The rose is even a subject of miracles. It is related by Ibn-Ḳuteybeh that there grows in India a kind of rose, upon the leaves of which is inscribed, "There is no deity but God:"[183] But I find a more particular account of this miraculous rose. A person, who professed to have seen it, said, "I went into India, and I saw at one of its towns a large rose, sweet-scented, upon which was inscribed, in white characters, 'There is no deity but God; Moḥammad is God's apostle: Aboo-Bekr is the very veracious: ´Omar is the discriminator:' and I doubted of this, whether it had been done by art; so I took one of the blossoms not yet opened, and in it was the same inscription; and there were many of the same kind there. The people of that place worshipped stones, and knew not God, to whom be ascribed might and glory."[184] Roses are announced for sale in the streets of Cairo by the cry of "The rose was a thorn: from the sweat of the Prophet it blossomed!" in allusion to a miracle recorded of Moḥammad. "When I was taken up into heaven," said the Prophet, "some of my sweat fell upon the earth, and from it sprang the rose; and whoever would smell my scent, let him smell the rose." In another tradition it is said, "The white rose was created from my sweat on the night of the Meạráj;[185] and the red rose, from the sweat of Jebraeel;[186] and the yellow rose, from the sweat of El-Buráḳ."[187] The Persians take especial delight in roses; sometimes spreading them as carpets or beds on which to sit or recline in their revellings. But there is a flower pronounced more excellent than the rose, that of the Egyptian privet, or Lawsonia inermis.[188] Moḥammad said, "The chief of the sweet-scented flowers of this world and of the next is the fághiyeh;" and this was his favourite flower.[189] I approve of his taste; for this flower, which grows in clusters somewhat like those of the lilac, has a most delicious fragrance. But, on account of discrepancies in different traditions, a Muslim may with a clear conscience prefer either of the two flowers next mentioned. The Prophet said of the violet (benefsej), "The excellence of the extract of violets, above all other extracts, is as the excellence of me above all the rest of the creation: it is cold in summer, and hot in winter:" and, in another tradition, "The excellence of the violet is as the excellence of el-Islám above all other religions."[190] A delicious sherbet is made of a conserve of sugar and violet-flowers. The myrtle (ás or narseen) is the rival of the violet. "Adam," said the Prophet, "fell down from Paradise with three things; the myrtle, which is the chief of sweet-scented flowers in this world; an ear of wheat, which is the chief of all kinds of food in this world; and pressed dates, which are the chief of the fruits of this world."[191]