Part 18 (1/2)
”The Lord of the Worlds has revealed himself to you, O my son. My unworthy prayer has been answered.” He paused. ”Why have you not come? Since the Great Weeping (the inundation of the Nile) you have not left the valley?--you have not come?”
”Yes,” Michael said. ”I have left the valley. But only work could bring me to Cairo. I was busy.”
”I have much to tell you, my son, much that Allah has shown me.”
”Please instruct me, O father. I came to you for counsel; in my heart there is unrest.”
”I have seen you,” he went on, regardless of Michael's almost inaudible remarks, ”I have seen you travelling on a long journey. I have seen many trials and many temptations for you. I have also seen you in the great Light. For you there is a treasure laid up, not only in heaven, but on earth, which will help you in the work which the clear voice counsels.”
”This is strange,” Michael said. ”O my father, I am already greatly disturbed; I come to you for help.”
”Do not fear, my son. G.o.d responds to and supplies the demands of human nature. He has willed that you should devote your life to His teachings.”
”You forget, my father. I am not of your faith. I have not embraced Islam.”
”I have my message to deliver. I have seen what I have seen. Every religion which gives a true knowledge of G.o.d and directs in the most excellent way of His wors.h.i.+p, is Islam.”
”You have seen me giving my life to all that I feel to be most urgent in the life of all who know the truth?”
”I have seen you, by Allah's aid and by His bountiful mercy, accomplis.h.i.+ng work which will bestow great blessing and peace upon your soul.”
”I have thought much of all this,” Michael said, ”since we last met.
The idea has never left me, yet I am puzzled. Why should I feel like this, when better men do not?”
”G.o.d, in His almighty word, has declared a higher aim of man's existence, O my son.”
”Then why do I not better understand? I feel nothing but dissatisfaction, unfruitfulness.”
”A man may not always understand. A hundred different motives may hold him back. But the truth remains, my son, that the grand aim of man's life consists in knowing and wors.h.i.+pping G.o.d and living for His sake.”
”I wish I could decide! Some people see the road so plainly before them. Mine is broken, and often it is totally lost in the desert sands.”
”A man has no choice, my son, in fixing the aim of his life.”
”That is your faith, my father.”
”Man does not enter the world or leave it as he desires. He is a creature, and the Creator Who has brought him into existence has a.s.signed an object for his existence.”
There was silence for a little time, while the old man meditated and recited a _sura_ from the Koran.
”Already, my son, even though you do not know it, you are in the faith.
You have seen the perfect Light. Remember that no one can fight with G.o.d, or frustrate His designs. Not once, but many times, I have seen you, my son, travelling on this journey. G.o.d has sent many prophets to lead mankind into the knowledge of truth. Moses and Christ, they had their divine tasks, but the last and the best of the messengers of G.o.d was Mohammed, praised be His holy name. Some day, O my son, He will perfect your religion, and complete His favours by making Islam your faith. Before these messengers there were others, for G.o.d has never left the world in desolation. I have seen you surrounded by Light, a light which comes from one of G.o.d's messengers, who is never far from you. As I see him, always in the midst of a great light, like the light of the sun, he resembles no mortal I have ever seen on this earth, or any king I have been shown in my dreams. He has greatly suffered for mankind, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, as was the Prophet Christ.”
Michael was greatly disturbed. The old man's eyes were far from him.
His words had their meaning for Michael more than for himself. The great sunlight was the rays of Aton. The treasure of which he had spoken--was it the treasure of which the vision in the valley had spoken to Margaret?
”Some day I may have more counsel to offer you, my son. To-day I have but strange visions, strange messages. This treasure you are to seek lies in the desert; it is a treasure of great value. I see much gold, but also, my son, much tribulation. This gold . . . it has been lost to the world . . . for many centuries. . . .”
”It is all very strange, my father. Your words are full of meaning.
In Egypt there was a King, before the days of Moses, who sacrificed his kingdom to give his people G.o.d. His was the religion of the true G.o.d and His everlasting mercy.”