The Dabistan

195

" through several thousand curtains into a world,
" where I saw nothing like what I had seen before,
4' until he brought me at last near the Lord of glory;
** then the command came to me: c Approach/ '"

This means: that the holy God is exempt from body,
substance, and wants, which are found in this world.

going out and in to worship. In entering it, Jabriil gave the precedence
to the prophet; they arrived at a golden veil, which the angel touched.
Here the Angels sang: '« There is no God but God; and from behind the
veil the voice of God answered: " I am God, and no God exists but me."
The Angels added: " Muhammed is the prophet of God;" and God con-
firmed it by the words: ** My servants say the truth; 1 have sent Muham-
" med as my apostle." Now, Muhammed was raised up by angelic hands;
Jabriil remained behind. The prophet proceeded through seventy thou-
sand veils of light and darkness; each veil had the opacity of a thousand
years, and as many years separated the one from the other.

1 Now he had attained the green rail with green cushions, illumed
with a green light clearer than that of the sun. Muhammed was then
called to approach; he adored; saw the Lord in the most heauteous form;
and received the revelation of the Koran; before all three objects: 1. the
• five daily prayers; 2. the final verses of the second Sura of the Koran; 3.
forgive ness of all sins, except that of idolatry, for his people. Here the
Almighty pronounced the words: " If it had not been for thee, the world
" would never have been created." —(See vol. I. pp. 2-3 . A drop
flowed from the throne into the mouth of the prophet, who by it imbibed
all the knowledge of the anterior and posterior world. All the Angels
•Joined in a chorus, singing: " There is no God but one God, and Mu-
" hammed is his prophet; and the great concert terminated with the
words of the Koran, (chap. II. v. 285): " The Apostle believeth in that
*' which has been sent down unto him from his Lord, and the faithful
«.' also. Every one of them believeth in God and his Angels, and his
6' Scr iptures, and his Apostles. And they say: * \Ve have heard and
** ' do obey; we implore thy mercy, 0 Lord! for unto thee must we
tfc * return.' "