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THE TARJUSIAN AL-ASHWAQ (VIl) G1

VII
1. As I kissed the Black Stone, friendly women tlu’onged
around m e; they came to perform tlie circum-
ajnbulation with veiled faces.
2. Tliey uncovered the (faces like) sunbeams and said to me,
‘ Beware i for the death of the soul is in thy looking
at us.
3. How many aspiring souls have we killed already at
al-Muhassab of Miml, beside the pebble-heaps,
4. And in Sarhat al-^Y^^d^ Snd the mountains of Ejima and
Jam' and at the dispersion from ‘Arafflt!
5. Dost not thou see that beauty robs him who hath modesty,
and therefore it is called the robber of virtues ?
G. Our tiystiug-place after the circumambulation is at
Zamzam beside the midmost tent, beside the rocks.
7. There everyone whom anguish hath emaciated is restored
to health by the love-desire that perfumed women
stir in him.
8. When they are afraid they let fall their hair, so that
they are hidden by their tresses as it were by robes
of dai'kness.’

C o m m e n t a r y
1. ‘ As I kissed the Black Stone,’ i.e. when the Holy Hand
((LjAL*]' was outstretched to me that I might take
upon it the Divine oath of allegiance, referring to the verse
‘ Thane tvho surar fealty to thee swear fealty to God; the
of God (Kor. xxxix, 75).
hand of God is over their hands ’ (Kor. xlviii, 10).
‘ Friendly women,’ i.e. the angels who go round the throne

2. ‘ The death of the soul,’ etc.: these .spirits say, ‘ Do not
look at us, lest thou fall passionately in love with us. Thou
wert created for God, not for us, and if thou wilt be veiled
by us from Him, He will cause thee to pass away from thy
existence through Him ( aj ^ thou
wilt perish.’
3. ‘ Have we killed,’ i.e. .spirits like unto us, for the