“May Allah requite thee, O my son! May this thy courtesy be counted to thee for righteousness! Thy cloak is old and of poor material, as my hands perceive. May a rich mantle fall upon thee from the hand of Allah!” Zeyd bowed his head to the blessing, and rejoined Shibli with a face of great elation. “Now deign to impart thy story, O my brother!” said the old man, when fairly seated. Shems-ud-dìn complied straightway. He abated nothing of his own frowardness, but confessed it throughout the story, speaking much of his soul’s uneasiness on that account. At the end, there was silence for a little space. Then that old man spoke: “During all the years that I have been Chief of the Learned in this place, never—Allah witness!—never heard I such a tale as this thou hast related. Beloved, I see not with thy eyes; I see goodness everywhere in thy conduct, save only in the one point of thy recourse to the unbeliever, of which thou madest naught in the telling. This Frank is not an infidel like another infidel. He is of those who openly oppose the faith. Is there not a korân concerning such an one: ‘The worst beasts in God’s sight are those who are obstinate unbelievers’?” “But, on the other hand, there is also this korân: ‘Allah is our Lord and your Lord; unto us our works, and unto you your works; no quarreling between us and you; for Allah will gather in us both, and unto Him we shall return.’” “Good. But that word is abrogated in the judgment of all the learned!” “Not of all, by thy leave! There be many who assert that no word from Allah can be rendered null, that this has its season, and that its season, but all are eternally valid. I was ever of the party of these last. As to the degree of intercourse permissible with unbelievers, and more especially with the People of the Book, it is nowhere fixed for us. I could quote a hundred traditions in support of either argument, and the best precedents are in like manner at variance. For instance, if we refer to the Sûnna——” “Stay! Hast thou studied the Sûnna?” “Assuredly; and all our commentators and, I verily believe, every scripture relevant to the subject.” “O happy day for me! Welcome, and again welcome, O my soul! Deign now to dispute a little! It is seldom I can exercise my learning; very seldom I am able to confer with a man like thee. The lamp of knowledge does but smoke nowadays.” It was long since Shems-ud-dìn had enjoyed conversation with his equal in learning. The two sheykhs held long conference, while Zeyd sat on his heels watching them, and Shibli wandered to and fro, yawning frequently and viewing the wonders about him with a growing disenchantment. At last the old man rose by the help of Shems-ud-dìn and the attentive Zeyd. He said: