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Not a bad start, Miriam thought. Once again she touched him and called his name.
He sat up this time too. His eyes remained fixed on Miriam’s face. His lips began to quiver.
His  eyes  expressed  amazement  verging  on  terror.  He  looked  at  himself,  felt  himself,  and
began looking at the room around him. Then he drew a hand across his eyes. His face was as
pale as wax.
“This can’t be true,” he whispered. “This is crazy! This is a trick!”
“Doubting ibn Tahir! Is this how you repay Sayyiduna’s trust?”
Miriam looked at him reproachfully, but with a smile.
He stood up and his eyes began darting from object to object. He went up to the wall and
touched it. He went up to the pool and dipped a finger in its water. Then he cast a frightened
look at the girls and returned to Miriam.
“I don’t understand,” he said in a trembling voice. “Last night Sayyiduna summoned us and
ordered us to swallow some bitter-tasting little balls. I fell asleep and had all kinds of strange
dreams.  And  now  I’m  suddenly  awake  in  some  completely  different  place.  What’s  that  out
there?”
“Those are the gardens you know about from the Koran.”
“I want to see them.”
“I’ll take you there. But wouldn’t you like to bathe and have something to eat first?”
“There will be plenty of time for that later. First I have to know where I am.”
He went to the doorway and drew the curtain aside.
Miriam  accompanied  him.  She  took  him  by  the  arm  and  led  him  through  the  vestibule.
They came outside and paused at the top of the steps.

---

“What an amazing sight!” he exclaimed when he saw the fabulously illuminated gardens
before  him.  “No,  there’s  nothing  like  this  at  Alamut.  And  I  don’t  know  a  place  like  it
anywhere nearby. I must have been asleep a long time for them to carry me this far away!”
“Aren’t you afraid of being so irreverent, ibn Tahir? Do you still refuse to believe you’re in
paradise? Hundreds of thousands of parasangs separate you from your world. And yet, when
you reawake at Alamut, just one night will have passed.”
He stared at her. Again he passed his hands over his body.
“So I’m dreaming? It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve sworn that something I was dreaming
was for real. I remember how one time, back at my father’s house, I discovered a jug full of
gold pieces. ‘I used to just dream that I’d discovered treasure,’ I told myself. ‘But today it’s
really  happened.’  I  poured  the  gold  pieces  out  of  the  jug,  counted  them,  and  laughed  to
myself. ‘Praise be to Allah that this time it’s no dream,’ I sighed. Then I woke up. It really had
been a dream. You can imagine how disappointed I was. This time I’m not going to be fooled.
Though this dream is amazing and very lifelike. But that could be due to Sayyiduna’s pellets.
I’d rather not be disappointed when I wake up.”
“Do you think I’m just an image in your dream, ibn Tahir? Wake up, then! Here, look at
me, feel me!”
She took his hand and ran it over her whole body.
“Can’t you feel that I’m a living being like you?”
She took his head in her hands and looked deep into his eyes.
He shuddered.
“Who are you?” he asked uncomprehendingly.
“Miriam, a girl of paradise.”
He shook his head. He went down the steps and continued past the dozens of multicolored
lanterns  with  moths  and  bats  darting  around  them.  Unfamiliar  plants  grew  alongside  the
path, strange flowers and fruit he had never before seen.
“Everything seems enchanted. It’s a regular dreamscape,” he murmured.
Miriam walked at his side.
“So you still haven’t figured it out? You’re not on earth now, you’re in heaven.”
Music and singing came from the pavilion.
He paused and listened.
“Those voices are just like on earth. And you, you have perfectly human traits. It can’t be
like this in heaven.”
“Are you really so ignorant of the Koran? Doesn’t it say that in paradise all things will be as
they were on earth, so that the faithful will feel they’ve come home? Why are you surprised,
if you’re a believer?”
“Why wouldn’t I be surprised? How can a living being, a man of flesh and blood get into
heaven?”
“So the Prophet lied?”
“Allah forbid that I even think such a thing.”
“Wasn’t he here during his lifetime? Didn’t he appear before Allah, flesh and blood that he
was? Didn’t he ordain that on the day of judgment flesh and blood would be reunited? How
do  you  propose  to  partake  of  the  food  and  drink  of  paradise,  or  enjoy  yourself  with  the
houris, if you don’t have a real mouth and real body?”

---

“Those things are promised to us only after death.”
“Do you suppose it will be easier for Allah to bring you to paradise when you’re dead?”
“That’s not what I meant. But it’s what has been said.”
“It’s  also  been  said  that  Allah  delivered  to  Sayyiduna  the  key  to  open  to  the  gates  to
paradise for whomever he wishes. Do you doubt that?”
“What an idiot! I have to keep remembering that I’m just dreaming. But everything, this
conversation  with  you,  your  appearance,  these  surroundings  are  all  so  vivid  that  I  keep
getting fooled. Such a pity it’s not for real!”