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Gharib rejoiced in them and said to them, "O folk, return to your people and expound Al-Islam to them;" but all replied, "O our lord, we will never leave thee, whilst; we live; but we will go and fetch our families and return to thee." And Gharib said, "Go, and join me at the city of Cufa."
The Khalif gave leave and they departed accordingly and arrived in due course at Cufa, where Nimeh foregathered with his father and mother, and they abode in the enjoyment of all the delights and comforts of life, till there came to them the Destroyer of Delights and the Sunderer of Companies.
Then Gharib sat down before the gate of Cufa and commanded a herald to proclaim pardon and protection for every wight who should leave the worship to idols dight and profess the unity of His All-might the Creator of mankind and of light and night.
The Caliph also loaded Ni'amah and Naomi with gifts and honours and rewarded the old nurse; and they abode with him seven days in joy and content and all delight of life, when Ni'amah craved leave to return to Cufa with his slave-girl.
Replied he, "O my son, when Mardas heard of Gharib's descent upon Cufa he feared with great fear and, taking his daughter and his folk, set out with his handmaids and negroes into the wild and word, and I wot not whither he went." So Sahim, hearing the Shaykh's words, returned to Gharib and told him thereof, whereat he was greatly concerned.
Verily, she is like thee in age and favour." Then said she to the physician, "O brother of the Persians, is this thy slave or thy son?" "He is my son," answered he. I will not forget her, I swear, for never her like should I find. He put the paper in the box and sealing it up, wrote on the cover the following words in the Cufic character, "I am Nimeh ben er Rebya of Cufa."
His two younger brothers, Saffah * and Almansor, eluded the search of the tyrant, and lay concealed at Cufa, till the zeal of the people and the approach of his Eastern friends allowed them to expose their persons to the impatient public.
When he read these verses, his eyes ran over with tears and the old woman said to him, "What ails thee to weep, O my son? May God never make thine eye to shed tears!" "O my lady," answered the Persian, "how should my son not weep, seeing that this is his slave-girl and he her lord Nimeh ben er Rebya of Cufa? Indeed, her recovery depends on her seeing him, for nought ails her but the love of him.
When Jaland heard these words he raged and revolted and said, "By the virtue of the Sun, Lord of Life and Light, I will not leave one of thy brother's folk in existence! But where didst thou quit them and how many men are they?" Answered Ajib, "I left them in Cufa and they be fifty-thousand horse."
It was in allusion to this that Ali, afterward when preaching at Cufa, said, "I am the servant of God, and brother to his apostle." In the second year of the Hegira, Mahomet changed the Kebla of the Mussulman, which before this time had been toward Jerusalem, ordering them henceforth to turn toward Mecca when they prayed. In the same year he also appointed the fast of the month Ramadan.
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