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on this day. The faithful are therefore advised to take a ceremonial bath and to fast on the day Achura.
Hikayat Dari.Hikayat Dari (LXXX).
Dari (written Dahri[1]) is the name of an impious, ungodly heretic, who silenced all the Moslim teachers by his unequalled powers of reasoning, so that the creed was in danger. Happily there still remained one great teacher to withstand him, named Ahmat[2]. A disciple of the latter, Imeum Hanapi (i. e. Abu Hanīfah, after whom one of the four orthodox schools is named), though no more than a child, begs his master to let him measure his strength in open discussion with this enemy of God. Should he fail, Ahmad could then be appealed to.
Imeum Hanapi succeeded in making such brilliant replies to the two catch-questions given him that Dari was covered with shame and compelled to retire for good from the theological arena. The two questions were: "How can God exist without occupying space?", and "What is God doing at this present moment?"
Kisah Abdōlah Hadat.The Kisah Abdōlah Hadat (LXXXI) of Chèh Marahaban can hardly be regarded as a biography of Sayyid Abdallah al-Ḥaddād, the great saint of Ḥadramaut. The learned author, who also translated for the Achehnese a poetical version of the teaching of al-Ḥaddād, has confined himself to drawing attention to the excellences of that wali (saint), and the rich blessings given forth by him while yet alive and even after his death from his grave at Trīm (Ḥadramaut).
Surat kriman.Surat kriman (LXXXII).
The inhabitants of the meanest class in the sacred cities are in the habit of occasionally distributing among unsophisticated pilgrims the "Last Admonitions[3] of the Prophet to his people", The purport is
- ↑ Dakri in Arabic means materialist or atheist, but is used as a proper name in this story. It is even added that Dahri belonged to the sect of the Mujassimah or anthropomorphists; but the class of people in Acheh who amuse themselves with stories such as this, are more ready to regard this mysterious name as a family appellation rather than that of an heretical sect.
- ↑ The teacher of Abu Ḥanifah was in fact called Ḥammāḍ.
- ↑ The usual title which also appears in native versions is Waçiyyat, "admonition", and we find this name at the end of the Achehnese version, but its popular title is Surat Kriman (from the Mal. Kiriman) i. e. letter or epistle.
