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5
171-195

  • “Come hither,” said he, “do not (lose thy wits); hark, come to thyself, for there are (great) things to be done with thee here.”
  • He threw water on his face, and he (the infidel) began to speak, saying, “O witness of God, recite the Testimony (profession of the Faith),
  • That I may bear witness (to its truth) and go forth (from unbelief): I am weary of this (unreal) existence and will go into the wilderness (of reality).”
  • In this court of the Judge who pronounces the Decree we are (present) for the purpose of (making good) our claim (to fulfil the covenant signified by the words) “Am not I (your Lord)?” and “Yea”;
  • For we said, “Yea,” and (since we are) on trial our acts and words are the (necessary) witnesses and evidence of that (assent). 175
  • Wherefore do we keep silence in the court of the Judge? Have not we come (here) to bear testimony?
  • How long, O witness, wilt thou remain under detention in the court of the Judge? Give thy testimony betimes.
  • Thou hast been summoned hither that thou mayst give the testimony and show no disobedience;
  • (But) in thy obstinacy thou hast sat down and closed (both) hand and mouth in this confinement.
  • Until thou give that testimony, O witness, how wilt thou escape from this court? 180
  • ’Tis the affair of a moment. Perform (thy duty) and run away: do not make a short matter long (tedious and irksome) to thyself.
  • As thou wilt, whether during a hundred years or in a moment, discharge this trust and acquit thyself (of it).
  • Explaining that (ritual) prayer and fasting and all (such) external things are witnesses to the inner light.
  • This (ritual) prayer and fasting and pilgrimage and holy war are the attestation of the (inward) belief.
  • The giving of alms and presents and the abandonment of envy are the attestation of one's secret thoughts.
  • Dishes of food and hospitality are for the purpose of declaring that “we, O noble (guests), have become in true accord with you.” 185
  • Gifts and presents and offerings bear witness (saying implicitly), “I am pleased with thee.”
  • (If) any one exerts himself in (giving) money or in conjuration, what is (the meaning of) it? (He means to say), “I have a jewel within.
  • I have a jewel, namely, abstinence or generosity”: this alms-giving and fasting are witnesses in regard to both (these qualities).
  • Fasting says (implicitly), “He has abstained from what is lawful: know (therefore) that he has no connexion with what is unlawful”;
  • And his alms-giving said (implicitly), “He gives of his own property: how, then, should he steal from the religious?” 190
  • If he act as a cutpurse (from self-interest), then the two witnesses are invalidated in the court of Divine justice.
  • He is a fowler if he scatter grain not from mercy and munificence but in order to catch (the birds).
  • He is a cat keeping the fast and feigning to be asleep at fast-time for the purpose of (seizing) his ignorant prey.
  • By this unrighteousness he makes a hundred parties (of people) suspicious, he causes the generous and abstinent to be in ill repute.
  • (But) notwithstanding that he weaves crookedly, in the end the grace of God will purge him of all this (hypocrisy). 195