At that there rose a general cry of 'God forbid!' while one explained:
'It were a sin to refuse such a thing to a poor man in need who came and begged for it in Allah's name. But men who take by stealth or force are different. Think if your Honour had destroyed that thief, the rascal would not now be robbing poorer folk, less able to sustain the loss! Suppose that bag of lentils had been all you had! There may be people in the world as poor as that.'
'Why should I kill a man who offered me no violence?' I asked defiantly.
'Why should you not do so, when the man is evidently wicked?'
'Why do the Franks object to killing wicked people?' asked the coffee-seller with a laugh. 'Why do they nourish good and bad in their society?'
'It is because they are without religion,' muttered one man in his beard.
An elder of superior rank, who overheard, agreed with him, pronouncing in a tone of gentle pity:
'It is because they lose belief in Allah and the life to come. They deem this fleeting life the only one vouchsafed to man, and death the last and worst catastrophe that can befall him. When they have killed a man they think they have destroyed him quite; and, as each one of them fears such destruction for himself if it became the mode, they condemn killing in their laws and high assemblies. We, when we kill a person, know that it is not the end. Both killed and killer will be judged by One who knows the secrets of men's breasts. The killed is not deprived of every hope. For us, death is an incident: for them, the end. Moreover, they have no idea of sacrifice. Killing, with them, is always the result of hate.'
'What does your Honour mean by that last saying?' I inquired with warmth.
The old man smiled on me indulgently as he made answer sadly: