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2
2802-2851

  • “O good friend,” said he, “what is the matter? By whose hand (violence) is this lamentation and outcry of yours (caused)?”
  • “Look here,” said (the other). “See the thief's footprints! The pimping thief has gone this way. [ “Look here,” said (the other). “See the thief's footprints! The thief whose wife is for hire (who prostitutes his wife to other men) has gone this way.]
  • Look at the cuckold thief's footprints! Follow him by means of these marks and traces.”
  • He answered, “O fool, what are you telling me? Why, I had (as good as) caught him, 2805
  • (But) at your cry I let the thief go. I deemed you, ass (as you are), a (reasonable) man.
  • What silly gabble and nonsense is this, O fellow? I (had) found the reality: what (use to me) is the clue?”
  • He replied, “I am giving you a clue to the real (thing). This is the clue; I am acquainted with the reality.”
  • He (the householder) said, “You are an artful knave or else you are a fool; nay, you are a thief and cognisant of this affair.
  • I was (on the point of) dragging my adversary along, (when) you let him escape, saying (to me), ‘Here are (his) traces.’” 2810
  • You speak of (external) relations, (but) I transcend (all) relations. In union (with God) where are signs or evidences?
  • The man that is debarred (from the Essence) sees the (Divine) action (as proceeding) from the Attributes: he that has lost the Essence is in (confined to) the Attributes.
  • Inasmuch as those united (with God) are absorbed in the Essence, O son, how should they look upon His Attributes?
  • When your head is at the bottom of the river, how will your eye fall on the colour of the water?
  • And if you come back from the bottom to the colour of the water, then you have received a coarse woollen garment and given (fine) fur (in exchange). 2815
  • The piety of the vulgar is sin in the elect; the unitive state of the vulgar is a veil in the elect.
  • If the king make a vizier a police inspector, the king is his enemy, he is not his friend.
  • Also, that vizier will have committed some offence: necessarily change (for the worse) is not (does not occur) without cause.
  • He that has been a police inspector from the first—to him that (office) has been fortune and livelihood from the beginning;
  • But he that was first the king's vizier—evil-doing is the cause of making him a police inspector. 2820
  • When the King has called you from the threshold into His presence, and again has driven you back to the threshold,
  • Know for sure that you have committed a sin and in folly have brought forward (pleaded) compulsion (as the cause),
  • Saying, “This was my (predestined) portion and lot.” (But) then, why was that good luck in your hands yesterday?
  • Through folly you yourself have cut off your lot. The worthy man augments his lot.
  • The story of the Hypocrites and their building the Mosque of Opposition.
  • It is fit if you will hearken to another parable concerning perversity (taken) from the narrative in the Qur’án. 2825
  • The Hypocrites played against the Prophet (just) such a crooked game at odd and even (as was played by Iblís against Mu‘áwiya),
  • Saying, “Let us build a mosque for the glory of the Mohammedan religion”; and that was (really) apostasy (on their part).
  • Such a crooked game were they playing: they built a mosque other than his mosque.
  • They constructed (well) its floor and roof and dome, but they desired to disunite the (Moslem) community.
  • They came to the Prophet with (guileful) entreaty: they knelt as camels before him, 2830
  • Saying, “O Messenger of God, wilt thou for kindness' sake give thyself the trouble (to walk) to that mosque,
  • To the end that it may be made blessed by thy approach— may thy days flourish until the Resurrection!
  • It is a mosque for muddy and cloudy days, a mosque for days of sore distress in times of poverty,
  • That a (poor) stranger may get charity and room (to shelter) there, and that this house of service may be frequented,
  • So that the rites of the Religion may be multiplied and abound; because a bitter plight is sweetened (by being shared) with friends. 2835
  • Honour that place (by thy presence) for a short while: declare us to be sincere, and give a good account of us.
  • Show favour to the mosque and its founders. Thou art the moon, we are the night: comply with us for a moment,
  • In order that by thy beauty night may be made like day, O thou whose beauty is a soul-illumining sun.”
  • Alas! would that those words had been from the heart, so that the desire of those folk might have been accomplished!
  • Courtesy that comes to the tongue without (sincerity of) heart and soul is like herbs on the ash-heap, O friends. 2840
  • Look at them from afar and pass on: they are not fit for eating or smelling, O son.
  • Beware, do not go (incline) towards the courtesy of the faithless, for it is a ruined bridge: heed well (my warning).
  • If a fool set foot on it, the bridge will break, and will shatter that foot of his.
  • Wherever an army is routed, it is because of two or three effeminate weaklings.
  • He (the poltroon) comes armed into the battle-line, like a man: they (the soldiers) put their trust in him, saying, “Here's the Comrade of the Cave.” 2845
  • He turns his face (in flight) when he sees wounds: his going breaks your back.
  • This (topic) is long and is expanding, and that which is aimed at is becoming hidden (from sight).
  • How the Hypocrites cajoled the Prophet—God bless and save him!—that they might take him to the Mosque of Opposition.
  • They chanted spells over (spoke deceitful words to) the Messenger of God: they were driving (hard) the steed of cunning and craft.
  • The kind and compassionate Messenger proffered (in reply) nothing but smiles, nothing but “Yes.”
  • He expressed (his) thanks to that company (deputation): he gladdened the envoys in (by) assent. 2850
  • Their deceit was apparent to him, point by point, in the same way as hairs in milk.