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“In like manner, if man have not in his heart a doxology for God, a cry, and a love, together with a secret and a care in his mind, he is less than an ass in God’s esteem; for He has said (Qur’ān vii. 178): ‘They are like the camels; nay, they are yet more erring.’” He then related the following anecdote:—

“In bygone days there was a monarch, who, by way of trial, requested another sovereign to send him three things, the worst of their several kinds that he could procure; namely, the worst article of food, the worst dispositioned thing, and the worst animal.

“The sovereign so applied to sent him some cheese, as the worst food; an Armenian slave, as the worst-dispositioned thing; and an ass, as the worst of animals. In the superscription to the epistle sent with these offerings, the sovereign quoted the verse of Scripture pointed out above.”

On a certain day, the Lord Jelālu-’d-Dīn went forth to the country residence of the saint Husāmu-’d-Dīn, riding on an ass. He remarked: “This is the saddle-beast of the righteous. Several of the prophets have ridden on asses: as Seth, Ezra, Jesus, and Muhammed.”