Commentary on the verse (of the Qur’án): “And raise the battle-cry against them with your horsemen and men on foot.”
When you earnestly resolve
to be religious,
the Devil in your nature cries
out at you,
“Go not in that direction! Bethink you, O misguided one; for you will become captive to distress
and
poverty.
You will become destitute, you will be cut
off from friends, you will be despised, you will feel
sorry.”
From fear of the outcry
of that accursed
Devil you flee away from
certain truth into error,
4330. Saying, “Ho,
to-morrow is mine and after
to-morrow: I will
run in the Way of religion, I
have (plenty of) time.”
Then again you see Death killing your neighbours on left and right, so that the cry
(of
lamentation) is raised.
Now, in fear of (your) life, you resolve
to be religious: for a while, you
make yourself a
(true)
man;
So you put on the
armour of knowledge and wisdom, saying, “I will not shrink from any
danger.”
Again he (the
Devil) deceitfully cries out at you—“Be
afraid and turn
away from the
sword of poverty!”
4335. Once more
you flee from
the Way of
Light and cast off
that armour of
knowledge and virtue.
(For many) years, you are a slave
to him because of a cry: you have laid down the blanket (have
lain down to rest) in such darkness as this!
Dread of the cry of the
devils has bound the people and taken
hold of their throats,
Till their souls have
become as hopeless of the Light as the spirits of the infidels
who dwell in the tombs.
Such is the
terror of the cry of that
accursed one: how (great)
must be the
dread of the
Divine
cry!
4340. Dread of the falcon
is (falling) upon
the noble partridge: the
fly has no portion of that dread,
Because the falcon is not a hunter of flies: only spiders catch
flies.
The spider, (which
is) the Devil, has dominion over flies like you, not over the partridge and
the eagle.
The cry of the devils is the drover of the
damned; the cry of the
Lord is the
guardian of the
(blessed) saints,
To the end that, by reason of these two
cries (being) far distant (from
each other), not a drop of the
sweet sea may
mingle with
the
briny sea.
How the talismanic cry came at midnight to (the ears of) the guest in the mosque.
4345. Now hear the
tale of the terrible cry, by
which that
good-fortuned man was
not dismayed.
He said, “How
should I fear? for this is the
drum of the Festival.
Let the drum
fear, since blows belong to it.
O empty drums
without hearts, your share
in the festival of the spirit
is (naught but)
blows of the
(drum-)stick.
The Resurrection is the Festival, and
the irreligious are the
drum: we, like
the festive folk, are laughing as the rose.”
Now hear how, when
this drum boomed, he
(the guest) cooks the pot
containing the broth
of felicity.
4350. When that
man of insight
heard the drum, he said, “How
should my heart
be afraid of
the drum of the
Festival?”
He said to himself, “Beware,
do not let
your heart tremble,
for
(only) the souls of the
faint-hearted who lack faith have
died
at
this (noise of the
drum).
The time has come for
me, like Haydar
(‘Alí), to seize a kingdom,
or to quit
the body.” He sprang
up and shouted, “O prince, lo, here am I: if you art a man, come
on!”
At his voice that talisman instantly was shattered: the gold poured down, diverse sorts, in every
direction.
4355. So much
gold poured down
that the youth
feared lest, from its abundance, it might block the
doorway.
Afterwards that ready lion (valiant man)
rose up,
and till dawn
he was carrying out the gold
And burying it and
coming (back) to it once more with sack and
bag.
That self-devoting one laid by (great)
stores thereof, to the confusion of (in
despite of)
the timidity of the backsliders.
(The thought that) this (is)
external (material) gold
has occurred
to the mind of every
blind, God-
forsaken gold-worshipper.
4360. (Similarly) children
break potsherds, give the name of gold
(to
the fragments), and
put them in their skirts.
When in that
game you mention the name
of gold, (the
idea of) that
(potsherd) crosses
the child's mind.
Nay, (’tis) the
gold stamped with the Divine stamp, (the
gold) which does not
become obsolete,
(but) is everlasting;
The gold from which this (worldly)
gold
gained
lustre and derived
sheen and splendour and brilliance;
The gold
whereby the heart is made
rich: it surpasses the moon in brightness.
4365. That mosque was the
candle, and he (the
guest) was the
moth: that man of
moth-like nature gambled himself away (sacrificed himself).
It burnt his wings, but it complied with him
(granted his desire): his throwing (himself into the flame) was very
blessed.
That man of happy
fortune was like Moses who beheld a fire in the direction of the tree.
Since the (Divine)
favours were plenteously bestowed on him, he (only) fancied
it was fire,
and really it was the Light.
O son, when you see a man of
God, you suppose
(that you see)
in
him the fire of human
nature.
4370. You are
coming (to that conclusion) from yourself,
and that (human
nature) is in you
(not in him): the fire and thorns of vain opinion are in this quarter.
He is the tree
of Moses and
filled with radiance: come, now, call him the Light,
do
not call him fire.
Did not the weaning from this world seem (as) a fire? The pilgrims went (on
their way), and
that
(weaning) was really the Light.
Know, then,
that the Candle
of Religion is always mounting
(shining more and more): this is not like the candle of flames.
This (flaming candle) seems to be Light, (but) it burns its
friend, while that (Candle
of Religion) is
fire in appearance, but is (delicious as)
roses to (its) visitors.
4375. The former
is like a complaisant (friend), but it is a burner,
while that (other) is an
illuminator of the heart at the moment of union.
To those present (with God)
the
appearance of the spark of pure and
worthy Light is luminous, while to those far (from
God) it is like fire.
The meeting of the lover with the Şadr-ı Ĵahan.
The man of Bukhárá also cast himself upon candle: because of his passion that suffering had become
ea to him.
His burning sighs went up to heaven:
kindness (for him) came into the heart of the Sadr-i Jahán, (Who)
said, (communing) with himself at dawn, “O (You who art) One, how fareth
that distraught wanderer of Ours?
4380. He committed a sin, and We saw
(it), but he was not
well acquainted with Our
mercy. The sinner’s heart becomes
afraid of Us,
but in his fear there are a hundred
hopes.
I frighten
the impudent man who
has lost the (right)
way: why should I frighten him
who is
afraid?
Fire is used for
the cold pot, not for that (pot)
which is boiling over.
I frighten the unafraid
by (My)
knowledge;
I take
away the fear of the
afraid by (My) clemency.
4385. I am a
patcher: I put the
patch in (its
proper)
place; I give drink to every one in due
measure.”
A man’s
inmost consciousness is like
the root of a tree; hence his leaves grow from the hard wood.
The leaves grow
according to the root,
in the tree and in souls and in minds.
From the trees of faithfulness there are wings
(that soar) to heaven its root is fast (in the earth),
and
its branch is in the sky.
Since through love grew the wing (that
soars) to heaven, how should it not
grow in the
heart of
the adr-i Jahan?
4390. Forgiveness of the
sin was surging
in his heart, for as much as there is a window
from each heart to (every
other) heart;
For assuredly there
is a window from
heart to heart: they are
not separate and far
(from each other), like two bodies.
The earthenware (basins) of two lamps are not joined,
but their light
is
mingled in (its) passage.
No lover, in sooth, is seeking union
without his loved one seeking
him;
But the love of lovers makes the
body (thin as) a
bowstring, (while) the love of
loved ones makes it comely and fat.
4395. When the
lightning of love
for the beloved
has shot into
this heart, know that
there is love in that heart.
When love for God has been
doubled in your heart,
without any doubt
God has love for you.
No sound of clapping comes forth from one hand of yours without the other hand.
The thirsty man is
moaning, “O delicious water!” The
water moans too, saying,
“Where is the
water-drinker?”
This thirst in our souls
is the attraction
exerted by the Water:
we are Its, and It is ours.
4400. The Wisdom of God in destiny and in decree
made us lovers of one another.
Because of that fore-ordainment
all the particles of the world re paired as mates and are in love with their
own
mate.
Every particle
of the universe is desiring its mate, just
like amber and the blade of straw. Heaven says to the earth, “Welcome! To
you I am (in the same
relation) as the iron and the
magnet.”
In (the view of) the intellect,
heaven is man and
the earth woman:
whatever that (heaven)
casts forth this (earth)
fosters
4405.When it (the earth) has no heat remaining, it (heaven) sends it; when no freshness and moisture remains, it bestows it.
The terrene sign (of the zodiac) is (supplying) replenishment
to
the dust of the earth;
the aqueous sign
produces freshness therein;
The aerial sign
wafts the clouds
towards it, that
they may sweep away the
pestilential vapours;
The fiery sign
is
the source of the sun’s
heat, (which
is)
like a frying-pan (made)
red-hot, back
and front, by fire.
Heaven is turning giddily in (the
world of) Time,
like men
(prowling) around (in
search of) gain
for
the wife’s sake;
4410.And this
earth practises housewiferies : it attends to births and to suckling that
(which it bears).
Therefore regard earth and heaven
as endowed with intelligence, since they do the work
of
intelligent beings.
Unless these
two sweethearts are tasting (delight)
from
one another, then why
are
they creeping together like
mates?
Without the earth how should roses and arghawan-flowers grow? What, then,
would be born of the
water and heat of
heaven?
The desire (implanted) in the female for the male is to the end
that they may
perfect each other’s work.
4415.God put desire in man
and woman in
order that the
world! should be
preserved by this union.
lie also
implants the
desire of every part for another
part:
from the union
of
both an act of generation
results. Likewise night
and day are in
mutual embrace: (they
are) different in
appearance, but (are really) in agreement.
Day and night, outwardly, are two contraries and
enemies, but they both attend
on one truth—
Each desiring the other,
like kinsfolk, for the sake of perfecting their action and
work.
4420.(Both serve one purpose)
because, without night, the nature
t (of man) would receive no income: what, then, should the days
expend?
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