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5
189-238

  • Fasting says (implicitly), “He has abstained from what is lawful: know (therefore) that he has no connexion with what is unlawful”;
  • And his alms-giving said (implicitly), “He gives of his own property: how, then, should he steal from the religious?” 190
  • If he act as a cutpurse (from self-interest), then the two witnesses are invalidated in the court of Divine justice.
  • He is a fowler if he scatter grain not from mercy and munificence but in order to catch (the birds).
  • He is a cat keeping the fast and feigning to be asleep at fast-time for the purpose of (seizing) his ignorant prey.
  • By this unrighteousness he makes a hundred parties (of people) suspicious, he causes the generous and abstinent to be in ill repute.
  • (But) notwithstanding that he weaves crookedly, in the end the grace of God will purge him of all this (hypocrisy). 195
  • His (God's) mercy takes precedence (over His wrath) and bestows on that treachery (hypocrisy) a light that the full-moon does not possess.
  • God cleanses his effort of this contamination: the (Divine) Mercy washes him clean of this folly.
  • In order that His great forgivingness may be made manifest, a helmet (of forgiveness) will cover his (the hypocrite's) baldness.
  • The water rained from heaven, that it might cleanse the impure of their defilement.
  • How the water cleanses all impurities and then is cleansed of impurity by God most High. Verily, God most High is exceeding holy.
  • When the water had done battle (in its task of ablution) and had been made dirty and had become such that the senses rejected it, 200
  • God brought it back into the sea of Goodness, that the Origin of the water might generously wash it (clean).
  • Next year it came sweeping proudly along. “Hey, where hast thou been?” “In the sea of the pure.
  • I went from here dirty; I have come (back) clean. I have received a robe of honour, I have come to the earth (again).
  • Hark, come unto me, O ye polluted ones, for my nature hath partaken of the nature of God.
  • I will accept all thy foulness: I will bestow on the demon purity like (that of) the angel. 205
  • When I become defiled, I will return thither: I will go to the Source of the source of purities.
  • There I will pull the filthy cloak off my head: He will give me a clean robe once more.
  • Such is His work, and my work is the same: the Lord of all created beings is the beautifier of the world.”
  • Were it not for these impurities of ours, how would the water have this glory?
  • It stole purses of gold from a certain One: (then) it runs in every direction, crying, “Where is an insolvent?” 210
  • Either it sheds (the treasure) on a blade of grass that has grown, or it washes the face of one whose face is unwashed,
  • Or, porter-like, it takes on its head (surface) the ship that is without hand or foot (helplessly tossing) in the seas.
  • Hidden in it are myriads of salves, because every salve derives from it its nature and property.
  • The soul of every pearl, the heart of every grain, goes into the river (for healing) as (into) a shop of salves.
  •  From it (comes) nourishment to the orphans of the earth; from it (comes) movement (growth) to them that are tied fast, the parched ones. 215
  • When its stock (of spiritual grace) is exhausted, it becomes turbid: it becomes abject on the earth, as we are.
  • How the water, after becoming turbid, entreats God Almighty to succour it.
  • (Then) from its interior it raises cries of lamentation, saying, “O God, that which Thou gavest (me) I have given (to others) and am left a beggar.
  • I poured the (whole) capital over pure and impure (alike): O King who givest the capital, is there any more?”
  • He (God) saith to the cloud, “Bear it (the water) to the delectable place; and thou too, O sun, draw it up aloft.”
  • He maketh it to go diverse ways, that He may bring it unto the boundless sea. 220
  • Verily, what is meant by this water is the spirit of the saints, which washes away your dark stains.
  • When it is stained dark by (washing) the treason of the inhabitants of the earth, it returns to Him who endows Heaven with purity.
  • From yonder, trailing the skirt (of glory), it brings back to them lessons concerning the purities of the All-encompassing (God).
  • Through mingling with the people (of the world) it falls sick and desires (to make) that journey, saying, “Revive us, O Bilál!
  • O melodious sweet-voiced Bilál, go up into the minaret, beat the drum of departure.” 225
  • Whilst the body is standing (in the ritual prayer), the spirit is gone on its journey: hence at the moment of return it says, “Salám!”
  • (On its return to the world) it liberates all from performing the ablution with sand, and seekers of the qibla from endeavouring to ascertain the proper direction.
  • This parable is like an intermediary in the discourse: an intermediary is required for the apprehension of the vulgar.
  • Without an intermediary, how should any one go into the fire, except (one like) the salamander?—for he is independent of the connecting link.
  • You need the hot bath as an intermediary, so that you may refresh your constitution by (the heat of) the fire. 230
  • Since you cannot go into the fire, like Khalíl (Abraham), the hot bath has become your Apostle, and the water your guide.
  • Satiety is from God, but how should the unclean attain unto satiety without the mediation of bread?
  • Beauty is from God, but the corporealist does not feel (the charm of) beauty without the veil (medium) of the garden.
  • When the bodily medium is removed, (then) he (who is disembodied) perceives without (any) screen, like Moses, the light of the Moon (shining) from (his own) bosom.
  • These virtues possessed by the water bear witness likewise that its interior is filled with the grace of God. 235
  • The testimony of external acts and words to the hidden mind and the inner light.
  • Act and word are witnesses to the hidden mind: from these twain infer the inward state.
  • When your thought does not penetrate within, inspect the patient's urine from without.
  • Act and word are (as) the urine of the sick, which is clear evidence for the physician of the body.