698 ISLAMIC MYSTICAL LITERATURE
"Then the high king appeared among them, saying,
'I am your god, and Salman is my regent
and curtain.' Azazi'il and his beings
of course denied him and began to fight,
saying, 'Salman is not the high king's regent
and he's not god. Our creator is elsewhere
in the highest realm.' As it is written, 'They see him
far off, but we perceive him close.'^108 They stayed
denying in disbelief. The struggle filling
this realm appears in the Qur'an where
it says, "When we said to the angels, "Lie down
before Adam," they all lay down except for Iblis.
He was a jinn sinning against himself.
He did not follow the one lord's command.
Do you choose him and demons of his seed
as friends instead of me? They're enemies
who are an awful trade for the offenders!'^109
"At the command of the supreme creator,
Salman screamed and terrorized the enemy,
and threw them down. He cut them from the light,
color of moon, and spread a curtain made
from it and pulled them down below. They spent
a thousand years imprisoned in this realm.MORE DIVINE APPEARANCES,
MORE ARROGANCE
"Then the high king appeared again, demanding
a confirmation of divinity.
He said, 'I am your god. Now witness it.'
Humbly some of them bore witness and became
the undefined. And some vacillators
relinquished doubt, and yet denial of- Qur'an sura 70.
- Qur'an sura 18.