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1
1249-1298

  • All this he knew; (yet) when the Divine destiny came, he was at fault in the knowledge of a single prohibition,
  • Wondering whether the prohibition was for the purpose of making unlawful (the thing prohibited), or whether it admitted of an interpretation and was a cause of perplexity. 1250
  • When (the view that it admitted of) interpretation prevailed in his mind, his nature hastened in bewilderment towards the wheat.
  • When the thorn went into the foot of the gardener (Adam), the thief (Satan) found an opportunity and quickly carried off the goods.
  • As soon as he escaped from bewilderment, he returned into the (right) road; (then) he saw that the thief had carried off the wares from the shop.
  • He cried, ‘O Lord, we have done wrong,’ and ‘Alas,’ that is to say, ‘darkness came and the way was lost.’
  • Divine destiny, then, is a cloud that covers the sun: thereby lions and dragons become as mice. 1255
  • If I (the hoopoe) do not see a snare in the hour of Divine ordainment, ’tis not I alone who am ignorant in the course of Divine ordainment.”
  • Oh, happy he that clave to righteousness, he (that) let (his own) strength go and took to supplication!
  • If the Divine destiny shrouds thee in black like night, yet the Divine destiny will take thy hand (and guide thee) at the last.
  • If the Divine destiny a hundred times attempts thy life, yet the Divine destiny gives thee life and heals thee.
  • This Divine destiny, if a hundred times it waylays thee, (nevertheless) pitches thy tent on the top of Heaven. 1260
  • Know that this is from the loving kindness (of God), that He terrifies thee in order that He may establish thee in the kingdom of security.
  • This subject hath no end. ’Tis late. Hearken (now) to the story of the hare and the lion.
  • How the hare drew back from the lion when he approached the well.
  • When the lion came near the well, he saw that the hare lagged on the way and stepped back.
  • He said, “Why have you stepped back? Do not step back, come on!”
  • The hare said, “Where is my (power to move a) foot? for (both) hand and foot are gone. My soul trembles and my heart (courage) has fled. 1265
  • Seest thou not the colour of my face (pale) as gold? My colour indeed is giving knowledge of my inward state.
  • Since God has called the (external) sign (aspect) informative, the eye of the gnostic has remained turned towards the sign.
  • Colour and scent are significant like a bell: the neigh of a horse makes (one) acquainted with the horse.
  • The sound made by any thing conveys knowledge of it, so that you may distinguish the bray of an ass from the creak of a door.
  • Touching the discrimination of persons (one from another), the Prophet said, ‘A man is hidden when his tongue is folded up.’ 1270
  • The colour of the face indicates the state of the heart: have pity on me, implant love of me in thy heart.
  • A red complexion has the sound of (declares and expresses) thankfulness (satisfaction); the sound (signification) of a pale complexion has the sound (signification) of patience.
  • There has come upon me that which takes away hand and foot, takes away colour of face and strength and (every outward) mark;
  • That which shatters every thing it comes upon, tears up every tree from root and bottom;
  • There has come upon me that by which man and animal, mineral and plant have been checkmated. 1275
  • These indeed are (only) parts, (but) wholes (too) are by him (Doom) made yellow in hue and corrupt in odour,
  • So that the world is now patient, now thankful; the garden now puts on a robe (of verdure) and again is bare.
  • The sun, which rises fire-coloured, at another hour sinks headlong.
  • Stars shining in the four quarters (of the sky) are, from time to time, afflicted with (consumed by) burning.
  • The moon, which excels the stars in beauty, becomes like a phantom from the malady of a phthisis. 1280
  • This earth, quiet and controlled, is thrown by earthquakes into feverish tremors.
  • Oh, from this inherited woe many a mountain in the world has become tiny fragments and (grains of) sand.
  • This air is conjoined with the (vital) spirit, (but) when the Divine destiny comes, it turns pestilential and stinking.
  • The sweet water that was a sister (congenial) to the spirit, (after standing) in a pool, became yellow and bitter and turbid.
  • The fire that has wind in its moustache—a single puff of wind calls death upon it. 1285
  • The state of the sea (is such that) from its agitation and commotion (you may) perceive the changes of its mind.
  • The whirling heaven, which is (ever engaged) in seeking and searching—its state is like the state of its children;
  • Now nadir, now middle, now zenith: therein are host on host of stars fortunate and unlucky.
  • From thyself, O part made up of wholes, apprehend the state of every simple (uncompounded) thing.
  • Inasmuch as wholes suffer grief and pain, how should their part not be pale-faced (sick and subject to decay)? 1290
  • Especially a part which is composed of contraries—of water and earth and fire and air.
  • It is no wonder that the sheep recoiled from the wolf; the wonder is that this sheep set its heart on (became friendly with) the wolf.
  • Life is the peace (harmony) of contraries; death is the fact that war arose between them.
  • The grace of God has given amity to this lion and wild-ass— these two far distant contraries.
  • Since the world is sick and a prisoner, what wonder if the sick one is passing away?” 1295
  • From this point of view he (the hare) recited counsels to the lion. “I have lagged behind,” said he, “because of these bonds.”
  • How the lion asked the reason of the hare's drawing back.
  • The lion said to him, “Amongst (all) the causes of your malady tell (me) the special cause, for this is my object.”
  • “That lion,” he said, “lives in this well: within this fortress he is safe from harms.”