The Perfumed Garden of the Shaykh Nefwazi | Page 5

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 Chedj?￠ 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).
Chedj?￠ 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 thus together there, and she inhales the perfumes, she will delight in the same, all her bones will be released in a soft repose, and finally she will be swooning. When you see her thus far gone, ask her to grant you her favours; she will not hesitate to accord them. Having once possessed her, you will be freed of the embarrassment caused to you by her and her goum.'
Mo&cced;ilama exclaimed: 'You have spoken well. As God lives,