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2
1445-1494

  • To kill the cow (the fleshly soul) is the stipulation of (imposed by) the (Súfí) Path, in order that the spirit may be restored to consciousness by the stroke of her tail. 1445
  • Kill most quickly the cow, your fleshly soul, so that the hidden spirit may become alive and conscious.
  • Resumption of the story of Dhu ’l-Nún, may God sanctify his spirit!
  • When those persons arrived near him, he shouted, “Hey, who are ye? Take care!”
  • They said respectfully, “We are some of thy friends: we have come hither in devotion to ask after thee.
  • How art thou, O Sea of manifold intelligence? What aspersion on thy intelligence is this (alleged) madness?
  • How should the smoke of the bath-stove attain unto the Sun? How should the ‘Anqá be crushed by the crow? 1450
  • Do not withhold (the truth) from us: explain this matter; we are lovers (of thee): do not behave to us in this fashion.
  • One ought not to drive lovers away or dupe them by mask and false pretence.
  • Communicate the secret, O King: do not hide thy face in the cloud, O Moon!
  • We are loving and true and with wounded (bleeding) hearts: in the two worlds we have fixed our hearts on thee (alone).”
  • He began (to use) foul words and bad names recklessly: he spoke gibberish like madmen. 1455
  • He jumped up and let fly stones and sticks; the whole party fled for fear of blows.
  • He laughed loudly and tossed his head (in scorn). “Look,” said he, “at the vain bluster of these friends!
  • See the friends! Where is the sign of (true) friends? To (true) friends pain is as (dear as) life.”
  • How should a friend turn aside from the pain inflicted by his friend? Pain is the kernel, and friendship is (only) as the husk to it.
  • Has not joy in tribulation and calamity and suffering become the sign of (true) friendship? 1460
  • A friend is like gold, tribulation is like the fire: the pure gold is glad in the heart of the fire.
  • How Luqmán's master tested his sagacity.
  • (Was it) not (the case) that (this happened) to Luqmán, who was a pure (unselfish) slave, and day and night was brisk in service?
  • His master used to prefer him (to all others) in the work (of service) and deem him better than his own sons,
  • Because Luqmán, though he was slave-born, was the master (of himself) and was free from sensual desire.
  • A certain king said to the Shaykh (spiritual Director) in conversation, “Ask me to bestow some bounty upon thee.” 1465
  • He answered, “O King, are not you ashamed to say such a thing to me? Come higher!
  • I have two slaves, and they are vile, and those two are rulers and lords over you.”
  • Said the King, “What are those two? This is a mistake.” He replied, “The one is anger and the other is lust.”
  • Regard as a king him that is unconcerned with kingship, him whose light shines forth without moon or sun.
  • (Only) that one whose essence is the treasury (of spiritual truths) possesses the treasury: (only) he that is an enemy to (his own) existence possesses (real) existence. 1470
  • Luqmán's master (was) like a master outwardly; in reality he was a slave, and Luqmán was his master.
  • In the topsy-turvy world there is many a one of this (kind): a pearl is less than a straw in their sight.
  • Every desert has been named mafáza (place of safety): a name and specious form has ensnared their understanding.
  • In the case of one class of people, the dress makes (a man) known: (if he is dressed) in a qabá, they say that he belongs to the vulgar.
  • In the case of one class of people (the distinguishing mark is) the hypocritical appearance of asceticism; (but) light is needed, that (any one) may be a spy on asceticism (and detect its true character). 1475
  • Light is needed, (a light) purged of cant and noxiousness, that he may know a man without (the evidence of) deed or word,
  • And enter into his heart by way of the intellect, and behold his real state and not be confined to tradition.
  • The chosen servants of (God) the Knower of things unseen are, in the spiritual world, the spies on hearts.
  • He (such a one) enters within the heart like a fancy: the mystery of the (real) state is unveiled to him.
  • In the body of the sparrow what power and faculty is there that is hidden from the intellect of the falcon? 1480
  • He who has become acquainted with the secrets of Hú (God), what to him is the secret (inmost consciousness) of created beings?
  • He whose walk is on the spheres, how should it be hard for him to walk on the earth?
  • Since iron became wax in the hand of David, what should wax be in his hand, O man of iniquity?
  • Luqmán was a slave in appearance, a master (in reality): servitude was (only) a frontispiece on his outside.
  • When the master goes to a place where he is not known, he puts (his own) clothes on his slave. 1485
  • He (himself) puts on the slave's clothes and makes his slave the leader.
  • He goes behind him on the road, as slaves do, lest any one should recognise him (as the master).
  • “O slave,” says he, “go you and sit in the place of honour: I will take (your) shoes, like the meanest slave.
  • Treat (me) roughly and revile me; do not bestow any respect on me.
  • I hold neglect of service to be your (proper) service, since I have sown the seed of contrivance by dwelling in a foreign land.” 1490
  • Masters have performed these slavish offices in order that it might be thought that they were slaves.
  • They saw their fill of masterdom and were sated (with it): (hence) they have made ready for (doing) the work (of slaves).
  • On the contrary, these slaves of sensuality have represented themselves as masters of intellect and spirit.
  • From the master (the spiritual man) comes the practice of self-abasement; from the slave (the sensual man) comes naught but slavishness.