Читать книгу One Thousand and One Nights (Complete Annotated Edition) - Richard Francis Burton - Страница 125

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She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir Dandan continued to bespeak Zau al-Makan on this wise, “And quoth the maiden to thy father, ‘Bishr Barefoot’s sister once went to Ahmad bin Hanbal and said to him, ‘O Imam of the Faith, we are a family that spin thread by night and work for our living by day; and oftentimes the cressets of the watch of Baghdad pass by and we on the roof spinning by their light. Is this forbidden to us?’ Asked Ahmad:‘Who are thou?’ ‘I am the sister of Bishr Barefoot,’ answered she. Rejoined the Iman, ‘O household of Bishr, I shall never cease to drink full draughts of piety from your hearts.’ Quoth one of the sages, ‘When Allah willeth well to His servant He openeth upon him the gate of action.’ Málik bin Dinár,1054 when he passed through the bazar and saw aught he desired, was wont to say, ‘O soul, take patience, for I will not accord to thee what thou desirest.’ He said also (Allah accept him!), ‘The salvation of the soul lies in resistance to it and its damnation in submission to it.’ Quoth Mansúr bin Ammár,1055 ‘I made a pilgrimage and was faring Meccahwards by way of Cufa, and the night was overcast, when I heard a voice crying out from the deeps of the darkness saying, ‘O Allah, I swear by Thy Greatness and Thy Glory, I meant not through my disobedience to transgress against Thee; for indeed I am not ignorant of Thee; but my fault is one Thou didst foreordain to me from eternity without beginning;1056 so do Thou pardon my transgression, for indeed I disobeyed Thee of my ignorance!’ When he had made an end of his prayer he recited aloud the verse, ‘O true believers, save your souls and those of your families from the fire whose fuel is men and stones.’1057 Then I heard a fall, but not knowing what it was I passed on. When the morning morrowed, as we went our way, behold, we fell in with a funeral train, followed by an old woman whose strength had left her. I asked her of the dead, and she answered, ‘This is the funeral of a man who passed by us yesterday whilst my son was standing at prayer and after his prayers he recited a verse from the Book of Allah Almighty when the man’s gall bladder burst and he fell dead.’ Therewith the fourth damsel retired and the fifth came forward and said, ‘I here will also repeat what occurreth to me regarding the acts of devotees in olden time. Maslamah bin Dinár used to say, ‘By making sound the secret thoughts, sins great and small are covered’; and, ‘when the servant of Allah is resolved to leave sinning, victory cometh to him.’ Also quoth he, ‘Every worldly good which doth not draw one nearer to Allah is a calamity, for a little of this world distracteth from a mickle of the world to come and a mickle of the present maketh thee forget the whole of the future.’ It was asked of Abú Házim,1058 ‘Who is the most prosperous of men?’; and he answered, ‘Whoso spendeth his life in submission to Allah.’ The other enquired, ‘And who is the most foolish of mankind?’ ‘Whoso selleth his future for the worldly goods of others,’ replied Abu Hazim. It is reported of Moses1059 (on whom be peace!) that when he came to the waters of Midian he exclaimed, ‘O Lord, verily I stand in need of the good which thou shalt send down to me.’1060 And he asked of his Lord and not of his folk. There came two damsels and he drew water for them both and allowed not the shepherds to draw first. When the twain returned, they informed their father Shu’ayb (on whom be peace!) who said, ‘Haply, he is hungry,’ adding to one of them, ‘Go back to him and bid him hither.’ Now when she came to Moses, she veiled her face and said, ‘My father biddeth thee to him that he may pay thee thy wage for having drawn water for us.’ Moses was averse to this and was not willing to follow her. Now she was a woman large in the back parts, and the wind blowing upon her garment1061 covered the hinder cheeks to Moses; which when Moses saw, he lowered his eyes and said to her, ‘Get thee behind while I walk in front.’ So she followed him till he entered the house of Shu’ayb where supper was ready.”— And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.