ISLAMIC MYSTICAL LITERATURE 693
And 124,000 vacillators
also affirmed, declaring he was god,
but others froze. Six ranks of unbelievers
rebelled against the powerful Salman
and the high king. They started a new war,
fulfilling words of god: 'We made and formed
you and we told the angels, "Bow to Adam."
All bowed but Iblis. Iblis wouldn't bow.'^99THE FAITHLESS FALL FURTHER
"Then the high king commanded Salman, 'Hurl
these beings out of the fire-colored sea,
and take the carnelian light away from them,
and spread it below them.' Salman struck terror
into them, hurled them below the curtain,
color of fire. He took carnelian light
from them. They howled. He spread it under them
like earth. He made a dome of colored fire
their heaven, hiding the ruby dome from them.
And for another thousand years they lived
between these curtains.
But in the same month
and year in this new realm, they forgot all
they did under the fire-colored realm,
and then the war and battle disappeared
from monastery and from sanctuary
and from their memory. Every thousand years
they fell from realm to realm until they landed
in this despicable world, unknowing where
suddenly they were. As it is written, 'So it is.
Our signs came to you and you forgot them
and hence you too will be today forgotten.'^10 °
"Then the high king appeared with all who had
affirmed him, and at Salman's carnelian cloth- Qur'an sura 7.
- Qur'an sura 20.