The Angel of death arrived at Babul Taq, a God forsaken place of unpardonable notoriety. More than a thousand years ago, 99 jurists had given their verdict against Mansoor Halaj, the mystic of the mystics. They had found him guilty of blasphemy. It was at Babul Taq that the great Sufi Mansoor Halaj was publicly tortured and then beheaded. Many tourists and the local inhabitants believe Babul Taq, within the proximity of Baghdad, echoes with Mansoor’s everlasting words, “I am the Truth, Ana-ul-Haq.”
The Angel of death looked around. The dark, menacing smoke that constantly emanated for 25 days and 25 nights from the charred world heritage, an ancient civilization, had disappeared beyond the domain of sun, moon and the stars. It had left behind smouldering archaeological sites, monuments of antiquity, rare manuscripts, libraries, art objects, and the hearths, homes, bazaars, hospitals and the educational institutions of the vanished inhabitants of Babul Taq.
The Angel of death was flabbergasted at the sight of the multiple mutilated bodies of men, women and children scattered all over the place. He wondered on whose behest the souls had abandoned the cages of flesh and bones! A soul is incarcerated in the cage of flesh and bones for a specified time. The Divine Creator has so arranged that at the termination of the time schedule the Angel of death liberates the soul from the cage of flesh and bones, and brings an end to the life of a person. No other Angel intervenes in the affairs of the Angel of death. The abandoned cage, the body of a person then goes through the process of decomposition and decay.
Never before in the history of mankind a soul had deserted the cage, the body of a person on its own and rendered the person dead! The Angel of death looked at the heavens. Innumerable queries crossed Angel’s mind. The Angel heard a clear and loud query from within, “Has the Creator of the smaller creators created another Angel of death? If not, then how come the deserted cages of flesh and bones without a soul within were strewn all over the place?”
It was a perplexing enigma. The Angel couldn’t fathom on whose behest the souls had abandoned the bodies of countless young and old, and rendered them dead! The deceased had lost their limbs. There were corpses without arms. There were corpses without legs. Some of the dead were without a head on their bare shoulders. It was not an unusual sight for the Angel of death. Dying was not different when Halaku Khan had devastated Baghdad 800 years ago. The sight of the dead was equally horrifying when Americans had dropped atom bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima halfway through the 20th century. What surprised the Angel of death was that the souls that had abandoned the young and the old on their own were nowhere to be beheld.
The Angel of death thought of returning to the heavens to confirm whether the defiant souls had bypassed him, and had returned to One to whom we all are destined to return some day! A few moments prior to the journey back to the heavens, the Angel saw a frightened soul peeping from the mutilated body of a child without arms and legs. The Angel of death leaned over the child, a boy of eight years of age and looked in his half opened eyes. The boy was hardly alive. He breathed in and breathed out unbearable agony and pain. The Angel of death felt pity for the boy.
“Who are you?” The Angel of death heard a faint voice. Surprised, the Angel of death saw the parched lips of the boy quiver. “I feel your presence, but I do not see you!” He repeatedly asked, “Who are you?”
The Angel replied, “I am the angel of death.”
“Oh, Angel of death let me die.” The boy moaned, and prayed, “It is painful to be alive.”
The Angel of death talked to the frightened soul of the boy, “Be on your way to the heavens, and let the boy recede into everlasting peace and tranquillity.”
“I have seen fire-emitting dragons on the earth, and up in the sky. I feel frightened.” The soul of the wounded boy said, “I just can’t abandon my abode.”
“Oh miserable soul! You are under my command.” Annoyed, the Angel of death said, “You just can’t disobey me.”
“I do not defy you, oh invincible Angel of death.” The miserable soul of the mutilated boy said, “I beg to be left alone in my cage.”
“The boy is in unbearable agony.” The Angel of death said, “Do not extend his suffering. You better leave the boy alone, for the death terminates the pain and agony.”
The scared soul asked, “Tell me, invincible Angel of death what happens when the soul too dies with the person in whose body it had dwelt in?”
The Angel of death calmly replied, “Like angels, the souls do not die.”
“Behold the scattered dead around you.” The terrified soul asked, “Were you instrumental in their death?”
The Angel of death looked at the mutilated dead around him.
The terrified soul of the boy spoke for the last time. It said, “The mutilated multitudes have died with their soul within.” Thereafter, the limbless boy breathed his last with the frightened soul within him, dead.
The Angel of death arrived at Babul Taq, a God forsaken place of unpardonable notoriety. More than a thousand years ago, 99 jurists had given their verdict against Mansoor Halaj, the mystic of the mystics. They had found him guilty of blasphemy. It was at Babul Taq that the great Sufi Mansoor Halaj was publicly tortured and then beheaded. Many tourists and the local inhabitants believe Babul Taq, within the proximity of Baghdad, echoes with Mansoor’s everlasting words, “I am the Truth, Ana-ul-Haq.”
