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1
1014-1063

  • He (God) made the ascetic of six hundred thousand years (Iblís) a muzzle for that young calf (Adam),
  • That he (Adam) might not be able to drink the milk of knowledge of religion, and that he might not roam around that lofty castle. 1015
  • The sciences of the followers of (external) sense became a muzzle, so that he (the believer in sense-perception) might not receive milk from that sublime knowledge.
  • (But) into the blood-drop (core) of the heart there fell a jewel which He (God) gave not to the seas and skies.
  • How long (this regard for) form? After all, O form-worshipper, has thy reality-lacking soul not (yet) escaped from form?
  • If a human being were a man in virtue of form, Ahmad (Mohammed) and Bú Jahl would be just the same.
  • The painting on the wall is like Adam: see from the (pictured) form what thing in it is wanting. 1020
  • The spirit is wanting in that resplendent form: go, seek that jewel rarely found!
  • The heads of all the lions in the world were laid low when They (God) gave a hand to (bestowed favour on) the dog of the Companions (of the Cave).
  • What loss does it suffer from that abhorred shape, inasmuch as its spirit was plunged in the ocean of light?
  • ’Tis not in pens to describe (the outward) form: (what is written) in letters is (qualities like) “learned” and “just”;
  • (And qualities like) “learned” and “just” are only the spiritual essence which thou wilt not find in (any) place or in front or behind. 1025
  • The sun of the spirit strikes (with its beams) on the body from the quarter where (the relation of) place does not exist: it (that sun) is not contained in the sky.
  • An account of the knowledge of the hare and an explanation of the excellence and advantages of knowledge.
  • This topic hath no end. Give heed! Attend to the story of the hare.
  • Sell your asinine (corporeal) ear and buy another ear, for the asinine ear will not apprehend this discourse.
  • Go, behold the foxy tricks played by the hare; behold the cunning of the hare and how he overthrew the lion.
  • Knowledge is the seal of the kingdom of Solomon: the whole world is form, and knowledge is the spirit. 1030
  • Because of this virtue, the creatures of the seas and those of mountain and plain are helpless before man.
  • Of him the pard and lion are afraid, like the mouse; from him the leviathan and the sea are in pallor and agitation.
  • From him peri and demon took to the shores (sought refuge): each took abode in some hiding-place.
  • Man hath many a secret enemy: the cautious man is a wise one.
  • (There are) hidden creatures, evil and good: at every instant their blows are striking on the heart. 1035
  • If you go into the river to wash yourself, a thorn in the water inflicts a hurt upon you.
  • Although the thorn is hidden low in the water, you know it is there, since it is pricking you.
  • The pricks of (angelic) inspirations and (satanic) temptations are from thousands of beings, not (only) from one.
  • Wait (patiently) for your (bodily) senses to be transmuted, so that you may see them (the hidden beings), and the difficulty may be solved,
  • So that (you may see) whose words you have rejected and whom you have made your captain. 1040
  • How the beasts requested the hare to tell the secret of his thought.
  • Afterwards they said, “O nimble hare, communicate what is in thy apprehension.
  • O thou who hast grappled with a lion, declare the plan which thou hast thought of.
  • Counsel gives perception and understanding: the mind is helped by (other) minds.
  • The Prophet said, ‘O adviser, take counsel (with the trustworthy), for he whose counsel is sought is trusted.’”
  • How the hare withheld the secret from them.
  • He said, “One ought not to say forth every secret: sometimes the even number turns out to be odd, and sometimes the odd number to be even.” 1045
  • If from guilelessness you breathe words to a mirror, the mirror at once becomes dim to us.
  • Do not move your lip in explanation of these three things, (namely) concerning your departure and your gold and your religion;
  • For to these three there is many an adversary and foe standing in wait for you when he knows (about any of them).
  • And if you tell (only) one or two (a few people), farewell (to your secret): every secret that goes beyond the twain (who share it) is published abroad.
  • If you tie two or three birds together, they will remain on the ground, imprisoned by grief; 1050
  • (But in truth) they hold a consultation well-disguised and mingled, in its (apparent) significance, with that which casts error (into the mind of any one who observes them).
  • (Similarly) the Prophet used to take counsel, (speaking) cryptically, and they (his companions) would answer him and (would be) without knowledge (of his real meaning).
  • He would speak his opinion in a covert parable, in order that the adversary might not know foot from head.
  • He (the Prophet) would receive his answer from him (the adversary), while the other would not catch the smell (drift) of his question.
  • The story of the hare's stratagem.
  • He delayed awhile in going, then he went before the lion who rends (his prey) with claws. 1055
  • Because he tarried late in going, the lion was tearing up the earth and roaring.
  • “I said,” cried the lion, “that the promise of those vile ones would be vain—vain and frail and unfulfilled.
  • Their palaver has duped me: how long will this Time deceive me, how long?”
  • The prince that hath no strength in his beard is left sorely in the lurch when by reason of his folly he looks neither backwards nor forwards.
  • The road is smooth, and under it are pitfalls: amidst the names there is a dearth of meaning. 1060
  • Words and names are like pitfalls: the sweet (flattering) word is the sand for (the sand that sucks up) the water of our life.
  • The one sand whence water gushes is seldom to be found: go, seek it.
  • He that searches after wisdom becomes a fountain of wisdom; he becomes independent of acquisition and (ways and) means.