The Caliphate
"Who could rule over the desert, the mountains and the sea? No man, and it would
be madness to try. Who could make peace between the sullen mountain-men, the caravan
driver who is his prey, and the peasant who must toil in the heat and the draught?
There is no king among men who can do such things. Who can count the locusts in
the swarm, pull truth from the mouth of the Djinn, and know what is right for a
man to do? There is none of us who are made to do all these things. These things
are for the Daeva to do.
As ants upon a hillside, so are we upon the world. A man must know this, to know
the sin that is pride. The Daeva talks to men who have cast aside their pride. She
is great and mighty, and she is wise beyond all our knowledge. She asks all of us
to know simplicity and humility, and to do good deeds. Who is the ant that will
argue with the bird?"
~ An excerpt from the writings of the Great and Holy Caliph, Harun al-Miran.