Almustafa

The chosen and beloved Prophet around whom the story revolves, Almustafa has spent twelve years of his youth in Orphalese, serving as the people's harp, flame, seeker of silence and guardian of the night. Much of his time has been spent in the hills, watching and listening to their lives. The people have generously met his physical needs, but some criticize his aloofness. Now the ship he has been watching for to take him home arrives, and Almustafa comes down from the hills to the temple, bittersweet about leaving. Almustafa wonders tearfully what he can say to the loving people that flock to see him off, knowing he cannot speak his innermost secret. On the prompting of the seer Almitra, who believes in him, Almustafa agrees, for posterity's sake, to answer their questions about what separates birth and death. Almustafa responds to a series of twenty-six questions. In...