: Debits and credits by Kipling Rudyard - World War 1914-1918 Fiction; Short stories English; English fiction 20th century; English poetry 20th century

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THE ENEMIES TO EACH OTHER

THE ENEMIES TO EACH OTHER

It is narrated by Abu Ali Jafir Bin Yakub-ulisfahani that when, in His determinate Will, The Benefactor had decided to create the Greatest Substitute , He despatched, as is known, the faithful and the excellent Archangel Jibrail to gather from Earth clays, loams, and sands endowed with various colours and attributes, necessary for the substance of our pure Forefather's body. Receiving the Command and reaching the place, Jibrail put forth his hand to take them, but Earth shook and lamented and supplicated him. Then said Jibrail: "Lie still and rejoice, for out of thee He will create that than which is no handsomer thing--to wit a Successor and a Wearer of the Diadem over thee through the ages." Earth said: "I adjure thee to abstain from thy purpose, lest evil and condemnation of that person who is created out of me should later overtake him, and the Abiding be loosed upon my head. I have no power to resist the Will of the Most High, but I take refuge with Allah from thee." So Jibrail was moved by the lamentations and helplessness of Earth, and returned to the Vestibule of the Glory with an empty hand.

After this, by the Permission, the Just and Terrible Archangel Michael next descended, and he, likewise, hearing and seeing the abjection of Earth, returned with an empty hand. Then was sent the Archangel Azrael, and when Earth had once again implored God, and once again cried out, he closed his hand upon her bosom and tore out the clays and sands necessary.

Upon his return to the Vestibule it was asked if Earth had again taken refuge with Allah or not? Azrael said: "Yes." It was answered: "If it took refuge with Me why didst thou not spare?" Azrael answered: "Obedience was more obligatory than Pity ." It was answered: "Depart! I have made thee the Angel of Death to separate the souls from the bodies of men." Azrael wept, saying: "Thus shall all men hate me." It was answered: "Thou hast said that Obedience is more obligatory than Pity. Mix thou the clays and the sands and lay them to dry between Tayif and Mecca till the time appointed." So, then, Azrael departed and did according to the Command. But in his haste he perceived not that he had torn out from Earth clays and minerals that had lain in her at war with each other since the first; nor did he withdraw them and set them aside. And in his grief that he should have been decreed the Separator of Companions, his tears mingled with them in the mixing so that the substance of Adam's body was made unconformable and ill-assorted, pierced with burning drops, and at issue with itself before there was strife.

This, then, lay out to dry for forty years between Tayif and Mecca and, through all that time, the Beneficence of the Almighty leavened it and rained upon it the Mercy and the Blessing, and the properties necessary to the adornment of the Successorship. In that period, too, it is narrated that the Angels passed to and fro above it, and among them Eblis the Accursed, who smote the predestined Creation while it was drying, and it rang hollow. Eblis then looked more closely and observing that of which it was composed to be diverse and ill-assorted and impregnated with bitter tears, he said: "Doubt not I shall soon attain authority over this; and his ruin shall be easy."

Afterwards, by the operation of the determinate Will, there arose in Adam a desire for a companion, and an intimate and a friend in the Garden of the Tree. It is narrated that he first took counsel of Earth his body. Earth said: "Forbear. Is it not enough that one should have dominion over me?" Adam answered: "There is but one who is One in Earth or Heaven. All paired things point to the Unity, and my soul, which came not from thee, desires unutterably." Earth said: "Be content in innocence, and let thy body, which I gave unwillingly, return thus to thy mother." Adam said: "I am motherless. What should I know?"

Then the somnolence fell upon him, as is narrated; and upon waking he beheld our Lady Eve . Adam said: "O my Lady and Light of my Universe, who art thou?" Eve said: "O my Lord and Summit of my Contentment, who art thou?" Adam said: "Of a surety I am thine." Eve said: "Of a surety I am thine." Thus they ceased to inquire further into the matter, but were united, and became one flesh and one soul, and their felicity was beyond comparison or belief or imagination or apprehension.

Thereafter, it is narrated, that Eblis the Stoned consorted with them secretly in the Garden, and the Peacock with him; and they jested and made mirth for our Lord Adam and his Lady Eve and propounded riddles and devised occasions for the stringing of the ornaments and the threading of subtleties. And upon a time when their felicity was at its height, and their happiness excessive, and their contentment expanded to the uttermost, Eblis said: "O my Master and my Mistress declare to us, if it pleases, some comparison or similitude that lies beyond the limits of possibility." Adam said: "This is easy. That the Sun should cease in Heaven or that the Rivers should dry in the Garden is beyond the limits of possibility." And they laughed and agreed, and the Peacock said: "O our Lady, tell us now something of a jest as unconceivable and as beyond belief as this saying of thy Lord." Our Lady Eve then said: "That my Lord should look upon me otherwise than is his custom is beyond this saying." And when they had laughed abundantly, she said: "O our Servitors, tell us now something that is further from possibility or belief than my saying." Then the Peacock said: "O our Lady Eve, except that thou shouldst look upon thy Lord otherwise than is thy custom, there is nothing further than thy saying from possibility or belief or imagination." Then said Eblis: "Except that the one of you should be made an enemy to the other, there is nothing, O my Lady, further than thy saying from possibility, or belief, or imagination, or apprehension." And they laughed immoderately all four together in the Garden.

But when the Peacock had gone and Eblis had seemed to depart, our Lady Eve said to Adam: "My Lord and Disposer of my Soul, by what means did Eblis know our fear?" Adam said: "O my Lady, what fear?" Eve said: "The fear which was in our hearts from the first, that the one of us might be made an enemy to the other." Then our pure Forefather bowed his head on her bosom and said: "O Companion of my Heart, this has been my fear also from the first, but how didst thou know?" Eve said: "Because I am thy flesh and thy soul. What shall we do?"

Eve then put out her hand to the fruit, but Adam said: "It is forbidden. Let us go." Eve said: "O my Lord and my Sustainer, upon my head be it, and upon the heads of my daughters after me. I will first taste of this Tree, and if misfortune fall on me, do thou intercede for me; or else eat likewise, so that eternal bliss may come to us together."

Thus she ate, and he after her; and at once the ornaments of Paradise disappeared from round them, and they were delivered to shame and nudity and abjection. Then, as is narrated, Adam accused Eve in the Presence; but our Lady Eve accepted all that had been done.

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