An Appointment in Samarra
There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to the market to buy provisions and after a little while the servant returned, white and trembling, and said, "Master, just now, when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw that it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture! Now, please lend me your horse and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me."
The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and dug his spurs into its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went.
ban the christians and the jews from their celebrations?








