they said. "For seventy years," he said, "I have been enveloped
in the veils of this dull world; it is only four years since I
disentangled myself from them and see God." Being asked to define
Sufism, he said, "Sufism consists in giving up repose, and accepting
suffering."

In the last moments of his life he put on a girdle and seated himself in
the "mihrab"[19] of the mosque. Then, turning his cloak and cap inside
out, he said, "My God, I ask for no reward for the austerities I have
practised all my life. I say nothing of the prayers which I have prayed
during whole nights, of the fasts I have kept during the day, of the
number of times I have said the Koran through. O my God, thou knowest
that I think nothing of the works which I have done, and that so far
from putting trust in them, I would rather forget them. Besides, is it
not thou who hast covered my nakedness with the raiment of these good
works? As for me, I consider myself as a fire-worshipper who has grown
to old age in a state of infidelity. But now I say 'Allah! Allah!' and I
cut the girdle of the idolator. I enter Islam as a new proselyte, and I
repeat the profession of the Moslem faith. I reckon all that I have done
nothing. Deign, for Thy mercy's sake, to blot out all my evil deeds and
transgressions." When he was dying, he again ejaculated "Allah! Allah!"
Then he cried, "My God, I have passed my life in neglect of thee; I have
not served Thee faithfully," and expired.

[16] Pilgrims at Mecca go round the Kaaba seven times.

[17] An allusion to the mystics' doctrine that man himself is the
true Kaaba or House of God.

[18] A formula used by devout Mussalmen at the sight of anything
evil.

[19] The "Mihrab" is the niche or apse in the wall of the mosque
facing towards Mecca.

CHAPTER VII

ZU'N NUN OF EGYPT
(D 860 AD)

Ibn Khalliqan, the historian, calls Zu'n Nun "the first person of his
age for learning, devotion and communion with the Divinity." His father,
who was a native of Nubia, was a slave, enfranchised and adopted by the
tribe of Koraish. Zu'n Nun, being asked why he had renounced the world,
said, "I went forth from Misr (Egypt) journeying to a certain village,
and I fell asleep in one of the deserts on the way. And my eye was
opened, and lo, a little bird, still blind, fell from its nest to the
ground. Then the ground split open and two trays came forth, one of
gold, the other of silver; in one was sesame,