(^708) ISLAMIC MYSTICAL LITERATURE
and birds from substances of the six ranks
of faithless. Then he took away the color
of the world. Prolonged time passed without day
or darkness, when there was no time or name
or any soul across the dry cracked earth.
THE WORLD COMES TO LIFE
"Then the high king flung out denying spirits,
the faithless minds, flung them out of the kingdom
down onto earth, and then he gave the world
a breath, a spirit, and it came to life.
Vegetation and plants sprang from the earth,
and through his force vegetation and plants
were fashioned from the substance of the cursed,
proceeding from the shout of Azazi'il.
"This vegetative spirit spread everywhere
across the earth. And then the high king chose
to regenerate the seven colors taken
from Azazi'il: red, black, blue, violet,
indigo blue, yellow, and white. He called
them clouds and returned water to the streams
and rivers, scattering them over the earth,
keeping the earth moistened and fresh. And steam
in the spirit's world became the angel whom
the high king consigned to the clouds. He fulfilled
his words, 'The thunders praise him, as do angels.'L
"But the beasts, the mountains and the rocks,
the vegetation and the plants and bodies
all issue from the pot of Ahriman,
and even now Ahriman comes with clouds
and thunder. And obeying the high king
he brings his creatures their daily bread."
- Qur'an sura 13.