Historians who lived before our times, and who were a great deal better acquainted with the world, versed in sciences, and endowed with more intelligence than ourselves, have not mentioned Shadeed and Shadâd in any dynasty of kings or potentates, but have appended their history to that of Hûd. Therefore the musk-charactered reed follows the custom of the ancients, and discourses as follows: Shadeed and Shadâd were two brothers of the children of A’ad, who governed almost the whole inhabited world, and dwelt in Syria. Though Shadeed was an idolater, the sheep and the wolf became friends on account of his great justice, and the hawk dared not to attack the partridge on account of his perfect government. It is said that he appointed a Qâzi in his country, and laid down rules for his guidance, but after the expiration of a whole year he had not a single case to judge. The Qâzi then informed the king that he did not consider himself entitled to the salary of his office, because no one had lodged any complaint during the just - mentioned period of time. Shadeed replied that he must nevertheless continue in his appointment and draw his pay. Some time afterwards two individuals made their appearance in the court of justice. One complained that he had purchased a piece of ground from the other, in which a treasure had been discovered, and though he had invited him to take possession of the treasure, he refused, replying that he had sold the land to the buyer with everything it contained. The Qâzi made inquiries, and found that one of these men had a son and the other a daughter; therefore he ordered them to be married to each other, and the treasure to be given to them. It is related that Hûd often visited Shadeed and invited him to accept his religion, but he always demurred, and died an infidel. When Shadâd ascended the throne of royalty, after his brother’s death, the prophet Hûd ordered him to believe in the unity of God, and to worship Him; but Shadâd refused and said: ‘If I receive thy religion, and worship and magnify thy God only, what will He give me in return?’ Hûd replied: ‘Eternal life in paradise.’ Then Shadâd continued: ‘This is easy, and I shall even in this world make a paradise.’ Accordingly, he set about it, and despatched ambassadors to Zohâk the Arab, who was his sister’s son, and who reigned at that time over the empire of Jamshid, requesting him to send all the silver, gold, and jewels he could spare. Zohâk complied with the demand, and had treasures of untold value conveyed to Syria. Shadâd issued orders also in his own dominions to collect all the silver and gold, musk, ambergris, precious stones, silver vessels, and the like, and to despatch all to the metropolis. After having collected the means, he selected a locality for building, and found it in one of the districts of Syria, the atmosphere whereof breathed the air of paradise, and the running brooks of which recalled to the mind the rivers of the garden of Eden, flowing with milk and honey. He quickly assembled architects endowed with skill and taste, who built an enclosure for the park, the extent whereof surpassed the aspirations of the poor; its breadth was greater than the intentions of the benevolent, and its height almost reached the vault of heaven. In the garden they built a castle, the like of which had not been seen since the creation of the world. Its walls were raised with alternate courses of bricks of gold and silver; its roof consisted of sheets of gold inlaid with rubies and all sorts of precious stones, and its columns were of crystal. Instead of gravel they poured precious stones into the rivulets; they constructed trees of pure gold, and stuffed them with amber and ambergris, so that, when the wind blew, perfume emanated from the trees. Instead of earth, the ground consisted of saffron and amber. It is said that twelve thousand turrets constructed of pure silver and gold adorned with sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and the like, decorated the circuit of the castle. There were five hundred guards, each of whom had a separate house. Moon-faced women and sun-like maidens were collected from the whole world, and these, who excited the envy of fairies and the jealousy of hûris, were collected to abide in that locality, in the construction whereof all the money that existed in the world had been expended
When the news of the completion of the park had reached Shadâd, who was at that time in Hadharamaut, he marched there with an army more numerous than ants or locusts; and when he had arrived at a distance of one stage from the garden he perceived a fawn, whose feet were of silver, horns of gold, and eyes of rubies. Shadâd was so enchanted with the beauty and elegant form of the fawn that he pursued it on horseback, and went far away from his army into the desert. All of a sudden a rider approached him, who said: ‘Hast thou with this building which thou hast constructed found freedom from death?’ All the limbs of Shadâd began to quake, and he asked: ‘Who art thou?’ The cavalier replied: ‘I am the angel of death.’ Shadâd asked: ‘What hast thou to do with me, and what wantest thou from me?’ A’zrayil rejoined: ‘Thy soul.’ Shadâd became much disturbed, and said: ‘Give me quarter until I cast one glance upon the edifice I have built.’ The angel continued: ‘I have no command from the Lord of Lords about that matter.’ Thereon Shadâd fell from his horse, and abandoned his impure spirit to the clencher of souls. On that occasion also all that magnificent army heard a voice from heaven, and hastened after Shadâd into the lowest pits of the infernal regions.
It is related that A’zrayil was once asked whether, during all the time he had been engaged in taking souls, he had ever felt pity for anyone, and whether an impression of the weakness and helplessness of anyone had ever been made upon his mind. A’zrayil replied: ‘I was sorry for two individuals: the one was an infant born in a ship, which went to pieces at that very moment in the vehemence of a storm, and the child remained floating on a piece of plank in the boundless ocean; the other was Shadâd, who had undergone so much trouble and entertained great hopes until he had completed that palace, of the enjoyment whereof he was after all deprived.’ After A’zrayil had finished this recital a divine allocution reached him of the following purport: ‘O A’zrayil, I swear by my glory and magnificence that the helpless infant whom thou hast seen on the plank was no other than Shadâd, whom I raised from that state to his high dignity, and bestowed upon him all that power and opulence; but he became rebellious and ungrateful, and was overtaken by my sore displeasure, and fell a prey to my wrath.’ Let us fly to Allah for refuge from His anger!
It is recorded in histories that after Shadâd’s death, that palace, high and magnificent as it was, disappeared from the eyes of men, and that no one had ever seen it except A’bdullah Bin Qallâba, who went there during the Khalifate of Moa’via; the circumstances of that event were as follows: A’bdullah happened to lose a camel and went in search of it through the desert. All of a sudden he arrived near the garden, and beheld a locality which even the flights of his imagination had never reached before. Though he tried much to obtain possession either of a brick of the garden wall, or of one of the precious stones which adorned the turrets, he could not succeed. At last he perceived the gems which had been thrown into the brooks; he therefore carried off as many of them as he was able, brought them to Moa’via, and narrated his whole adventure. Moa’via was greatly astonished, and asked Ka’b the chronicler, who was well acquainted with the histories of our ancestors. Ka’b replied: ‘That palace and that pageantry belong to Shadâd, and has survived till our times. In our age an individual of the people of Ahmed* has arrived at that place, and till the hour of the resurrection no one will see it.’