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5
2624-2648

  • So that I beheld the face of Azrael; (now) again you have brought cunning and plausible suggestion (to bear on me).
  • Though I am a disgrace to the asses or an ass (myself), (yet) I am possessed of life, I have a vital spirit: how should I purchase (accept and believe) this (palaver)? 2625
  • If a child had seen the pitiless horror that I saw, it would instantly have become old.
  • Deprived of heart and soul by dread of that awful object, I threw myself headlong from the mountain.
  • My legs were tied (paralysed) by terror as soon as I perceived that (cruel) torment without (any) barrier (between it and me).
  • I made a promise to God, crying, ‘O gracious One, do Thou loose my legs from this bondage,
  • So that henceforth I may not listen to any one's temptation: I promise, I vow (that I will not listen), O Helper!’ 2630
  • Thereupon God loosed my legs because of my prayer and humble entreaty and indication (of abasement);
  • Else the fierce lion would have overtaken me: how would an ass have fared in the grip of a lion?
  • Now the lion of the jungle has sent you to me again for the purpose of deceit, O evil companion that you are!”
  • (I swear) by the truth of the Holy Person of Allah, the Lord, that a malign snake is better than a malign friend.
  • The malign snake takes a soul (life) from the man it has bitten; the malign friend leads him into the everlasting Fire. 2635
  • Thy heart secretly steals its disposition from the disposition of thy companion, without speech and talk on his part.
  • When he casts his shadow over thee, that unprincipled one steals away thy principles from thee.
  • (Even) if thy reason has become (as strong as) a furious dragon, know that the evil companion is an emerald to it.
  • Through him the eye of thy reason starts out (of the socket): his (vicious) thrusts deliver thee into the hands of pestilence.
  • The answer of the fox to the ass.
  • The fox said, “There are no dregs in my pure liquor, but the illusions of imagination are not small. 2640
  • All this is your imagination, O simpleton, for I bear no malice and rancour against you.
  • Do not regard me from (the standpoint of) your evil fancy: wherefore do you cherish ill thoughts against your lovers?
  • Think well of the sincere, even though unkindness come from them in appearance.
  • When this evil fancy and imagination is manifested, it severs a hundred thousand friends from one another.
  • If an affectionate (friend) has behaved unjustly and made a trial (of one's loyalty), understanding is needed to prevent one from thinking ill (of him). 2645
  • In particular, I, who have a bad name, was not evil-natured (in regard to you): what you saw was nothing evil, it was (only) a magic spell;
  • And if, hypothetically, that purpose (of mine) had been evil, (still) friends pardon such a fault.”
  • The world of imagination and the phantom of hope and fear is a great obstacle to the traveller (on the mystic Way).