his life. Then came to them an angel in human
form and they made him arbiter. He suggested that they
should measure the distance between the two countries
and to whichever he was nearest they should reckon him
as belonging. So they measured and found that he was
nearer the country to which he was journeying than to
that which he had left. So the angels of mercy took
possession of him."1 Another version
adds that the man was only nearer by a span. But lest
it should appear that he had after all only escaped
by the skin of his teeth, a third version adds that
God ordered one country to draw back and the other to
approach.
It would probably be hasty to say that the angel in
human form who appears as arbiter is a reminiscence
of Jesus. But the story may at any rate be taken as
an illustration of the activities of the Qass. Some
of the early Caliphs had at their court a sort of official
relater of traditions whose occupation it was to recount
stories partly for edification and partly for entertainment.
The temptation to be entertaining must at any rate have
been very strong upon these men. Later the Qass carried
his activities to public places and became a kind of
popular entertainer. Thus he fell into disrepute with
the learned. But his earlier activities may account
for some of the strange matter which we find floating
in the wide sea of the Traditions.
To return to the conglomeration of sayings which I
quoted above, I think the Biblical flavour of them must
have been evident, though it is difficult to quote literally
exact parallels for them, |
