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6
3280-3329

  • Thy grace is the shepherd of all who have been created, (guarding them) from the wolf of pain—a loving shepherd like God's Kalím (Moses).” 3280
  • One sheep fled from God's Kalím: the feet of Moses were blistered (in following it) and his shoes dropped off.
  • (He continued) searching after it till nightfall, and (meanwhile) the flock had vanished from his sight.
  • The (lost) sheep was enfeebled and exhausted by fatigue: then God's Kalím shook the dust off it,
  • And stroked its back and head with his hand, fondling it lovingly like a mother.
  • Not (even) half a mite of irritation and anger, nothing but love and pity and tears! 3285
  • He said (to the sheep), “I grant you (naturally) had no pity on me, (but) why did your nature show (such) cruelty to itself?”
  • At that moment God said to the angels, “So-and-so is suitable for prophethood.”
  • Mustafá (Mohammed) himself has said that every prophet herded sheep as a young man or boy,
  • (And that) without his having been a shepherd and (having undergone) that trial, God did not bestow on him the leadership of the world.
  • A questioner said, “Even thou, O man of might?” “I too,” he replied, “was a shepherd for a long while.” 3290
  • In order that their (the prophets') calmness and fortitude should be displayed, God made them shepherds before (investing them with) prophethood.
  • Every prince who performs the task of shepherding mankind in such wise that he obeys the Commandments (of God),
  • (And) in tending them with foresight and understanding shows a forbearance like that of Moses,
  • Inevitably God will bestow on him a spiritual shepherd's office (exalted) above the sphere of the moon,
  • Even as He raised the prophets from this herding (of sheep) and gave them the task of tending the righteous. 3295
  • “Thou, in short, O Khwája, hast performed in thy shepherding (of the poor) that which causes him that hates thee to become blind (utterly confounded).
  • I know that God will give thee yonder an everlasting sovereignty in compensation.
  • In hope of thy (open) hand as (bountiful as) the ocean and (in reliance) upon thy giving (me) a stipend and discharging (my obligations) in full,
  • I recklessly incurred debts (amounting to) nine thousand pieces of gold: where art thou, that these dregs may become clear?
  • Where art thou, that laughing like the (verdant) garden thou mayst say, ‘Receive that (sum) and ten times as much from me’? 3300
  • Where art thou, that thou mayst make me laughing (flourishing) and show favour and beneficence as lords (are wont to do)?
  • Where art thou, that thou mayst take me into thy treasury and make me secure from debt and poverty?—
  • (Whilst) I am saying continually, ‘Enough!’ and thou, my bounteous friend, replying, ‘Accept this too for my heart's sake.’
  • How can a world (microcosm) be contained under the clay (of the body)? How should a Heaven be contained in the earth?
  • God forfend! Thou art beyond this world both in thy lifetime and at the present hour. 3305
  • A bird is flying in the atmosphere of the Unseen: its shadow falls on a piece of earth.
  • The body is the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the heart: how is the body worthy of the (lofty) rank of the heart?
  • A man lies asleep: his spirit is shining in Heaven, like the sun, while his body is in bed.
  • His spirit is hidden in the Void, like the fringe (sewn inside a garment): his body is turning to and fro beneath the coverlet.
  • Since the spirit, being from the command of my Lord, is invisible, every similitude that I may utter (concerning it) is denying (the truth of the description). 3310
  • Oh, where, I wonder, is thy sugar-shedding ruby (lip) and those sweet replies and mysteries of thine?
  • Oh, where, I wonder, is that candy-chewing cornelian (lip), the key to the lock of our perplexities?
  • Oh, where, I wonder, is that breath (keen) as Dhu ’l-faqár, that used to make our understandings distraught?
  • How long, like a ringdove seeking her nest, (shall I cry) ‘where (kú) and where and where and where and where and where?’
  • Where (is he now)? In the place where are the Attributes of (Divine) Mercy, and (the Divine) Power and Transcendence, and (celestial) Intelligence. 3315
  • Where (is he now)? In the same place where his heart and thought always dwelt, like the lion in his jungle.
  • Where (is he now)? In that place whither the hope of (every) man and woman turns in the hour of anguish and sorrow.
  • Where (is he now)? In the place to which in time of illness the eye takes wing in hope of (regaining) health—
  • In that quarter where, in order to avert a calamity, you seek wind for (winnowing) the corn or (speeding) a ship (on its way);
  • In that quarter which is signified by the heart when the tongue utters the expression ‘Yá Hú.’ 3320
  • He is always with God (and) beyond ‘where? where?’ (kú, kú). Would that like weavers I might have said má kú!
  • Where is our reason, that it should (be able to) perceive the spiritual West and East (the universal Divine epiphany) flashing forth a hundred kinds of splendour?
  • His (the Khwája's) ebb and flow was caused by a (great) foaming Sea: (now) the ebb has ceased and (only) the flow remains.
  • I am nine thousand (dinars) in debt and have no resources: there are (only) a hundred dinars, (resulting) from this subscription.
  • God hath withdrawn thee (from this world) and I am left in agony: I am going (hence) in despair, O thou whose dust is sweet! 3325
  • Keep in thy mind a prayer for thy grief-stricken (mourner), O thou whose face and hands and prayers are auspicious.
  • I come to the spring and the source of (all) fountains: I find in it instead of water blood.
  • The sky is the same sky, (but) ’tis not the same moonlight: the river is the same river, (but) the water is not the same water.
  • There are benefactors, (but) where is that one who was found (by all) to be (supremely) good? There are stars, (but) where is that sun?