overcame us and pursued us. And I fled to thee seeking protection, first from Allâh, then from thee.' He said, 'But why do you drink wine which is forbidden you?' I replied, 'That is the deed of slaves and foreigners who have entered our religion and our kingdom without our wish.' He continued, 'But why do you put saddles of gold and of silver upon your riding-steeds and war-horses when that is forbidden you?' That is the act,' I made answer, 'of slaves and foreigners who have come into our religion and our kingdom without our desire.' 'But why,' he went on, 'when you go out hunting and pass through villages, do you, with blows and ill-usage, impose upon their people tasks which are impossible to them; and as though this were not enough, you must needs also trample down their crops in the pursuit of one partridge of which the value is half a dirhem, when it is forbidden you to impose heavy burdens and to inflict chastisement?' I said again, 'That is the doing of slaves and attendants and their followers.' He answered, 'No; for you still wish to make lawful what God has declared to be unlawful, and you bring yourselves to do what God has forbidden you. And it is He who has wrested
