ISHAK
Then a plague on your religion.
JAFAR
This is Sufic doctrine, and most dangerous to the State.
HASSAN
Then a plague on the State!
CALIPH
Ye who make love in full Divan, can ye yet listen to the voice of the world?
PERVANEH
(Dazed) They are speaking.
CALIPH O Rafi, King of the Beggars, since after all thou art much entangled in the web of unreality, it is necessary that I ask thee some phantom questions concerning thy apparent acts.
Firstly, dost thou deny thou didst call thyself Caliph of the Unbelievers, and blaspheme thy faith in my presence and in the presence of Jafar, my Vizier, Masrur, the Executioner, and Hassan, my friend?
RAFI
I have nothing to deny.
CALIPH Dost thou, secondly, deny that thou didst swear in the presence of the same to nail the Caliph of the Faithful alive in his coffin, or that thou didst conspire with the beggars to slay me, to seize Bagdad and to usurp the throne?
RAFI
I have nothing to deny.