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His grace, glorified and exalted be He!’ ‘By Allah,’ rejoined he, ‘thou sayst well!’ So they betook themselves to prayer and supplication to God the Most High, and he recited these verses:
Indeed, I stand in need of Thee all seasons, foul or fair, What though with diadem and crown my brows encompassed were.
Thou art the chiefest of my wants, and could my hand but win This its desire, no other want were left to me whate’er.
Nought that Thou hast withholdest Thou; the outflow of Thy grace Is as a torrent or a shower, that’s lavished everywhere.
By my transgression am I shut therefrom, yet is the light Of Thy compassion, Clement One, resplendent past compare.
O Care-Dispeller, that, wherewith I stricken am, dispel; For there is none save Thou alone can do away this care.
Whilst he was praying and she saying, ‘Amen,’ and the tramp of horse nearing them the while, behold, he heard the voice of his dead brother, the martyr, speaking and saying, ‘O my brother, fear not, but be of good cheer; for these thou hearest are the host of God and His angels, whom He hath sent to serve as witnesses to your marriage. Verily, the angels of God the Most High are emulous of you, and He bestoweth on you the recompense of the blessed and the martyrs and hath rolled up the earth for you [as it were a carpet], so that, by morning, you will be in the mountains of Medina. And thou [O man], whenas thou foregatherest with Omar ben el Khettab, (of whom God accept,) give him my salutation and say to him, “May God abundantly requite thee for Islam, for thou hast dealt faithfully and striven diligently.”’ Thereupon the angels lifted up their voices in salutation to him and his wife, saying, ‘Verily, God the Most High appointed her in marriage to thee two thousand years before your father Adam (on whom be peace) was created.’ Then joy and gladness and peace and cheer overcame the twain; assurance was confirmed and stablished was the vocation of the God-fearing pair. So they prayed the fore-dawn
