on the day of resurrection.' Now I, oh venerable cadi, do not desire to be of the company of the accursed."
"I swear to you," said the cadi, "an inviolable oath, that I will not act treacherously to you."
And the robber said to him, "I have heard from my father, who had it from my grandfather, who had it from Ali bin Abu Talib (may Allah be gracious to him), who had it from our blessed Prophet, that to break an improper (i. e, extorted) oath is no crime—but come, dismount and strip."
And the cadi was unable to find an answer, so he dismounted from the back of his mule, and stripped off his clothes, and delivered them to the robber, and there remained to him only his shirt.
And the robber asked him, "Have you another shirt at home?"
And he said, "Yes."
The robber said, "My father told me that my grandfather told him that Abu Horairah (may Allah reward him) related, that the blessed Prophet has said, 'The prayer of a naked man is good.'"
And the cadi said to him, "How? Must I strip, and pray naked?"
The robber answered, "This arises from your ignorance. What do you say to a man who has been shipwrecked, and who escapes from the sea naked?—is his prayer good or not?"
He replied, "It is good."
The thief rejoined, "Your condition is the same as his."
And the cadi took off his shirt, and gave it to the robber.
Then the robber saw on his hand a signet-ring worth five mithkals, and he said to him, "Oh reverend cadi, give me the signet-ring, that I may remember you gratefully, according to the saying of the Prophet, 'Verily let deeds be sealed.'"[1]
And the cadi replied, "This is the ring of prayer."
The thief rejoined, "This is not correct—and how can a cadi dare to lie? The ring is on your right hand, whereas if it were the ring of prayer it would be on your left hand."
And the cadi was unable to make any reply; but after a moment's thought he said, "Can you play chess?"
The robber answered, "Yes."
And the cadi said, "Let us make a match, and if you beat me the ring is yours, but if I beat you it remains mine."
The thief replied, "I am content."
And they played, and the robber won; so the cadi took off his ring, and said to the thief, "Thou art the doctor of law, and I (only) a learned man; thou art the reader of the Koran and I the questioner, and it is you who are the (better) player." And he threw him the ring, and said, "May the blessing of Allah not go with it."
And the robber took it, and said, "May Allah not accept the sacrifice from thee."
Then the cadi went to his house, naked and vexed in mind, and he
- ↑ It is difficult to give the Arabic pun any force in English, but it will render it more intelligible to observe that, in the East, every man of property has his name engraved on a signet-ring; and no document can be authenticated by him unless he seal it with this: a signature in his own handwriting merely, not being valid.
