Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night - Volume 5.djvu/233

 3) purity of the water, and (4) absence of material or religious impediments." Q "What is belief?" "It is divided into nine parts: (1) belief in the One worshipped; (2) belief in the condition of slavery of the worshipper; (3) belief in the personality of the Deity; (4) belief in the Two Handfuls; [FN#337] (5) belief in Providence which allotteth to man his lot; (6) belief in the Abrogating and (7) in the Abrogated; (8) belief in Allah, His angels and apostles; and (9) in fore-ordained Fate, general and individual, its good and ill, its sweet and bitter." Q "What three things do away other three?" "It is told of Sufyán al-Saurí [FN#338] that he said, 'Three things do away with other three. Making light of the pious doth away the future life; making light of Kings doth away this life; and, making light of expenditure doth away wealth.'" Q "What are the keys of the heavens, and how many gates have they.?" "Quoth Almighty Allah, 'And the heaven shall be opened and be full of portals;' [FN#339] and quoth he whom Allah bless and preserve!, 'None knoweth the number of the gates of heavens, save He who created the heavens, and there is no son of Adam but hath two gates allotted to him in the heavens, one whereby his daily bread descendeth and another wherethrough his works ascend. The first gate is not closed, save when his term of life cometh to an end, nor the gate of works, good and evil, till his soul ascend for judgment.'" Q "Tell me of a thing and a half thing and a no-thing." "The thing is the Moslem; the half thing the hypocrite, [FN#340] and the no-thing the miscreant." Q "Tell me of various kinds of hearts." "There is the whole heart, the sick heart, the contrite heart, the vowed heart and the enlightened heart. Now the whole heart is that of Abraham, the Friend of Allah; the sick heart is that of the Unbeliever in Al-Islam; the contrite heart is that of the pious who fear the Lord; the vowed heart is that of our Lord Mohammed (whom Allah bless and keep!) and the illuminated heart is that of his followers. Furthermore, the hearts of learned Olema are of three kinds, the heart which is