledge that she has the better of me.’ ‘Continue,’ she said.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the four hundred and fifty-seventh night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that the astronomer said: ‘Tell me about four opposites that are consequent on four other opposites.’ ‘Heat, cold, moistness and dryness,’ she said. ‘Almighty God created fire from heat, its nature being hot and dry. He created earth from dryness, its nature being cold and dry. He created water from coldness, its nature being cold and moist, and He created air from moistness, its nature being hot and moist. He then created the twelve signs of the zodiac – Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. These are based on the four humours – three on fire, three on earth, three on air and three on water. The fiery signs are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius; Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn are earthy; Gemini, Libra and Aquarius are airy; and Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces watery.’
The astronomer got up and said: ‘I testify that she knows more than I do,’ and he went away defeated. The caliph then asked: ‘Where is the philosopher?’ at which a man rose and came forward. He said to Tawaddud: ‘Tell me about time, how it is determined, and its days and what it brings.’ She replied: ‘Time is a name applied to the hours of the night and the day, these being measurements of the courses of the sun and the moon in their orbits. This is shown by Almighty God where He says: “Night is a sign for them from which We remove the day, leaving them covered in darkness as the sun goes to its resting place. That is the decree of God, the Omnipotent, the Omniscient.” ’* ‘Tell me then,’ said the philosopher, ‘how man comes to be affected by unbelief.’ She replied: ‘It is reported that the Apostle of God, may God bless him and give him peace, said: “Unbelief among mankind flows as the blood flows in the veins, where they rail at the world, time, night and at the Last Hour.” He also said: “Let no one rail against time, for time is God, or against the world, for the world says: ‘May God not aid any who revile me.’ Let none of you revile the Hour, for there is no doubt that it is coming, or the earth, for this is one of God’s signs, as He said: ‘From it We have created you and to it We shall return you, and We shall then bring you out from it a second time.’ ” ’*
The philosopher then said: ‘Tell me about five creatures that ate and drank but were not produced from loins or wombs.’ ‘These are Adam, Simeon, Salih’s camel, Ishmael’s ram and the bird seen by Abu Bakr the Truthful in the cave.’† ‘Tell me,’ he said next, ‘about five who are in Paradise but are neither human, jinn or angels.’ She said: ‘These are Jacob’s wolf, the dog of the Seven Sleepers, Ezra’s donkey, the camel of Salih, and Duldul, the mule of the Prophet,‡ may God bless him and give him peace.’
He then said: ‘Tell me who it was who prayed, while he was neither on earth or in heaven.’ ‘This was Solomon, who prayed on his carpet when it was being carried by the wind.’ He then said: ‘Tell me about a man who looked at a slave girl at the time of the morning prayer. She was unlawful for him then, but at noon was lawful, only to become unlawful again by the afternoon and lawful by the sunset, but unlawful by the time of the evening prayer. Then, in the morning, she was lawful for him.’ Tawaddud said: ‘This man looked at someone else’s slave girl in the morning, when she was unlawful for him. At noon, he bought her and she became lawful; then, in the afternoon, he freed her and she became unlawful. At sunset, he married her and she became lawful, but in the evening he divorced her, making her unlawful, while in the morning he took her back again and she became lawful for him.’ ‘Tell me,’ he then asked, ‘about a grave that moved with its occupant.’ ‘This was the whale of Jonah, son of Mattai, when it swallowed him.’ ‘Tell me then about a place on which the sun shone once but will never shine again until the Day of Resurrection.’ She said: ‘This is the sea struck by Moses with his staff in which twelve passages were split, one for each of the tribes. The sun rose over it, but will not shine there again until the Resurrection.’
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the four hundred and fifty-eighth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that the philosopher then asked Tawaddud: ‘Tell me, what was the first skirt that was trailed over the surface of the ground?’ She said: ‘This was the skirt of Hagar, who trailed it when Sara had put her to shame. This then became a custom among the Arabs.’ He then said: ‘Tell me about something that breathes although it has no life.’ She replied: ‘This refers to the words of Almighty God: “and the dawn when it breathes”.’* ‘Tell me,’ he said, ‘about a number of pigeons that flew to a tall tree where some of them settled on top of it and some beneath it. The ones on top of the tree said to the ones below it: “If one of you comes up, then we will be a third of the total number and if one of us flies down, then we will be the same number as you.” ’ Tawaddud said: ‘There were twelve pigeons, seven of which settled on top of the tree and five below it. If one of these latter flew up there would be twice as many above as below, while if one flew down the numbers of both groups would be equal. God knows better.’ At this, the philosopher stripped off his robe and fled.
As for the story of her encounter with al-Nazzam, she turned to the scholars who were present and asked: ‘Which of you can speak on all branches of knowledge?’ Al-Nazzam got up and came to her, saying: ‘Don’t think that I am like the others.’ She replied: ‘I am convinced that you will be beaten because you are arrogant and God will help me to defeat you so that I may strip you of your robe. It would be better for you to send someone to fetch you something that you can put on in its place.’ ‘By God,’ he said, ‘I shall get the better of you and make you the subject of a story that people will talk about for generations to come.’ ‘Get ready to atone for breaking your word,’ she told him.
He then said: ‘Tell me about five things that God created before He created mankind.’ ‘These are water, earth, light, darkness and fruits,’ she answered. ‘Tell me then about something that God created with the Hand of Power.’ ‘The Throne,’ she said, ‘as well as the tree Tuba, Adam and the Garden of Eden. These were all created by the Hand of Power, while to everything else He said: “Be,” and they were.’ ‘Tell me,’ he then asked, ‘about your father in Islam.’ ‘This is Muhammad, may God bless him and give him peace,’ she answered. ‘And who is Muhammad’s father in Islam?’ he asked, to which she replied: ‘Abraham, the Friend of God.’ ‘What is the religion of Islam?’ he asked. ‘The confession of faith that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is the
Apostle of God,’ she answered. ‘What is your beginning and what is your end?’ he asked. ‘My beginning was a drop of foul sperm,’ she said, ‘and I shall end as a decaying corpse. I came from the earth and there I shall end. The poet puts it:
I was created from earth and became a person
Eloquent in question and answer.
Then I returned to the earth and was buried there
As it was from this that I was made.’
Al-Nazzam then asked her about something that began as wood and ended as something alive. ‘This,’ she said, ‘was the rod of Moses when he threw it down in the valley, for then, with God’s leave, it became a quick-moving serpent.’ He next asked her about God’s words about Moses’ staff in the Quran, ‘I have other uses for it.’* She said: ‘Whenever Moses planted it in the ground it would blossom and produce fruit, as well as protecting him from both heat and cold. When he was tired it would carry him and it would guard his flocks from savage beasts.’ ‘Tell me,’ he then said, ‘about a female produced from a male and a male produced from a female.’ She answered: ‘This is Eve produced from Adam and Jesus from Mary.’ His next question was about four fires, one of which eats and drinks while a second eats but does not drink, a third drinks without eating while the fourth does neither. ‘The fire that eats but does not drink,’ she answered, ‘is the fire of this world, while the fire that eats and drinks is the fire of hell. The fire that drinks but does not eat is the sun’s fire, while the fire that neither eats nor drinks is that of the moon.’
Next he asked her about the open and the shut, and she told him that ‘the open’ referred to the customary practices of Islam and ‘the closed’ to its necessary obligations. Then he said: ‘Tell me about the poet’s lines:
There is one who lives in the dust, whose food is by his head;
When he tastes that food, he speaks.
He rises and walks in silence while talking
And returns to the grave from which he was made to rise.
He does not deserve to be respected as a living being,
Nor is he dead and deserving compassion.’
‘This is the pen,’ she told him.
Next he asked about the poet’s lines:
It has two closed pockets and is liable to a flow of blood;
Its ears are covered but its mouth is open.
There is something formed like a cock which pecks at its innards,
And if you put a price on it, it is worth half a dirham.
‘This is the pen case,’ she told him, and he then asked about the lines:
Say to the men of learning, intelligence and culture
And to every high-ranking faqih prominent for his discernment:
‘Tell me: what did you see
From a bird in Arab lands and those of non-Arabs?
This is something without flesh or blood,
With no feathers and no down.
It is eaten cooked, it is eaten cold
And it is eaten fried when put in the fire.
It has two colours, one like that of silver
And another charming colour that does not resemble gold.
It is not seen to live, although it is not dead.
Tell me about this for it is a marvel.’
‘You have taken a long time in asking about an egg worth only a fals,’ she replied.
Al-Nazzam then asked her how many words God had spoken to Moses, and she said: ‘It is reported that the Prophet of God, may God bless him and give him peace, said: “God spoke one thousand, five hundred and fifteen words to Moses.” ’ ‘Tell me then of the fourteen that spoke to the Lord of creation.’ She said: ‘These were the seven heavens and the seven earths when they said: “We have come in obedience to You.” ’
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the four hundred and fifty-ninth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that after this he asked her to tell him about Adam and how first he was created. She told him that God created Adam from clay, the clay being made from foam, the foam from the sea and the sea from darkness. The darkness itself was created from light, which was created from a fish, with the fish being created from a rock, the rock from a ruby, the ruby from water and the water from the power of God, as He said, Almighty is He: ‘When He wishes for something, He commands “Be” and it is.’
He said: ‘Tell me about the poet’s lines:
One who eats without mouth or stomach,
Whose food is trees and fish;
If you feed it, it is animated and lives,
But if you give it water to drink, it dies.’
‘This is fire,’ she told him. So he asked about the lines:
Two lovers who are denied all pleasure
And who spend the whole night long in an embrace.
They guard people from every calamity
And at sunrise they part.
‘These are the two leaves of a door,’ she said. So he asked about the gates of hell and she told him: ‘There are seven of these and they are named in the lines:
Jahannam, Lazan and al-Hatim,
Then count in al-Sa‘ir and finish the line with Saqar.
After that comes Jahim and then Hawiya –
This is a brief account of their number.’
‘Tell me then,’ he said, ‘about the lines:
Her long locks trail behind her
As she comes and as she goes.
Her eyes never taste sleep
And never shed a tear.
Never in the course of time does she wear clothing,
But she provides clothing of all kinds to mankind.’
‘This is a needle,’ she told him.
Next he asked her about the bridge over hell, its length and its breadth. She said: ‘It is a three-thousand-year journey in length, one thousand to go up, one thousand to come down and one thousand on the level. It is sharper than a sword and narrower than a hair.’
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the four hundred and sixtieth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that when she had described the bridge, he asked: ‘Tell me then, how many times does the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and give him peace, intercede for each Muslim?’ to which she replied: ‘Thrice.’ He then asked her whether Abu Bakr was the first convert to Islam, and when she said yes, he said that ‘Ali had preceded him. ‘ ‘Ali,’ she said, ‘went to the Prophet, may God bless him and give him peace, as a boy of seven and, in spite of his youth, God guided him so that he never prostrated himself to an idol.’ ‘Tell me,’ he then said, ‘which was better, ‘Ali or al-‘Abbas?’ She realized that he was trying to trick her, for if she said ‘ ‘Ali’, she would not be able to excuse herself before the Abbasid caliph. She hung her head in silence for a while, at times reddening and at times turning pale. Then she answered: ‘You are asking me about two excellent men, each with his own excellence, so let us go back to where we were.’ At this the caliph got to his feet and said: ‘By the Lord of the Ka‘ba, that was well done, Tawaddud.’
At that, Ibrahim al-Nazzam said: ‘Tell me about the poet’s lines:
Its skirts are slender and its taste is sweet;
It is like a spear but has no point.
It provides advantages for mankind
And is eaten after the afternoon prayer in Ramadan.’
‘This is the sugar-cane,’ she replied.
He then said: ‘Answer me a number of questions.’ ‘What are they?’ she asked. He replied: ‘What is sweeter than honey? What is sharper than a sword? What is swifter than poison? What is the pleasure of an hour? What is three days’ happiness? What is the pleasantest day? What is the joy of a week? What is the due that even a liar will not deny? What is the prison of the tomb? What is the heart’s delight? What tricks the soul? What is the death of life? What is the disease that cannot be cured? What is the disgrac
e that cannot be effaced? What is the beast that lives in the wild and does not approach cultivated land; it hates mankind and is created with the nature of seven powerful creatures?’ She said: ‘Listen to my answers and then strip off your robe so that I may explain things to you.’ ‘Explain,’ said the caliph, ‘and he will take off his robe.’ So she said: ‘The thing that is sweeter than honey is children who are dutiful towards their parents. What is sharper than the sword is the tongue, while what is swifter than poison is the eye of the malignant. Sexual intercourse is the pleasure of an hour, while three days’ happiness is a woman’s depilatory. The pleasantest day is when one makes a trading profit. The joy of a week is marriage and the due that not even a liar can deny is death. The prison of the tomb is a bad son. The heart’s delight is a wife who obeys her husband, but it is also said that this is meat when it is swallowed, as this rejoices the heart. What tricks the soul is a disobedient slave, while the death of life is poverty. As for the incurable disease, this is an evil character, and the disgrace that cannot be effaced is a bad daughter. The beast that lives in the wild and does not approach cultivated land, hating mankind and created with the nature of seven powerful creatures, is the locust. Its head is like that of a horse; it has a bull’s neck, an eagle’s wings and the feet of a camel. Its tail is that of a snake, its belly is that of a scorpion and its horns are those of a gazelle.’