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1
595-644

  • They all said: “O vizier, it is not disbelief: our words are not as the words of strangers. 595
  • The tears of our eyes are running because of our separation from thee; sigh after sigh is going (up) from the midst of our souls.
  • A babe does not contend with its nurse, but it weeps, although it knows neither evil nor good.
  • We are as the harp and thou art striking (it with) the plectrum (playing on it): the lamentation is not from us, it is thou that art making lamentation.
  • We are as the flute, and the music in us is from thee; we are as the mountain, and the echo in us is from thee.
  • We are as pieces of chess (engaged) in victory and defeat: our victory and defeat is from thee, O thou whose qualities are comely! 600
  • Who are we, O thou soul of our souls, that we should remain in being beside thee?
  • We and our existences are (really) non-existences: thou art the absolute Being which manifests the perishable (causes phenomena to appear).
  • We all are lions, but lions on a banner: because of the wind they are rushing onward from moment to moment.
  • Their onward rush is visible, and the wind is unseen: may that which is unseen never fail!
  • Our wind (that whereby we are moved) and our being are of thy gift; our whole existence is from thy bringing (us) into being. 605
  • Thou didst show the delightfulness of Being unto not-being, (after) thou hadst caused not-being to fall in love with thee.
  • Take not away the delightfulness of thy bounty; take not away thy dessert and wine and wine-cup!
  • And if thou take it away, who will make inquiry of thee? How should the picture strive with the painter?
  • Do not look on us, do not fix thy gaze on us: look on thine own kindness and generosity.
  • We were not, and there was no demand on our part, (yet) thy grace was hearkening to our unspoken prayer (and calling us into existence).” 610
  • Before the painter and the brush the picture is helpless and bound like a child in the womb.
  • Before Omnipotence all the people of the (Divine) court of audience (the world) are as helpless as the (embroiderer's) fabric before the needle.
  • Now He makes the picture thereon (one of) the Devil, now (of) Adam; now He makes the picture thereon (one of) joy, now (one of) grief.
  • There is no power (to any one) that he should move a hand in defence; no (right of) speech, that he should utter a word concerning injury or benefit.
  • Recite from the Qur’án the interpretation of (i.e. a text which interprets) the (preceding) verse: God said, Thou didst not throw when thou threwest. 615
  • If we let fly an arrow, that (action) is not from us: we are (only) the bow, and the shooter of the arrow is God.
  • This is not jabr (compulsion); it is the meaning of jabbárí (almightiness): the mention of almightiness is for the sake of (inspiring us with) humility.
  • Our humility is evidence of necessity, (but) our sense of guilt is evidence of freewill.
  • If there were not freewill, what is this shame? And what is this sorrow and guilty confusion and abashment?
  • Why is there chiding between pupils and masters? Why is the mind changing (so as to depart) from plans (already formed)? 620
  • And if you say that he (the assertor of free-will) takes no heed of the (Divine) compulsion, (and that) God's moon (majesty) hides its face (from him) in the cloud (of his own blindness),
  • There is a good answer to this; if you hearken, you will relinquish unbelief and incline towards the (true) religion.
  • Remorse and humility occur at the time of illness: the time of illness is wholly wakefulness (of conscience).
  • At the time when you are becoming ill, you pray God to forgive your trespass;
  • The foulness of your sin is shown to you, you resolve to come back to the (right) way; 625
  • You make promises and vows that henceforth your chosen course (of action) will be nothing but obedience (to God):
  • Therefore it has become certain that illness gives to you conscience and wakefulness.
  • Note, then, this principle, O thou that seekest the principle; every one who suffers pain has caught the scent (thereof):
  • The more wakeful any one is, the more full of suffering he is; the more aware (of God) he is, the paler he is in countenance.
  • If you are aware of His jabr (compulsion), where is your humility? Where is your feeling of (being loaded with) the chain of His jabbárí (almightiness)? 630
  • How should one make merry who is bound in chains? When does the captive in prison behave like the man who is free?
  • And if you consider that your foot is shackled (and that) the king's officers are sitting (as custodians) over you,
  • Then do not act like an officer (tyrannously) towards the helpless, inasmuch as that is not the nature and habit of a helpless man.
  • Since you do not feel His compulsion, do not say (that you are compelled); and if you feel it, where is the sign of your feeling?
  • In every act for which you have inclination, you are clearly conscious of your power (to perform it), 635
  • (But) in the act for which you have no inclination and desire, you make yourself a necessitarian, saying, “This is from God.”
  • The prophets are necessitarians in regard to the works of this world, (while) the infidels are necessitarians in regard to the works of the next world.
  • To the prophets the works of the next world are (a matter of) freewill; to the foolish the works of this world are (a matter of) freewill,
  • Because every bird flies to its own congener: it (follows) behind, and its spirit (goes) before, (leading it on).
  • Inasmuch as the infidels were congeners of Sijjn (Hell), they were well-disposed to the prison (sijn) of this world. 640
  • Inasmuch as the prophets were congeners of ‘Illiyyín (Heaven), they went towards the ‘Illiyyín of spirit and heart.
  • This discourse hath no end, but let us (now) relate the story to its completion.
  • How the vizier made the disciples lose hope of his abandoning seclusion.
  • The vizier cried out from within, “O disciples, be this made known to you from me,
  • That Jesus hath given me a such-like message: ‘Be separated from all friends and kinsfolk.