to say to him these words, "Should you recognise your Master if you were to see him? The Emperor meant the Apostle of God,—to whom may God be gracious! I replied, And how can I see him, since he is now above with the Most High God?
"The Emperor answered, That is not what I meant; I was speaking only of his face." The Arab then said, "Yes; and thereupon the Emperor ordered a box to be brought and placed before him, and from this he drew some papers, saying to the interpreter, Show him his Master!
"I recognised on these pages, the portraits of the prophets; and when I did so, I uttered prayers for them, and moved my lips. The Emperor did not know that I recognised the prophets, and told the interpreter to ask me what I moved my lips for. The interpreter did as he was ordered, and I replied, I was praying for the prophets. The Emperor asked how I knew them; and I answered, By means of the attributes which distinguish them. Thus, here is Noah in his Ark; he who saved himself with his family, when the Most High commanded the waters to overwhelm the whole earth with its inhabitants: Noah and his family alone escaped. At these words the Emperor began to laugh, and said, You guessed rightly when you said it was Noah; but as to the submersion of the whole earth, that is a thing we do not admit. The deluge only affected a part of the earth, and not either our country or India." Ibn-Vahab reported that he feared to refute what the Emperor had stated by making use of the arguments that he was acquainted with, seeing that the Prince would not have admitted their
