Story of the woman whose child crawled to the top of the water-spout and was in danger of falling; (whereupon) she besought help of ‘Alí Murtadá, may God ennoble his person.
A woman came to
Murtadá (‘Alí) and said, “A
child belonging
to
me has gone up
on to the
water- spout.
If I call it, it will not come to my hands; and if I leave it, I am afraid it will fall to the ground.
It is not intelligent, that it should
apprehend, like us, if I say,
‘Come to me (and
escape) from the danger.’
2660. Moreover, it does not
understand signs made by the
hand; or if it should understand, it will not hearken:
this too is bad (useless).
Many times have I shown to it the
milk and the
teat, (but) it always turns
its eyes and
face away from me.
For God's sake—(since) ye, O noble
ones, are those who give succour in this world and that
(other) world—
Quickly apply the remedy, for my heart
is trembling
lest I be
torn painfully from
the fruit of my heart.”
He (‘Alí) said, “Take
another child up to the roof,
in order that
the boy may see his congener,
2665. And come nimbly from the
water-spout to his congener: congener
is ever in love with congener.”
The woman did so, and when her child saw its congener, it turned its face towards
it with delight And came from
the ridge of the water-spout to the roof:
know that a congener
attracts every congener.
The child came
crawling along to the (other)
child: it was saved from falling to (the ground)
below.
The prophets are of humankind for this reason, that they (humankind), through the homogeneity
(of the prophets with them),
may
be saved from
the water-spout.
2670. Therefore he (the
Prophet) called himself a man like you, that ye might come to your
congener and might
not become lost;
For homogeneity is a
wondrous attractor:
wheresoever there is a seeker,
his congener is
attracting him.
Jesus and Idrís ascended to heaven, since they were homogeneous with the angels.
Again, Hárút and Márút were homogeneous with the body: hence they descended from on high. The
infidels
have become homogeneous
with
Satan: their spirits
have become
disciples of the
devils.
2675. They have learned
a hundred thousand
evil dispositions;
they have sewn up the eyes of intellect and
heart.
Their least ugly disposition is envy—that envy which
smote the
neck of (destroyed) Iblís.
From those curs they
have learned hatred
and envy, for he (Satan) does not wish
the
kingdom everlasting (to
be granted)
to (God's) creatures.
When he sees, on
left or right, any one
perfect, colic comes to him and pain arises (in him)
from
envy,
Because every miserable wretch whose stack has
been burnt is unwilling
that any one's candle should be lighted.
2680. Hark, bring
to hand (acquire)
some (degree of) perfection, in order
that you too mayst not
be aggrieved by
the
perfection of others.
Beg of God
the removal of
this envy, that God may deliver you from
the body,
And bestow on you an
inward occupation, from which
you wilt not become
disengaged (so as
to turn your attention)
outwards.
God gives to a draught of wine such (potency) that one intoxicated with it escapes from the two
worlds.
He has endowed hashísh with the property that, for a time, it delivers him (who eats it) from self-consciousness.
2685. God makes
sleep to be
(constituted) in such a manner that it erases (all) thought of
the two worlds.
He made Majnún, through love
for a (dog's) skin, to be such that
he would not know an
enemy
from a friend.
He has a hundred thousand wines of this sort which He
sets (in authority) over your (intellectual)
perceptions.
For the carnal
soul there are
the wines of
damnation, which carry
that illstarred one out of
the
(right) way.
For the intellect there are the wines of felicity,
so
that it gains the
abode whence is no
departure.
2690. Through its intoxication it uproots
the tent of the sky and takes the way (leading)
onward from that (earthly) direction.
Hark, be not deceived, O heart,
by
every intoxication: Jesus is intoxicated with God, the
ass is intoxicated with
barley.
Seek wine like this from
these jars: the intoxication (produced)
by it is not (to be obtained)
from
the bobtailed;
For every object of love is like a full jar, one
(full of) dregs, and
another pure as
pearls.
O connoisseur
of wine, beware,
taste with precaution,
that
you mayst find a wine
free from adulteration.
2695. Both (jars)
will intoxicate you, but
this (blessed)
intoxication, drawing (thee
along), will lead
you to the Lord of the Judgement,
So that you wilt be delivered
from thought and anxiety and expedients, (whilst)
this intellect
(moves) unshackled at the camel's
ambling pace.
Since the prophets are homogeneous with
spirit and angel, they drew
angels from
heaven. Wind
(air) is the
congener and friend
of fire, for the tendency
of both is upward.
When you stop the mouth of an empty pot and
put
it in a tank
or river,
2700. It will not sink till
the Resurrection, for its heart (interior) is void and there
is (nothing but) wind (air) in it.
Since the desire
of the wind (confined) in it is (to move)
upward, it draws
upward also the
vessel containing it.
Again, the spirits that are homogeneous with the prophets are moving
gradually, like shadows, towards them,
Because its
(such a
spirit's) intelligence is
predominant; and
beyond doubt the
intelligence is homogeneous in nature with the angel;
While in
the
enemy (of God)
the
carnal soul's concupiscence
is predominant:
the
carnal soul is homogeneous with
the lowest (of the
low) and goes to it.
2705. The Egyptian was a
congener of the
reprobate Pharaoh;
the Israelite was a congener of
Moses, the Kalim.
Hámán was more
congenial (than any one
else) to Pharaoh: he
(Pharaoh) chose him out and brought him to the high-seat in the palace.
Inevitably he (Hámán) dragged
him (Pharaoh) from the
high-seat to the
lowest depth, for
those
two unclean ones are homogenous with
Hell.
Both, like Hell, are burning and
contrary to light: both,
like Hell, are exceedingly averse to the light of
the heart;
For Hell says, “O true believer, pass by quickly, since your light has
taken away (extinguished)
the Fire.
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