The Pains and Pleasures of Redemption. 
73 
But thou art a fool, Habib :  thou thoughtest that 
I was angry with thee.  Never, by Allah !  Nor, 
though He plagueth His lovers, is He ever wroth 
against them. 
So eagerly did I kiss every red weal upon thy vel-
vet buttocks that thou didst wish thy beating had 
been prolonged by a whole day.  Also, for every 
peppercorn that did shoot from thy podex, thou 
hadst a balm.  Wise art thou who badest me sell 
this my garden to buy more pepper therewithal.6 
Repine not, therefore, O man !  at the chastise-
ments of Allah !  Each of these will He a thousand-
fold repay. 
And the pain that I suffered at thine infidelities 
is well repaid by this thy love restored.  Thou shalt 
never leave the side of El Qahar, and Laila shall be 
sold to Haroun the goatfaced Jew.7 
 
 
 
1.  [Persian text] the word used here “ has the 
value of 180, which is 4 times 45, so it means that 
his guardian angel is on all sides of him.”  So Mah-
bub ! 
2.  All this implies that the adept has by now ac-
quired the complete control of his mind and his 
senses.  If a camel is shewn to the ordinary man, 
he is compelled to see a camel, and cannot per-
suade himself that it is a house or an ox.  If a 
drum is beaten near him, he is obliged to hear a 
drum, not a fife or a viol.  But the adept can easily 
put himself out of gear with his senses, and awake 
others ;  as, for instance, he can awake the super-
nal taste by concentrating his thought upon the 
centre of his tongue ;  hearing, upon the root ;  and 
touch, upon the tip. 
3.  There ought to be a proverb “ You may lead 
the camel to the river ;  but you cannot make him 
swim ” for impotence is in Persia as elsewhere the