Commentary on “Moses conceived a
fear in his heart: We said, ‘Fear not, verily you wilt be the superior.’”
1670. Moses said, “Magic
too is a bewildering thing: how shall I act?—for this
people have no
discernment.”
God said, “I will produce discernment, I will make the undiscerning
mind able to perceive
(the truth).
Howbeit they
(the magicians) have raised up
foam, like the sea, thou, O Moses, wilt
prevail: fear
not!”
Magic was glorious
in its own time: when the rod
became a dragon,
those (magic arts) were disgraced.
Every one pretends
to excellence and elegance: the stone
of Death is the
touchstone for (these)
elegances.
1675. Magic is gone
and the miracle of Moses is past: as regards both, the bowl has fallen from
the roof of
(their) being.
What has the noise of the bowl of magic
left behind but
execration? What
has the noise of
the bowl of religion left behind but sublimity?
Since the touchstone has become
hidden from man and
woman, O adulterated
coin, come now into line (with the genuine coin) and brag!
It is the time for you to
brag. Since the
touchstone is absent,
they will pass
you in honour from
hand to hand.
The adulterated
coin is ever saying
to me arrogantly, “O pure gold, how am I inferior to thee?”
1680. The gold
says, “Yes, O fellow-servant; but the touchstone is coming:
be prepared.” The death
of the body is a (welcome)
gift to the adepts
of the mystery: what
damage is (done by)
the
scissors to pure gold?
If the adulterated coin had
seen the end in
regard to itself, it would have
become at first the black (thing)
which it became in the end.
Since (in that case)
it would have become black at first,
in confrontation (with
the
genuine coin)
it would have been far from
duplicity and damnation.
It would have sought
the elixir of
(Divine) grace; its
reason would have
prevailed over its hypocrisy.
1685. Since it would
have become broken-hearted on account of its (evil) state, it
would have seen before
it Him who mends
them that are broken.
(When) it saw the end
and became broken (contrite),
it
was at once
bandaged by the
Bone- setter.
The (Divine) grace impelled the pieces of
copper towards the elixir; the gilt
(coin)
remained
deprived of (Divine) bounty.
O gilt one,
do not make pretensions:
recognise that your purchaser will not (always) remain so
blind.
The light of the place
of congregation (at the Last Judgement)
will cause their (the
purchasers')
eyes to see
and will expose your blindfolding (of them).
1690. Look at those who have seen
the end: they
are the amazement of souls and the envy of the eye.
Look at those who have seen
(only) the present:
their inmost self is corrupt;
they are
radically decapitated (cut off from the Truth).
To the seer of the present, who is in ignorance
and doubt,
both the true dawn
and the false dawn
are
one (and the same).
The false dawn has given a hundred thousand caravans to the wind of destruction, O youth.
There is no
genuine money that
has not a deceptive counterfeit: alas for the soul that does not possess the touchstone and scissors!
Warning the pretender to shun pretension and enjoining him to follow (the true guide).
1695. Bú Musaylim said, “I myself am Ahmad (Mohammed):
I have cunningly confounded the religion of Ahmad.”
Say to Bú
Musaylim, “Do not behave
with insolence:
be not deluded
by
the beginning, regard
the end.
Do not act thus as a guide
from (with the motive
of) greed for
amassing (wealth and power):
follow behind, in order that
the Candle (the
true guide) may go in front (of
thee).”
The Candle, like the moon,
shows (clearly)
the (traveller's) destination,
and
whether in
this direction
there is the
grain (of spiritual welfare)
or the place
for the snare
(of perdition). Whether you wilt or not, (so long as
you art) with the Lantern the
form of falcon and the form
of crow become
visible (to thee).
1700. Otherwise, (beware,
for) these crows
have lit (the lantern
of) fraud: they have learned
the cry of the white
falcons.
If a man
learn the cry of the hoopoe, (yet) where is the mystery of the hoopoe and the message from Sabá?
Know (distinguish)
the natural cry
from the artificial one,
(know) the crown of kings from the
crown (crest) of hoopoes.
These shameless
persons have attached
to their tongues the speech
of dervishes and the deep sayings of gnostics.
Every destruction of an olden
people that there was—(it was)
because they deemed sandal-wood
to be (common) wood.
1705. They had the discernment that should make that (difference) evident, but greed
and cupidity make
(men) blind
and deaf.
The blindness of the (physically)
blind is not far from
(the Divine)
mercy; it is the blindness
of greed that is inexcusable.
Crucifixion (tribulation) inflicted
by the King (God) is not far from mercy;
the crucifixion (torment)
of envy is not forgiven
(by God).
O fish, regard the
end; do not regard the
hook: evil appetite has
bandaged (blindfolded) yours eye that sees the end.
See the beginning and the
end with both
eyes: beware, do not be
one-eyed like
the accursed
Iblís.
1710. The one-eyed man is he who saw only the present—ignorant, like the
beasts, of
(what comes) after.
Since the two eyes of an ox are
(rated) as one eye (of a man) in
(the case of)
damages for
(their) destruction—for it (the ox) has
no excellence—
Its two eyes are worth (only) a half of its
value, inasmuch as
yours eye is the support for its two
eyes.
But if you destroy one eye of a son of Adam, by a statute (of the
Law) you must pay half of his
value,
Because the human eye
works alone by itself without (assistance
from) the two eyes of a friend.
1715. Since (the power of) the donkey's eye (to see) the beginning
is not accompanied by
(power to see) the end,
it (the donkey) is in the same case as the one-eyed
man, (even) if it has
two
eyes.
This topic has no limit—and that light-minded (foolish) one is writing a
letter in hope
of loaves.
The rest of the story of the slave’s writing a
petition for his allowance.
Before (writing) the
letter he went to the kitchen-stewerd and said, “O
niggard of the kitchen
of the generous king,
It is far from him and
from his magnanimity that this (small) amount (matter) of my allowance should come into his consideration.”
He (the steward)
said, “He has
ordered (so) for a good object, not on
account of stinginess
or close-fistedness.”
1720.
“By God,” he replied,
“this is a canard:
even old gold is as dust in the king’s eyes.” The steward raised up
manifold
arguments: he rejected them
all because of the
greed which
he had (in him).
When, at the
time of the forenoon
meal, his (usual) allowance
was
reduced, he uttered
much revilement, (but)
it
was of no avail.
He said, “Ye are doing these things on purpose.”
“Nay,” said the other, “we obey the (royal)
command.
Do not regard this (as
proceeding)
from the branch
(sub ordinate): regard
it (as proceeding)
from the root (principal); do not
strike at the
bow, for the arrow
is (really) from the
arm.
1725. (The words)
you didst not throw when
you threwest are a trial
(of
men’s understandings):
do not lay the fault
on the Prophet, for that
(throwing) is (an
act which proceeded) from God. The water is turbid from the source: O you who art angry in vain, look farther on, open yours eye once!”
(Moved) by anger
and resentment he went into a
certain place
and wrote an
angry letter to
the king.
In that letter he
lauded the king
and threaded the pearl
of
(descanted e on) the king’s munificence
and generosity,
Saying, “O you whose hand exceeds the sea and
the
clouds in
(liberally) fulfilling
the
want of the
suitor,
1730. Because that which
the cloud gives, it gives with tears, (while) your
hand incessantly lays the dish (of
bounty) with smiles.”
Though the outward
form of the
letter was praise,
from (amidst) the
praise the
scent of anger was showing traces (betraying itself).
All your actions
are devoid of light and
ugly
because you are
far, far from
the light of your
original nature.
The splendour of the actions of the vile becomes unsaleable (fades
away), just as fresh
fruit soon becomes rotten.
The splendour of the present life
soon produces unsaleableness (becomes of
no account),
inasmuch as it belongs to the world of generation and corruption.
1735. Breasts are not gladdened
by an
encomium when
there are feelings of enmity
in the
encomiast.
O heart, become
purged of enmity and
repugnance, and
then chant “Glory to God”
and be busy
(in serving Him).
(To have) “Glory to God” on your tongue and repugnance within is hypocrisy or guile on the tongue’s part;
And moreover God has
said, “I do not look to the exterior,
I am regarding the interior.”
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