Both men cried out together as all the delights and all the agonies of their lives descended upon them in the heat of those sacred flames. Then, in the merest blink of an eyelid, the fire was gone and the two men stood gasping for breath in an empty corridor. They were shaking so badly they had to lean against the wall to steady themselves as their minds sifted the experience they’d just been through. Each man looked at the other, wondering what he’d seen.
“I think that was to prepare us for the prophet’s vision,” Ahmad said when he regained his breath. “If we’ve seen clearly the what-was and what-is, the what-will-be will not seem quite as frightening.”
“More than preparation,” Jafar replied. “I think it was a purification as well. Just as the water in the pool outside cleansed our bodi
