700 ISLAMIC MYSTICAL LITERATURE
A LESSER SALMAN IS DISTINGUISHED
FROM THE GREAT SALMAN
"The prince of the believers spoke. A spirit
left Salman, him they called lesser Salman.^113
At once he answered the high king, saying,
'We are believers, and I bear witness
that you are god and that no other god
but you is here or anywhere exists.
I say it for Muhammad, high Ali
the chosen one, for his regent Salsal,
those gifts of god, our light. I testify
there is no other god but he, holy
and powerful.' When the lesser Salman
testified with Miqdad, Abu Zarr, Naqib,
and Najib of the faithful, some wavering
spirits also swore faith, and humbly they,
a mob of waverers, were so redeemed.AZAZITL AND HIS RANKS CALL GOD A LIAR
"Then Azazi'il and all he had produced
grew skeptical, as were the second, third,
fourth, fifth, and sixth ranks. And so the six ranks
of unbelievers proved their doubts, their errors,
and called the king a liar and a fool.
This denial and rejection is that mentioned
in the Qur'an. It's there and it confirms
the word of god, 'When the lord said to angels,
I'll make a man from clay, but when I've made him,
and breathed my spirit into him, lie down
before him. Then the angels all lay down
before him—except Iblis. He was proud,
belonging to the mob of unbelievers.'1H- The distinction between a greater and a lesser Salman recalls two wisdoms, Sophia and
Achamoth, in Valentinian literature, or two primordial humans, one heavenly and one earthly,
throughout gnostic texts. - Qur'an sura 38.