be brought back, and asked, "What causes thee to laugh?"
"I was marvelling," answered Saʾîd, "at thy provocation of Allâh, and at His long-suffering toward thee."
Then el-Hajjâj commanded to bring the Nitâʾa.[1] And it was spread out before him, and he cried, "Kill him!"
And Saʾîd said, "I gave myself up to the worship of Him who laid out the heavens and the earth, believing in the true faith, and I am not one of the polytheists."
"Turn him away from the Kiblah!" called out el-Hajjâj.
"Wherever thou mayst turn me, there is God's countenance," said Saʾîd.
"Lay him with his face on the ground," commanded el-Hajjâj.
Then Saʾîd quoted, "Out of it We created you, and to it We will cause you to return, and from it We will once more cause you to come forth."
"Kill him!" again cried el-Hajjâj.
Then Saʾîd said, "I bear witness that there is no
- ↑ See Note *, p. 141.
