The Wanderer Read Online Free PDF

myself. I will therefore answer patiently any questions you may put to me, for I am the Imam aboard my own vessel.”
    I bowed deeply, putting my hand to my forehead as I had seen his men do, and said, “Before you I stand naked as the day I was born. My own country has long been lost to me, and now that I have lost also my possessions and my Christian faith there is nothing I can call my own. Treat me therefore as a newborn child in matters of religion, and I will do my best to grasp and receive the new faith.”
    He said, “You speak wisely and sincerely, and may the almighty God account it to you for merit. But you should clearly understand that the Law of the Prophet permits no one to be converted by force or cunning. Do you therefore freely renounce all idolatry and confess that Allah is the one God and that Mohammed is his Prophet?”
    I was astounded at his words, and exclaimed, “I don’t understand you, for being a Christian I am no idolater.”
    This greatly incensed him, and he said, “Woe unto you Jews and Christians who received the Scriptures but continued in your unbelief, corrupting the teachings of Abraham and Jesus, and so departing from the one God! We Moslems acknowledge Abraham, and Jesus who was a holy man, and Mary his mother. But we do not worship them as gods, because the omnipotent, omniscient, and eternal God is one and indivisible. Christians therefore sin grievously when they worship images in their churches, for of God no likeness can be made. Further, it is an abominable error—nay, blasphemy—to say that God has a son. Christians see their deity in a threefold form, as a drunken man sees double. But this is not to be wondered at, for Christian priests drink wine at the sacrifice, whereas the Prophet’s law forbids the use of wine.”
    When Andy heard this he started, stared wide-eyed at Captain Torgut, and said, “Perhaps this is a sign, for my worst misdeeds and sins have ever been the result of immoderate wine drinking. I can doubt no longer that God in His inscrutable wisdom has marked me out for slavery among the followers of the Prophet, so that I need never again fall a victim to my besetting sin. I won’t quibble over the Trinity, for the matter has always been beyond my feeble understanding, but if Moslems acknowledge the merciful and gracious God, and if your Prophet can really induce you to drink only water, then indeed your faith is worth considering.”
    Captain Torgut was overjoyed and cried, “Will you too freely take the turban and submit to the will of God?”
    Andy crossed himself and answered, “Kill or cure! If it is a great sin, may God forgive me because of my dull wits. Why shouldn’t I accept the same fate as my brother Michael, who is more learned than I ?”
    Captain Torgut said, “Allah is gracious and merciful if we walk in his ways. He will open for you the gates of Paradise with its rippling water brooks. He will give you rare fruits to eat, and virgins await you there. But only God is patient, and I have other things to do than convert my slaves. Repeat quickly what I say and so profess yourselves Moslems.”
    We repeated after him as well as we could the Arabic words, “Allah is Allah and Mohammed is his Prophet,” after which he recited the first sura of the Koran and explained that no agreement between Moslems was binding without it.
    While we were wrestling with the difficult Arabic words, the Negro gathered up the lopped-off heads and put them into a leather sack with some handfuls of coarse salt. Then Captain Torgut said to us, “Wind the turban about your heads, and from now on you are under Allah’s protection, though you will not be true Moslems until you have learned Arabic and are familiar with the teachings of the Koran. Circumcision is also a custom pleasing to God, which every true Moslem willingly complies with.”
    Andy said hastily, “Not a word has been said about this until now, and the step I’ve taken fills me with