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4
3710-3759

  • He will only say from his soul, “I cannot (praise Thee duly),” because the declaration thereof is beyond reckoning and bound. 3710
  • How Dhu ’l-Qarnayn went to Mount Qáf and made petition, saying, "O Mount Qáf, tell me of the majesty of the Attributes of God"; and how Mount Qáf said that the description of His majesty is ineffable, since (all) perceptions vanish before it; and how Dhu ’l-Qarnayn made humble supplication, saying, "Tell of His works that thou hast in mind and of which it is more easy for thee to speak."
  • Dhu ’l-Qarnayn went towards Mount Qáf: he saw that it was (made) of pure emerald,
  • And that it had become a ring surrounding the (whole) world. He was amazed at that immense creation (work of God).
  • He said, “Thou art the mountain (indeed): what are the others? for beside thy magnitude they are (but) playthings.”
  • It replied, “Those (other) mountains are my veins: they are not like unto me in beauty and glory.
  • I have a hidden vein in every land: (all) the regions of the world are fastened to my veins. 3715
  • When God wills an earthquake in any land, He bids me and I cause the vein to throb.
  • Then I make to move mightily the vein with which the (particular) land is connected.
  • When He says ‘Enough!’ my vein rests. I am (apparently) at rest, but actually I am in rapid motion”—
  • At rest, like the (medicinal) ointment, and very active (efficacious); at rest, like the intellect, while the speech (impelled) by it is moving.
  • In the opinion of him whose intelligence does not perceive this, earthquakes are caused by terrestrial vapours. 3720
  • An ant, walking on a piece of paper, saw the pen writing and began to praise the pen. Another ant, which was more keen-sighted, said, "Praise the fingers, for I deem this accomplishment to proceed from them." Another ant, more clear-sighted than either, said, "I praise the arm, for the fingers are a branch of the arm," et cetera.
  • A little ant saw a pen (writing) on a paper, and told this mystery to another ant,
  • Saying, “That pen made wonderful pictures like sweet basil and beds of lilies and roses.”
  • The other ant said, “That artist is the finger, and this pen is actually (no more than) the derivative (instrument) and the sign.”
  • A third ant said, “It is the work of the arm, by whose strength the slender finger depicted it.”
  • In this fashion it (the argument) was carried upward till a chief of the ants, (who) was a little bit sagacious, 3725
  • Said, “Do not regard this accomplishment as proceeding from the (material) form, which becomes unconscious in sleep and death.
  • Form is like a garment or a staff: (bodily) figures do not move except by means of intellect and spirit.”
  • He (the wise ant) was unaware that without the controlling influence of God that intellect and heart (mind) would be inert.
  • If He withdraw His favour from it for a single moment, the acute intellect will commit (many) follies.
  • When Dhu ’l-Qarnayn found it (Mount Qáf) speaking, he said, after Mount Qáf had bored the pearls of speech, 3730
  • “O eloquent one, who art wise and knowest the mystery, expound to me the Attributes of God.”
  • It answered, “Go, for those qualities are too terrible for (oral) exposition to put its hand on them,
  • Or for the pen to dare inscribe with its point information concerning them on the pages (of books).”
  • He said, “Relate a lesser tale concerning the wonders of God, O goodly divine.”
  • It said, “Look, the King (God) hath made a plain full of snow-mountains, for the distance of a three hundred years' journey— 3735
  • Mountain on mountain, beyond count and number: the snow comes continually to replenish them.
  • One snow-mountain is being piled on another: the snow brings coldness to the earth.
  • At every moment snow-mountain is being piled on snow-mountain from the illimitable and vast storehouse.
  • O king, if there were not a valley (of snow) like this, the glowing heat of Hell would annihilate me.”
  • Know that (in this world) the heedless are (like) snow-mountains, to the end that the veils of the intelligent may not be consumed. 3740
  • Were it not for the reflexion (effect) of snow-weaving (chilling) ignorance, that Mount Qáf would be consumed by the fire of longing.
  • The Fire (of Hell) in sooth is (only) an atom of God's wrath; it is (only) a whip to threaten the base.
  • Notwithstanding such a wrath, which is mighty and surpassing all, observe that the coolness of His clemency is prior to it.
  • (’Tis) a spiritual priority, unqualified and unconditioned. Have you seen the prior and the posterior without duality (have you seen them to be one)?
  • If you have not seen them (as one), that is because of feeble understanding; for the minds of God's creatures are (but) a single grain of that mine. 3745
  • Lay the blame on yourself, not on the evidences of the (true) Religion: how should the bird of clay reach the sky of the (true) Religion?
  • The bird's lofty soaring-place is (only) the air, since its origin is from lust and sensuality.
  • Therefore be dumbfounded without nay or yea, in order that a litter may come from (the Divine) Mercy to carry you.
  • Forasmuch as you are too dull to apprehend these wonders (of God), if you say “yea” you will be prevaricating;
  • And if you say “nay,” the “nay” will behead (undo) you: on account of that “nay” (the Divine) Wrath will shut your (spiritual) window. 3750
  • Be, then, only dumbfounded and distraught, nothing else, that God's aid may come in from before and behind.
  • When you have become dumbfounded and crazed and naughted, you have said with mute eloquence, “Lead us.”
  • It (the wrath of God) is mighty, mighty; but when you begin to tremble, that mighty (wrath) becomes assuaged and equable,
  • Because the mighty shape is for (terrifying) the unbeliever; when you have become helpless, it is mercy and kindness.
  • How Gabriel, on whom be peace, showed himself to Mustafá (Mohammed), God bless and save him, in his own shape; and how, when one of his seven hundred wings became visible, it covered the horizon (on all sides), and the sun with all its radiance was veiled over.
  • Mustafá said in the presence of Gabriel, “Even as thy shape (really) is, O friend, 3755
  • Show it to me sensibly and visibly, that I may behold thee as spectators (who fix their eyes on an object of interest).”
  • He replied, “Thou canst not (bear this) and hast not the power to endure it; the sense (of sight) is weak and frail: ’twould be grievous for thee (to behold me).”
  • “Show thyself,” said he, “that this body may perceive to what an extent the senses are frail and resourceless.”
  • Man's bodily senses are infirm, but he hath a potent nature within.