Story of the Súfí who, head on knee, was engaged in (spiritual) meditation in the garden: his friends said to him, “Lift up your head and enjoy the garden and the sweet herbs and the birds and the marks of the mercy of God most High.”
In the
orchard a certain Súfí laid his face in Súfí fashion upon his knee for
the sake of (mystical)
revelation;
Then he sank deep down into himself. An impertinent
fellow was annoyed by his semblance of slumber.
1360. “Why,” said he, “dost
you sleep? Nay,
look at the vines, behold these trees and
marks
(of Divine mercy)
and green plants.
Hearken to the
command of God, for He
has said, ‘Look ye’: turn your face towards these marks of (Divine) mercy.”
He replied, “O man of vanity, its marks
are (within) the heart:
that (which is)
without is only the marks of the marks.”
The (real) orchards and
verdure are in the very
essence of the soul: the
reflexion thereof upon
(that which is) without is as (the
reflexion) in running water.
In the water
there is (only) the phantom (reflected
image) of the
orchard, which quivers
on account of the
subtle quality of the water.
1365. The (real)
orchards and fruits
are within the
heart: the reflexion of their
beauty is
(falling) upon this
water and earth
(the external world).
If it were not
the reflexion of
that delectable cypress,
then God would not
have called it the
abode of deception.
This deception is (consists in) that: i.e. this phantom (the external world)
exists (derives its existence) from
the reflexion
of
the heart and spirit
of
the (holy) men.
All the deceived ones come to (gaze on)
this reflexion in the
opinion that this is the place of
Paradise.
They are
fleeing from the
origins of the orchards; they
are making merry
over a phantom.
1370. When their
heedless sleep
comes to an end, they see truly—
but what use is that sight
(to them)?
Then in the
graveyard arises uproar
and lament: on account of
this mistake (they cry)
“alas” till the Resurrection.
Oh, happy he that died
before death, i.e. he got scent
of (became acquainted with) the origin of this
vineyard.
Story of the growing of the carob in a nook of the Farther Mosque, and how Solomon, on whom be peace, was grieved thereat, when it began to talk with him and told its characteristic property and its name
Then Solomon saw that a new plant had
grown, like an ear of
corn, in a nook (of the
Mosque). He saw a very
uncommon plant, green
and fresh: its green ness
took away the light
from (dazzled) the sight.
1375. Then that herb at once saluted him: he answered it (returned
its salutation) and marvelled at its beauty.
I said,
“What is your
name? Say (it)
without mouth.” It said, ‘‘It is ‘carob,’
O king of the
world.’’
He said, “What special property is (resides)
in thee?” It replied, “(Where) I have grown, the place becomes desolate.
I, who am carob
(kharrub), am the
ruin (kharàb) of the abode:
I am the destroyer of the building
(made) of this water and clay.”
Then at that
moment Solomon immediately understood that the
appointed term (of
his life) was come
and that the (hour of)
departure would (soon)
appear.
1380. He said,
“So long as I exist, assuredly this Mosque will not be damaged
by the banes of the earth.
Whilst I am
(here) and my existence continues, how should the Farther Mosque
become riven
with cracks (fall into decay)?”
Know, then,
that without doubt the ruin of our mosque does not occur
except after our
death. The mosque is the heart
to which the
body bows down: wherever
the mosque is, the
bad companion is the carob.
When love for a
bad companion has
grown in
you, beware, flee from
him and do not
converse
(with him).
1385. Tear it up by the root, for if it shoot up its head
it wilt demolish
(both) you and your mosque.
O lover, your
carob is falseness: why do you creep, like children, towards the
false?
Know yourself a sinner and
calf yourself a sinner—do
not be
afraid—so that
that Master may not
steal (secretly take away)
the lesson from you.
When you say, “I am ignorant;
give (me) instruction,” such fair-dealing is better than (a false)
reputation.
Learn from your
father (Adam), O
clear-browed man: he said heretofore, “O our Lord” and “We have done wrong.”
1390. He made
no excuse, nor did he invent falsehood nor lift up the banner
of deceit and e That Iblis,
on
the other hand,
began to dispute,
saying, “I was red-faced (honourable): You have made
me yellow
(disgraced).
The colour is Thy colour:
You art my dyer,
You art the origin of my sin and
bane and brand.” Beware! Recite (the text)
because You have seduced me, in order that
you may not
become a
necessitarian and may not weave untruth.
How long will
you leap up the tree of necessitarianism
and lay your free-will aside,
1395. Like that Iblis and his progeny, (engaged) in battle and
argument with God?
How should there be compulsion when
you are trailing your skirt (sweeping
along) into sin
with such complacence?
Does any one under
compulsion walk so complacently? Does any one, having lost his way’, go
dancing (gleefully) like that?
You were fighting like twenty men (to prevail) in
the
matter concerning which those others
were giving you good advice.
You said, “This is right and
this is the
only (approved) way: how should any one
but a nobody
(worthless person) rail at me?”
1400. How should
one who is compelled speak thus? How should one who has lost his way wrangle like this?
Whatever your fleshly
soul desires, you have
free-will (in regard
to that); whatever your
reason desires,
you plead necessity (as an
excuse for rejecting
it).
He that is blessed and
familiar (with
spiritual mysteries)
knows that intelligence is of Iblis,
while
love is of Adam.
Intelligence is (like)
swimming in the seas: he (the swimmer) is not saved: he is drowned at
the end of the business.
Leave off swimming, let pride and
enmity go: this is not a Jayhun (Oxus) or a (lesser) river, it is an ocean;
1405. And, moreover,
(it is) the deep
Ocean without refuge: it sweeps away
the seven seas like straw.
Love is as a ship for the elect: seldom
is calamity (the result); for the most part it is deliverance.
Sell intelligence and buy bewilderment: intelligence is opinion, while bewilderment is (immediate)
vision.
Sacrifice your
understanding in the presence of
Mustafa (Mohammed) say, “hasbiya ‘llah’, for God sufficeth me.”
Do not draw
back your head
from the ship (ark),
like Kan’án (Canaan), whom
his intelligent soul deluded,
1410. Saying, “I will
go
up to the top of the lofty
mountain: why must I bear gratitude
(be under an obligation) to Noah?”
How should you recoil
from being grateful to him, O unrighteous
one, when even God
bears gratitude to him?
How should gratitude to him not be (as an obligation) on our souls,
when God gives him words of thankful praise and gratitude?
What do you know
(about his exalted
state), O sack
full of envy?
Even God bears
gratitude to him.
Would that
he (one like
Kan’án) had not learned
to swim, so that
he might have fixed his hope on Noah and the ark!
1415. Would that, like a
child, he had
been ignorant of devices, so that, like children, he might have clung to his mother,
Or that he had not
been filled with
traditional knowledge,
(but) had carried
away from a
saint the knowledge
divinely revealed to the heart!
When you bring
forward a book
(in rivalry)
with such a light (of inspiration),
your soul, that resembles inspiration (in its nature),
reproaches (you).
Know that beside the
breath (words) of the Qutb
of the time traditional knowledge is
like
performing the
ritual ablution with sand
when there is water
(available).
Make yourself foolish
(simple) and follow
behind (him): only by means
of this foolishness will you gain
deliverance.
1420. On this account, O father, the Sultan of mankind (Mohammed has said, “Most of the people of
Paradise are
the foolish.”
Since, intelligence
is
the exciter of pride
and vanity in you, become
a fool in order
that your heart
may remain sound—
Not the fool that is bent double (abases himself) in
buffoonery, (but)
the
fool that is distraught and bewildered (lost) in Him (God).
The foolish
are (like) those women
(of Egypt)
who cut their
hands—foolish in respect of
their
hands, (but) giving (wise)
notice to beware of the face
(beauty) of
Joseph.
Sacrifice your
intellect in love for the Friend: anyhow,
(all) intellects are from the
quarter where
He is.
1425. The (spiritually)
intelligent have sent their intellects to that
quarter: (only)
the
dolt has remained in this quarter where the’ Beloved
is not.
If, from bewilderment, this intellect of yours go out of this head,
every head (tip)
of your hair will
become (a new)
head
and intellect.
In that quarter the trouble of thinking is. not (incumbent)
on the brain, for (there)
the brain and intellect (spontaneously) produce
fields and orchards (of
spiritual knowledge).
(If you turn) towards
the field, you
will hear from the field
a subtle
discourse; (if)
you come to the
orchard, your palm- tree will become
fresh and flourishing.
In this Way abandon ostentation: do not move unless
your (spiritual)
guide move.
1430. Any one
who moves without
the head (guide)
is a (mere) tail (base
and contemptible):
his movement is like the movement
of the scorpion.
Going crookedly, night-blind and ugly and venomous—his trade is the wounding of the pure bodies (of the
unworldly).
Beat the head
of him whose inmost
spirit is
(like) this, and whose permanent nature and
disposition is (like) this.
In sooth it is good for
him to beat this head
(of his), so that
his puny-soul may be delivered
from that ill-starred body.
Take away the
weapons from the madman’s hand,
that Justice and Goodness
may be satisfied with you.
1435. Since he has weapons and has no
understanding,
shackle his hand;
otherwise he will inflict a hundred injuries.
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