Debits and Credits

to the Shade of

tance of our pure Forefather’s body. Receiving the Command and reaching the place, Jibrail put forth his hand to take them, but Earth shook and lamented and supplicated him. Then said Jibrail: ‘Lie still and rejoice, for out of thee He will create that than which (there) is no handsomer thing — to wit a Successor and a Wearer of the Diadem over thee through the ages.’ Earth said: ‘I adjure the

ing the abjection of Earth, returned with an empty hand. Then was sent the Archangel Azrael, and when Earth had once aga

wept, saying: ‘Thus shall all men hate me.’ It was answered: ‘Thou hast said that Obedience is more obligatory than Pity. Mix thou the clays and the sands and lay them to dry between Tayif and Mecca till the time appointed.’ So, then, Azrael departed and did according to the Command. But in his haste he perceived not that he had torn out from Earth clays and minerals that had lai

essorship. In that period, too, it is narrated that the Angels passed to and fro above it, and among them Eblis the Accursed, who smote the predestined Creation while it was drying, and it rang hollow. Eblis then looked more closely and observ

and of the Almighty, with the Archangel Jibrail, towards that body. But the Soul being thin and subtle refused, at first, to enter the thick and diverse clays, saying: ‘I have fear of that (which is) to be.’ This it cried twice, till it received the W

ad furnished) his body. Earth said: ‘Forbear. Is it not enough that one should have dominion over me?’ Adam answered: ‘There is but one who is One in Earth or Heaven. All paired things point to the Unity, and my sou

enter it, and worship both thee and our Lord Adam, who is Master of thee.’ The Peacock said: ‘Not by any contrivance of mine shaft thou enter, lest a judgment fall on my beauty and my excellence. But there is in the Garden a Serpent of loathsome aspect who shall make thy path easy.’ He then despatched the Serpent to the Gate and after conversation and by contrivance and a malign artifice, Eblis hid himself under the tongue of the Serpent, and was thus conveyed past

niverse, who art thou?’ Eve said: ‘O my Lord and Summit of my Contentment, who art thou?’ Adam said: ‘Of a surety I am thine.’ Eve said: ‘Of a surety I am throe.’ Thus they ce

that lies beyond the limits of possibility.’ Adam said: ‘This is easy. That the Sun should cease in Heaven or that the Rivers should dry in the Garden is beyond the limits of possibility.’ And they laughed and agreed, and the Peacock said: ‘O our Lady, tell us now something of a jest as unconceivable and as beyond belief as this saying of thy Lord.’ Our Lady Eve then said: ‘That my Lord should look upon me otherwise than is his custom is beyond this saying.’ And when they had laughed abundantly, she said: ‘O our Servitors, tell u

Lady, what fear?’ Eve said: ‘The fear which was in our hearts from the first, that the one of us might be made an enemy to the other.’ Then our pure Forefather bowed his head on h

errily and said ‘O my Master and my Mistress, this is the Tree of Eternity. By eating her fruit, felicity is established for

stainer, upon my head be it, and upon the heads of my daughters after me. I will first taste of this Tree, and if m

were delivered to shame and nudity and abjection. Then, as is narrated, Adam accused Eve in the Presence;

as laid upon Adam and Eve in these words: ‘Get ye down, the one of you an enemy to the other.’ Adam said: ‘But I have heard that Thy Compassion exceeds Thy Wrath.’ It w

pelled, there was lamentation among the beasts in the Garden whom Adam had cherished and whom our Lady Eve had comforted. Of those unaffected there remained only the Mole, whose custom it was to burrow in earth and to

from a secret observation and a hidden espial. So he followed our Forefather and his august consort, under the earth, and wat

r are they in any sort enemies to each other, for they enjoy together the most perfect felicity, and moreover they have made them a new God.’ It was answered: ‘Declare the shape of the God.’ The Mole said: ‘Their God is of small stature, pinkish in colour, unclothed, fat and smiling. They lay it upon the grass and, filling its hands with flowers, worship it and desire no greater comfort.’ It was answered: ‘Declare the name of the God.’ The Mole said: ‘Its name is Quabil (Cain), and I testify upon a sure observation that it is their God and their Uniter and their Comforter.’ It was answered: ‘Why

his Consort, from out of Kabul the Stony, that Peacock, by whose contrivance Eblis the Accursed had first obtained admission into the Garden of the Tree. And they made him welcome in all their ways and

passage through the world. Nor did he hear any lamentations in their mouths for their sins. It is recorded that for an hundred years they were continuously upheld by the Peacock under the detestable power of Eblis the Stoned, who by means of magic multiplied the similitudes of meat and drink and rich raiment about them for their pleasure, and came daily to worship them as Gods. (This also lay in the predestined Will of the Inscrutable.) Further, in tha

then answered: ‘Disregard dreams. They proceed from superfluity of meat. Stretch out thy hand upon the world which thou hast made and take possession.’ So Adam took possession of the mountains which he had levelled and of the rivers which he had diverted and of the upper and lower Fires which he had made to speak and to work for him, and he named them as possessions for himself and his children for ever. After this, Eblis asked: ‘O,

of the Peacock to expand his tail and stand beside our First Su

ly enter that Garden. Wherefore did Allah change my attuned voice to a harsh cry and my beauteous legs to unseemly legs, and hurled me into the district of Kabul the Stony. Now I fear that He will also deprive me of my tail, which is the ornament of my days and the delight of my eye. For that cause and in that fear I am penitent, O Servant of God.’ Jibrail then said: ‘Penitence lies not in confession, but in restitution and visible amendment.’ The Peacock said: ‘Enlighten me in that path and prove my sincerity.’ Jibrail said: ‘I am troubled on account of Adam who, through the i

he removed himself from her presence, and came again to Jibrail a little before the time of the evening prayer. He said to that excellent and trusty one: ‘Continue, I pray, to serve in my shape at the time of the Worship at the Altar.’ So Jibrail consented and preened himself and spread his tail and pecked between his claws, after the manner of created Peacocks, before the Altar until the entrance of our pure Forefather and his august consort. Then he perceived by observation that when Adam kneeled at the Mirror to adore himself the Lady Eve abode unwillingly, and in time she asked: ‘Have I then no part in this worship?’ Adam answered: ‘A great and a redoubtable part bast thou, O my Lady, which is to praise and worship me constantly.’ The Lady Eve said: ‘But

to a great anger. Then entered Jibrail in the likeness of the Peacock and said to Adam: ‘O my Lord and Very Interpreter, what has vexed thee?’ Adam said: ‘What shall we do? The Woman who sleeps in my bosom has changed the honourable places of the Altars, and if I suffer not the change she

sguised Peacock then said: ‘O my Lady, seeing that from thee alone proceed all the generations of Man who calls himself God, what need of any Altar to Man?’ The Lady Eve answered: ‘It is an error. Doubt not it shall be rectified,’ and at the time of the Worship she smote down the left-hand Altar. Adam said: ‘Why is this, O my Lady and my Co-equal?’ The Lady Eve answered: ‘Because it has been revealed that in Me is all excellence and increase, splendour, terror, and power. Bow down and worship.’ Adam answered: ‘O my Lady, but thou art Eve my mate and no sort of goddess whatever. This have I known

attributes, and listened to the end of that conversation between the First Substitute and his august Consort who ce

drumstick of malevolence, and the bird of argument had taken refuge in the rocks of silence, the Excellent and Trustworthy Archangel Jibrail

nd he laughed without cessation and said: ‘By Allah, I am no God but the mate of this most detestable Woman whom I love, and who is necessary to me bey

Eve’s throat and she laughed aloud and merrily and said: ‘By Allah I am no goddess in any sort, but the mate of this mere Man whom, in spite of all, I

e next time and the next occasion.’ And Adam said: ‘I accept, and I abide the chance.’ Our Lady Eve said: ‘O Man, wouldst thou have it otherwise upon any composition?’ Adam said: ‘O Woman, upon no composition would I have it other

was answered: ‘How left ye them?’ They said: ‘Before one Altar.’ It was answered: ‘What was written upon the Alt

t shall stand in the place of b

N.V