Page:The New Monthly Magazine - Volume 099.djvu/98

86 And the cadi was astonished at his words, and at the eloquence of his tongue, and said to him, "By Allah the most high, what hour of the night is this in which our meeting has taken place?"

And the robber answered, "It is the hour when the moon is in Scorpion, and the planet Jupiter in the cusp of Mars, and this hour is suitable only for theft; and if, oh worshipful cadi, you desired to rob, you could not have chosen a more favourable time than this, but if you wished to travel, you should not have started till the third hour of the day was past, and should not have set out to your garden till the sun had risen."

And the cadi laughed, and said, "Wullahy! I should not have set out in this hour but for the words of the Prophet, 'Most acceptable is prayer in the green places and in the gardens.'"

And the robber returned, "Alas for you! you have taken one text and left another."

And the cadi asked, "What text is that which I have left?"

And he replied, "Have you not heard His saying, 'Seek a companion before journeying?' If there had been a companion with you I should not have approached you or spoken to you; but, because of your forsaking this holy text, Allah has cast you into my net. But come, descend from your mule, strip off your clothes, and cut short your words, for day draws near, and I must be gone."

The cadi said to him, "Do you possess any learning?"

The robber said "Yes."

The cadi continued, "Have you not heard the saying of the Prophet, upon whom be the blessing of Allah?"

"What saying?" returned the thief.

The cadi said, "'The true believer is he from whose hands and tongue all men are safe.'"

And the robber answered, "The Prophet has spoken truly, but as for you, you pretend, oh cadi, to be a doctor of theology, yet have no learning."

The cadi said, "How is this?"

And the thief replied, "You imagined that prayer would be acceptable without alms, though Allah has said, 'Pray, and bestow alms.' And again the Prophet says, 'He who prays and bestows not alms is like a tree without fruit.' Now, you have wealth, and give no alms, wherefore I desire to take away your clothes and your mule for the sake of charity. You are an avaricious man, and some day you will die, and be raised again, and God will call you to account. Have you not heard the words of Allah, 'In that day we will seal their mouths, and their hands shall confess, and their feet shall bear witness of what they have amassed?' But come, strip, and descend from the back of thy mule, and cut short thy words, for I am in haste."

And the cadi said, "For the sake of Allah injure me not, since of a truth he who does harm to the Mussulmans is a devil."

And the robber made answer, "If I am a devil, thou art an infidel."

And the cadi said, "Where is the proof of my infidelity?"