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2
2376-2425

  • Until the thief say to him, “’Tis I that stole from thee, for I am an artful thief,”
  • How should the blind man know his thief, since he hath not the eye's light and that radiance (of vision)?
  • When he (the thief) speaks (and confesses), at once take tight hold of him, that he may tell the marks (descriptive) of the (stolen) goods.
  • The Greater Jihád (Holy War), then, consists in squeezing the thief, in order that he may tell what he has stolen and what he has carried off.
  • First, he has stolen your eye-salve; when you take it (from him), you will regain (your) insight. 2380
  • The goods of wisdom, which have been lost by (your) heart, are certainly to be found with the man of heart (the saint).
  • The blind of heart, notwithstanding (his possession of) life and hearing and sight, is never knowing the devilish thief by the traces (which he leaves).
  • Seek (that knowledge) from the man of heart; do not seek it from the inanimate, for (all other) people are inanimate beside (in comparison with) him.
  • The seeker of counsel approached him (the saint who was feigning madness), saying, “O father who hast become (as) a child, tell (me) a secret.”
  • He answered, “Begone from this door-ring, for this door is not open. Turn back: to-day is not the day for secrets. 2385
  • If the spatial had (any) access to the non-spatial, I should be (seated) on the bench, (giving instruction) like the Shaykhs (spiritual directors).”
  • How the Police Inspector summoned the man who had fallen dead-drunk (on the ground) to (go to) prison.
  • The Inspector came at midnight to a certain place: he saw a drunken man lying at the bottom of a wall.
  • He cried, “Hey, you are drunk: tell (me), what have you been drinking?” Said the man, “I have drunk of this which is in the jar.”
  • “Pray,” said he, “explain what is in the jar.” He replied, “Some of what I have drunk.” “(But),” said the Inspector, “this is hidden (from sight).”
  • He asked (again), “What is it that you have drunk?” He rejoined, “That which is hidden in the jar.” 2390
  • These questions and answers were becoming a (vicious) circle. The Inspector was left (stuck) in the mud, like an ass.
  • The Inspector said to him, “Come now, say ‘Ah’”; (but) the drunken man, at the moment of utterance, said “Hú, Hú.”
  • “I told you to say ‘Ah’,” said he; “you are saying ‘Hú’.” “(Because) I am glad,” he replied, “while you are bent with grief.
  • ‘Ah’ is (uttered) on account of pain and grief and injustice; the ‘Hú, Hú’ of the wine-drinkers is from joy.”
  • The Inspector said, “I know nothing about this. Get up, get up! Don't retail mystic lore, and leave off this wrangling.” 2395
  • “Go away,” said the man; “what have you to do with me?” “You are drunk,” the Inspector said. “Get up and come to prison.”
  • Said the drunken man, “O Inspector, let me alone and go away. How is it possible to carry off pledges from one that is naked?
  • If indeed I had had the power to walk, I should have gone to my house—and (then) how would this (affair between us) have occurred?
  • Were I (still) possessed of understanding and of contingent (unreal) existence, I should be on the bench, (giving instruction) like the Shaykhs.”
  • How the inquirer, for the second time, drew that eminent (saint) into conversation, in order that his condition might be made better known (to the inquirer).
  • That seeker said, “O thou mounted on the cane, pray, ride thy horse this way for one moment.” 2400
  • He rode towards him, crying, “Hark, say as quick as you can (what you want), for my horse is very restive and fierce-tempered.
  • Be quick, lest he kick you: explain clearly what you are asking about.”
  • He (the inquirer) saw no opportunity to tell his heart's secret: he at once made an evasion and drew him into jesting talk.
  • He said, “I wish to marry a woman in this street: who is suitable for one like me?”
  • “There are three kinds of women in the world,” said he: “two of those are a sorrow, and one is the soul's treasure. 2405
  • The first, when you marry her, is wholly yours; and the second is half yours and half separate (from you);
  • And the third, know she is not yours at all. You have heard this. Away (with you)!—I start in a trice—
  • Lest my horse let fly a kick at you, so that you fall and never rise up (again).”
  • The Shaykh rode off amongst the children, (but) the young man shouted to him once more,
  • “Come, prithee declare the exposition of this. Thou hast said that these women are of three kinds: pick (them) out.” 2410
  • He rode towards him and said to him, “The virgin of your choice will be wholly yours, and you will gain freedom from sorrow;
  • And she that is half yours is the (childless) widow; and she that is nothing (to you) is the married woman with a child:
  • When she has a child by her first husband, her love and whole heart will go to that quarter.
  • (Now) get away, lest my horse launch a kick, and the hoof of my restive horse land upon you.”
  • The Shaykh gave a loud cry of jubilation and rode back: he again called the children to him. 2415
  • That inquirer shouted to him once more, “Come (hither), I have one question left, O sovereign king.”
  • He rode back in this direction. “Say what it is,” he cried, “as quick as you can, for yonder child has enraptured my heart.”
  • Said the other, “O king, with such intelligence and erudition (as thou hast), what dissimulation is this? What acting is this? Oh, ’tis a marvel!
  • Thou transcendest the Universal Intellect in (thy power of) elucidation. Thou art a sun: how art thou hid in madness?”
  • He replied, “These rascals are proposing to make me Cadi in this their city. 2420
  • I raised objections, (but) they said to me, ‘Nay, there is none so learned and accomplished as thou.
  • Whilst thou art in existence, it is unlawful and wicked that any one inferior to thee should cite Prophetic Traditions in the office of Cadi.
  • Permission is not (given) in the Law, that we should appoint one less than thee as (our) prince and leader.’
  • By this necessity I was made distraught and mad (in appearance), but inwardly I am just the same as I was.
  • My intelligence is the (hidden) treasure, and I am the ruin (which covers it); if I display the treasure, (then) I am mad (indeed). 2425