"God," answered the Angel, "has given me for thee, the most potent weapon of modesty; that, as man is armed with faith, so mayest thou be armed with shamefacedness, therewith to conquer thy passions."
"And what will protect me against the strength of man, so much more robust and vigorous than I, in mind and in body?"
"Love and compassion," answered Michael. "I have placed these in the deepest recesses of his heart, as mighty advocates within him to plead for thee."
"And will God give me no further gift?"
"For the pangs of maternity thou shalt feel, this shall be thine, death in child-bearing shall be reckoned in heaven as a death of martyrdom."[1]
Eblis, seeing the mercy shown to Adam and Eve, ventured to entreat God's grace for himself, and obtained that he should not be enchained in the place of torment till the day of the general Resurrection, and that he should exercise sovereignty over the wicked and all those who should reject God's Word in this life.
"And where shall I dwell till the consummation of all things?" he asked of Allah.
"In ruined buildings, and in tombs, and in dens and caves of the mountains."
"And what shall be my nourishment?"
"All beasts slain in the name of false gods and idols."
"And how shall I slake my thirst?"
"In wine and other spirituous liquors."
"And how shall I occupy myself in hours of idleness?"
"In music, dancing, and song."
"What is the word of my sentence?"
"The curse of God till the Judgment-day."
"And how shall I fight against those men who have received Thy revelation, and are protected by the two angels?"
"Thy offspring shall be more numerous than theirs: to every man born into this world, there will be born seven evil spirits, who, however, will be powerless to injure true Believers."
God then made a covenant with Adam's successors; He rubbed Adam's back, and lo! from out of his back crawled all
- ↑ It is a popular superstition among the lower orders in England that a woman who dies in childbirth, even if she be unmarried, cannot be lost.
