Tadhkirah — Page 293
1893 293 them rapidly and joyfully. When I came close to them, I observed that they had all died suddenly being abased and overcome by divine wrath. Their skins had been stripped off, their heads had been smashed, their throats had been slashed, and their hands and feet had been chopped off and thrown away in bits. They had been destroyed suddenly as people are destroyed at one stroke of lightning and they were utterly consumed. Then I stood at the place where they had gathered to oppose me, which became the place of their destruction. My eyes were shedding copious tears and I supplicated: My Lord, may my life be laid down in Your cause, You have bestowed favour upon me and You have helped your servant in a manner the like of which is not to be found among the annals of nations. Lord, You have destroyed them with Your hands even before the two sides had fought or two champions had battled or two knights had entered the arena. You do whatever You will. There is no helper like You. You have rescued me and delivered me. O You Most Merciful, if You had not taken pity upon me, it would not have been possible for me to escape all the calamities and afflictions. Then I woke up while I was still occupied with thanking God Almighty and my soul was still turned to Him. [All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds. ] I interpreted this dream as meaning that God Almighty would send His help and success without the intervention of external means and of human efforts. He desires to perfect His bounty upon me and to admit me to His grace. I shall now interpret it to you in detail so that you might obtain true insight into it. Smashing the heads and cutting the throats of the enemy refers to breaking their arrogance and their boastful pride and humbling them. Cutting off