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1
359-383

  • I have escaped from Jews and Judaism so (entirely) that I have bound my waist with a (Christian) girdle.
  • The (present) epoch is the epoch of Jesus. O men, hearken with your souls unto the mysteries of his religion!’” 360
  • The king did to him that deed (mutilation) which he had proposed: the people remained in amazement at that hidden (mysterious) plot.
  • He (the king) drove him away to the Christians. After that, he (the vizier) began to proselytise.
  • How the Christians let themselves be duped by the vizier.
  • Myriads of Christian men gathered round him, little by little, in his abode,
  • (While) he secretly expounded to them the mysteries of Gospel and girdle and prayer.
  • Outwardly he was a preacher of (religious) ordinances, but inwardly he was (as) the whistle and snare (of the fowler). 365
  • On this account some Companions (of Mohammed) begged of the Prophet (that he would acquaint them with) the deceitfulness of the ghoul-like soul,
  • Saying, “What of hidden selfish interests does it mingle in acts of worship and in pure spiritual devotion?”
  • They were not seeking from him excellence of piety; they were inquiring where lay the outward defect.
  • Hair by hair, speck by speck, they were recognising the deceitfulness of the fleshly soul as (plainly as the difference of) the rose from parsley.
  • Even the hair-splitters (the most scrupulous) of the Companions used to become distraught in spirit at the (Prophet's) admonition to them (the inquirers). 370
  • How the Christians followed the vizier.
  • The Christians all gave their hearts to him: what (how great), indeed, is the strength of the (blind) conformity of the vulgar!
  • They planted love of him within their breasts, they were regarding him as the vicar of Jesus.
  • He inwardly (in reality) was the accursed one-eyed Antichrist. O God, do Thou (hear and) answer the cry (of those in trouble) —what a good helper art Thou!
  • O God, there are myriads of snares and baits, and we are as greedy foodless birds.
  • From moment to moment we are caught in a fresh snare, though we become, each one, (like) a falcon or a Símurgh. 375
  • Every moment Thou art delivering us, and again we are going to a snare, O Thou who art without want!
  • We are putting corn in this barn, (and then) we are losing the corn that has been garnered.
  • (Why), after all, do not we consider with intelligent mind that this damage to the corn arises from the deceitfulness of the mouse?
  • Since the mouse has made a hole in our barn, and our barn has been ravaged by its guile,
  • O soul, in the first place avert the mischief of the mouse, and then show fervour (zeal) in garnering the corn. 380
  • Hear (one) of the sayings related from the Chiefest of the Chief (the Prophet): “No prayer is complete without ‘presence’ (concentration of the mind on God).”
  • If there is no thievish mouse in our barn, where is the corn of forty years' works (of devotion)?
  • Why is the daily sincerity (of our devotions) not being stored, bit by bit, in this barn of ours?