ILLUSTRATION III.

When the light of the sun is divided from the night,
You see its dawn and up-rising and full ascension.
Again there falls on the revolving heavens
Declension, and afternoon and sunset appear.
The light of prophecy is a mighty sun,
Now beaming from Moses, now from Adam.
If you read the chronicles of the world,
You will know clearly its several degrees.
From this sun every moment is cast a shadow,
And these shadows measure the ascension of faith.
The time of our lord is the equator line, 1
For he is purified from shadow of darkness.
On the equator line he stands erect,

Casting no shadow before or behind, on the right hand or on the left.

2

Since he stands on the 'right way' of "The Truth,"
And takes his stand on the command' Be steadfast.3
He casts no shadow for that involves darkness;
Hail, O light of God, O shadow of Divinity!
His Kibla is between east and west,

Therefore is it drowned in the midst of light.

1 At midday when the sun is over the equator, there are no shadows. 2 Koran, Sura, I. 3.

3"Be thou steadfast therefore as thou hast been commanded." Koran, Sura XI, 114.

4 Kibla, the point to which the faithful turn in prayer, indicated by the Mihrab or niche in mosques. See Daniel vi, 10.

When by his power Satan becomes a Musulman, '
He will be as a shadow hidden under his feet.
All degrees are beneath his degree,

1

The existence of things of earth is from his shadow. From his light saintship is cast as a shadow,

In the west in like manner as in the east.

2

For every shadow cast at the beginning of his course,
Another corresponding one is cast at the last.
God willing, every wise man will be among the people
As an apostle corresponding to the prophets. *
When a prophet is most perfect in prophethood,
He is of necessity more perfect than any saint.
Through him the earth is filled with peace and
salvation,

Through him plants and animals receive life.3

By the secret of unity he attains to "The Truth,"
In him is shewn forth the face of the "Absolute."
There remains not in the world one infidel soul,
True equity is made manifest altogether.

There is a tradition both among the Muhammadans and in the Kabbala that Satan will become an angel of light.

2

Alluding to the Hadis, "My people are as the prophets of the children of Israel."

s With this may be compared the eulogium on the prophet in the introduction of the Mantik ut Tair. See Garcin de Tassy ('Poesie philosophique et religieuse,' p. 24).

G

QUESTION V.

Who then is he who attains to the secret of unity?
Who is the knower that understands?

ANSWER V.

That man attains to the secret of unity

Who is not detained at the stages on the road.
And the knower is he that knows necessary being,
He that witnesses absolute being.

He recognises no being but real being,

And of being which is merely contingent he makes a sport.

Your individual being is naught but thorns and weeds, '

Cast it all clean away from you.

Go sweep out the chamber of your heart,

Make it ready to be the dwelling place of the Be loved.

1

Compare Hafız, Ode 385 (Brochhaus' edition)

'Sweep off the life of Hafiz as a dream,

Whilst Thou art, none shall hear me say 'I am.'~And Ode 487.

From His heart girdle-wise you'll dwell apart,

While girdle-wise your 'self' enfolds your heart.'

And Jalaludin Rumi Masnavi, Dufter I, urges his disciples to purify themselves from qualities, and names, and to "pluck the rose away from the G and L of (Gul) rose."

When you depart out, He will enter in,

In you, void of yourself, will He show His beauty.
The man who is loved for his 'pious works,' '

2

1

And whom the pains of renunciation purify as a

room that is swept,

He finds an abode in an 'honourable station,'

He finds a trace of 'what eye hath not seen, nor ear heard' 3

But while the stain of separate being remains on him, He gains not the knowledge of the knower in spirit and in truth.

Until you cast away obstacles from before you,
The light enters not the chamber of your heart.
As there are four obstacles in the world,

So the modes of purification are four :

First, cleansing from pollution and filthiness; Second, from sin and the "whispers of the tempter;" The third is the cleansing from bad qualities, Whereby men become as beasts;

The fourth purification is more excellent than the rest, For at this point the pilgrims' wanderings cease. Whoso is cleansed with these purifications,

Doubtless is fit to commune with God.

1 "And watch some part of the night in the same exercise as a pious work of supererogation for thee, peradventure thy Lord will raise thee to an honourable station."-Koran, Sura XVII, 81.

2i.e., self-denial.

* See I Corinthians II, 9.

Koran, Sura CXIV, 4.

But till you do not utterly gamble away yourself,
How can your prayer be true prayer? 2
When your essence is pure from all stain,

9

Then it is that your prayers are a joy of the eyes,' » There remains then no separation,

Knower and known are one and the same. 4

1 From the harvest of existence he will never reap a grain Who has never sown a seed corn in annihilation's lane. -Hafiz (Brockhaus), Qde 61.

2 Sadi in his fifth Sermon says:-'He who prays from his inmost soul prays to himself, he no more prays but it is God who at once offers and accepts prayer.'

3 Koran, Sura XXXII, 18.

The love of Thee flows just as much

As that of ebbing self subsides,

Our hearts, their scantiness is such,

Bear not the conflict of two rival tides.

--Madame Guyon, trauslated by Cowper.