THE PRIOR WHO BECAME A MOSLEM.
Quoth Abu Bakr Mohammed ibn Al-Anbári[FN#204]: "I once left Anbár
on a journey to 'Amúríyah,[FN#205] where there came out to me the
prior of the monastery and superior of the monkery, Abd al-Masíh
hight, and brought me into the building. There I found forty
religious, who entertained me that night with fair guest rite,
and I left them after seeing among them such diligence in
adoration and devotion as I never beheld the like of in any
others. Next day I farewelled them and fared forth and, after
doing my business at 'Amuriyah, I returned to my home at Anbar.
And next year I made pilgrimage to Meccah and as I was
circumambulating the Holy House I saw Abd al-Masih the monk also
compassing the Ka'abah, and with him five of his fellows, the
shavelings. Now when I was sure that it was indeed he, I accosted
him, saying, 'Art thou not Abd al-Masih, the Religious?' and he
replied, 'Nay, I am Abdallah, the Desirous.'[FN#206] Therewith I
fell to kissing his grey hairs and shedding tears; then, taking
him by the hand, I led him aside into a corner of the Temple and
said to him, 'Tell me the cause of thy conversion to al-Islam;'
and he made reply, 'Verily, 'twas a wonder of wonders, and befell
thus. A company of Moslem devotees came to the village wherein is
our convent, and sent a youth to buy them food. He saw, in the
market, a Christian damsel selling bread, who was of the fairest
of women; and he was struck at first sight with such love of her,
that his senses failed him and he fell on his face in a fainting
fit. When he revived, he returned to his companions and told them
what had befallen him, saying, 'Go ye about your business; I may
not go with you.' They chided him and exhorted him, but he paid
no heed to them; so they left him whilst he entered the village
and seated himself at the door of the woman's booth.[FN#207] She
asked him what he wanted, and he told her that he was in love
with her whereupon she turned from him; but he abode in his place
three days without tasting food, keeping his eyes fixed on her
face. Now whenas she saw that he departed not from her, she went
to her people and acquainted them with his case, and they set on
him the village boys, who stoned him and bruised his ribs and
broke his head; but, for all this, he would not budge. Then the
villagers took counsel together to slay him; but a man of them
came to me and told me of his case, and I went out to him and
found him lying prostrate on the ground. So I wiped the blood
from his face and carried him to the convent, and dressed his
wounds; and there he abode with me fourteen days. But as soon as
he could walk, he left the monastery"--And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Four Hundred and Thirteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdallah
the Religious continued: "So I carried him to the convent and
dressed his wounds, and he abode with me fourteen days. But as
soon as he could walk, he left the monastery and returned to the
door of the woman 's booth, where he sat gazing on her as before.
When she saw him she came out to him and said, 'By Allah thou
movest me to pity! wilt thou enter my faith that I may marry
thee?' He cried, 'Allah forbid that I should put off the faith of
Unity and enter that of Plurality!'[FN#208] Quoth she, 'Come in
with me to my house and take thy will of me and wend thy ways in
peace.' Quoth he, 'Not so, I will not waste the worship of twelve
years for the lust of an eye-twinkle.' Said she, 'Then depart
from me forthwith;' and he said, 'My heart will not suffer me to
do that;' whereupon she turned her countenance from him.
Presently the boys found him out and began to pelt him with
stones; and he fell on his face, saying, 'Verily, Allah is my
protector, who sent down the Book of the Koran; and He protecteth
the Righteous![FN#209] At this I sallied forth and driving away
the boys, lifted his head from the ground and heard him say,
'Allah mine, unite me with her in Paradise!' Then I carried him
to the monastery, but he died, before I could reach it, and I
bore him without the village and I dug for him a grave and buried
him. And next night when half of it was spent, the damsel cried
with a great cry (and she in her bed); so the villagers flocked
to her and questioned her of her case. Quoth she, 'As I slept,
behold the Moslem man came in to me and taking me by the hand,
carried me to the gate of Paradise; but the Guardian denied me
entrance, saying, 'Tis forbidden to unbelievers.' So I embraced
Al Islam at his hands and, entering with him, beheld therein
pavilions and trees, such as I cannot describe to you. Moreover,
he brought me to a pavilion of jewels and said to me, 'Of a truth
this is my pavilion and thine, nor will I enter it save with
thee; but, after five nights thou shalt be with me therein, if it
be the will of Allah Almighty.' Then he put forth his hand to a
tree which grew at the door of the pavilion and plucked there
from two apples and gave them to me, saying, 'Eat this and keep
the other, that the monks may see it.' So I ate one of them and
never tasted I aught sweeter.' "--And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Four Hundred and Fourteenth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the woman
continued: "'So he plucked two apples and gave them to me,
saying, 'Eat this and keep the other that the monks may see it.'
So I ate one of them and never tasted I aught sweeter. Then he
took my hand and fared forth and carried me back to my house;
and, when I awoke, I found the taste of the apple in my mouth and
the other in my hand.' So saying she brought out the apple, and
in the darkness of the night it shone as it were a sparkling
star. So they carried her (and the apple with her) to the
monastery, where she repeated her vision and showed it to us;
never saw we its like among all the fruits of the world. Then I
took a knife and cut the apple into pieces according as we were
folk in company; and never knew we aught more delicious than its
savour nor more delightsome than its scent; but we said, 'Haply
this was a devil that appeared unto her to seduce her from her
faith.' Thereupon her people took her and went away; but she
abstained from eating and drinking and on the fifth night she
rose from her bed, and going forth the village to the grave of
her Moslem lover threw herself upon it and died, her family not
knowing what was come of her. But, on the morrow, there came to
the village two Moslem elders, clad in hair cloth, and with them
two women in like garb, and said, 'O people of the village, with
you is a woman Saint, a Waliyah of the friends of Allah, who died
a Moslemah; and we will take charge of her in lieu of you.' So
the villagers sought her and found her dead on the Moslem's
grave; and they said, 'This was one of us and she died in our
faith; so we will take charge of her.' Rejoined the two old men,
'Nay, she died a Moslemah and we claim her.' And the dispute
waxed to a quarrel between them, till one of the Shaykhs said,
'Be this the test of her faith: the forty monks of the monastery
shall come and try to lift her from the grave. If they succeed,
then she died a Nazarene; if not, one of us shall come and lift
her up and if she be lifted by him, she died a Moslemah.' The
villagers agreed to this and fetched the forty monks, who
heartened one another, and came to her to lift her, but could
not. Then we tied a great rope round her middle and haled at it;
but the rope broke in sunder, and she stirred not; and the
villagers came and did the like, but could not move her from her
place.[FN#210] At last, when all means failed, we said to one of
the two Shaykhs, 'Come thou and lift her.' So he went up to the
grave and, covering her with his mantle, said, 'In the name of
Allah the Compassionating, the Compassionate, and of the Faith of
the Apostle of Allah, on whom be prayers and peace!' Then he
lifted her and, taking her in his bosom, betook himself with her
to a cave hard by, where they laid her, and the two women came
and washed her and shrouded her. Then the two elders bore her to
her Moslem lover's grave and prayed over her and buried her by
his side and went their ways. Now we were eye witnesses of all
this; and, when we were alone with one another, we said, 'In
sooth, the truth is most worthy to be followed;'[FN#211] and
indeed the verity hath been made manifest to us, nor is there a
proof more patent of the truth of al-Islam than that we have seen
this day with our eyes.' So I and all the monks became Moslems
and on like wise did the villagers; and we sent to the people of
Mesopotamia for a doctor of the law, to instruct us in the
ordinances of al-Islam and the canons of the Faith. They sent us
a learned man and a pious, who taught us the rites of prayer and
the tenets of the faith; and we are now in ease abounding; so to
Allah be the praise and the thanks!" And they also tell a tale of
