Confession

Masrur winked to the lasher who immediately raised his lash and whipped the back of Maqrur. The lash whistled and fell upon his clothes tearing them to pieces. It left its bloodied mark upon his back.

 

Maqrur suffered anguish all through his body but he tried as much as he could to tolerate it and said to himself, "Praise be to Allah. Who knows that such torture may atone for my past sins."

The spymaster bent towards Masrur and whispered something in his ear. Thus, Masrur signaled to the lasher to stop whipping him.

 

The spymaster turned to Maqrur and said to him, "The great master does not ask you about your previous life; it does not matter to him. He asks about your present crime. If you really want to save your life then you should talk. Do not you want to save your life?"

 

Maqrur said, "Yes indeed, I have committed too many sins. What are you asking about exactly?"

 

Masrur said, "Your most violent one!"

 

Maqrur said, "I have been remiss in worshipping Allah. I have lived my whole life as a sinful disobedient slave and it was only ten years since I have returned to Allah, the Almighty. How shall I know whether He accepted my repentance or not? On the Day of Resurrection and Reckoning everything will be known, but knowledge on such a Day will be useless, if Allah does not accept my repentance. Sir, these are my sins and my fears as

Well."

 

Masrur said, "You admit that there is a God other than our gods and say that we will be raised after death. Do not you say that?"

 

Matjrur replied, "Yes, certainly!"

 

Masrur said, "If we perish and turn into dust shall we be raised again?"

 

Maqrur smiled and said, "Do not you know that Allah the Omnipotent can easily revive the dead? We were actually dead and Allah gave us life, then He will cause us to die then bring us to life again. Do you doubt such facts! Where were you, great master before? Were not you dead and Allah, the Almighty revived you?"

 

Masrur disrupted his speech and said, "Stop talking, the accusation is evident. What does the chief judge decide?"

 

The chief judge said, "The accused is innocent. What he said is verily true." At Masrur shouted furiously, "The chief judge has gone mad, both of them are to be burnt, or wait