Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 4.djvu/371

341 to her, ‘O damsel, hear a few questions from me.’ ‘Say on,’ quoth she; and he said, ‘What are the conditions of valid [purchase by] payment in advance?’ ‘That the amount [of the thing bought], the kind and the period [of delivery to the purchaser], be [fixed or] known,’ replied she. (Q.) ‘What are the Koranic canons of eating?’ (A.) ‘The confession [by the eater] that God the Most High provideth him and giveth him to eat and drink and thanksgiving to Him therefor.’ (Q.) ‘What is thanksgiving?’ (A.) ‘The use by the creature of that which God vouchsafeth to him in the manner and to the ends for which He hath created it.’ (Q.) ‘What are the Traditional canons of eating?’ (A.) ‘The [preliminary] naming [of God] and washing the hands, sitting on the left buttock, eating with three fingers and eating of that which is chewed.’ (Q.) ‘What are the civilities of eating?’ (A.) ‘Taking small mouthfuls and looking little at one’s table-companion.’ (Q.) ‘What are the heart’s stays [or articles of faith] and their correlatives?’ (A.) ‘They are three in number, to wit, (1) holding fast to the Faith, the correlative whereof is the shunning of infidelity, (2) holding fast to the Traditional Law and its correlative, the shunning of innovation [or heresy] and (3) holding fast to obedience and its correlative, the shunning of disobedience.’ (Q.) ‘What are the conditions of ablution?’ (A.) ‘(1) Submission to the will of God (2) possession of discernment of good and evil [or having attained the age of discretion] (3) purity of the water and (4) absence of legal or material impediments.’ (Q.) ‘What is belief?’ (A.) ‘It is divided into nine parts, to wit, (1) belief in the One worshipped (2) belief in the condition of slavery [of