With the Beloved there, that place’s worth
Transcends the sky and can’t be under earth.
Exegesis of the saying of Mohammad: ‘Don’t say I am superior to Noah!’
Mohammad once said, ‘Don’t claim my ascension
Transcends how Jonah once rose up to heaven:
4515
My route was up, while his was down below,
Nearness to God is not geographical though—
It doesn’t mean going up or down from here,
But fleeing from existence. Is that clear?’
Non-being has no link to trivial factors
Like near or far, early or late—none matters.
God’s workshop’s in Non-being, but when you
Are dazzled still by being, you have no clue.
In short, defeat for them does not resemble
Our own defeat, not even just a little.
4520
They are as glad with losses and demotions
As we are with good fortune and promotions.
He’s happy with what Non-being should provide;
Poverty and abasement give him pride.
One of the captives said, ‘If he’s that way,
Why did he laugh when we were bound today?
If he has changed and does not feel delight
At his own freedom and our sorry plight,
Why does he feel joy when his enemy
Becomes subdued, and bask in victory?
4525
His soul felt joy because he gained with ease
God’s aid in bringing us all to our knees,
And that’s how we know he’s not liberated
And that mere worldly gains leave him elated.
If not, why did he laugh? Holy men should
Be kind towards bad men as well as good.’
Under their breath these captives muttered this
Among themselves as their analysis,
Adding, ‘Make sure the guard won’t overhear
And take what we say to his ruler’s ear!’
4530
The Prophet becomes aware of their criticizing him for Schadenfreude
Although the guard did not hear what they said,
Through God directly it reached him instead:
To Joseph’s keeper his shirt gave no clue,
But Jacob smelt it from afar and knew;*
Even if they reach heaven sneakily,
Those devils wouldn’t hear Truth’s mystery.
Mohammad was reclining on the ground
And sleeping when the secret circled round.
The one whose share it is will eat the halva,
Not the one who can boast the longest finger.
4535
A shooting star became a guard and said
To those men, ‘Learn from Ahmad truth instead
Of stealing.’ You who stare at shops from dawn,
Go to the mosque for sustenance you’re set on!
The Prophet learned of their talk, then he said:
‘My smiles were not from enmity. They’re dead
And have begun already to decay—
Killing a corpse is not the brave man’s way.
In truth, who are they when compared with me—
I who can make the moon split suddenly.*
4540
When you were free and had a rank so high,
You were then chained just as now to my eye:
You who love wealth and what belongs to you,
You’re vain and worthless in a wise man’s view.
Your bodies fell down from the roof like plates;
My eyes see all things and their future fates.
In the unripe grape I see wine already;
In nothingness I see a thing so clearly—
I see a hidden world that lies within;
Adam and Eve’s time there’s yet to begin.
4545
I’d seen you at Alast too, you should know—
Then you were all felled, tied up, and brought low.
That knowledge did not need to be updated
After the pillarless heavens were created.
I saw you falling upside down before
I grew from clay and water, and what’s more
I’ve seen naught new to bring me happiness.
I saw this when you once were prosperous
And bound by hidden wrath which was so great—
Candy containing poison you then ate.
4550
If one sees poison eaten by those men
One counts as foes, who would feel jealous then?
You used to eat that poison with such glee
When death had blocked your ears up secretly.
I didn’t wage war just for conquest, and
I don’t seek the whole world within my hand,
For this world is a corpse that is so worthless—
How should I covet such a rotten carcass?
I’m not a dog that pulls a corpse’s hair—
I’m Jesus who revives it. Now compare!
4555
I broke through battle ranks with the intention
Of rescuing you from complete destruction,
But I do not slit men’s throats needlessly,
Hoping that power and glory come to me—
I will slit some throats, if that is the way
To save a whole world as the price to pay,
For you, in ignorance, like moths, will make
Throwing yourselves at flames the path to take—
With my own hands I stop you falling in
The fire like drunkards with your mind in spin.
4560
What you took for your victories were the seed
Of your misfortune, but you paid no heed.
You called each other earnestly, then rode
Straight to the dragon’s mouth—that’s what you sowed.
You vanquished men, but at the same time you
Were conquered by time’s fearless lion too.’
Explanation of how the tyrant is overwhelmed while overpowering and is made a captive when he gains victory
A thief held down a merchant and stole gold;
A magistrate saw all of this unfold.
If he instead had fled the merchant, then
The magistrate could not have sent his men.
4565
His overpowering caused him loss instead
Because this act robbed him of his own head;
It turned into his snare—the magistrate
Had time to come and then retaliate.
You who have conquered many people and
Are steeped in conquest all across the land,
God made your victims lose to you, so He
Could draw you into His net gradually.
Beware, draw rein! Don’t chase that victim or
You will be stabbed soon in a greater war.
4570
Once he has drawn you like this to the snare,
You’ll see men surge at you from everywhere.
Intellects can’t rejoice in victory
When that should lead to sheer depravity.
Wisdom’s sharp-sighted and clairvoyant too,
For God’s applied His kohl for wisdom’s view.
The Prophet said, ‘People of paradise
Are poor debaters, for this is the price
For their self-criticism and sheer firmness;
It’s not deficiency or inner weakness.’
4575
While giving deference they would listen to
‘If there were no believers’* though none knew.
From striking infidels they were held back
So all believers stayed free from attack:
Read Hodaybiyya’s pact, and understand
From that what’s meant by ‘He restrained your hands.’*
He saw himself, though he’d gained victory,
As overpowered by God’s majesty:
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‘I am not laughing at your chains,’ he said,
‘Or due to seizing you last night. Instead
4580
I laugh because I now must force you to
Come to the garden with chains tied on you.’
How strange that we must drag you now with chains
From hell-fire to such lovely, verdant plains.
I’m dragging you with heavy chains from hell
To lasting paradise, but you rebel.’
God drags each man who follows what He says
Up to His presence bound in similar ways.
All travel this path bound in chains of fear
And trial apart from God’s Friends who live near;
4585
By force the rest are dragged in that direction,
With those who’ve gained the secrets the exception.
Strive hard so that your light will shine bright too
And service will seem easy then to do.
You drag a child to school against his will,
For he can’t tell the benefits there still;
The child will run there once he is aware,
His soul smile at the thought of going there.
The child who still resents attending it
Has failed to see tuition’s benefit,
4590
But when he gains a coin that he can keep,
Just like a thief he’ll even give up sleep.
Wait till you see obedience’s good wages—
You’ll envy those who’ve been that way for ages.
‘Against your will come!’ rallies imitators,
‘Come willingly!’* invites God’s instigators.
The former love God for another factor,
But God’s the only motive for the latter:
The former love the nurse for milk she gives,
The latter’s love for her makes their hearts live.
4595
The former only love her milk, for they
Can’t see her beauty—milk gets in the way.
The latter love the nurse herself, without
Ulterior motives—their love’s pure throughout.
Those who love God with hope and fear just read
The notebook of religious men’s taqlid,*
While those who love for God’s sake stand apart—
Self-interest can’t fit into such a heart;
Such men seek God no matter the condition
They’re in—they’re drawn to God by His attraction.
4600
Whether one loves God for some other ends,
Partaking in the goodness that He sends,
Or for His own sake in pure isolation,
Fearing only the trial of separation,
You’ll find that both of these two searches starts
From up beyond, since He traps all men’s hearts.
The beloved’s attraction of the lover works in such a way that the lover neither knows it nor hopes for it, nor has the occurrence in his mind of it, nor has a trace of that attraction appear inside, except the fear that is mixed with despair and combined with the continuation of seeking
We’ve realized now that if the attraction
By his beloved sadr had not been hidden,
The lover wouldn’t have been dying to
Run back to the sole home he really knew.
4605
While the beloved’s loves are under cover,
Trumpets and drums announce those of the lover.
There is a story that can illustrate
This point, but the Bukharan cannot wait—
He’s longing now to see with his own eyes
His own beloved’s face before he dies,
To flee death and in this way be delivered:
Water of Life is seeing one’s beloved.
If seeing someone won’t cause death to flee,
That’s not your real beloved obviously.
4610
O ardent drunkard, this is a rare matter—
If death comes during it, then it tastes better;
It is the proof of true faith that death should
Be made by it to taste and feel so good—
If your faith isn’t like this, soul, then it
Still needs work to become immaculate.
Whoever loves his own death just for you
Is your beloved, since his heart is true.
It isn’t death when he feels no aversion;
It looks like death, but really is migration.
4615
When there is no aversion, death must be
Bringing gain—it is blocked then fittingly.
God is the true beloved and those few
To whom God said, ‘You’re mine and I’m for you.’
Listen, the lover’s reaching near: love tied
Him up in a palm-fibre cord* inside.
On seeing that sadr’s form which won his love,
His soul flew from his body high above;
His body fell down like dry wood below,
Felt cold to touch from his head to his toe;
4620
No matter how much incense and rose water
They used, he didn’t stir or even mutter.
Once the king saw his saffron-coloured face,
He stopped, dismounted, and approached his place,
Then said, ‘Lovers seek their beloved keenly,
And when he comes they disappear completely.’
You are God’s lover; He is the One Who
By His arrival here effaces you.
His gaze does this to hundreds of your kind;
Maybe it’s such effacement you’ve in mind?
4625
You are the shade that loves the sun, despite
The fact that you’re effaced by that sun’s light.
The flea appeals for justice against the wind in the presence of Solomon
A flea came from the garden’s grassy field
To seek out Solomon and then appealed:
‘Solomon, justice is dealt out by you
To demons, humans, and the fairies too;
Birds and fish feel protected by your justice—
Has anyone escaped your grace’s notice?
Grant justice to us, for we are downtrodden
Without shares in the orchard or rose garden.
4630
You solve the problems of all who are feeble
And “flea” is used for them by many people.
We’re known for weakness and being frail of wing;
You’re known for kindness and for nurturing.
The top degree of power is your high station;
We’ve reached the peak of lack and destitution.
Grant justice and relieve us of this grief—
Your hand is as God’s hand in our belief.’
Solomon said, ‘Seeker of justice, say
Some more about the justice sought today.
4635
Who is the tyrant? Who is so conceited
That he’s made you feel trapped and badly treated?
I’m curious where the tyrant of our age
Can be if he’s not chained or in a cage?
When we were born, oppressors died, so who
In our great age is being cruel to you?
When light dawned, it removed all trace of darkness;
Darkness is cruelty’s origin and buttress.
Some demons take on much activity
While other ones are chained restrictively.
4640
The Devil is the source of cruelty here,
So while he’s chained how can that still appear?
“Be! And it was”* bestowed on us dominion,
So people wouldn’t need to cry to heaven,
So smoke would not rise there from people’s sighs,
So none would bother stars in heaven’s skies,
So that the orphan’s wails would not alarm
The Throne an
d shake it, nor souls suffer harm.
Inside our kingdoms we’ve established laws
So to cry out “O Lord!” there’d be no cause.
4645
Victim, don’t look up to the heavens when
A heavenly king is here among the men.’
The flea said, ‘I complain of the wind’s hand,
Which it used to mistreat us. In this land
We all are suffering inside from its cruelty
With closed lips, though we feel such pain acutely.’
Solomon commands the plaintiff flea to bring its adversary to court
Solomon said, ‘Sweet-voiced flea, understand
You must hear with your soul the Lord’s command:
God has told me, “Judge, you must take great care
Not to hear one side when their foe’s not there—
The Masnavi, Book Three Page 37