Throne, palace, crown, and robes give their replies
To questions from those up in paradise;
The rug will fold itself and then each room480
Inside the house is swept without a broom.
Behold the heart’s house—grief makes it untidy;
Without a broom repentance makes it tidy.
His throne moved by itself across the floor;
Minstrels emerged from knockers on the door.
The everlasting realm is in the heart—
Since my tongue can’t explain it all, why start?
Solomon went to that house every dawn
To guide the worshippers who’d also gone.
He counselled using song as well as speech; 485
By action, such as bowing down, he’d teach.
Counsel through action is much more effective,
Reaching souls though their hearing be defective;
Leadership’s false airs too become much less,
And so such counsel will have more success.
Story about the beginning of the caliphate of Osman and his sermon explaining how the counsellor who practises what he preaches is better than the one who just talks.
When he became the caliph, Osman sat
Upon the pulpit’s top step, knowing that
Mohammad’s pulpit had three steps and on
His turn Bu Bakr sat on the second one,
Then Omar chose the third on his accession 490
Out of respect for custom and religion—
When Osman’s turn came he went all the way
Up to the top on his blessed, fortunate day.
A fault-finder protested, ‘You should stop!
Those two did not take that seat at the top,
So how come you’ve gone higher than that pair
When you rank lower and cannot compare?’
‘If I select the third step,’ Osman said,
‘They’ll reckon I’m like Omar then instead.
If on the second, then you will exclaim: 495
“That’s Abu Bakr’s! He thinks he’s the same.”
The top step is Mohammad’s—no one can
Imagine that I’m similar to that man.’
Instead then of a sermon while sat there,
He sat in silence till the time for prayer.
No one dared say, ‘Recite or go away
From our mosque!’ as the hours passed on that day.
Deep awe filled all those gathered in that place
And God’s light filled completely all the space.
The seeing saw His Light fill all those spaces; 500
The blind could feel its warmth upon their faces—
Through warmth alone the blind could realize
A never-setting sun shone on their eyes.
This warmth can open eyes, so they can view
The essence of all hearable things too.
Its heat induces new states of contraction;
Its radiance gives hearts freedom and expansion.
When the blind one is warmed by lasting light
From joy he says, ‘I can see. I have sight!’
You’re drunk Bo ’l-Hasan,* but a word of caution: 505
There’s still a long way till that total vision.
The blind one’s portion from the sun can be
A hundred times this! God knows best for me.
Great Avicenna lacked the power to write
Descriptions of the one who’s seen that light.
Though many times as strong, whose tongue’s description
Could draw the veil that covers its perception?
If it should touch the veil, then understand
God’s sword will cut off that poor person’s hand.
What’s a mere hand? He’ll chop his head off, brothers. 510
That stupid head which chops off heads of others.
I’ve said this hypothetically, since speech
Cannot extend as far as that its reach.
With testicles my aunt would be my uncle—
That’s hypothetical; it isn’t factual.
The tongue’s far from the eye of certainty.
A thousand years? No, more than that for me.
But don’t despair, for if God wills, at night
Immediately the sky will shine down light.
His power each moment chooses to bestow 515
On stars their influence over mines below.
The sky’s stars end the darkness—higher than these,
God’s star is rooted in His qualities.
Seeker of help, the distant sky is near
To earth through its effects—this should be clear:
Saturn looks so remote from earth, for instance,
Yet it exerts its influence through the distance.
He folds it like a shade on its return—
What is a shadow’s length next to the sun?
And from pure star-like souls comes succour tō 520
The stars up in the heavens over you.
These stars’ forms keep our forms in their control,
But they must all obey the human soul.
In explanation of why philosophers say ‘Man is the microcosm’, while mystics themselves say, ‘Man is the macrocosm’. It is because the knowledge of philosophers is restricted to the form of Man, while that of mystics penetrates to the truth of the essence of Man.
Therefore, in form, you are the microcosm,
While inwardly you are the macrocosm.
The branches look like they’re the ripe fruit’s source,
But they exist for that fruit’s sake of course,
Which makes that first. With no prior wish for fruit
Why would the gardener ever plant the root?
That tree was born from fruit thus inwardly, 525
Though outwardly the fruit comes from the tree.
‘Adam and other prophets now stand after
Myself, Mohammad, and my mission’s banner.’
That’s also why that virtuous one insisted:
‘We’re last yet also first’—that isn’t twisted.
‘In form I come from Adam, but in essence
I’m my forefather’s father—that’s not nonsense,
Since angels bowed to him obediently
And he rose up to heaven thanks to me.
This forefather was really born from me, 530
And likewise from the fruit emerged its tree.
Thought leads to action, which is consequential,
Especially the thought that is eternal.
To sum up, it increasingly is clear
The caravan from heaven heads down here
In one breath, for it’s not a lengthy journey—
Deserts can’t be too vast for the Almighty.
Every moment the heart goes to the Kaaba;
The body, through the heart, too gains much favour.
Near and far are for bodies in this realm; 535
They’ve naught to do with God’s transcending them.
Once God transforms the body, then its motion
Is not in lengths for measured calculation.
There’s still much hope—step forward and keep walking,
Young man, just like a lover, and quit talking !
Although you close your eyes without a care,
You are not still—the ship transports you there.
Explanation of the hadith: My community is like Noah’s ark—whoever joins me will be saved and whoever stays behind will drown.
That’s why the Prophet said what now seems clearer:
‘I’m like the ark of Noah for our era,
With my companions in huge storms of rain— 540
If you hold onto us, there’s grace to gain.’
When you are with the master far away
From ugliness, on his ark night and day,
Protected by a soul that is life-giving,
Asleep on his ark, you are then still travelling
.
Don’t cut links with the prophet of your day—
Do not rely on your own skills this way!.
Even if lion-like, without a guide
You are astray and base, though puffed with pride.
Fly only with the master’s wings, so yoū 545
Might see the master’s armies in plain view.
Your wings will be the waves of his own kindness;
Later you’re borne by flames of his own harshness.
Do not imagine they’re a contradiction—
Through their effects observe how they’re in union:
Now he will make you fertile like the land,
Then he’ll inflate you hugely. Understand,
He leaves the mystic’s body to lie fallow,
So roses grow on it, as in a meadow.
But only he sees it—let it be known 550
That heaven gives scent to the pure alone.
Remove denial of him now from your brain—
His garden’s basil will come as your gain,
And you’ll perceive His perfume sent from heaven
The way Mohammad smelt that scent from Yemen.*
If you line up now in ascension’s queue,
Like Boraq, non-existence soon draws you,
Not physically as if your aim’s the moon,
But how a cane can change to sugar soon;
Not how the vapour rises in ascent,555
But how the foetus turns intelligent.
Non-existence’s steed takes you through the distance,
If you’re effaced, up to the real existence.
Its hooves brush past the mountains and the seas,
Leaving behind the sensual world with ease.
Alight the ark and ride the way souls flow
Towards their True Beloved from below.
Without limbs soar to the eternal realm,
As souls flee non-existence, just like them.
If listeners’ ears were not asleep, you may 560
Have torn the veil of reasoning away.
Rain pearls, O heavens, on His speech for me.
Feel small, world, when in His proximity.
Your pearls will multiply if you comply,
And you’ll gain speech and sight, too, from on high.
You’d rain them for your own sake after all,
Since this would multiply your capital.
Story about Belqis, the Queen of Sheba, sending a gift to Solomon.
Belqis’s gift was forty mules, which bore
As gifts some gold bricks taken from her store.
On reaching Solomon, all could behold 565
A marvellous realm carpeted with gold.
Her messengers rode on deep in that realm
Until the gold no longer dazzled them.
‘Let’s take our gold back and retrace our route,’
They said, ‘Our task with gold will not bear fruit.
The ground itself is gold in this strange country—
Bringing gold here as gifts is utter folly.’
(You who bring intellects to God with pride,
It’s worth less than the mud beneath your stride.)
When their gift’s worthlessness was very clear, 570
They were drawn back, embarrassed to be here.
‘Whether or not it has worth in this land,
It’s not our call—we’re bound by her command.
We have to take it, whether mud or gold;
The order means we’ll do as we’ve been told.’
‘If they say, “Take it back!” ’ the leader said,
‘We will obey the new command instead.’
Solomon smiled when it was brought in view:
‘When did I ask for mouldy bread from you?
I don’t say, “Bring a gift obediently!” 575
But “Show you’re worthy of a gift from me.”
For I’ve got gifts from the Unseen, which you
Would want if you knew them, but you’ve no clue.
The gold-producing star’s your deity—
Worship the one who made that star you see!
You pray towards the sun up in the sky,
Devaluing the soul which should rank high.
The sun heats for us at God’s order, dunce—
Calling that “God” is foolish ignorance.
And if the sun’s eclipsed, what use is it? 580
Can you remove the blackness over it?
Won’t you then bring to God’s court your sad plight,
Begging: “Remove the blackness. Send us light!”
If you are killed at night, where’s your sun then
To cry to it and beg it saves your men?
Disasters usually happen late at night
And that is when your god is not in sight.
If you bow properly to God, you’ll be
Rid of stars, welcome in His company.
When you come close we will share a discussion 585
To see the sun at midnight with new vision:
Pure spirit is its actual rising place;
Night and day have no difference in that space.
Day is what starts at sunrise usually—
When this sun shines though, night fades permanently.
An atom cannot stand before the sun.
Your sun stand next to God? That can’t be done.
Your sun which dazzles eyes by its bright glare,
Leaving men all perplexed—you’ll see it there,
Next to God’s Throne’s Light, atom-like, my friends, 590
Compared with Boundless Light that never ends.
You’ll see it vulnerable and small in size
When God bestows the power to your eyes.’
God’s light, like alchemy, can from afar
Send sparks through vapour to create a star.
The rare elixir can with half a beam
Create this sun from darkness while men dream.
The marvellous alchemist, with just one action,
Attached so many qualities to Saturn.
The other stars and spiritual essences 595
Must similarly be compared with this.
Physical eyes are subject to the sun—
Seek a divine eye, a superior one,
So sparkling rays of sunlight will appear
Abased before its vision when drawn near,
Since light is fire, while this is much more bright;
Fire seems so dark compared with such pure light.
The miracles and light possessed by Abdollah Maghrebi.
Abdollah Maghrebi said, ‘With my sight
For sixty years I never saw dark night.
For sixty years my eyes did not see darkness, 600
Neither by night nor day, and not in sickness.’
Sufis confirmed, ‘His words are true, for we
Would follow him at night-time carefully
To wastelands full of thorns and ditches, where
He shone like the full moon’s most radiant glare.
Without the need to turn around he’d say:
“Watch out for that ditch. Veer the other way!”
Later he would advise, “Head right instead
Because a thorn bush lies where you will tread.”
We’d kiss his feet at daybreak and they would 605
Seem like a bride’s unweathered, soft feet should.
No trace of dirt on them that we could notice,
Nor scratch, nor bruise—they were completely flawless.’
God had made Maghrebi a ‘Mashreqi’:
He made the sunset sunrise-bright, you see.*
This sun of suns’ light rides so high by day;
This man protects all people, come what may.
How should that glorious light not be protection
When it brings countless suns before one’s vision?
Through his light you keep safely walking on 610
Near dragons and each deadly scorpion.
/> That holy light proceeds ahead and can
Tear totally apart each highwayman.
He won’t see Prophets put to shame— recite:
‘In front of them what travels is the light. ’*
That light increases at the Resurrection,
But ask God for a sample at this junction,
Since He bestows it on the clouds and mist.
God knows best what to say. Do not resist!
Solomon told the messengers of Belqis to go back to her with the gifts that they had brought and invited Belqis to his faith and the rejection of sun-worship.
‘Go back, embarrassed messengers! This gold 615
Stays yours. Bring me a heart. Do what you’re told.
And add this gold of mine to yours, then stuff
It up your mule’s rear end! I’ve had enough.
Gold rings are for mules’ genitals. For lovers
Gold is a face turned yellow from love’s tortures.
That face becomes the object of God’s gaze,
While gold mines will receive just solar rays.
Is it appropriate for comparison—
The Lord’s attention and that of the sun?
Turn your souls to a shield preventing mē620
From seizing you, though captive already.’
Birds lured by bait are on the roof up there;
With wings outstretched they’re trapped still in the snare.
Each pinned its heart and soul both on the bait,
Though not yet in the trap, but it’s too late:
Glancing towards the bait is actually
Binding its feet with knots unwittingly.
The bait says, ‘Though you glance to snatch a view,
I’ve snatched stability and calm from you.
When that glance pulls you to me, be awarē 625
That I’m not heedless of you drooling there.’
Story about the pharmacist whose weight was clay soap and how a customer who ate such clay stole some of it secretly while sugar was being weighed.
A man who would have cravings to eat clay
Bought sugar from the pharmacist one day.
The pharmacist was a most cunning man,
Using clay weights, not stone, with a clear plan.
He said, ‘My weights are made of clay, and so,
If you desire some sugar, you should know.’
The customer replied, ‘My need is desperate,
So use whatever you think most appropriate.’
He then thought to himself, ‘If truth be told, 630
For one who eats clay they’re worth more than gold.’
The Masnavi, Book Four Page 7