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Among the tales that are told is this account of Malik ibn Dinar, may God Most High have mercy on him: “Rain was withheld from us in Basra, and we went out time and again to pray for it, but saw no sign that our prayers had been answered. So I went out with Ata al-Sulami, Thabit al-Bunani, Naji the Weeper, Muhammad ibn Wasi, Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani, Habib al-Farisi, Hassan ibn Abi Sinan, Utba al-Fallam, and Salih al-Muzani, until we reached the prayer ground. The children, too, came out of their schools, and we prayed for rain, yet saw no sign of an answer. By midday the people had gone away, leaving only Thabit al-Bunani and me at the prayer ground. When night had fallen, we saw a black man approaching, handsome of face, slender of leg, and large of belly. He wore a woolen waistcloth, and everything he had on, taken together, would not have been worth two dirhams. He brought some water and performed his ablutions, then went to the prayer niche and offered two brief units of prayer, spending equal time standing, bowing, and prostrating himself. Then he raised his eyes to heaven and said, ‘My God, my Lord, my Master, how long will You turn Your servants away from what would diminish Your dominion not at all? Has what You possess run out, or have the treasuries of Your kingdom been exhausted? I adjure You, by Your love for me, to send us Your rain this very hour.’” He said, “Before he had finished speaking, the sky filled with clouds and poured down rain as though from the mouths of waterskins. We did not leave the prayer ground until we were wading knee-deep in water.” And dawn overtook Shahrazad, and she fell silent, leaving her permitted tale untold.

Then, when it was the four hundred and sixty-eighth night,

She said: “It has reached me, O fortunate king, that he said, ‘Before he had finished speaking, the sky filled with clouds and poured down rain as though from the mouths of waterskins. We did not leave the prayer ground until we were wading knee-deep in water, marveling all the while at the black man.’ Malik said, ‘I stepped into his path and said, “What is this, black man? Are you not ashamed of what you said?” He turned to me and asked, “What did I say?” I answered, “Your words, ‘By Your love for me.’ How do you know that He loves you?” He said to me, “Stand aside, you who neglect your own soul! Where was I when He sustained me in belief in His oneness and singled me out to know Him? Do you suppose He sustained me in this for any reason but His love for me?” Then he said, “His love for me is in proportion to my love for Him.” I said, “Wait a little for me, may God have mercy on you.” He replied, “I am a slave, and I am bound to obey my lesser master.” So we followed him at a distance until he entered a slave dealer’s house. Half the night had already passed, and the remaining half seemed so long to us that we went away. In the morning we came to the dealer and said, “Have you a slave you can sell us for service?” He said, “Yes, I have about a hundred slaves, all of them for sale.” He began showing them to us one after another, until he had shown us seventy, but I had not seen my companion among them. Then he said, “I have none besides these.” As we were about to leave, I entered a ruined room behind his house, and there stood the black man. “It is he, by the Lord of the Kaaba!” I said. I returned to the dealer and said, “Sell me this slave.” He replied, “O Abu Yahya, he is an ill-omened, troublesome slave. At night he cares for nothing but weeping, and by day for nothing but repentance.” I said, “That is why I want him.” The dealer called him, and he came out looking drowsy. “Take him at whatever price you please,” the man told me, “provided you release me from liability for all his faults.” I bought him for twenty dinars and asked, “What is his name?” “Maymun,” he answered. I took him by the hand and set off with him toward home. He turned to me and said, “My lesser master, why did you buy me? By God, I am not fit to serve created beings.” I said, “I bought you only so that I might serve you myself, with all honor.” He asked, “Why should that be?” I said, “Were you not our companion at the prayer ground last night?” “Did you discover my secret?” he asked. I said, “I am the one who challenged your words last night.” He walked on until he entered a mosque, where he offered two units of prayer. Then he said, “My God, my Lord, my Master, there was a secret between You and me, and You have let Your creatures discover it and exposed me before the world. How can life be sweet to me now that someone other than You has learned what lay between us? I adjure You to take my soul this very hour.” Then he prostrated himself. I waited a while, but he did not raise his head. When I moved him, I found that he had died, may God Most High have mercy on him. I straightened his arms and legs and looked at him: he was smiling, and a brightness had overcome the darkness of his skin; his face shone and seemed radiant with joy. While we were marveling at his state, a young man came through the door and said, “Peace be upon you. May God grant us and you a great reward for the loss of our brother Maymun. Here is his shroud; wrap him in it.” He handed me two cloths the like of which I had never seen, and we shrouded him in them.’ Malik said, ‘To this day, people visit his grave to pray for rain and ask God, the Almighty and Glorious, to grant their needs beside it.’ How sweetly has a poet spoken of this:

The hearts of those who know God roam a heavenly garden, beyond whose bounds the Lord is veiled. There they drink pure nectar, mingled with Tasnim, the wine of intimacy with God and nearness to Him. Their secret passes between the Beloved and themselves, kept safe from every heart save the one that holds it.