Whores and writers, Mahound. We are the people you can’t forgive.

Baal’s final declaration and Mahound’s reply turn a sentence of execution into a brief contest over who can be forgiven. Baal places writers and sex workers together among those beyond Mahound’s pardon; Mahound answers by treating the two groups as indistinguishable.

The exchange before Baal’s execution

Mahound frames the confrontation as a return to an old grievance: Baal had mocked the Recitation before, and now, Mahound says, he has returned to dishonour his house. Baal refuses to continue the argument and leaves the decision to Mahound. Sentenced to be beheaded within the hour, he is manhandled from the tent toward the killing ground, calling his accusation over his shoulder.

Reversal and significance

Baal’s statement presents writers and sex workers as people Mahound cannot forgive. Mahound’s answer reverses their order and denies any difference between them. The exchange gives the sentence a pointed finality: as Baal is taken away, the two men dispute not the punishment but the categories through which it is justified, with Mahound’s reply making the alleged distinction between the condemned groups disappear.