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2
499-523

  • If the beggar distinguished (God as He really is) from his own saying (the name of God), neither less nor more would remain before his eye.
  • For years that bread-seeker says “god”; like the ass, he carries the Qur’án for the sake of (being fed with) straw. 500
  • Had the word on his lips shone forth in his heart, his body would have been shivered to atoms.
  • In sorcery the name of a demon finds the way (to success); you are earning a petty coin by means of the Name of God.
  • How a peasant stroked a lion in the dark, because he thought it was his ox.
  • A peasant tied an ox in the stable: a lion ate his ox and sat in its place.
  • The peasant went into the stable to (see) the ox: the man, groping into corners, was seeking the ox at night.
  • He was rubbing his hand on the limbs of the lion, back and side, now above, now below. 505
  • The lion said, “If the light were to become greater, his gall-bladder would burst and his heart would turn to blood.
  • He is stroking me like this so boldly because in this (dark) night he thinks I am the ox.”
  • God is saying, “O blind dupe, did not Túr (Sinai) fall in pieces at My Name?
  • For if We had sent down (revealed) a Book to the mountain, it would have been riven asunder, then cut to pieces, and then it would have departed (disappeared).
  • If Mount Uhud had been acquainted with Me, it would have been shivered to pieces and its heart would have been filled with blood.” 510
  • You have heard this from your father and mother; in consequence you have embraced it thoughtlessly.
  • If you become acquainted with this without blind imitation, by (His) grace you will become immaterial, like a voice from Heaven.
  • Hear this (following) story as a deterrent, in order that you may know the banefulness of blind imitation.
  • How the Súfís sold the traveller's beast (to pay) for the (expenses of the) mystic dance.
  • A Súfí, after journeying, arrived at a monastery (for Súfís); he took his mount and led it to the stable.
  • With his own hand he gave it a little water and some fodder: (he was) not such a Súfí as the one we told of before. 515
  • He took precaution for it against neglect and craziness, (but) when the (Divine) destiny comes to pass, of what avail is precaution?
  • The Súfís were destitute and poor: poverty almost comprises an infidelity that brings (the soul) to perdition.
  • O thou rich man who art full fed, beware of laughing at the unrighteousness of the suffering poor.
  • On account of their destitution that Súfí flock, all of them, adopted (the expedient of) selling the ass,
  • Saying, “(In case) of necessity a carcase is lawful (food); (there is) many a vicious act that necessity made a virtuous one.” 520
  • They instantly sold the little ass; they fetched dainty viands and lit candles.
  • Jubilation arose in the monastery: (they cried), “To-night there are dainties and music and dancing and voracity.
  • How much (more) of this (carrying the) wallet and this beggary? How much (more) of this patience and of this three-day fasting?