ABSTRACT
The Risala of Abu-I-Ala al-Maarri, the literary imitation of the Miraj that was quoted in a former chapter, depicted a similar scene. In a garden lying at the gate of the celestial paradise the traveller, on the banks of a river, meets a maiden who has been sent by God to welcome and guide him; she leads him to the presence of the beloved of the poet Imru-lQays, who appears in the wake of a procession of beautiful maidens.!
