Story of Bilqís' sending a
gift from the city of Sabá to Solomon, on whom be peace.
The gift of Bilqís was forty mules: their whole load consisted of bricks of
gold.
When he (the
envoy) reached the open
plain, belonging to Solomon, he saw that its carpet
was
(made) entirely of solid gold.
565. He rode on gold for the
distance of
forty stages, till gold had no more esteem in his sight.
(Many) times they said, “Let us take the gold back to the treasury: what a (fruitless) quest are
we (engaged) in!
A spacious
land of which
the soil is pure gold—to bring gold thither
as a gift is folly.”
O you who
have brought intelligence to God as a gift,
there intelligence is
less (in value) than
the dust of the road.
When the worthlessness of the gift became apparent there (in Solomon's kingdom),
shamefacedness was drawing them back (towards Bilqís);
570. (But) again they said, “Whether
it be worthless or valuable, what matter to us? We are slaves
(bound) to (obey) the command.
Whether we have
to bring gold or earth, the command
of the one who
gives the command
is to be executed.
If they command you to bring
it back (to Bilqís), (then) take the gift back according to the
command.”
When Solomon beheld that (gift), he laughed, saying, “When did I seek tharíd from you?
I do not bid you bestow gifts on me; nay, I bid you be worthy of the gifts (which I bestow);
575. For I have rare gifts (coming) from the Unseen,
which human beings durst not even ask
for.
Ye worship the
star (planet) that
makes gold: turn
your faces towards Him that makes the star. Ye
worship the sun in heaven,
having despised the
Spirit (which
is) of high
price.
The sun, by command
of God, is our cook: ’twere folly that we should say it is God.
If your sun be eclipsed,
what wilt you do? How
wilt you expel that
blackness from it?
580. Wilt not
you bring your headache (trouble and
pain) to the
court of God, saying, ‘Take the
blackness away, give
back the radiance!’
If they would kill
you at midnight, where is the sun, that you shouldst wail (in supplication) and
beg protection of it?
Calamities, for the most part, happen in the night; and at that time the
object of your worship is absent.
If you sincerely bow (in prayer) to
God, you wilt be delivered from the
stars: you wilt become intimate (with God).
When you becomest intimate, I will open my lips (to speak) with
you, that you may’st behold a
Sun at midnight.
585. It has no Orient but
the pure spirit: in (respect of) its rising, there
is no difference between day and night.
It is day when it (the
Sun) rises; when
it begins to shine, night is night
no
more.
(Such) as the
mote appears in the presence of the
sun, even such is the sun (of
this world) in the pure
substance (of the Light of
God).
The sun
that becomes resplendent, and before which the (keenest) sight
is blunted
and dazzled—
You wilt see it as a mote in the light of the
Divine Throne, (a mote)
beside the illimitable
abounding light of the Divine Throne.
590. You wilt deem it base and lowly and impermanent, (when) strength has come to thine
(inward) eye from the
Creator.”
(The Divine
Light is) the
Philosophers' Stone from
which a single impression fell on the
(primal)
vapour, and it (the vapour) became a star;
The unique elixir of which
half a gleam struck
upon a (region of)
darkness and made
it the sun; The
marvellous alchemist who by a single operation fastened all these properties on Saturn.
Know, O seeker, that the
remaining planets and
the spiritual substances
are (to be judged)
according to the same standard.
595. The sensuous eye is subject to the sun: seek and find a divine eye,
In order that
the beams of the
flaming sun may
become subject (abased) before
that vision; For
that vision is luminous, while
these (sunbeams) are igneous: fire is very dark in comparison
with light.
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