How Gabriel, on whom be peace, showed himself to Mustafá (Mohammed), God bless
and save him, in his own shape; and how, when one of his seven hundred wings became visible, it covered the horizon (on all sides), and the sun with all its radiance was veiled over.
3755. Mustafá said in the presence
of Gabriel, “Even as your shape
(really) is, O friend,
Show it to me sensibly and
visibly, that I may
behold you as spectators (who
fix their eyes on an object of interest).”
He replied, “You canst not (bear this) and
have not the power to endure it; the sense (of sight)
is weak and frail:
’twould be grievous for you (to behold me).”
“Show yourself,” said
he, “that this body may perceive to
what an extent the senses are
frail and resourceless.”
Man's bodily senses are infirm, but he has a potent nature within.
3760. This body resembles flint and steel, but in quality (intrinsically) it is a striker
of fire. Flint
and steel are the
birth-place whence fire
is brought into
being: (from them) fire is born,
domineering over
both its parents.
Fire, again, exercises sway over the
bodily nature: it is dominant
over the body and
flaming; Yet again, there
is in the body an
Abraham-like flame whereby
the tower of
fire is subdued.
In consequence (of this) the
all-accomplished
Prophet said symbolically,
“We are the hindmost
and the foremost.”
3765. The material form of
these twain (flint and steel)
is vanquished
by a (hammer
and)
anvil, (but) in quality (intrinsically) they are superior to the mine
of iron ores.
Therefore Man is in appearance a derivative of the world,
and intrinsically the origin of the
world. Observe this!
A gnat
will set his
outward frame whirling round (in pain and agitation); his inward
nature
encompasses
the Seven Heavens.
When he (the Prophet) persisted
(in his request), he (Gabriel) displayed
a little the
awful majesty by which a
mountain would be reduced
to dust.
A single royal pinion (of
his)
covered the east and the west: Mustafá (Mohammed)
became
senseless from awe.
3770. When Gabriel saw him
senseless from fear
and dread, he came
and drew him
into his arms.
That awe is the portion of
aliens, while this fond affection is freely bestowed on friends.
Kings, when seated on the throne,
have formidable guardsmen
(around them) with swords in their hands,
Staves and lances and scimitars, so that (even) lions would tremble in awe;
The shouts of
sergeants with their maces,
by
the terror of which
(men's) souls are
enfeebled.
3775. This is for the
high and low in the street, to announce to
them (the presence
of) an emperor.
This pomp is for
the sake of the vulgar,
that those
people may not
put on the tiara of arrogance; That it may break
their egoism
and that the self-conceited
carnal soul may not
work mischief and
evil.
The country is preserved
from that by the king's having force and authority to inflict punishment. Therefore those vain desires are extinguished in (men's)
souls: awe of the king prevents that
disaster.
3780. Again, when he
(the king) comes to the private
banquet, how should
awe or retaliation
be (in
place) there?
There clemency on
clemency is (shown)
and mercies overflowing;
you will hear no noise but that of the harp and flute.
In time of war
there is the
terrible drum and kettle-drum; in the hour of feasting with favourites
there is (only) the sound of the harp.
The Board of Audit is for the vulgar,
while the fair ones resembling peris are for the
cup- companion.
The coat of mail and the helmet are for the battle,
while this silken raiment and
music are for
the
bower.
3785. This topic has no
end, O generous one:
conclude it, and God best knoweth the right
course.
The (corporeal)
senses in Ahmad (Mohammed), which are mortal,
are now laid asleep under the soil of Yathrib (Medina),
But that mighty-natured part of him, which is unconquerable, dwells, without having suffered
corruption, within the abode of truth (in Paradise).
The bodily attributes
are exposed to
corruption; the everlasting spirit is
a shining
sun, Incorruptible,
for it is not of the
east; unchangeable, for it is not of the
west.
3790. How was the
sun (ever) dumbfounded by
a mote? How was the candle (ever) made senseless by a moth?
The body of
Ahmad was liable to that (corruption): know that
this corruption belongs (only) to
the body,
Such as sickness and sleep and pain; the spirit is untouched by these affections and wholly detached (from
them).
Indeed I cannot describe the spirit, and if I describe it,
quaking would fall upon this (world of)
phenomenal existence and spatiality.
If its fox (the
body) was
perturbed for a moment,
belike the lion-spirit
was
then asleep.
3795. That lion which is immune from sleep was (apparently) asleep:
lo, a complaisant terrible lion!
The lion
feigns to be asleep so (well)
that those curs think he is quite
dead; Else, who in the
world would dare to rob a poor man (even) of a grain of turpeth
mineral?
The foam (body)
of Ahmad was torn (powerfully affected) by that sight (of Gabriel),
(but) his sea
(spirit) surged up (displayed itself in action) for love of the foam.
The moon (the spirit of Ahmad) is entirely a bounteous light-diffusing hand: if the moon have no hand (with which to bestow light), let it have none!
3800. If Ahmad should display that glorious pinion (his spiritual nature), Gabriel would remain dumbfounded unto everlasting.
When Ahmad
passed beyond the
Lote-tree (on the
boundary of Paradise) and his (Gabriel's)
place of watch and station and farthest limit,
He said to him (Gabriel), “Hark,
fly after me.” He (Gabriel) said,
“Go, go; I am not
your companion
(any farther).”
He answered
him, saying, “Come, O destroyer of veils: I have not yet advanced to my zenith.” He
replied, “O my illustrious friend, if I take
one
flight beyond
this limit, my
wings
will be consumed.”
3805. This tale of the elect losing
their senses in
(contemplation of) the most elect is (naught but) amazement on amazement.
Here all (other) unconsciousnesses are (a mere) play. How long will you keep possession of your soul?
for it is
(a
case of) abandoning your soul.
O “Gabriel,”
though you are noble and revered,
you are not the
moth nor the
candle either. When the candle calls at the moment of illumination, the soul of the moth does not shrink
from
burning.
Bury this topsy-turvy discourse: make
the lion contrariously the prey
of the onager.
3810. Stop up your word-sweating
water-skin, do not open the bag of your reckless talk.
He whose (intellectual and spiritual) parts have not
passed beyond the
earth— this is
absurd and reckless talk in his view.
Do not resist them, O my beloved;
deal gently with
them, O stranger lodging in their home.
Give (them) what they
wish and desire,
and satisfy them, O emigrant dwelling in
their land.
Till (the hour
of)
coming to the king
and to sweet delight, O man
of
Rayy be on good
terms with the man of Merv.
3815. O “Moses,” in presence
of the Pharaoh of the time you must speak softly with mild words.
If you put water
into boiling oil, you will
destroy (both) the trivet and the
kettle.
Speak softly, but do not
speak aught except the truth:
do not offer temptation in your mildness of address.
The time of afternoon is come: cut short
the discourse, O
you whose expression
(of
the hidden
truth) makes (the people of) the age acquainted (with reality).
Do you tell the
clay-eater that
sugar is better: do not show injurious softness, do not give him clay.
3820. Speech would be a
spiritual garden to the soul,
if it were independent of letters and sounds.
Oh, there is many
a one in whom this donkey's head
amidst the sugar
plantation has fixed a
thorn!
He, (seeing it) from afar, supposed that it (the sugar-plantation) is just that (donkey's
head), nothing more;
(so) he was retiring, like a ram vanquished in
fight.
Know for sure that
the (literal) form
(of speech) is (like) that donkey's head in the vineyard
and highest Paradise of the spiritual reality.
O Ziyá’u ’l-Haqq
Husámu’ddín, bring this donkey's head into that melon-field,
3825. In order that, when the donkey's head has died to (has passed
beyond) the skinning- place, that kitchen may
bestow on it another
growth (a spiritual regeneration).
Hark, the
shaping (of the
poem) is from me, and the
spirit (of it) from
thee; nay, (I spoke) in
error: truly
both this and that are
from you.
You art glorified in
Heaven, O
conspicuous Sun: be you also glorified on earth unto everlasting,
That the
inhabitant of the earth
may become one in heart and
one in aim and
one in nature with the sublime celestial.
(Then) separation and
polytheism and duality
will disappear: in real
existence there is (only)
unity.
3830. When my spirit (fully) recognises your
spirit, they (both) remember
their being one in the past,
And on the earth
become (as) Moses and Aaron,
sweetly mingled
like milk and honey.
When it (my spirit) recognises (thy spirit) a little and (then) denies
(it), its denial becomes a veil covering (the
truth).
Many a one who
recognised (part of the truth)
averted his face:
that Moon was angered
by his
ingratitude.
Hence the evil spirit became
unable to recognise the spirit of the
Prophet and turned
on its heel.
3835. You have read all this:
read (the Súra
beginning with the
words) Lam yakun, that you
may
know the obstinacy of that
old infidel.
Ere the (bodily) form of
Ahmad (Mohammed) displayed its glory, the description of him (in
the
Pentateuch and the Gospel) was a phylactery for every infidel.
“There is some one
like this” (they said): “(let us wait) till he
shall appear”; and their
hearts were throbbing at the imagination of (seeing) his face.
They were prostrating themselves (in prayer), crying, “O Lord of mankind, wilt You bring him
before our eyes as quickly as may be?”
(This they did) in
order that, by asking (God) to grant them victory
in the name of Ahmad, their
enemies might be overthrown.
3840. Whenever a formidable war arose,
Ahmad's pertinacity in onset was always their succour;
Wherever there was a chronic
sickness, mention (invocation) of him (Ahmad) was always their healing medicine.
In (all) their way his form
was coming into their hearts
and into their ears
and into their mouths.
How should every jackal perceive
his (real) form?
Nay, (they perceived only) the derivative of his form, that is to say, the imaginal idea (of it).
If his (real) form should
fall on the
face of a
wall, heart's blood
would trickle
from the heart
of
the wall;
3845. And his form would be so
auspicious for it (would
bestow such blessing on it) that the wall
would at once
be saved
from
having a double
face.
Beside the single-facedness (sincerity) of the pure (in spirit), that double-facedness has become
a fault (even) in the wall.
All this veneration and magnification and affection (which they
had shown towards
the Prophet)
the wind
swept away, as soon as they saw him in (bodily)
form.
The false coin
saw the fire
and immediately became black: when has
there (ever) been a way
for the false coin
(of
hypocrisy) to enter the
(pure) heart?
The false coin
was talking boastfully of its desire for the touchstone, that it might cast the
(sincere) disciples into doubt.
3850. A worthless one
falls into
the
snare of its deceit; (for) from
every base fellow
the thought pops up,
That if this were
not genuine coin,
how
should it have become eager
for the touchstone?
It desires the
touchstone, but one of such a kind
that its falseness will not be clearly exposed thereby.
The touchstone that keeps hidden the quality (of that which is tested) is not a (true) touchstone,
nor (is it)
the
(discriminating) light of knowledge.
The mirror
that keeps hidden
the defects of the
face to flatter every cuckold
3855. Is not a (true)
mirror; it is hypocritical.
Do
not seek such a mirror so long as you can
(help).
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