The Perfumed Garden of the Shaykh Nefwazi | Page 5

is this quadruped? It
has a tail and a long trunk. Surely it is a creation of our God, the magnificent.'
The chapter of the Koran named '_the kouter_' was also an object of controversy. He said,
'We have given you precious stones for yourself, and preference to any other man, but
take care not to be proud of them.'
Mo&cced;ilama thus perverted sundry chapters in the Koran by his lies and his
impostures.
He had been at his work when he heard the Prophet (the salutation and mercy of God be
with him) spoken of. He heard that after he had placed his venerable hands upon a bald
head, the hair had forthwith sprung up again; that when he spat into a pit, the water came
in abundantly, and that the dirty water turned at once clean and good for drinking; that
when he spat into an eye that was blind or obscure, the sight was at once restored to it,
and when he placed his hands upon the head of a child, saying, 'Live for a century,' the
child lived to be a hundred years old.
When the disciples of Mo&cced;ilama saw these things or heard speak of them, they
came to him and said, 'Have you no knowledge of Mohammed and his doings?' He
replied, 'I shall do better than that.'
Now, Mo&cced;ilama was an enemy of God, and when he put his luckless hand on the

head of someone who had not much hair, the man was at once quite bald; when he spat
into a well with a scanty supply of water, sweet as it was, it was turned dirty by the will
of God; if he spat into a suffering eye, that eye lost its sight at once, and when he laid his
hand upon the head of an infant, saying, 'Live a hundred years,' the infant died within an
hour.
Observe. my brethren, what happens to those whose eyes remain closed to the light, and
who are deprived of the assistance of the Almighty!
And thus acted that woman of the Beni-Temim, called Chedjâ el Temimia, who
pretended to be a prophetess. She had heard of Mo&cced;ilama, and he likewise of her.
This woman was powerful, for the Beni-Temim form a numerous tribe. She said,
'Prophecy cannot belong to two persons. Either he is a prophet, and then I and my
disciples will follow his laws, or I am a prophetess, and then he and his disciples will
follow my laws.'
This happened after the death of the Prophet (the salutation and mercy of God be with
him).
Chedjâ then wrote to Mo&cced;ailama a letter, in which she told him, 'It is not proper
that two persons should at one and the same time profess prophecy; it is for one only to
be a prophet. We will meet, we and our disciples, and examine each other. We shall
discuss about that which has come to us from God (the Koran), and we will follow the
laws of him who shall be acknowledged as the true prophet.'
She then closed her letter and gave it to a messenger, saying to him: 'Betake yourself,
with this missive, to Yamama, and give it to Mo&cced;ailama ben Kaiss. As for myself, I
follow you, with the army.'
Next day the prophetess mounted horse, with her goum, and followed the spoor of her
envoy. When the latter arrived at Mo&cced;ailama's place, he greeted him and gave him
the letter.
Mo&cced;ilama opened and read it, and understood its contents. He was dismayed, and
began to advise with the people of his goum, one after another, but he did not see
anything in their advice or in their views that could rid him of his embarrassment.
While he was in this perplexity, one of the superior men of his goum came forward and
said to him: 'Oh, Mo&cced;ilama, calm your soul and cool your eye. I will give you the
advice of a father to his son.'
Mo&cced;ilama said to him: 'Speak, and may thy words be true.'
And the other one said: 'Tomorrow morning erect outside the city a tent of coloured
brocades, provided with silk furniture of all sorts. Fill the tent afterwards with a variety of
different perfumes, amber, musk, and all sorts of scents, as rose, orange flowers, jonquils,
jessamine, hyacinth, carnation and other plants. This done, have them placed there

several gold censers filled with green aloes, ambergris, net and so on. Then fix the
hangings so that nothing of these perfumes can escape out of the tent. Then, when you
find the vapour strong enough to impregnate water, sit down on your throne, and send for
the prophetess to come and see you in the tent, where she will be alone with you. When
you are