Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

X: SETTING FORTH THE INNER MEANING OF THE NAMES OF ALI

ALI is the first Muslim and the King of men, 995

In Love's eyes Ali is the treasure of the Faith.

Devotion to his family inspires me with life

So that I am as a shining pearl.

Like the narcissus, I am entraptured with gazing:

Like perfume, I am straying though his pleasure garden. 970

If holy water gushes from my earth, he is the source;

If wine pours from my grapes, he is the cause.

I am dust, but his sun hath made me as a mirror:

Song can be seen in my breast.

From Ali's face the Prophet drew many a fair omen, 975

By his majesty the true religion is glorified

His commandments are the strength of Islam:

All things pay allegiance to his House.

The Apostle of God gave him the name Bu Turab;

God in the Koran called him "the Hand of Allah. " 980

Every one that is acquainted with Life's mysteries

Knows what is the inner meaning of the names of Ali.

The dark clay, whose name is the body -

Our reason is ever be moaning its iniquity.

On avvount of it our sky-reaching thought plods over the earth;

It makes our eyes blind and our cars deaf.

It hath in its hand a two-edge sword of lust:

Travelers' hearts are broken by this brigand.

Ali, the Lion of God, subdued the body's clay

And transmuted this dark earth to gold. 990

Murtaza, by whose sword the splendour of Truth was revealed,

Is named Bu Turab from his conquest of the body.79

Man wins territory by prowess in battle,

But his brightest jewel is masters of himself.

Whosoever in the world become a Bu Turab 995

Turns back the sun from the west;80

Whosoever saddles tightly the seed of the body

Sits like the bezel on the seal of sovereignty:

Here the might of Khaibar is under his feet,81

And hereafter his hand will distribute the water of Kauthar.82

Through self-knowledge, he acts as God's Hand,

And in virtue of being God's Hand he reigns over all.

His person is the gate of the city of the sciences.83

Arabia, China, and Greece are subject to him.

If thou wouldst drink clear wine from thine own grapes. 1005

Thou must needs wield authority over thine own earth.

To become earth is the creed of a moth:

Be a conqueror of earth; that alone is worthy of a man.

Thou art soft as a rose. Become hard as a stone,

That thou mayst be the foundation of the wall of the garden!

Build thy clay into a Man,

Build thy Man into a World

Unless from thine own earth thou build - thine own wall or door.

Someone else will make bricks of thine earth.

O thou who complaints of the cruelty of Heaven, 1015

Thou whose glass cries out against the injustice of the stone,

How long this wailing and crying and lamentation ?

How long this perpetual beating of thy breast ?

The pith of Life is contained in action,

The delight in creation is the law of Life. 1020

Arise and create a new world!

Wrap thyself in flames, be an Abraham!84

To comply with this world which does not favour thy purposes

Is to fling away thy buckler on the field of battle.

The man of strong character who is master of himself 1025

Will find Fortune complaisant.

If the world does not comply with his humour,

He will try the hazard of war with Heaven:

He will dig up the foundations of the universe

And cast its atoms into a new mould. 1030

He will subvert the course of Time

And wreck the azure firmament.

By his own strength he will produce

A new world which will do his pleasure.

If one cannot live in the world as be seems a man, 1035

Then it is better to die like the brave.

He that hath a sound heart

Will prove his strength by great enterprises.

' Tis sweet to use love in hard tasks

And, like Abraham, to gather roses from flames85 1040

The potentialities of men of action

Are displayed in willing acceptance of what is difficult.

Mean spirits have no weapon but resentment,

Life has only one law.

Life is power made manifest, 1045

And its mainspring is the desire for victory.

Mercy out of season is a chilling of Life's blood,

A break in the rhythm of Life's music.

Whoever is sunk in the depths of ignomity

Calls his weakness contentment. 1050

Weakness is the plunderer of Life,

Its womb is teeming with fears and lies.

Its soul is empty of virtues,

Vices fatten on its milk.

O man of sound judgment, beware! 1055

This spoiler is lurking in ambush

Be not its dupe, if thou art wise:

Chameleon-like, it changes colour every moment.

Even by keen observers its form is not discerned

Veils are thrown over its face. 1060

Now it is muffled in pity and gentleness,

Now it wears the cloak of humanity.

Some times it is disguised as compulsion,

Sometimes as excusability.

It appears in the shape of self-indulgence 1065

And robs the strong man's heart of courage.

Strength is the twin of Truth;

If thou knowest thyself, strength is the Truth-revealing glass.

Life is the seed, and power the crop:

Power explains the mystery of truth and falsehood. 1070

A claimant, if he be possessed of power,

Needs no argument for his claim.

Falsehood derives from power the authority of truth,

And by falsifying truth deems itself true.

Its creative word transforms poison into nectar. 1075

It says to good, "Thou art bad," and Good becomes Evil.

O thou that art heedless of the trust committed to thee,

Esteem thyself superior to both worlds86 !

Gain knowledge of Life's mysteries!

Be a tyrant! Ignore all except God ! 1080

man of understanding, open thine eyes, ears, and lips !87

If then thou seest not the Way of Truth, laugh at me!

XI: STORY OF A YOUNG MAN OF MERV WHO CAME TO THE SAINT ALI HAJWIRI - GOD HAVE MERCY ON HIM!) AND COMPLAINED THAT HE WAS OPPRESSED BY HIS ENEMIES.

THE saint of Hajwir was venerated by the peoples,

And Pir-i-Sanjar visited his tomb as a pilgrim,88

With ease he broke down the mountain barriers 1085

And sowed the seed of Islam in India.

The age of Omar was restored by his godliness.

The fame of the Truth was exalted by his words.

He was a guardian of the honour of the Koran.

The house of Falsehood fell in ruins at his gaze. 1090

The dust of the Punjab was brought to life by his breath,

Our dawn was made splendid by his sun

He was a lover, and withal, a courier of Love:

The secrets of Love shone forth from his brow.

1 will tell a story of his perfection 1095

And enclose a whole rose-bed in a single bud.

A young man, cypress-tall,

Came from the town of Merv to Lahore.

He went to see the venerable saint,

That the sun might dispth is darkness. 1100

"I am hammed in," he said, "by foes;

I am as a glass in the midst of stones.

Do thou teach me, O sire of heavenly rank,

How to lead my life amongst enemies!"

The wise Director, in whose nature 1105

Love had allied beauty with majesty,

Answered: "Thou art unread in Life's lore,

Careless of its end and its beginning.

Be without fear of others!

Thou art a sleeping force: awake! 1110

When the stone thought itself to be glass,

It became glass and got into the way of breaking.

If the traveller thinks himself weak,

He delivers his soul unto the brigand.

How long wilt thou regard thyself as water and clay?

Create from thy clay a flaming Sinai!

Why be angry with mighty men?

Why complain of enemies?

I will declare the truth: thine enemy is thy friend:

His existence crowns thee with glory. 1120

Whosoever knows the states of the Self

Considers a powerful enemy to be a blessing from God.

To the seed of Man the enemy is -as a rain-cloud:

He awakens its potentialities.

If thy spirit be strong, the stones in thy way are as water: 1125

What wrecks the torrent of the ups and downs of the road?

The sword of resolution is whetted by the stones in the way'

And put to proof by traversing stage after stage.

What is the use of eating and sleeping like a beast?

What is the use of being, unless thou have strength in thyself? 1130

When thou mak'st thyself strong with Self,

Thou wilt destroy the world at thy pleasure.

If thou wouldst pass away, become free of Self

If thou wouldst live, become full of Self !89

Who is death? To become oblivious to Self. 1135

Why imagine that it is the parting of soul and body?

Abide in Self, like Joseph?

Advance from captivity to empire!

Think of Self and be a man of action

Be a man of God, bear mysteries within! "90 1140

I will explain the matter by means of stories,

I will open the bud by the power of my breath.

"Tis better that a lover's secret

Should be told by the lips of others.'"

XII: STORY OF THE BIRD THAT WAS FAINT WITH THIRSTA

BIRD was faint withthirst, 1145

The breath in his body was heaving like waves of smoke.

He saw a diamond in the garden:

Thirst created a vision of water.

Deceived by the sun bright stone

The foolish bird fancied that it was water. 1150

He got no moisture from the gem:

He pecked it with his beak, but it did not wet his palate.

"O thrall of vain desire," said the diamond.

Thou hast sharpened thy greedy beak on me;

But lam not a dew drop, I give no drink, 1155

I do not live for the sake of others.

Wouldst thou hurt me? Thou art mad!

A lie that reveals the Self is strange to thee.

MY water will shiver the beaks of birds

And break the jewel of man's like. "91 1160

The bird won not his heart's wish from the diamond

And turned away from the sparkling stone.

Disappointment swelled in his breast,

The song in his throat became a wail.

Upon a rose-twig a drop of dew 1165

Gleamed like the tear in a nightingale's eye:

All its glitter was owing to the sun,

It was trembling in fear ' Of the sun - A restless sky born star

That had stopped for a moment, from desire to be seen; 1 170

Oft deceived by bud and flower,

It had gained nothing from Life.

There it hung, ready to drop.

Like a tear on the eyelashes of a lover who hath lost his heart.

The sorely distressed bird hopped under the rose-bush. 1175

The dewdrop trickled into his mouth.

thou that wouldst deliver thy soul from enemies.

1 ask thee "Art thou a drop of water or a gem ?"

When the bird melted in the fire of thirst,

It appropriated the life of another. 1180

The drop was not solid and gem-like;

The diamond had a being, the drop had none.

Never for an instant neglect Self-preservation:

Be a diamond, not a dewdrop!

Be massive in nature, like mountains, 1185

And bear on thy crest a hundred clouds laden with floods of rain!

Save thyself by affirmation of Self,

Compress thy quick silver into silver ore!

Produce a melody from the string of Self,

XIII: STORY OF THE DIAMOND AND THE COAL

NOW I will open one more gate of truth,

I will tell thee another tale.

The coal in the mine said the diamond.

O thou entrusted with splendours eve lasting.

We are comrades, and our being is one; 1195

The source of our existence is the same,

Yet while I die here in the anguish of worthlessness,

Thou art set on the crowns of emperors.

My stuff is so vile that I am valued less than earth,

Whereas the mirror's heart is rent by thy beauty, 1200

My darkness illumines the chafing dish,

Then my substance is incinerated at last

Every one puts the sole of his foot on my head

And covers my stock of existence with ashes.

My fate must needs be deplored: 1205

Dost thou know what is the gist of my being

It is a condensed wavelet of smoke,

Endowed with a single spark.92

Both in, feature and nature thou art star-like,

Splendours rise from every side of thee. 1210

Now thou become'st the light of a monarch's eye,

Now thou adornest the haft of a dagger."

"O sagacious friend!" said the diamond,

"Dark earth, when hardened, becomes in dignity as a bezel.

Having been at strife with its environment, 1215

It is ripened by the struggle and grows hard like a stone.

Tis this ripeness that has endowed my form with light.

And filled my bossom with radiance.

Because thy being is immature, thou hast become abased;

Because thy body is soft, thou art burnt. 1220

Be void of fear, grief, and anxiety;

Be hard as a stone, be a diamond!

Whosoever strives hard and grips tight,

The two worlds are illumined by him.

A little earth is the origin of the Black Stone 1225

Which puts forth its head in the Ka'aba:

Its rank is higher than Sinai,

It is kissed by the swarthy and the fair.

In solidity consists the glory of Life:

Weakness is worthlessness and immaturity." 1230

XIV: STORY OF THE SHEIKH AND THE BRAHMIN FOLLOWED BY A CONVERSATION BETWEEN GANGES AND HIMALAYA TO THE EFFECT THAT THE CONTINUATION OF SOCIAL LIFE DEPEND ON FIRM ATTACHMENTS TO THE CHARACTERISTIC TRADITIONS OF THE COMMUNITY

AT Benares lived a venerable Brahmin.

Whose head was deep in the ocean of Being and Not-being.

He had a large knowledge of philosophy

But was well-disposed to the seekers after God.

His mind was eager to explore new problems, 1235

His intellect moved on a level with the Pleiades;

His nest was as high as that of the Anka;93

Sun and moon were cast, like rue, on the flame of his thought.94

For a long time he laboured and sweated,

But philosophy brought no wine to his cup 1240

Although he set many a snare in the gardens of learning,

His snares never caught a glimpse of the Ideal bird;

And notwithstanding that the nails of his thought were dabbled with blood,

The knot of Being and Not-being remained united.

The sighs on his lips bore witness to his despair, 1245

His countenance told tales of his distraction.

One day he visited an excellent Sheikh,

A man who bad in his breast a heart of gold.

The Brahmin laid the seal of silence on his lips.

And lent his ear to the Sage's discourse. 1250

Then said the Sheikh; "O wanderer in the lofty sky!

Pledge thyself to be true, for a little, to the earth;

Thou hast lost thy way in wildernesses of speculation,

Thy fearless thought hath passed beyond Heaven.

Be reconciled with -earth, O sky- traveller! 1255

Do not. wander in quest of the essence of the stars;

I do not abandon thine idols.

Art thou an unbeliever; Then be worthy of the badge of unbelief !95

inheritor of ancient culture,

Turn not thy back on the path thy fathers trod; 1260

If a people's life is derived from unity,

Unbelief too is source of unity.

Thou that art not even a perfect infidel,

Art unfit to worship at the shrine-of the spirit.

We both are far astray from the road of devotion: 1265

Thou art far from Azar, and I from Abraham.96

Our Majnun hath not fallen into melancholy for his Laila's sake;

1 He hath not become perfect in the madness of love.

When the lamp of Self-expires,

What is the use of heaven surveying imagination ?" 1270

Once on a time, laying hold of the skirt of the mountain,

Ganges said to Himalaya:

"O thou mantled in snow since the morn of creation,

Thou whose form is girdled with streams,

God made thee a partner in the secrets of heaven. 1275

But deprived thy foot of graceful gait.

He took away from thee the power to walk:

What avails this sublimity and stateliness?

Life springs from perpetual movement;

Motion constitutes the wave's whole existence," 1280

When the mountain heard this taunt from the river,

He puffed angrily like a sea of fire,

And answered: "Thy wide waters are my looking-glass;

Within my bosom are a hundred rivers like thee.

This graceful gait of thine is an instrument', of death: 1285

Whoso goeth from Self is meet to die.

Thou hast no knowledge of thine own case,

Thou exultest in thy misfortune: thou art a fool!

O born of the womb of the revolving sky,

A fallen- in bank is better than thou! 1290

Thou hast made thine existence an offering to the ocean,

Thou hast thrown the rich purse of thy life to the highway man.

Be self-contained like the rose in the garden,

Do not 'go to the florist in order to spread thy perfume!

To live is to grow in thyself 1295

And gather roses from thine own flower bed.

Ages have gone by and my foot is fast on earth,

Dost thou fancy that I am far from my goal?

My being grew and reached the sky,

The Pleiads sank to rest under my skirts; 1300

Thy being vanishes in the ocean,

But on my crest the stars bow their heads.

Mine eye sees the mysteries of heaven,

Mine ear is familiar with angels' wings.

Since I glowed with the heat of unceasing toil, 1305

I amassed rubies, diamonds, and other gems.

I am stone within, and in the stone is fire:

Water cannot pass over my fire I"

Art thou a drop, of water? Do not break at. thine own feet,

But endeavour to surge and wrestle with the sea. 1310

Desire the water of a jewel, become a jewel!

Be an ear-drop, adorn a beauty

Oh, expand thyself! Move swiftly!

Be a cloud that shoots lightning and sheds a flood of rain!

Let the ocean sue for thy storms as a beggar, 1315

Let it complain of the straitness of its skirts

Let it deem itself less -than a wave

And glide along at thy feet!

XV: SHOWING THAT THE PURPOSE OF THE MUSLIM’S LIFE IS TO EXALT THE WORD OF ALLAH , AND THE THAT THE (WAR AGAINST UNBELIVERS), IF IT BE PROMPTED BY LAND-HUNGER, IS UNLAWFUL IN THE RELIGION OF ISLAM.

IMBUE thine heart With the tincture of Allah,

Give honour and glory to Love! 1320

The Muslim's nature prevails by means of love:

The Muslim, if he be not loving, is an infidel.

Upon God depends his seeing and not seeing,

His eating, drinking, and sleeping.

In his will that which God wills becomes lost- 1325

“How small a man believe this saying?97

He encamps in the, field of “There is no god but Allah”;

In the world he is a witness to mankind.98

His high estate is attested by the Prophet who was sent to men and Jinn-

The most truthful of witnesses. 1330

Leave words and seek that spiritual state,

Shed the light of God o'er the darkness of thy deeds!

Albeit clad in kingly robe, live as a dervish,

Live wakeful and meditating on God!

Whatever thou dost, let it be thine aim therein to draw nigh to God,1335

That his glory may be made manifest by thee

Peace becomes an evil, if its object aught else;

War is good if its object is God.

If God be not exalted by our swords

War dishonours the people. 1340

The holy Sheikh Miyan Mir Wali,99

By the light of whose soul every hidden thing was revealed

His feet were firmly planted on the path of Muhammad,

He was a flute for the impassioned music of love.

His tomb keeps our city safe from harm 1345

And causes the beams of true religion to shine on us.

Heaven stooped its brow to his threshold,

The Emperor of Indian was one of his disciples.100

Now, this monarch had sown the seed of ambition in his heart

And was resolved on conquest. 1350

The flames of vain desire were alight in him,

He was teaching his sword to ask, “Is there any more?”101

In the Deccan was a great noise of war

His army stood on the battle field.

He went to the Sheikh of heaven-high dignity 1355

That he might receive his blessing:

The Muslim turns from this world to God

And strengthens policy with prayer.

The Sheikh made no answer to the Emperor's speech,

The assembly of dervishes was all ears, 1360

Until a disciple, in his hand a silver coin,

Opened his lips and broke the silence-,

Saying, “Accept this poor offering from me,

O guide of them that have lost the way to God!

My limbs were bathed in sweat of labour 1365

Before I put away a dirhem in my skirt.”

The Sheikh said: “This money ought to be given to our Sultan,

Who is a beggar wearing the raiment of a king.

Though he holds sway over sun, moon. and stars,

Our Emperor is the most penniless of mankind. 1370

His eye is fixed on the table of strangers,

The fire of his hunger hath consumed a whole world.

His sword is followed by famine and plague,

His building lays wide and waste.

The folk are crying out because of his indigence; 1375

His empty handedness causes him to plunder the weak.

His power is an enemy to all:

Humankind are the caravan and he the brigand.

In his self-delusion and ignorance

He calls pillage by the name of empire 1380

Both the royal troops and those of the enemy

Are cloven in twain by the sword of his hunger.

The beggar's hunger consumes his own soul,

But the Sultan's hunger destroys state and religion.

Whoso shall draw the sword for anything except Allah, 1385

His sword is sheathed in his own breast.”

XVI: PRECEPTS WRITTEN FOR THE MUSLIMS OF INDIA BY MIR NAJAT NAKSHBAND, WHO IS GENERALLY KNOWN AS BABD SAHR’AI

102

THOU that hast grown from earth, like a rose,

Thou too art born of the womb of Self.

Do not abandon Self Persist therein

Be a drop of water and drink up the ocean 1390

Glowing with the light of Self as thou art,

Make Self strong, and thou with endure.

Thou gett'st profit from the trade,

Thou gain'st riches by preserving this commodity.

Thou art Being, and art thou afraid of not-being? 1395

Dear friend, thy understanding is at fault.

Since I am acquainted with the harmony of Life.

I will tell thee what is the secret of Life

To sink into thyself like the pearl,

Then to emerge from thine inward solitude; 1400

To collect sparks beneath the ashes,

And become a flame and dazzle -men's eyes.

Go, burn the house of forty years' tribulation,

Move round thyself! By a circling flame

What is Life but to be freed from moving round others 1405

And to regard thyself as the Holy Temple ?

Beat thy wings and escape from the attraction of Earth:

Like birds be safe from failing.

Unless thou art a bird., thou wilt do wisely

Not to build thy nest on the top of a cave. 1410

thou that seekest to acquire knowledge,

1 say o'er to thee the message of the Sage of Rum:103

"Knowledge, if it lie on thy skin, is a snake;

Knowledge, if thou take it to heart, is a friend."

Hast thou heard how the Master of Rum 1415

Gave lectures on philosophy at Aleppo?

Fast in the bonds of intellectual proofs,

Drifting o'er the dark and stormy sea of understanding;

A Moses unillumined by Love's Sinai,

Ignorant of Love and of Love's passion. 1420

He discoursed on Scepticism and Neoplatonism,

And strung many a brilliant pearl of- metaphysics.

He unravelled the problems of the Peripatetics,

The light of his thought made clear whatever was obscure.

Heaps of books lay around and in front of him, 1425

And on his lips was the key to all their mysteries.

Shams-i-Tabriz, directed by Kamal,104

Sought his way to the college Of Jalauddin Rumi

And cried out, "What is all 'this noise and babble ?

What are all these syllogisms and judgements and demonstrations?"

"Peace, O fool!" exclaimed the Maulvi,

"Do not laugh at the doctrines of the sages.

Get thee out of my college!

This is argument and discussion; what hast thou to do with it ?

My discourse is beyond thy under standing. 1435

It brightens the glass of perception!

These words increased the anger of Shams-i-Tabriz

And caused a fire to burst forth from his soul.

The lightning of his look fell on the earth,

And the Slow of his breath made the dust spring into flames. 1440

The spiritual fire burned the intellectual stack

And clean consumed the library of the philosopher.

The Maulvi, being a stranger to Love's miracles

And unversed in Love's harmonies,

Cried, "How didst thou kindle this fire, 1445

Which hath burned the books of the philosophers ?"

The Sheikh answered, "O unbelieving Muslim,

This is vision and ecstasy: what hast thou to do with it ?

My state is beyond thy thought,

My flame is the Alchemist's elixir," 1450

Thou hast drawn thy substance from the snow of philosophy,

The cloud of thy thought sheds nothing but hailstones.

Kindle a fire in thy rubble,

Foster a flame in thy earth!

The Muslim's knowledge is perfected by spiritual fervour, 1455

The meaning of Islam is Renounce what shall pass away.

When Abraham escaped from the bondage of "that which sets,"105

He sat unhurt in the midst of flames.106

Thou hast cast knowledge of God behind thee

And squandered thy religion for the sake of a loaf. 1460

Thou art hot in pursuit of antimony,

Thou art unaware of the blackness of thine own eye.

Seek k the Fountain of Life from the sword's edge.

And the River of Paradise from the dragon's mouth.

Demand the Black Stone from the door of the house of idols. 1465

And the musk-deer's bladder from a mad dog,

But do not seek the glow of Love from the knowledge of today,

Do not seek the nature of Truth from this infidel's cup!

Long have I been running to and fro,

Learning the secrets of the New Knowledge 1470

Its gardeners have put me to the trial

And have made me intimate with their roses.

Roses! Tulips, rather, that warn one not to smell them

Like paper roses, a mirage of perfume.

Since this garden ceased to enthrall me 1475

1 have nested on the Paradisal tree.

Modern knowledge is the greatest blind

Idol- worshipping, idol-selling, idol making!

Shackled in the prison of phenomena,

It has not over leaped the limits of the sensible. 1480

It has fallen down in crossing the bridge of Life,

It has laid the knife to its own throat.

Its fire is cold as the flame of the tulip;

Its flames are frozen like hail.

its nature remains untouched by the glow of Love, 1485

It is ever engaged in joyless search.

Love is the Plato that heals the sicknesses of the mind:107

The mind's melancholy is cured by its lancet.

The-whole world bows in adoration to Love,

Love is the Mahmud that conquers the Somnath of intellect.108 1490

Modern science lacks this old wine in its cup,

Its nights are not loud with passionate prayer.

Thou hast misprized thine own cypress

And deemed tall the cypress of others.

Like the reed, thou hast emptied thyself of Self. 1495

And given thine heart to the music of others,

O thou that begg'st morsels from an other's table.

Witt thou seek thine own kind in another's shop?

The Muslim's assembly-place is burned up by the lamps of strangers,

His mosque is consumed by the sparks of monasticism. 1500

When the deer fled from the sacred territory of Mecca,

The hunter's arrow pierced her side.109

The leaves of the rose are scattered like its scent:

O thou that has fled from the Self, come back to it:

O trustee of the wisdom of the Koran, 1505

Find the lost unity again!

We, who keep the gate of the citadel of Islam,

Have become unbelievers by neglecting the watchword of Islam.

The ancient Saqi's bowl is shattered,

The wine-party of the Hij az is broken up 1510

The Ka'ba is filled with our idols,

Infidelity mocks at our Islam.

Our Sheikh hath gambled Islam away for love of idols.

And made a rosary of the zunnar.110

Our spiritual directors owe their rank to their white hairs 1515

And are the laughing-stock of children in the street;

Their hearts bear no impress of the Faith

But house the idols of sensuality.

Every long-haired fellow wears the garb of a dervish

Alas for these traffickers in religion! 1520

Day and night they are travelling about with disciples,

Insensible to the great needs of Islam.

Their eyes are without light, like the narcissus.

Their breasts devoid of spiritual wealth.

Preachers and Sufis, all worship worldliness alike; 1525

The prestige of the pure religion is ruined.

Our preacher fixed his eyes on the pagoda

And the mufti of the Faith sold his verdict.

After this, O friends, what are we to do?

Our guide turns his face towards the wine -house. 1530

XVII: TIME IS A SWORD

GREEN be the holy grave of Shafi'i,!

Whose vine hath cheered a whole world ?

His thought plucked a star from heavens:

He named time "a cutting sword."111

How shall I say what is the secret of this sword ? 1535

In its flashing edge there is life.

Its owner is exalted above hope and fear.

His hand is whiter than the hand of Moses.

At one stroke thereof water gushes from the rock

And the sea becomes land from dearth of moisture. 1540

Moses held this sword in his hand,

Therefore he wrought more than man may contrive.

He clove the Red Sea asunder

And made its waters like dry earth.

The arm of Ali, the conqueror of Khaibar, 1545

Drew its strength from this same sword

The revolution of the sky is worth seeing,

The change of day and night is worth observing.112

Look, I thou enthralled by Yesterday and Tomorrow,

Behold another world in thine, on heart! 1550.

Thou hast sown the seed of darkness in the clay,

Thou hast imagined Time as a line.

Thy thought measures length of Time With the measure

Of night and day.

Thou mak'st this line a girdle on thine infidel waist; 1555

Thou art an advertiser of falsehoods like idols.

Thou wert the Elixir, and thou hast become a Peck of dust;

Thou wert born the conscience of Truth and thou hast become a lie!

Art thou a Muslim girdle! Then cast of this girdle!

Be a candle to the feast of the religion of the free! 1560

Knowing not the origin of Time,

Thou art ignorant of everlasting Life.

How long wilt thou be a thrall of night and day?

Learn the mystery of Time from the words "I have a time with God.'113

Phenomena arise from the march of Time, 1565

Life is one of Time's mysteries.

The cause of Time is not the revolution of the sun

Time is everlasting, but the sun does not last for ever.

Time is joy and sorrow, festival and fast,

Time is the secret of moonlight and sunlight. 1570

Thou hast extended Time, like Space,

And distinguished Yesterday from Tomorrow.

Thou hast fled like a scent, from thine own garden;

Thou hast made thy prison with thine own hand.

Our Time which has neither r beginning nor end, 1575

Blossoms from the flower-bed of our, mind.

To know its root quickens the living with new life:

Its being is more splendid than the dawn.

Life is of Time, and Time is of Life:

"Do not abuse Time !" was the command of the Prophet.114

Oh, the memory of those days when Time's sword

Was allied with the strength of our hands !115

We sowed the seed of religion in men's hearts

And unveiled the face of Truth;

Our nails tore loose the knot of this world, 1585

Our bowing in prayer give blessings to the earth.

From the jar of Truth we made rosy wine gush forth,

We charged against the ancient taverns.

O thou in whose cup is old wine

A wine so hot that the glass is well nigh turned to water, 1590

Wilt thou in thy pride and arrogance and self-conceit

Taunt us with our emptiness?

Our cup, too, hath graced the symposium

Our breast hath owned a spirit.

The new age with all its glories 1595

Hath risen from the dust of our feet.

Our blood hath watered God's harvest,

All worshippers of God are our debtors.

The takbir was our gift to the world,116

Ka'bas were built of our clay. 1600

By means of us God taught the Koran,

From our hand He dispensed His bounty.

Although crown and signet have passed from us,

Do not look with contempt on our beggarliness!

In thine eyes we are good for nothing, 1605

Thinking old thoughts, despicable.

We have honour from "There is no god but Allah."

We are the protectors of the universe.

Freed from the vexation of to-day and tomorrow.

We have pledged ourselves to love One. 1610

We are the conscience hidden in God's heart,

We are the heirs of Moses and Aaron,

Sun and moon are still bright with our radiance,

Lightning-flashes still lurk in our cloud.

In our essence Divinity is mirrored: 1615

The Muslim's being is one of the signs of God.