Masnavi of Rumi — The Spiritual Couplets

PROLOGUE.

HEARKEN to the reed-flute, how it complains,

Lamenting its banishment from its home:

“Ever since they tore me from my osier bed,

My plaintive notes have moved men and women to tears.

I burst my breast, striving to give vent to sighs,

And to express the pangs of my yearning for my home.

He who abides far away from his home

Is ever longing for the day he shall return.

My wailing is heard in every throng,

In concert with them that rejoice and them that weep.

Each interprets my notes in harmony with his own feelings,

But not one fathoms the secrets of my heart.

My secrets are not alien from my plaintive notes,

Yet they are not manifest to the sensual eye and ear.

Body is not veiled from soul, neither soul from body,

Yet no man hath ever seen a soul.”

This plaint of the flute is fire, not mere air.

Let him who lacks this fire be accounted dead!

‘Tis the fire of love that inspires the flute,!

‘Tis the ferment of love that possesses the wine.

The flute is the confidant of all unhappy lovers:

Yea, its strains lay bare my inmost secrets.

Who hath seen a poison and an antidote like the flute?

Who hath seen a sympathetic consoler like the flute?

The flute tells the tale of love’s bloodstained path,

It recounts the story of Majnun’s love toils.

None is privy to these feelings save one distracted,

As ear inclines to the whispers of the tongue.

Through grief my days are as labor and sorrow,

My days move on, hand in hand with anguish.

Yet,, though my days vanish thus, ‘tis no matter,

Do thou abide, O Incomparable Pure One! 2

But all who are not fishes are soon tired of water:

And they who lack daily bread find the day very long;

So the “Raw” comprehend not the state of the “Ripe;” ®

Therefore it behoves me to shorten my discourse.

Arise, O son! burst thy bonds and be free!

How long wilt thou be captive to silver and gold?

Though thou pour the ocean into thy pitcher,

It can hold no more than one day’s store.

The pitcher of the desire of the covetous never fills,

The oyster-shell fills not with pearls till it is content;

Only he whose garment is rent by the violence of love

Is wholly pure from covetousness and sin.

Hail to thee, then, O LOVE, sweet madness!

Thou who healest all our infirmities!

Who art the physician of our pride and self-conceit!

Who art our Plato and our Galen!

Love exalts our earthly bodies to heaven,

And makes the very hills to dance with joy!

O Iover, ‘twas love that gave life to Mount Sinai, +

When “it quaked, and Moses fell down in a swoon.”

Did my Beloved only touch me with his lips,

I too, like the flute, would burst out in melody.

But he who is parted from them that speak his tongue,

Though he possess a hundred voices, is perforce dumb.

When the rose has faded and the garden is withered,

The song of the nightingale is no longer to be heard.

The BELOVED is all in all, the lover only veils Him; ®

The BELOVED is all that lives, the lover a dead thing.

When the lover feels no longer LOVE’s quickening,

He becomes like a bird who has lost its wings. Alas!

How can I retain my senses about me,

When the BELOVED shows not the light of His countenance?

LOVE desires that this secret should be revealed,

For if a mirror reflects not, of what use is it?

Knowest thou why thy mirror reflects not?

Because the rust has not been scoured from its face.

If it were purified from all rust and defilement,

It would reflect the shining of the SUN Of GOD.®

O friends, ye have now heard this tale,

Which sets forth the very essence of my case.

NOTES:

1. Love signifies the strong attraction that draws all creatures back

to reunion with their Creator.

2. Self-annihilation leads to eternal life in God the universal

Noumenon, by whom all phenomena subsist. See Gulshan i Raz,

I. 400.

3. “Raw” and “Ripe” are terms for “Men of externals” and “Men of

heart” or Mystics.

4, Alluding to the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. Koran vii. 139.

5. All phenomenal existences (man included) are but “veils”

obscuring the face of the Divine Noumenon, the only real

existence, and the moment His sustaining presence is withdrawn

they at once relapse into their original nothingness. See Gulshan

i Raz, I. 165.

6. So Bernard of Clairvaux. See Gulshan i Raz, I. 435.

Story I.

THE PRINCE AND THE HANDMAID.

A prince, while engaged on a hunting excursion, espied a fair

maiden, and by promises of gold induced her to accompany

him. After a time she fell sick, and the prince had her tended

by divers physicians. As, however, they all omitted to say, “God

willing,! we will cure her,” their treatment was of no avail. So

the prince offered prayer, and in answer thereto a physician

was sent from heaven. He at once condemned his predecessors’

view of the case, and by a very skilful diagnosis, discovered

that the real cause of the maiden’s illness was her love for a

certain goldsmith of Samarcand. In accordance with the

physician’s advice, the prince sent to Samarcand and fetched

the goldsmith, and married him to the lovesick maiden, and

for six months the pair lived together in the utmost harmony

and happiness. At the end of that period the physician, by

divine command, gave the goldsmith a poisonous draught,

which caused his strength and beauty to decay, and he then

lost favour with the maiden, and she was reunited to the king.

This Divine command was precisely similar to God’s command

to Abraham to slay his son Ishmael, and to the act of the angel

in slaying the servant of Moses,” and is therefore beyond

human criticism.

Description of Love.

A true lover is proved such by his pain of heart;

No sickness is there like sickness of heart.

The lover’s ailment is different from all ailments;

Love is the astrolabe of God’s mysteries.

A lover may hanker after this love or that love,

But at the last he is drawn to the KING of love.

However much we describe and explain love,

When we fall in love we are ashamed of our words.

Explanation by the tongue makes most things clear,

But love unexplained is clearer.

When pen hasted to write,

On reaching the subject of love it split in twain.

When the discourse touched on the matter of love,

Pen was broken and paper torn.

In explaining it Reason sticks fast, as an ass in mire;

Naught but Love itself can explain love and lovers!

None but the sun can display the sun,

If you would see it displayed, turn not away from it.

Shadows, indeed, may indicate the sun’s presence,

But only the sun displays the light of life.

Shadows induce slumber, like evening talks,

But when the sun arises the “moon is split asunder.” ?

In the world there is naught so wondrous as the sun,

But the Sun of the soul sets not and has no yesterday.

Though the material sun is unique and single,

We can conceive similar suns like to it.

But the Sun of the soul, beyond this firmament,

No like thereof is seen in concrete or abstract.4

Where is there room in conception for His essence,

So that similitudes of HIM should be conceivable?

Shamsu-d-Din of Tabriz importunes Jalalu-‘d-Din to compose

the Masnavi.

The sun (Shams) of Tabriz is a perfect light,

A sun, yea, one of the beams of God!

When the praise was heard of the “Sun of Tabriz,”

The sun of the fourth heaven bowed its head.

Now that I have mentioned his name, it is but right

To set forth some indications of his beneficence.

That precious Soul caught my skirt,

Smelling the perfume of the garment of Yusuf;

And said, “For the sake of our ancient friendship,

Tell forth a hint of those sweet states of ecstasy,

That earth and heaven may be rejoiced,

And also Reason and Spirit, a hundredfold.”

I said, “O thou who art far from’ The Friend,’

Like a sick man who has strayed from his physician,

Importune me not, for I am beside myself;

My understanding is gone, I cannot sing praises.

Whatsoever one says, whose reason is thus astray,

Let him not boast; his efforts are useless.

Whatever he says is not to the point,

And is clearly inapt and wide of the mark.

What can I say when not a nerve of mine is sensible?

Can I explain ‘The Friend’ to one to whom He is no Friend?

Verily my singing His praise were dispraise,

For ‘twould prove me existent, and existence is error.”

Can I describe my separation and my bleeding heart?

Nay, put off this matter till another season.”

He said, ” Feed me, for I am an hungered,

And at once, for ‘the time is a sharp sword.’

O comrade, the Sufi is ‘the son of time present.’

It is not the rule of his canon to say, “To-morrow.”

Can it be that thou art not a true Sufi?

Ready money is lost by giving credit.”

I said, “Tis best to veil the secrets of ‘The Friend.’

So give good heed to the morals of these stories.

That is better than that the secrets of ‘The Friend’

Should be noised abroad in the talk of strangers.”

He said, “Without veil or covering or deception,

Speak out, and vex me not, O man of many words!

Strip off the veil and speak out, for do not I

Enter under the same coverlet as the Beloved?”

I said, “If the Beloved were exposed to outward view,

Neither wouldst thou endure, nor embrace, nor form.

Press thy suit, yet with moderation;

A blade of grass cannot, pierce a mountain.

If the sun that illumines the world

Were to draw nigher, the world would be consumed.’

Close thy mouth and shut the eyes of this matter,

That, the world’s life be not made a bleeding heart.

No longer seek this peril, this bloodshed:

Hereafter impose silence on the ‘Sun of Tabriz.”

He said, “Thy words are endless. Now tell forth

All thy story from its beginning.”

NOTES:

1. As enjoined in Koran xviii. 23. One cannot converse with a strict

Mosalman for five minutes without hearing the formula, “In sha

Allah Ta’alla,” or D. V.

. Koran xviii. 73.

. Koran liv. I.

. There is a tradition, “I know my Lord by my Lord.”

. See Gulshan i Raz, I. 400. In the state of union self remains not.

ana»ar wo nw

. The Sufi is the “son of the time present,” because he is an

Energumen, or passive instrument moved by the divine impulse

of the moment. “The time present is a sharp sword,” because the

divine impulse of the moment dominates the Energumen, and

executes its decrees sharply. See Sohravardi quoted in Notices et

Extraits des MSS., xii. 371 note.

7. “When its Lord appears in glory to the Mount of existence,

Existence is laid low, like the dust of the road.” Gulshan i Raz, I.

195.

Story IJ. THE OILMAN AND HIS PARROT.

An oilman possessed a parrot which used to amuse him with

its agreeable prattle, and to watch his shop when he went out.

One day, when the parrot was alone in the shop, a cat upset

one of the oil-jars. When the oilman returned home he thought

that the parrot had done this mischief, and in his anger he

smote the parrot such a blow on the head as made all its

feathers drop off, and so stunned it that it lost the power of

speech for several days. But one day the parrot saw a bald-

headed man passing the shop, and recovering its speech, it

cried out, “Pray, whose oil-jar did you upset?” The passers-by

smiled at the parrot’s mistake in confounding baldness caused

by age with the loss of its own feathers due to a blow.

Confusion of saints with hypocrites.

Worldly senses are the ladder of earth,

Spiritual senses are the ladder of heaven.

The health of the former is sought of the leech,

The health of the latter from “The Friend.”

The health of the former arises from tending the body,

That of the latter from mortifying the flesh.

The kingly soul lays waste the body,

And after its destruction he builds it anew.

Happy the soul who for love of God

Has lavished family, wealth, and goods!

Has destroyed its house to find the hidden treasure,

And with that treasure has rebuilt it in fairer sort;

Has dammed up the stream and cleansed the channel,

And then turned a fresh stream into. the channel;

Has cut its flesh to extract a spear-head,!

Causing a fresh skin to grow again over the wound;

Has razed the fort to oust, the infidel in possession,

And then rebuilt it with a hundred towers and bulwarks.

Who can describe the unique work of Grace?

I have been forced to illustrate it by these similes.

Sometimes it presents one appearance, sometimes another.

Yea, the affair of religion is only bewilderment.

Not, such as occurs when one turns one’s back on God,

But such as when one is drowned and absorbed in Him.

The latter has his face ever turned to God,

The former’s face shows his undisciplined self-will.

Watch the face of each one, regard it well,

It may be by serving thou wilt recognize Truth’s face.

As there are many demons with men’s faces,

It is wrong to join hand with every one.

When the fowler sounds his decoy whistle,

That the birds may be beguiled by that snare,

The birds hear that call simulating a bird’s call,

And, descending from the air, find net and knife.

So vile hypocrites steal the language of Darveshes,

In order to beguile the simple with their trickery.

The works of the righteous are light and heat,

The works of the evil treachery and shamelessness.

They make stuffed lions to scare the simple,

They give the title of Muhammad to false Musailima.

But Musailma retained the name of “Liar,”

And Muhammad that of “Sublimest of beings.”

That wine of God (the righteous) yields a perfume of musk;

Other wine (the evil) is reserved for penalties and pains.

NOTES:

1. These are all figures and types of self-annihilation in order to the

acquisition of eternal life in God.

Story ITI.

A TYRANNICAL JEWISH KING, HIS MINISTER (VaziR),

AND THE CHRISTIANS

A certain Jewish king used to persecute the Christians,

desiring to exterminate their faith. His Vazir persuaded him

to try a stratagem, namely, to mutilate the Vazir himself, and

expel him from his court, with the intent that he might take

refuge with the Christians, and stir up mutual dissensions

amongst them. The Vazir’s suggestion was adopted.! He fled to

the Christians, and found no difficulty in persuading them

that he had been treated in that barbarous way on account of

his attachment to the Christian faith. He soon gained

complete influence over them, and was accepted as a saintly

martyr and a divine teacher. Only a few discerning men

divined his treachery; the majority were all deluded by him.

The Christians were divided into twelve legions, and at the

head of each was a captain. To each of these captains the Vazir

gave secretly a volume of religious directions, taking care to

make the directions in each volume different from and

contradictory to those in the others. One volume enjoined

fasting, another charity, another faith, another works, and so

on. Afterwards the Vazir withdrew into a cave, and refused to

come out to instruct his disciples, in spite of all their

entreaties. Calling the captains to him, he gave secret

instructions to each to set himself up as his successor, and to

be guided by the instructions in the volume secretly confided

to him, and to slay all other claimants of the apostolic office.

Having given these directions, he slew himself. In the event

each captain set himself up as the Vazir’s successor, and the

Christians were split up into many sects at enmity with one

another, even as the Vazir had intended. But the malicious

scheme did not, altogether succeed, as one faithful band

cleaved to the name of “Ahmad,” mentioned in the Gospel,”

and were thus saved from sharing the ruin of the rest.

The Vazir’s Teaching.

Myriads of Christians flocked round him,

One after another they assembled in his street.

Then he would preach to them of mysteries,

Mysteries of the Gospel, of stoles, of prayers.

He would preach to them with eloquent words

Concerning the words and acts of the Messiah.

Outwardly he was a preacher of religious duties,

But within a decoy call and a fowler’s snare.

Therefore the followers of the Prophet (Isa)

Were beguiled by the fraud of that demon soul.

He mingled in his discourses many secret doctrines

Concerning devotion and sincerity of soul.

He taught them to make a fair show of devotion,

But to say of secret sins, “What do they matter?”

Hair by hair and jot by jot they learned of him

Fraud of soul, as roses might learn of garlic.

Hair-splitters and all their disciples

Are darkened by similar preaching and discourse.

The Christians gave their hearts to him entirely,

For the blind faith of the vulgar has no discernment.

In their inmost breasts they planted love of him,

And fancied him to be the Vicar of Christ;

Yea, him, that one-eyed and cursed Daijal! ?

Save us. O God! who art our only defender!

O God, there are hundreds of snares and baits,

And we are even as greedy and foolish birds;

Every moment our feet are caught in a fresh snare;

Yea, each one of us, though he be a falcon or Simurgh!

Thou dost release us every moment, and straightway

We again fly into the snare, O Almighty One!

Sleep of the body the soul’s awakening.

Every night Thou freest our spirits from the body

And its snare, making them pure as rased tablets.

Every night spirits are released from this cage,

And set free, neither lording it nor lorded over.

At night prisoners are unaware of their prison,

At night kings are unaware of their majesty.

Then there is no thought or care for loss or gain,

No regard to such an one or such an one.

The state of the “Knower’” is such as this, even when awake.

God says,* “Thou wouldst deem him awake though asleep,

Sleeping to the affairs of the world, day and night,

Like a pen in the directing hand of the writer.

He who sees not the hand which effects the writing

Fancies the effect proceeds from the motion of the pen.

If the “Knower” revealed the particulars of this state,

‘Twould rob the vulgar of their sensual sleep.

His soul wanders in the desert that has no similitude;

Like his body, his spirit is enjoying perfect rest;

Freed from desire of eating and drinking,

Like a bird escaped from cage and snare.

But when he is again beguiled into the snare,

He cries for help to the Almighty.

Laila and the Khaltfa.

The Khalifa said to Laila, “Art thou really she

For whom Majnun lost his head and went distracted?

Thou art not fairer than many other fair ones.”

She replied, “Be silent; thou art not Majnun!”

If thou hadst Majnun’s eyes,

The two worlds would be within thy view.

Thou art in thy senses, but Majnun is beside himself.

In love to be wide awake is treason.

The more a man is awake, the more he sleeps (to love);

His (critical) wakefulness is worse than slumbering.

Our wakefulness fetters our spirits,

Then our souls are a prey to divers whims,

Thoughts of loss and gain and fears of misery.

They retain not purity, nor dignity, nor lustre,

Nor aspiration to soar heavenwards.

That one is really sleeping who hankers after each whim

And holds parley with each fancy.

The twelve volumes of theology.

He drew up a separate scroll to the address of each,

The contents of each scroll of a different tenor;

The rules of each of a different purport,

This contradictory of that, from beginning to end.

In one the road of fasting and asceticism

Was made the pillar and condition of right devotion.

In one ‘twas said, “Abstinence profits not;

Sincerity in this path is naught but charity.”

In one ‘twas said, “Thy fasting and thy charity

Are both a making thyself equal with God;

Save faith and utter resignation to God’s will

In weal and woe, all virtues are fraud and snares.”

In one ‘twas said, “Works are the one thing needful:

The doctrine of faith without works is a delusion.”

In one ‘twas said, “Commands and prohibitions are

Not for observance, but to demonstrate our weakness,

That we may see our own weakness (to carry them out),

And thereby recognize and confess God’s power.” ®

In one ‘twas said, “Reference to thine own weakness

Is ingratitude for God’s mercies towards us.

Rather regard thy power, for thou hast power from God.

Know thy power to be God’s grace, for ‘tis of Him.”

In one ‘twas said, “Leave power and weakness alone;

Whatever withdraws thine eyes from God is an idol.”

In one ‘twas said, “Quench not thy earthy torch,®

That it may be a light to lighten mankind.

If thou neglectest regard and care for it,

Thou wilt quench at midnight the lamp of union.”

In one ‘twas said, “Quench that torch without fear,

That in lieu of one thou may’st see a thousand joys,

For by quenching the light the soul is rejoiced,

And thy Laila is then as bold as her Majnun.

Whoso to display his devotion renounces the world,

The world is ever with him, before and behind.”

In one ‘twas said, “Whatsoever God has given thee

In His creation, that He has made sweet to thee;

Yea, pleasant to thee and allowable. Take it, then,

And cast not thyself into the pangs of abstinence.”

In one ‘twas said, “Give up all thou possessest,

For to be ruled by covetousness is grievous sin.”

(Ah! how many diverse roads are pointed out,

And each followed by some sect for dear life!

If the right road were easily attainable,

Every Jew and Gueber would have hit on it!)

In one ‘twas said, “The right road is attainable,

For the heart’s life is the food of the soul.

Whatever is enjoyed by the carnal man

Yields no fruit, even as salt and waste land.

Its result is naught but remorse,

Its traffic yields only loss.

It is not profitable in the long run;

Its name is called ‘bankrupt’ in the upshot.

Discern, then, the bankrupt from the profitable,

Consider the eventual value of this and that.”

In one ‘twas said, “Choose ye a wise Director,

But foresight of results is not found in dignities.”

(Each sect looked to results in a different way,

And so, perforce, became captive to errors.

Real foresight of results is not simple jugglery,

Otherwise all these differences would not have arisen.

In one ‘twas said, “Thyself art thy master,

Inasmuch as thou art acquainted with the Master of all;

Be a man, and not another man’s beast of burden!

Follow thine own way and lose not thy head!”

In one ‘twas said, “All we see is One.

Whoever says ‘tis two is suffering from double vision.”

In one ‘twas said, “A hundred are even as one.”

But whoso thinks this is a. madman.

Each scroll had its contrary piece of rhetoric,

In form and substance utterly opposed to it;

This contrary to that, from first to last,

As if each was compounded of poison and antidotes.

NOTES:

1. Compare the story of Zopyrus, Herodotus, iii. 155.

2. John xiv. 26: “But the Comforter (parakletos) shall teach you all

things.” Mosalmans read periklytos, “praised” = Muhammad.

3. Dajjal, i.e., Antichrist. Sale, Prelim. Discourse, p. 57.

4. Said of the Seven Sleepers in the cave. Koran xviii. 17; “Knower”

= the Gnostic who through ecstasy beholds divine verities.

5. This was the doctrine of the Jabriyan or extreme predestinarians.

6. i.e.. Hide not thy light (of good works or of self-denial) under a

bushel.

7. Alluding to the doctrine of the Trinity.

Story IV.

ANOTHER TYRANNICAL JEWISH KING.

A certain Jewish king, the same who is referred to in the Sura

“Signs of the Zodiac,” I made up his mind to utterly

exterminate the Christian faith, and with that view he set up

a huge idol, and issued commands that all who refused to

worship it should be cast into the fire. Thereupon his officers

seized a Christian woman with her babe, and as she refused to

worship it, they cast the babe into the fire. But the babe cried

out to its mother, “Be not afraid, the fire has no power to burn

me; it is as cool as water!” Hearing this, the rest of the

Christians leapt into the fire, and found that it did not burn

them. The king reproached the fire for failing to do its office,

but the fire replied that it was God’s servant, and that its

consuming properties were not to be used for evil purposes. It

then blazed up and consumed the king, and all his Jews with

him.

Second causes only operate in subordination to, and form the

impulsion of, the First Cause.

Air, earth, water, and fire are God’s servants.

To us they seem lifeless, but to God living.

In God’s presence fire ever waits to do its service,

Like a submissive lover with no will of its own.

When you strike steel on flint fire leaps forth:

But ‘tis by God’s command it thus steps forth.

Strike not together the flint and steel of wrong,

For the pair will generate more, like man and woman.

The flint and steel are themselves causes, yet

Look higher for the First Cause, O righteous man!

For that Cause precedes this second cause.

How can a cause exist of itself without precedent cause?

That Cause makes this cause operative,

And again helpless and inoperative.

That Cause, which is a guiding light to the prophets,

That, I say, is higher than these second causes.

Men’s minds recognize these second causes,

But only prophets perceive the action of the First Cause.

Praise compared to vapour drawn upwards, and then

descending in rain.

Though water be enclosed in a reservoir,

Yet air will absorb it, for ‘tis its supporter;

It sets it free and bears it to its source,

Little by little, so that you see not the process.

In like manner this breath of ours by degrees

Steals away our souls from the prison-house of earth.

” The good word riseth up to Him,””

Rising from us whither He knoweth.

Our breathings are lifted up in fear of God,

Offerings from us to the throne of Eternity.

Then come down to us rewards for our praises,

The double thereof, yea, mercies from the King of Glory.

Therefore are we constrained to utter these praises

That slaves may attain the height of God’s gifts.

And so this rising and descent go on evermore,

And cease not forever and aye.

To speak in plain Persian, this attraction

Comes from the same quarter whence comes this

savour.?

NOTES:

sweet

1. Koran lxxxv.

2. Koran, xxxv. II.

3. Sweet savour, i.e., the joy of heart experienced by the offerer of

prayer when his prayer is accepted of God. See Book II. Story

XVII.

Story V.

THE LION AND THE BEASTS.

In the book of Kalila and Damna a story is told of a lion who

held all the beasts of the neighborhood in subjection, and was

in the habit of making constant raids upon them, to take and

kill such of them as he required for his daily food. At last the

beasts took counsel together, and agreed to deliver up one of

their company every day, to satisfy the lion’s hunger, if he, on

his part, would cease to annoy them by his continual forays.

The lion was at first unwilling to trust to their promise,

remarking that he always preferred to rely on his own

exertions; but the beasts succeeded in persuading him that he

would do well to trust Providence and their word. To illustrate

the thesis that human exertions are vain, they related a story

of a man who got Solomon to transport him to Hindustan to

escape the angel of death, but was smitten by the angel the

moment he got there. Having carried their point, the beasts

continued for some time to perform their engagement. One

day it came to the turn of the hare to be delivered up as a

victim to the lion; but he requested the others to let him

practice a stratagem. They scoffed at him, asking how such

silly beast as he could pretend to outwit the lion. The hare

assured them that wisdom was of God, and God might choose

weak things to confound the strong. At last they consented to

let him try his luck. He took his way slowly to the lion, and

found him sorely enraged. In excuse for his tardy arrival he

represented that he and another hare had set out together to

appear before the lion, but a strange lion had seized the

second hare, and carried it off in spite of his remonstrances.

On hearing this, the lon was exceeding wroth, and

commanded the hare to show him the foe who had trespassed

on his preserves. Pretending to be afraid, the hare got the lion

to take him upon his back, and directed him to a well. On

looking down the well, the lion saw in the water the reflection

of himself and of the hare on his back; and thinking that he

saw his foe with the stolen hare, he plunged in to attack him,

and was drowned, while the hare sprang off his back and

escaped. This folly on the part, of the lion was predestined to

punish him for denying God’s ruling providence. So Adam,

though he knew the names of all things, in accordance with

God’s predestination, neglected to obey a single prohibition,

and his disobedience cost him dearly.

Trust in God, as opposed to human exertions.

The beasts said, “O enlightened sage,

Lay aside caution; it cannot help thee against destiny;

To worry with precaution is toil and moil;

Go, trust in Providence, trust is the better part.

War not with the divine decree, O hot-headed one,

Lest that decree enter into conflict with thee.

Man should be as dead before the commands of God

Lest a blow befall him from the Lord of all creatures.”

He said, “True; but though trust be our mainstay,

Yet the Prophet teaches us to have regard to means.

The Prophet cried with a loud voice,

‘Trust in God, yet tie the camel’s leg.’ |

Hear the adage, ‘The worker is the friend of God;

Through trust in Providence neglect not to use means.

Go, O Quietists, practice trust with self-exertion,

Exert yourself to attain your objects, bit by bit.

In order to succeed, strive and exert yourselves:

If ye strive not for your objects, ye are fools.”

They said, “What is gained from the poor by exertions

Is a fraudulent morsel that will bring ill luck.

Again, know that self-exertion springs from weakness;

Relying on other means is a blot upon perfect trust.

Self-exertion is not more noble than trust in God.

What is more lovely than committing oneself to God?

Many there are who flee from one danger to a worse;

Many flee from a snake and meet a dragon.

Man plans a stratagem, and thereby snares himself;

What he takes for life turns out, to be destruction.

He shuts the door after his foe is in the house.

After this sort were the schemes of Pharaoh.

That jealous king slew a myriad babes,

While Moses, whom he sought, was in his house.

Our eyes are subject to many infirmities;

Go! annihilate your sight in God’s sight.

For our foresight His foresight is a fair exchange:

In His sight is all that ye can desire.

So long as a babe cannot grasp or run,

It takes its father’s back for its carriage.

But when it becomes independent and uses its hands,

It falls into grievous troubles and disgrace.

The souls of our first parents, even before their hands,

Flew away from fidelity after vain pleasure.

Being made captives by the command, ‘Get down hence,’

They became bond-slaves of enmity, lust, and vanity.

We are the family of the Lord and His sucking babes.

The Prophet said, “The people are God’s family;’

He who sends forth the rain from heaven,

Can He not also provide us our daily bread?”

The lion said, “True; yet the Lord of creatures

Sets a ladder before our feet.

Step by step must we mount up to the roof!

The notion of fatalism is groundless in this place.

Ye have feet why then pretend ye are lame?

Ye have hands why then conceal your claws?

When a master places a spade in the hand of a slave,

The slave knows his meaning without being told.

Like this spade, our hands are our Master’s hints to us;

Yea, if ye consider, they are His directions to us.

When ye have taken to heart His hints,

Ye will shape your life in reliance on their direction;

Wherefore these hints disclose His intent,

Take the burden from you, and appoint your work.

He that bears it makes it bearable by you,

He that is able makes it within your ability.

Accept His command, and you will be able to execute it;

Seek union with Him, and you will find yourselves united.

Exertion is giving thanks for God’s blessings;

Think ye that your fatalism gives such thanks?

Giving thanks for blessings increases blessings,

But fatalism snatches those blessings from your hands.

Your fatalism is to sleep on the road; sleep not

Till ye behold the gates of the King’s palace.

Ah! sleep not, O unreflecting fatalists,

Till ye have reached that fruit-laden Tree of Life

Whose branches are ever shaken by the wind,

And whose fruit is showered on the sleepers’ heads.

Fatalism means sleeping amidst highwaymen.

Can a cock who crows too soon expect peace?

If ye cavil at and accept not God’s hints,

Though ye count yourselves men, see, ye are women.

The quantum of reason ye possessed is lost,

And the head whose reason has fled is a tail.

Inasmuch as the unthankful are despicable,

They are at last cast into the fiery pit.

If ye really have trust in God, exert yourselves,

And strive, in constant reliance on the Almighty.”

Wisdom is granted often times to the weak.

He said, “O friends, God has given me inspiration.

Often times strong counsel is suggested to the weak.

The wit taught by God to the bee

Is withheld from the lion and the wild ass.

It fills its cells with liquid sweets,

For God opens the door of this knowledge to it.

The skill taught by God to the silkworm

Is a learning beyond the reach of the elephant.

The earthly Adam was taught of God names, 4

So that his glory reached the seventh heaven.

He laid low the name and fame of the angels, °

Yet blind indeed are they whom God dooms to doubt!

The devotee of seven hundred thousand years (Satan)

Was made a muzzle for that yearling calf (Adam), ©

Lest he should suck milk of the knowledge of faith,

And soar on high even to the towers of heaven.

The knowledge of men of external sense is a muzzle

To stop them sucking milk of that sublime knowledge.

But God drops into the heart a single pearl-drop

Which is not bestowed on oceans or skies!”

“How long regard ye mere form, O form-worshippers?

Your souls, void of substance, rest still in forms.

If the form of man were all that made man,

Ahmad and Abu Jahl would be upon a par.

A painting on a wall resembles a man,

But see what it is lacking in that empty form.

‘Tis life that is lacking to that mere semblance of man.

Go! seek for that pearl it never will find.

The heads of earth’s lions were bowed down

When God gave might to the Seven Sleepers’ dog. 7

What mattered its despised form

When its soul was drowned in the sea of light?”

Human wisdom, the manifestation of divine.

On his way to the lion the hare lingered,

Devising a stratagem with himself.

He proceeded on his way after delaying long,

In order to have a secret or two for the lion.

What worlds the principle of Reason embraces!

How broad is this ocean of Reason!

Yea, the Reason of man is a boundless ocean.

O son, that ocean requires, as it were, a diver. ®

On this fair ocean our human forms

Float about, like bowls on the surface of water;

Yea like cups on the surface, till they are. filled:

And when filled, these cups sink into the water.

The ocean of Reason is not seen; reasoning men are seen;

But our forms (minds) are only as waves or spray thereof.

Whatever form that ocean uses as its instrument,

Therewith it casts its spray far and wide. 9

Till the heart sees the Giver of the secret,

Till it espies that Bowman shooting from afar,

It fancies its own steed lost, while in bewilderment

It is urging that steed hither and thither; 1°

It fancies its own steed lost, when all the while

That swift steed is bearing it on like the wind.

In deep distress that blunder head

Runs from door to door, searching and inquiring,

“Who and where is he that hath stolen my steed?”

They say, “What is this thou ridest on, O master?”

He says, “True, ‘tis a steed; but where is mine?”

They say, “Look to thyself, O rider; thy steed is there.”

The real Soul is lost to view, and seems far off; !!

Thou art like a pitcher with full belly but dry lip;

How canst thou ever see red, green, and scarlet

Unless thou seest the light first of all?

When thy sight is dazzled by colors,

These colors veil the light from thee.

But when night veils those colors from thee,

Thou seest that colors are seen only through light.

As there is no seeing outward colors without light,

So it is with the mental colors within.

Outward colors arise from the light of sun and stars,

And inward colors from the Light on high.

The light that lights the eye is also the heart’s Light;

The eye’s light proceeds from the Light of the heart.

But the light that lights the heart is the Light of God,

Which is distinct from the light of reason and sense.

At night there is no light, and colors are not seen:

Hence we know what light is by its opposite, darkness.

At night no colors are visible, for light is lacking.

How can color be the attribute of dark blackness?

Looking on light is the same as looking on colors;

Opposite shows up opposite, as a Frank a Negro.

The opposite of light shows what is light,

Hence colors too are known by their opposite.

God created pain and grief for this purpose,

To wit, to manifest happiness by its opposites. !

Hidden things are manifested by their opposites;

But, as God has no opposite. He remains hidden.

God’s light has no opposite in the range of creation

Whereby it may be manifested to view.

Perforce “Our eyes see not Him, though He sees us.” 1°

Behold this in the case of Moses and Mount Sinai. !4

Discern form from substance, as lion from desert,

Or as sound and speech from the thought they convey.

The sound and speech arise from the thought;

Thou knowest not where is the Ocean of thought;

Yet when thou seest fair waves of speech,

Thou knowest there is a glorious Ocean beneath them.

When waves of thought arise from the Ocean of Wisdom,

They assume the forms of sound and speech.

These forms of speech are born and die again,

These wa,ves cast themselves back into the Ocean.

Form is born of That which is without form,

And goes again, for, “Verily to Him do we return.

Wherefore to thee every moment come death and “return.”

» 15

Mustafa saith, “The world endureth only a moment.”

So, thought is an arrow shot by God into the air.

How can it stay in the air? It returns to God.

Every moment the world and we are renewed, !®

Yet we are ignorant of this renewing forever and aye.

Life, like a stream of water, is renewed and renewed,

Though it wears the appearance of continuity in form.

That seeming continuity arises from its swift renewal,

As when a single spark of fire is whirled round swiftly. !7

If a single spark be whirled round swiftly,

It seems to the eye a continuous line of fire.

This apparent extension, owing to the quick motion,

Demonstrates the rapidity with which it is moved.

If ye seek the deepest student of this mystery,

Lo! ‘tis Husamu-‘d-Din, the most exalted of creatures!

NOTES:

. “Trust in God and keep your powder dry.”

. “Laborare est orare.”

. Koran ii. 341.

“And He taught Adam the names of all things” (Koran ii. 29).

. The angels said, “We have no knowledge but what thou hast

given us to know” (Koran ii. 30).

. See Gulshan i Raz, I. 5438.

. Koran xviii. 17.

oF wo NY

a DD

8. See Gulshan i Raz, I. 575: The ocean of Reason is the same as

what is elsewhere called the ocean of Being, viz., the Noumenon,

or Divine substratum of all phenomenal being and thought.

9. “Those arrows were God’s, not vours” (Koran viii. 17); i.e., Man’s

reason proceeds from God, the “Only Real Agent.”

10. Alluding to the “Believer’s lost camel ” (Book II. Story XII,

infra.). Men seek wisdom, and do not know that in themselves is

the reflected wisdom of God (Gulshan i Raz, I. 435).

11. The real Soul, i.e., the spirit which God “breathed into man”

(Koran xv. 29). “In yourselves are signs; will ye not behold them?”

(Koran li, 21).

12. See Gulshan i Raz, I. 92. Mr. Mansel (Bampton Lectures, p. 49)

says: “A thing can be known as that which it is only by being

distinguished from that which it is not.” But the Infinite Deity ex

hypothesi includes all things; so there is nothing to contrast Him

with.

13. Koran vi. 103.

14, Koran vii. 139: “He said, ‘Thou shalt not see me.”

15. Koran ii. 151.

16. See Gulshan i Raz, I. 645: All phenomena are every moment

renewed by fresh effluxes of being from the Divine Noumenon.

17. See Gulshan i Raz, I. 710.

Story VI.

OMAR AND THE AMBASSADOR.

The hare, having delivered his companions from the tyranny

of the lion, in the manner just described, proceeds to improve

the occasion by exhorting them to engage in a greater and

more arduous warfare, viz., the struggle against their inward

enemy, the lusts of the flesh. He illustrates his meaning by the

story of an ambassador who was sent by the Emperor of Rum

to the Khalifa ‘Omar. On approaching Medina this

ambassador inquired for ‘Omar’s palace, and learned that

‘Omar dwelt in no material palace, but in a _ spiritual

tabernacle, only visible to purified hearts. At last he discerned

‘Omar lying under a palm-tree, and drew near to him in fear

and awe. ‘Omar received him kindly, and instructed him in the

doctrine of the mystical union with God. The ambassador

heard him gladly, and asked him two questions, first, How can

souls descend from heaven to earth? and secondly, With what

object are souls imprisoned in the bonds of flesh and blood?

‘Omar responded, and the ambassador accepted his teaching,

and became a pure-hearted Sufi. The hare urged his

companions to abjure lust and pride, and to go and do

likewise.

Gods agency reconciled with man’s freewill.

The ambassador said, “O Commander of the faithful,

How comes the soul down from above to earth?

How can so noble a bird be confined in a cage?”

He said, “God speaks words of power to souls,

To things of naught, without eyes or ears,

And at these words they all spring into motion:

At His words of power these nothings arise quickly,

And strong impulse urges them into existence.

Again, He speaks other spells to these creatures,

And swiftly drives them back again into Not-being.

He speaks to the rose’s ear, and causes it to bloom;

He speaks to the tulip, and makes it blossom.

He speaks a spell to body, and it becomes soul;

He speaks to the sun, and it becomes a fount of light.

Again, in its ear He whispers a word of power,

And its face is darkened as by a hundred eclipses.

What is it that God says to the ear of earth,

That it attends thereto and rests steadfast?

What is it that Speaker says to the cloud,

That it pours forth rain-water like a water-skin?

Whosoever is bewildered by wavering will, 1

In his ear hath God whispered His riddle,

That He may bind him on the horns of a dilemma;

For he says, ‘Shall I do this or its reverse”

Also from God comes the preference of one alternative;

‘Tis from God’s impulsion that man chooses one of the two.

If you desire sanity in this embarrassment,

Stuff not the ear of your mind with cotton.

Take the cotton of evil suggestions from the mind’s ear, ”

That the heavenly voice from above may enter it,

That you may understand that riddle of His,

That you may be cognisant of that open secret.

Then the mind’s ear becomes the sensorium of inspiration;

For what is this Divine voice but the inward voice? ®

The spirit’s eye and ear possess this sense,

The eye and ear of reason and sense lack it.

The word ‘compulsion’ makes me impatient for love’s sake;

‘Tis he who loves not who is fettered by compulsion.

This is close communion with God, not compulsion,

The shining of the sun, and not a dark cloud.

Or, if it be compulsion, ‘tis not common compulsion,

It is not the domination of wanton wilfulness.

O son, they understand this compulsion

For whom God opens the eyes of the inner man.

Things hidden and things future are plain to them:

To speak of the past seems to them despicable.

They possess freewill and compulsion besides, @

As in oyster-shells raindrops are pearls.

Outside the shell they are raindrops, great and small;

Inside they are precious pearls, big and little.

These men also resemble the musk deer’s bag;

Outside it is blood, but inside pure musk;

Yet, say not that outside ‘twas mere blood,

Which on entering the bag becomes musk.

Nor say that outside the alembic ‘twas mere copper,

And becomes gold inside, when mixed with elixir.

In you freewill and compulsion are vain fancies,

But in them they are the light of Almighty power.

On the table bread is a mere lifeless thing,

When taken into the body it is a life-giving spirit.

This transmutation occurs not in the table’s heart,

‘Tis soul effects this transmutation with water of life.

Such is the power of the soul, O man of right views!

Then what is the power of the Soul of souls? (God).

Bread is the food of the body, yet consider,

How can it be the food of the soul, O son?

Flesh-born man by force of soul

Cleaves mountains with tunnels and mines.

The might of Ferhad’s soul cleft a hill:

The might of the Soul’s soul cleaves the moon;

If the heart opens the mouth of mystery’s store,

The soul springs up swiftly to highest heaven.

If tongue discourses of hidden mysteries,

It kindles a fire that consumes the world.

Behold, then, God’s action and man’s action;

Know, action does belong to us; this is evident.

If no actions proceeded from men,

How could you say, ‘Why act ye thus?’

The agency of God is the cause of our action,

Our actions are the signs of God’s agency;

Nevertheless our actions are freely willed by us,

Whence our recompense is either hell or ‘The Friend.”

NOTES:

1. The poet’s insistence on the doctrine of God being the Fa’il i

Hakiki, or Only Real Agent, without whose word no being and no

action can be, leads him to the question of freewill and

compulsion of man’s will (see Gulshan i Raz, I. 555).

. So Gulshan i Raz, I. 442.

. The leading principle of all mysticism is that, independently of

sense and reason, man possesses an inward sense, or intuition,

which conveys to him a knowledge of God by direct apprehension

(see Gulshan i Raz. I. 431).

. Their wills are identified with God’s will, as in the case of the

saint Daquqi (infra, Book III. Story XII.)

. As a sign of the last day (Koran liv. 1).

ao nw

nN

On

Story VII.

THE MERCHANT AND HIS CLEVER PARROT.

There was a certain merchant who kept a parrot in a cage.

Being about to travel to Hindustan on business, he asked the

parrot if he had any message to send to his kinsmen in that

country, and the parrot desired him to tell them that he was

kept confined in a cage. The merchant promised to deliver this

message, and on reaching Hindustan, duly delivered it to the

first flock of parrots he saw. On hearing it one of them at once

fell down dead. The merchant was annoyed with his own

parrot for having sent such a fatal message, and on his return

home sharply rebuked his parrot for doing so. But the parrot

no sooner heard the merchant’s tale than ho too fell down dead

in his cage. The merchant, after lamenting his death, took his

corpse out of the cage and threw it away; but, to his surprise,

the corpse immediately recovered life, and flew away,

explaining that the Hindustani parrot had only feigned death

to suggest this way of escaping from confinement in a cage.

Saints are preserved from all harm ?.

As to a “man of heart,” he takes no hurt,

Even though he should eat deadly poison.

He who gains health from practicing abstinence is safe;

The poor disciple is safe in the midst of fever.

The prophet said, “O disciple, though you be bold,

Yet enter not into conflict with every foe.”

Within you is a Nimrod; enter not his fire;

But if you must do so, first become an Abraham. 2

If you are neither swimmer nor seaman,

Cast not yourself into the sea out of self-conceit.

A swimmer brings pearls from the deep sea;

Yea, he plucks gain from the midst of perils.

If the saint handles earth, it becomes gold;

If a sinner handles gold, it turns to dust.

Whereas the saint is well-pleasing to God,

In his actions his hand is the hand of God.

But the sinner’s hand is the hand of Satan and demons,

Because he is ensnared in falsity and fraud.

If folly meets him, he takes it for wisdom;

Yea, the learning gained by the wicked is folly.

Whatever a sick man eats is a source of sickness,

But if a saint imbibe infidelity it becomes faith.

Ah! footman who contendest with horsemen,

Thou wilt not succeed in carrying the day!

The jealousy of God ?.

The whole world is jealous for this cause,

That God surpasseth the world in jealousy.

God is as a soul and the world as a body,

And bodies derive their good and evil from souls.

He to whom the sanctuary of true prayer is revealed

Deems it shameful to turn back to mere formal religion.

He who is master of the robes of a king

Brings shame on his lord by petty huckstering.

He who is admitted to the king’s presence-chamber

Would show disrespect by tarrying at the doorway.

If the king grants him license to kiss his hand,

He would err were he to kiss merely the king’s foot.

Though to lay head at the king’s feet is due obeisance,

In the case supposed it would be wrong to kiss the feet.

The king’s jealousy would be kindled against him

Who, after he had seen his face, preferred his mere perfume.

God’s jealousy may be likened to a grain of wheat,

But man’s jealousy is but empty chaff.

For know ye that the source of jealousy is in God,

And man’s jealousy is only an offshoot from God’s.

But, let me now quit this subject, and make complaint

Of the severity of That Fickle Fair One.

Complaints of God’s harsh dealings with His adoring slaves.

“Wherefore dost thou abandon thy creed and faith?

What matters it if it be heathen or true?

Why hast thou forsaken thy Beloved?

What matters it if she be fair or ugly?” 4

Let me then, I say, make complaint

Of the severity of That Fickle Fair One.

I cry, and my cries sound sweet in His ear;

He requires from the two worlds cries and groans.

How shall I not wail under His chastening hand?

How shall I not be in the number of those bewitched by Him?

How shall I be other than night without His day?

Without the vision of His face that illumes the day?

His bitters are very sweets to my soul,

My sad heart is a lively sacrifice to my Beloved.

I am enamoured of my own grief and pain,

For it makes me well-pleasing to my peerless King.

I use the dust of my grief as salve for my eyes,

That my eyes, like seas, may teem with pearls.

The tears which are shed because of His chastening

Are very pearls, though men deem them mere tears.

‘Tis “The Soul of souls” of whom I am making complaint;

Yet I do not complain; I merely state my case.

My heart says, “He has injured me,”

But I laugh at these pretended injuries.

Do me justice, O Thou who art the glory of the just,

Who art the throne, and I the lintel of Thy door!

But, in sober truth, where are throne and doorway?

Where are “We” and “I?” There where our Beloved is!

O Thou, who art exempt from “Us” and “Me,”

Who pervadest the spirits of all men and women;

When man and woman become one, Thou art that One!

When their union is dissolved, lo! Thou abidest!

Thou hast made these “Us” and “Me” for this purpose,

To wit, to play chess with them by Thyself. ®

When Thou shalt become one entity with “Us” and “You.”

Then wilt Thou show true affection for these lovers.

When these “We” and “Ye” shall all become one Soul,

Then they will be lost and absorbed in the “Beloved.”

These are plain truths. Come then, O Lord!

Who art exalted above description and explanation!

Is it possible for the bodily eye to behold Thee?

Can mind of man conceive Thy frowns and Thy smiles?

Are hearts, when bewitched by Thy smiles and frowns, ®

In a fit state to see the vision of Thyself?

When our hearts are bewitched by Thy smiles and frowns,

Can we gain life from these two alternating states?

The fertile garden of love, as it is boundless,

Contains other fruits besides joy and sorrow.

The true lover is exalted above these two states,

He is fresh and green independently of autumn or spring!

Pay tithe on Thy beauty, O Beauteous One!

Tell forth the tale of the Beloved, every whit!

For through coquetry His glances

Are still inflicting fresh wounds on my heart.

I gave Him leave to shed my blood, if He willed it;

I only said, “Is it right? ” and He forsook me.

Why dost Thou flee from the cries of us on earth?

Why pourest Thou sorrow on the heart of the sorrowful?

O Thou who, as each new morn dawns from the east,

Art seen uprising anew, like a bright fountain!

What excuse makest Thou for Thy witcheries?

O Thou whose lips are sweeter than sugar,

Thou that ever renewest the life of this old world,

Hear the cry of this lifeless body and heart!

But, for God’s sake, leave off telling of the Rose:

Tell of the Bulbul who is severed from his Rose.

My ardour arises not from joy or grief,

My sense mates not with illusion and fancy.

My condition is different, for it is strange.

Deny it not! God is all-powerful.

Argue not from the condition of common men,

Stumble not at severity and at mercy.

For mercy and severity, joy and sorrow, are transient,

And transient things die; “God is heir of all.” 7

“Tis dawn! O Protector and Asylum of the dawn!

Make excuse for me to my lord Husamu-‘d-Din!

Thou makest excuses for c(Universal Reason and Soul; ®

Soul of souls and Gem of life art Thou!

The light of my dawn is a beam from Thy light,

Shining in the morning draught of Thy protection!

Since Thy gift keeps me, as it were, intoxicated,

What is this spiritual wine that causes me this joy?

Natural wine lacks the ferment in my breast,

The spheres lag behind me in revolutions!

Wine is intoxicated with me, not I with it!

The world takes its being from me, not I from it!

I am like bees, and earthly bodies like wax, 9

I build up these bodies as with my own wax!

NOTES:

1. This is a comment on the saying of Faridu-‘d-Din Attar, “Thou art

a man of lusts, O fool! In dust eat blood! but if a man of heart eats

poison, ‘tis as honey.”

2. See Koran xxi. 68, and Rodwell’s note.

3. This is a comment on the Hadis, “Verily Sa’d is a jealous man,

and I am more jealous than he, and God is more jealous than I,

and of His jealousy He prohibits ‘All pollutions, both outward and

inward.” (Koran vi. 152.)

4. This is a quotation from Hakim Sanai, and forms the text of the

following discourse.

5. See Gulshan i Raz, I. 140, and Omar Khayyam Quatr., 270.

6. See Gulshan i Raz, I. 745: Frowns are the occultation of the

Beloved by the veil of phenomena; smiles, the revelation of

Absolute Being to its votaries. Sa’di (Gulistan, Book II. Story XI.)

says: “The vision, of God to the pious consists of manifestation

and occultation; He shows Himself, and again withdraws Himself

from our sight.”

7. Koran xv. 23.

8. i.e., the Logos, and First Soul, upposed to be referred to in the

text: “O men, fear your Lord, who hath created you from one

Soul, and of him created his wife” (Koran iv. I). See Gulshan i

Raz, I. 208.

9. 1.e., in his spiritual exaltation he feels himself as the Logos,

where from tho whole material creation emanates.

Story VIII.

THE HARPER.

In the time of the Khalifa ‘Omar there lived a harper, whose

voice was as sweet as that of the angel Israfil, and who was in

great request at all feasts. But he grew old, and his voice

broke, and no one would employ him any longer. In despair he

went to the burial-ground of

Yathrub, and there played his harp to God, looking to Him for

recompense. Having finished his melody he fell asleep, and

dreamed he was in heaven. The same night a divine voice

came to ‘Omar, directing him to go to the burial-ground, and

relieve an old man whom he should find there. ‘Omar

proceeded to the place, found the harper, and gave him money,

promising him more when he should need it. The harper cast

away his harp, saying that it had diverted him from God, and

expressed great contrition for his past sins. ‘Omar then

instructed him that his worldly journey was now over, and

that he must not give way to contrition for the past, as he was

now entered into the state of ecstasy and intoxication of union

with God, and in this exalted state regard to past and future

should be swept away. The harper acted on his instructions,

and sang no more.

Apology for applying the term “Bride” to God.

Mustafa became beside himself at that sweet call,

His prayer failed on “the night of the early morning halt.”

He lifted not head from that blissful sleep,” !

So that his morning prayer was put off till noon.

On that, his wedding night, in presence of his bride,

His pure soul attained to kiss her hands.

Love and mistress are both veiled and hidden,

Impute it not as a fault if I call Him “Bride.”

I would have kept silence from fear of my Beloved,

If He had granted me but a moment’s respite.

But He said, “Speak on, ‘tis no fault,

‘Tis naught but the necessary result of the hidden decree,

‘Tis a fault only to him who only sees faults.

How can the Pure Hidden Spirit notice faults?”

Faults seem so to ignorant creatures,

Not in the sight of the Lord of Benignity.

Blasphemy even may be wisdom in the Creator’s si ht,

Whereas from our point of view it is grievous sin.

If one fault occur among a hundred beauties

‘Tis as one dry stick in a garden of green herbs.

Both weigh equally in the scales

For the two resemble body and soul.

Wherefore the sages have said not idly,

” The bodies of the righteous are as pure souls.”

Their words, their actions, their praises,

Are all as a pure soul without spot or blemish.

‘Omar rebukes the Harper for brooding over and bewailing the

past.

Then ‘Omar said to him, “This wailing of thine

Shows thou art still in a state of’ sobriety.”

Afterwards he thus urged him to quit that state

And called him out of his beggary to absorption in God:

“Sobriety savours of memory of the past;

Past and future are what veil God from our sight.

Burn up both of them with fire! How long

Wilt thou be partitioned by these segments as a reed?

So long as a reed has partitions ‘tis not privy to secrets,

Nor is it vocal in response to lip and breathing.

While circumambulating the house thou art a stranger;

When thou enterest in thou art at home.

Thou whose knowledge is ignorance of the Giver of knowledge,

Thy wailing contrition is worse than thy sin.

The road of the ‘annihilated’ is another road;

Sobriety is wrong, and a straying from that other road.

O thou who seekest to be contrite for the past,

How wilt thou be contrite for this contrition?

At one time thou adorest the music of the lute,

At another embracest wailing and weeping.”

While the “Discerner” reflected these mysteries,

The heart of the harper was emancipated.

Like a soul he was freed from weeping and rejoicing,

His old life died, and he was regenerated.

Amazement fell upon him at that moment,

For he was exalted above earth and heaven,

An uplifting of the heart surpassing all uplifting:

I cannot describe it: if you can, say on!

Ecstasy and words beyond all ecstatic words;

Immersion in the glory of the Lord of glory!

Immersion wherefrom was no extrication,

As it were identification with the Very Ocean!

Partial Reason is as naught to Universal Reason,

If one impulse dependent on another impulse be naught;

But when that impulse moves this impulse,

The waves of that sea rise to this point; 2

NOTES:

1. The night of his marriage with Safiyya.

2.1.e., he is possessed by the Deity as an “Energumen,” and the

Deity works these ecstatic states in him.

Story IX.

THE ARAB AND HIS WIFE.

An Arab lived with his wife in the desert in extreme poverty,

so that they became a reproach to their neighbours. The wife

at last lost patience, and began to abuse her husband, and to

urge him to improve their condition. The Arab rebuked her for

her covetousness, reminding her that the Prophet had said,

“Poverty is my glory,” and showing her how poverty was a

better preparation for death than riches, and finally

threatening to divorce her if she persisted in her querulous

ways. The wife, however, by blandishments reduced her

husband to obedience, as wives always do, and made him

promise to carry out her wishes. She directed him to go and

represent their case to the Khalifa at Bagdad, and to make

him an offering of a pot of water, that being the only present

they could afford to make. Accordingly the Arab travelled to

Bagdad, and laid his offering at the feet of the Khalifa, who

received it graciously, and in return filled the pot with pieces

of gold, and then sent him back to his home in a boat up the

river Tigris. The Arab was lost in wonder at the benignity of

the Khalifa, who had recompensed him so bountifully for his

petty offering of a drop of water. The story contains several

digressions, on Pharaoh, on the prophet Salih, and on Adam

and the angels, and the poet, apropos of its disconnectedness,

compares it to eternity, as it has no beginning and no end.

Men subdued by womens wiles.

In this manner she pleaded with gentle coaxing,

The while her tears fell upon her cheeks.

How could his firmness and endurance abide

When even without tears she could charm his heart?

That rain brought forth a flash of lightning

Which kindled a spark in the heart of that poor man.

Since the man was the slave of her fair face,

How was it when she stooped to slavish entreaties?

When she whose airs set thy heart a-quaking,

When she weeps, how feelest thou then?

When she whose coquetry makes thy heart bleed

Condescends to entreaties, how is it then?

She who subdues us with her pride and severity,

What plea is left us when she begins to plead?

When she who traded in naught but bloodshed

Submits at last, ah! what a profit she makes!

God has adorned them “fair in the sight of men;” !

From her whom God has adorned how can man escape?

Since He created him “to dwell together with her,” ”

How can Adam sever himself from his Eve?

Though he be Rustum, son of Zal, and braver than Hamza,

Yet he is submissive to the behests of his dame.

He by whose preaching the world was entranced

Was he who spake the two words, “O Humaira!”

Though water prevails over fire in might,

Yet it boils by fire when in a cauldron.

When the cauldron intervenes between these two,

Air (desire) makes as naught the action of the water.

Apparently thou art the ruler of thy wife, like water:

In reality thou art ruled by and suppliant to her.

Such is the peculiarity of man,

He cannot withstand animal desire: that is his failing.

The Prophet said that women hold dominion

Over sages and over men of heart,

But that fools, again, hold the upper hand over women,

Because fools are violent and exceedingly froward.

They have no tenderness or gentleness or amity,

Because the animal nature sways their temperament.

Love and tenderness are qualities of humanity,

Passion and lust are qualities of animality.

Woman is a ray of God, not a mere mistress,

The Creator’s self, as it were, not a mere creature!

Moses and Pharaoh, alike doers of Gods will, as Light and

Darkness. Poison and Antidote.

Verily, both Moses and Pharaoh walked in the right way,

Though seemingly the one did so, and the other not.

By day Moses wept before God,

At midnight Pharaoh lifted up his cry,

Saying, “What a yoke is this upon my neck, O God!

Were it not for this yoke who would boast, ‘I am?’

Because Thou hast made Moses’ face bright as the moon,

And hast made the moon of my face black in the face.

Can my star ever shine brighter than the moon?

If it be eclipsed, what remedy have I?

Though princes and kings beat drums,

And men beat cymbals because of my eclipse,

They beat their brass dishes and raise a clamour,

And make my moon ashamed thereby,

I, who am Pharaoh, woe is me! The people’s clamour

Confounds my boast, ‘Iam Lord Supreme!’ ®

Moses and I are Thy nurslings both alike,

Yet Thy axe cuts down tho branches in Thy woods.

Some of these branches Thou plantest in the ground,

Others Thou castest away as useless.

Can branch strive against axe? Not so.

Can branch elude the power of the axe? Nay,

O Lord of the power that dwells in Thy axe,

In mercy make these crooked things straight!”

Man and wife types of the spirit and the flesh.

The dissension of this husband and wife is a parable;

They are types of thy animal and rational souls.

This husband and wife are the reason and the flesh,

A couple joined together for good and for evil.

And in this earthly house this linked pair

Day and night are ever at variance and strife.

The wife is ever seeking dainties for domestic needs,

Namely, bread and meat and her own dignity and position.

Like the wife, the animal soul seeks comfort,

Sometimes carnal, sometimes ambitious;

Reason has no care for these matters,

In its mind is naught but regard to Allah.

Though the secret moral hereof is a bait and snare,

Hear its outward form to the end.

If spiritual manifestations had been sufficient,

The creation of the world had been needless and vain.

If spiritual thought were equivalent to love of God,

Outward forms of temples and prayers would not exist.

Presents which friends make one to another

Are naught but signs and indications,

To give outward testimony and witness

Of the love concealed within the heart.

Because outward attentions are evidence

Of secret love, O beloved!

The witness may be true or false,

Now drunk with real wine, now with sour whey;

He who drinks fermented whey displays drunkenness,

Makes a noise, and reels to and fro.

That hypocrite in prayers and fasts

Displays exceeding diligence,

That men may think him drunk with love of God;

But if you look into the truth, he is drowned in hypocrisy.

In fine, outward actions are guides

To show the way to what is concealed within.

Sometimes the guide is true, sometimes false,

Sometimes a help, and at other times a hindrance.

O Lord, grant, in answer to my prayers, discernment,

That I may know such false signs from the true!

Know you how discernment accrues to the sense?

‘Tis when sense “sees by the light of Allah.”

If effects are obscure, still causes testify;

Kindred, for instance, shows that there is love.

But he to whom God’s light is the guide

Is no longer a slave to effects and causes.

When the light of Allah illumes his senses,

A man is no longer a slave to effects.

When love of God kindles a flame in the inward man,

He burns, and is freed from effects.

He has no need of signs to assure him of love,

For love casts its own light up to heaven.

Other details are wanting to complete this subject,

But take this much, and all hail to you!

Though reality is exposed to view in this form,

Form is at once nigh to and far from reality.

For instance, these two resemble water and a tree;

When you look to their essence they are far apart;

Yet see how quickly a seed becomes a high tree

Out of water, along with earth and sunshine!

If you turn your eyes to their real essence,

These two are far, far apart from each other!

But let us quit this talk of essences and properties,

And return to the story of those two wealth-seekers.

How God made Adam superior to the Angels in wisdom and

honour.

He said, “By Allah, who knoweth hidden secrets,

Who created pure Adam out of dust:

In the form, three cubits high, which he gave him,

He displayed the contents of all spirits, all decrees!

Communicated to him the indelible tablet of existence, ®

That he might know all that is written on those tablets,

All that should be first and last to endless eternity

He taught him, with the knowledge of his own ‘names,’

So that the angels were beside themselves at his instruction,

And gained more sanctity from his sanctification.

The expansion of their minds, which Adam brought about,

Was a thing unequalled by the expansion of the heavens.

For the wide expanse of that pure mind

The wide space of the seven heavens was not enough.”

The Prophet said that God has declared,

“T am not contained in aught above or below,

I am not contained in earth or sky, or even

In highest heaven. Know this for a surety. O beloved!

Yet am I contained in the believer’s heart!

If ye seek me, search in such hearts!”

He said also, “Enter the hearts of my servants ®

To gain the paradise of beholding Me, O fearer of God.”

Highest heaven, with all its light and wide expanse,

When it beheld Adam, was shaken from its place!

Highest heaven is greatness itself revealed:

But what is form when reality draws nigh?

Every angel declared, “In times of yore

We bore friendship to the plains of earth;

We were wont to sow the seed of service on the earth,

Wherefore we bore a wondrous attachment to it.

What was this attachment to that house of earth

When our own natures are heavenly?

What was the friendship of lights like us to darkness?

How can light dwell together with darkness?

O Adam! that friendship arose from the scent of thee,

Because the earth is the warp and weft of thy body.

Thy earthly body was taken from there,

Thy pure spirit of light was shed down from here!

But our souls were enlightened by thy spirit 9

Long, long before earth had diverted it to itself.

We used to be on earth, ignorant of tho earth,

Ignorant of the treasure buried within it.

When we were commanded to depart from that place,

We felt sorrow at turning our steps away from it.

So that we raised many questions, saying,

>O Lord! who will come to take our place?

Wilt Thou barter the glory of our praises and homage

For the vain babble (of men)?’

The commands of God then diffused joy upon us; He said,

‘What are ye saying at such length?

What ye give tongue to so foolishly

Is as the words of spoiled children to their father.

I knew of myself what ye thought,

But I desired that ye should speak it;

As this boasting of yours is very improper,

So shall my mercy be shown to prevail over my wrath:

O angels, in order to show forth that prevailing,

I inspired that pretension to cavil and doubt:

If you say your say, and I forbear to punish you,

The gainsayers of my mercy must hold their peace.

My mercy equals that of a hundred fathers and mothers;

Every soul that is born is amazed thereat.

Their mercy is as the foam of the sea of my mercy;

It is mere foam of waves, but the sea abides ever!

What more shall I say? In that earthly shell

There is naught but foam of foam of foam of foam

God is that foam; God is also that pure sea,

For His words are neither a temptation nor a vain boast.

4?

Plurality and Partial Evil, though seemingly opposed to Unity,

subserve Good.

The story is now concluded, with its ups and downs,

Like lovers’ musings, without beginning or ending.

It has no beginning, even as eternity,

Nor ending, for ‘tis akin to world without end.

Or like water, each drop whereof is at once

Beginning and end, and also has no beginning or end.

But God forbid! This story is not a vain fable,

‘Tis the ready money of your state and mine, be sure!

Before every Sufi who is enlightened

Whatever is past is never mentioned.

When his whole thoughts are absorbed in present ecstasy,

No thought of consequences enters his mind.

Arab, water-pot, and angels are all ourselves!

“Whatsoever turneth from God is turned from Him.” 1

Know the husband is reason, the wife lust and greed;

She is vested with darkness and a gainsayer of reason.

Learn now whence springs the root of this circumstance,

From this, that the Whole has parts of divers kinds.

These parts of the Whole are not parts in relation to it,

Not in the way that rose’s scent is a part of the rose.

The beauty of the green shoot is part of the rose’s beauty,

But the turtle-dove’s cooing is a part of that Bulbuls music.

But if I engage in doubts and answers,

How can I give water to thirsty souls?

Yet, if you are perplexed by Whole and finite parts,

Have patience, for c( patience is the key of joy.”

Be abstinent, abstinent from vague thoughts,

Since there are lions in that desert (of thoughts).

Abstinence is the prince of medicines,

As scratching only aggravates a scab.

Abstinence is certainly the root of medicine;

Practise abstinence, see how it invigorates thy soul!

Accept this counsel and give ear thereto,

That it may be to thee as an earring of gold!

Nay, not a mere earring, but that thou mayest be a mine of

gold,

Or that thou mayest surpass moon and Pleiades.

First, know creation is in various forms;

Souls are as various as the letters from Alif to Ya.

In this variety of letters there seems disorder,

Though in fact they agree in an integral unity.

In one aspect they are opposed, in another united;

In one aspect capricious, in another serious.

The day of judgment is the day of tho great review;

Whoso is fair and enlightened longs for that review:

Whoso, like a Hindoo, is black (with sin),

The day of review will sound the knell of his disgrace.

Since he has not a face like a sun,

He desires only night like to a veil!

If his thorn puts not forth a single rosebud,

The spring in disclosing him is his foe.

But he who is from head to foot a perfect rose or lily,

To him spring brings rejoicing.

The useless thorn desires the autumn,

That autumn may associate itself with the garden:

And hide the rose’s beauty and the thorn’s shame,

That men may not see the bloom of the one and the other’s

shame,

That common stone and pure ruby may appear all as one.

True, the Gardener knows the difference even in autumn,

But the sight of One is better than the world’s sight.

That One Person is Himself the world, as He is the sun,

And every star in heaven is a part of the sun.

That One Person is Himself the world, and the rest

Are all His dependents and parasites, O man!

He is the perfect world, yet He is single:

He holds in hand the writing of the whole of existence.

Wherefore all forms and colours of beauty cry out,

” Good news! good news! Lo! the spring is at hand!”

If the blossoms did not shine as bright helmets,

How could the fruits display their globes?

When the blossoms are shed the fruits come to a head,

When tho body is destroyed the soul lifts up its head.

The fruit is the substance, the blossom only its form,

Blossom the good news, and fruit the promised boon.

When the blossoms fall the fruit appears,

When the former vanish the fruit is tasted.

Till bread is broken, how can it serve as food?

Till the grapes are crushed, how can they yield wine?

Till citrons be pounded up with drugs,

How can they afford healing to the sick?

NOTES:

. Koran ii. 12.

. Koran iii. 189.

. Muhammad said these words to his wife, Ayisha.

. Compare the ancient custom of ringing bells to still thunder.

Koran lxxix. 24. Pharaoh’s boast.

. The tablet on which God writes His eternal decrees.

. Koran ii. 29.

. Koran lxxxix. 29.

CMON AAR WHY

. The Logos, the first of created beings, was afterwards embodied

in Adam, the “Perfect Man,” or Microcosm.

=

j=)

. He is the “son of the time present and instant,” as said above.

. Koran li. 9.

a

HB

Story X.

THE MAN WHO WAS TATTOOED.

It was the custom of the men of Qazwin to have various

devices tattooed upon their bodies. A certain coward went to

the artist to have such a device tattooed on his back, and

desired that it might be the figure of a lion. But when he felt

the pricks of the needles he roared with pain, and said to the

artist, “What part of the lion are you now painting?” The artist

replied, “I am doing the tail.” The patient cried, “Never mind

the tail; go on with another part.” The artist accordingly began

in another part, but the patient again cried out and told him

to try somewhere else. Wherever the artist applied his

needles, the patient raised similar objections, till at last the

artist dashed all his needles and pigments on the ground, and

refused to proceed any further.

The Prophet’ counsels to ‘Ali to follow the direction of the Pir

or Spiritual Guide, and to endure his chastisements patiently.

The Prophet said to ‘Ali, “O ‘Ali,

Thou art the Lion of God, a hero most valiant;

Yet confide not in thy lion-like valour,

But seek refuge under the palm-trees of the “Truth.’

Whoso takes obedience as his exemplar

Shares its proximity to the ineffable Presence.

Do thou seek to draw near to Reason: let not thy heart

Rely, like others, on thy own virtue and piety.

Come under the shadow of the Man of Reason, 1

Thou canst not find it in the road of the traditionists.

That man enjoys close proximity to Allah;

Turn not away from obedience to him in any wise;

For he makes the thorn a bed of roses,

And gives sight to the eyes of the blind.

His shadow on earth is as that of Mount Qaf,

His spirit is as a Simurgh soaring on high.

He lends aid to the slaves of the friends of God,

And advances to high place them who seek him.

Were I to tell his praises till the last day,

My words would not be too many nor admit of curtailment,

He is the sun of the spirit, not that of the sky,

For from his light men and angels draw life.

That sun is hidden in the form of a man,

Understand me! Allah knows the truth.

O ‘Ali, out of all forms of religious service

Choose thou the shadow of that dear friend of God!

Every man takes refuge in some form of service,

And chooses for himself some asylum:

Do thou seek refuge in the shadow of the wise man,

That thou mayest escape thy fierce secret foes.

Of all forms of service this is fittest for thee;

Thou shalt surpass all who were before thee.

Having chosen thy Director, be submissive to him,

Even as Moses submitted to the commands of Khizr;

Have patience with Khizr’s actions, O sincere one!

Lest he say, ‘There is a partition between us.’

Though he stave in thy boat, yet hold thy peace:

Though he slay a young man, heave not a sigh.

God declares his hand to be even as God’s hand,

For He saith, ( The hand of God is over their hands.’ ?

The hand of God impels him and gives him life;

Nay, not life only, but an eternal soul.

A friend is needed; travel not the road alone,

Take not thy own way through this desert!

Whoso travels this road alone

Only does so by aid of the might of holy men.

The hand of the Director is not weaker than theirs;

His hand is none other than the grasp of Allah!

If absent saints can confer such protection,

Doubtless present saints are more powerful than absent.

If such food be bestowed on the absent,

What dainties may not the guest who is present expect?

The courtier who attends in the presence of the king

Is served better than the stranger outside the gate.

The difference between them is beyond calculation;

One sees the light, the other only the veil.

Strive to obtain entrance within,

If thou wouldst not remain as a ring outside the door.

Having chosen thy Director, be not weak of heart,

Nor yet sluggish and lax as water and mud;

But if thou takest umbrage at every rub,

How wilt thou become a polished mirror?”

NOTES:

1. 1.e., the Pir, or Perfect Shaikh, or Spiritual Director. So St. John

of the Cross and St. Theresa enjoin obedience to the Director

(Vaughan, xii. 122).

2. See Koran xviii. 77 for the story of Moses and Khizr. It is also

given in Parnell’s ‘Hermit.’

3. Koran xlviii. 10.

Story XI.

THE LION WHO HUNTED WITH THE WOLF AND THE

Fox.

A lion took a wolf and a fox with him on a hunting excursion,

and succeeded in catching a wild ox, an ibex, and a hare. He

then directed the wolf to divide the prey. The wolf proposed to

award the ox to the lion, the ibex to himself, and the hare to

the fox. The lion was enraged with the wolf because he had

presumed to talk of “I” and “Thou,” and “My share” and “Thy

share” when it all belonged of right to the lion, and he slew the

wolf with one blow of his paw. Then, turning to the fox, he

ordered him to make the division. The fox, rendered wary by

the fate of the wolf, replied that the whole should be the

portion of the lion. The lion, pleased with his self-abnegation,

gave it all up to him, saying, “Thou art no longer a fox, but

myself.”

Till man destroys “self” he 1s no true friend of God.

Once a man came and knocked at the door of his friend.

His friend said, “who art thou. O faithful one?”

He said, “Tis I.” He answered, “There is no admittance.

There is no room for the ‘raw’ at my well-cooked feast.

Naught but fire of separation and absence

Can cook the raw one and free him from hypocrisy!

Since thy ‘self’ has not yet left thee,

Thou must be burned in fiery flames.”

The poor man went away, and for one whole year

Journeyed burning with grief for his friend’s absence.

His heart burned till it was cooked; then he went again

And drew near to the house of his friend.

He knocked at the door in fear and trepidation

Lest some careless word might fall from his lips.

His friend shouted, “Who is that at the door?”

He answered, “Tis Thou who art at the door. O Beloved!”

The friend said, “Since ‘tis I, let me come in,

There is not room for two ‘T’s’ in one house.”

Story XII.

JOSEPH AND THE MIRROR.

An old friend came to pay his respects to Joseph, and, after

some remarks upon the bad behaviour of his brethren, Joseph

asked him what present he had brought to show his respect.

The friend replied that he had long considered what gift would

be most suitable to offer, and at last had fixed upon a mirror,

which he accordingly produced from his pocket and presented

to Joseph, at the same time begging him to admire his own

beauteous face in it.

Detect and Not-being the Mirror wherein Absolute Perfect

Being is reflected 1.

He drew forth a mirror from his side

A mirror is what Beauty busies itself with.

Since Not-being is tho mirror of Being,

If you are wise, choose Not-being (self-abnegation).

Being may be displayed in that Not-being,

Wealthy men show their liberality on the poor.

He who is an hungered is the clear mirror of bread,

The tinder is the mirror of the flint and steel.

Not-being and Defect, wherever they occur,

Are the mirrors of the Beauty of all beings.

Because Not-being is a clear filtered essence,

Wherein all these beings are infused.

When a garment is made by a good tailor,

‘Tis an evidence of the tailor’s art.

Logs of wood would not be duly shaped

Did not the carpenter plan outline and detail.

The leech skilled in setting bones goes

Where lies the patient with a broken leg.

If there were no sick and infirm,

How could the excellence of the leech’s art be seen?

If vile base copper were not mingled,

How could the alchemist show his skill?

Defects are the mirrors of the attributes of Beauty,

The base is the mirror of the High and Glorious One,

Because one contrary shows forth its contrary, ?

As honey’s sweetness is shown by vinegar’s sourness.

Whoso recognizes and confesses his own defects

Is hastening in the way that leads to perfection!

But he advances not towards the Almighty

Who fancies himself to be perfect.

No sickness worse than fancying thyself perfect

Can infect thy soul, O arrogant misguided one!

Shed many tears of blood from eyes and heart,

That this self-satisfaction may be driven out.

The fault of Iblis lay in saying, “I am better than he,” ?

And this same weakness lurks in the soul of all creatures.

NOTES:

1. Compare the parallel passage in Gulshan i Raz, 1. 135, and the

notes thereon.

2. Cp. “Religio Medici,” Sect. 35: “Herein is divinity conformant unto

philosophy, and not only generation founded on contrarieties, but

also creation. God, being all things, is contrary unto nothing; out

of which were made all things, and so nothing became something,

and Omneity informed nullity into existence.”

3. Koran vii. II.

Story XIII.

THE PROPHET’S SCRIBE.

The Prophet had a scribe who used to write down the texts

that fell from his lips. At last this scribe became so conceited

that he imagined all this heavenly wisdom proceeded from his

own wit, and not from the Prophet. Puffed up with self-

importance, he fancied himself inspired, and his heart was

hardened against his master, and he became a renegade, like

the fallen angels Harut and Marut. He took his own foolish

surmises to be the truth, whereas they were all wide of the

mark, as those of the deaf man who went to condole with a

sick neighbour and answered all his remarks at cross

purposes.

How philosophers deceive themselves.

On the last day, ' “when Earth shall quake with quaking,”

This earth shall give witness of her condition.

For she “shall tell out her tidings openly,”

Yea, earth and her rocks shall tell them forth!

The philosopher reasons from base analogies

(True reason comes not out of a dark corner);

The philosopher (I say) denies this in his pride of intellect.

Say to him, “Go, dash thy head against a wall!”

The speech of water, of earth, of mire,

Is audible by the ears of men of heart!

Tho philosopher, who denies Divine Providence,

Is a stranger to the perceptions of saints.

He says that the flashes of men’s morbid imaginations

Instil many vain fancies into men’s minds.

But, on the contrary, ‘tis his perverseness and want of faith

Which implant in himself this vain fancy of negation.

The philosopher denies the existence of the Devil;

At the same time he is the Devil’s laughing-stock.

If thou hast not seen the Devil, look at thyself,

Without demon’s aid how came that blue turban ? on thy

brow?

Whosoever has a doubt or disquietude in his heart

Is a secret denier and philosopher.

Now and then he displays firm belief,

But that slight dash of philosophy blackens his face.

Beware, O believers! That lurks in you too;

You may develop innumerable states of mind.

All the seventy and two heresies lurk in you;

Have a care lest one day they prevail over you!

He in whose breast the leaf of true faith is grown

Must tremble as a leaf from fear of such a catastrophe.

Thou makest a mock of Iblis and the Devil,

Because thou art a fine man in thy own sight;

But when thy soul shall tell thy wretched faults,

What lamentation thou wilt cause to the faithful!

The sellers of base gold sit smiling in their shops,

Because the touchstone is not as yet in their sight.

O Veiler of sins! strip not the veil from us;

Lend us aid on the day of trial!

NOTES:

1. Koran xcix. 1-4.

2. Blue turbans were considered a sign of hypocrisy (Hafiz, Ode 5).

Story XIV.

THE CHINESE AND THE GREEK ARTISTS.

The Chinese and the Greeks disputed before the Sultan which

of them were the better painters; and, in order to settle the

dispute, the Sultan allotted to each a house to be painted by

them. The Chinese procured all kinds of paints, and coloured

their house in the most elaborate way. The Greeks, on the

other hand, used no colours at all, but contented themselves

with cleansing the walls of their house from all filth, and

burnishing them till they were as clear and bright as the

heavens. When the two houses were offered to tho Sultan’s

inspection, that painted by tho Chinese was much admired;

but the Greek house carried off the palm, as all the colours of

the other house were reflected on its walls with an endless

variety of shades and hues.

Knowledge of the heart preterable to the knowledge of the

schools.

The knowledge of men of heart bears them up,

The knowledge of men of the body weighs them down.

When ‘tis knowledge of the heart, it is a friend:

When knowledge of the body, it is a burden.

God saith, “As an ass bearing a load of books,” !

The knowledge which is not of Him is a burden.

Knowledge which comes not immediately from Him

Endures no longer than the rouge of the tirewoman.

Nevertheless, if you bear this burden in a right spirit

“Twill be removed, and you will obtain joy.

See you bear not that burden out of vainglory,

Then you will behold a store of true knowledge within.

When you mount the steed of this true knowledge,

Straightway the burden will fall from your back.

If you drink not His cup, how will you escape lusts?

You, who seek no more of Him than to name His name?

What do His name and fame suggest? The idea of Him.

And the idea of Him guides you to union with Him.

Know you a guide without something to which it guides?

Were there no roads there would be no ghouls.

Know you a name without a thing answering to it?

Have you ever plucked a rose (Gul) from Gaf and Lam?

You name His name; go, seek the reality named by it!

Look for the moon in heaven, not in the water!

If you desire to rise above mere names and letters,

Make yourself free from self at one stroke!

Like a sword be without trace of soft iron;

Like a steel mirror, scour off all rust with contrition;

Make yourself pure from all attributes of self,

That you may see your own pure bright essence!

Yea, see in your heart the knowledge of the Prophet,

Without book, without tutor, without preceptor.

The Prophet saith, “He is one of my people,

Whoso is of like temper and spirit with me.

His soul beholds me by the selfsame light

Whereby I myself behold him,

Without traditions and scriptures and histories,

In the fount of the water of life.”

Learn the mystery, “I was last night a Kurd,

And this morning am become an Arab.” ?

This mystery of “last night” and “this morning”

Leads you into the road that brings you to God.

But if you want an instance of this secret knowledge,

Hear the story of the Greeks and the Chinese.

NOTES:

1. Koran 1xii. 5.

2. Syad Abu’l Wafa, an unlettered Kurd, found a paper with the

words Bismillah upon it, and, after spending the night in prayer,

found himself able to understand Arabic (Luck-now

Commentator).

Story XV.

COUNSELS OF RESERVE GIVEN BY THE PROPHET TO

HIS FREEDMAN ZAID.

At dawn the Prophet said to Zaid,

“How is it with thee this morning, O pure disciple?”

He replied, “Thy faithful slave am I.” Again he said,

“If the garden of faith has bloomed, show a token of it.”

He answered, “I was athirst many days,

By night I slept not for the burning pangs of love;

So that I passed by days and nights,

As the point of a spear glances off a shield.

For in that state all faith is one,

A hundred thousand years and a moment are all one:

World without beginning and world without end are one;

Reason finds no entrance when mind is thus lost.”

The Prophet again urged Zaid to deliver to him a present

from that celestial region, as a token that he had really been

there in the spirit. Zaid answered that he had seen the eight

heavens and the seven hells, and the destinies of all men,

whether bound to heaven or hell. The body, he said, is as a

mother, and the soul as her infant, and death is the time of

parturition, when it becomes manifest to what class the infant

soul belongs. As, on the day of judgment it will be manifest to

all men whether a soul belongs to the saved or to the lost, so

now it was plain and manifest to him. He went on to ask the

Prophet if he should publish this secret knowledge of his to all

men, or hold his peace. The Prophet told him to hold his peace.

Zaid, however, proceeded to detail the vision of the last

judgment, which he had seen when in the spirit; and the

Prophet again commanded him to pause, adding that” God is

never ashamed to say the truth,” 1 and allows His Prophet to

speak forth the truth, but that for Zaid to blab forth the

secrets seen in ecstatic vision would be wrong. Zaid replied

that it was impossible for one who had once beheld the Sun of

“The Truth” to keep his vision a secret. But the Prophet in

reply instructed him that all men are masters of their own

wills, and that he must not reveal what God has determined to

keep secret till the last day, in order to leave men till then

under the stimulus of hope and fear, and to give them the

credit of “believing what is not seen.” ? More honour is given to

the warder of a castle who faithfully executes his trust at a

distance from the court than to those courtiers who serve

constantly under the king’s own eye. Zaid submitted to tho

Prophet’s injunctions, and remained self-contained in his

ecstatic visions. Anecdotes of the sage Luqman, of King

Solomon, and of a conflagration in the days of the Khalifa

‘Omar complete the section.

The Prophets final counsels of “Reserve”.

The Prophet said, “My companions are as the stars,

Lights to them that walk aright, missiles against Satan.

If every man had strength of eyesight

To look straight at the light of the sun in heaven,

What need were there of stars, O humble one,

To one who was guided by the light of the sun?

Neither moon nor planets would be needed

By one who saw directly the Sun of ‘The Truth.’

The Moon ? declares, as also the clouds and shadows,

’T am aman, yet it hath been revealed to me.’ 4

Like you, I was naturally dark,

‘Twas the Sun’s revelation that gave me such light.

I still am dark compared to the Sun,

Though I am light compared to the dark souls of men.

Therefore is my light weak, that you may bear it,

For you are not strong enough to bear the dazzling Sun.

I have, as it were, mixed honey with vinegar,

To succour the sickness of your hearts.

When you are cured of your sickness, O invalid,

Then leave out the vinegar and eat pure honey.

When the heart is garnished and swept clear of lust,

Therein ‘The God of Mercy sitteth on His throne.’ ®

Then God rules the heart immediately,

When it has gained this immediate connection with Him.

This subject is endless; but where is Zaid,

That I may tell him again not to seek notoriety?

‘Tis not wise to publish these mysteries,

Since the last day is approaching to reveal all things.”

Now you will not find Zaid, for he is fled,

He sprang from the place where the shoes were left,

Scattering the shoes in his hurry.

If you had been Zaid, you too would have been lost,

As a star is lost when tho sun shines on it:

For then you see no trace or sign of it,

No place or track of it in tho milky way.

Our senses and our endless discourses

Are annihilated in the light of the knowledge of our King.

Our senses and our reason within us

Are as waves on waves “assembled before us.”

When night returns and ‘tis the time of the sky’s levee,

The stars that were hidden come forth to their work.

The people of the world lie unconscious,

With veils drawn over their faces, and asleep;

But when the morn shall burst forth and the sun arise

Every creature will raise its head from its couch;

To the unconscious God will restore consciousness:

They will stand in rings as slaves with rings in ears;

Dancing and clapping hands with songs of praise,

Singing with joy, “Our Lord hath restored us to life!”

Shedding their old skins and bones,

As horsemen stirring up a cloud of dust.

All pressing on from Not-being to Being,

On the last day, as well the thankful as the unthankful.

NOTES:

. Koran xxxiil. 53.

. Koran ii. 2.

. Le., the Prophet.

Koran xviii. 110.

. Koran xx. 4.

. Le., the vestibule of the house.

Nooep wre

. Koran xxxvi. 53.

Story XVI.

‘ALI’S FORBEARANCE.

‘Ali, the “Lion of God,” was once engaged in conflict with a

Magian chief, and in the midst of the struggle the Magian spat

in his face. ‘Ali, instead of taking vengeance on him, at once

dropped his sword, to the Magian’s great astonishment. On his

inquiring the reason of such forbearance, ‘Ali informed him

that the “Lion of God” did not destroy life for the satisfaction

of his own vengeance, but simply to carry out God’s will, and

that whenever he saw just cause, he held his hand even in the

midst of the strife, and spared the foe. The Prophet, ‘Ali

continued, had long since informed him that he would die by

the hand of his own stirrup-bearer (Ibn Maljun), and the

stirrup-bearer had frequently implored ‘Ali to kill him, and

thus save him from the commission of that great crime; but

‘Ali said he always refused to do so, as to him death was as

sweet as life, and he felt no anger against his destined

assassin, who was only the instrument of God’s eternal

purpose. The Magian chief, on hearing ‘Ali’s discourse, was so

much affected that he embraced Islam, together with all his

family, to the number of fifty souls.

How the Prophet whispered to ‘Al's stirrup-bearer

that he would one day assassinate his master.

“The Prophet whispered in the ear of my servant

That one day he would sever my head from my neck.

The Prophet also warned by inspiration me, his friend,

That the hand of my servant would destroy me.

My servant cried, “O kill me first,

That I may not become guilty of so grievous a sin!”

I replied, “Since my death is to come from thee,

How can I balk the fateful decree?”

He fell at my feet and cried, “O gracious lord,

For God’s sake cleave now my body in twain,

That such an evil deed may not be wrought by me,

And my soul burn with anguish for its beloved.”

I replied, “What God’s pen has written, it has written;

In presence of its writings knowledge is confounded;

There is no anger in my soul against thee,

Because I attribute not this deed to thee;

Thou art God’s instrument. God’s hand is the agent.

How can I chide or fret at God’s instrument?”

He said, “If this be so, why is there retaliation?” !

I answered, “Tis from God, and ‘tis God’s secret;

If He shows displeasure at His own acts,

From His displeasure He evolves a Paradise;

He feels displeasure at His own acts,

Because He is a God of vengeance as of mercy.

In this city of events He is the Lord,

In this realm He is the King who plans all events.

If He crushes His own instruments,

He makes those crushed ones fair in His sight.

Know the great mystery of ‘whatever verses we cancel,

Or cause you to forget, we substitute better for them.’ ?

Whatever law God cancels, He makes as a weed,

And in its stead He brings forth a rose.

So night cancels the business of the daytime,

When the reason that lights our minds becomes inanimate.

Again, night is cancelled by the light of day,

And inanimate reason is rekindled to life by its rays.

Though darkness produces this sleep and quiet,

Is not the ‘water of life’ in the darkness? ?

Are not spirits refreshed in that very darkness?

Is not that silence the season of heavenly voices?

For from contraries contraries are brought forth,

Out of darkness was created light.

The Prophet’s wars brought about the present peace,

The peace of these latter days resulted from those wars.

That conqueror of hearts cut off a thousand heads,

That the heads of his people might rest in peace.”

Gods rebuke to Adam for scorning Ibis.

To whomsoever God’s order comes,

He must smite with his sword even his own child.

Fear then, and revile not the wicked,

For the wicked are impotent under God’s commands.

In presence of God’s commands bow down the neck of pride.

Scoff not nor chide even them that go astray!

One day Adam cast a look of contempt and scorn

Upon Iblis, thinking what a wretch he was.

He felt self-important and proud of himself,

And he smiled at the actions of cursed Iblis.

God Almighty cried out to him, “O pure one,

Thou art wholly ignorant of hidden mysteries.

If I were to blab the faults of the unfortunate,

I should root up the mountains from their bases,

And lay bare the secrets of a hundred Adams,

And convert a hundred fresh Iblises into Mosalmans.”

Adam answered, “I repent me of my scornful looks;

Such arrogant thoughts shall not be mine again.

O Lord, pardon this rashness in Thy slave;

I repent; chastise me not for these words!”

O Aider of aid-seekers, guide us,

For there is no security in knowledge or wealth:

“Lead not our hearts astray after Thou hast guided us,”

And avert the evil that the “Pen” has written.

Turn aside from our souls the evil written in our fates,

Repel us not from the tables of purity!

O God, Thy grace is the proper object of our desire;

To couple others with Thee is not proper.

Nothing is bitterer than severance from Thee,

Without Thy shelter there is naught but perplexity.

Our worldly goods rob us of our heavenly goods,

Our body rends the garment of our soul.

Our hands, as it were, prey on our feet:

Without reliance on Thee how can we live?

And if the soul escapes these great perils,

It is made captive as a victim of misfortunes and fears,

Inasmuch as when the soul lacks union with the Beloved,

It abides forever blind and darkened by itself.

If Thou showest not the way, our life is lost;

A life living without Thee esteem as dead!

If Thou findest fault with Thy slaves,

Verily it is right in Thee, O Blessed One!

If Thou shouldst call sun and moon obscure,

If Thou shouldst call the straight cypress crooked,

If Thou shouldst declare the highest heaven base,

Or rich mines and oceans paupers,

All this is the truth in relation to Thy perfection!

Thine is the dominion and the glory and the wealth!

For Thou art exempt from defect and not-being,

Thou givest existence to things non-existent, and again

Thou makest them non-existent.

NOTES:

1. i,e., why is the rule “an eye for an eye” enjoined in the Koran, ii.

173?

2. Koran ii, 100.

. Alluding to the “water of life” in the land of darkness discovered

by Khizr.

. Koran iii. 6.

ow

iN

EPILOGUE TO Book I.

Alas! the forbidden fruits were eaten,

And thereby the warm life of reason was congealed.

A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun Of Adam, !

Like as the Dragon’s tail ? dulls the brightness of the moon.

Behold how delicate is the heart, that a morsel of dust

Clouded its moon with foul obscurity!

When bread is “substance,” to eat it nourishes us;

When ‘tis empty “form,” it profits nothing.

Like as the green thorn which is cropped by the camel,

And then yields him pleasure and nutriment;

When its greenness has gone and it becomes dry,

If the camel crops that same thorn in the desert,

It wounds his palate and mouth without pity,

As if conserve of roses should turn to sharp swords.

When bread is “substance,” it is as a green thorn;

When ‘tis “form,” ‘tis as the dry and coarse thorn.

And thou eatest it in the same way as of yore

Thou wert wont to eat it, O helpless being,

EHatest this dry thing in the same manner,

After the real “substance” is mingled with dust:

It has become mingled with dust, dry in pith and rind.

O camel, now beware of that herb!

The Word is become foul with mingled earth:

The water is become muddy; close the mouth of the well,

Till God makes it again pure and sweet:

Yea, till He purifies what He has made foul.

Patience will accomplish thy desire, not haste.

Be patient, God knows what is best.

NOTES:

1. Muhammadans think the forbidden fruit to have been wheat.

2. The descending node of the moon (see Gulshan i Raz, I. 233).

PROLOGUE.

THE Composition of this Masnavi has been delayed for a

season;!: Time is needed for blood to become milk.

Till thy fortune comes forth as a new-born babe,

Blood becomes not milk, sweet and pleasant to the mind.

When that light of God, Husamu-‘d-Din

Turned his course down from the summit of heaven,

While he had ascended to sublimest verities,

In the absence of his spring the buds blossomed not,

But when out of that sea he came to shore,

The lute of the poesy of the Masnavi sounded again.

This Masnavi, which is the polisher of spirits,

Its recommencement occurred on the day of “Opening.”

The commencement date of this precious work

Was the year six hundred and sixty-two of the Flight.

The Bulbul started on this date and became a hawk;

Yea, a hawk to hunt out these mysteries.

May the wrist of the King be the resting-place of this hawk,

And may this door be open to the people for ever!

NOTES:

1. The delay was caused by the grief of Husam for the death of his

wife.

Story I.

THE SuFI’S BEAST

After anecdotes of the man, in the time of ‘Omar, who mistook

his eyelash for the new moon, of one who stole a snake and got

bitten by it, and of ‘Isa’s foolish disciple who besought the Lord

to teach him the spell whereby he raised the dead, comes the

following story.

A certain Sufi, after a long day’s journey, arrived at a

monastery, where he put up for the night, and strictly enjoined

his servant to groom his ass carefully and give him plenty of

litter and fodder. The servant assured him that his minute

directions were superfluous, and promised to attend to the ass

most carefully; but when his master’s back was turned he

neglected the ass, and the poor animal remained all night

without water or food. Consequently he was weak and unfit to

travel next morning, and in spite of the blows and kicks that

were showered on him, could not carry his master, but had to

be led. The other Sufis who were traveling with his owner

thought that the ass was useless, and when they arrived at

the place where they halted for the night, they sold the ass to

a traveler, and with the proceeds of the sale bought delicate

viands and torches, and made a feast. The owner of the ass,

who was ignorant of this transaction, shared the feast, and

joined in the chorus sung by the others, “The ass is gone, the

ass is gone,” without attaching any sense to the words, and

blindly following their example. Next morning he asked his

servant what had become of the ass, and the servant told him

it had been sold, adding that he thought he had known it

overnight, because he had heard him singing “The ass is gone”

along with the other Sufis. In the course of this story there

occur anecdotes of God consulting with the angels as to the

creation of man, of a king who lost his hawk and found it

again in the house of a poor old man, and of Shaikh Ahmad

Khizrawiya buying sweetmeats for his creditors.

Why the poet veuls his doctrines in fables.

What is it hinders me from expounding my doctrines

But this, that my hearers’ hearts incline elsewhere.

Their thoughts are intent on that Sufi guest:

They are immersed in his affairs neck deep.

So Iam compelled to turn from my discourse

To that story, and to set forth his condition.

But, O friend, think not this Sufi a mere outward form,

As children see in a vine nothing but raisins.

O son, our bodies are as dried grapes and raisins;

If you are a man, cast away these things.

If you pass on to the pure mysteries of God,

You will be exalted above the nine heavenly spheres.

Now hear the outward form of my story,

But yet separate the grain from the chaff.

Why the prophets were sent.

God sent the prophets for this purpose,

Namely, to sever infidelity from faith.

God sent the prophets to mankind

That they might gather the pure grain on their tray.

Infidel and faithful, Mosalman and Jew,

Before the prophets came, seemed all as one.

Before they came we were all alike,

No one knew whether he was right or wrong.

Genuine coin and base coin were current alike;

The world was a night, and we travelers in the dark,

Till the sun of the prophets arose, and cried,

“Begone. O slumber; welcome, O pure light!”

Now the eye sees how to distinguish colors,

It sees the difference between rubies and pebbles.

The eye distinguishes jewels from dust,

Hence it is dust makes the eyes smart.

Makers of base coin hate the daylight,

Coins of pure gold love the daylight,

Because daylight is the mirror that reflects them,

So that they see their own perfect beauty.

Mystical Meaning of “Daylight”

God has named the resurrection “that day;”

Day shows off the beauty of red and yellow.

Wherefore “Day” in ‘truth is the mystery of the saints;

One day of their moons is as whole years.

Know, “Day ” is the reflection of the mystery of the saints,

Eye-closing night that of their hidden secrets.

Therefore hath God revealed the chapter “Daylight,” !

Which daylight is the light of the heart of Mustafa.

On the other view, that daylight means “The Friend,”

It is also a reflection of the same prophet.

For, as it is wrong to swear by a transitory being,

How can we suppose a transitory being spoken of by God?

The Friend of God said, “I love not them that set?” 2

How, then, could Allah have meant a transitory being?

Again, the words “by the night” mean Muhammad’s veiling,

Namely, the fair earthly body that he bore;

When his sun proceeded from heaven on high

Into that body’s night, it said, “He hath not forsaken thee;”

Union with God arose out of the depth of that disgrace:

That boon was the word, “He hath not been displeased.”

Expressions of religious or other feeling derive their only value

trom the state of mind from which they proceed.

Every expression is the sign of a state of mind;

That state is a hand, the expression an instrument.

A goldsmith’s instruments in the hand of a cobbler

Are as grains of wheat sown on sand.

The tools of a cobbler in the hand of a cultivator

Are as grass before a dog or bones before an ass.

The words, “I am the Truth” were light in Mansur’s ® mouth,

In the mouth of Pharaoh “I am Lord Supreme” was blasphemy.

The staff in the hand of Moses was a witness,

In the hands of the magicians it was naught.

For this cause ‘Isa taught not to that foolish man

The words of power whereby he raised the dead.

For he who is ignorant misuses the instrument;

If you strike flint on mud you will get no fire.

Hand and instrument resemble flint and steel;

You must have a pair; a pair is needed to generate.

He who has no peer or member is the “One,”

An uneven number, One without dispute!

Whoso says “one” and “two,” and so on,

Confesses thereby the existence of the “One.”

When the illusion of seeing double is swept away,

They who say “one” and “two” are even as they who say “One.”

If you take “One” as your ball in his tennis-field,

It is made to revolve by the strokes of his bat. 4

Yea, the ball that is even and without fault

Is made to revolve by the strokes of the King’s hand.

O man of double vision, ° hearken with attention,

Seek a cure for your defective sight by listening.

Many are the holy words that find no entrance

Into blind hearts, but they enter hearts full of light.

But the deceits of Satan enter crooked hearts,

Even as crooked shoes fit crooked feet.

Though you repeat pious expressions again and again,

If you are a fool, they affect you not at all;

Nay, not though you set them down in writing,

And though you proclaim them vauntingly;

Wisdom averts its face from you, O man of sin,

Wisdom breaks away from you and takes to flight!

On Taqlid, blind imitation or cant.

“O wretch, why did you not come and say to me,

‘Such and such a disastrous affair has occurred?”

The servant replied, “By Allah, I came again and again,

That I might acquaint you with the matter.

You were always saying, “The ass is gone, my lad!’

Along with the others in high excitement:

So I went away, thinking you knew all about it,

And were pleased at the transaction, being a wise man.”

The Sufi said, “They were all singing the same words,

So I felt impelled to sing them as well.

Blind imitation of them has undone me.

Cursed be that blind imitation!”

The effect of blindly imitating unprofitable conduct

Is that men cast away honor for a morsel of bread.

The ecstasy of that company cast a reflection,

Whereby that Sufi’s heart became ecstatic like them.

You need many reflections from your associates

In order to draw water from the peerless Ocean.

The first reflection cast is mere blind imitation;

After it has been often repeated you may test its truth.

Till it is thus verified, take it not from your friends;

The drop, not yet become pearl, sever not from its shell.

Evil influence of covetousness.

Would you have eyes and ears of reason clear,

Tear off the obstructing veil of greed!

The blind imitation of that Sufi proceeded from greed:

Greed closed his mind to the pure light.

Yea, ‘twas greed that led astray that Sufi,

And brought him to loss of property and ruin.

Greed of victuals, greed of that ecstatic singing

Hindered his wits from grasping the truth.

If greed stained the face of a mirror,

That mirror would be as deceitful as we men are.

If a pair of scales were greedy of riches,

Would they tell truly the weight of anything?

The Prophet saith, “O people, through singleness of mind,

I ask of you no recompense for my prophesying; 7

Iam a guide; God buyeth my guidance for you,

God giveth you my guidance in both worlds.

True, a guide deserves his wages:

Wages are due to him for directing you aright.

But what are my wages? The vision of The Friend.

Abu Bakr indeed offered me forty thousand pieces of gold,

But his forty thousand pieces were no wages for me. ®

How could I take brass beads for pearls of Aden?”

I will tell you a tale; hearken attentively,

That you may know how greed closes up the ears.

Every man subject to greed is a miser.

Can eyes of hearts clouded with greed see clearly?

The illusion of rank and riches blinds his sight,

Like hair dropping down before his eyes.

NOTES:

1. Koran xciii: “By the daylight and by the night thy, Lord hath not

forsaken thee nor been displeased.”

2. Koran vi. 76: “And when the night overshadowed Abraham, he

beheld a star, and he said, ‘This is my Lord;’ but when it set he

said, ‘I love not Gods which set.”

3. Mansur Hallaj, a celebrated Sufi who was put to death at Bagdad

in 309 A.H. for using these words.

4. i.e., unity is made to appear as plurality (see Gulshan i Raz, I.

710).

5. See Gulshan i Raz, I. 104.

6. The Turkish commentator translates thus. The Lucknow copy

reads Ba sati for Ma sti.

7. Koran xi 53.

8. Abu Bakr made over all his goods to the Prophet in aid of the

expedition to Syria.

Story II.

THE PAUPER AND THE PRISONERS.

A certain pauper obtained admittance to a prison, and

annoyed the prisoners by eating up all their victuals and

leaving them none. At last they made a formal complaint to

the Qazi, and prayed him to banish the greedy pauper from

the prison. The Qazi summoned the pauper before him, and

asked him why he did not go to his own house instead of living

on the prisoners. The pauper replied that he had no house or

means of livelihood except that supplied by the prison:

whereupon the Qazi ordered him to be carried through the

city, and proclamation to be made that he was a pauper, that

no one might be induced to lend him money or trade with him.

Accordingly the attendants sought for a camel whereon to

carry him through the city, and at last induced a Kurd who

sold firewood to lend his camel for the purpose. The Kurd

consented from greed of reward, and the pauper, being seated

on the camel, was carried through the city from morning till

evening, proclamation being made in Persian, Arabic, and

Kurdish that he was a pauper. When evening came the Kurd

demanded payment, but the pauper refused to give him

anything, observing that if he had kept his ears open he must

have heard the proclamation. Thus the Kurd was led by greed

to spend the day in useless labor.

Satan's office in the world.

The pauper said, “Your beneficence is my sustenance;

To me, as to aliens, your prison is a paradise.

If you banish me from your prison in reprobation,

I must needs die of poverty and affliction.”

Just so Iblis said to Allah, “O have compassion;

Lord! respite me till the day of resurrection;

For in this prison of the world I am at oase,

That I may slay the children of my enemies.

From every one who has true faith for food,

And as bread for his provisions by the way,

I take it away by fraud or deceit,

So that they raise bitter cries of regret.

Sometimes I menace them with poverty, ”

Sometimes I blind their eyes with tresses and moles.”

In this prison the food of true faith is scarce,

And by the tricks of this dog what there is is lost.

In spite of prayers and fasts and endless pains,

Our food is altogether devoured by him.

Let us seek refuge with Allah from Satan.

Alas ! we are perishing by his insolence.

The dog is one, yet he enters a thousand forms; 3

Whatever he enters straight becomes himself.

Whatever makes you shiver, know he is in it,

The Devil is hidden beneath its outward form.

When he finds no form at hand, he enters your thoughts,

To cause them to draw you into sin.

From your thoughts proceeds destruction,

When from time to time evil thoughts occur to you.

Sometimes thoughts of pleasure, sometimes of business,

Sometimes thoughts of science, sometimes of house and home.

Sometimes thoughts of gain and traffic,

Sometimes thoughts of merchandise and wealth.

Sometimes thoughts of money and wives and children,

Sometimes thoughts of wisdom or of sadness.

Sometimes thoughts of household goods and fine linen,

Sometimes thoughts of carpets, sometimes of sweepers.

Sometimes thoughts of mills, gardens, and villas,

Sometimes of clouds and mists and jokes and jests.

Sometimes thoughts of peace and war,

Sometimes thoughts of honor and disgrace.

Ah! cast out of your head these vain imaginations,

Ah! sweep out of your heart these evil suggestions.

Cry, “There is no power nor strength but in God!”

To avert the Evil One from the world and your own soul.

It 1s the true Beloved who causes all outward earthly beauty

to exist.

Whatsoever is perceived by sense He annuls,

But He establishes that which is hidden from the senses.

The lover’s love is visible, his Beloved hidden.

The Friend is absent, the distraction he causes present.

Renounce these affections for outward forms,

Love depends not on outward form or face.

Whatever is beloved is not a mere empty form,

Whether your beloved be of the earth or of heaven.

Whatever be the form you have fallen in love with,

Why do you forsake it the moment life leaves it?

The form is still there; whence, then, this disgust at it?

Ah! lover, consider well what is really your beloved.

If a thing perceived by outward senses is the beloved,

Then all who retain their senses must still love it;

And since love increases constancy,

How can constancy fail while form abides? 4

But the truth is, the sun’s beams strike the wall,

And the wall only reflects that borrowed light.

Why give your heart to mere stones, O simpleton?

Go! seek the source of light which shineth always!

Distinguish well true dawn from false dawn,

Distinguish the color of the wine from that of the cup;

So that, instead of many eyes of caprice,

One eye may be opened through patience and constancy.

Then you will behold true colors instead of false,

And precious jewels in lieu of stones.

But what is a jewel? Nay, you will be an ocean of pearls:

Yea, a sun that measures the heavens!

The real Workman is hidden in His workshop,

Go you into that workshop and see Him face to face.

Inasmuch as over that Workman His work spreads a curtain,

You cannot see Him outside His work.

Since His workshop is the abode of the Wise One,

Whoso seeks Him without is ignorant of Him.

Come, then, into His workshop, which is Not-being, ®

That you may see the Creator and creation at once.

Whoso has seen how bright is the workshop

Sees how obscure is the outside of that shop.

Rebellious Pharaoh set his face towards Being (egoism),

And was perforce blind to that workshop.

Perforce he looked for the Divine decree to change,

And hoped to turn his destiny from his door.

While destiny at the impotence of that crafty one

All the while was secretly mocking.

He slew a hundred thousand guiltless babes

That the ordinance and decree of Allah might be thwarted.

That the prophet Moses might not be born alive,

He committed a thousand murders in the land.

He did all this, yet Moses was born,

And was protected against his wrath.

Had he but seen the Eternal workshop,

He had refrained hand and foot from these vain devices.

Within his house was Moses safe and sound,

While he was killing the babes outside to no purpose.

Just so the slave of lusts who pampers his body

Fancies that some other man bears him ill-will:

Saying this one is my enemy, and this one my foe,

While it is his own body which is his enemy and foe,

He is like Pharaoh, and his body is like Moses,

He runs abroad crying, “where is my foe?”

While lust is in his house, which is his body,

He bites his finger in spite against strangers.

Then follows an anecdote of a man who slew his mother

because she was always misconducting herself with strangers,

and who excused himself by pleading that if he had not done

so he would have been obliged to slay strangers every day, and

thus incur blood-guiltiness. Lust is likened to this abandoned

mother; when it is once slain, you are at peace with all men. In

answer to an objection that if this were so the prophets and

saints, who have subdued lust, would not have been hated and

oppressed as they were, it is pointed out that they who hated

the prophets in reality hated themselves, just as sick men

quarrel with the physician or boys with the teacher. Prophets

and saints are created to test the dispositions of men, that the

good may be severed from the bad. The numerous grades of

prophets, of saints, and of holy men are ordained, as so many

curtains of the light of God, to tone down its brilliance, and

make it visible to all grades of human sight.

NOTES:

1. Koran vii. 13.

2. Koran ii. 279.

3. cf. Gulshan i Raz, p. 86.

4,

This couplet exercises both the Turkish and the Lucknow

commentators.

5. 1.e., annihilation of self and of all phenomenal being, regarding

self as naught in the presence of the Deity.

Story III.

THE KING AND HIS Two SLAVES.

A king purchased two slaves, one extremely handsome, and

the other very ugly. He sent the first away to the bath, and in

his absence questioned the other. He told him that the first

slave had given a very bad account of him, saying that he was

a thief and a bad character, and asked if it was true. The

second slave replied that the first was everything that was

good, his inward qualities corresponding to the beauty of his

outward appearance, and that whatever he had told the king

was worthy of credit. The king replied that beauty was only an

accident, and that, according to the tradition, accidents

“endure only two moments;” that at death the animal soul is

destroyed, that the text, “Whoso shall present himself with

beauty shall receive tenfold reward,” I does not refer to

outward accidents, but to the “substance,” the eternal soul.

The slave in reply urged that the accidents of good works and

thoughts will in some way bear fruit in the next world,

pointing out that thought is always the precursor of the

completed work, as the plan of the architect precedes the

building, and the gardener’s design the perfect fruit resulting

from his labors. He added that the world is only the realized

thought of “Universal Reason” ? The king then sent away the

slave with whom he had held this discourse, and summoned

the other, and told him that his fellow slave had given a bad

account of him, and asked what he had to say. He replied that

his fellow slave was a liar and a rascal, and the king then

dismissed him, observing that, in accordance with the

tradition, “Every man is hidden under his own tongue,” his

tongue had betrayed his inner vileness. “The safety of a man

lies in holding his tongue.”

The apostolical succession of the prophets and the saints.

With that “brightness of lightning” * He kindled their souls

So that Adam acquired knowledge from that light.

That, which shone from Adam was gathered by Seth,

Wherefore Adam made him his viceroy when he saw it.

When Noah received the gift of that lustre,

He became a soul bearing pearls in the tempest of the flood.

By that light the soul of Abraham was led,

Without fear he entered Nimrod’s fiery furnace.

When Ishmael sought out that light,

He meekly laid his head beneath his father’s bright knife.

The soul of David was warmed by its heat,

Iron became pliable by the force of his weaving. 4

When Solomon was nurtured by its fruition,

The devils became the submissive slaves of his will.

When Jacob bowed his head to the Divine decree,

He recovered his sight at the scent of his son. °

When moonlike Joseph saw that brilliant sun,

He became so expert as he was in interpreting dreams.

When the staff drew might from the hand of Moses,

It devoured the realm of Pharaoh at a mouthful.

When the soul of Jirjis ® became privy to its light,

He sacrificed his life seven times, and regained it.

When Zakhariah “ boasted of his love for it,

He ransomed his life in the hollow of the tree.

When Jonah swallowed a draught from that cup,

He found repose in the belly of the fish.

When John the Baptist became filled with its unction,

He laid his head in the golden charger in ardour for it.

When Jethro became aware of this exaltation,

He risked his life to find it.

Patient Job gave thanks for seven years,

For in his calamities he saw signs of its approach.

When Khizr and Elias boasted of gaining it,

They found the water of life and were no more seen.

When Jesus. Son of Mary, found that ladder of ascent,

He ascended to the height of the fourth heaven.

When Muhammad gained that blessed possession,

In a moment he cleft asunder the disk of the moon.

When Abu Bakr became the exemplar of that grace,

He was companion of that Lord, and a ‘c faithful witness.”

When ‘Omar was enraptured with that beauty,

Like a mind he discerned true and false. ®

When Osman viewed those brilliant sights,

He diffused light and became “Lord of the two lights.” 1°

When Martaza (Ali) shined with its reflection,

He became the “Lion of God” in the soul’s domain.

When his two sons were illumined by this light,

They became the “pearly earrings of highest heaven;” !!

One of them losing his life by poison,

The other losing his head as he went about his march.

When Junaid was succoured by the forces of that light,

His ecstatic states exceeded counting.

Bayazid saw his way to increased fruition thereof,

And gained from God the name “Polestar of Gnostics.”

What time King Mansur became victorious, !?

He left his throne and hastened to the stake.

When Karkhi of Karkh became its keeper,

He became lord of love and of the breath of Jesus.

Ibrahim son of Adham rode his horse to that point,

And became king of kings of equity.

And that Shakik starting from that junction

Became a sun of wit and acute of genius.

Fazil from a highway robber became a sage of the way, !?

When he was regarded with esteem by the King.

To Bishr Hafi the doctrine, was announced,

And he set his face towards the desert of inquiry.

When Zu-I-Ntin became distraught with care for it,

Egypt (Milk) as sugar became the house of his soul.

When Sari "4 lost his head in seeking the way thereto,

His rank was exalted above the seats of the mighty.

A hundred thousand great (spiritual) kings

Exalted by this divine light approach the world.

Their names remain hidden through God’s jealousy;

Every beggar tells not their names.

NOTES:

1. Koran vi. 161.

2. 1.e., the Logos as Demiurge.

3. Koran xxiv. 43. The prophetic inspiration is likened to a light

handed on from one to another.

4. Koran xxi. 80.

5. Koran Ixxvii. 96.

6. Jirjis or St. George is supposed by Muhammadans to be the same

person as Khizr or Elias.

. Zakhariah the prophet is said to have taken refuge from his

persecutors in the hollow of a tree.

. Koran liv. 1.

. Omar was called “The Discerner.”

. He bore this name because he had two daughters of Muhammad

as his wives.

. A tradition gives this title to Hasan and Hussain.

. Mansur Hallaj, the celebrated Sufi impaled at Bagdad. Shah or

King was a title often assumed by darveshes.

. The “way” means the Sufi doctrines.

. All these saints lived in the second and third centuries of the

Flight.

. In the introduction to the Nafahatu-‘l Uns, Jami says there are

always 4000 saints on the earth who are not even known to one

another.

Story IV.

THE FALCON AND THE OWLS.

A certain falcon lost his way, and found himself in the waste

places inhabited by owls. The owls suspected that he had come

to seize their nests, and all surrounded him to make an end of

him. The falcon assured them that he had no such design as

they imputed to him, that his abode was on the wrist of the

king, and that he did not envy their foul habitation. The owls

replied that he was trying to deceive them, inasmuch as such

a strange bird as he could not be a favorite of the king. The

falcon repeated that he was indeed a favorite of the king, and

that the king would assuredly destroy their houses if they

injured him, and proceeded to give them some good advice on

the folly of trusting to outward appearances. He said, “It is

true I am not homogeneous with the king, but yet the king’s

light is reflected in me, as water becomes homogeneous with

earth in plants. I am, as it were, the dust beneath the king’s

feet; and if you become like me in this respect, you will be

exalted as I am. Copy the outward form you behold in me, and

perchance you will reach the real substance of the king.”

The right use of forms.

That my outward form may not mislead you,

Digest my sweet advice before copying me.

Many are they who have been captured by form,

Who aimed at form, and found Allah.

After all, soul is linked to body,

Though it in nowise resembles the body.

The power of the light of the eye is mated with fat,

The light of the heart is hidden in a drop of blood.

Joy harbors in the kidneys and pain in the liver,

The lamp of reason in the brains of the head;

Smell in the nostrils and speech in the tongue,

Concupiscence in the flesh and courage in the heart.

These connections are not without a why and a how,

But reason is at a loss to understand the how.

Universal Soul had connection with Partial Soul, !

Which thence conceived a pearl and retained it in its bosom.

From that connection, like Mary,

Soul became pregnant of a fair Messiah;

Not that Messiah who walked upon earth and water,

But that Messiah who is higher than space. 2

Next, as Soul became pregnant by the Soul of souls,

So by the former Soul did the world become pregnant;

Then the World brought forth another world,

And of this last are brought forth other worlds.

Should I reckon them in my speech till the last day

I should fail to tell the total of these resurrections. ®

NOTES:

1. This is a figurative account of the emanations of Absolute Being,

whereby the world of phenomena is constituted (see Gulshan i

Raz, p. 21, note, and p. 66).

2.i.e., the spirit of the Prophet Muhammad, whom the Sufis

identify with the Primal Soul.

ww

. Continually is creation born again in a new creation” (Gulshan i

Raz, p. 66). By constant effluxes from Absolute Being the world of

phenomena is every moment renewed.

Story V.

THE TuHrrRSTY MAN WHO THREW BRICKS INTO THE

WATER.

A thirsty man discovered a tank of water, but could not drink

of it because it was surrounded by a high wall. He took some

of the bricks off the top of the wall and cast them over it into

the water. The water cried out, “What advantage do you gain

by doing this?” He made answer, “The first advantage is this,

that I hear your voice; and the second, that the more bricks I

pull off the wall, the nearer I approach to you.” The moral is,

that so long as the wall of the body intervenes, we cannot

reach the water of life. The abasement of the body brings men

nearer to union with the Deity. Destroy, therefore, the fleshly

lusts which war against the soul. Then follows another

parable to illustrate the folly of procrastination in this

important matter.

‘Tt was not ye who shot, but God shot; and those arrows were

God’s not yours”. 1

‘Tis God’s light that illumines the senses’ light,

That is the meaning of “Light upon light.” 2

The senses’ light draws us earthwards,

God’s light carries us heavenwards.

As objects of sense are of base condition,

God’s light is an ocean, and the senses’ light a dewdrop.

But that light which is “upon this light” is not seen,

Save through signs and holy discourses.

Since the senses’ light is gross and dense,

It lies hidden in the black pupil of the eye.

When you cannot see the senses’ light with the eye,

How can you see with the eye the Light of the mind?

As the senses’ light is hidden in these gross veils,

Must not that Light which is pure be also hidden?

Like the senses, this world is ruled by a hidden Power.

It confesses its impotence before that hidden Power,

Which sometimes exalts it and sometimes lays it low,

Sometimes makes it dry and sometimes moist.

The hand is hidden, yet we see the pen writing;

The horse is galloping, yet the rider is hid from view.

The arrow speeds forth, yet the bow is not seen:

Souls are seen, the Soul of souls (God) is hidden.

Break not the arrow, for it is the arrow of the King

Yea, it is an arrow from the bow of Wisdom.

“Ye shot not when ye shot,” was said by God;

God’s action has predominance over all actions.

Break your own passion, break not that arrow,

The eye of passion takes milk to be blood.

Kiss that arrow and bear it to the King,

Yea, though it be stained with your own blood.

Whatsoever is seen is weak and base and impotent;

What is hidden is equally fierce and headstrong.

We are the captured game; who is the snare?

We are the balls; where is the bat?

He tears and mends; who is this tailor?

He fans and kindles the flame; who is this kindler?

At one time He makes the faithful one an infidel,

At another He makes the atheist a devotee!

Next comes an anecdote of a dirty man who refused to

bathe because he was ashamed to go into the water, with the

moral that “Shame hinders religion;” ? and then another of

Zul Nun, a celebrated Egyptian Sufi of the third century A.H.

Zul Nun appeared to his ignorant friends to be mad, and they

accordingly confined him in a madhouse. After a time they

thought that he was not really mad, but had feigned madness

for some deep purpose, and they went to the madhouse to

inquire into the state of his health. When they arrived there,

Zu’l Nun asked them who they were, and they answered that

they were his devoted friends, who were now convinced that

the story of his being mad was a calumny. Zu] Nun jumped up

and drove them away with sticks and stones, saying that true

friendship would have been manifested in sharing his

troubles, even as pure gold is tried by fire.

NOTES:

1. Koran viii. 17, meaning, “God is the Fa’il i Hakiki, or Only Real

Agent.”

2. Koran xxiv. 35.

3. Freytag, Arabum Proverbia, vol. ii. pp. 379 and 418, gives two

proverbs - one, “Shame is a part of religion;’ and the other,

“Shame hinders getting a livelihood.”

Story VI. LUQMAN’S MASTER EXAMINES HIM AND

DISCOVERS HIS ACUTENESS.

Luqman the Sage, ! who is sometimes identified with Esop,

and sometimes with the nephew of the prophet. Job, though

“sifted with wisdom by God,” was a slave. His master,

however, discovered his worth, and became _ extremely

attached to him, so that he never received any delicacy

without giving Luqman a share of it. One day, having received

a watermelon, he gave Luqman the best part of it, and

Luqman devoured it with such apparent relish that his master

was tempted to taste it. To his surprise he found it very bitter,

and asked Luqman why he had not told him of this. Luqman

replied that it was not for him, who lived on his master’s

bounty, to complain if he now and then received disagreeable

things at his hands. Thus, though to outward appearance a

slave, Luqman showed himself to be a lord.

Love endures hardships at the hands of the Beloved.

Through love bitter things seem sweet,

Through love bits of copper are made gold.

Through love dregs taste like pure wine,

Through love pains are as healing balms.

Through love thorns become roses,

And through love vinegar becomes sweet wine.

Through love the stake becomes a throne,

Through love reverse of fortune seems good fortune.

Through love a prison seems a rose bower,

Without love a grate full of ashes seems a garden.

Through love burning fire is pleasing light,

Through love the Devil becomes a Houri.

Through love hard stones become soft as butter,

Without love soft wax becomes hard iron.

Through love grief is as joy,

Through love Ghouls turn into angels.

Through love stings are as honey,

Through love lions are harmless as mice.

Through love sickness is health,

Through love wrath is as mercy.

Through love the dead rise to life,

Through love the king becomes a slave.

Even when an evil befalls you, have due regard;

Regard well him who does you this ill turn.

The sight which regards the ebb and flow of good and ill

Opens a passage for you from misfortune to happiness.

Thence you see the one state moves you into the other, ”

One opposite state generating its opposite in exchange.

So long as you experience not fears after joys,

How can you look for pleasures after disgusts?

While ye fear the doom of the angel on the left hand,

Men hope for the bliss of the angel on the right. ®

May you gain two wings! 4 A fowl with only one wing

Is impotent to fly, O well-intentioned one!

Now either permit me to hold my peace altogether,

Or give me leave to explain the whole matter.

And if you dislike this and forbid that,

Who can tell what your desire is?

You must have the soul of Abraham in order with light

To see the mansions of Paradise in the fire.

Step by step he ascended above sun and moon,

And so lagged not below, as a ring that fastens a door.

Since the “Friend of God” ascended above the heavens,

And said, “I love not Gods that set;” °

So this world of the body is a breeder of misconceptions

In all who have not fled from lust.

NOTES:

1. See Koran xxxi. Another anecdote of his wit occurs in Book I.

2. The doctrine of Heraclitus, that opposite states generate one

another, is discussed by Jelaludin in a passage quoted in

Lumsden’s Grammar, 1. 323, and is mentioned in the Phado and

the Nicomachean Ethics.

3. An anacoluthon (see Koran i. 16).

4. The two wings are hope and fear, both of which are needed to

guide men’s religious flight (see Book III. on “Probability the

guide of life”).

5. Koran vi. 77.

Story VII. MOSES AND THE SHEPHERD.

Next follows an anecdote of Bilkis, Queen of Sheba, whose

reason was enlightened by the counsels of the Hoopoo sent to

her by King Solomon. Outward sense is as opposed to true

reason as Abu Jahl was to Muhammad; and when the outward

senses are replaced by the true inner reason, man sees that

the body is only foam, and the heart the limitless ocean.

Afterwards comes an anecdote of a philosopher who was

struck blind for cavilling at the verse, “What think ye? If at

early morn your waters shall have sunk away, who will then

give you clear running water?” ! This is succeeded by the story

of Moses and the shepherd. Moses once heard a shepherd

praying as follows: “O God, show me where thou art, that I

may become. Thy servant. I will clean Thy shoes and comb

Thy hair, and sew Thy clothes, and fetch Thee milk.” When

Moses heard him praying in this senseless manner, he

rebuked him, saying, “O foolish one, though your father was a

Mosalman, you have become an infidel. God is a Spirit, and

needs not such gross ministrations as, in your ignorance, you

suppose.” The shepherd was abashed at his rebuke, and tore

his clothes and fled away into the desert. Then a voice from

heaven was heard, saying, “O Moses, wherefore have you

driven away my servant? Your office is to reconcile my people

with me, not to drive them away from me. I have given to each

race different usages and forms of praising and adoring me. I

have no need of their praises, being exalted above all such

needs. I regard not the words that are spoken, but the heart

that offers them. I do not require fine words, but a burning

heart. Men’s ways of showing devotion to me are various, but

so long as the devotions are genuine, they are accepted.”

Religious forms indifferent.

A voice came from God to Moses,

“Why hast thou sent my servant away?

Thou hast come to draw men to union with me,

Not to drive them far away from me.

So far as possible, engage not in dissevering;

‘The thing most repugnant to me is divorce.’ 2

To each person have I allotted peculiar forms,

To each have I given particular usages.

What is praiseworthy in thee is blameable in him,

What is poison for thee is honey for him.

What is good in him is bad in thee,

What is fair in him is repulsive in thee.

I am exempt from all purity and impurity,

I need not the laziness or alacrity of my people.

I created not men to gain a profit from them,

But to shower my beneficence upon them.

In the men of Hind the usages of Hind are praiseworthy,

In the men of Sind those of Sind.

I am not purified by their praises,

‘Tis they who become pure and shining thereby.

I regard not the outside and the words,

I regard the inside and the state of heart.

I look at the heart if it be humble,

Though the words may be the reverse of humble.

Because the heart is substance, and words accidents,

Accidents are only a means, substance is the final cause.

How long wilt thou dwell on words and superficialities?

A burning heart is what I want; consort with burning!

Kindle in thy heart the flame of love,

And burn up utterly thoughts and fine expressions.

O Moses! the lovers of fair rites are one class,

They whose hearts and souls burn with love are another.

Lovers must burn every moment,

As tax and tithe are levied on a ruined village.

If they speak amiss, call them not sinners;

If a martyr be stained with blood, wash it not away.

Blood is better than water for martyrs,

This fault is better than a thousand correct forms.

No need to turn to the Ka’ba when one is in it,

And divers have no need of shoes.

One does not take a drunken man as a guide on the way,

Nor speak of darns to torn garments.

The sect of lovers is distinct from all others,

Lovers have a religion and a faith of their own.

Though the ruby has no stamp, what matters it?

Love is fearless in the midst of the sea of fear.

Beware, if thou offerest praises or thanksgivings,

And know them to be even as the babble of that shepherd;

Though thy praises be better compared with his,

Yet in regard to God they are full of defects.

How long wilt thou say, “They obscure the truth,

For it is not such as they fancy’?

Thy own prayers are accepted only through mercy,

They are suffered as the prayers of an impure woman.

If her prayers are made impure by the flow of blood,

Thine are stained with metaphors and similitudes.

Blood is impure, yet its stain is removed by water;

But that impurity of ignorance is more lasting,

Seeing that without the blessed water of God

It is not banished from the man who is subject to it.

O that thou wouldst turn thy face to thy own prayers,

And become cognizant of the meaning of thy ejaculations,

And say, ‘Ah! my prayers are as defective as my being;

O requite me good for evil!”

Moses questions God as to the reason of the flourishing state

of the wicked.

Moses said, “O beneficent Creator,

With whom a moment’s remembrance is as long ages,

I see Thy plan distorted in this world of earth and water;

My heart, like the angel’s, feels a difficulty thereat.

With what object hast thou framed this plan,

And sowed therein the seeds of evil?

Why hast Thou kindled the fire of violence and wrong?

Why burnt up mosques and them who worship therein?

Paradise is attached to requirements unpleasant to us,

Hell is attached to things flattering our lusts.

The branch full of sap is the main fuel of thy fire.

‘They that are burnt with fire are near to Kausar. ®

Whoso is in prison and acquainted with troubles,

That is in requital for his gluttony and lusts.

Whoso is in a palace and enjoying wealth,

That is in reward for toils and troubles.

Whoso is seen enjoying uncounted gold and silver,

Know that he strove patiently to acquire it.

He, whose soul is exempt from natural conditions,

And who possesses the power of overriding causes,

Can see without causes, like eyes that pierce night;

But thou, who art dependent on sense attend to causes.

Having left Jesus, thou cherishest an ass (lust),

And art perforce excluded, like an ass;

The portion of Jesus is knowledge and wisdom,

Not so the portion of an ass, O asinine one!

Thou pitiest thine ass when it complains;

So art thou ignorant, thy ass makes thee asinine.

Keep thy pity for Jesus, not for the ass,

Make not thy lust to vanquish thy reason.

Leave thy natural lusts to whine and howl,

Tear thee from them, escape that snare of the soul!

NOTES:

1. Koran lxvii. 30.

2. A tradition.

3. A saying of the Prophet.

Story VIII. THE MAN WHO MADE A PET OF A BEAR.

! A kind man, seeing a serpent overcoming a bear, went to the

bear’s assistance, and delivered him from the serpent. The

bear was so sensible of the kindness the man had done him

that he followed him about wherever he went, and became his

faithful slave, guarding him from everything that might annoy

him. One day the man was lying asleep, and the bear,

according to his custom, was sitting by him and driving off the

flies. The flies became so persistent in their annoyances that

the bear lost patience, and seizing the largest stone he could

find, dashed it at them in order to crush them utterly; but

unfortunately the flies escaped, and the stone lighted upon the

sleeper’s face and crushed it. The moral is, “Do not make

friends with fools.” In the course of this story occur anecdotes

of a blind man, of Moses rebuking the worshippers of the calf,

and of the Greek physician Galen and a madman.

He who needs mercy finds it.

Doing kindness is the game and quarry of good men,

A good man seeks in the world only pains to cure.

Wherever there is a pain there goes the remedy,

Wherever there is poverty there goes relief.

Seek not water, only show you are thirsty,

That water may spring up all around you.

That you may hear the words, “The Lord gives them to drink,”

Be athirst! Allah knows what is best for you.

Seek you the water of mercy? Be downcast,

And straightway drink the wine of mercy to intoxication.

Mercy is called down by mercy to the last.

Withhold not, then, mercy from any one, O son!

If of yourself you cannot journey to the Ka’ba,

Represent your helplessness to the Reliever.

Cries and groans are a powerful means,

And the All-Merciful is a mighty nurse.

The nurse and the mother keep excusing themselves,

Till their child begins to cry.

In you too has God created infant needs;

When they cry out, their milk is brought to them:

God said, “Call on God;” continue crying,

So that the milk of His love may boil up. ?

Moses and the worshipper of the calf.

Moses said to one of those full of vain imaginations,

“O malevolent one, through error and heresy

You entertain a hundred doubts as to my prophethood,

Notwithstanding these proofs, and my holy character.

You have seen thousands of miracles done by me,

Yet they only multiply your doubts and cavils.

Through doubts and evil thoughts you are in a strait,

You speak despitefully of my prophethood.

I brought the host out of the Red Sea before all men,

That ye might escape the oppression of the Egyptians.

For forty years meat and drink came from heaven,

And water sprang from the rock at my prayer.

My staff became a mighty serpent in my hand,

Water became blood for my ill-conditioned enemy.

The staff became a snake, and my hand bright as the sun;

From the reflection of that light the sun became a star.

Have not these incidents, and hundreds more like them,

Banished these doubts from you, O cold-hearted one?

The calf lowed through magic,

And you bowed down to it, saying, ‘Thou art my God.’ 4

The golden calf lowed; but what did it say,

That the fools should feel all this devotion to it?

You have seen many more wondrous works done by me,

But where is the base man who accepts the truth?

What is it that charms vain men but vanity?

What else pleases the foolish but folly?

Because each kind is charmed by its own kind,

Does a cow ever seek the lion?

Did the wolf show love to Joseph, ®

Or only fraud upon fraud with a view to devour him?

True, if it lose his wolf-like nature it becomes a friend;

Even as the dog of the cave became a son of man. ®

When good Abu Bakr saw Muhammad,

He recognized his truth, saying, ‘This one is true;’

When Abu Bakr caught the perfume of Muhammad,

He said, “This is no false one.’

But Abu Jahl, who was not one of the sympathizers,

Saw the moon split asunder, yet believed not.

If from a sympathizer, to whom it is well known,

I withhold the truth, still ‘tis not hidden from him;

But he who is ignorant and without sympathy,

However much I show him the truth, he sees it not.

The mirror of the heart must needs be polished

Before you can distinguish fair and foul therein.”

NOTES:

1. Anwari Suhaili, i. 27.

2. Koran Ixxvi. 21.

3. Koran xvii. 110.

4, See Koran xx. 90.

5. Koran xii. 17.

. Koran xviii. 17.

Story IX. THE GARDENER AND THE THREE FRIENDS.

A voice came from heaven to Moses, saying, “O Moses why

didst thou not visit me when I was sick?” Moses inquired the

meaning of this dark saying, and the answer was, “When one

of God’s saints is sick, God regards his sickness as His own;

and, therefore, he who desires to hold companionship with

God must not forsake the saints.” ! This is illustrated by a

story of a gardener who saw three friends walking in his

garden, and making free with his fruit. Knowing he could not

prevail against them while they remained united, he contrived

by tricks to separate them, and then proceeded to chastise

them one by one. And this caused one of them to make the

reflection that he had acted very foolishly in deserting his

friends.

NOTES:

1. Cp. Matthew xxv. 40.

Story X. BAYAZID AND THE SAINT.

The celebrated Sufi, Abu Yazid or Bayazid of Bastam, in

Khorasan, who lived in the third century of the Flight, was

once making a pilgrimage to Mecca, and visiting all the

“Pillars of insight” who lived in the various towns that lay on

his route. At last he discovered the “Khizr of the age” in the

person of a venerable Darvesh, with whom he held the

following conversation:

The Sage said, “Whither are you going, O Bayazid?

Where will you bring your caravan to a halt?”

Bayazid replied, “At dawn I start for the Ka’ba.”

Quoth the Sage, “What provision for the way have you?”

He answered, “I have two hundred silver dirhams;

See them tied up tightly in the corner of my cloak.”

The Sage said, “Circumambulate me seven times;

Count this better than cireumambulating the Ka’ba;

And as for the dirhams, give them to me, O liberal one,

And know you have finished your course and obtained your

wish,

You have made the pilgrimage and gained the life to come,

You have become pure, and that in a moment of time.

Of a truth that is God which your soul sees in me,

For God has chosen me to be His house.

Though the Ka’ba is the house of His grace and favors,

Yet my body too is the house of His secret.

Since He made that house He has never entered it,

But none but That Living One enters this house:

When you have seen me you have seen God,

And have circumambulated the veritable Ka’ba.

To serve me is to worship and praise God;

Think not that God is distinct from me.

Open clear eyes and look upon me,

That you may behold the light of God in a mortal.

Tho Beloved once called the Ka’ba ‘My house,’

But has said to me ‘O my servant’ seventy times;

O Bayazid, you have found the Ka’ba,

You have found a hundred precious blessings.”

Bayazid gave heed to these deep sayings,

And placed them as golden earrings in his ears.

Then follow anecdotes of the Prophet paying a visit to one

of his disciples who lay sick, of Shaikh Bahlol, nicknamed

“The Madman,” who was a favorite at the court of Harunu-‘r-

Rashid, and of the people of Moses.

The sweet uses of adversity.

The sick man said, “Sickness has brought me this boon.

That this Prince (Muhammad) has come to me this morn,

So that health and strength may return to me

From the visit of this unparalleled King.

O blessed pain and sickness and fever!

O welcome weariness and sleeplessness by night!

Lo! God of His bounty and favor

Has sent me this pain and sickness in my old age;

He has given me pain in the back, that I may not fail

To spring up out of my sleep at midnight;

That I may not sleep all night like the cattle,

God in His mercy has sent me these pains.

At my broken state the pity of kings has boiled up,

And hell is put to silence by their threats!”

Pain is a treasure, for it contains mercies;

The kernel is soft when the rind is scraped off.

O brother, the place of darkness and cold

Is the fountain of life and the cup of ecstasy.

So also is endurance of pain and sickness and disease.

For from abasement proceeds exaltation.

The spring seasons are hidden in the autumns,

And autumns are charged with springs; flee them not.

Consort with grief and put up with sadness,

Seek long life in your own death!

Since ‘tis bad, whatever lust says on this matter

Heed it not, its business is opposition.

But act contrary thereto, for the prophets

Have laid this injunction upon the world. ?

Though it is right to take counsel in affairs,

That you may have less to regret in the upshot;

The prophets have labored much

To make the world revolve on this pivot stone; ?

But, in order to destroy the people, lust desires

To make them go astray and lose their heads;

The people say, ‘With whom shall we take counsel?’

The prophets answer, ‘With the reason of your chief.’

Again they say, ‘Suppose a child or a woman enter,

Who lacks reason and clear judgments: ‘

They reply, “Take counsel with them,

And act contrary to what they advise.’

Know your lust to be woman, and worse than woman;

Woman is partial evil, lust universal evil.

If you take counsel with your lust,

See you act contrary to what that base one advises.

Even though it enjoin prayers and fasting,

It is treacherously laying a snare for you.’

You must abandon and ignore your own knowledge,

And dip your hand in the dish of abnegation of knowledge.

Whatever seems profitable, flee from it,

Drink poison and spill the water of life.

Contemn whatever praises you,

Lend to paupers your wealth and profits!

Quit your sect and be a subject of aversion,

Cast away name and fame and seek disgrace!”

God the Author of good and evil.

If you seek the explanation of God’s love and favor,

In connection therewith read the chapter “Brightness.”

And if you say evil also proceeds from Him,

Yet what damage is that to His perfection?

To send that evil is one of His perfections.

I will give you an illustration, O arrogant one;

The heavenly Artist paints His pictures of two sorts,

Fair pictures and pictures the reverse of fair.

Joseph he painted fair and made him beautiful;

He also painted ugly pictures of demons and ‘afrits.

Both sorts of pictures are of His workmanship,

They proceed not from His imperfection, but His skill,

That the perfection of His wisdom may be shown,

And the gainsayers of His art be put to shame.

Could He not paint ugly things He would lack art,

And therefore He creates Guebers as well as Moslems.

Thus, both infidelity and faith bear witness to Him,

Both alike bow down before His almighty sway.

But know, the faithful worship Him willingly,

For they seek and aim at pleasing Him:

While Guebers worship Him unwillingly,

Their real aim and purpose being quite otherwise.

Evil itself is turned into good for the good.

The Prophet said to that sick man,

“Pray in this wise and allay your difficulties;

‘Give us good in the house of our present world,

And give us good in the house of our next world. ®

Make our path pleasant as a garden,

And be Thou, O Holy One, our goal!”

The faithful will say on the last day, “O King!

Was not Hell on the route all of us traveled?

Did not faithful as well as infidels pass through it?

Yet on our way we perceived not the smoke of the fire;

Nay, it seemed Paradise and the mansion of the blessed.”

Then the King will answer, “That green garden,

As it appeared to you on your passage through it,

Was indeed Hell and the place of dread torment;

Yet for you it became a garden green with trees.

Since you have labored to make hellish lusts,

And the ‘fire of pride that courts destruction,

To make these, I say, pure and clean,

And, to please God, have quenched those fires,

So that the fire of lust, that erst breathed flame,

Has become a holy garden and a guiding light,

Since you have turned the fire of wrath to meekness,

And the darkness of ignorance to shining knowledge,

Since you have turned the fire of greed into bounty,

And the vile thorns of malice into a rose-garden;

Since you have quenched all these fires of your own

For my sake, so that those poisons are now pure sweets;

Since you have made fiery lust as a verdant garden,

And have sowed therein the seed of fidelity,

So that nightingales of prayer and praise

Ever warble sweetly around this garden;

Since you have responded to the call of God,

And have drawn water out of the hell of lust,

For this cause my hell also, for your behoof,

Becomes a verdant garden and yields leaves and fruit.”

What is the recompense of well-doing, O son?

It is kindness and good treatment and rich requital.

Have ye not said, “We are victims,

Mere nothings before eternal Being?

If we are drunkards or madmen,

‘Tis that Cup-bearer and that Cup which make us so.

We bow down our heads before His edict and ordinance,

We stake precious life to gain His favor.

While the thought of the Beloved fills our hearts,

All our work is to do Him service and spend life for Him.

Wherever He kindles His destructive torch,

Myriads of lovers’ souls are burnt therewith.

The lovers who dwell within the sanctuary

Are moths burnt with the torch of the Beloved’s face.”

O heart haste thither, ® for God will shine upon you,

And seem to you a sweet garden instead of a terror.

He will infuse into your soul a new soul,

So as to fill you, like a goblet, with wine.

Take up your abode in His soul!

Take up your abode in heaven, O bright full moon!

Like the heavenly Scribe,’ He will open your heart’s book

That He may reveal mysteries unto you.

Abide with your Friend, since you have gone astray,

Strive to be a full moon; you are now a fragment thereof.

Wherefore this shrinking of the part from its whole?

Why this association with its foes?

Behold Genus become Species in due course,

Behold secrets become manifest through his light!

So long as woman-like you swallow blandishments,

How, O wise man, can you get relief from false flatteries?

These flatteries and fair words and deceits (of lust)

You take, and swallow, just like women.

But the reproaches and the blows of Darveshes

Are really better for you than the praises of sinners.

Take the light blows of Darveshes, not the honey of sinners,

And become, by the fortune of good, good yourself.

Because from them the robe of good fortune is gained,

In the asylum of the spirit blood becomes life.

NOTES:

1. Alluding to the Hadis: “Heaven and earth contain me not, but the

heart of my faithful servant contains me.”

2. Freytag quotes a saying of ‘Omar, “A fool may indicate the right

course” (Arabum Proverbia, i. p. 566).

3. The law defining the right course.

4. Koran xciii. : “By the noonday brightness, and by the night when

it darkeneth, thy Lord hath not forsaken thee nor been

displeased.”

5. “O Lord, give us good in this world and good in the next, and save

us from the torment of the fire.” (Koran ii. 197).

6. 1.e., to annihilation of self in God, as a moth in the flame.

7. Atarid or Mercury.

Story XI. Mo’aviA AND IBLIS.

Mo’avia, the first of the Ommiad Khalifas, was one day lying

asleep in his palace, when he was awakened by a strange

man. Mo’avia asked him who he was, and he replied that he

was Iblis. Mo’avia then asked him why he had awakened him,

and Iblis replied that the hour of prayer was come, and he

feared Mo’avia would be late. Mo’avia answered, “Nay! it could

never have been your intention to direct me in the right way.

How can I trust a thief like you to guard my interests?” Iblis

answered, “Remember that I was bred up as an angel of light,

and that I cannot quite abandon my original occupation. You

may travel to Rome or Cathay, but still you retain the love of

your fatherland. I still retain my love of God, who fed me when

I was young; nay, even though I revolted from Him, that was

only from jealousy (of Adam), and jealousy proceeds from love,

not from denial of God. I played a game of chess with God at

His own desire, and though I was utterly checkmated and

ruined, in my ruin I still experience God’s blessings.”

Mo’avia answered, “What you say is not credible. Your

words are like the decoy calls of a fowler, which resemble the

voices of the birds, and so lure them to destruction. You have

caused the destruction of hundreds of mortals, such as the

people of Noah, the tribe of ‘Ad, ! the family of Lot, Nimrod,

Pharaoh, Abu Jahl, and so on.”

Iblis retorted, “You are mistaken if you suppose me to be

the cause of all the evil you mention. I am not God, that I

should be able to make good evil, or fair foul. Mercy and

vengeance are twin divine attributes, and they generate the

good and evil seen in all earthly things. I am, therefore, not to

blame for the existence of evil, as I am only a mirror, which

reflects the good and evil existing in the objects presented to

it.”

Mo’avia then prayed to God to guard him against the

sophistries of Iblis, and again adjured lblis to cease his

arguments and tell plainly the reason why he had awakened

him. Iblis, instead of answering, continued to justify himself,

saying how hard it was that men and women should blame

him when they did anything wrong, instead of blaming their

own evil lusts. Mo’avia, in reply, reproached him with

concealing the truth, and ultimately brought him to confess

that the true reason why he had awakened him was this, that

if he had overslept himself, and so missed the hour of prayer,

he would have felt deep sorrow and have heaved many sighs,

and each of these sighs would, in the sight of God, have

counted for as many as two hundred ordinary prayers.

The value of sighs.

A certain man was going into the mosque,

Just as another was coming out.

He inquired of him what had occurred to the meeting,

That the people were coming out of the mosque so soon.

The other told him that the Prophet

Had concluded the public prayers and mysteries.

“Whither go you,” said he, “O foolish one,

Seeing the Prophet has already given the blessing?”

The first heaved a sigh, and its smoke ascended;

That sigh yielded a perfume of his heart’s blood.

The other, who came from the mosque, said to him,

“Give me that sigh, and take my prayers instead.”

The first said, “I give it, and take your prayers.”

The other took that sigh with a hundred thanks.

He went his way with deep humility and contrition,

As a hawk who had ascended in the track of the falcon.

That night, as ho lay asleep, he heard a voice from heaven,

“Thou hast bought the water of life and healing;

The worth of what thou hast chosen and possessed

Equals that of all the people’s accepted prayers.”

To illustrate the treachery of wolves in sheep’s clothing, -

of Satans rebuking sin and preaching religion - an anecdote is

told of a master of a house who caught a thief, but was

induced to let him escape by the stratagem of the thief’s

confederate, who cried that he had got the real thief

elsewhere. Apropos of the same theme, the poet next relates

the story of “those who built a mosque for mischief,” as

recorded in the Koran. 2 The tribe of Bani Ganim built a

mosque, and invited the Prophet to dedicate it. The Prophet,

however, discovered that their real motive was jealousy of the

tribe of Bani Amru lbn Auf, and of the mosque at Kuba, near

Medina, and a treacherous understanding with the Syrian

monk Abu Amir, and therefore he refused their request, and

ordered the mosque to be razed to the ground.

Wisdom the believer's lost camel.

My people adopt my law without obeying it,

They take that coin without assaying it.

The Koran’s wisdom is like the “believer’s lost camel,’ ?

Every one is certain his camel is lost.

You have lost your camel and seek it diligently;

Yet how will you find it if you know not your own?

What was lost? Was it a female camel that you lost?

It escaped from your hand, and you are in a maze.

The caravan is come to be loaded,

Your camel is vanished from the midst of it.

You run here and there, your mouth parched with heat;

The caravan moves on, and night approaches.

Your goods lie on the ground in a dangerous road,

You hurry after your camel in all directions.

You cry “O Moslems, who has seen a camel,

Which escaped from its stable this morning?

To him who shall give me news of my camel

I will give a reward of so many dirhems.”

You go on seeking news of your camel from every one,

And every lewd fellow flatters you with a fresh rumor,

Saying, “I saw a camel; it went this way;

‘Twas red, and it went towards this pasture.”

Another says, “Its ear was cropped.”

Another says, “Its cloth was embroidered.”

Another that it had only one eye,

Another that it had lost its hair from mange.

To gain the reward every base fellow

Mentions a hundred marks without any foundation.

All false doctrines contain an element of truth.

Just so every one in matters of doctrine

Gives a different description of the hidden subject.

A philosopher expounds it in one way,

And a critic at once refutes his propositions.

A third censures both of them:

A fourth spends his life in traducing the others.

Every one mentions indications of this road,

In order to create an impression that he has gone it.

This truth and that truth cannot be all true,

And yet all of them are not entirely astray in error.

Because error occurs not without some truth,

Fools buy base coins from their likeness to real coins.

If there were no genuine coins current in the world,

How could coiners succeed in passing false coins?

If there were no truth, how could falsehood exist?

Falsehood derives its plausibility from truth.

‘Tis the desire of right that makes men buy wrong;

Let poison be mixed with sugar, and they eat it at once.

If wheat were not valued as sweet and good for food,

The cheat who shows wheat and sells barley would make no

profit!

Say not, then, that all these creeds are false,

The false ones ensnare hearts by the scent of truth.

Say not that they are all erroneous fancies,

There is no fancy in the universe without some truth.

Truth is the “night of power ” 4 hidden amongst other nights,

In order to try the spirit of every night.

Not every night is that of power, O youth,

Nor yet is every night quite void of power.

In the crowd of rag-wearers there is but one Faqir; ®

Search well and find out that true one.

Tell the wary and discerning believer

To distinguish the king from the beggar.

If there were no bad goods in the world,

Every fool might be a skilful merchant;

For then the hard art of judging goods would be easy.

If there were no faults, one man could judge as well as

another.

Again, if all were faulty, skill would be profitless.

If all wood were common, there would be no aloes.

He who accepts everything as true is a fool,

But he who says all is false is a knave.

NOTES:

1. See Koran xi. 63.

. Koran ix. 108.

. This is a proverb ascribed to Ali. It means, people are always

losing wisdom and seeking it like a lost camel (Freytag, Arabum

Proverbia, i. p. 385).

ao nw

4, The night on which the Koran was revealed.

5. So in the Phaedo, “Many are the wandbearers, but few the

Mystics.”

Story XII. THE Four HINDUSTANIS WHO CENSURED

ONE ANOTHER.

Four Hindustanis went to the mosque to say their prayers.

Each one duly pronounced the Takbir, and was saying his

prayers with great devotion, when the Mu’azzin happened to

come in. One of them immediately called out, “O Mu’azzin,

have you yet called to prayer? It is time to do so.” Then the

second said to the speaker, “Ah! you have spoken words

unconnected with worship, and therefore, according to the

Hadis, you have spoiled your prayers.” ' Thereupon the third

scolded the last speaker, saying, “O simpleton, why do you

rebuke him? Rather rebuke yourself.” Last of all, the fourth

said, “God be praised that I have not fallen into the same ditch

as my three companions.” The moral is, not to find fault with

others, but rather, according to the proverb, * to be

admonished by their bad example. Apropos of this proverb, a

story is told of two prisoners captured by the tribe of Ghuz.

The Ghuzians were about to put one of them to death, to

frighten the other, and make him confess where the treasure

was concealed, when the doomed man discovered their object,

and said, “O noble sirs, kill my companion, and frighten me

instead.”

NOTES:

1. Mishkat ul Masabih, by Matthews, i. 205.

2. Freytag, Arabum Proverbia, i. 628.

Story XIII. THE OLD MAN AND THE PHYSICIAN.

An old man complained to his physician that he suffered from

headache. The physician replied, “That is caused by old age.”

The old man next complained of a defect in his sight, and the

physician again told him that his malady was due to old age.

The old man went on to say that he suffered from pain in the

back, from dyspepsia, from shortness of breath, from nervous

debility, from inability to walk, and so on; and the physician

replied that each of these ailments was likewise caused by old

age. The old man, losing patience, said, “O fool, know you not

that God has ordained a remedy for every malady?” The

physician answered, “This passion and choler are also

symptoms of old age. Since all your members are weak, you

have lost the power of self-control, and fly into a passion at

every word.”

Bad principles always produce bad acts.

Fools laud and magnify the mosque,

While they strive to oppress holy men of heart.

But the former is mere form, the latter spirit and truth.

The only true mosque is that in the hearts of saints.

The mosque that is built in the hearts of the saints

Is the place of worship of all, for God dwells there.

So long as the hearts of the saints are not afflicted,

God never destroys the nation.

Our forefathers lifted their hands against the prophets;

Seeing their bodies, they took them for ordinary men.

In you also abide the morals of those men of old:

How can you avoid fearing that you will act like them?

The morals of those unthankful ones dwell in you,

Your urn will not always return unbroken from the well.

Seeing that all these bad symptoms are seen in you,

And that you are one with those men, how can you escape?

Story XIV. THE ARAB CARRIER AND THE SCHOLAR.

An Arab loaded his camel with two sacks, filling one with

wheat and the second with sand, in order to balance the first.

As he was proceeding on his way he met a certain tradition-

monger, who questioned him about the contents of his sacks.

On learning that one contained nothing but sand, he pointed

out that the object might be attained much better by putting

half the wheat in one sack and half in the other. On hearing

this, the Arab was so struck by his sagacity that he conceived

a great respect for him, and mounted him on his camel. Then

he said, “As you possess such great wisdom. I presume that

you are a king or a Vazir, or at least a very rich and powerful

noble.” The theologian, replied, “On the contrary. I am a very

poor man; all the riches my learning has brought me are

weariness and headaches, and I know not where to look for a

loaf of bread.” The Arab said, “In that case get, off my camel

and go your way, and suffer me to go mine, for I see your

learning brings ill luck.” The moral of the story is the

worthlessness of mere human knowledge, and its inferiority to

the divine knowledge proceeding from inspiration. This thesis

is further illustrated by an account of the mighty works which

were done by the saint Ibrahim bin Adham, through the

divine knowledge that God had given him. Ibrahim was

originally prince of Balkh, but renounced his kingdom and

became a saint. One day he was sitting by the shore mending

his cloak, when one of his former subjects passed by and

marvelled to see him engaged in such a, mean occupation. The

saint at once, by inspired knowledge, read his thoughts, and

thus corrected his false impressions. He took the needle with

which he was mending, his cloak and cast it into the sea. Then

with a loud voice he cried out, “O needle rise again from the

midst of the sea and come back again into my hands.” Without

a moment’s delay thousands of fishes rose to the surface of the

sea, each bearing in its mouth a golden needle, and cried out,

“O Shaikh, take these needles of God!” Ibrahim then turned to

the noble, saying, “Is not the kingdom of the heart better than

the contemptible earthly kingdom I formerly possessed? What

you have just seen is a very trifling sign of my spiritual power

as it were, a mere leaf plucked to show the beauty of a garden.

You have now caught the scent of this garden, and it ought to

attract your soul to the garden itself, for you must know that

scents have great influence, e.g., the scent of Joseph’s coat, !

which restored Jacob’s sight, and the scents which were loved

by the Prophet.” 2

NOTES:

1. Koran xii. 93.

2. There is a Hedis: “The Prophet loved perfumes and fair women

and brightness of eyes in prayer.”

Story XV. THE MAN WHO BOASTED THAT GOD DID

NOT PUNISH HIM FOR HIS SINS, AND JETHRO’S ANSWER

TO HIM.

That person said in the time of Shu’aib (Jethro),

“God has seen many faults done by me;

Yea, how many sins and faults of mine has He seen,

Nevertheless of His mercy He punishes me not.”

God Almighty spake in the ear of Shu’aib,

Addressing him with an inner voice in answer thereto,

“Why hast thou said I have sinned so much,

And God of His mercy has not punished my sins?”

Thou sayest the very reverse of the truth, O fool!

Wandering from the way and lost in the desert!

How many times do I smite thee, and thou knowest not?

Thou art bound in my chains from head to foot.

On thy heart is rust on rust collected,

So thou art blind to mysteries.

Thy rust, layer on layer, O black kettle!

Makes the aspect of thy inner parts foul.

If that smoke touched a new kettle,

It would show the smut, were it only as a grain of barley;

For everything is made manifest by its opposite,

In contrast with its whiteness that black shows foul.

But when the kettle is black, then afterwards

Who can see on it the impression of the smoke?

If the blacksmith be a negro,

His face agrees in color with the smoke.

But if a man of Rum does blacksmith’s work,

His face becomes grimed by the smoke fumes;

Then he quickly perceives the impression of his fault,

So that he wails and cries ‘O Allah!’

When he is stubborn and follows his evil practices,

He casts dust in the eyes of his discernment.

He recks not of repentance, and, moreover, that sin

Becomes dear to his heart, so that he becomes without faith,

Old shame for sin and calling on God quit him,

Rust five layers deep settles on his mirror,

Rust spots begin to gnaw his iron,

The color in his jewel grows less and less.

When you write on white paper,

What is written is read at a glance;

But when you write on the face of a written page,

It is not plain, reading it is deceptive:

For that black is written on the top of other black,

Both the writings are illegible and senseless.

Or if, in the third place, you write on the page,

And then blacken it like an infidel’s soul,

Then what remedy but the aid of the Remedier?

Despair is copper and sight its elixir.

Lay your despair before Him,

That you may escape from pain without medicine.”

When Shuw’aib spoke these aphorisms to him,

From that breath of the soul roses bloomed in his heart,

His soul heard the revelations of heaven;

He said, “If He has punished me, where is the sign of it?”

Shw’aib said, “O Lord, he repels my arguments,

He seeks for a sign of that punishment.”

The Veiler of sins replied, “I will tell him no secrets,

Save only one, in order to try him.

One sign that I punish him is this,

That he observes obedience and fasting and prayer,

And devotions and almsgiving, and so on,

Yet never feels the least expansion of soul.

He performs the devotions and acts enjoined by law,

Yet derives not an atom of relish from them.

Outward devotion is sweet to him, spirit is not sweet,

Nuts in plenty, but no kernel in any of them.

Relish is needed for devotions to bear fruit,

Kernels are needed that seeds may yield trees.

How can seeds without kernels become trees?

Form without soul (life) is only a dream.”

Story XVI. THE GLUTTONOUS SUFI.

In a certain convent there lived a Sufi whose conduct gave just

offence to the brethren. They brought him before their Shaikh

and thus accused him, “This Sufi has three very bad qualities:

he babbles exceedingly like a bell, at his meals he eats more

than twenty men and when he sleeps he is as one of the Seven

Sleepers.” The Shaikh then admonished him, insisting on the

obligation of keeping to the golden mean; and reminding him

that even the prophet Moses ! was once rebuked by Khizr for

speaking to excess. But the delinquent excused himself on the

grounds that the mean is relative, what is excess in one man

being moderation in another, that he who is led by the spirit is

no longer subject to the outward law, and that, the “inner

voice,” which rules such an one s conduct, is its own evidence.

The mean ts relative.

He said, “Though the path of the mean is wisdom,

Yet is this same mean also relative.

The water which is insufficient for a camel

Is like an ocean to a mouse.

Whoso has four loaves as his daily allowance,

Whether he eat two or three, he observes the mean.

But if he eat all four he transgresses the mean,

A very slave to greed, and voracious as a duck.

Whoso has an appetite for ten loaves,

Know, though he eat six, he observes the mean.

If I have an appetite for fifty loaves,

While you can manage only six, we are not on a par.

You are wearied with ten prostrations in prayer,

Whilst I can endure five hundred.

Such an one goes barefoot to the Ka’ba,

Whilst another faints with going to the mosque.”

The ecstatic state which exalts the subject of it above law.

“At times my state resembles a dream,

My dreaming seems to them infidelity.

Know my eyes sleep, but my heart is awake:

My body, though torpid, is instinct with energy.

The Prophet said, ‘Mine eyes sleep,

But my heart is awake with the Lord of mankind.’

Your eyes are awake and your heart fast asleep,

My eyes are closed, and my heart at the ‘open door.’

My heart has other five senses of its own;

These senses of my heart view the two worlds.

Let not a weakling like you censure me,

What, seems night to you is broad day to me;

What seems a prison to you is a garden to me.

Busiest occupation is rest to me.

Your feet are in the mire, to me, mire is rose,

What to you is funeral wailing is marriage drum to me.

While I seem on earth, abiding with you in the house,

I ascend like Saturn to the seventh heaven.

‘Tis not I who companion with you, ‘tis my shadow;

My exaltation transcends your thoughts,

Because I have transcended thought,

Yea, I have sped beyond reach of thought.

I am lord of thought, not overlorded by thought,

As the builder is lord of the building.

All creatures are enslaved to thought:

For this cause are they sad at heart and sorrowful.

I send myself on an embassy to thought,

And, at will, spring back again from thought.

I am as the bird of heaven and thought as the fly,

How can the fly lend a helping hand to me?

Whoso has in him a spark of the light of Omnipotence,

However much he eats, say’ Eat on;’ ‘tis lawful to him.”

To the spiritual man the “inner voice” Is its own evidence, and

needs no other proof.

“If you are a true lover of my soul,

This truth-fraught saying of mine is no vain pretence,

‘Though I talk half the night I am superior to you;’

And again, ‘Fear not the night; here am I, your kinsman.’

These two assertions of mine will both seem true to you

The moment you recognize the voice of your kinsman.

Superiority and kinsmanship are both mere assertions,

Yet both are recognized for truth by men of clear wit.

The nearness of the voice proves to such an one

That the voice proceeds from a friend who is near.

The sweetness of the kinsman’s voice, too, O beloved,

Proves the veracity of that kinsman.

But the uninspired fool who from ignorance

Cannot tell the voice of a stranger from a friend’s,

To him the friend’s saying seems a vain pretension,

His ignorance is the material cause of his disbelief.

To the wise, whose hearts are enlightened,

The mere sound of that voice proves its truth.”

“When you say to a thirsty man, ‘Come quickly;

This is water in the cup, take and drink it,’

Does the thirsty man say, “This is a vain pretension;

Go, remove yourself from me, O vain pretender,

Or proceed to give proofs and evidence

That this is generic water, and concrete water thereof’?

Or when a mother cries to her sucking babe,

‘Come, O son, I am thy mother,’

Does the babe answer, ‘O mother, show a proof

That I shall find comfort from taking thy milk’?

In the hearts of every sect that has a taste of the truth

The sight and the voice of prophets work miracles.

When the prophets raise their cry to the outward ear,

The souls of each sect bow in devotion within;

Because never in this world hath the soul’s ear

Heard from any man the like of that cry.

That poor man in that strange sweet voice

Recognizes the voice of God, ‘Verily I am nigh.” 2

NOTES:

. Koran xviii. 77.

No eR

. “And when my servants ask thee concerning me then will I be

nigh unto them. I will answer the cry of him that crieth, when he

crieth unto me.” (Koran ii. 182).

Story XVII. THE TREE OF LIFE.

The preceding story is followed by a short anecdote of the

infants of the Virgin Mary and the mother of John the Baptist

leaping in their mothers’ wombs, ! and in reply to matter of

fact cavillers and questioners of this anecdote, the poet says

we must look at its spirit and essential basis rather than its

outward form. This introduces the story of the tree of life. A

certain wise man related that in Hindustan there was a tree of

such wonderful virtue that whosoever ate of its fruit lived

forever. Hearing this, a king deputed one of his courtiers to go

in quest of it. The courtier accordingly proceeded to

Hindustan, and traveled all over that country, inquiring of

every one he met where this tree was to be found. Some of

these persons professed their entire ignorance, others joked

him, and others gave him false information; and, finally, he

had to return to his country with his mission unaccomplished.

He then, as a last resource, betook himself to the sage who

had first spoken of the tree, and begged for further

information about it, and the sage replied to him as follows:

The Shaikh laughed, and said to him, “O friend,

This is the tree of knowledge, O knowing one;

Very high, very fine, very expansive,

The very water of life from the circumfluent ocean.

Thou hast run after form, O ill-informed one,

Wherefore thou lackest the fruit of the tree of substance.

Sometimes it is named tree, sometimes sun,

Sometimes lake, and sometimes cloud.

‘Tis one, though it has thousands of manifestations;

Its least manifestation is eternal life!

Though ‘tis one, it has a thousand manifestations,

The names that fit that one are countless.

That one is to thy personality a father,

In regard to another person He may be a son.

In relation to another He may be wrath and vengeance,

In relation to another, mercy and goodness.

He has thousands of names, yet is One,

Answering to all of His descriptions, yet indescribable.

Every one who seeks names, if he is a man of credulity,

Like thee, remains hopeless and frustrated of his aim.

Why cleavest thou to this mere name of tree,

So that thou art utterly balked and disappointed?

Pass over names and look to qualities,

So that qualities may lead thee to essence!

The differences of sects arise from His names;

When they pierce to His essence they find His peace!”

This story is followed by another anecdote illustrative of

the same thesis that attending merely to names and outward

forms, rather than to the spirit and essence of religion, leads

men into error and delusion. Four persons, a Persian, an Arab,

a Turk, and a Greek, were traveling together, and received a

present of a dirhem. The Persian said he would buy “angur”

with it, the Arab said he would buy “inab,” while the Turk and

the Greek were for buying “uzum” and “astaphil” (staphyle),

respectively. Now all these words mean one and the same

thing, viz. “grapes;” but, owing to their ignorance of each

other’s languages, they fancied they each wanted to buy

something different, and accordingly a violent quarrel arose

between them. At last a wise man who knew all their

languages came up and explained to them that they were all

wishing for one and the same thing.

NOTES:

1. Luke i. 41.

Story XVIII. THE YouNG DUCKS WHO WERE

BROUGHT UP UNDER A HEN.

Although a domestic fowl may have taken thee,

Who art a duckling, under her wing and nurtured thee,

Thy mother was a duck of that ocean.

Thy nurse was earthy, and her wing dry land.

The longing for the ocean which fills thy heart,

That natural longing of thy soul comes from thy mother.

Thy longing for dry land comes to thee from thy nurse;

Quit thy nurse, for she will lead thee astray.

Leave thy nurse on the dry land and push on,

Enter the ocean of real Being, like the ducks!

Though thy nurse may frighten thee away from water,

Do thou fear not, but haste on into the ocean!

Thou art a duck, and flourishest on land and water,

And dost not, like a domestic fowl, dig up the house.

Thou art a king of “the sons of Adam honored by God,” 1

And settest foot alike on sea and land;

For impress on thy mind, “We have carried them by sea,”

Before the words, “We have carried them by land.”

The angels go not on dry land,

And the animals know nothing of the sea;

Thou in body art an animal, in thy soul an angel:

Hence thou goest both upon earth and on heaven.”

Hence to outward view “He is a man like you,” @

While to his sharp-seeing heart “it hath been revealed.”

His earthy form has fallen on earth,

His spirit revolving above highest heaven.

O boy, we are all of us waterfowl,

The sea knows full well our language.

Solomon ? is, as it were, that sea, and we as the birds;

In Solomon we hold our course to eternity.

Along with Solomon plunge into the ocean, +

Then, like David, the water will make us coats-of-mail.

That Solomon is present to every one,

But negligence closes their eyes and bewitches them.

Hence, through ignorance, sloth, and folly,

Though he stands hard by us, we are shut off from him.

The noise of thunder makes the head of the thirsty ache;

When he knows not that it unlocks the blessed showers,

His eyes are fixed on the running stream,

Unwitting of the sweetness of the rain from heaven.

He urges the steed of his desire towards the caused,

And perforce remains shut off from the Causer.

Whoso beholds the Causer face to face,

How can he set his heart on things caused on earth?

NOTES:

1. Koran xvi. 72: “And now have we honored the sons of Adam, by

sea and by land have we carried them.”

2. Koran xviii. 110: “Say, in sooth I am only a man like you. It hath

been revealed unto me that your God is one only God.”

3. Koran xxvii. 16: “Solomon said, O men, we have been taught the

speech of birds.”

4. Koran xxvii. 44 and xxi. 80.

Story I.

THE TRAVELERS WHO ATE THE YOUNG ELEPHANT.

A PARTY of travelers lost their way in a wilderness, and were

well nigh famished with hunger. While they were considering

what to do, a sage came up and condoled with them on their

unfortunate plight. He told them that there were many young

elephants in the adjacent woods, one of which would furnish

them an ample meal, but at the same time he warned them

that if they killed one, its parents would in all probability

track them out and be revenged on them for killing their

offspring. Shortly after the travelers saw a plump young

elephant, and could not resist killing and eating it. One alone

refrained. Then they lay down to rest; but no sooner were they

fast asleep than a huge elephant made his appearance and

proceeded to smell the breath of each one of the sleepers in

turn. Those whom he perceived to have eaten of the young

elephant’s flesh he slew without mercy, sparing only the one

who had been prudent enough to abstain.:

God's care for His children.

O son, the pious are God’s children,

Absent or present He is informed of their state.

Deem Him not absent when they are endangered,

For He is jealous for their lives.

He saith, “These saints are my children,

Though remote and alone and away from their Lord.

For their trial they are orphans and wretched,

Yet in love I am ever holding communion with them.

Thou art backed by all my protection;

My children are, as it were, parts of me.

Verily these Darveshes of mine

Are thousands on thousands, and yet no more than One;

For if not, how did Moses with one magic staff

Turn the realm of Pharaoh upside down?

And if it were not so, how did Noah with one curse

Make East and West alike drowned in his flood?

Nor could one prayer of eloquent Lot

Have razed their strong city against their will,

Their mighty city, like to Paradise,

Became as a Tigris of black water; go, see its vestige!

Towards Syria is this vestige and memorial,

Thou seest it in passing on the way to Jerusalem.

Thousands of God-fearing prophets

In every age hold divine chastisements in hand.

Should I tell of them my limits would be exceeded,

And not hearts only but very hills would bleed.”

Evil deeds give men’s prayers an ill savour in Gods nostrils.

Thou art asleep, and the smell of that forbidden fruit

Ascends to the azure skies,

Ascends along with thy foul breath,

Till it overpowers heaven with stench;

Stench of pride, stench of lust, stench of greed.

All these stink like onions when a man speaks.

Though thou swearest, saying, “When have I eaten?

Have I not abstained from onions and garlic?”

The very breath of that oath tells tales,

As it strikes the nostrils of them that sit with thee.

So too prayers are made invalid by such stenches, !

That crooked heart is betrayed by its speech.

The answer to that prayer is, “Be ye driven into hell,” 2

The staff of repulsion is the reward of all deceit.

But, if thy speech be crooked and thy meaning straight,

Thy crookedness of words will be accepted of God.

That faithful Bilal, when he called to prayer,

Would devoutly cry, “Come hither, come hither!”

At last men said, “O Prophet, this call is not right,

This is wrong; now, what is thy intention?

O Prophet, and O ambassador of the Almighty,

Provide another Mu’azzin of better talent.

‘Tis an error at the beginning of our divine worship

To utter the words, ‘Come to the asylum!” ®

The wrath of the Prophet boiled up, and he said

(Uttering one or two secrets from the fount of grace),

“O base ones, in God’s sight the ‘Ho!’ of Bilal

Is better than a hundred ‘Come hithers’ and ejaculations.

Ah! excite not a tumult, lest I tell forth openly

Your secret thoughts from first to last.

If ye keep not your breath sweet in prayer,

Go, desire a prayer from the Brethren of Purity!”

For this cause spake God to Moses,

At the time he was asking aid in prayer,

“O Moses! desire protection of me

With a mouth that thou hast not sinned withal.”

Moses answered, “I possess not such a mouth.”

God said, “Call upon me with another mouth!

Act so that all thy mouths

By night and by day may be raising prayers.

When thou hast sinned with one mouth,

With thy other mouth cry, ‘O Allah!’

Or else cleanse thy own mouth,

And make thy spirit alert and quick.

Calling on God is pure, and when purity approaches,

Impurity arises and takes its departure.

Contraries flee away from contraries;

When day dawns night takes flight.

When the pure name (of God) enters the mouth,

Neither does impurity nor that impure mouth remain!”

The man whose calling “O Allah” was equivalent

to God’s answering him, “Here am I” 4.

That person one night was crying, “O Allah!”

That his mouth might be sweetened thereby,

And Satan said to him, “Be quiet, O austere one!

How long wilt thou babble, O man of many words?

No answer comes to thee from nigh the throne,

How long wilt thou cry ‘Allah’ with harsh face?”

That person was sad at heart and hung his head,

And then beheld Khizr present before him in a vision,

Who said to him, “Ah! thou hast ceased to call on God,

Wherefore repentest thou of calling upon Him?”

The man said, “The answer ‘Here am I’ came not,

Wherefore I fear that I am repulsed from the door.”

Khizr replied to him, “God has given me this command;

Go to him and say, ‘O much-tried one,

Did not I engage thee to do my service?

Did not I engage thee to call upon me?

That calling ‘Allah’ of thine was my ‘Here am J,’

And that pain and longing and ardour of thine my messenger;

Thy struggles and strivings for assistance

Were my attractions, and originated thy prayer.

Thy fear and thy love are the cove,rt of my mercy,

Each ‘O Lord!’ of thine contains many ‘Here am I’s.”

The soul of fools is alien from this calling on God,

Because it is not their wont to cry, ‘O Lord!’

On their mouths and hearts are locks and bonds, ®

That they may not cry to God in time of distress.

God gave Pharaoh abundance of riches and wealth,

So that he boasted that he was ‘Lord Supreme.’

In the whole of his life he suffered no headache,

So that he never cried to God, wretch that he was.

God granted him the absolute dominion of the world,

But withheld from him pain and sorrow and cares;

Because pain and sorrow and loads of cares

Are the lot of God’s friends in the world.

Pain is better than the dominion of the world,

So that thou mayest call on God in secret.

The cries of those free from pain are dull and cold,

The cries of the sorrowful come from the burning hearts.”

NOTES:

1. “Whoever eats garlic or onions must keep away from me or from

the Masjid.” (Mishkat ut Masabih, ii. 321).

2. Koran xxiii. 110: “He will say ‘Be ye driven down into it, and

address me not.”

ow

. Rules for the call to prayer are given in Mishkat ul Masabih i.

141.

. Or, “What dost thou require of me?”

Oo ®

. Koran ii. 6.

Story II.

THE VILLAGER WHO INVITED THE TOWNSMAN TO VISIT

HIM.

A certain villager paid a visit to the town, and there received

hospitality from one of the townsmen. At his departure the

villager was profuse of thanks, and pressed the townsman to

come and see him in his village, and bring his family with

him. The townsman hesitated long before accepting his

invitation, having doubts as to his sincerity, and remembering

the Hadis, “Caution consists in suspecting others.” ! But after

ten years’ solicitation he at length yielded, and set off with his

family to the village. On his arrival the villager shut the door

in his face, saying that he did not know him, and the

townsman had to pass five nights in the cold and rain. At last,

exhausted with suffering, he implored the villager to give him

shelter, promising to render service in return. The villager

granted it on condition that he would protect his garden from

the wolves. The townsman accepted this condition, and taking

bow and arrows, proceeded to patrol the garden, but, owing to

the rain and the darkness, and his own fears, ended by

shooting the villager’s pet ass in mistake for a wolf. The

villager abused him roundly, saying that he himself would not

have taken an ass for a wolf, even on the darkest night. The

townsman replied, “If that be so, you are self-convicted of

inhumanity, for you must have recognized me, your friend of

ten years’ standing, the moment I knocked at your door. As for

me, I am ignorant of all but Allah, and, moreover, was unable

to see in the darkness; and God has said, ‘No criminality is

imputed to the blind.* But your blindness in refusing to

recognize me was willful, and your claims to humanity are

thus proved to be false by the test to which you have been

submitted.”

Jesus healing the sick.

The house of ‘Isa was the banquet of men of heart,

Ho! afflicted one, quit not this door!

From all sides the people ever thronged,

Many blind and lame, and halt and afflicted,

To the door of the house of ‘Isa at dawn,

That with his breath he might heal their ailments.

As soon as he had finished his orisons,

That holy one would come forth at the third hour;

He viewed those impotent folk, troop by troop,

Sitting at his door in hope and expectation;

He spoke to them, saying, “O stricken ones!

The desires of all of you have been granted by God;

Arise, walk without pain or affliction,

Acknowledge the mercy and beneficence of God!”

Then all, as camels whose feet are shackled,

When you loose their feet in the road,

Straightway rush in joy and delight to the halting-place,

So did they run upon their feet at his command.

How many afflictions caused by thyself to thyself

Hast thou escaped through these princes of the faith?

How long that lameness of thine was thy steed!

How seldom was thy soul void of sorrow and grief!

O careless straggler, bind a rope upon thy feet,

Lest thou lose even thine own self!

But thy ingratitude and unthankfulness

Forget the honey draught thou hast sipped.

That road was perforce closed to thee

When thou didst wound the hearts of the men of heart.

Quick! clasp them and ask pardon of them:

Like the clouds, shed tears of lamentation,

So that their rose-garden may bloom for thee,

And their ripe fruits burst open of themselves.

Press around that door, be not viler than a dog,

If thou wouldest rival the Seven Sleepers’ dog.

Gods claims to our gratitude.

Whereas want of fidelity is shameful even in dogs,

How can it be right in men?

God Almighty Himself makes boast of fidelity,

Saying, “Who more faithful to his promise than We?” ?

Know, infidelity is fidelity to God’s adversary,

No one has pre-eminence over the rights of God.

The claims of a mother are less than God’s, for He,

That bounteous One, made her debtor for thy embryo.

He gave thee a form whilst thou wast in her womb,

In her womb He gave thee needful rest and nurture.

He viewed her as a part united to thee,

Then His wisdom separated that united part.

God devised a thousand plans and arts,

To make thy mother lavish affection upon thee.

Wherefore the claims of God predominate over the mother’s,

Whoso acknowledges not God’s claims is a fool.

He who made mother and breast and milk

United mother to father also, despise Him not!

O Lord, O Ancient of days, Thy mercies,

Whether known to us or unknown, are all from Thee!

Thou hast commanded, saying, “Remember thy God,”

Because God’s claims are never exhausted!

Since thou hast been led astray by faithless men,

Turn now from thy evil doubts to the opposite mind.

I am free from error and all faithlessness;

Thou must come to me and rescind evil doubts.

Cut off these evil doubts and cast them away,

For in the presence of such thou becomest double.

Therefore thou hast chosen harsh friends and companions;

If I ask where they are thou sayest they are gone.

The good friend goes up to highest heaven,

Evil friends sink beneath the bottom of the earth,

Whilst thou art left alone in the midst, forlorn,

Even as the fires left by the departed caravan.”

O brave friend, grasp His skirt,

Who is removed alike from the world above and below;

Who neither, like. Jesus, ascends to heaven,

Nor, like Korah, sinks into the earth;

Who will abide with thee in the house and abroad

When thou lackest house and home.

He will bring forth peace out of perturbations,

And when thou art afllicted will keep His promise.

How false pretensions to sanctity are distinguished from true

sanctity.

O son, a hundred thousand tests await thee,

Whoever thou art who sayest “I am a prince of the gate,”

If the vulgar detect not such an one by tests,

Yet the skilled wayfarers seek of him a sign.

When a man makes pretension to be a tailor,

The master places before him a piece of silk,

Saying, “Cut out a large head-dress,”

And failure in the test leads him to the pillory.

If all the evil men were not tested,

Every catamite would through fraud pass for a Rustam.

Suppose he wears the semblance of one clad in mail,

Yet when wounded he is at once taken captive.

The God-intoxicated are not sobered by old age,

They remain beside themselves till the last trump.

The wine of God is true, and not false,

But thou hast drunk only sour whey.

Thou makest thyself out to be a Junaid or a Bayazid;

Go! for do I not know a hatchet from a ploughshare?

O plotter, how canst thou conceal by fraud

Baseness, sloth, covetousness, and lust?

Thou holdest thyself out as a lover of God,

But thou hast coquetted with the evil demon.

The lover and the beloved on the last day

Will be joined together and raised in sight of all.

How foolish and silly thou hast made thyself!

Thou hast drunk blood of grapes, nay, my blood!

Go! for I know thee not. Get away!

I am a lover beside himself, whose words are wild.

Thou fanciest thyself near to God,

Saying, “The maker of the dish is not far from the dish.”

Knowest thou not that the nearness of saints to God

Involves the power to do mighty works and signs?

Iron was as wax in the hands of David,

Wax in thy hands is as iron.

God’s nearness and His beneficence are common to all,

But only eminent saints enjoy inspired love.

Nearness is of various kinds, O son,

The sun shines alike on rocks and on gold.

Yet the sun possesses a nearness to gold,

Whereof the common willow has no cognizance.

The dry branch and the green are alike near the sun,

Does the sun veil himself from either?

Yet what is the nearness of that green branch,

Wherefrom thou eatest ripe fruits?

But as for the dry branch) from its nearness to the sun,

What does it but more quickly grow dry and sapless?

Be not intoxicated after the manner of this branch,

Which, when it becomes sober, has cause for repentance,

But, like those drunkards who, when they drink wine,

Bear ripe fruits of wisdom of penitence.

NOTES:

1. Freytag, Arabum Proverbia, i. p. 370, ascribes this saying to the

poet, Aqzam bin zaid.

2. Koran xxiv. 60.

3. Koran. ix. 112.

Story III. THE JACKAL WHO PRETENDED TO BE A

PEACOCK.

A jackal fell into a dye-pit, and his skin was dyed of various

colors. Proud of his splendid appearance, he returned to his

companions, and desired them to address him as a peacock.

But they proceeded to test his pretensions, saying, “Dost thou

scream like a peacock, or strut about gardens as peacocks are

wont to do?” And he was forced to admit that he did not,

whereupon they rejected his pretensions. Another story, also

on the subject of false pretenders, follows. A proud man who

lacked food procured a skin full of fat, greased his beard and

lips with it, and called on his friends to observe how

luxuriously he had dined. But his belly was vexed at this,

because it was hungry, and he was destroying his chance of

being invited to dinner by his friends. So the belly cried to

God, and a cat came and carried off the skin of fat, and so the

man’s false pretences were exposed. The poet takes occasion to

point out that Pharaoh’s pretensions to divinity exactly

resembled the pretensions of this jackal, and adds that all

such false pretenders may be detected by the mark noted in

the Koran, “Ye shall know them by the strangeness of their

speech.” ! This recalls the story of Harut and Marut, two

angels who were very severe on the frailties of mankind, and

whom God sent down upon the earth to be tempted, with the

result that they both succumbed to the charms of the

daughters of men.?

NOTES:

1. Koran xlvii. 32.

2. Koran ii. 96.

Story IV.

MOSES AND PHARAOH.

Then follows a long account of the birth of Moses, of Pharaoh’s

devices to kill him in his infancy, of his education in Pharaoh’s

house, of his desiring Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go,

and of his contest with the magicians of Egypt, and his victory

over them. In the course of the story the following anecdote is

narrated:

A snake-catcher, who was following his occupation in the

mountains, discovered a large snake frozen by the cold, and,

imagining it to be dead, he tied it up and took it to Baghdad.

There all the idlers of the city flocked together to see it, and

the snake, thawed by the warmth of the sun, recovered life,

and immediately destroyed the spectators.

Comparison of fleshly lust to the snake.

Lust is that snake; How say you it is dead?

It is only frozen by the pangs of hunger.

If it obtains the state of Pharaoh,

So as to command the (frozen) rivers to flow,

Straightway it is led to pride like Pharaoh’s,

And it plunders the goods of many a Moses and Aaron.

Through pressure of want this snake is as a fly,

It becomes a gnat through wealth and rank and luxury.

Beware, keep that snake in the frost of humiliation,

Draw it not forth into the sunshine of ‘Iraq!

So long as that snake is frozen, it is well;

When it finds release from frost you become its prey.

Conquer it and save yourself from being conquered,

Pity it not, it is not one who bears affection.

For that warmth of the sun kindles its lust,

And that bat of vileness flaps its wings.

Slay it in sacred war and combat,

Like a valiant man will God requite you with union.

When that man cherished that snake,

That stubborn brute was happy in the luxury of warmth:

And of necessity worked destruction, O friend:

Yea, many more mischiefs than I have told.

If you wish to keep that snake tied up

Without trouble, be faithful, be faithful!

But how can base men attain this wish?

It requires a Moses to slay serpents:

And a hundred thousand men were slain by his serpent,

In dire confusion, according to his purpose.

Story V.

THE ELEPHANT IN A DARK ROOM.

Some Hindoos were exhibiting an elephant in a dark room,

and many people collected to see it. But as the place was too

dark to permit them to see the elephant, they all felt it with

their hands, to gain an idea of what it was like. One felt its

trunk, and declared that the beast resembled a water-pipe:

another felt its ear, and said it must be a large fan; another its

leg, and thought it must be a pillar; another felt its back, and

declared the beast must be like a great throne. According to

the part which each felt, he gave a different description of the

animal. One, as it were, called it “Dal” and another “Alif.”

Comparison of the sensual eye to the hand of one that felt the

elephant.

The eye of outward sense is as the palm of a hand,

The whole of the object is not grasped in the palm.

The sea itself is one thing, the foam another;

Neglect the foam, and regard the sea with your eyes.

Waves of foam rise from the sea night and day,

You look at the foam ripples and not the mighty sea.

We, like boats, are tossed hither and thither,

We are blind though we are on the bright ocean.

Ah! you who are asleep in the boat of the body,

You see the water; behold the Water of waters!

Under the water you see there is another Water moving it,

Within the spirit is a Spirit that calls it.

Where were Moses and Jesus when that Sun

Showered down water on the fields sown with corn?

Where were Adam and Eve what time

God Almighty fitted the string to His bow?

The one form of speech is evil and defective;

The other form, which is not defective, is perfect.

If I speak thereof your feet stumble,

Yet if I speak not of it, woe be to you!

And if I speak in terms of outward form,

You stick fast in that same form, O son.

You are footbound like the grass in the ground,

And your head is shaken by the wind uncertainly.

Your foot stands not firmly till you move it,

Nay, till you pluck it not up from the mire.

When you pluck up your foot you escape from the mire,

The way to this salvation is very difficult.

When you obtain salvation at God’s hands, O wanderer,

You are free from the mire, and go your way.

When the suckling is weaned from its nurse,

It eats strong meats and leaves the nurse.

You are bound to the bosom of earth like seeds,

Strive to be weaned through nutriment of the heart.

Eat the words of wisdom, for veiled light

Is not accepted in preference to unveiled light.

When you have accepted the light, O beloved,

When you behold what is veiled without a veil,

Like a star you will walk upon the heavens;

Nay, though not in heaven, you will walk on high.

Keep silence, that you may hear Him speaking

Words unutterable by tongue in speech.

Keep silence, that you may hear from that Sun

Things inexpressible in books and discourses.

Keep silence, that the Spirit may speak to you;

Give up swimming and enter the ark of Noah;

Not like Canaan when he was swimming,

Who said, “I desire not to enter the ark of Noah passing by.”

Noah and his unbelieving son Canaan.

Noah cried, “Ho! child, come into the ark and rest,

That you be not drowned in the flood, O weak one.”

Canaan said, “Nay! I have learned to swim,

I have lit a torch of my own apart from thy torch.”

Noah replied, “Make not light of it, for ‘tis the flood of

destruction,

Swimming with hands and feet avails naught today.

The wind of wrath and the storm blow out torches;

Except the torch of God, all are extinguished.”

He answered “Nay! I am going to that high mountain,

For that will save me from all harm.”