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black. So I accosted him and said to him, ‘Out on thee, O black, art thou not ashamed of what thou saidst?’ ‘How so?’ asked he. ‘Didst thou not adjure God by His love for thee?’ said I. ‘What giveth thee to know that He loveth thee?’ ‘Away from me,’ replied he, ‘O thou that art distracted [by the love of the world] from [the care of] thine own soul! Where was I, when He gave me strength to identify myself with Him and of His special favour vouchsafed unto me the knowledge of Him?[1] How deemest thou that He aided me thus except of His love to me? Verily, His love to me is after the measure of my love to Him.’ Quoth I, ‘Tarry awhile with me, may God have mercy on thee!’ But he said, ‘I am a slave and the Book of God enjoins me to obey my lesser[2] master.’ So he went away and we followed him afar off, till we saw him enter a slave-dealer’s house.
Now the first half of the night was passed and the last half was long upon us, so we went away; but next morning, we repaired to the slave-dealer and said to him, ‘Hast thou a boy[3] to sell us for service?’ ‘Yes,’ answered he, ‘I have nigh upon a hundred boys, and they are all for sale.’ Then he showed us slave after slave, till he had shown us threescore and ten; but my friend was not amongst them, and the dealer said, ‘These are all I have.’ But, as we were going away, we espied a ruinous hut behind his house and going in, saw the black standing there. ‘It is he, by the Lord of the Kaabeh!’ cried I and turning back to the dealer, said to him, ‘Sell me yonder slave.’ ‘O Abou Yehya,’[4] replied he, ‘this is a plaguy, morose,
- ↑ “Identification” and “Knowledge,” stages of the Sufi mystic on the “Way” or journey to God.
- ↑ i.e. earthly master, as opposed to God, his great or heavenly master.
- ↑ Male black slaves in the East, as in the United States, are often called “boys,” irrespectively of age.
- ↑ Surname of Malik ben Dinar.
