58

£S according to thee throw blame upon the coiupa-
6' nions of the prophet? Therefore, in whatever of
4' all these things according to thy opinion is unbe-
" coming, thou shoulst believe that the master of
" truth, Bokhari, and those like him, have told lies,
" so wouldst thou cease to cast reproach upon the
1' companions and friends of the prophet; but if they
64 spoke truth, then reckon also to be true, what
" they have attributed as praise-worthy to the pro-
" phet, and true what they have stated of the virtues
" of the said companions. Further, as to thy sepa-
" rating the prophet from mankind, it belongs, as it
61 has been revealed by the divine text, to the creed
4 ' of unbelievers to say, that the prophet should not
*' eat nor drink." Now the Shiah grew warm, and
said: " Is it not enough to attach to the lord pro-
*' phet the blame of having listened to music and
" assisted at dancing ; and now thou pretendest to
'' prove the purity of the two Shaikhs (Abubekr and
" Omar) and ofOsman!" The Sonnite took up
the controversy: '' I said before that listening to
44 music is reasonably not blamable, and even laud-
" able, when a lawgiver also listens to it, and I
" observed, concerning customs and manners, that
*' thou esteemest bad what thou hast badly under-
*b stood. As thou refusest to approve dancing,
" what sayest thou about the interdiction of a wo-
" man from her spouse at the desire of the pro-