A prince, while engaged on a hunting excursion, espied a
fair maiden, and by promises of gold induced her to accom-
pany him. After a time she fell sick, and the prince had her
tended by divers physicians. As, however, they all omitted
to say, "God willing, we will cure her," their treatment was
of no avail. So the prince offered prayer, and in answer
thereto a physician was sent from heaven. He at once con-
demned his predecessors' view of the case, and by a very
skilful diagnosis, discovered that the real cause of the maid-
en's illness was her love for a certain goldsmith of
Samarcand. In accordance with the physician's advice, the
prince sent to Samarcand and fetched the goldsmith, and
married him to the lovesick maiden, and for six months the
pair lived together in the utmost harmony and happiness.
At the end of that period the physician, by divine com-
mand, gave the goldsmith a poisonous draught, which
caused his strength and beauty to decay, and he then lost
favour with the maiden, and she was reunited to the king.
This Divine command was precisely similar to God's com-
mand to Abraham to slay his son Ishmael, and to the act of
the angel in slaying the servant of Moses, and is therefore
beyond human criticism.
Rumi