ILLUMINATION IN ISLAMIC
MYSTICISM
A. Translation, with an Introduction and Notes,
Based upon a Critical Edition of abu-al-Mawahib
al-Shadhili’s Treatise Entitled
Qawanin Hikam al-Ishraq
BY
EDWARD
JABRA JURJI
PREFACE
It is a pleasure to acknowledge the assistance I have received in
the course of this work. To Professor Philip K. Hitti I owe a primary debt for
first directing my attention to Sufism and for many helpful suggestions.
Professor Henry S. Gehman of the Princeton Theological Seminary, Professor
Edwin E. Calverly of the Hartford Seminary Foundation and Professor Byron Smith
of the American University at Beirut have contributed much constructive
criticism, particularly in regard to the form of this study.
It is no less a pleasure to acknowledge the encouragement received
from Professor Harold H. Bender, chairman of the Department of Oriental
Languages and Literatures in Princeton University, Professor James A.
Montgomery of the University of Pennsylvania, and from the American Council of
Learned Societies who granted the funds necessary for this publication. I am
especially grateful to Dr. Abraham Flexner, Director of the Institute for
Advanced Study, Princeton, N. J., for his generous interest.
Finally, my thanks are due to Dr. Nabih A. Faris, Research Associate
in Oriental Languages, and the Reverend Mr. Charles T. Fritsch, member of the
faculty of the Princeton Theological Seminary, for their cooperation in reading
the proofs; and to my wife, Nahia Khuri Jurji, without whose patience and
sympathy the writing of this book would not have been possible.
E. J. J
Princeton, August, 1938.
The present study is based primarily upon a MS in the Garrett
Collection deposited in the Princeton University Library, entitled Qazuanm
Hikam al-Ishraq {Articles of the Maxims of Illumination) and composed by
abu-al-Mawahib al-Shadhili (d. 1477/8). The definitive Arabic text is the
result of collating with the Princeton copy five of the other extant MSS,
referred to below, as well as the printed Syrian edition made in 1891-2.
Our treatise deserves notice as a significant Sufi work. It derives
especial importance from the fact that it is one of the few compositions in
that field of Islamic illuministic philosophy called Ishraq whose
outstanding champions were Muhyi-al-Din ibn-‘Arabi and abu- al-Futuh
al-Suhrawardi. Its value is further enhanced by the consideration of the
unique place it enjoys as a production of the prominent North African Sufi
order, the Shadhillyah, founded by abu-al-Hasan al-Shadhili, the spiritual
progenitor of our author.
Sufi Origins
To determine the beginnings of Sufism in Islam is a difficult task.
Like many other movements in human history the way rather than the doctrine is
the basic element. That Sufism is a way rather than a set of disciplines and
doctrines has now been established. Yet this is a system which represents what has
often been described as a rebellion against the intellectualism of Islam and
the formalism which grew from the Koranic emphasis on the all-powerfulness of
Allah and man’s subjection to Fate. The fact that the early Sufis sought
support for their views in the Koran can hardly annul the concept that theirs was a
psychological behaviour engendered as a direct response to the deep human
aspiration for a personal approach to the deity and a spiritual contact with
religious truth.
While one must admit that the Sufi way is common to many folk who
appeared on the stage of history before and after the Islamic peoples, there
are, however, some distinctive features which mark out Islam’s own experience
with this profoundly spiritual process. In tracing the first development of
Sufism among Moslems one is struck by the strictly Islamic character of this
otherwise syncretic and deeply human phenomenon. Noldeke’s argument for the derivation of the
form Sufi from Arabic suf has
established the case against all other contentions. In Arabic writings the form
first appears in the middle of the ninth century applied to a certain class of
ascetics.6 But Moslem ascetics must have lived before that date.
The study of Ishraq (Illumination) to which we shall turn subsequently
will illustrate adequately how Sufism beginning in the second Islamic century
became a syncretic movement. Christianity contributed the wearing of wool7
and the ideal of celibacy. Sufi vigils and nocturnal meditations betray Syrian
monasticism. The Christian pattern of clergy and beginner can be detected in
the shaykh-miirld relationship. Church litanies became a model for
Islam’s only elaborate ritual, al-dhikr (remembrance). The tariqah
corresponds to the fraternity or order.
Judaism and Christianity must have provided these orders with fresh recruits as
suggested by the eschatological traditions of the Sufis, especially that of the
antichrist.11
Aside from these external elements, Greek influence is noticeable in
the Sufi doctrine which insists that the true knowledge of God is attained by
ecstasy (wajd). Hellenistic forces during the period of translation from
Greek gave rise to Sufi theosophy whose exponent was Dhu-al-Nun al-Misri. Contacts with Indo-Iranian culture made this
theosophy pantheistic. The Buddhistic view of life is in certain places
unmistakably apparent. The zindlq
monks described by al- Jahiz were either Indian Sadhus or Buddhist monks,
if not their imitators.
Fraternities
‘Abd-al-Qadir al-Jilani (1077-1166), a Persian who
flourished in Baghdad, established the first Sufi fraternity.1®
Preceding him were five Islamic centuries of Sufism which had expressed itself
either individually or by temporary groups, maintained by such zealots as Junayd or
al-Hallaj. Thereupon other fraternities began to appear. The Rifa'ite fraternity endowed its members with the power
to perform extraordinary feats. Jalal-al-Din al-Rumi started the Mawlawite fraternity whose members
are better known as the Whirling Dervishes; the titular head of this
organization enjoyed the privilege of girding the new sultan-caliph with a
sword.
Regardless of the manifold disagreements among the many
fraternities of Sufism, they are all one in that they owe allegiance to the
same fundamentals of Sufi teaching. These consisted of accepting God as the One
Reality. Man is His manifestation. Man’s higher nature is a direct emanation
from the Divine. The human mind is a bit of the Universal Reason. Human love is
a Divine Gift, the Smaller Gift from the Greater. Man’s knowledge of God is an
illumination from above. We
shall see in the course of this inquiry that these cardinal ideas of Sufism are
precisely what went into the making of
al-Shadhiliyah as a fraternity and of al-Ishraqiyah as a
school of Sufi thought. We shall also prove implicitly that therein lie some of
the noblest ideals in Islam: a phase of Sufism hitherto underemphasized, and a
field for research of the utmost philosophical significance. One may thus
encounter Oriental ideas, mingled with Greek thought, among the Arabs who
transformed them and passed them on to Europe through medieval Spain.
The Illuministic School
Not only is Illumination (al-Ishraq) the title of
our MS, but the spirit of the Illuministic school of thought permeates the
whole work. The form ishraq is frequently employed in the text. Tawhid (unification, unity) is a
fundamental idea which the author drew from his illuministic forerunners.
An analysis of the tenets of illuministic teachers led
the Spanish Arabist Asin to the conclusion that a close connection exists
between Dante and Sufism. “
The poet’s philosophical system might be traced back to its actual sources in
Islam.” What kind of sources? Not so much those of Moslem philosophers as the
works of the Ishrdqi mystics, and of the Murcian ibn-‘Arabi in
particular. Mysticism in
medieval times became the common ground where Christianity and Islam touched
each other. Mystics, Christian and Moslem,—thanks to this unifying element—bore
the stamp of one and the same spiritual genius. In this great cultural
atmosphere lived men like Thomas Aquinas, Eckhart, and Dante, and it would have
been strange if that great Sufi temper of their day had not influenced them. But the illuminative life can in no way be
said to have originated in Islam. Syria in pre-Islamic days saw the rise of
that three-staged mystical experience—Purgation-Illumination-Perfection. In the
sixth century Dionysius, a Syrian monk, developed a mystical theosophy based on
Hellenistic sources in the main. Of the illuminative life he says:
“ Every procession of illuminating light, proceeding
from the Father, whilst visiting us as a gift of goodness, restores us again
gradually as a unifying power and turns us to the oneness of our conducting
Father and to a deifying simplicity.” Christian mystics leading the life 'of solitaires became conspicuous at this time. Isaac of Nineveh is one
of these. Having held the
office of bishop for only five months, he renounced everything and withdrew to
a meditative life in the mountains, where he made a study of mysticism,
concerning himself fundamentally with Purgation and Illumination.
The first mystics of Islam were interested only in the first of
these three stages—Purgation. To them al-tariq (Path) was a method of
self-purification acquired through the cleansing of the senses and bodily
discipline. Gradually they began to develop the second stage— Illumination.
Al-Muhasibi, who pioneered
with his disciples in the pathway of Purgation, was one of the first to declare
that as purification brings freedom from the attachments of this world one
might expect to attain to the stage of Illumination and thence proceed to the
unitive life in God. Ibn-Masarrah of Cordova (A. D. 883-931) founded the
Illuministic or Ishrdqi and pseudo-Empedoclean school. From al-Andalus (Spain) the ideas of
this school were transmitted to the so-called Augustinian scholastics, such as
Alexander Hales, Duns Scotus, Roger Bacon and Raymond Lull. An essential element of Ishrdqi
teaching—the metaphysical doctrine of light with which we shall be concerned
later—reappears in the Divine Comedy 84 which reproduces a century
after ibn-‘Arabi most of the pictures he used of the realms beyond the grave.
Seen in this light Dante would pose as one of the ardent adherents of the Ishraqi
school.
As the chief precursor of ibn-‘Arabi, ibn-Masarrah deserves especial
notice. A mystic and a philosopher, he died in Cordova after some journeys to
the Orient. His significant role has been masterfully defined by Asin. In a
book entitled Tazvhid al-Mflqimn (Unification of the Faithful) he
defines the unity and the infinity of divine attributes.35 Like
al-Razi36 and others ibn-Masarrah held the conception that prophecy
is a philosophic sanctification, a purifying illumination which is the result
of an ascetic rapture. With al-Farabi, ibn-Sina38 (Avicenna) and
Maimonides 39 he shared the doctrine of philosophic emanations which
was Hellenistic in origin. These philosophers in opposition to al-mutakallimun
(the scholastic theologians of Islam) admitted the existence of immaterial
substances. They divided
* changes ’ into four possible categories:40
2.
Transformation
(istihalah).
Into two of these categories they introduced the idea of
the transforming mystic union. Thus category no. 1 became kawn wa-fasad— the
phenomenal world—, exemplified in the union between spirit and body, that is, hulul
al-ruh. Category no. 3. (numm wa-idmihlal) came to mean the
accidental cause that actuates a being in any one of his faculties, exemplified
in the union between Active Intellect and the Passive Intellect.
Such ideas shaped the philosophy of that school whose adherents came
to be known as al-hukama’ al-ishraqiyun—the Illuministic doctors. Their
system was consummately referred to as hikmat al-ishraq— Wisdom of
Illumination, abu-al-Futuh al-Suhrawardi and his disciples being largely
associated with it.43 They were undoubtedly steeped in the syncretic
philosophy of Hellenism which reached the hither Orient in the form of
Neo-Platonic, Hermetic 43 and allied systems, and was there blended
with old Persian and other speculations. In the main the doctrine of al-Ishrdq
is based on a spiritualistic philosophy with a mystical theory of knowledge.
God and the world of spirits were usually interpreted as light, and our process
of cognition as illumination from above through the intermediary of the spirits
of the spheres.44 This philosophy of revelation, which colours our
MS, has influenced Moslem thought immeasurably;45 the course it took
in Moslem Spain left a lasting mark on Christian Europe.48 We shall
trace its development through the life of one leading exponent in Spain before
we study the character of the movement in the person of a great leader in the
East.
Ibn-‘Ardbi
Ibn-‘Arabi, who may have inspired directly or indirectly the “ dolce
stil nuovo ” of the Convito,47 was born at Murcia A. D. 1165 and
flourished mainly in Seville until 1201-1202 when he made the pilgrimage and
spent the rest of his life in the East, where he died in Damascus, 1240.48
As a Hispano-Moslem poet and theologian, a zahirite and a follower of ibn-Hazm,
a foremost Sufi and the greatest
representative of the Illuministic school founded in Spain by ibn-Masarrah,
he came to be styled al-Shaykh
cd-Akbar.5'1- Although he professed orthodox Islam,
ibn-‘Arabi's sole guide was the inner light with which he believed himself
illumined. His credo included : 1) that all Being is essentially one, since it
is a manifestation of the divine substance; 2) that the different religions
were thus equivalent. He believed that he had seen the beatified Muhammad, that
he knew the greatest name of Allah and that he had acquired a knowledge of
alchemy, not by his own labour, but by revelation. He was denounced as a zindlq
and in Egypt an attempt was made to assassinate him.
Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyah
(Revelations of Makkah), his principal work, in 560 chapters, gives a complete
system of mystic knowledge. Chapter
167 entitled Klmiya’ al-Sa‘adah (Alchemy of Happiness) is an esoteric
allegory of the ascension of man to Heaven, anticipating Dante’s Paradise.
In another work, al-Isra’ ila
Maqam al-Asra 55 (The Nocturnal Journey towards the Majesty of
the Most Magnanimous), he developed the Moslem theme of the Prophet’s
ascension (al-mi‘raj). The hidden moral which he here tried to extricate
was based upon an esoteric interpretation of the revelations manifested to the
soul of the mystic in the course of its ascension to God.58 These
are precisely the works of ibn-‘Arabi which anticipated the Divine Comedy. Kitab
Tarjumdn al-Ashwdq51 (Interpreter of Love), written in 1214-15,
was followed next year by a commentary, Dhakha’ir al-A‘laqss
(Treasure of the Jewels), which may have inspired, among other parts, Dante’s Convito
and the meeting of Beatrice and Dante, an unprecedented episode in Christian
legends. Considerable autobiographical information is inserted in al-Futuhat
and in al-Dur- rah al-Fakhirah69 (The Precious Pearl), also
composed in Damascus. Here as elsewhere is depicted ibn-‘Arabi’s concern with
the spiritual decadence of his time; with deep anxiety he contrasts the
sanctity of his old masters and friends with the degeneration which his old age
was condemned to see in the East.80
Our keenest interest, however, centres on the link that joins
ibn-‘Arabi and his Illuministic message with the Shadhili fraternity which
produced our author. It would seem that the founder of the last-named Sufi
community, abu-al-Hasan al-Shadhili, based his doctrines on a foundation that
was introduced into Morocco by the Sevillian teacher of ibn-‘Arabi, the
so-called abu-Madyan.61 Such names as ‘Abd-al-Salam ibn-Mashish,82
who was Shadhili’s master, >as well as abu-al-‘Abbas al-Mursi83
and ibn-‘Abbad of Ronda,84 added to others of the early Shadhili
order of Sufism, represent mystic thinkers who became the legitimate heirs of
the Illuministic trends of ibn-‘Arabi. These and all the austere ascetics of
the Shadhiliyah, from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, are a veritable
Pleiades in the firmament of Islamic mysticism.
Our study of Ishraq has enabled us to trace the source of
ibn- ‘Arabi’s great contributions back to ibn-Masarrah,66 who with
the forerunners of the Illuminative life like al-Muhasibi, ibn-Sina and
Maimonides, must have shared in the conception of emanations based on
Hellenistic origins. We have just viewed this Illuministic tendency in its
progress as it was transplanted into North Africa where, with abu-Madyan and
ibn-Mashlsh as pioneers, it finally produced abu-al-Hasan al-Shadhili, the
founder of that great Sufi fraternity which even towards the close of the
fifteenth century had scions in Egypt. There it was that our author,
abu-al-Mawahib al-Shadhili, reechoed, as the present treatise will show, the
same essential doctrines which the Illuministics had evolved many centuries
before.
But the Ishraqi school of Sufis received powerful support
from another figure who vies with ibn-‘Arabi in importance. Between ibn-
‘Arabi and the first Sufi teachers of Ishraq stands the name of abu-
al-Futuh al-Suhrawardi—a gallant champion of the cause. Living half a century
earlier than ibn-‘Arabi, he represents a unique and singular point of view,
though somewhat removed from the main current with which we have hitherto
dealt.
Abu-al-Futuh al-Suhrawardi
Abu-al-Futuh Yahya®7 al-Suhrawardi was born at Suhraward
near Sultaniyah, in the Persian area of Jibal, about 1154. Having lived and
studied at Maraghah, Isbahan and Baghdad, he moved on to Aleppo during the
reign of al-Zahir88 in whose favour he remained till the year 1191,
when, incited by the orthodox party, the ruler at the advice of Salah-al-Din
(Saladin) sanctioned the execution of al-Suhrawardi.89 Thus ended
prematurely the life of a stalwart mystic of Islam and an extraordinary
exponent of Sufi Illumination.
His biographers, due to one form of prejudice or
another, say of him that “ his learning was greater than his wisdom.” They levelled against him the accusation of
disbelief and allegiance to Greek philosophy. Hence the doctors of
jurisprudence (al-fuqaha’) decided that his life be terminated, his
bitterest critics having been Zayn-al-Din and Majd-al-Din, the sons of Juhayl.
Abu-al-Futuh al-Suhrawardi revived the interest of the
East in both the illuminative life and illuminative mysticism. He initiated the
so-called hikmat al-ishraq (wisdom of illumination) and his followers
gained the sobriquet of Ishraqlyiln (Illuministics). The most
characteristic feature of the ishrdqi theory is the metaphysics of
illumination. It is the
Neo-Platonic theory of light, a spiritual light which serves as a symbol of
emanation, but at the same time is regarded as the fundamental reality of all
things. Arab philosophers, like al-Farabi, ibn-Sina and al-Ghazzali, betray this selfsame theory,
but al-Suhrawardi makes greater use of the symbol. Necessity and contingency,
being and non-being, substance and accident, cause and effect, thought and
sensation, body and soul, are all explained by the doctrine of ishraq.™
Through the symbol of ishrdq, proof is found for living, moving and
being—all are light —even
the very existence of God is light.78
Like ibn-Sina he was a Peripatetic. Yet unlike him, al-Suhrawardi accepted all that
mystic philosophy which Islam obtained from Hellenistic syncretism—the
Neo-Platonic doctrine, Hermetic theories, occult sciences, gnostic traditions,
Neo-Pythagorean elements. That all religions express one single truth was
strongly upheld by him and his followers, as did ibn-‘Arabi who came on the
scene in the subsequent century. Agathodaemon, Hermes, the five greatest Greek
philosophers—(Empedocles, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle)—Jamasp
and Buzurjumhur were the masters in this philosophic movement.
In their study of illumination, which is one of the most
interesting in the history of Neo-Platonism, the Ishraqis used a special
nomenclature based on the use of metaphoric terms. “ Light-darkness ” thus
symbolized the highest and the lowest in the realm of the metaphysical, that
is, spirit and matter, good and evil. The superior intellects issue from God and
are called “ lights.” God himself is the “ Light of lights.” The diffusion of
this ideal light from its primary source illumines the world of darkness.
Plotinus had already called this diffusion “
irradiation ” which corresponds to the Arabic word ishraq.33
But few Arab writers made a record of Ishraq
doctrines. Among the numerous works of Fakhr-al-Din al-Razi, which include a voluminous commentary on the
Koran, is a book alleged to be on illumination, Kitab al-Mabdhith
al-Mashriqtyah, but which in reality deals with “ Eastern ” philosophy.
None of the scanty writings in this Ishraqi field ever eclipsed the
fascinating impression left by al- Suhrawardi. The latter’s original character
reenforced by his violent disposition rendered him a kind of adventurer in
philosophy. Virtually he is the martyr saint of the Ishraqi cult.
Al-Suhrawardi’s chief work, Kitab Hikmat al-Ishraq (The
Book of Illuministic Wisdom)
completed in 1186, was chiefly an attack on Peripatetic philosophy. Manuscript
copies of this work are extant in Istanbul, Vienna, London, and Leyden. Of his
other books, Hayakil al-Nur80 (Temples of Light) is the best
known but does not measure up to the former in originality. He also wrote Kitab
al- Talwihat (Elucidations), al-Mashari‘ w-al-Mutdrahat (Crosswords
and Conversations) and al-Lamahat fi al-Haqa’iq (Glimpses of the Truth).87 ’ ’
In Hikmat al-Ishraq he declares that his
philosophy is the same as that of the ancient sages of Greece, Egypt and
Persia, who, he thinks, expressed metaphorically the same doctrine. He advances
a mystical theory of the imam which leaves little doubt in one’s mind as
to why he was sentenced to death.88 His statements on the science of
light represent what he calls “ the teaching of God, the Almighty.” The same
had also been “ the sentiment of Plato, the chief of philosophy and possessor
of force and light ” (al-ayd89 w-al-nur). Similarly did those
believe who foreshadowed Plato, such as Hermes, father of the sages, and other
pillars of wisdom like Empedocles and Pythagoras. “ The words of the ancients
are symbolic.” 90 On the illuminative theory of light and darkness,
as a basis, the sages of Persia such as Jamasp,91 Farshawashtar92
and Buzurjumhur93 (or Buzurgmihr), laid their foundations.
Al-Suhrawardi uses a kind of Platonic induction whereby
the lowest possible may be used to reach the highest possible, that is, a
process that leads from this world to another of which this is only a mere
reflection. Plato he often confuses with Plotinus,94 for all his
doctrine seems to be in common with the latter rather than the former. He
criticises the Peripatetics even though he borrows some of their objections to
the theory of ideas. At this point he proceeds to elaborate his own theory of
illumination which he attempts to associate with the views of the old sages.
This is one of the most interesting episodes in the whole process of Arabic
philosophical literature.
Al-Suhrawardi taught that the pure governing lights95
that are in man prove to us the existence of light. The victorious light98
is nobler than the governing light, since it is more removed from dependence
on darkness. These lights are outside of the pale of the world of
contingencies,97 and nothing can separate them from that which is
consistent with their perfection. All phases of darkness are shadows of the
phases of ideas.98 Through ascetic exercises one comes to perceive
the world of might99 and the royal essences,100 the
lights once witnessed by Hermes and Plato, the clarity of ideas,101
sources of thirst and sight about which Zoroaster spoke. Al-barzakh102 stands
for an obscure substance which in Ishraq means the human body 103
which is a barrier in as much as it stands in the way of light. The dualism of
this system, therefore, is not between light and darkness, for darkness is
nothing; rather is it between luminous matterand things obscure.
If we must trace Ishraq to Neo-Platonism, we
should remember the Oriental character of the latter,104 which is
apparent in the terminology, in the dualism of light and darkness and in
the metaphors drawn from astral worship. The parentage of Illumination is
twofold, Greek and Persian: Plotinus
and Mani.
The Shadhili Fraternity
From a survey of Sufi origins and the rise of orders, we proceeded
to the study of Illumination in which we set forth briefly, but concisely, the
lives and works of two brilliant champions, ibn- ‘Arabi and al-Suhrawardi. Many
of the principles and doctrines there brought out will recur in the course of
the treatise which is translated below. Against this general Sufi-Ishraqi
background we shall now begin to project the particular Sufi community to which
our fifteenth century author belonged; then having traced his own
life, we shall conclude these introductory pages with a notice of the MS here
reproduced.
The Shadhili fraternity, founded in the thirteenth
century, is the strongest Sufi force in Africa, where Morocco and Tunis,
representing the main field of its activities, harbour the various sub-orders
that go by special names.108
The founder, abu-al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn-‘Abdullah ibn-‘Abd-al-Jabbar
al-Sharif al-Zarwlli al-Shadhili (d. 656/1258), whose title is variously given
as Taj-al-Dln (Crown of the Faith) and Taqi-al-Din (Pious of Faith), was born
at al-Shadhilah near Jabal Zafran in Tunisia.100 With the
contraction of an eye disease, brought about through study, came to him new
devotion to the mystic Sufis. In Fas he attended the lectures of Junayd’s adepts,
who connected him directly
with such ideas as the Ishraqis had evolved through ibn-‘Arabi and
al-Suhrawardi. But it was only under the influence of the Moroccan_Sufi ‘Abd-al-Salam
ibn-Mashish112 that al-Shadhili went to the region of Tunis to
spread his^doctrines. Persecuted for his teaching and especially for his
influence on the people, he took refuge in Alexandria, Egypt, where his
popularity extended and increased. As a shaykh sa’ih, a religious man
seeking through a wandering life of meditation constant union with the
divinity, he must have been attracted to the Ishraqi system as a
practical means for achieving that end. His profession of faith was the
selfsame tawhld113 which survives so emphatically in our MS,
and his Path consisted mostly of unostentatious practices evidenced by the fact
that his immediate pupils had no khalwah (hermitage), monastery, noisy
practices, or juggleries.114
Though many sayings are ascribed to the founder of
al-Shadhiliyah, including some incantations, no long works are associated with
his name.115 Aside from fragmentary information gleaned in various
collections, there are two main sources which provide material on al-Shadhili,
including several of his incantations. These are al- Sha'rani’s Lataif
al-Minan116 and ibn-Tyad’s al-Mafakhir al-Aliyah fi al-Ma’athir
al-Shadhiliyah.117
While his teaching betrays dependence on Ishraqi
tenets it has been rightly asserted that al-Shadhili’s message consisted in the
inculcation of a higher morality based mainly on such exemplary Sufi com- positions as Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Dln118
and Qut al-Qulub. Striving after al-fana (annihilation)
continued to guide the whole life of the Shadhilis as the pages of our MS
eloquently prove. Yet
abstain- ment from the world did not follow as a principle of living. Lists’ of
selected formulas and prayers, whose repetition is not separated from the quest
after miraculous powers, have been preserved for us. Though professedly orthodox, some
Shadhili assertions did not fail to incur the censure of ibn-Taymiyah
whose supporters in turn received the rebuke
of al-Yafi‘i. As a religious
community the members of this order claim three peculiarities: 1) that they
have been predestined as Shadhilis from eternity; 2) that ecstasy with them is
followed by sobriety; and 3) that the Qutb will throughout the ages be
one of them.
From Tunis, the first home of the community, al-Shadhiliyah spread
eastward to Alexandria, where abu-al-‘Abbas al-Mursi (d. 686/1287-8), who was
Shadhili’s successor, resided for thirty-six years. There a mosque, bearing his name, was restored in 1189/ 1775-6. This must have
been built by his disciples, who also raised another one to the memory of
Mursi’s disciple Yaqut al-‘Arshi (d. 707/1307-8), while a third was named after
their joint disciple Taj- al-Dln ibn-‘Ata’-Allah al-Iskandari (d. 709/1309-10),
author of the Lata if.121
The home of al-Shadhiliyah had been for the most part to the west of
Egypt, although members of the fraternity have been recently observed in
Syria.128 As for the patron saint of Mokha in South Arabia, whose
tomb was supposed to be that of al-Shadhili, it is more likely that he was a
disciple and probably a cousin of Nasir-al-Din Muhammad ibn-‘Abd-al-Da’im
ibn-Maylaq (d. 797/1394-5), head of the order in his time, whose real name was
‘Ali ibn-‘Umar al-Qurashi, a later member of the fraternity.120
Author and Work.
The MS which is here studied and translated, belongs to
the Barudi collection of Arabic MSS acquired by Mr. Robert Garrett of Baltimore
in 1925. The collection, now deposited in the Princeton University Library, of
which our treatise is No. 6,130 contains 404 works, many of which
are collections of miscellaneous compositions bound together in the same
volume.131
Risalat Qawantn Hikam al-Ishraq ila Kull al-Sufvyah
bi-J ami' al- Afaq (A Treatise on the Articles of
the Maxims of Illumination Addressed to all the Mystics of the World) is the
only work on the teachings and practices of the Ishraqi (illuministic)
Sufis in the collection.132 Virtually it represents one of the very
few works ever written by Sufis on this fascinating phase of Moslem mystical
life. It harks back to the works of abu-al-Futuh al-Suhrawardi and ibn- ‘Arabi,
already cited.
The author, Muhammad ibn-Ahmad ibn-Muhammad al-Tunisi
al- Shadhili al-Wafa’i al-Maliki Safi-al-Din ibn-abi-al-Mawahib,133
is commonly referred to as abu-al-Mawahib al-Shadhili (d. A. H. 882/ 1477-8).
His name reveals to us his affinity with the Shadhili fraternity. Thus it is
self-evident that through the author’s name and the title of his work two vistas
are opened before our eyes, the one leading into the mysteries of the
Illuministic school of thought, the other disclosing the birth and rise of an
order of Moslem mysticism in which are crystallized many of the best and most
typical characteristics of Sufism.
The Manuscript
This treatise is divided into an introduction and
fifteen articles followed by a collection of maxims and concluded with a wa.nyah
(a
word of counsel). There are only a few marginal notes,
and the MS, which consists of fifty-six folios,134 is written by a
different hand, beginning with fol. 30a. After the colophon there are three
folios, two of which are blank while the third bears three autographs of
owners. In general the MS is in a good state of preservation, although the
cover is somewhat worm-eaten and the leaves are discoloured; the binding is
Oriental in kind and the title appears on a sticker pasted on the back of the
cover.
The copyist, who does not declare his identity,
states in the colophon that this copy was completed on Sunday the 16th of
Muharram A. H. 1056/1646. ’
Our MS has a number of sister copies. Of these five have been
consulted and collated with the Barudi text. We shall now mention these other
versions:
1. The Leyden Catalog of Oriental MSS 135 gives the following citation:
“ Risalat Qawamn Hikam al-Ishrdq ila Kull al-Suflyah
biJami al-Afdq: auctore Mohammed ibn-Ahmed
ibn-Mohammed at-Tunisi as-Schadheli al-Wafai, vulgo Ibno-’l-Mawahib dicto, qui
quo anno obiit, dicere nequeo. Continet harum regularum quatuordecim, quas
excipit recapitulatio summaria et admonitio ad amicos. Sex priorum argumenta
hie describam.”
2. The Catalog of the Berlin Royal Library, Arabic MSS136 refers to the work adding these remarks:
“ Ein die Grundsatze der Qufik
behandelndes Werk des ... abu elmewahib—882/1477 . . . Das Werk ist in
gereimter Prosa oft mit kurzen Versstucken vermischt.”
3. In the ' Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts ’
published by the Khedivial Library in Cairo 137 we find mention of
the same author and title and the fact that the copy was made in 1123/1711.138
4. ‘ The Gotha Catalog ’130 mentions the work and while
assigning
Author’s Other Works
The present treatise is by no means the only work which
abu-al- Mawahib is known to have written. While none of his books has been
critically studied in modern times, they must have been of marked significance
to the students of Sufism in the Oriental world. Aside from our own, there are
five different works preserved in manuscript form. In an epistle entitled Risdlah fi
al-Tasawwuf, abu-al-Mawahib treats of the fundamentals of Sufism when he
deals with munajat al-murld fi. khalwat al-tafrld (the communion of the
novice in solitude, alone with Allah). Here are also discussed the excellent
names of Allah. Another
treatise, al-Tajalliyat (Manifestations), reduces the scope of
knowledge, as the people of Allah recognize it, to seven categories: 1) Gnosis
of the names of Allah; 2) Gnosis of manifestations; 3) Gnosis of the
discoursing of Truth with His servants through the tongue of the Law; 4) Gnosis
of the perfection of being and its imperfection; 5) Gnosis of man as far as his
realities go; 6) Gnosis of spiritual unveiling; 7) Gnosis of diseases and
remedies. One of his books deals with the varieties of sama (music) in
the attempt to define its position and value in the Sufi community. It is
entitled Farah al-Asma bi-Rukhs al-Samd ^ (The Joy of the
Ears with the Permission to Indulge in Music). The opening sentence
acknowledges the bounty of God who permitted and made lawful the practice of
singing “ in spite of the stupid men of ignorance.” Another volume is a Diwan
(Poetical Work) consisting of seventy- six folios,145 alphabetically
arranged. The first couplet is:
Alif 'uttafani adhanat bi-fana’i,
Fa-faraghtu ‘an inni li-mal’i ind’i.
This represents one of his common methods of expressing
Sufi ideas in symbolic language which is replete with puns. While it defies
translation, this form of prosody is reminiscent of ibn-al-Farid.14e The
last of his works, available to us, is the MS called Silah al- Wafa’iyah
bi-Thaghr al-Iskandarlyah (The Weapon of al-Wafa’iyah at the Seaport of
Alexandria), otherwise known as Risalat al-Awliya’ (Treatise of the
Saints). This, in fact, was a guide to the Mystic Path
with a few sayings of the author and of al-Shaykh Dawud al-Shadhili, added by a
later hand.
Abu-al-Mawahib al-Shadhili
Abu-al-Mawahib was born in 810/1407 presumably in Cairo. He has long been
remembered because of his qualities as a teacher and preacher of elegance,
piety, devotion and righteousness. He wrote muwashshahat (poems with two
or more rhymes) of sacred nature and books dealing with spiritual subjects.
His domicile was nfcar the Azhar
University on the roof of which he had a cell (khalwah) close to the
part where al-Ghuri, the
Mamluk sultan, later built a minaret. So deeply engrossed was he in his writings,
meditations and discourses that a kind of intoxication seemed always to govern
his physical being. Therefore, while walking and swaggering about al-Azhar
Mosque, he often drew from men various kinds of ejaculations. To some indeed he
seemed but an idiot, to others, a very holy person.
Among his books was one entitled al-Qdnun (Canon) which treated of the sciences of the
fraternity to which he belonged—“ a unique book, the like of which has never
been composed.” It testified
to the perfect judgment of the author in matters of the Path. Yet he failed to
obtain the esteem and confidence of the sons of abu-al-Wafa’, for they persistently accused him of imitating
their poetical works. Nevertheless, his prayers came to be recited at the
Prophet’s birthday celebration (sing, mawlid) and in places of worship
(sing, masjid) in the presence of doctors of theology (‘ulama’) and
pious men who were swayed for joy upon hearing their brilliant words. His biographer
thus concludes that his critics were largely motivated by jealousy. On one
occasion his enemies found him while he was visiting the Mosque of al-Sadat
al-Wafa’iyah. Thereupon they assailed him with staggering blows until his head
was wounded and bleeding. To this he only responded with smiles, saying, “
Verily you are my masters, and I am your servant.” 105 It is also
reported that he used to say, “ If you desire to depart from the brethren of
wickedness, see to it that you first depart from your wicked qualities.” 150
Another record of his life states that he was frequently found sobbing, being
given to griefs and fears. His fears were contagious and one hardly refrained
from sharing them.
Once he paid the generous sum of a hundred dinars to a tutor who had
taught his son two sections of the Koran. Astounded at the handsome reward, the
tutor suggested that he only deserved part of that sum for his services. At
that abu-al-Mawahib withdrew his son from that school and remarked, “ This is a
teacher who thinks much of worldly goods.” 158
His ideas about Ishraq are clearly shown in the course of the
present treatise. He once declared that whatever degree of * illumination ’ the
seeker after truth may attain is the result of remembrance (dhikr) which
illumines the mirror of the heart.159 “ All that reveals God to you
is light, and all that fails to reveal him is darkness.” 100
His pronouncements against fame and earthly glory are indicated by
these words, “ He who seeks popularity among men does that at the risk of
incurring Allah’s anger.” 101
Abu-al-Mawahib secured for himself the title Shaykh. By alSha'rani,
his main biographer,192 he is referred to as “ my master, the shaykh
. . .” which is a form of reference applied only to the theologians of Islam
who distinguish themselves through wisdom and saintliness. His wisdom reaches a
climax in a passage like this:
“ Verily, if you associate with the people of the world
let your discourse with them tend to lift their sight from that which their
hands accomplish to the glorification of the hereafter. If you associate with
those of the hereafter, let your discourse with them centre on the teachings of
the Book, the precepts of the sunnah 193 and the
glorification of subsisting life. If you associate with kings speak to them of
the men of justice and the prudence of the wise; while you maintain your sense
of adoration towards them, declare the fact that you renounce their worldly
power. If with the erudite, discuss the authentic reports and the well-established
theories of intellectual schools which stand for truth untainted with
prejudice; be fair to them in so far as their intellectual faculties and
creative thinking agree with the truth, without argument. . . . With the Sufis
discuss those subjects which confirm their righteousness and justify their
crusade against evil. . . . With the gnostics you may discuss what you will,
for to them everything has a form of gnostic meaning, provided that you use
the appropriate words and hold them (the gnostics) in dignity and esteem.” 194
Of al-Hallaj 195 he said, “ Had he attained
the reality of annihilation (fana’), he would have been saved from the
error he incurred through saying, “ I am He.” 199
Commenting on ibn-al-Farid’s line:
“ And all the woe of Job is but a part of my affliction
” 197 he said: “That is because Job’s affliction had to do with the
body, not the spirit, whereas the affliction of the gnostic includes both.” 198
Peculiarities of the Text
The treatise opens in terse, formal and elegant
classical Arabic. Gradually there is revealed the weakness for those fifteenth
and six-teenth-century characteristics 189 of burdensome expression
and empty imagery, of long-drawn-out description accompanied by the bombastic
pedantry of style.170 Rhymed prose is the rule rather than the exception
with the consequent use of words and sentences which in no way help to enlarge
and vivify the meaning.171 At certain instances it would seem that
the only justification for the use of a word is the fact that it happens to
supply the desired ending.172
In the absence of paragraphs, recourse is made to keywords with
which entries are prefaced. Such keywords are uniformly written in red ink. In
the majority of cases, however, they are independent forms to be followed by a
stop, although in some instances sense cannot be made without linking them to
what follows.173
Many parts of the book are, obviously, selections from a vast
quantity of Sufi literature and other sources.174 Only rarely is
there reference to the provenance of such parts which figure prominently in the
text. A number of cliches,175 some of which belong to the common
stock language of the Sufis, have crept in.
In the course of the text a large number of errors is encountered.
The underlying cause of these is generally neglect, although some striking
defects might inspire the suspicion that the copyist was patently ignorant of
the real meaning of what he wrote.178 Illegible words and phrases,177
omissions,178 diacritical ineptitudes179 and various
other discrepancies belong to this category.
Nor are infractions against the rules of grammar non-existent.180
Colloquialisms 181 have found their way into the vocabulary;
poetry which should have the two hemistiches of every couplet written as a
separate entity, as is the practice in the writing of Arabic prosody,
occasionally assumes a prose-like appearance.
[lb] In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the
Compassionate. Allah bless our master Muhammad, the seal of the prophets and
messengers. Says this servant, who is poor (faqir) because of his want
for poverty (Jaqr'),x Muhammad ibn-Ahmad ibn-Muhammad
al-Tunisi al-Shadhili al-Wafa’i al-Maliki Safi-al-Din ibn-abi-al- Mawahib,
Allah help him and help others through him, grant him aid but grant no aid to
his opponents, so that He might draw him from all matters to Himself, in His
care, patronage, knowledge and friendship, giving him good health in the two
worlds and intimate communion with Him in the two existences, through Muhammad
the master of the messengers, Allah bless and keep him, ennoble and honour him.
Praise Allah, the Wise, the Knowing, the Gracious, the Compassionate, Who
treasured graceful wisdom in the hearts of His shints, removing therefrom the
thick veils of obscurity, and brightened them with the light of understanding
of His Holiness. He first addressed their hearts with the gracious gift of His
(Divine) allocution (khitab}2 and His fellowship. Wherefore
their sciences (those of the Sufis) are based upon the overflow of gifts, not
upon constrained research or wearisome struggle for acquisition. Therefore,
glory to One who bestows in a twinkling to whom He wills, whatever He wills,
however He wills, for certainly, He, the Exalted, creates when He wills. “ His
command, when He intends anything, is only to say to it, Be, so it is.” 3
“ He cannot be questioned concerning what He does and they shall be
questioned.”4 I praise Him for the bounties He bestowed and thank
Him for His beneficent favours. Furthermore, I testify that there is no God
but Allah, a gracious God whose goodness overflows all existent things and
whose inner power animates the innermost hearts which hence become wider than
the heavens and earths. And I testify that our master Muhammad is His servant
and Messenger, the sea of spiritual knowledge and the spring of [2a] divine
sciences. Allah bless him with an everlasting blessing, perpetual and eternal—a
blessing which is consonant with the holiest holiness of his perfection and is
suitable for his great, most precious and majestic station, favouring him who
prays for it with the vision of his beauty which gives rise to sentiments of joy
that surpass those of the domestic gazelles in their coverts. May Allah show
favour unto his companions—the swords of truth, the quintessences of realities 5—who
are like unto pearls in a necklace and stars for travel on the Paths (tara’iq,
pl. of tarlq, path). [May He also show favour] unto those who follow
them [the companions] in their traits whereby they make their conduct agree
with those [virtues] that are acquired or those with which the Creator endows
the creatures.
I begin (amma ba‘d), with the following maxims, fashioned
after the principles of our Path, the ideas of which came to my mind during
wakefulness as well as during sleep. I proceed to record them upon these pages
by virtue of their elegant and clear contents. Their gnostical references assume the gentlest garb with the most subtle
comments so eloquently conveyed that the readers’ love-flame is ignited and his
spirit revived by their rich fragrance. They charm the traveller (sdlik)
at the beginning and guide him, by Allah’s will, to the end. The spirit of
their import, as well as the form of their words, is free from affectation. The
light emanating7 from their full moon is untainted by an eclipse or
any spots. For the suns of their mystic knowledge never cease to rise. Their
authorized dispensation is surely irreversible.
These are the gifts 8 of
those who do not feel the shame of receiving from God;
[2b] Who take no gifts not duly given them.
Therefore listen with your heart’s ear to what they
contain by way of certainties and whatever they convey of the kinds of Path
regulations. For wine works in bodies and this magnetizes spirits. Verse:
Such words as excel the pearls in their
symmetrical arrangement, Intoxicating the spirit with their wine of meaning.
I have arranged the articles 0
of these maxims—maxirnsjE illumination (ishraq), in fourteen
articles following the introduction. They consist of various forms of
gnostic knowledge and mystical perception. And that is for the sake of the
perfection of their full moon and whatever vantage points they may show forth
in preference to similar treatises.
The
First Article
An article on confirmation (ta’yid) to the stations (maqamdt,
pl. of maqam)8 of unity, consisting of facts and notes which
instruct the novice (murid) and point out the desired object (murad)
for the traveller in the easiest ways, if Allah, the Exalted, is willing.
The
Second Article
An article on repentance that implies returning. It contains a
confirmation (taqrlr) and a warning (tahdhir) which prevent deception
and falling into evil, if Allah, the Exalted, is willing.
The
Third Article
An article on sincerity which presents signs and indications that
enable one to weigh his words [3a] and deeds.
The
Fourth Article
An article on veracity consisting of stations and spiritual feelings
(hdlat) that help one to distinguish between the state and the feeling.
The
Fifth Article
An article on watchfulness (muraqabah) conveying flashes and
perceptions which might produce a ‘ state of communion ’ at a given station, if
Allah is willing.
The
Sixth Article
An article on love conveying fragrance and glimpses that whet the
appetite of the contemplative one (mushahid) in the moods of
contemplation (mushahadat).
The
Seventh Article
An article on renunciation (suhd) in which there is
enlightenment and detachment from the world (Jajrtd), both of which
distinguish the one who has this (renunciation) from the one who does not have
it.
The
Eighth Article
An article on poverty {faqr) containing some investigation and
integration. By showing the two forms of poverty, the difference is shown
between the station of holiness and the condition of profanity.
The
Ninth Article
An article on hypocrisy containing such integration and
clarification as would expose the position of the hypocrite in the sight of the
discreet person.
The
Tenth Article
An article on gnosis (ma'rifah), consisting of contemplations
and a witness {shahid), that is, the witness of the feeling of the
gnostic which witnesses for him in the two practices of gnostical knowledge and
elegancies of theosophy.
[3b] The
Eleventh Article
An article on annihilation (al-fand’) containing some objectives and thoroughfares
which rectify for one his conviction when he expresses his strange
annihilation.
The
Twelfth Article
An article on subsistence (baqa’) consisting of rules and
remarks. Upon its rules are founded the regulations of the Path and through its
remarks the theosophies of investigation are established.
The
Thirteenth Article
An article on sainthood (wildyah) in general, consisting of
regulations that enable one to walk in the path of righteousness. Should he
stumble, contrition and reproval would overtake him.
The
Fourteenth Article
An article on special sainthood containing the conjuration of the
treasured talisman and the decipherment of recondite riddles in the freshest of
lucid passages which reach the hearing by penetrating one’s natural
constitution.
Thereupon I bring these articles to a close with a book that groups
together different maxims. Next is a well-wisher’s advice which will mark the
close of mystical signs. . . . Having finished my work of verification of the
original principles and fundamentals involved, I assigned to the work the
title: A Treatise on the Articles of the Maxims of Illumination Addressed to
all the Mystics of the World. From Allah, glory to Him, I invoke
acceptance, and the fulfillment of hopes and aspirations, that He may protect
me by the mercy of His bounty against the wrath of His justice and by the pity
of His forbearance against the laws of His knowledge. Amen, O Guardian. Answer
us, Amen, by Thy mercy, O Thou most merciful One.
[4a] The
Introduction
Here are embodied the significance of wisdom amongst the wise, its
significance amongst the literalists (ahi al-sahir) and its significance
among the esoterists (ahi al-batin). As for its significance amongst the
wise, they say that wisdom is a theoretical art the student of which acquires a
concept regarding the status of this existence; this he is to acquire through
learning. The significance it holds amongst literalists attaches to their
notion that it helps in knowing the wisdom of the established sciences of the
Law (al-shart ah). On the other hand its significance amongst the
esoterists attaches to their implication that it helps to show the
significance of absolute wisdom whose truth comprehends all things both
obligatory and optional. What
our treatise envisages belongs to this last category, and when a person becomes
possessed of this kind [of wisdom], he will be the wise man par excellence',
hence to be named the perfect man (al-raful al-kamil), the perfected (al-mukammal),
he falls heir to the Muhammadan wisdom and the Ahmadi station. The remembrance
of him shall ever be diffused, coupled with admiration, in this world, in view
of his qualities of wisdom. Verse:
They say that the memory of a man is
preserved in his offspring, That he who has no offspring remains without
remembrance. To these I say that the masterpieces of my wisdom are my
offspring.
Verily he who is pleased with having
offspring, shall find this to be our consolation.
An
Article on Confirmation to the Stations of Unity
Said Allah, the Exalted, “ Know that there is no god but
Allah.” 13 Fact (haqiqah'): The absolute simplicity (ahadiyah')
of the Divine essence is marked by the absence of any attributes from all
eternity, whereas His unity in multiplicity (zvahidiyah) is manifest to
all eternity. For the Ancient One has neither [4b] a beginning nor an end. Note
(daqlqah') : To express the unity of Allah in practice is to know what
it is, and to know it, is to practice it. For that reason he who knows it puts
it into practice, and he who acts in accordance with it knows it. Verse:
The assertion of unity to an
investigator is none other than knowing it.
Understand, therefore, the wisdom of unity.
Many lights flicker and die;
Their plurality proceeds from the one, therefore be
steadfast.
Fact: To assert the unity that is meant when you say “
He,” (that is, to say that Allah is the one reality of all individual
existences), is to affirm the multiplicity of unity, whereas to assert the
unity that is meant when we say “ I,” is isolation (ifrad). Therefore,
if you desire to be immersed in the sea of unity [with the Divine Reality] and
also to stand upon the shore with all individuals [as an orthodox Moslem
should], let your declaration of the unity of Allah be: that His Essential
Being, expressed in the pronoun “ He,” is without any of the attributes which
could be expressed also by the pronoun “ He.” Then the distance that is between
Him and you is effaced, and the dot of the [letter] ghayn of the [word] ghayn
(film) is removed, and that removes the film from my eye 14 and
makes me see that I am the very Being of Allah, without
any sense of place, since I am in that Presence where absence and presence (He
and I) are one, and inner being and outer manifestation meet in equation. Note:
Your assertion of His oneness is not that by which the One is one; rather, He
is, in any case, one. Just as knowing the learned man is not the thing that
makes him learned, likewise the assertion of unity does not make the One one.
Glory to thee, for what thou art; no reality asserts thy unity but thyself. I
can not reckon up thy bounties and praise,15 all these are from thee
and unto thee. Both he who asserts the transcendence of Allah (that is Allah’s
freedom from all anthropomorphism) and the assertion itself depart when all
characteristics of him who asserts the Oneness of Allah and the assertion
itself pass away in the One. Fact: The unifying of Essence in eternity, through
the contemplation of Oneness, does not really witness to the visions of
infinite Oneness. For through oneness occurs the first manifestation of God (al-tajalli)
in the presence of Oneness, through complete union (al-jam'j. The second
manifestation depends on the establishment of the spheres, [5a] hence the
discord among witnesses caused by the disparity in visions. Fact: the
manifestation of essence (al- tajalli al-dhatij is different from the
manifestation of the attributes (al-tajalli al-sifati) ; hence according
to the principles of detachment each reality has its own form of unification.
Fact: The necessity for the existence of the essence is one with the necessity
for divine attributes. That the attributes are many does not require counting
His essence a plurality. Indeed, the attributes are not His very essence, nor
are they extraneous to it, for that which is named is One, although the names
are many. Verse:
The fact of manifold attributes is not strange.
Strangeness
lies in that they are seen by their own eyes.
Note: Multiplicity of names evidences the purification
of the named whence the variety of His names in the presence of His glory,
while He is unified in the depth of the Holiness of His Essence. Fact:
Manifestation of the Essence of the Truth obliterates the universe while the
manifestation of His attributes guarantees for them (attributes) fixity.
Whence the inability of eyes to perceive the Essence and of the minds and wits
to conceive of it. How and wherefore can a transient, temporary and weak being
conceive of the Ancient Cause (wajib) 16 of existence? Verse:
All gnosis and gnostics are drowned
In the sea of adoration for the First Cause.
O you who are trying to behold His
potentialities with yours, This attempt is far out of your reach.
Note: The ancient is other than the created. Therefore,
when realities disagree, then “ pathways ” are rendered impassable. Verse:
How may one reach Su'ad, as long
As mountain peaks and death stand in the
way?
The feet are bare, there is no mount, My
means are short, dreadful the way.
But if He means to join you to Him he causes you to be annihilated,
that you might see Him through Him as He sees you in reality.
An eye she gave him which he could see her,
What saw her, then, was her own eye, indeed.
Fact: Since the One is superior, in all ways, to the
bounds of infinity, all rivals and peers, at this point, become nothing.
Intellect in Him finds no end,
He can make much or little use of it as He wills.
Fact: The negation of the non-existent and the
affirmation of the cause of existence are both the features of purification,
according to His condition, glory to Him. He alters the possibilities of the impossible.
Fact: The assertion of the He-ness (huwlyah) does not entail the
understanding of the identity. Unify Him, therefore, as He is, for what He is,
that you may be among them that unify, those who, in reality, have not
deviated. Note: The mystic sign “He” (huwa) in asserting unity, is
peculiar to the elect (al-khawass), just as assertion after negation is
common to the ordinary, hence the
Consult Tahafut, pp. 65, 208, 164, 166, 201, 342. use
of that signal in the eye to eye interview; this expression is used in the
station of evidence and proof. Fact: He who stands near the guide in the universe
is hidden from the eyes of contemplation. He is satisfied with the shell,
rather than the kernel, even though he were a man of intelligence. Do you not
see the great chasm between one who stands at the entrance and one who is
prepared for the blissful privilege of discourse?
[6a] Research among ruins only alienates one,
From the towering zones of the highest ideal.
Accept not, therefore, the shell instead of the kernel.
Nor hide at the door from the presence of communion.
Note: Controversial discussions are rambles in
presumptuous imagination, with no benefit to one except flippancy of the
tongue accompanied by lack of adoration in the heart. He who is satisfied with
these shall stumble and he who stands by them shall reap regret. . . . Fact:
Any idea that you take from Others which might show you another line of
procedure shall blind your view in your present and future condition.
Furthermore, when you ponder over the thoughts of your colleagues, tribulations
shall give you wings with which you will soar into the sky of frustration.
Abandon, therefore, Intelligence and Reasoning Powers and all indulgence in
experimentation and officiousness (/udwZ).
The band around your intellect surrounds
it with illusions, While the heart changes your word and thought.
You wander in the open spaces of
illusions out of fascination Created in you by reason and tradition;
You carved with your mind an idol
with which you are infatuated,
While your stronghold of reason is all
unravelled by Truth. Long
have I lived like you in pain,
I have a heart diseased by the same
ache.
Note: No one shall see God if he seek evidence of Him.
No man shall reach Him if he prefer to be travelling towards Him, [6b] for had
he seen Him the sight would have overjoyed him and had he reached Him all his
fatigue would have been taken away. Fact: The Unitarian is one whose features (rusum)
pass away while in the presence of the Unified One; he shall commune with the
One during the stations of isolation (tafrld'). He shall be overpowered
by the light of observation when he witnesses the glories of the universe. To
him shall become clear what is manifested, then, of the realities of Names and
Attributes. The tongue of his new findings shall sing of the windings of his
path:
This existence though outwardly
manifold, By your life, only consists of you.
Note: The sign of the Unitarian, O men, is his
conscience [that is steadfast] in wakefulness and in sleep. Verse:
Your beauty is in my imagination and eye,
Residing and unconcealable once it is uncovered;
If I slumber I stop with you,
If I wake I begin with you.
Fact: The possession of gnosis by
gnostics enables them to understand the realities of the taste, nay even to
witness revelations while others do not have these powers nor the quality of
fairness. . . . Note: The evidences of unification witness to one who has
discovered it (unification) ; the ‘ presences ’ of oneness are revealed to the
one they call upon; blessed, therefore, is the one from whose sight the veils
have been lifted—one who can do without argument and fellow- discoursers.
Verse: .
[7a] She uncovered for us her face behind the veil;
Come, welcome, O life, greetings to you!
Fact: The victory of the light of clarity makes veiling
a necessity— that is veiling of light by light.
Ne’er did she hide except by lifting her veil.
I marvel at this appearance that is really hiding.
Note: There is nothing which does not point to Him; the
trouble is that you do not know how to move towards Him. His creatures prove
His unity and His wonders establish His isolation. In all things He has a
wonder which shows that He is one. Fact: The emergence of endurance (qayyumiyah)
in created things is precisely what creates in them the rise of attributes.
Should the folly of imagination be wiped away from your eyes, you would behold
in the entire universe Him who was and is [and will be].
Except Allah, all other things are vain.
Fact: When the light of an object is glaring the
perception of it becomes hard. Do you not see that the weak-sighted fail when
they look at the sun.
Even as the daylight enables one the better to see
Though a blinding effect it has on the eyes of bats.
Fact: The phenomenal manifestation of Divine Reality (al-haqiqah
al-ilahlyah) when it is manifested before the Human Reality (al-
iiaqlqah al-insantyah') effaces from it the dualism (thanamyah) of
humanity (al-nasut) and upholds the isolation of Divinity (al-lahut).
In every particle did the Merciful One
reveal Himself to me, Whether in the uppermost world or the lowest one.
He said, “ My perfection has entirely perplexed men,
So that he who writes as he who
creates new works were made to marvel.
Take care, therefore, to witness to no other form of
beauty.
Set His Majesty in holiness above “ after ” and “
before.”
[7b] Note: There is no incarnation as regards the
reality of the unity of the One because He is a dualism that can not be
augmented. Yet the reality of the truth of annihilation itself required some to
utter the word “ I.” Fact: The manifestation of the attributes of the
Subsistent required the annihilation of worlds and institutions while the
tongue of His Isolation in individuals has caused both the pupil and the
teacher to be perplexed. Note: Through the One who acted at His own free choice
was the beginning and by the quality of His endurance the universe came into
being and evolved toward its goal. Wherefore, observe with the vision of your
intellect, O observed one (malhuz). “And Allah encompasseth them on
every side. Nay! it is a glorious Koran in a guarded tablet.” 18
Fact: The protecting presence of His essence encompasses His attributes and the
protection of His attributes encompasses the praises of His names. His names
influence His deeds in the universe, through the marvelous manifestations which
He instills in them. Note: By His wisdom He hid His Essence out of sight,
behind the veils of attributes, thus He concealed Himself behind the phenomena
that reveal Him in the universe. All definitions that seek to show His presence
and His words have failed. Fact: For the servant to comprehend His encompassing
him with the fold of His vision, and the attempt to witness God is the limit to
him who acknowledges and tastes the drink profusely.
Failure to arrive at comprehension
is like the sun at its morning height
Moving in its orbits of the skies above all doubt.
Failure ('ajz, lit. inability) is negative and
Reason is positive; how has the veracious one made [Failure] the [8a] ultimate
goal? Yea, you shall understand Him when you understand the reality of annihilation.
Excellence (al-husna) shall then be manifested in the excellent names.
Fact: Manifestation of divine reality in the universe differs according to
one’s readiness and capacity; hence to some Sufis who acquiesce in feeling, and
to others, stations surrender, and they actually experience manifestations all
along. Note: When the Essential Reality (al-haqiqah al-dhatlyah) is
detached, in spite of having attributes, it will assume the significance of
whatever attributes are adapted to it; for water takes the colour of its container;
we drink the same water yet prefer some kinds to other kinds.
Red
liquor gives you dizziness according to your strength, You are not enlivened
according to the amount you sip. If ever it were to stir you as much as its own
strength, The whole wide world would be too small for you.
Fact: The manifestation of beauty in objects varies with
the gift of the observer. Thus the common folk do not see other than the
appearance of physical beauty while the chosen have unveiled before them the
picture of abstract beauty in which is manifested the splendour of His name,
the Exalted, that is resplendent in all creation through various phenomena.
When he is gone my every limb beholds
him still,20 In every form of charm and grace and elegance,
80 The lines of
poetry here reproduced are by ibn-al-Farid. See Farid D, p.
174, nos. 5 and 6, p. 175, no. (1). Cf.
Shelley, Epipsychidion:
In solitudes
Her voice came to me
through the whispering woods,
In the melody of the lute and the music
of the flute, Mingled in concert with harmonious airs;
In green hollows where the roaming
gazelles browse, In the cool of eve or at the break of dawn.
[8b] Note: One who strives after the glamour of lower
beauty is deprived of the vision of sublime beauty. Abandon, therefore,
struggle in the narrow straits of lower regions and arise through your energy
to the highest plane. . . .
An
Article on Repentance that Implies Returning
Said Allah, the Exalted: “ and repent to Allah all of you believers!
That you may be successful.” Confirmation (taqrlr') : the conditions
of repentance among the Sufis (al-jamaah), by unanimous agreement in
contradistinction to the people of deviation and innovation, are: Penitence
for all violations committed by the servant, the abandonment of them forthwith
without hesitation or looking backward, the resolve never again to follow the
same way in the forthcoming days, restitution of all property that has been
misappropriated and seeking liberation from falling into vices. Warning (tahdhir)
: Beware of riding the lame mount of disobedience which will fail you
amidst the winding marches of the road. Rather should you plod along the direct
route, in the right path. Confirmation: Verily He has commanded you to repent
in order to cleanse you from defilement and clothe you with the qualities of
sanctification (al-taqdis). Purify yourself, therefore, from your mean
and contemptible traits and adopt His praiseworthy and glorious qualities.
They have held you a candidate for a high position.
See to it that you do not graze with the herds.
Warning: Take care not to forsake repentance, for the
mark of progress is following the path of success. Confirmation: He who has not
acquired repentance in reality is not purified according to the followers of
the Path. Purify yourself, therefore, and become one of those who repent, for “
surely Allah loves those who repent and He loves those who purify themselves.” Warning:
Take care not to found your stronghold of [good] deeds on anything but the
foundation of repentance; otherwise, you will be like one who builds on the
brink of a bank undermined by the corrosive torrent. Warning : The repentance of ordinary men is a
passing mood, whereas that of the chosen is a constant practice. The repentance
of the ranking men among the chosen is a mark of distinction and worthiness —
dependence on “ stations ” (maqamat) and “ lights ” (anwar). Confirmation:
Take care that having genuinely repented you shall not feel secure, even though
you might receive the good tidings of acceptance ; for verily He, the Exalted,
can not be questioned concerning what He does, and you will be questioned.24
Confirmation: Repentance does not bring bliss nor does the abandonment of it
bring misery. Nevertheless, it has been created as a protection for you.
Warning: Take care not to pretend that you have repented while you inwardly
persist in your wickedness; you shall be like unto the hypocrites who are
satisfied with the acclaim of men at the risk of enraging against themselves
the Lord of the universe. Confirmation: Surely the resolve that moves the Sufis
towards abandonment is their realization of the evil ways that control them.
Warning: Take care not to be allured by the promises of hope and
procrastination which will make you lose the acquisition of proximity (qurb)
in the high [9b] station. Confirmation: He to whom God shows the ugliness of
the clothes of sins shall, by Allah, loathe to don their shameful attire. Warning
: Take care not to fall victim to the mirage of disobedience whence you will be
stained with the stigma of uncleanness; you will be exposed and nothing shall
hide you from your shamefulness. Consequently men shall shun your company in
abhorrence of your malodorous qualities. Confirmation: The Sufi stipulation for
repentance is to break with the society of the disobedient. To begin with,
desert your own traits, for that is more pleasing to your Creator. Warning:
Take care not to return to the place you deserted and to the spot where you
parted [with disobedience], for there you might immediately suffer a relapse.
Confirmation: He who continually repents in accordance with self-will and
resolution shall be the truthful, the veracious, who is bound to arrive at
journey’s end. Warning: Take care against luke-warmness and indolence, for
verily these belong to the brotherhood of the reproved and blameworthy. He who
accompanies such shall progress no more toward his desired profit and felicity.
Shall it not be enough that the virtue of repentance saves one from the
desolation of perils and draws him, though far away he may be, to the Ruling
Lord ? . . . How widely different the repentance of a longing lover from that
of one who repents because of fear and diffidence! [ 10a] The former is moved
by yearning for the contemplation of beauty while the latter is warned by the
fear of the authority of majesty. Warning: Take care, O prudent one, O artful
and quick-witted, not to make your repentance a means for the acquisition of
your own object; rather let it be servantship (‘ubudiyah)25 to
the Lord that you might become one of the chosen folk, those who seek after the
truth and salvation. Confirmation: Someone was wont not to seek repentance; he
rather sought after the appetite for repentance that he might discover the
motive for the resolve which is the proper way for the self-willed. Warning:
Take care not to pretend that you have achieved a station of repentance whereas
you remain unshaken in your addiction to lustful pursuits, wasting your time in
your bad habits. What a difference indeed! The finding of Truth has signs.
Confirmation: The station of repentance does not mean that one is no more a
beginner. For the beginning entails the struggle of mortification (mujahadah'),
while the end shall bring forth the delight of contemplation. In fine, the
beginning marks the lifting of the veil of self and purification, whereas the
end is the possession of perfection and enlightenment. Or one may say that the
beginning is abandonment followed by embellishment whereas the end is
preparation for the light of manifestation. Or, the beginning is to avoid
infamous attributes whereas the end is to flee from mean traits. Or you may say
that the beginning marks the filling of the vessel with “ I ” whereas the end
stands for pouring both “ you ” and “ I ” out of it. One might even state that
by the beginning is the end recognized—spiritual power of discernment (firasah)
without the uncovering of devotion [10b] which becomes possible by practice.
Finally, it might be said that when the basis of the
beginning rests upon [these] principles one shall find all the objectives and
benefits which he covets. Warning: Take care to lay the foundations of your
path on none other than the cornerstone of the fear of God that you may not be
among the people of deviation and dissension. Rather secure for yourself the
best protection that you may find your joy and comfort in the grave.
An
Article on Sincerity
Said Allah, the Exalted, “ Therefore, call upon Allah,
being loyal to Him in obedience.” 26 Sign: The loyal one is he who
does not change upon being tested after he has received the blessings of gratitude.
Evidence: When you see one to whom friend and foe are equal mark him well as
the honest, loyal and near-to-God (qanb). Sign: He who owes obedience to
God alone shall be considered loyal among fellow Sufis (‘ind al-jama'ah).
Evidence: Loyalty of the loyal reveals itself in his condition and not by his expressed
words. Sign: You will find the loyal hiding his good deeds, covering them with
the raiment of feeling; if interrogated concerning them (the deeds), he shall
say nothing to explain them; rather shall he deny his doings when asked.
Evidence: Him whom you shall find anxious to make known his vile mistakes and
to secrete his fine and excellent qualities, you might well mark out as a man
of distinguished station and lofty standing in loyalty. Sign: To the loyal
shall God assign a place of praise among men although he (the loyal) shall
neither choose nor aim at this. Evidence: When you behold a man who welcomes
praise, know that he is verily [Ila] a liar, a perishing one (halik). Sign:
The state of the loyal is not unknown to the critical minds of the chosen
although the common folk (al-awamm) might sincerely believe him. For
that which is treasured in the depths of the bosom reveals itself on man’s
exterior. What can the tongue secrete when the discernment of perception shall
expose it? Evidence: He who dons the robe of loyalty wears a crown in the view
of the common and the chosen; this is self-evident, obvious, a fact of known
truth. Sign: The words of the loyal are acceptable, his lofty ideals are copied
and his progress enhanced in all phases and towards all objectives. Evidence:
When you observe that your fervor for secret worship is waning while it rises
in favour of public worship, know that you are distant from loyalty and have
not yet moved among the chosen. Sign: The loyal shall gain new strength while
alone with Truth, secluded from the eyes of human beings. Evidence: Any deed
you perform to please men may draw you far from the Lord of the world. Subject
yourself, therefore, to the verdict of a balance (mistin') and discover
whether your scale shall rise or fall. Sign: If the loyal rise, he shall rise
by Allah; if he sit, he shall sit with Allah; if he move, he shall seek only
Allah; if he is silent, he is only quieted by Allah; if he ask, he shall ask
from Allah; if he work, he shall work by Allah; if he is to be given anything,
his taking shall be from Allah’s hand—all his affairs are from Allah, to Allah,
in Allah, and by Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah. There is no power or strength
except in Allah.27 Evidence: When you see one who trusts in men and
depends on them, [lib] relying on them in all his deeds, yet professing a
station of loyalty and piety, certainly beware of him, for he is a man of
conceit and dissension. Sign: When you find one who considers the society of
men solitude and seeks fellowship with his master through spiritual utterances (anfas)
mark him well as the truly loyal, the chosen, the elect. Evidence: If you trust
more in your Master than in your own inclinations, then you are loyal to Him
and He is your Master, indeed.
An
Article on Veracity
Allah, the Exalted, said: “ O you who believe! be careful of your
duty to Allah and be with the true ones.”28 Station (maqdm) : When
the traveller controls his feeling (al-hal), he shall become the owner
of a station and shall conduct himself according to it and by it always.
Feeling: It is that which changes and vanishes, controlling its owner while he
does not control it, that is a feeling. . . . Station: That which is gradually
gained shall bring in the station which will strengthen one’s steps in travel.
Feeling: The most lofty feeling is that which no impossibility shall accompany.
Station: To walk steadily with the other Sufis (al-qawm) in a ‘ station
’ assures one of the realization of the true station. Feeling: One who has a
feeling shall stand or fall by its change; he will show weariness by the lack
” “ La havula wa-la quzvata ilia bi-Allah.' of
firmness. Station: If you are able to receive more through firmness, then you
shall be among the owners of stations and ranks (darajat). Feeling: The
feeling of the novice (al-murld') differs from that of the desired
object (al-murad). To a novice the feeling comes and goes while the
feeling of the ‘ desired object ’ never vanishes. Station: The novice may
acquire the station of beginners (maqam al-biddyah) [12a] through
veracity of feeling (al-hal al- sadiq) while the ‘ desired object ’ has
the final station in the station of excellence. Feeling: The one of veracious
feeling among the men of veracity gains dignity and majesty, just as the owner
of a station shall bear this mark of beauty. Station; He whom you see
progressing by adopting traits that do not belong to the ordinary crowd (al-‘awdmm)
shall among the Sufis (al-qawm) figure as the holder of a station. As he
progresses he shall learn and acquire whatwithal he shall be more good and
lasting. Feeling: If a traveller (saUk) derives his feelings from the
victory of the descent of spiritual meanings into the heart (al-wdridat')
and marches on with firmness towards the light of contemplation, he shall be
considered the owner of feeling among men. Station: When the traveller shall
find his lights at will, he shall be an owner of a station and a desired
object. Feeling: The descent of feeling gives rise to absence (ghaybah)
after presence (hudur); it deadens the senses by the triumph of light.
Station: He who finds solace in what he lives for, that shall be a station
granted him. Feeling: He who does not experience order in his conduct but
rather disruption, ill-temper and dissatisfaction and weariness—that certainly
is a state of lassitude, greatly abhorred by the people of [God’s] blessings.
Station: He who shall be peaceful at heart, watching for the passing thoughts (al-khawdtir)
that descend upon him, shall be among the owners of supreme stations (al-maqdmdt
al-saniyah), above the folks of pleasant feelings. Feeling: The greatest
feelings are those that bring stations to their owner, that he might
contemplate his poverty and incapacity at all times. Station: The supreme station
is that which makes accessible the supreme feelings, and instills perfection in
its owner.
[12b] The Fifth Article
An
Article on Watchfulness
Said Allah the Exalted, “ And Allah is watchful over all
things.” 28
Flash (Zd’tTi): The lightening of the contemplation of the
manifestation of his Near Name struck glaringly in the heart of an attendant
servant at the presence of the watchful sentinel (al- raqlb). This made it necessary for him to observe
regular attendance, the veils and barriers of darkness having been removed.
Idea (sanih) : The thought of Truth’s sentinel came to the heart of a
servant who was lonely among men. Thereupon, his thoughts became enthralled by
the sentinel of danger, as he passed through this mood, especially when he felt
the coming of the sentinel, in the presence of the beloved (al-habib).
I and the beloved were never alone,
For a twinkling of an eye, unless a
sentinel stood by;
Nor were we alone that Time might
allow Me to say, “ Thou art my beloved.” . . .
Flash: The mind’s eye of the meditator perceived the
vision of the beauty of the presence which at one glance filled his mind to the
exclusion of all other sights. Idea: The phantom of beauty came upon the
devoted (jnutawajjih) heart which seeks (talib), and it was
made to wander in the lands of the East and the West. Flash: A heart began the
watch of meditation in the presence of the beloved ones until it felt a flash
of pleasing discourse that dispelled its fears of perdition the very moment it
heard it. Idea: There passed through the heart and thought of a longing person
a glimpse of the splendour and beauty of the loved one which turned him like
unto a person bewitched by the sorcery of the Babylonians; all this took place
when his longings and nightingales of joy were loosed. Flash: When the heart
stood [13a] upon the carpet of observing the beloved, a sense of safety was
thus engendered within it against fear of the sentinel. Idea: The phantom of
the beloved flitted over the longing heart which thereby became swollen with
fondness and longing. Flash: It came like a spectral description seen in the
mirror of the imagination; yet it required fondness and passionate love;
howbeit if the observing lover had actually enjoyed union (al-wisaT)33
in the presence of witnesses and union (ittisdl). Idea: The courier of
thought passed over the fields of the intellect. It sent forth the hawk of
hunting that it might catch some birds. Whereupon the gazelle of the tribe (ghazdlat
al-hayy) was set astir. Surely he shall prefer her even to Salma, Layla and
Mayy. Flash: Layla walked out amidst the tents and the dwelling places thereby
exciting one’s longing, and deepening his thirst. Will the flames of love ever
be quenched ? Where and when shall union with the beloved take place ? Idea:
Beauty dawned upon the attendant heart. Ah, what a thrill it received by the
sight which the sentinel, hitherto, had been hiding!
When we met removed from the sentinel’s eye,
I yearned to plead in privacy and secrecy;
When a full moon’s light between us rose.
Who ever saw one full moon become a sentinel of another?
An
Article on Love
Said Allah, the Exalted: “ He shall love them and they
shall love Him.” 34 Gift (nafhah):35 The eye of
Providence (‘ayn al- inayah') looked upon a servant who had been
previously a recipient of tender mercies from the Benevolent One (al-hannan);
therefore he entered into the presence of gratitude, in peace. Sketch (lamhah}
: Sketches of the lofty presence glistened with the excellent names;36
pray have you witnessed that beauty [13b] or have you
strayed in ecstasy (wajd) among men (rijal)? Gift: The reality of love is fire which consumes the livers, an agony
that swells and increases.
In the heart of the lover is a fire of grief
Whose minimum radiance matches the worst heat of hell.
Sketch: You who have looked upon the charm of damsels in
their quarters or upon the plains only to be infatuated by the beckoning of
those nymphs, behold the splendour of Layla all but manifest. Contemplate it;
then surrender yourself to its joy and enchantment. Gift: True love implies
that the lover’s secret shall remain untold in regard to what it manifests to
the lovers of the visions of the unseen.
If ever they disclose the secret, they pay for it with
their lives.
Such is the punishment of those who divulge.
Sketch: The breeze of the beloved blew to the lover,
whereupon he fluttered as with wings of joy and longing. How would it have
been, had he seen her beauty through the eyes? Verily, he would have died.
O gentle breeze, rising quietly by night,
Sent to us by the beloved, you have given us cheer.
Relate to us the news about the
valley and the homesteads of Salam,
Tell us of that sacred home you left.
Gift: The reality of love is the purification (khalas) of the
nature of the spirit from all frail goods and the annihilation (Jana’) of self
against all fortunes and interests.
These are the Arabs of Najd ever since
I came to know them, All my affiliations with them, of blood and property,
ceased.
If you desire to revel in
a short contemplation eye to eye, you should be humble with your beloved at all
times and places.42
Humble yourself before your love
that you may catch the opportunity;
Many a man reaches positions of honour through humility.
Gift: The greatest love is one that settles in the heart
immediately and distorts all one’s feelings without giving notice.
Her love came upon me before I knew love’s worth,
[14a] It found an empty heart, so in it lived.
Sketch: A lover is one who remains unshaken by the
censure of the sentinel—rather does that augment his love for the beloved.
I love
you, O Sun of the Time and O Time’s Full-Moon, Even though I am scorned in this
by Ursa Major and the polar stars.
Gift: True love is an obligatory magnetic force in the
opinion of the Sufi investigators. . . . Sketch: The forwarding {sawq)
of yearning sweetens love and taste; hence you notice that bodies follow the
dictates of the spirits.
My yearning never ceases to guide me
to you, Dispelling all my fears and hardships. . . .
Gift: When yearning overpowers the heart of the lover
and fires are ablaze within it, while worries and ordeals close in on him, let
him hear the tales of the Sufis related on the authority of their doctors (ahbdr,
sing, habr or hibr).
Of him whom love killed, relate to me the tale.
Verily sorrowing is the spirit of everyone in grief.
Sketch: The spirit of the yearning lover is like a
tender bough which softly swings each time a gentle wind blows by.
The hope of union with her sways me with joy,
How often the wish is sweeter than triumph itself!
*’ Places and times in Arabic text. Gift:
The lover is always afraid lest he miss the opportunity of union; his condition
might be expressed by the words of one who said:
Many a chance you miss which leaves you
in sad regret, You bite the palm and gnash the teeth in bitterness.
Sketch: The lover heard one night the likeness of his
beloved’s voice while asleep; at which he arose and made haste [14b] to
discover that it was only love-sickness (hiyam) — a victory scored by the imagination which
made him say:
Until separation has rung within one’s heart at eventide Little
he knows how livers are torn to pieces.
Gift: The conditions of those in love 40
differ; they vary according to feeling and station. A novice becomes sober
after intoxication; he is folded
up even while he is exposed—but the desired object (al-murad) is more
intoxicating each time it passes by, hence the aroma of its delightful
fragrance. Verse:
The novices become sober after their
intoxication by it (wine), But those who seek the desired object shall have its
lasting intoxication.
Sketch: When the beauty of the beloved shall appear to
the lover in the realm of the unknown, his passion swells and his speech stops
except for the expression of complaint against the pain of affliction. Theme (mufrad)
:
Love forbears the tongue to speak,
Yet sweetest are to love its own complaints.
Gift: The lover was present with the beloved at a
station where he became intoxicated with the intoxication of desire and wine.
Small wonder if he should become absent and his hearing and heart enraptured.
. . . Sketch: The lover entered one day the abode of the beloved while the
slanderer (al-washi) and the sentinel (al-raqlb) were unaware; he
revelled upon hearing the discourses (khitab) in the presence of the loved
ones. Theme:
O night of love and happiness at home,
Its joy drove our steeds to dancing gaits in merriment.
Gift: When the lover permits union, his beloved having
intimately known contemplation of beauty, that to him becomes permission for
discourse. O one who removed the veil for him! Theme:
When I meet my love I whisper in his ear
Words which pages can not convey.
[15a] Sketch: Him who does not possess even the value of
a particle or grain of love, despondence shall seclude from happiness and he
shall be a nobody among men. Verse:
Only those that love and crave are men,
No good is in one who does not love and yearn.
Gift: By God, no one whose heart is filled with love can
keep it to himself.
He whose heart resides with another, how can he be well?
And he whose secret is upon his eyelids, how shall he
hide?
Sketch: The mere ownership of a station of patience
without the faculty for patient suffering for love is despicable. If such a
person be punished by desertion he cannot claim to have been oppressively
treated.
In all eventualities patience is praiseworthy,
Except with you, it is detestable.
Gift: The heart of the lover shall not cease from doting
on the beloved; should it declare the contrary, surely it would be untruthful.
O heart, you promised me that if
I turn from Layla you would repent;
Well, I did renounce Layla’s love;
And yet you writhe each time that she is named.
Sketch: He who is not annihilated and dead in his
passionate love for the beloved shall not secure an abundant share in union.
Our lover shall not enjoy the life of
proximity to us Unless he become one of our casualties.
Gift: The distinctive feature of love is that the lover
shall execute the commandments of his beloved; he shall also discover the
hidden meanings of his past affairs and misfortunes.
You disobey the Lord even while
professing his love, By my faith I swear ’tis a queer anomaly.
If but your love were true I should
obey it, For surely a lover obeys his beloved.
Sketch: The condition of the truthful lover changes and
progresses until he comes to be, by its virtue, better than others.
[15b] To my eye you seem increasingly more beautiful;
Each day I yearn for a phase of you.
You grow more lovely and I more loving,
My feeling for you changes ever and ever more.
Gift: The victory of the inward fire has inflamed the
passions thus, burning the spirit of the lover which melted and gushed from his
eyes and streamed away. Verse:
That which flows out of the eye is not
its water, Rather is it the melting and dripping spirit.
Sketch: The heart of the lover does not cease from the
beloved should the latter turn away. This is the natural order and the contrary
is an abnormal course. Verse:
I say to the heart that does not cease
Ever from its love nor even fails:
Men had almost ceased to call you heart49
18 Arabic qalb—heart
also means reversal, transposition, change, ceasing from, hence the pun in
these lines.
Since you never cease from loving.
Had I been able I would steer my heart
away From you but my heart has no wheel.50
An
Article of Renunciation
Said Allah, the Exalted, “ What remains with God is
better for you.” 51 Enlightenment (tanwlr): If you do not
renounce the petty goods of this vile world surely you are far from the
beneficence of the glorious life to come.52 Abstraction (tajrld')
: The freedom of your heart from hatred for the Master is more worthy and
seemly of you, O man of reason. Enlightenment: If there were no evil in this
world other than lawful things for which one has to give an account and the unlawful
things for which he is to be punished, that should have been enough to warn
you, O men of intelligence. Abstraction : Sufis! He who is through with her53
deeds shall not burn in the fire of her conflagration on that [16a] day.
Enlightenment: Renunciation, according to the Law, is required in so far as forbidden
practices go.54 It is, furthermore, approved of 55 in
many of the lawful acts. But in the true legislation of the people of the Path,56
it is required in both events. Thus, you should say * yes,’ O obedient
one. Abstraction: The disavowal of the world by the servant, the ascetic, the
traveller, gives what is greater before Allah than the gems of the desirer, the
chaste, the possessor. Enlightenment: The world is like unto a snake, decorative
in appearance, smooth to the touch, ugly inwardly and poisonous potentially.
Abstraction: Every day the people of the world must depart from it, each breath
sees them farther away from it. Yet they are too blind to contemplate and too
heedless 57 to comprehend the meaning. Enlightenment: The world has given you a taste of the pain of suffering while the
journey lasts. Therefore, beware of its enmity, O man, for both Day and Night
do admonish you. Verse:
If a lover of this world should strip her bare
A foe he would meet in the clothes of a friend.
Abstraction: If you desire to see what subsistence and
perfection there are in the world, expose it before the mirror of truth, and
you will find it to be like phantasy (al-khayal). When you look upon it,
it is present; and if you are absent from it, it vanishes. Thus it is a
phantasy in a phantasy from a phantasy.58 Enlightenment: The world
is a prison and the man of the world is a prisoner. How strange that a prisoner
should revel in misery. . . . Abstraction: The abstemious ascetic is relieved
from the carrying of burdens. He shall be free from the responsibility of
providing for his dependents. Wherever his understanding alights, he shall be
happy; his belly is his waterskin and [16b] his bed is his furniture.
He who has seen me has known my home,
Behold I am the home: I came just as I am.
Enlightenment: This world’s flower is quick-fading; he
who prides himself upon it is lowly, he who is rich through it is poor, and he
whose power rests upon it is frail. This world is a means for reaching the
next; consider, therefore, that you do not make the means an end in itself. The
children of the world are slaves of their lusts, whereas the children of the
next world are kings and masters. The life of this world’s people is fraught
with weariness and pain, whereas the people of the hereafter enjoy peace and
bounty. The lords of the world are slaves to hypocrisy and deceitfulness,
whereas the brethren of the hereafter are exempted from debased morality. He
whose ideal5S lies in this world, has a scarab-like soul and
breathes nought but decayed matter [of the world] ; whereas he whose ideal lies
in the next world, his soul is angel-like, and his only solace rests in the
breathing of the next world’s perfume. Abstraction: This world is only a
glimpse (lamhah) of the next; your whole life, even if long, is a
twinkling between the two of them. To Allah do I plead concerning a state
which is only transitory. Such are my reflections; if by them I am not forewarned let them be a
reminder to you. Enlightenment : The lights of the acts of renunciation illumine
the niches where lamps are suspended in the heart of the ascetic;
they multiply and increase more than the acts of the desirer, the one who
serves. Abstraction: Abstraction is twofold, the one is revealed to the eyes by
its owners, and the other is undisclosed by the outstanding men of vision.
Enlightenment: Know that there are
two kinds of renunciation, the one concerning this world and the other
concerning the next. The
former is for the fortunate ones, the second for the unfortunate. Renunciation
in the next world may be the experience of one who has no other desire but to
be occupied with Allah to the [17a] exclusion of all else. “ Say ‘ Allah then
leave them in their vain discussion to play.” Furthermore, although renunciation might well
be of praiseworthy description yet it varies according to the contemplation and
those who contemplate. Thus, the renunciation of a novice is concerned with the
goods of the world and riches, that of the one who serves concerns that which
worries the mind, that of the people of piety concerns the sanctioned lawful
acts and selfishness, that of the travellers (sing, salik) concerns
what hinders them from fulfilling their religion, that of the people of
feelings concerns the feelings of other men, that of the owners of stations
concerns what jeopardizes their contemplations, that of the owners of gnostic
knowledge concerns what disqualifies their gnosis, that of the outstanding
investigators concerns all other than the Truth, glory to Him. To the last
group renunciation is the veil itself—a shell with which its owners busy
themselves to the exclusion of the substance. This leads to the seeing of other
than the Truth (ru’yat al-ghayr) in contemplation; that is why they
failed to understand the true meaning.
So they said “ Be a renouncer ” to which I replied
That renunciation is veiling reality
behind the phases of investigation.
For renunciation is otherness and otherness has no trace When you look upon
it with the eye of loftiness.
An
Article on Poverty
Said Allah, the Exalted, “ O ye men, you are they who
stand in need of Allah.”85 Study (tahqlq): The reality of
poverty on the external side of the Path is unlike what the internal reality
is.88 Externally it is the poverty of the ascetics as far as the
material values of the world go. Internally it is the poverty of individuals in
the values of the hereafter; they are busy with Allah to the exclusion of all
else, since they have contemplated and seen. Examination (tadqiq): Annihilation
(al-fana') and poverty (al-faqr) vied in boasting. The first
declared, “ Behold I am the attribute of the Great Lord, but who are you, O
lowly one !” Then Poverty spoke out, “ But for my quality your quality would
not have been distinguished and without my humility your prestige would not
have been enhanced. I am he whose quality bears the mark of servantship (‘ubudiya.h'),
while you are one whose quality militates against sovereignty (a/- rububtyah")
; it is needless to state that he who militates is crushed while he who
surrenders is saved.” Study: The unimaginative one87 found the
condition of the poor (al-faqir) ambiguous. He claimed that the faqir
(poor) is other than the faqih (jurisprudent), little knowing that the
letters hd’ and rd’ are identical. . . . Examination: The poor,
the jurisprudent, is one who lays the heavy burden of journeying at the
thresholds of men until he is made to suckle the fresh milk of breasts and
enabled to dispense with the dried stuff of dead writing. Take heed, therefore,
O one of jurisprudent words, and listen, O one of poor condition. In Allah let
your features be annihilated; withdraw from all common knowledge (madum),
O one of jurisprudent argument; such is the argument. The verse of the mirage.88
Enter the wine-shop of our loved ones which will make you one of our doctors
and pour you fresh drink to sip, after the dusty deserts of the mirage, O one
of jurisprudent traditions and reasoning mind. For lo, the curtain of your
intellectual “ I-ness ” has secreted from you the light of revelation and the
sight of traditional science has altered the flavour of your taste. O one of
nominal but not virtual jurisprudence, wrongly have the two names been
identified. For had you understood the meaning of the poor and the
jurisprudent, you would [18a] have been clever and imaginative. The
jurisprudent one is he who is endowed with penetrating vision concerning his
Lord; in Him he is annihilated to the exclusion of others. If this be your
quality then indeed you are the man of poverty (al- faqlr) and before
Allah the truly jurisprudent. Examination: Some Sufis gave preference to riches
over poverty while others held a view to the contrary. The truth is that wealth
in human goods does not free them (the men) from their need for the attributes
of essence. Study: He who claims riches falls into distress, in
contradistinction to one who demonstrates poverty and thus saves himself.
Examination: The poor one is he who has the quality of true neediness (iftiqar),
willfully and out of free choice, not out of necessity that places him in the
position of compulsion. Study: He who boastfully uses the quality of riches
over the poor shall be worthy of a reversed judgment from the All-Powerful.
Theme:
Do you not see that verily in
poverty there is hope for enrichment,
While the rich are always in danger of poverty?
Examination: The mark of poverty is that of brotherhood,
its ornament is that of the home-coming servant. He who has no name shall be
more lofty; the faces of his people shall meet him with a welcome and upon them
shall be seen God’s supplication.
Such are faces on which there is the
sign of acceptance, Not all faces bear this welcome.
” The author here cites this so-called verse of the
Mirage, Koran 24: 39 which reads: “ And as for those who disbelieve, their
deeds are like the mirage in a desert, which the thirsty man deems to be water;
until when he comes to it he finds it to be naught. . . .” Of this there is a
paraphrase on the margin in the same hand thus: Verse: “O one who is like a
mirage, you think him to be something while he is nothing."
Study: One who lords it over the poor with the wealth of
his treasures or vies with them in the beauty of his pottery, Allah shall
humiliate, and he shall become needy; he shall be returned to ugliness and
shall crumble to pieces.
Boast
not of what bounties have been given you Over others, but fear the crushing of
the Mighty. In origin much like pottery you were made, How quick to break is
pottery in this world!
Examination: The meaningful gems of Time are too costly
to be squandered in raving. My God! How strange the one whose lifetime runs
out while he hoards gold. Poor he is with all he has amassed. He has no
supporter of any consequence.
He who spends his hours
making a fortune,
In fear of poverty, that
which he does is poverty indeed.69
Study: He who is poor in relation to God shall be made
rich through Him. But he who feels too rich to call on Him shall be in need of
everything; and he who needs everything shall be forsaken by all and nothing
can serve him instead of God. Verse:
Whatever you forsake can
be replaced,
Except Allah for whom there is no substitute if you
forsake.
Examination: The magnetic70 property of the
poverty of essence is the attraction for gifts and grants; therefore, he whose
quality of poverty is greatest shall have a more abundant and larger share.
Study: The specialization of poor folk in begging (sual) is peculiar to
them at the present and future times; this is recognized by him who has
discovered the fruit of supplication and whose needs and aspirations have been
achieved for him. Examination: The assumption of positive and absolute
richness (ghina) by the Lord, to Whom be glory, is precisely what
decrees rank poverty for us. Through the assumption of this attribute is
loving-kindness achieved; for it is out of the mercy of the rich that He
favours the poor with bounties; thus does the great set the broken bones of the
small. Study: No poor man ever sought the door of the
Rich, the Glorious, to be met with disappointment, or asked Him for refuge to
find the door closed.
At your supreme portal I stretched my
supplicating hand; He who comes to this door has no rejection to fear.
An
Article on Hypocrisy
[19a] Said Allah, the Exalted, “ Therefore, whoever hopes
to meet his Lord, he.should do good deeds, and not associate anyone in the
service of his Lord.” Study: Sincerity in work for Allah while
fulfilling what Allah prescribes is the outcome of annihilation in Allah on the
carpet (bisat) of subsistence in Allah. Adornment (taswiq):
The existence of association in work for other than Allah issues from the
heart’s glorification of other than Allah. Had it visualized the greatness of
Allah it would not have delighted in working for other than Allah. Study: The
polytheism of hypocrisy (al-riyd’) creeps like ants on any man unless God protect
him with His peace. Adornment: He whose hypocrisy takes the form of outward
works is adorned, but his lack of loyalty is surely a hindrance to him. Study:
The ornament of hypocrisy is the ornament of the despised ones while the
quality of sincerity is the quality of the substitutes (al-abdal),7B
Adornment: The retribution of the hypocrite is exposed and scandalous even
though his beginning be irreproachable and commendable. Study: Sometimes
hypocrisy and sincerity intermingle but rarely does salvation ensue.
Adornment: The fountains of hypocrisy are sweet to the spirits; yet sweeter is
the manifestation of the quality of the Holy One. Study: The mark of the hypocrite,
the liar, is his self-exoneration from sins among men. Adornment: Know that he
who goes about crestfallen among men, always seeking the ways of entreaty and
the lowering of the head, while he throws discredit upon all good men, never
accepting the advice of a counsellor, truly he is a hypocrite, an impostor, who
has not breathed the incense of man’s sincerity.
Most felonious in spirit is he who would seek
To prove his worth by showing the
defects of the truly virtuous men;
No one has better vindicated his own virtue
Than by thinking well of every man of esteem.
[ 19b] Study: Only a few followers of the Path
successfully escape from hypocrisy. Adornment: The feelings of the hypocrite
evoke contempt in the eye of the observer. Study: The hypocrite is a claimant
who has not acquired the realities of piety. When he intends to embark upon
his career the little children will make fun of him. Adornment: Among the Sufis
the hypocrite is likened unto a liar whose designs are understood; each time he
tries to cover himself by his words men will find him out and declare his
falsehood, marking him as a braggart, exposing him and subjecting him to
ridicule.
Whatso
be the characteristic that a man is born withal, Though he thinks it lies hid
from men, it shall surely one day be known.7*5
Study: Hypocrisy is akin to pride and self-exaltation;
by Allah, few are safe from these defects in view of the imperfection of
humanity and the scarcity of freedom. Adornment: In this age the commoners have
beautified their exterior and pretended poverty; then they cast the net of
their fraud in order to deceive women and princes. If that be their share from
Allah, great will be their disgrace from Allah, O Allah.
Poverty ascended pleading God for aid;
It complained saying, “ Some men have
been oppressing me; They make pretense of me, while by thy truth,
I know them not nor do they know me.”
The one that you see, in your life, engaged in
self-defense and argument, deviating all the while from righteousness to
crookedness, let him alone to pursue his own course of
treachery and degeneration which only appeals to the degenerate in spirit.
Similarly have the authorities of jurisprudence (al-fuqaha’) aimed at
the embellishment of words, which they bombastically drew out with rhetoric and
[20a] artistic style that excites the fancy and delights the ear. But the
critic sees the inner purposes and knows the hidden consciences.
Your word and deed are
exhibited before one
Who can
distinguish your earnestness from your pleasantry. Accept not the word in place
of the deed, For only the unfortunate one pursues this plan.
Study: The true scholar is one who travels in the Path
and performs good deeds through his learning, being of infinite usefulness.
Such is the one who gathers the fruit of his labours before death and shall not
regret the passing away of his days. Adornment: He who seeks learning for
hypocritical aims and in order to face with it men of prestige, Allah shall
harden the hearts against him and deprive him of all his desires. Study: Learning
is life; ignorance is death. Do you not behold that a scholar is much
remembered after death while the ignorant one so long as his life endures lives
as though he were one of the dead ?
Death
before physical death is the lot of the ignorant, Their bodies are graves
before they see the graves. Verily one is dead if he lives not by learning, For
him there is no resurrection in the hereafter.77
Adornment: A scholar is not satisfied with words short
of the examination of feeling. Such a one would be the worthless fellow in the
eyes of the heroes. Study: Learning is a light; if you see one who is in
darkness and yet claims it, give him no credence lest you be associated with
him in the darkness of his night. Adornment: He who sweetens the words of his tongue
while he persists in the corruption of his heart, Truth shall disclose his
profligacy and relegate to oblivion the sweetness which he professes. Study:
Utterly vain is the impeccable syntax of language as long as the heart speaks
with a foreign accent. Conversely, the eloquence [20b] of essence (al-dhat) cannot
be equalled by the syntax of words. Do you not see that God (al-haqq
lit., Truth), the Exalted, gave preference to Moses, praise and peace on him,
over his brother, because of the eloquence of his essence; nevertheless Aaron
was more eloquent in his linguistic faculties. Verily, Allah is all-knowing as to where He
should place His messages.
The secret of eloquence resides in its native place,
It belongs to the qualities of the
spirits, not to those of the tongues.
Adornment: O one who speaks to impress and express
thoughts without deviation, making distinction among his foes, who speaks
without uttering words, whose statements to his sweethearts, at festivities,
are couched in the attitude of extolling the majesty of God in place of
accepting infamous traits; one who brings out the meaning and throws light on
the place of abode; when he writes, causes others to write,—remarkable is this
creed, the true creed; he who possesses it annihilates himself. Is Paradise (al-jinan)
for one who reforms the heart or for one who uses syntactical subtleties in his
self-expression, such as the forms ‘ By Allah ’ and ‘ Through Allah? ’ Verily,
the pious doctors who urged us with their fair judgment and stirred our
longings for the attributes, have stated that he who is foreign in accent and
is more pious, is more pleasing to Allah; while he who uses good Arabic syntax
but thinks much of himself, shall not be great before Allah.
An eloquent tongue expressing itself in good Arabic!
Yet I wish that that could save only on
the day of judgment! Pure Arabic rhetoric without piety is false
Nor is a man of piety disqualified by
mere foreign accent.
Study: Whoever wishes to exterminate the roots of
hypocrisy should not appear before mirrors; let him, furthermore, preserve his
sanctity by living in modest obscurity.
Obscurity is not disgraceful to the man of perfection.
For the ‘ Night of Power ’ is concealed while of all nights 'tis the
best.
Adornment: He who is hypocritical in his dealings with
men is fallen into hardship, particularly if he seeks a high position that will
bring him disaster. Verse:
To my
courage obscurity is acceptable, Whereas elated ranks are not desirable; While
not denying the flavour of glory’s taste, My courage yet seeks real spiritual
vigor.
Study: The good life is one of obscurity and the
abandonment of officiousness, by Allah. Verse:
Live in
obscurity among men and be satisfied, For that is safer in the world and in
religion. The religion of one who associates with men is not intact; He is ever
subject to disturbance and perplexity.
Adornment: The seeker of popularity among men is a man
of hypocrisy, poverty and bankruptcy; he shall not please them unless he incur
the wrath of his Master. Should he befriend them, it would only be serving his
own ends. Study: If you wish safety for your deeds withdraw to the solitude of
men and reveal to yourself the joys of loneliness;82 what a
merriment and what a joy! Amuse yourself there by communion with the first-born
of thoughts (abkar al-afkar) whose originality has not suffered any
rents in the patches.
I was wont to feel desolate when
alone, But now I revel in loneliness.
Solitude
has become a solace to me, Loneliness, too, a precious company.
Adornment: It is characteristic of the spirit to adore
the decoration of the exterior in all phenomena; this is a curtain that closes
to the heart all perusal of the unknown. Study: The difference between solitude
and loneliness [21b] is that solitude applies to the bodies while loneliness
strikes the heart with the realities of meanings. To some Sufis it is vice
versa, but that should cause no confusion. Know, however, that he who
experiences no loneliness shall enjoy no dignity (jalvuah") among
the Sufis. Under the pillow of the great imam, the
“ ‘ Solitude ’ and ‘ loneliness ’ we use in a rather
arbitrary style for ‘uzlah and khalwah respectively. On the
general subject of the former see al-Ghazzali Ihya’, vol. ii, pp. 197 sqq.
Authority of Islam (Hujjat al-Islam),83
were discovered these lines:
When I
was free, dissension ruled me, But when I became a slave, dissension served me;
Thus did I take refuge in solitude Against all kinds of evil men.
No good
comes from the interrelation of men Nor is the ignorant person like unto the
knower. You who chide me for departing from men, little you see My pretext,
inscribed on the top of my seal.
Looking at the inscription on his seal the following
could be read: “ And We did not find in most of them any faithfulness to
covenant, and We found most of them to be certainly transgressors.” 84
Adornment : Some men surrender themselves to loneliness while their hearts
remain with the world. Such are prisoners to their loneliness and dwell
unpurified, as yet, from the lusts of self. Study: The seeker of loneliness is
one who rids his heart from all growth except that of the Lord. Even while in form
he appears with other human forms, in heart, however, he shall ever be ‘
present yet absent.’ Adornment: He who withdraws that men may say, ‘ He
withdrew,’ shall be different from the people of truth and a seceder. The
point is not that you confine yourself to barren deserts; the real point is
that you become imbued with the manners of the innocent. He who has not been
through the pains of stern discipline so that he is a truly “ Stoic ” product
of “ Spartan ” life,85 shall be a dissenter as far as his solitude
goes; he will fall into error and false [22a] pretense. Adornment: Often does
it come to pass that fools imitate other worthy men in some feelings. How far
indeed! What a gap between ‘ feelings ’ and ‘ affectation! ’ Verse:
She of the black eyes and
lashes said to us:
“ Applying antimony to the eyes is
not like having eyes of genuine darkness.”
Study: With the experience of distressing fear and
sleepless yearning come the forebodings of sincerity that usher one from
hypocrisy to salvation. He who is given the station of fear should rejoice in
his security from the enemy, Satan. But he who has been given the station of
hope with righteousness and refuge-seeking should mingle that beauty with
majesty, that he may truly conceive the horizons of perfection. Adornment: Him
who claims that station of beauty, not having been disciplined by the manner of
majesty, you should cast aside, for verily he is an impostor who has no
significance among men.
An
Article on Gnosis
Said Allah, the Exalted, “ And when they hear what has
been revealed to the Messenger, you will see their eyes overflowing with tears
on account of the truth that they recognize.” 86 Contemplation (mashhad)
: The reality of gnosis is a revelation (inkishaf) which requires the
removal of the lid from the surface of whatever is concealed and covered. This
shall take place in accordance with each presence (hadrah) and
attendance (muthul), or readiness and receptivity. Contemplation: The
gnosis of the One is a unique experience of seclusion (al-infirad) ;
eligibility for it is peculiar to a few individuals.
Paths are numerous but the Path of Truth is one;
Yet the travellers on the Path of Truth are but a few.
Contemplation: The vision of the presence of gnostic
knowledge militates against the vision of otherness (al-ghayr) in the
world. The spirit of such a life is to have conviviality with the beloved while
the watcher (al-raqtb) is absent. Verse:
My life you are to whom I make my complaints of grief;
In the darkness of the night you are
my moon and night discourser.
If I speak, I only speak of you;
If I be still, you are the centre of my thoughts.
Evidence (shahid): The guide of the gnostic’s
conscience is the arrival of gnostic knowledge which cheers him as do the words
or
" Koran 5:86. picture of his beloved in
the presence of union and contemplation. Verse:
I lean
towards my interlocutor to let him see How I lend my mind to what he says.
I might
drift away from the conversation, but What is from you, that is my only task.87
Contemplation: Signs of proximity (qurb) and
approach (fudfini) appeared on a servant plodding through the hardships of
meanings, the more so when they dawned on his gaze in the garb of beauty; to
him they brought tidings of the proximity of union. Verse:
Your beauty brings me tidings of being near to you;
I crave
for peace and realization of my desires. Every limb in me feels bliss;
Every utterance brings me many meanings.
Contemplation: When the gnostic attended at the occasion
of the ‘ presence,’ clouds and curtains were raised for him. For even though
his beloved at some times is hidden out of sight, she is before his view in the
heart.
What if
you be removed from the view of my physical eye ? Still are you manifested to
me in every part of my heart. .. .
Contemplation: The perfume of the gay orchard blew to a
gnostic in longing for union (vrisaT), it caused the trees of his
gnostic fruits to wave, and he sang:
[23a] The winds of union with them
blew at daybreak, With gusts of yearning in the heart.
The
branch of love merrily shook in me, When fruits of love fell here and there.
Suns of union with penetrating rays Pierced the awnings of the veils.
Clear
joy shone over us, and thus sparkled The face of compassion which dispelled all
blame, Thus I came to consider all I behold Aught if not my own beloved.
Such is the feeling of one whose life is happy and whose
estrangement
” Cf. Aghani, ii, p. 7. from
the beloved is ended—one who is attendant at the “ presences ” of loyalty in
the company of proximity and the chosen. Contemplation : The people of gnosis
have a profound fondness for the beloved; they have sighs that would cause the
heart to melt, without which the fire of longing would consume them. They have
a flame of reminiscent passion (wajd) the tears of which protect them
from drowning.
But for the tears and suffering of lovers,
Need for water and fire among men would have been great;
All fire takes its spark from their
sighs, All water flows from their tears.
Contemplation: The man of gnosis was drowned (istaghraqa)
and thus became unconscious of existence; he was annihilated through the object
of contemplation (al-mashhucT) away from contemplation itself.
My
existence, when I lose consciousness of the universe, Consists of whatever contemplation
is revealed in me.
Contemplation: The cup of taste became sweet and fresh
to the mouth of the drinking one, thus growing more sweet and cheery; it
swelled and overflowed to the sipping of kings who rule the presence of approach
(hadrat al-tadani) and maniacs intoxicated with the wine of meaning. O
Allah, [23b] what music was played for their hearing at the tavern (al-han)
! Then the camel-singer chanted touchingly and sent them to the joy of
intoxication:
From
pitchers, like showers, the liquid filled the cup, Thus pearls were grown in a
soil of gold, At which men marvelled and praised God:
‘ Why a
light springs from water in the fire of the grapes! ’ Such is the drink handed
to ‘Ad by Iram,88
The treasured drink of Kisra80 bequeathed by
father to son.
Contemplation: The gnostic became absent from
consciousness through the wine of his love, whereupon the light of his
beloved’s face was manifested to him like unto the sun. Intoxication, then,
endured and the wine vessel (al-dinan) overflowed. The cups of love were
passed around, bringing their contents of gnostical vision (al- ‘irfan).
Consistently he drank the wine while
it caused his mind to soak
In madness that gave way to the passing of his spirit.
At last he fell upon his right hand, subdued
With drunkenness, and surrendered his spirit to wine.
Evidence: When the gnostic is tested with desertion (hijran)
he conducts himself in keeping with manners (adab) and concealment (hitman)
; in case he eulogize his beloved and lament her, it shall not be said that he
divulged.
Forenoon Sun of brilliant forehead!
The hours of your pleasure are filled with happiness.
No matter what you do to your lovers
Not even despondent death can make them divulge.
Contemplation: The lights of the glamorous ‘ presence ’
were so manifested that the gnostic was overjoyed when he there recognized the
green hue; he marvelled at the vision of her beauteous face in all her variations
and feelings.
Exceedingly lovely, she became ‘ face ’ on all sides.
Facing you she stands, whether she be coming or going.
[24a] Contemplation: The presence of the contemplation
of charity (ihsan) accepts only perfection—without adulteration. For it
is revealed to the lords of the soul, brains and spirits.
Nothing therein can be referred to
As having just been perfected;
Each phase of its splendour
Has its own form of proverbial perfection.
Contemplation: The manifestation of unveiling the eyes
is that which pushes back the frontier of gnostic knowledge. This is the
presence of the transformation of the eyes. Do you not behold how the gnostic
beheld this with all his faculties (bi-kulliyatihi) ? Has he not heard
at the season of loving converse (waqt al-munajat) with his entire
I-ness (aniyatihi) ? Verse:
When Layla appears, I become all eyes;
Should she commune with me, I shall be all ears.
Evidence: A gnostic is one who achieves perfection and
thereby acquires ‘ feeling ’ and ‘ speech.’
‘ Feeling ’ and ‘ speech ’ bear evidence that he
Has secured perfection in all its splendid significance.
Contemplation: The mysteries of the universe are
manifested to the gnostic who understands their signs and can read the
significance of their lines.
Meditate on the lines of the universe
for verily they are Messages sent to you from the King on High.
Contemplation: A gnostic is not one who rejects all
Paths other than his own, thereby contemplating only his ‘ travel ’ and ‘
examination.’ The genuine traveller surely travels along all the ‘ roads,’ (masalik).
Verse:
Our gestures differ, but your beauty is one;
Everything points to that Beauty, indeed.
[24b] Contemplation: A gnostic comes for water to the
sea, not to the rivulets; he demonstrates the realities and arts of gnosis,
Every meaning of which the dead almost
understand; Worshipped is it by paper and pen also.
Contemplation: The gnostic, in spite of his splendour,
humbles himself with the people of his vicinity (al-hayy) ; he honours
whosoever pays homage to Layla and Mayy.
For Layla’s sake I became her people’s
slave, Honouring them, the servant, infant and adult;
The one I encounter in
the street, I love;
To him I hereafter become
a sincere brother.
Contemplation: A gnostic is
like Majnun Layla.®1 He yearns for her by day and night. If he
yearn, it is for her; if he cry, it is for her.
If these tears of deep
affection are shed
For other than Layla,
surely they are wasted.
Contemplation: An honest
man’s knowledge of secrets prevents him from acquainting others with their
contents; such is the habit of spiritual stewards (al-kibar).
Him who
inquires from me about Layla I send away, With vagaries concerning her of
little worth.
They say ‘ Tell of her, for you are her guardian ’;
But should I do so, I
should cease to be honest to her.
Contemplation: Moons shone to the free; thus the goodly
folk reported the news to other goodly folk. At this the wicked scoffed, and
they were entrenched in the hell of skepticism (inkar).
If you be
an uncouth fellow in the profession, And should meet an expert, be not a
braggart. Similarly, if the crescent you have not seen, Accept the verdict of
those who laid eyes upon it.
Contemplation: A gnostic grows in importance even while
he lives; after his death he gains reputation among men.
Some
people die only to be remembered for their learning, While the ignorant, as
they die, join those who went before.
[25a] Contemplation: As the gnostic rejoiced in the
blessings of mystic knowledge, his sleeve-cuffs yielded perfume which spread
throughout the world.
If you have a rheum, it is not seemly
To say that musk is not
in the air.
Contemplation: A breeze carrying the incense of lovers’
wine blew past; to it was guided the truthful breathing-devotee (al-ndshiq) among
the travellers.
But for her perfume I would not have found her tavern,
And without her glory imagination
could not have portrayed her.
Contemplation: The gnostic attended the presence of
union; he uncovered the beauteous form, whereupon wine-bibbing intensified his
flaming giddiness as the nights and days went by.
You who make me thirst for a union to be
bestowed, Have you no mercy when I cry for a drink?
Evidence: Gnosis requires perplexity and anxiety; with
these two, decide who is a liar and who, the truthful. Moreover, upon him (i.
e. the gnostic) shall appear signs of affliction; proximity shall seem like
remoteness, notwithstanding the rest of his experience already accomplished.
O one whose alienation alienates my very patience,
That my heart vanishes in this heated ordeal,
Hurry to the aid of the last gasp of
a soul that dwindled for you,
Ere death arrive; verily this is the last breath.
Contemplation: The light of gnosis is the guide; upon
its bearer do the Sufis depend. He who deviates from it, goes astray, but he
who is enlightened by it, is guided. Verse:
He whose walking is not behind the guide,
Shall be perplexed by the manifold paths of imagination.
Contemplation: When a gnostic offers his thanks, he
acknowledges his shortcomings before the One Thanked (al-mashkur);
others, on the contrary, would indulge in the habit of self-conceit.
When shall I thank you for all your bounties ?
[25b] Praises of you should be as strong as words ever
expressed. Contemplation: The gnostic honours the Will of the Doer; he accomplishes
that which he wants and is always vigorous in dealing with himself. He strives
for judicious judgment and fears ill-fate.
I wonder where, how and
when
Shall it be known what
unquestionably will happen!
Evidence: A gnostic who stands by his stately station
shall incur no change, for verily he is like gold.
You who ask me about it,
’tis gold;
We found it never to grow rusty,
even though Time grows old.
Contemplation: When you hear about the qualities of a
gnostic, you long to see him; when you meet him, you love, honour and
appreciate him. His acquaintance makes all description inadequate, considering
his great position and.privileged rank.
From travellers’ tales I
well had learnt
A
goodly share about your traits and highness. But when we met, I swore by Allah
great, My ear ne’er heard better than what my eye did see.
Contemplation: The higher the station of a gnostic, the
smaller he appears to the eyes of the commoners (al-'awdmm),
Like a
star which eyes think infinitely small, The defect of smallness being in the
eye, not in the star.
Contemplation: The voice of inspiration (yvahy)
revealed to us in a ‘ presence ’ during which illusions (al-awham) were
absent; said the messenger of the ‘ presence ’: Know, O ye people of experience
(khibrah), that God (al-haqq), glory to Him, concealed His life (nashr)
in the way that He exhibited it; He purified it even by what He mixed with it.
Is it not clear to you how even Fire was utilized to produce useful comforts
and light-giving illumination in contradistinction to the darkness of [26a]
smoke and the agony of burning? Accordingly, a gnostic shall distinguish the
realities of His wisdom (al-hikam), seeing the splendour of light in
darkness. Through the victory of his own light and the fascination of its
brilliance, Fire shall scorch him not in the presence of the sultan of lights;
if accidentally he stumbles on her (i. e., Fire), she will say to him, ‘ Pass
on, for your light has extinguished my flames.’82 He who is strong enough to lift this veil, shall upon doing so comprehend
what happens to the interlocutor (al-kallm) 83 at the time of
discoursing.
A tiny gesture suffices as a hint to
the intelligent, While another must hear a loud voice.
Evidence: The chosen gnostic is not one with whom
commoners share in knowledge. They reckon not his secrets. His lights appear
not to the vision. He is folded, even when he spreads out and vanishes while
light dawns.
I hid myself from Time behind his wing
So that my eye sees Time while he sees me not.
Ask the days of me, they know me not;
Of my whereabouts they know not either.
An
Article on Annihilation
Said Allah, the Exalted, “ Every one on it must be annihilated.” 84
Aim (mama‘) : The reality of annihilation is passing away, even extinction,
vanishing and decline.85 If you wish, you may say that the
annihilation of the novice (al-murid') is the purification of self from
defilement, while the annihilation of the desired object (al-murad) signifies
the adoption by it of the attributes of sanctification. You may also say that
the annihilation of the traveller means his divorce from dependence on lights (al-anwar),
while that of the gnostic means his divorce from the contemplation of the
glance of others (aghyar). In other words, you may say that annihilation
is the passing of I-ness (al-aniyah) and the eradication of rudiments (al-
baqlyah)." Lastly, you may say [26b] that annihilation is complete consecration
to the light of manifestation. Way {mashra'} :97 Annihilation
for the commoners of the Path (‘wamm al-tariq) consists in loving the
people of investigation (tahqiq'); if they receive the right care, it
will put them on the roads of guidance (hidciyah'). Aim: The
annihilation of the lover consists in loving the beloved; that of the beloved
in union, while the watcher is absent. Way: A company of Sufis once passed by
some of the Paths of annihilation, yet they did not acquire what they desired;
rather were they deprived of guidance, since they did not truly seek it. Aim:
The people of wilful righteousness shall be annihilated in His will, with
polite regard to the saying of Him, the Exalted One, “ And Allah has created
you and what you make.”88 As for the people of the “ Bench ” (the
Sufis) their annihilation is in the fold of attributes (hazirat al-sifdt')—which
is more glorious for them as established by the saying of Him, the Exalted One,
“ And you did not smite when you smote [the enemy], but it was Allah who
smote.” 89 Way: The annihilation of the novice consists in the
contemplation of unity (al-tawhld), and the annihilation of the desired
object (al-murad) is by renouncing the desired object. The annihilation
of the gnostic is by the contemplation of simplicity (al-ahadlyah) in
the presence of believers in one-ness. Annihilation of the individual is by the
manifestation of the One through absence (ghaybah) from every one. Aim:
The universe of sense contemplation is the scope of solar passage; when its sun
is clear at the time of setting it shall annihilate all shadows that exist.
Take care, therefore, to maintain the clearness of your sun through the
departure of the shadow of your sensual cloud. Verse:
Once a shadow was cast on me, But it
flitted away when my sun was clear. Thus I came to live truly with the beloved
After a mere state of shadows.
Way: What the repentant annihilates is perils; what the
traveller annihilates is habits; what travel [27a] annihilates is highway robbers;
what the gnostic annihilates is places of rising; what the ‘one who experiences
union ’ (al-wasU) annihilates is the worlds; what the ‘ gnostic who
experiences union ’ (al-arif al-wasil) annihilates is everything except
the ‘ Presence of Charity ’ (hadrat al-ihsan). Aim: When annihilation
conquers through the contemplation of manifestation, while the renunciation of
all is genuine, the whole universe shall seem only like a shadow in the
presence of such a vision (mithdl').
Verily the universe is shadowy, yet ’tis really Truth;
Whoever thus contemplates possesses the merits of the
Path.
Way: The annihilation of annihilation is higher than
subsistence (al-baqa ), because it is an underground passage to
subsistence in the belief of pious folk. Beware therefore of standing still at
the beginning of annihilation lest you fall into error and pretense, thereby
disagreeing with the people of culture and piety. Consider the experience of
al-Husayn al-Hallaj who was
satisfied as he stood at the overtures of annihilation; how he fell into
affliction when he said, “ Behold I am He! ” Among his fairest (aysar)
sayings are those with which he described some of his feelings:
I wondered about you and me,
How with you, you annihilated me from me;
You made me vanish in you until
I thought “ verily you are I.”
O my pleasure in life
And my rest after burial!
Without you I have no merriment, You
are my shield and defender!
When he said, ‘ I thought you are I,’ he had experienced the sentiments
of manners about the annihilation of annihilation; yet the fullness of this
meaning he did not attain, for had he done so, he would have escaped from the
human failing and would have put on the manners of perfect culture before
sovereignty. Aim: The truly annihilated among the investigators (al-muhaqqiqun)
is one who realizes his existence both in the ‘ absence ’ and the ‘ presence
’; he shall know it even though he see it not in the dark annihilation of that
abyss. Do you not see that he, upon whom the sun has risen and thus causes his
sight to contemplate it, surely does not deny the endurance of the light of
stars even though he can not [27b] see them. In like manner when contemplation
of the light of Truth has conquered the annihilated one, he would realize his
own existence and the existence of creatures. Such is the conduct of the
perfect among the prophets and pious dignitaries. Way: Many a Sufi utters the
word “ I ” concerning annihilation, while concerning subsistence the Sufis
would say “you” (anta). To this one replied: “O man of annihilation, you
have committed no falsehood in the first instance, but in the latter you spoke
better.” Aim: Through the station of annihilation would one achieve his
purpose. Whatever comes successively certainly draws near and is over-shadowed
by majesty in the majestic station.
The more he crushes me, the more I praise his deed,
Like musk which sends its perfume as you rub it in the
palm.
Way: Annihilation is the foundation of the Path; through
it one arrives at the station of investigation. He who does not become an
expert in annihilation shall not discover the beautiful face of the bride (tal‘at
al-hasna). Such a one shall neither today nor tomorrow have a share among
the Sufis.
An
Article on Subsistence
Said Allah, the Exalted, “ . . . and Allah is better and more abiding.”
102 Rule (qaidah) : Subsistence (al-baqa’) is a
station with which the reality of contemplation is mastered on the carpet of
culture (a dab) and in the company of the contemplated. Remark (fa id
ah): The subsistence of subsistence is more perfect than subsistence. The
possessor thereof is a guide who is guided in the perfection of piety. Rule:
When subsistence abounds, sobriety is found; the vanishing of the former brings
drunkenness to the possessor of eradication. Remark : The subsistent is
subject to annihilation, but not all the annihilated are subsistent. Rule: The
station of subsistence comprehends the potentiality of union, but the
subsistence of subsistence comprehends the potentiality of the union of union.
Remark: Union (al- jam‘) is other than communion (al-jam'iyah).
Union is the contemplation of the unity (wahdariiyah) of light, while
communion is [28a] ‘ absence ’ interspersed by ‘ presence.’ Rule: Fulfilling
the reality of union without the Law (al-shariah) is heresy (zandaqah)
; the fulfilling of the station of separateness (jarq) without union
is heterodoxy (jafriqah). Remark: Reality is the secretion (khafy)
of the inward, and the Law is the exposition of the outward. Hence it is
commonly accepted that the inward is Reality and the outward is Law. Rule: When
the station of subsistence is established after the annihilation of
annihilation, it makes heredity (al-wirdthah) mandatory; when the
station of the subsistence of subsistence has been established the possessor is
made a candidate to succession (al-khilafah). Remarks: In the station of
subsistence it is that the saint (al-wali) is endowed with permanence (tamkin),
while in the station of the subsistence of subsistence does he administer
permanence in the process of creation. Rule: The quality of subsistence in the
subsistent differs in accordance with the previous record of annihilation.
Hence the variance in stations and the disparity in feelings. Remark: Some men
do not discover subsistence except after annihilation; these represent the
majority. Others discover at the very start that subsistence is a charming
thing (raqiqah) which people of esteem find to be characteristic of
prophets. These are perfect in heredity. Rule: Subsistence requires the
existence of annihilation; while the existence of annihilation abolishes the
human attributes which one must seek to sanctify as he departs from them.
Remark: Subsistence is the mirror of manifestation just as annihilation is the
carpet of embellishment (Jahalli). Thus the annihilated and the
subsistent stand on the platform of manifestation. Rule: The subsistence of
the old is different from the subsistence of the new. Therefore, should the
traveller obtain a Path, it will be symbolical, not genuinely true. Remark: The
rise of subsistence does not arrive without [28b] the decline of annihilation.108
Rule: The quality of subsistence in prophets makes for immunity (‘ismah)
and guidance (hidayah); in saints it makes for protection and patronage.
Therefore, whosoever achieves the quality of subsistence shall be immune
against misery. Remark: Whoever ascends to the rank of annihilation and
contemplates the first station of subsistence to him there shall at his
beginning be
10a Here follows a
figure of speech in which puns are borrowed from the field of Arabic grammar.
The outcome of translating what is otherwise a pithy Arabic symbol is so
unpicturesque and stupid, that we decline the attempt.
brought the good tidings regarding what will happen to
him at the end. This is the first robe of honour at the station of arrival at
union (al-zvusul).
An
Article on Sainthood in General
Said Allah, the Exalted, “ Now surely the friends of
Allah—they shall have no fear nor shall they grieve. Those who fear and are
guarded [against evil].” 104 Regulation (dabit"): The
reality of sainthood in general, whereby the servant ( al-abd) assumes
responsibility for safeguarding the rights of Allah, the Exalted, is a quality
which comprehends what the Lord, glory to Him, loves and accepts; it proscribes
that which brings forth His wrath and disapproval. Link (rabit) :
Sainthood is closely linked with following (ittiba'), short of the
deceit of innovation; for he who departs from imitation shall have no trace of
guidance. Regulation: He through whom miracles appear achieved by
righteousness, shall be the chosen saint, but he who shows forth the power to
suspend the customary trend of things, without worship shall be a seducing
devil. Link: Piety is the motto of guidance, and remembrance (dhikr') is
the object of sainthood; therefore, he who is lacking in remembrance and piety
is certainly to be counted among the people of dissension and false-pretense.
Regulation : The saint is a servant, worshipping and fulfilling the duties of
servantship (‘ubudtyah) ; he is truthful, faithful and righteous according
to Sufism. The poor man he prefers to the rich, the small quantity to the
large, and the low to the high; he is of genuine feeling in the opinion of men.
Whosoever is to the contrary shall relapse back to his own ways. Regulation: A
saint is one who occupies his time with all kinds of meritorious works (qurabat)
so that his time is blessed even as his place is blessed by him. Link: He who
squanders his time away shall be denied the grace of his labours and profits;
instead, he shall hang on the visions of his hopes, and the pictures of his
imagination will fruitlessly busy him. Regulation: A saint shall not
procrastinate, putting off his work till tomorrow, lest he be denied the grace
of the time being; rather does he tackle the present problem now, thereby
protecting himself against expulsion and disfavour. Link: In the belief of the
Sufis, it is not possible to contemplate the visions of the shadows except till
after self-effacement (mahw) and passing away (zawal). Therefore,
if you see one who dares to contemplate visions, whereas he has not arrived at
the reality after the shadow (Jayn ba'd al-athar), know that he is
self-infatuated and selfconceited and has not entered the presence of
contemplation through the light. Regulation: A saint is not immune to mortal
sins (kabirah, pl. kaba’ir'), nor is he free from minor sins (saghirah,
pl. sagha’ir'), yet he is preserved from the mortal ones, and the minor
ones are forgiven him. Link: To the saint his work shall be bound with learned
sayings, and his learning shall be used in his practical conditions.
Regulation: When a saint is taken unawares by human forgetfulness, he shall not
follow the devil indefinitely. Rather will he force the devil to accept
repentance, and each time he falls, he recuperates. Link: The saint of the
presence of beauty is infatuated, and the saint of the presence of majesty is
outshadowed (maghbun), but the saint of beauty and majesty is the
possessor of perfection. Regulation: The possessor of the contemplated vision (mashhad)
of beauty is frail, and whoever imitates him is seduced; the possessor of the
contemplated vision [29b] of majesty is a strongly guided guide. The perfect {al-kdmil)
is he who has contemplated the majesty of beauty and the beauty of majesty.
Link: In proportion to the station (maqam) shall be the sojourn at the
presence of revelation and the interview of union. Regulation: The saint is one
who smiles if saluted; in conversation he is pleasant; when asked he shall
give; should you trespass in his presence, he utters not a malignity; when
others divulge secrets, he conceals; of princes he knows he is not proud, and
the poor he does not disdain; nothing shall mar the radiance of his face; the
next world he does not sell for the present. Through God he is rich; before Him
he is humble; from Him he takes; to Him he gives; on Him he depends; he fears
none other than God; his trust is only in God. These are some of the qualities
of the saints, in the past and present. The following gems are lines of poetry
that depict the grandeur of this spiritual condition:
Easy,
soft, wealthy men of gentle birth, Leaders in noble actions, sons of privilege,
They speak not of vice when they talk, Nor do they stubbornly object when they
do object.
Whomever of them you meet, of him
you can say ‘ I met the chief.’
Like stars they are that guide the traveller by night.
An
Article on Special Sainthood
Said Allah, the Exalted, “ Allah is the Guardian of those who
believe: He brings them out of the darkness into light.” Conjuration of the treasured talisman (fath
tilsam al-kanz):106 Take the letters of the human talisman (al-tilsam
al-insdni) and extract from them the spiritual name (al-ism al-ruhani),
then affix to it your signature and carry it as an amulet while you go on your
[30a] path. When you reach the door (al-bdb), kneeling at the threshold,
busy yourself with the dispelling of all obstacles; seek God’s refuge from the
evil of mishaps (al-tdriq). Do not mention the Guardian (al-muwakkal)
but by the best of his names, and do not overlook your intention till the ‘
conjured one ’ shall have come. Offer your fragrant incense and direct it
towards the coming blessing (al-wdrid) throughout the period of
invocation of divine assistance (al-awn). Take care when He grants you
the permission, having opened the door (fataha) cordially and
graciously, not to appropriate hastily the wares and material wealth, for that
leads to instantaneous peril, may Allah be our refuge! On the contrary, make
your aim the King and no one else. If he grant you the secret of his seal (sirr
khatamihi), you have obtained then all abundance. Then shall all servants,
the chosen and the common, obey you, and you will be felicitous with the
inheritance of the king without obstinacy (mudnadah), lest you perish.
Decipherment of the meaning of the riddle (hall ma‘na al-lughz) : The hidden secret is the preserved
saint (al-wali al-masun) who enriches the people of will through the
Alchemy of Happiness (ktmiya’ al-sa‘adah ). Talisman: The reality of special
sainthood, through which God, to Whom be glory, administers special reproof and
patronage to His saint and beloved in the eternity of his first love, continues
to appear on the special saint to the end. . . . This description is the Key
to the Talisman of Divine-Treasure Secrets (miftah tilsam kanz al-asrar
al-rabbaniyah), which are comprehensive of Arabic and Syriac pages.
Decipherment: The saint who is beloved of Allah is the treasury of secrets and
mysteries; the Night of Power, magnificent in consequences; the Name that is
heard by Allah; the Letter of Action. [30b] Wonder not, therefore, if miracles
are wrought by such; or if natural laws are suspended. For in his subsistence
he acquires the capacity to do like his master. . . . Talisman: The special
saint of Allah entered the presence of pleasures, where the realities of
attributes were manifested to him; he contemplated the significance of
attributes and the Excellent Names in all embellishments; there he witnessed
what no eye ever saw nor ear ever heard and what never occurred to a human
heart. Decipherment: The elixir (al-ikslr), O man of wits, is the great
gift of Allah; he who acquires it acquires all riches, and becomes free from
worry and fatigue. Talisman: If you ever see a gnostic seated on the carpet of
guidance, while the voice of his condition, or his words, beckons men to come,
make you haste, O seeker, to the quest of the new vistas he opens.
Decipherment: Ponder the letters of the alphabet, imagine the letter alib
and cover all the stages of its variation. Thus does the perfect saint develop
all the variations in order to satisfy all his desires. . . . Talisman: Usually
conjuration does not occur without a key; the key is the great man; therefore,
when the fruits of humility are obtained, the talisman of the universe shall be
conjured and shall yield the realities, the mirror-treasure. [31a] Be not,
therefore, one who as an agnostic denies the conjuration of this greatest of
treasures. Decipherment: A certain gnostic said that knowledge is a veil (hijab)
in case it is wicked, but not in case it is praiseworthy. Another one said it
is a veil without any exception. I say, so it is when one feels an exaggerated
sense of the quality of knowledge in the presence of the Unity of Essence.
Talisman: When the chosen one (al-makhsiis') comes to the ‘presence of
pleasures ’ all the features and qualities in him are annihilated; at the
stations he no more stops, nor does he in view of that have to pay any
attention to them. If you desire to be likewise, walk in the tracks of such
roads,
And
whatever you see all ranks will be manifested to you; Be not concerned with
these, for such things concern us not.
And recite:
‘ Outside
of your essence I have no ambition, Not a picture to capture, not a glance to
glean.’
Decipherment: A certain gnostic said: “ We sailed over a
sea, at whose shore the prophets stood ”; to which we responded: “ The gnostics
have sailed over the sea of unification, first by proof and evidence, and
afterwards they reached the rank of contemplation and seeing. As for the
prophets, they stood at the beginning on the shore of seeing; consequently,
they reached what knowledge cannot express. Thus it happened that the beginning
of the prophets, peace upon them, was the end of the gnostics.” Talisman: Said
the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless and keep him, Allah, the Exalted, says: “ A
servant continues to draw near unto me through his supererogatory works till I
love him, and once I have loved him I become to [31b] him a hearing, an
eye-sight, a hand and a support.” We comment, “ A hearing to hear the reports of
inspiration, an eye to see the light of providential heat, a hand to confirm
and a support to fill the gap.” Decipherment: A certain gnostic said, “ And all
the woe of Job is but a part of my affliction.” 110 To which we
reply, “ Job’s ordeals concerned the body not the spirit, while the ordeals of
this gnostic partake of the spiritual burning thirst (awdm) as well as
bodily affliction.” Talisman: A certain gnostic said that the station of the
message lies in the intermediate region (barzakh) 111 above
the prophet’s position and below that of the saint. On this we remark that this
can be clarified by the weighing out of realities; for prophecy implies the
drawing from God through God’s inspiration; whereas the station of the Message
implies the preaching of that which God has commanded unto the servants of God.
Yet the station of sainthood in general is below the special sainthood which is
a commandment understood from God’s words. These three qualifications, however,
are all possessed by one who is a Messenger. Understand this verification in
the dogma of the people of the Path; do not imagine that they hold the belief
which grants preference to sainthood over prophecy and the Message. Rise above
this, for verily it is waywardness. Decipherment: A certain gnostic said that
the saint attains such a rank where all worries of struggle vanish; that is, at
first the saint meets with the worry of fatigue, but once he has arrived he
finds restfulness in struggle.112 Talisman: A gnostic said,
“Sovereignty has a secret which would suspend the light of the Law were it to
appear.” We rejoin, “ This is the secret which circumvents all deeds through
creation [32a] and discovery; it even controls the processes of intellectual
growth (kasb) in obedience which is the ground-work of the Law to every
obedient servant.” Decipherment: A certain gnostic said,
Perform your ablution with the water
of the unseen (ghayb) if
you are a man of consciousness (sirr) ;
Otherwise, the soil or stone will do.
Give precedence to a religious
leader (imam) who is inferior to you in spiritual office,
Offer the prayer of daybreak (salat
al-fajr) in the mid-afternoon (al-asr) ;
For this is the prayer of those who know their Lord;
If you be one of them, cleanse the
land with the water of the sea.
We say that ablution (al-wudu’) here means the
purity of the members of inward qualities as against moral defilements,
through the use of the unseen water of unification. . . . Give precedence to a
religious leader who was present on the day of discoursing (yazvm
al-khitab'), but on whom
you took precedence when the curtain fell. The injunction to offer the prayer
of daybreak means the prayer of the daytime when your contemplation was started
following the period of your existence in darkness; in the mid-afternoon means
the beginning of the outburst of your dawn. Do not stay to the end of your
apportioned time, for time matters and delay is disliked. This is the prayer of
the investigators who know of their Lord, who have not withdrawn from the
observance of legal precepts (al-ahkam al- shariyah') at all the
sessions of contemplating the sovereignty. If you be among these and have
fulfilled their cultural obligations (adab), then you may proceed to
cleanse the land with the sea, that is, wash out with the sea-water of reality
whatever might defile your righteousness on the land of the Law. . . .
Talisman: Said the voice of divine meaning (al-warid) : “ These
are the unique stars which [32b] arose in the heaven of usefulness and sent
forth their illumination through suns of contemplation.” Know, O you
contemplator, that beauty and majesty are the unseen side of what apparently
they seem to grow from in one of the presences of alternation (talwin),117
the secrets of creation 118 and the phases of manifestations.
Individualization (al-ta‘ayyun) is the example of that in the creation of the
phases of perfect humanity characterised with prophecy. The message (al-risalah)
marks the appearance of the fear of honouring the Majesty and loving beauty in
order to achieve union. In the emergence of sainthood emerges the fear of
consequence caused by the lack of infallibility. Pleading for proximity (qurb),
for the sake of the honour of the One to be seen, is the opposite of the previous.
That is why the saint at this point would have his tongue balancing his
progress lest either one of his scales be found lacking, for it is with these
two scales that he acquires two wings with which he can set out in accordance
with righteousness in the world; in the next world he shall fly through the
course of examination. The wisdom of their appearance varies according to
changing stations—at the station of succession (khilafah), they assume
the role of forgiveness and punishment because of the station of
specialization. Said the noble voice whose description is magnificent; verse:
The All-Merciful created for him a road
to forgiveness, As the Almighty created for him a right when needed.
They appear in the sublime station of the nobility of
character and in the pious and pleasing qualities with mellowness and proud
harshness, in order to strip the spirits from the vile qualities. . . .
They (two wings) also appear at the station of
Almightiness (jabarutlyali)120 in the interest of the wisdom
of creation ushering in bounties and losses, as is well attested by the people
of intellects and eyes.
If you cannot do good, then seek evil,
For a man is worth the evil or the good he can produce.
As for their appearance in the mysteries (asrdr)
of creation, this is revealed through the observed facts of beauty and
ugliness, stammering and eloquence, sickness and health, imperfection and
perfection, the broken and the healed, the darkness and the light,121
sorrow and joy, etc. As for their appearance in the various phases of individualization
(ta'ayyww), that is what God offers for the contemplation of the owners of
mental eyes and of Understanding in the presence of contemplating the visions
of lifted gradations (darajat'), in the wisdom of Providence (tadblr),
in the wisdom of predestination and in every form of favourable or
unfavourable experience. Thus you will find that there is a state of equality,
among the Sufis, between the attribute of majesty and that of beauty; because
they know this to be conducive to the station of perfection.
O Ruler of mine, 0 my Arbiter,
Verily your laws agree with every form of wisdom.
If you grant me grace, that is out of your bounty; if
you visit revenge upon me, that again is justice on your part. Grant not,
therefore, that either attribute should hide from us the other, lest we be
blocked from you by you. We beg that you uncover for us yourself through
yourself, O one from whose attribute emerges the attribute of every creature;
but for your attribute, our attribute would not [33b] have been. Cleanse us
from our blemishes that we might see your attribute in the mirror of our
existence which is drawn from the existence of your existence. You are able to
do all things. From you do we begin and in you do we stand; to you do we go.
You are our Master. What a goodly Master and what a goodly support!
Decipherment: The gnostic landed at the sea-shore of tasteful meanings (al-ma‘ani
al-dhawqiyah) where the sun of the knowledge of revelation shone on him.
Hence he became the horizon of its rise by its luminous light, and the place of
its setting after it sparkled. He gained authority for touching the jewels of
investigation and prestige for research. O you who have entered the door of
unification and become illumined with the sun of Essence and enlightened with
the light of attributes, having read His hidden secret and understood the
relation between knowledge and the sciences, you who have unravelled the
problem of that vast expanse (al-fada’) in the presence of the
contemplators of the brilliant light; verily you are the sublime one (al-'aztz)
in the universe for what you have brought together of the realities of
learning; the presence of your absence (ghaybah~) is incomprehensible,
and the secrets of your wisdom are unknowable:
Since we departed from you, that year,
We surely arrived at a sea whose shore was near.
The sun
of meaning agreed with our horizon; Its west was from us, and so was the east.
We fell upon a jewel of which
Were composed our spirits that became jewel-like.
Pray tell us, “What is this secret, this sun?
This jewel of the sea we mentioned? ”
Verily
we dwell in a world whose name is ‘ expanse ’; Too small for us it is, but we
are never small.
Tempestuous seas behind us roll;
[34a] How could men tell our whereabouts?
Said Allah, the Exalted, “ And when We said to the
angels ‘ Make obeisance to Adam,’ they did obeisance.” 122 If you
argue that obeisance before anyone other than God is unlawful, how was this
obeisance then made lawful? We reply that this kind of obeisance signifies the
submission of humility on the part of the small before the great. It is not the
obeisance of a servant before the Lord; for Adam is a servant not a lord; yet
he is more worthy of honour in his human form because of the appearance of the
praised (aZ- muhammadiyah) character in him. This it is that makes the
obeisance required at this altar, O ye men of taste and intellects. For surely
the head of Adam is a mim and his hand is a ha’ and his middle
part is a mim; the remainder is a dal. Thus it was that the name
Muhammad was written in the old script. If you ask, “ Why not show the other
hand that the word be read from both right and left? ” we answer that even
though Muhammad be written this way, he is greater in praise; for it has been
proved that he, blessing and peace upon him, could see what lies behind him as
he saw what lay before him. Thus, what lies to the left side of Muhammad, when
he looks backward, becomes to his right side when he looks forward, may Allah
bless and keep him. That is why a certain gnostic stated that it would not be
correct to refer to his left but rather should it be called his first right,
the other being the second right or the right of his face and the right of his
back. Such are the manners of the people of reality. The words of our master (ustadhuna')
corroborate what we said:
Had Satan seen the spark of His light
In Adam’s face, he would surely have been the first to
kneel.
He, may Allah bless and keep him, is the light of all
the Messengers, [34b] the prophets and all the people of goodness among the
pious.
Jesus, Adam and all the Patriarchs (al-sudur)
Are eyes of which he became the transcending light.
For verily the Prophet, on him be blessing and peace,
was invested by God with the light of the prophets, the guidance of the
messengers
and the righteousness of the saints; and finally, He
distinguished him with the light of the seal. This is a quaint remark: His name is Muhammad
of which the mim is the first letter; but when you say mim that
gives three letters; then comes the ha’ which is two letters, a ha’
and an alif; the hamzah does not count for it is an alif;
the double mim counts for six letters; next, the dal makes three,
dal, lam and alif. If these letters of his name be counted in
their entirety both outwardly and inwardly you will get three hundred and
fourteen— three hundred and thirteen being equivalent to the number of the
messengers who possess the qualification of prophecy; that leaves one for the
station of sainthood which is distributed among all the saints who follow the
prophets and who follow him, upon him and upon them the sweetest blessing and
peace. This is a small note: There was nothing left of the number for
distribution among the distinguished saints, although among them are those who
are noted for their investigation though they stand alone. But these are the
favoured few; out of one of them does God send light to his time. This is the
fact of solitary distinction (al-daqiqah al-farddniyah) drawn from the
universal reality of Muhammad:
It is not impossible for Allah
To unite the whole world in one man.
Decipherment: A certain gnostic said that al-Khidr
is a station, but the distinguished saints
[35a] denied him the truth of that statement. Talisman: A certain gnostic
said, “ We believe that the beloved saint who reckons the inner meanings (al-ghuyilb')
shall be endowed with power for wonders to the same extent that al-Khidr
performed miracles. In the opinion of believers in the succession to al-Khidr
this is superior to succession to Moses. Furthermore, a succession is a
station; understand the words, O denier. Decipherment: A gnostic said, “
Nothing shall be which is more marvellous than what already has been.” To this
we reply, “ Verily, this is true regarding the possibilities of Divine Wisdom,
but in no way is it true about Divine Powers.” Such is more seemly as an
interpretation of the words of the imam, the ‘ Authority of Islam.’ Talisman: A
gnostic said, “ My heart spoke to me, on the authority of my Lord, saying: ‘
Who denies that Allah did not speak except to the great Moses ? ’ ” We add that
Moses, peace on him, was singled out for speaking to Him; but a saint
experiences the ‘ descent ’ of inspiration which to the saints is a revelation,
though it be less dignified than the revelation of the prophets. Distinguish,
therefore, between, “ He told ” and “ He spoke to,” O you who deny and imagine.
Decipherment: Said ‘Ali, may Allah brighten his face:
“Do you consider yourself a small body?
The whole universe is folded within you! ”
We say that man is equivalent to the worlds; for when
the All-Wise (al-hakim) brought order into the upper world, he made its
skies of seven layers,126 massed on top of each other; in each layer
he placed a kind of angel who together “ glorify Him by night and day and are
never languid.” 127 Similarly has he wrought the physical
constitution of man out of nine substances amassed on each other; each one he
furnished with [35b] energy and inertia that do not cease in movement until the
time of death; these are the brain, nerves, veins, blood, flesh, skin and hair.
Each one of these substances grows and increases. And since each sky is divided
into twelve constellations (sing, burj), so does the body contain twelve
openings. They are: the eyes, nostrils, hands, orifices, mouth and umbilicus.
Since another set of six are to the north and yet another are to the south
similarly the openings are divided, six to the right side and six to the left.
Further, just as the sky consists of seven planetary stars so are there in the
body seven forces which make for physical welfare. Just as these planets are
given by their Creator the power of action on the spirits through their
spiritual vitality, similarly were there established in the human body seven
physical faculties which control attractiveness, cohesiveness, digestiveness,
repulsiveness, nutritiveness, growth, hearing, taste, smell, sight, speech, and
intellect. Moreover, even as there are four elements under the moon, which are
the mothers, namely, fire, air, water and earth through which is provided the
productive material for the growth and development of animals, plants and
minerals, similarly are there in the physical constitution of man four organs
which make the whole of man: first is the skull, next the thorax, then comes
the abdomen and finally, the belly-to-the-feet. Now the skull is equivalent
[36a] to fire, the thorax to air, the abdomen to water and the
belly-to-the-feet is equivalent to earth. The details of the analogy are: the
skull resembles fire because of the rays of vision and the warm breath that mounts
up to it; the thorax is likened to air because it breathes it, whence air
passes into the lungs, once going in and another time rushing out; once it is
quiet, and another time it is in motion; the abdomen resembles water in view of
the amount of liquid substances contained in it; the belly-to-the-feet is made
to resemble earth in view of what is contained therein of dry and motionless
bones, in which the marrow lies hidden, just as minerals are hidden in the
soil; the three other parts rest on this just as the skull, thorax and abdomen
all rest upon the legs. In the universe there is the sun and the moon, so in
man were placed a spirit and a mind: the spirit is like the sun, the mind like
the moon. And just as in the universe there are angels and devils, so in man
were created his volition and good intentions resembling the angels, while his
passions and ill-natured desires are like the devils. There are many other
analogies which might be brought out but which the space of these pages
prohibits. If the intelligent man would consider the secret of wisdom in the
constitution of man, the doors of knowledge having been opened before him, he
shall know with certainty that this is the copy of man, when he knows the
Divine Presence. Verse:
You who wander in deserts away from
your own consciousness, Come back to yourself to find all existence summed up
in you. You are the way and reality of perfection,
O one in whom the great consciousness of God dwells.
When the chosen one has specialized in the specialties of knowledge,
he becomes a stranger among his own people in the world. Yea, because of the
preponderance of his energy and ambition, hardly may an assistant meet his
demand. Verse:
In every town he is a stranger far from home;
When the demand is great, help grows more scarce.
When the moral formation (al-shakilah al-ma'na-imyah) has been achieved, its
possessor shall be estranged in the midst of his sense formation. Verse:
Man’s state of being a stranger
consists less in being remote from home,
And more in his being out of shape as compared with
others.
The man of reason and intelligence is he who is addicted
to his solitude—a stranger with whom no one is neighbourly. He and his kind are
a ‘ small crowd ’ at every time, in every people and faith.
Couplet:
Every man finds a type among men with
which he agrees, The most ‘ brainy ’ are hardest to find.
He said, peace on him, “ The spirits are like armed
hosts; those of them who recognize each other are friendly, while those who are
estranged must fight.” The factor that makes for friendship depends on the
compatibility of temperaments and qualities; especially when rivalries are
obliterated and replenishment (al-imdad) agrees with the desired object. Couplets:
By your religion I swear that
brethren are not those who from the same droplet
In the wombs are formed in the realm of the physical.
Verily, brethren are those whose description agrees
With the description of the spirit in the realm of
replenishment.
Your brother is he who agrees with you in character and
possesses what you possess by way of illumination {ishraq) so that he
can be with you in the presence of [37a] subsistence {baqa’) and the
regions of happiness through meeting {al-liqa’). If you then ask, “ What
is the meaning of the saying of the Prophet, may Allah bless and keep him, ‘
Love of country is the product of faith? ’ ” I say that there are two kinds of
homelands: the homeland of the people of Paradise (al-jinan) and that of
the people of contemplation and seeing with mystic eyes; the people of Paradise
are the people of the right, and those of eye-seeing are the ones brought near
to God (al-muqarrabun) * Of the former group did some one say, verse:
Come to the gardens of Eden for verily they are
Our foremost dwellings whereat we camp.
Captives of the enemy, shall we ever return
To our homelands where we may rest in peace?
Of the latter group spoke out the tongue of blessings
from God with the following gift drawn from the gnostic gifts. Couplets:
The homeland of man is just that world
Where limpid wine is served, my
lover being the booncompanion.
All in the presence of communion with
God in the world of subsistence—
Such are my homelands, there the universe is my servant.
I shall not state that he whom nature drives to the
lower regions shall not see even a flicker of the heavenly light. ... Nor shall
I say what ibn-al-Rumi5 the poet, said. For he has not felt the
sentiments which have verified; rather was he subject to
the assaults of youthful habits so that when age came upon him he longed for
the days gone by and passionately desired them. Listen not to his words:
For men love their homelands
Because of the interests in them fulfilled by youth.
Thus, when they recall their homelands,
they remember their Early experiences, hence their passionate longing.
Therefore the reply to the query of one who asks is that
the homeland cannot be loved if it were a resort for atheism (kufr) and
iniquity. At the beginning, the novice seeks union, but the desired object is
to him worth both union and separation.
In the olden days I sought union with them;
But when knowledge came and ignorance passed away,
I became convinced that a servant has no demand to make.
If they grant him union that is
bountiful, if they depart, that is just.
If they reveal, they only reveal their attribute;
If they conceal, concealment for their sake becomes
sweet.
Such are the manners of servantship (i. e. ‘ubudtyah)
before the sublimity of Sovereignty. Servantship is resignation accompanied
with surrender; it is walking in the road of righteousness; servantship is the
quality of the servant who is annihilated in his beloved; who delights in being
scorned for the sake of his purpose and desire. Verse:
While I was entranced by her love, all scorn was easy;
It mattered not that enemies called me a profligate.
I am deaf when called by my name,
But if they call me “ O servant of hers ” I answer
obediently.
Servantship is the annihilation of the qualities of the
contemplator in the contemplated; together with the maintenance of the quality
of subsistence in order to carry out the stipulated obligations. The servant
is one who does not depart from the door, who is driven away from the
thresholds by nothing. The sign (‘alamah') of the servant who is humble
before his master is that he should be desirous and seeking for his pleasure;
with the eye tearful lest separation come between them.
When
through the curtain I saw her eyebrow And Layla’s eye-ball behind her veil, The
messengers of tears did I despatch between me and her That she might permit me
to draw near and kiss her door; Yet she permitted only the closing of her eyelids
And allowed only the kissing of the earth around her feet.
One lover visited another; the one in excessive love
sang out of merriment as the beauty of the beloved illuminated him and gave him
light. Couplet:
Had we
but known of your coming, we would have spread out Our hearts of hearts and the
delicately formed bodies; Cheeks on the pathway we would have stretched That
your passage might be on them.
The commingling of hearts is the cause of the beloved’s love. Do you
not see that he for whom the heart longs should undoubtedly be loved by it ?
Couplet:
Ask
your hearts about the loyal love of men For these are witnesses who accept no
bribe; Seek not to ask the eyes for this Since they confound what inwardly
lies.
When the spirits coincided, they agreed with the
category of bodies. Similarly must you read into the meaning of the coinciding
of spirits, within the field of this taste and its evidences, the bond that
relates one to his brother and friend. ... Be not deceived with the bond of
companionship if it be not based upon compatibility; desertion might be the
consequence even after a long period of association. Beware of associating with
him whom you do not resemble; for the scourge of wax is its company [38b] of
cotton. The real man is he who knows Time and subjects the men of his time to
the criterion of a balance, deals with them in accordance with their wares and
speaks with them according to their understanding and intelligence. . . . The
man of wisdom is one who sells to the merchants their own wares and assigns to
things their own places; whoever is of this quality shall not feel sorry for
his behaviour, rather will he be pleased for having things in their proper
place. Couplet:
Merry was I upon having sold my commodities,
So is every man who sells wares at the time of their
marketing. Association with men must be inspired by purity, chivalry,
generosity, forbearance and manliness.
If you ever associate with men, be a youth
Who behaves like the slave of every friend;
Like water let your taste be both
fresh and cool On the tortured belly of every friend.
A great gap lies between an imperfect man who rises in
the scale of imperfection and a perfect man who falls in the scale of
prepondera- tion. It is true about these recent times that the man of nobility
is demoted while the poor is promoted. Such is the polarization of the lower
extreme and the honoured extreme. It is a disease that places the honourable
far above the subject while he only deserves a humble status. . . . The honour
of religion is surely more magnificent in position; and the most distinguished
pedigree in the [39a] reckoning of Allah is piety. Verse:
By your religion I swear that man only
is the child of his faith; Therefore, depart not from piety out of dependence
on your pedigree.
Verily ’tis Islam which uplifted the
station of Salman al-Farisi8 While polytheism {shirk) brought
downfall to the distinguished abu-Lahab.7
He who claims the station of prominent men shall be
tested by his own experience. A couplet of verse:
Who seeks to beautify himself with
that which is not in him, His falsehood shall be proved by the results of
testing.
Despise not the look of a man whose adornments are poor
and magnify not a fool because his clothes are fine; for a man is con-
• A companion of the Prophet who presumably was of
Persian origin. He advised the digging of the ditch (khandaq) when the
siege of al-Madinah was directed against the “ believers ” by the Meccans. He
is one of the principal links in the Mystic chain. Consult: Ibn-Sa‘d, Kitab al-Tabaqat, ed.
Sachau, vol. iv, pt. i. Leyden, 1909, pp. 53 seq. and vol. vi, p. 9; R.
Dussaud, Hist, et Ret. de Nofairis, Paris, 1900, pp. 168, 62, 74, 133,
163, 133.
7 Abu-Lahab’s real
name was ‘Abd-al-‘Uzza ibn-‘Abd-al-Muttalib. He was an uncle and a bitter opponent
of the Prophet. See Koran, sura iii and the commentaries of Baydawi and Tabri;
ibn-Hisham, ed. Wiistenfeld, Gottingen, 1858, I, pp. 69, 231 sqq.;
al-Waqidi, Kitab al-Maghazi, Berlin, 1882, tr. Wellhausen, pp. 42 and
351. cealed behind his tongue; the jewel of his mind lies in the
confines of his shell. Upon being tested a man emerges either sublime or
scorned. Know that gold lies buried in the soil until discovered and that the
worth of a gold coin depends on its lustre not the inscription. One should
learn, therefore, to hold no fool in high esteem due to the polished exterior
which might misrepresent him. Nor should you despise a man of cultured spirit
simply because of his wretched clothing and humble furniture. How often you
congratulate a man in rags on his virtue, while one in gorgeous clothes you put
to shame for his roguery. If a man does not bear shame, he shall have no name
inscribed for him in His throne. Destruction does no harm to a family
relationship, and a falcon suffers not through the [39b] lowliness of his
nest.8 Say not that this age spells doom for the great divines;
verily in this age they are like a treasure protected by a wall. Verse:
I suffer not if I am not in the front
rank, For in a race the last run only counts; Even if the field of rhetoric has
fallen to oblivion, Many a pearl lies buried in the foundation of a wall.
No one shall be lacking because his measure is at the
end. His virtue shall overshadow his peers and equals, for God put the Prophet,
may Allah bless and keep him, at the end, yet he advanced his rank and praise.
Thus when the quality of a man’s magnificence and grandeur is widely known, it
shall not do him any harm to be subjected to expressions of comparison, unless
there be equality between the persons compared; but comparison in itself means
nothing. Verse:
Do you not see that the prestige of the
sword is underestimated, If you say that the sword is sharper than the cane?
It is considered a weakness in speech to seek
self-promotion through the adoption of the attributes of perfection.
His names do not make Him
better known;
We only repeat them for
the pleasure of so doing.
He who seeks to prove by evidence what the eyes can see
is poor in taste and lacking in understanding.
A paraphrase of six
couplets.
Nothing will make the brain sound,
When one seeks proof for daylight.
Him whose countenance seems bright, you should accept as
a man of pure intentions; particularly will this be true, when such a man meets
with the approval of whomsoever accepts Him or is accepted by Him.
The precept of God is that he whose heart is pure
Shall look great before men.
Like a mirror for the heart, the face is;
The face for the heart is like a niche that illumines
it.
The mirror of the good heart imparts to the observer the
inner secret.
[40a] I became like unto a mirror whose clarity relates
All the inner gloom that in us lies.
The man of sharp intellect does not see with the naked
eye but with the inner vision. Couplet:
Many a man who sees, yet lacks an intellect;
If he does see, his heart yet fails to see.
Your life, O man, is in reality only that part in which you
associate with the people of the Path.
In themselves days are not preferred over others,
But the days of the good are joyous.
The days of your heedlessness (ghaflah) are a loss, while the
days of your friendship with the gnostic are profitable. Verse:
May I be your ransom, yea all the days of my life
I give in place of the days in which I knew you.
The most delightful life is that of friendship with the people of
loyalty. Thus shall a man find happiness among men. Seek, therefore, the
friendship of the loyal, even though you make only one friend. Couplets:
He who lives not among men he enjoys,
Shall find his life full of grief;
Most abominable is life in which one exists
In green meadows which like enemies are forgotten;
The most happy moments are those in
which the spirit finds rest,
The eye of a needle shall then with the beloved be a
wide field.
The one to whom exaltation is accorded shall be regarded
by the eye with veneration. Thus he should befriend the innocent and avoid the
wicked in order to preserve himself from disgrace. Verse:
Error in the obscure fool shall remain obscure,
While error in the famous man of honour shall become
famous.
[40b]
Blindness as a defect may pass unnoticed
While a little dot in the black of the eye is
objectionable.
The small part of a large whole is large, while the
large part of a small whole is small.
A man of greatness shall not err for a minute,
For frailties are the lot of the degenerate;
Verily the minor sins of the great are great,
While the mortal sins of the small are small.
When the elect among the Sufis (ahi al-khususiyah)
pass away, the man who had known them in life shall regret their departure.
Verse:
While man lives, he is feared;
Only when missed after death is he exalted.
It is prevalent among the respectable men of this age to
give credit to the men who deserve respect; only when a man dies and passes out
of sight is he really respected. Men only praise the man who dies or is far
away. Verse:
• He who dies after a devil-like career of sin
May still draw from men the expression: ‘ How good he
was! ’9
Once you find yourself estranged from the saints, know
that you are expelled from their society by Allah; for God, glory to Him, had
He been pleased with you would have surely made you desire them. Verse:
You who from us withdraw,
Verily your withdrawal comes from us.
Two couplets summed up in one.
Had we desired you, we would have made
Everything in you desirous of us.
Said the voice of feeling of the sublime sovereignty to the one who
withdrew from it and departed:
We are satisfied with ourselves
regardless of him who does not come to us,
Though his character and qualities be perfect.
Alienation and weariness are the lot of him who leaves
us;
Suffice it for the one who foregoes us that we forego
him. . . .
[41a] When men have love for a certain one
They send messages to the heart through their feeling. .
. .
The enmity of the intelligent is better than the
friendship of the fool. Couplet:
The enmity of the intelligent who has wits
Is sweeter and more comely than the
friendship of a stupid fellow.
People of refinement have their own way to the conquest of the
enemy, while those of rudeness are not loved except in rare cases. Verse:
Friends are numerous when you count them,
But when you are in distress their number dwindles.
Brethren of loyalty are rare today throughout the earth. Verse:
If in life you make one loyal friend
That would be well; but where is that one ?
Alas! How the great man of perfection is lost! And the
free skilled youth!
My age-long desire is for the impossible:
That my eyes see a man who is free.
If you befriend anybody, let it be your Lord. Do not
find fault with one who casts you aside and defies you, for should you succeed
in winning his love, he would protect you against all men. Verse:
I wish that between you and me the way
be always open, And let destruction befall the way between me and the world.
When you are friendly all will be well;
For all above the earth is earth indeed.
[41b] When you make a friend, see that you treat him
with politeness of understanding; and deal forgivingly with him. Verse:
By your manliness crush what the mean provoke
Of your wrath, and forgive when the wicked injure you.
Of all ornaments forbearance for the intelligent is
best;
The reward of forgiveness far outweighs any other.
The enlarged vision, drawn by men of prudence from
experience, has caused them to be abstemious in their dealings with many men.
Verse:
Knowledge of men drove me to refrain from them,
After a long experience of one friend after another;
Not a companion did the days show me
To befriend, who did not wound me in the end.
Spiritual affinity precedes in appearance; hence
personal inclination foreshadows the exchange of words and physical
association.
When the silence of the wise man continued, some
criticised this silence as despicable. Then he offered the advantage of his
wisdom as a compensation for his non-communicative mood.
To me they said, “ We observe your protracted silence.”
I replied, “ The endurance of my
silence is not caused by my faulty speech or dumbness;
Shall I cast pearls before those who do not appreciate?
And shall I display gold before the blind?”
A wise man would keep away delights from inappreciative
people, while he exhibits them before those who appreciate them for fear of
drudgery and falling into errors. . . .
Typical of ignoble spirits is antagonism to people of
noble character; this is brought about by their ill-natured ingredients, their
spiritual decadence and their [42a] utter futility.
The spirits of the filthy are addicted by nature
To the rejection of the blessings of good men.
To attempt to retract the scorpions from their biting,
Is an expectation of what is not inherent in their
nature.
Virtue is the mean between two vices. Extreme indulgence
is monstrous and extreme neglect is defective. Verse:
When you have an ambition, follow the
moderate course; Verily the extremes and opposites of things are vicious.
Fall not into despair on account of your many
shortcomings; all will be effaced when pardon comes.
Do not desert human society; even
though you have long been rebuffed;
For certainly it might happen that
you shun some men who love you indeed.
If when you call, you hear the reply “ No,” be not among
those who would be diverted and withdraw. Rather should you then lay your
interest upon your Lord, for verily He, glory to Him, shall bring your desire
to pass. It is related of the sayings of the theologian (al-imam)
al-Shafi‘i, Allah be pleased
with him, that he said, “ He who sets out to seek a definite reality and
finishes in actual arrival at the realization of an existence satisfactory to
his own thinking, would be an anthropomorphist (mushabbih); if he gives
assent to the notion of divesting (al-sarf), he would then divest God of
his attributes (mu'attil). But if he finds satisfaction in belief in a
Being the reality of whom he confesses that he is incapable of conceiving, then
he would be created by Him.” Verily little boys think that the stars do not
shine when the sun is shining; they cannot understand how the light of the
stars is overcome by the light of the sun until they are so instructed or
taught by experience. Now men in the realm of the supernatural (ghayr
al-mahsus) are like unto boys, especially when duties are manifested. The
doctors (al-masha’ikh) say: He who knows God shall [42b] have a long
tongue, i. e., he who has contemplated Him, not having trespassed his limits or
uttered words proving his ignorance of himself. For the tongue is considered a
part of one who knows himself. . . .
Each person without using his mouth speaks of what lies inside of
him; like unto a vessel which can only sweat of that which it contains. ... By
knocking on the outside of human pottery are the inward characteristics
revealed, even as a man may test a vessel by knocking on it; thus does he
distinguish the sound pots from the cracked ones. If you meet one who brags
about his deeds, let him go his own way.... He whom Time shall scornfully
desert will yet live to see the smile of Time, and he will achieve his own
desires. Men shall experience, forever, both joys and sorrows, clouds and
sunsine, poverty and fame. . . . [43a] Couplets:
Fear not a sorrow which is like a passing cloud.
Soon it will vanish, and the full moon brightly will
shine.
Many a misfortune comes and goes;
And it shall pass through one’s mind no more.
Take care that you do not make an enemy even of a man of
little importance, for most of the great fire develops out of a little spark.
Couplet:
Despise not a tiny thing you fight;
Full many a fly has caused a lion’s eye to bleed.
He who scoffs at men will fall into mischief. Couplet:
Most men are dangerous; so guard
against those who appear to be good;
While you live avoid those folk who
are supposed to be “ the good.”
Not‘by shrewdness nor endeavour do you secure your
living; rather is it by the portion (qismah—kismet) 12
assigned to you by the Creator (al-khallaq). Verse:
Were livelihoods distributed according
to intelligence, The brute beasts would long have perished.
When you encounter one to whom the sciences are
accessible and the treasuries of understanding open, should you be drawn into
an argument with him, be careful to cast aside the copied pages, and let your
controversy with him centre only on the realm of the spiritual, for spiritual
faculties are superior to acquired faculties. Verse:
When fools deny me prestige by saying:
‘ Verily the pages of jurisprudence
witness to the importance of transmitted knowledge,’
I reply
saying, ‘ Verily the sciences are spiritual talents Whose properties outweigh
all the values of transmission and reason.’
When the followers of transmitted knowledge contemplated
what lies beyond the minds, they said that this is the [43b] consequence of
travelling, whereupon the gnostic sang to them the wisdom of poetry. Couplets:
I have abandoned those records which
serve the aim of the. slanderer,
Proving him a villain and bearing false witness for him.
The slanderer interprets them in a way
which I do not like; And makes them conform to his view.
The prestige of the Law consists in the enforcement of
regulations; the prestige of reality lies in the superiority of the people of
feeling over rulers; know this, you who have tasted the sweet food and smelt
the perfume. Verse:
By your
worth, hear the spirit of the matter from an expert Who draws his knowledge
from the experience of the heart, not from books.
Truth reported by the man of
knowledge on the authority of the eye of faith ('ayn al-yaqin),13
As it appeared on the highest
horizon untainted with falsehood. This is a revelation from the heavens brought
down to a lower horizon
And coming from the creative sofa of books.
If you ask what is the reality of taste (al-dhawq')
14 I will say it is ‘ above the superior ’ (fawq al-fawq); my
tongue has drawn it from the source which my eyes contemplated. Verse:
’Tis shown forth by good taste with the spirits
Making the tongue too rich to care for the wisdom of the
heart.
The wine of taste makes one acquire the quality of
elegance; it eradicates coarseness; meaning is the grammar of its cups; its
tavern is the presence of approaching (al-tadani) ; the wine-jar is the
gnostic; the boon-companions are the sciences of gnosis; the strainer is the
pure in heart, and its cushion, the attendant; its debauchery is reason, ■and
its companionship is nobility.15
[44a] This wine was found clear to the taste of
investigators; its cups were passed around to the people of the Path. The
wine-seller, the shrewd, said as the wine glistened in the cup: In our tavern
there is wine which is clear in the cup. It says that if you see my quality
when the drinker turns it away from my lip, its medicinal value would be the
disease itself. My lip sought the wine of taste; it sweetened the spirit when
the Sufis drank it in the presence of the Holy. Thus does it accompany me in
the width and length of the earth.
A sweet drink did we quaff in the
company of a sweet person, Thus is the drink of the doubly sweet made sweet;
We drank and poured the remainder on the ground,
Surely the earth receives a share from
the goods of the . generous.
If adjunction to Allah (al-idafah li-Allah),
glory to Him, were under the general heading of the descriptive (sifah)
and the described (mawsuf) that would make it obligatory to give to
essence (al-dhat) an abstract meaning; thus that would fall under the
heading of verbs made adjunct to descriptives (al-sifat). But here lies
an impossibility in which a pretext is sought in mere words; for it matters
not if the term which describes rule is [44b] made adjunct to the ruler, or if
that descriptive of creation is made adjunct to the Creator. Furthermore, under
the heading of making the attribute of creation an adjunct to the One, the
Truth, is the amorous language {taghassul) used by some in relation to
Absolute Beauty, not the beauty of form which is restricted to some one person
among men. Verse:
Orchards in verdure testify,
The rose comes to enhance the redness of your cheek;
From your cheek does fascination spread out
Made clear with the aroma of your curls.
Ah, your lovely stature when you sally forth,
Causing the tender branches of the
ben-tree to bend in trying to see you.
O Giver of other existence to the worlds
Whose beauty witnesses to you as the Maker!
You busy me by what you show me, that
I forget myself; And knowledge which you grant me gives me progress.
My heart you make a flourishing
residence for you, Before whom my heart does kneel each time it beats.
The Divine Attribute is pure through perfection and holiness. It is
so made that no quality of deficiency and defilement can be made an adjunct to
it. Perfect is the reality of one who has faith in Divinity; he asserts what is
obligatorily His own and denies from Him the impossible, as a part of adoration
(al-ijlal) to safeguard the proportion of the height of sovereignty and
to preserve the presence of purity and sanctity. The reason for the divergence
in beliefs lies in the different phases of [45a] manifestations that are the
fruit of both enlightenment and waywardness; that the Will of the All-Doer
might be fulfilled through his manifold deeds and manifold distinguished
attributes. Verse:
Your attributes are various in the
world, Hence the differences of sect and creed.
By Allah, their hearts seek none other than you;
All of them in reality are witnesses to you.
Yet among all the people who witness to Him through their creeds,
only the one who seeks forgiveness from the only One shall be right in his
opinion. Thus are the objectives of all the seekers united; even though they
vary in their utterances and differ in their signs.
They appear before thy face, O gracious One,
Invoking thee in different words which have but one
meaning.
Grant us a single blessing which will
serve our multitude As a provision on the morrow of the day of reckoning.
If the station of union in the presence of communion shall vary in
accordance with the feelings, that is because the pleading is different and the
manners of etiquette vary; expressions assume different colours in accordance
with the considerations. Seemingly every one has his own presence,
contemplation and look, following the extent of acceptance at the stations of
arrival at union. Couplets:
The one to whom possibilities of union are hinted is not
Like one who is led to the place of union;
Nor is the one who reaches union, in my opinion,
Like one entrusted with secrets by them;
Nor is the entrusted like him
Who becomes one of them, so make no excuse.
[45b] They obliterated him from their midst, and he was
obliterated;
Then they reinstated him and again he became steady;
Such is the thing which the heart adores
Without it, exposed to man, the heart dies away.
If you desire manifestation take care to be alone, and
you will win the clarified manifestation of exaltation. Verse:
The majesty of the purity of manifestation’s mirror
Is a beauty that is above all likeness and equality.
More enraptured did the heart make my joy;
It sweetened me, so that I became wholly sweeter.
Travelling along the paths of piety engenders progress to the
stations of subsistence. Do you not see that a pawn (baydaq), in the
game of chess, receives added importance by the cautious movements it undergoes
in the spheres that are above its own rank ?18 The traveller (al-salik)
advances, while the enraptured17 is suspended. Similarly, the
obedient one comes while the disobedient (al-'a.n) departs ; the
traveller advances step by step until he reaches the presence, while the
enraptured attracts immediate attention. The traveller follows the righteous
path while the enraptured is barren. But among the enraptured ones are those
who reach the station of chastisement. Such is the one who receives the curbing
necessary for the traveller along the road to progress. The enraptured one who
is sober excels the one effaced in the process of effacement. The traveller,
the enrapture one, obtains effacement and permanence (thabat'), while
he, the enraptured one, has been divested from permanence by effacement. The
enraptured comprehends both reality (al-haqiqah) and the Law (al-sharl‘ah)—a
comprehensive person who clings to the fundamentals of jurisprudence. The
enraptured is one who departs from spirits [46a] and withdraws from the realm
of sense. The traveller is one who contemplates the realities of revelations
and elegancies; from all he gathers the fruits of gnostic knowledge; return to
the realm of sense is preferable in both the last and first life. A man is one
who comprehends both drunkenness and sobriety. Couplet:
The opposite ends shall not be
reconciled except by one who stands firmly
In righteousness with truth and knowledge and stability.
The rapture (jadhb) of servants is achieved
in accordance with acceptance and readiness. Many an enraptured one does not
realize in what condition he is, while another is a contemplator in the
presence. Rapture is the goal and travelling is saintship. He who acquires
either of them shall have half his portion, while he who acquires both shall
achieve perfection with the beloved close by. ..
There are three kinds of “ selves” (nufiis): A headstrong
self, a reproachful self and a tranquilized self. The headstrong self might
accompany the man who has attained the station of Islam, the reproachful self
might accompany the man who has attained the station of faith and the
tranquilized self might accompany the man who has attained the station of charity.
But when the Sufis use the word “
self,” they commonly imply by it the animal spirit in contradistinction to the
sublime and radiant (al-nurani) spirit. The states of forgetfulness (ghaflah),
lust, dissension and desire are the temporary abode of the variation in the
nature of the senses which are of a transitory character. The Sufis have
acknowledged the fact that the pleasure of the Holy One (al-quddils)
consists in opposing self; thus they work in opposition to the stupid self by
treating it with courtesy and thus discovering its secret plots. Couplets:
Whenever Self asks of you a thing
Which you may well avoid,
Be sure to object to that desire, for verily
That desire is an enemy, and objection to it is a
friend.
The spirit (al-ruh) is a delicate organism composed of
radiant substances (jawahir nuranvyali) ; it never had a hidden form (surah
batinah) in the heavenly realm before it came into the body. Once it
occupies the body (al-jism), it acquires a form from its constituents.
Similarly are happiness and misery; such are the conditions of the one created
by the Creator. Nothing compared to Him is old, for His creations extend
infinitely backwards. This belongs to the realm of things connected with
sovereignty. Said Allah, the Exalted, “ They will ask you of the spirit. Say, ‘
The Spirit comes at the bidding of my Lord.’ ” Learning about it, since it is one of the
secrets of Allah, which are under suspicion, remains a mystery in the main. It
is a stranger in the lower regions; but dwells among the people of heavenly
vision (ahi al-ulwiyat).
Verily the spirit develops from the
light of God’s commandment, As for this physical form it develops from the
earth;
‘ The spirit is a stranger and the body at home;
Show your regard and fidelity to a
stranger who has wandered from his native land.
The spirit while in this world is in departure from
servantship before the sublime sovereignty; once its aim has been achieved, it
returns to the presence of the Cause of all being (wdjib al-zmtjild).
Especially when the light of illumination (nilr al-ishraq') has been
flooded on it, does it fly to the presence on the wings of longings. Verse:
The physical beings forsook the tribal abodes,
And yearned with passion for the ancient dwelling.
[47a] Much as though a lightning flashed,
Then passed away, leaving no earthly trace.
Journeying (al-rihlah) is of two kinds: the journeying
of spirits and that of bodies (al-ashbah), covering one distance after
another. Verse:
O you weary one with bodily journeying,
Circumambulating the world in your perplexity of mind;
Come, seek Him whose consciousness your essence
contains,
O man,
For you are yourself the object of all journeying.
If you are, O man, a possessor of all meanings of the
world, be not then veiled from yourself by them, lest thereby you become
despised. Rather should you understand the realities of gnostic knowledge through
which you will mount up to the presence of seeing with your own eyes:
If you were a heavenly chair, or a
throne, or a garden
Or fire or heavenly bodies running their
course,
And if of the Whole you were a copy .
And knew this to be a reality,
Why then should you abide in your
debasement,
With those who are prisoners ? Is not
your turn come that you should go home ?
The purpose of home-coming is to journey toward the
station of observing the Real Substance (al-‘ayn) 20 with
one’s own eye, without “how” (kayfa) or “where” (ayna).
Rejection of all other than the Real Substance is a
duty.
Therefore, do not adulterate truth with falsehood.
The “ where ” and the “ how ” are open mysteries;
Dispense, therefore, with them both.
The Divine Presence is pure and holy; no defiled
attribute can enter it. Moreover, no nightly intruder (tariq) can enter
therein; nor can a thief or an immoral intruder climb the walls. The sublime
Holiness of Divinity is not seen by every man; it is described by the comments
of the people of perfection [47b] among men. This makes the revelation of
beauty necessary.
To this category belongs the saying of one who beckons
them.
When a coward finds himself alone on a
land, He shall declare war and come out for the conflict.
Time has become so imperfect that its people differ from
it; and all of the good people hate their Time.
Time has gone mad as though in its belly
He lodges hatred for honourable and honest men;
Enamoured is it with the mean and fallen
Who might yet forward its own deadly ends.
Dress yourself in the way that men do, walk in the
highest paths, for the theologian (al-imam) Malik said:
Make your clothes look as well as you can,
Verily by them do men receive acclaim.
Abandon the pretense of humility in clothes,
For surely Allah knows what you conceal and harbour
within.
Plain clothes do not increase your prestige
Before God, if you be a sinful servant;
Nor would your new clothes harm you in
the least, If you fear God and avoid what He forbade.
The wearing of patched clothes, while one accepts it
from Allah, is a pious act. But to deny anyone the wearing of fine clothes is
unfair.
Beware of wearing ostentatious garments;
But wear of clothes the becoming;
Man’s humility within him
Is verily nobler and more seemly.
Verily deeds are judged according to intentions. The
rank of a person [48a] depends upon his purposes and objectives; this is true
in the case of each seeker and aspirer.
Verily God does not consider your looks (suwar)
nor your deeds; he only considers your hearts; your looks are your intentions.
The elect ones among the Sufis (al-khawass} wear their new garments when
they embark upon the act of detachment (al-tajrid'), that is, when they
detach themselves from vicious habits and resolve to tread the righteous Path.
Permission (al-idhn), according to the outward
meaning of the Law, is the expressed statement which implies the choice between
doing and not doing the right without exigency (iqtida’) in either
case. Ibn-‘Atiyah said that Permission, when made adjunct to God (al- muddf
ila Allah i. e., when it is ‘ in construct with ’ the name God), by Allah’s
permission, indicates the control of that which has been permitted; but when a
saying becomes adjunct to Permission that would imply commandment; in the inner
meaning of the reality it is a light which forms in the heart and has a cooling
effect; with this are the chosen few endowed, and it is not a cause for the
loss of infallibility. Sometimes Permission is used to mean the Permission of
the Will in general in regard to all the created things, that is, placing
things back in the Will of God as far as motion and motionless conditions go;
this indicates the meaning that not a particle can move without His Permission,
nor can it rest without His Permission. But such a Permission does not become
an established regulation if it is promulgated in other than the canon of the
Law and the manners of Reality. Understand this that you may escape from
perils. Know, furthermore, that the reply is in accordance with the question
that is asked. The discourse also varies with the position of the speaker. For
“ there is none of us but has an assigned place,” 23 O ye men of
understanding and [48b] intelligence. He who accepts among men His uttered word
(lafz) shall receive permission to speak among men. He who is blessed by
the sweetness of expression and the elegance of gesture shall make the ears of
men rejoice at hearing his words; his love shall be impressed on the natures of
men. When meanings shall gush from the sea of the heart and become cast on the
shore of the tongue, they shall be taken over by the scale of prose and poetry
in order to crown the heads with them. By them the breasts are also decorated.
Each time these acceptable words shall pass by, they will fascinate; each time
they are reiterated, they are more polished and limpid. This is on account of
that characteristic eloquence of the tongue and the intricacy of that brain
among brains. Thus his eloquence, the beauty of his language and the bliss of
his discourse shall increase; like the bees which seek their sustenance among
the flowers of the hills which in turn will develop into more abundant
sweetness.24 If the heart should be found enlightened, expression
becomes easy; for thereupon one is permitted to speak according to the
regulations of men of feeling. He who discovers the meanings but fails to
discover the expression, shall be one who is thus ordered to observe secrecy,
according to the people of symbolical utterances (ahi al-isharah').
Sometimes words of fine meaning acquire a repulsive form so that the ears of
the Sufis will not like them, but flee from them now and forever. It has been
said that the hearing of words is like looking at faces; if one’s taste deviates
from moderation, it fails to taste the sweetness of the words of men. Verse:
The eye might fail to perceive the
light of the sun because of ophthalmia,
Whereas the mouth fails to enjoy the
taste of water because of disease.
[49a] Similarly does deficiency in understanding often lead to the
rejection of a sound and righteous saying.
Many a man scorns a sound saying,
The fault being in his deficient understanding.
If you discover that mistakes have crept into the lines of black
ink, do not give place to your words of slander or try to exaggerate the error.
On the contrary try to give a good interpretation to the venerable man and
repeat the following words which were spoken by a kindly man of virtue. Verse:
Brother of learning, do not hasten
to point out the error of an author,
’* This sentence is a paraphrase of two couplets.
Whereas you have not made certain
the mistake you ascribe to him.
Often a
reporter corrupts what he knows, And often men alter and twist the traditions;
And copyists have many a time changed the meaning, Introducing a fact not
envisaged by the author.
Look not at the straw in anyone’s eye; see, however, the beam in
your own eye;25 thus you will be among those who travel in the Path
and follow in the good way of our fathers. The successful, the innocent, does
not offend Allah. He will treat the great with politeness and the small with
mercy. Be a brother to all the servants of Allah and look upon them with the
eye of kindness and compassion; pay your respect to the great among them and
show mercy to those of them who are humble.28 Mercy is of two kinds:
one which is related to the quality of grace and another which is seasoned by
the influence of wisdom. Justice is the example of the first, like one who
enters Paradise without judgment (hisdb). An example of the second is
one who enters Paradise after punishment (‘adhab). Absolute mercy is
sovereign grace for all humanity, while special mercy is for the chosen who
meet with success at the carpet of investigation. The merciful one among men is
he who is qualified with the attribute [49b] of the Compassionate (al-rahman),
who is saved from Fire on the Last Day. See to it that you do not deny that
which you cannot understand of the secrets. He who denies that which he cannot
discover, will be forbidden the blessing of what he has discovered. Whomsoever
you find to be a great denier (kathtr al-inkar) is surely a man who
lacks the light; in rare cases would he escape Fire. At least seek
self-resignation which is the safe way, although belief (i'tiqad) is
more profitable.
The imitator (al-mutashabbih) is certainly beloved by the one
he loves; but the neglect of Allah shall fall on the imitator who seeks his own
interests. He who seeks his own worldly advancement shall be forbidden entry to
Paradise; his eye shall find27 the law of justice and the mercy of
segregation (al-fast). Whosoever sets the religious trap of artfulness
against the world shall thereby capture hope for being among the fearers of
Allah.
The worshipper’s virtues are the vices of the elect (al-muqarrab').
The worshipper lives in illusion and bondage, while the elect lives in joy
and confirmation. The heart of the worshipper is swollen with intricate
expressions, while the heart of the elect is swollen with the realities of
contemplation. Not through worship is the happiness of the next world to be
had, but by means of the eternal lot (qismah = kismet) and the
providential care (al-inayah al-rabbamyah). Many a worshipper observing
his nocturnal vigilance weeps with the outpouring of tears; not seeking any
fortune, but only pleading that his master should no more torment him with the
protraction of his vigils. Many a worshipper knows not what he wants; yet he
attains some next world gain.
The beloved (al-mahbub) shall be relieved from the pains of
care by Providential Care; he shall don the mantle of authority, through [50a]
sainthood. Allah, the Sublime, the Majestic, would say: “ Gabriel, bring
wakefulness to such a man, I long for him; and let my servant, such a man,
sleep, for upon him I have pity.” The children of the world are stripped from
the power of finding the causes that underlie their deeds. ... Be not one of
those who worship that in turn they might be worshipped; nor one of those who
master life for the sake of fame. Think that you worship God for the sake of
God, not for any interest or reward. The children of the world achieve
excellence among men through position and possession, while the children of the
next life achieve excellence through feelings and spiritual means.
Discernment (al-firasah') belongs either to wisdom or to the Law. The
former is known by signs while the latter is revealed by revelations (mukashafat).
The discernment of the wise is his acquisition of knowledge, while the
discernment of the believer is his radiance (nurdnlyah). Give homage to
the discernment of the believer for verily he sees through the light of Allah.
. . .
Thoughts (khawatir, sing, khatir) are the divine
proceedings of truth (waridat haqq) or the musings of falsehood (tawariq
batil). Truth is received (it proceeds) through the setting apart (tanzth)
and the unification of the Lord. Sometimes a proceeding (warid) urges
one towards a definite form of obedience, with strength and determination ;
this is a heart proceeding. Sometimes a proceeding moves one towards different
kinds of obedience; this is general. Perhaps also, the proceeding of good
fortune might emerge from the heart or from one’s angel; most often does it
come from one’s angel; in only rare cases does it originate in the heart; for
the purity of hearts is very rare. The inward proceeding is one which passes
through the heart with fascination and allurement engendered by disobedience;
this is from the Devil. Some musings (sing, tariq') are oriented in a
given direction and with a definite objective in view; such a one is of [50b]
self. It may be of self or the Devil. By these two is disobedience born;
understand, therefore. Should the proceeding of good fortune come immediately
after obedience, that would be good fortune; but if the ordinary musings should
break on one immediately following disobedience, that would be evil. In the
event one does not see the difference between a proceeding from above (wdrid)
and a worldly musing (tariq), the matter should be presented to what the
Law prescribes in keeping with the precept of God; if it agree with the
judgment of Allah, it would be light, otherwise darkness. The proceeding
proceeds from the presence of His Subduing Name (ismuhu al-qahhar) ;
that is why it eradicates the qualities and traces. Had He so desired, there
would attend at the presence of beholding angels, jinns and the Truth. The “
proceeding ” is .that which brings about benefits and gives instruction about
the wonders of profitable matters. Mastery (al-siyddah) comes to men
through the quality of perfection. What a difference between the man who
assumes mastery in order to pursue his own ends and another who seeks mastery
by helping the servants to become masters 1 The former shall lose good fortune
and become a victim to obstinacy. When God (al-haqq) sees fit to bestow
mastery on a servant, he causes love for him to reside in the breasts of men.
Should this servant, then, seek to imitate Him, He would grant him the light
of gnostic knowledge; thereafter he would be selected for the station of the
chosen (maqdm al-istifd’) ; on him will be drawn the veil of hiding, for
there is no life to one who does not hide himself; there is no comfort for one
who is not satisfied. Enter the loneliness of obscurity and do not put on the
garment of officiousness (al-fudul) that you may find joy in what you
eat, and that your time may bring you safety. Whatever is [51a]
located in the bosom (batn) of the earth shall be
permanently located; but all that flourishes above the surface of the earth
shall never acquire permanence. The best seeds of success are those which are
sown by the peasant. He who has been reared in the earth and soil shall excel
all his companions. The one thus reared (al-murabba) shall be tempered
with sweetness; he wears the quality of brightness (talawah). There is
nothing in the rank of the great ones as commendable as toleration (al-mahl)
in matters of orthodoxy. The lightning (bariq, pl. bawdriq) of
the beginning is the same as the flashes (ldmi‘, pl. lawdmi!) of
the end. He who has not experienced humiliation at the beginning will not enjoy
any endearment at the end.
People of potentiality among men relieve the novice of
his struggle and bring him safely to the highest ranks. The man is one who,
upon looking at you with the look of friendliness (al-uuadad), makes you
so rich that by him you are able to dispense with all other men.... O Book of
Secrets (kitdb al-asrar), O Mirror of Lights:
You are the Book, the Secrets of whose
letters Uphold the universe that seeks entry to the hearts.
Men are seekers after the lusts of “ self ”; this is what has caused heads to be bowed
down.
Aspirations (himam, sing, himmah31)
depend on one’s standing; the aspiration involved in the prayer of the
annihilated one has hurled him down to the bottomless regions, while the
aspirations of the prayer of the subsistent one has raised him to the sublime
heights. The glamour of the outward side of things is a reflection of the
beauty of Truth exhibited by the phenomena [of the universe].
Revelation (kashf) is a reality in the opinion of
the investigators of the Path. It does not mean that you see light and darkness
in the ranks -of servantship, but that the eye of darkness shall see the light
and contemplate the removal of the cover through light. The man [51b] is not
one who asks the novice for work; the man is one who bestows on him more
abundantly. If he only asks a novice to do more work, he shall be lacking in
the way of dealing with men.
Jealousy (hasad) is the quality of the outcasts; they belong
to the banished group. Wish for the happiness of others, but do not be jealous,
for the jealous never achieves mastery. The jealous person is a rebel; he who
is identified with the quality of jealousy shall find his aid cut off; he who
envies others is forbidden the Truth. Beware of jealousy, for this is the
disobedience which the Devil inculcates. Jealous, banished one, repent to God
and renounce the corruption of your nature before you are eclipsed and
obliterated.
The purity of hearts is the key of the unseen. Purify your heart,
for it is the house of your Lord. The heart is the mirror of manifestation;
therefore seek the polishing value of consecration (ta- khallt).32
The heart is the throne of your Lord, the Divine consciousness, the
observed pocket. Read the tablet of your heart, your “ preserved tablet,” 33
you the beloved, the observed one, and it shall reveal your secrets to you.
What He discloses to the heart shall never become deficient while that which “
self ” acquires shall not be free from drudgery and monotony. Knowledge of your
sanctified self (nafsuk al-qudslyah) is the door (bab) to the
presence of sovereignty. He who contemplates the inside of vessels will see the
secrets of meanings, without suffering from the pursuit of gain, and will be
the chosen one in the presence of the approach.
Meanings (ma'ani, sing, ma'na) are gifts, and stations
are ranks; feelings pass away; all, that is, except the objective, shall
vanish. The condition of being chosen in the presence of approach is
everlasting; it shall not be taken away; it is a privilege which cannot be
stolen. He who thinks of competition with the people of love [52a] and
enrichment will fall into the trap of polytheism and care. If you aim at
reaching union without pains, then cling to the people of merit. The lack of
manners in one’s contacts with the people of ranks leads to failure.
The saints of Allah are the mine of the guarded secret. These are in
touch with His concealed mystery. The saints of Allah are the brides of the
presence; on them is drawn the veil of zeal; they are treasures hidden from the
bulk of humanity. The saints of Allah have parted with the people of this world
in spirit, although they dwell among them in their physical bodies. The saints
have hearts whose light is brighter than the sun of which we are conscious.
What brilliant lights! What spiritual perfections! Thus they are the stars of
earth in the view of heaven’s people; their light is for us and them; he who
watches the stars is from heaven; the stars of earth are more dazzling in their
light; those appear for a time, then pass away while these are not subject to
hiding. The guidance of the former is in the darkness of the nights, while the
guidance of these consists in the removal of the covering.
Manifestation (zuhiir) comes to men by acceptance and
perfection. It is said that he who is overcome by the light shall conquer in
manifestation.35 Manifestation has a special mantle. Glory to the
manifest One for all the phenomena in which he appears. The manifestation of
the people of imperfect traits is drawn from the conquest of illusive phantasy.
The manifestation of men is by confirmation, support, righteousness and
acuteness. The manifestation of the men of goodness (al-akhyar) is
without their choice. Take care not to seek manifestation for [52b] therein
lies the breaking of backbones.
Remembrance (dhikr) is worship by the tongue with the consent
of the heart. When remembrance continues, it becomes obligatory to be present
at the presence of the Remembered One. Remembrance is a kind of proximity on
the part of the ignorant, not the intelligent; it marks the coming nearer to
God of the knowing, the intelligent. If the worshipper is absorbed in worship,
remembrance will add nothing to him. Disclosure (jahr) of remembrance
occurs in the case of contemplation through absence and forgetfulness on the
part of ordinary Sufis; but the secretion of it is the practice of the chosen
and the men who contemplate reality. The remembrance of the annihilated
through contemplation is the end and purpose. There is a vast difference
between the one who remembers in order to receive enlightenment and another
who had already received enlightenment before remembrance. Whosoever imagines
that he really remembers the Remembered One, is surely forgetful of the
presence. Man, your remembrance is both imperative and positive by all the
forgetfulness of Him which you incur. Verily, I am the offending one at every
memory, I am the one who is mentioned at every junction. God, what a marvellous
affair! How can the present remember the one who is next to him? The charitable
thought is particular to the people of gnostic knowledge. Thoughts are the
stars of minds’ heaven; through them comes guidance on the path of reason. If
you despise thoughts, you will be blinded from seeing. Thought flies, while the
man of remembrance walks. The man of thought, the gnostic, gathers the fruits
of gnostic knowledge. Thought is a lamp, a luminous light. Mind is the miracle
of God, His trust to you. Take care not to scorn His miracle or forfeit His
trust. The reality of [53a] the mind is an instinct which makes possible the
acceptance of acquired and given gnostic knowledge; it increases by practice
and decreases without it. Others said that it is a delicate spiritual substance
that encompasses all things in a spiritual manner. With the philosophers it
denotes the rejected word (al-kalimah al-mardtldah) and the stirred up
I-ness (al-anlyah al-munfa‘ilah} —the father of the spirit or he of the
two faces when it proves beneficial and benefiting. Another view is that your
mind is the value of your importance in matters of the world and of religion:
that it is the value of your importance in the next world, for there is no
religion without mind, as there is no mind without religion. A mind which
interests you in the world and alienates you from future life is surely against
you, not for you. The intelligent person is one who minds what concerns God and
His commandments, while fearing His punishment. The developed mind is one that
curbs you from pitfalls; it discredits to you the doors of evil-doing; through
it are opened the doors of joy. The greater mind receives the secrets of Allah;
but if devoted to the smaller mind, it will surely throw you into the sea of
doubts, and cast you into the net of troubles.
Judgment (wahm) is the quality of the spirit, the veil of the
mind and a cloud over the sun of the heart. Judgment establishes your I-ness
with the Truth and [53b] multiplies for you the quality of numerous creatures.
Judgment causes you to fall into misery and places the fear of men in you.
Judgment introduces phantasy and impedes the quality of perfection.
The removal of judgment takes place through
enlightenment and resumption of belief in predestination (Jaqdir);
judgment is removed by unification for the one who so wishes and desires. When
the heart is enlightened by understanding, the veil and judgment shall vanish
from it; the fall of judgment follows in the track of association with the men
of leadership. When Providence comes, it causes judgment to vanish immediately.
All things in the universe are forms of liberality (jud) 39
except disobedience and denial (juhud). But for liberality, the universe
would crumble down; and without divine assistance, men would perish.
Immediate revelation 40 comes to the
people of divine
assistance in direct proportion to one’s readiness for
it; he whose station is august shall receive revelation; to some an impression
of the original model is revealed because of their continued effort at refining
their gifts; the like of these, if saved from phantasy, shall pursue their
investigation aided by their resources (al-hdl} 41 and their
wealth; others shall have the curtain lifted for them whereby they may hear the
Discourse (khitab') ; and others still shall receive the dictation of
the Pen 42 of the present in as much as every day his state changes.
Some may contemplate the Guarded Tablet—this is the Guarded servant. Among the
Sufis are those who see the immediate revelation of the beginning, but not of
the end. Of them are men to whom the Truth reveals the stored consciousness (al-sirr
al-mustawda')—the highest objective of immediate perception that is possible
for a seeker after divine communication.
Initiative (tasrif} endows
the perfect one with permission in connection with small, but significant
errors and bounties, whereas the one below him in attainment [54a] has to use
his permission of initiative according to the exigencies of events and
happenings. He who grants the initiative cannot afford to disagree with the
right of the doer to choose; he who asserts the contrary shall have gnostic
knowledge and lights veiled from him. Initiative takes place through the
meditation of the heart which understands the hearts; when a man is thus
qualified at a certain station, he shall take the initiative of perfection
among men. Such is the consciousness of violence (sirr al- qahrdniyah) at the presence of Divinity. It is the Word of
the Presence when God says to His saint: “ Be of the same power which enabled
me to order a thing to be and it was. Accordingly do I make you now able to say
to a thing. ‘ Be,’ and it shall be.” Of the same category is the story told of
abu-Yazid, who one day passed
his hand along his leg whereby he killed an ant of which he had not been aware.
Thereupon, he breathed into it, and behold, it arose to life again by the power
of God, glory to Him, the Exalted. Moreover, Jesus, the son of Mary, peace on
him, was wont to revive the dead, call death upon the living, and heal the
blind and the leper by mere words. We recall how he dispensed the truth among
men by his utterances amidst them. .
When some of the Sufis say: “ I was told,” they mean
various things, among which are things told by the voice (hatif) of
reality and what is heard from the angels without seeing them, or while seeing
them in other than their genuine forms, as for example, the Companions who saw
Gabriel, peace on him, in the likeness of Dihyah al-Kalbi;46 other
sayings are heard by the heart; some are realized by the feelings. It all
depends on the event, as happened in the case of al-Shibli47 in his
experience with the handmill and the tree when he considered their words as
words spoken to him; therefore, understand.
Nature {kawn) is the house where lies the tune of the echo;
whatever you say in it, it will resound to you; it is a mirror revealing what
is in you.
Unveiling {kashf) can be concrete {his si) or abstract
{ma'nawi): the concrete relates to the outward phases of the beings,
while the abstract relates to the realities of gnostic knowledge.
Revelation {mukashafah) might mean amiability {mulatafah)
; sometimes it gives the idea of contemplation {mushahadah) or
divine communication concerning the true consciousness of men. In fact it is
discernment.
Humility {tawddu‘), while there is greatness, is a station;
the humble can only be acknowledged by a man of righteousness; the humility of
the people of investigation implies the departure of their quality while they
tread the Path; inward humility consists in selfabasement, self-belittlement
and confession; outward humility is seeking honour from the Truth on the part
of self with a sense of fairness. Such is the humble, undoubtedly.
The humility of the noble is untainted with debasement like that of
the despised ones, but through detachment {nazahah) which makes for
perfection. Couplet:
He is temperate while strong, he is humble
• With pride and energy and tenderness.
Performance of wonders (sing, kardmah) is
righteousness and the accompanying suspension of natural laws through worship;
it is a figure representing a mark—the mark of the righteousness of behaviour
throughout the trodden path.
Music (sama) is stimulating to the people of the beginning,
whereas to the people of the end it is without influence. For you might
consider the mountains on which you look stationary, whereas they travel with
the speed of the clouds. Verily, music comes not through [55a] the ears, but
through the hearts in the realm of the unseen. The man of the beginning seeks
the music of the camel-driver’s song in order to quiet his longings, while the
man of the end is comfortable at the presence of meeting.
Long
did your singer excite my longings for you,
Till we met where longing and singer flew.
In principle the Sufi is one who would refresh you with
his purity (safa’), when you are in dismay; he is one who is purified
and free from coarseness (jafa’) ; the Sufi would prefer secrecy; he
dons the garment of the chosen; the Sufi travels on the Path and his travel is
marked with success. The Sufi is not one who wears wool (suf) and makes
pretenses; nor one who imitates the precepts of the Law, investigating and seeking
the guidance of Reality. The Sufi is a man who knows and does, one who is
purified and travels in the path of enlightenment. Sufism became a subject for
men’s controversial discussions ; they disagreed, each one making an
unacceptable description. As for me, I would give this epithet only to the man
who is at peace with others (safa) and with whom others are at peace (sufi);
therefore he is called a Sufi. Among the refined manners (adab) of the
Sufi, are contraction (qabd) in order to contemplate the majesty and hope (raja’)
on the path of righteousness through submission and beseeching.
The Tongue (al-lisan) is the translator of God’s way, the disseminator
of God’s worship in the hearts. The owner of such a tongue receives the
sweetest revelations and the brightest light. The man of gnostic knowledge captures the ears with his
fine words (lata'if) ; when he speaks, breasts are healed; earthly
breasts are conquered. This marks the sanctification of the inner nature. The
tongue of investigation (lisdn al-tahqiq) is delicately [55b] formed;
he who believes in it is righteous; the owner of the tongue of gnosis is
brilliant; yet among men he is a stranger and associates with some other
stranger; he is far from home in a strange land. The tongue of usefulness (lisan
al-ifadah) is that which yields benefits but does not break the
regulations. Befriend a man of the spirit, for he is better than a man of the
body. He who teaches men is the best father; such a one is a father of the
spirit, not of the germ plasm.
Whosoever neglects the duties (fara’id, sing, fard)
is a transgressor, but he who fulfills their provisions is a novice. If one
moves through them he is a traveller; whoever is annihilated from them, even while
fulfilling them, is a ruler (mdlik);01 he who is subsistent
through the quality of their abundant flow is a thorough Sufi (mudaqqiq).
Whoever seeks the warmth of his light becomes an investigator.
To one who never understands your words,
Do not speak at all, I say.
Know, O you brilliant man, that your wish to draw nearer
means rebellion against your nature. Follow the consensus of opinion, for in
this pursuit is benefit to you; but loss lies behind innovation. Let piety be
the foundation stone; observe the coming of divine thoughts and utterances; in
asking be of infinite politeness, sweet in word and good in action. Pursue
devotion and avoid greed. Beware of errors and commit no wrong. Be humble with
the great and friendly with the small. Accompany the poor and forsake the
princely. Among the Sufis be of exceeding satisfaction. Depart from men and
confide in the Provider. Let the knowledge of God be sufficient unto you
whereby you do not need to ask from the creatures of God. Occupy yourself with
the divine [56a] revelations and forget material assistance. Stand at the
thresholds and knock on the door. If it opens, say nothing, and while you
approach, do not stumble. Abide by your silence and adoration intermingled with
loneliness and the surging thoughts. Make your reply consistent with the
discourse. Eat what is lawful and cleanse your qualities. Defy yourself and
avoid [sumptuous] clothes. Be not deceived by praise. Make not your worship a
matter of habit. Go not into politics seeking office. Give up officiousness
and accept obscurity. Look upon the world through the eye of annihilation, and
you will rest from care. Adopt the traits of nobility; let alone wickedness and
wrong-doing. Let your deportment conform to the good manners of servantship.
Hold yourself in submission before the Sufi dignitaries; offer service to men
on the carpet of veneration. Take care not to be self-confident, for in that
lies debasement. Should they (the Sufis) draw you near unto them and disclose
to you themselves, do not divulge the secrets lest you be expelled from the
company of the good; for to be exiled after being brought near is a greater
cause for misery and suffering. Therefore, seek God’s help against the loss of
your gift, for verily that is a catastrophe. If you find that your self has
been conquered by desire and that your heart has been filled with harshness,
advise them that hope is gone and make ready for immediate death. Chastise
yourself and remember the Day of [56b] Resurrection at the end, the standing
for judgment, the terror of punishment, the examination of sins through the use
of the balance, the fear of the stumbling foot upon the way, repentance and
the asking for some station of privilege. The man is one who safeguards his
salvation and seeks the station of consecration, not one who would be satisfied
with the condition which means abiding in the wickedness of habitations,
falling through dissension to bottomless hell and deviation from the Path of
Salvation.
Once
you see a man addicted to dissension, Certain be that his loving ones shall
lose him; Ignorantly he makes his enemies laugh at him; His critics will find
room for fault finding. Only does the spirit curb one’s dissension If he among
men owns a perfect mind.
Colophon: The completion of this blessed book fell on
the blessed Sunday, the sixteenth of Muharram, the sacred, which is of the
months of the year 1056,62 after the Prophetic hijrah, upon
its owner the best of prayer and peace. And may Allah bless and keep our lord
Muhammad, his family and Companions!
“ March 4,
1646.