public domain works from the ,university of ,michigan ,digital ,libraries47 ,,mystics ,,and ,,saints ,,of ,,islam ,,by ,,claud ,,field ,,london3 ,,francis ,,griffiths1 #cd ,,maiden ,,lane1 ,,strand1 ,w4,c4 #aiaj4 ,,contents4 ,,chap4 ,,page ,i4 ,,pantheistic ,,sufism #a ,,ii4 ,,hasan ,,basri #ah ,,iii4 ,,rabia1 ,,the ,,woman ,,sufi #bh ,,iv4 ,,ibrahim ,,ben ,,adham #cf ,v4 ,,fudhayl ,,ben ,,ayaz #df ,,vi4 ,,bayazid ,,bastami #eb ,,vii4 ,,zu',n ,,nun ,,of ,,egypt #fj ,,viii4 ,,mansur ,,hallaj #fh ,,ix4 ,,habib ,,ajami #gi ,x4 ,,avicenna 7,,ibn ,,sina7 #hf ,,xi4 ,,al ,,ghazzali #ajf ,,xii4 ,,fariduddin ,,attar #abc ,,xiii4 ,,suhrawardy #ada ,,xiv4 ,,jalaluddin ,,rumi #adh ,,xv4 ,,sharani1 ,,the ,,egyptian #afd ,,xvi4 ,,mullah ,,shah #agd ,,appendix ,i4 ,,mohammedan ,,conversions #aib ,,ii4 ,,exposition ,,of ,,sufism #aif ,,iii4 ,,christian ,,elements ,,in ,,mohammedan ,,literature #bjb ,,iv4 ,,christ ,,in ,,mohammedan ,,tradition #bjh ,,preface ,it is a custom in some quarters to represent ,mohammadan mysticism as merely a late importation into ,islam1 and an altogether alien element in it4 ,but however much later ,islamic mysticism may have derived from ,christian1 ,neo-platonic1 and ,buddhist sources1 there is little doubt that the roots of mysticism are to be found in the ,koran itself4 ,the following verse is an instance3 ,god is the ,light of the heavens and the earth4 ,his light is like a niche in which is a lamp1 the lamp encased in glass--the glass as it were a glistening star4 ,from a blessed tree is it lighted1 the olive neither of the ,east nor of the ,west1 whose oil would well nigh shine out even though fire touched it not6 ,it is light upon light6 7,koran ,sura #bd74 ,indeed it seems strange to accord the title of a practical mystic to ,cromwell and to deny it to ,mohammad1 whose proclivity for religious meditation was so strong that the ,arabs used to say ,muhammad is in love with his ,maker1#a and whose sense of the terror of the ,lord was so intense that it turned his hair prematurely white4 ,many of the reported sayings of the ,early ,companions of ,muhammad show that they shared this terror4 ,verily1 you shall see hell1 you shall see it with the eye of certainty says the ,koran1 and they thought it very probable4 ,thus ,ali exclaimed ,alas for the shortness of the provision and the terrors of the way6 ,abu'l ,darda said ,if ye knew what ye shall see after death1 ye would not eat nor drink1 and ,i wish that ,i were a tree that is lopped and then devoured4#b ,this fear of the ,lord led naturally to an almost fierce asceticism4 ,abu ,bekr and ,ali both founded communities of ascetics1#c and during the first and second centuries of ,islam there were many orthodox mystics4 ,professor ,nicholson in the work just quoted1 rightly says ,i do not think that we need look beyond ,islam for the origin of the ,sufi doctrines4444 ,the early ,sufis are still on orthodox ground1 their relation to ,islam is not unlike that of the medival ,spanish mystics to the ,roman ,catholic ,church4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the following sketches are for the most part translations of papers by continental scholars such as ,alfred ,von ,kremer1 ,pavet de ,courteille1 and ,a4,f4 ,mehren4 ,the essays on ,ghazzali and ,jalaluddin ,rumi are1 however1 founded on original study of those writers4 ,the translator hopes a wholesome tonic may be found in some of these ,moslem mystics at a time when many ,christian pulpits and presses seem anxious to dilute ,christianity into a presumptuous and effeminate love which never knew fear4#d ,he desires to thank the ,editors of the ,expository ,times1 ,church ,missionary ,review1 ,irish ,church ,quarterly1 and ,london ,quarterly ,review for permission to include papers which have appeared in those journals4 ,c4,f4 #a ,ghazzali1 ,munqidh4 #b ,nicholson4 ,literary ,history of the ,arabs 7p4 #bbe74 #c ,tholuck4 ,sufismus4 #d ,sir ,john ,seeley4 ,,chapter ,i ,,pantheistic ,,sufism#e ,i4--,,the ,,import ,,of ,,islamic ,,mysticism ,the moral law proclaimed by ,moses three thousand years ago agrees with that which governs men to-day1 irrespective of their various stages of culture2 the moral precepts of a ,buddha and ,confucius agree with those of the ,gospel1 and the sins for which1 according to the ,book of the ,dead of the ancient ,egyptians1 men will answer to the judges of the other world are sins still after four thousand years4 ,if the nature of the unknown ,first ,cause is ever to be grasped at all1 it can only be in the light of those unchanging moral principles which every man carries in his own breast4 ,the idea of ,god is therefore not an affair of the understanding1 but of the feeling and conscience4 ,mysticism has always so taken it1 and has therefore always had a strong attraction for the excitable and emotional portion of mankind whom it has comforted in trial and affliction4 ,every religion is accordingly rather intended for the emotions than for the understanding1 and therefore they all contain mystical tendencies4 ,the mysticism of ,islam and ,christendom have many points of contact1 and by mysticism perhaps will be first bridged the wide gulf which separates ,islam from ,christendom1 and thereby from modern civilisation4 ,just in proportion as the various religions express the ideals of goodness and truth they approximate to one another as manifestations of the unchanging moral principle4 ,inasmuch as they surmised this1 the ,motazilites 7or free-thinkers in ,islam71 at a time when ,europe lay in the profoundest intellectual and moral bewilderment1 fought for one of those ideas which1 although they are quickly submerged again in the stormy current of the times1 continue to work in silence and finally emerge victorious4 ,on that day when the ,moslem no longer beholds in ,god simply omnipotence1 but also righteousness1 he will simultaneously re-enter the circle of the great civilised nations among whom he once before1 though only for a short time1 had won the first place4 ,it is not perhaps too fanciful to hail1 as an omen of the triumph of moral mysticism over the dogmatic rigidity of ,islam1 the fact that the present ,sultan ,muhammad ,v4 was girded with the sword of ,osman by the head of the ,mevlevi dervishes1 a sect founded by the great mystic teacher ,jalaluddin ,rumi of ,iconium4 ,forty-three years ago a ,persian ,orientalist ,mirza ,kasim ,beg wrote in the ,journal ,asiatique3-- ,l'unique voie qui dans l',islam puisse conduire a la reforme c'est la doctrine du mysticisme4 ,,ii4--,,earlier ,,phases ,the period during which the asceticism practised by the earlier ,sufis passed into the dreamy pantheism which characterises the later ,sufism is the end of the third century after ,muhammad4 ,this introduced a new element into ,islam which for centuries exercised a powerful influence on national culture1 and is still partially operative at present4 ,the conception of ,god and of the relation of the finite and human with the infinite and divine from this time onward formed the chief subject of inquiry and meditation4 ,the man who was destined to be the first to give those ideas1 which had hitherto been foreign to ,arabian ,sufism1 definite expression was a poor workman1 a cotton-carder1 bearing the name of ,hellaj4 ,he was an ,arabised ,persian1 born in ,persia1 but educated in ,irak1 where he enjoyed the privilege of being instructed by ,junaid4 ,the story of his life as handed down by ,shiah or ,sunni writers has been much exaggerated4 ,it is clear1 however1 that he had a great number of disciples who revered him as their spiritual guide and ascribed to him almost supernatural powers4 ,his ever-growing popularity much scandalised the orthodox mullahs1 who moved the authorities to proceed against him1 and were successful in procuring his execution #ibb ,a4,d4 ,before his death he was subjected to terrible tortures1 which he bore with wonderful composure4 ,the reason of his condemnation was declared to be that he regarded himself as an incarnation of the ,godhead4 ,his disciples honoured him as a saint after his death4 ,they ascribed to him the famous saying1 ,i am the ,truth 7i4e4 ,god71 which they took in a pantheistic sense4 ,he is said to have taught the doctrine of the incarnation of the ,godhead in a man and to have uttered the exclamation3 ,praise to the ,most ,high ,who has revealed ,his humanity and concealed the overpowering splendour of ,his ,deity4 ,whoso purifies himself by abstinence and purges himself from every trace of fleshiness1 unto him the ,spirit of ,god enters1 as it entered into ,jesus4 ,when he has attained to this degree of perfection1 whatever he wills1 happens1 and whatever he does is done by ,god4 ,his letters to his disciples are said to have commenced with the formula1 ,from the ,lord of ,lords to ,his slaves4 ,his disciples wrote to him3 ,o ,spirit of the ,spirit6 ,o highest ,aim of the holy3 ,we bear witness that ,thou hast incarnated ,thyself in the form of ,hosain the cotton-carder 7,hellaj74 ,we flee for protection to ,thee and hope in ,thy mercy1 ,o ,knower of secrets4 ,the genuineness of these fragments has much to support it1 but is not entirely beyond doubt4 ,this much1 however1 is clear1 that the disciples of ,hellaj after his death regarded him as a divine being4 ,ibn ,hazm1 a trustworthy author who wrote only #aej years after the execution of ,hellaj1 says so expressly4 ,ghazzali1 who wrote about fifty years later still1 does not mention this1 but shelters ,hellaj from the charge of blasphemy by construing his exclamation ,i am the ,truth in a pantheistic sense1 and excuses it by ascribing it to an excess of love to ,god and to mystic ecstacy4 ,in another place he says3 ,the first veil between ,god and ,his servant is ,his servant's soul4 ,but the hidden depth of the human heart is divine and illuminated by light from above2 for in it is mirrored the eternal ,truth completely1 so that it encloses the universe in itself4 ,now when a man turns his gaze on his own divinely illumined heart he is dazzled by the blaze of its beauty1 and the expression ,i am ,god6 easily escapes him4 ,if from this stage he does not advance further in knowledge1 he often falls into error and is ruined4 ,it is as though he had allowed himself to be misled by a little spark from the light-ocean of ,godhead instead of pressing forward to get more light4 ,the ground of this self-deception is that he in whom the ,supernatural is mirrored confuses himself with it4 ,so the colour of a picture seen in a mirror is sometimes confounded with the mirror itself4 ,hellaj was no more than the representative of an old idea1 ,indian in origin1 which he combined with ,sufism1 thereby giving an entirely new direction to ,islamic thought1 which was important1 as leading to an entirely new development of the conception of ,god4 ,even previous to ,hellaj1 the doctrine of incarnation had emerged in ,islam4 ,the ,caliph ,ali was reported to have been such1 and was accordingly venerated by the ,shiahs4 ,the sect of the ,khattabiyah worshipped the ,imam ,jafar ,sadik as ,god4 ,another sect believed that the ,divine ,spirit had descended upon ,abdallah ,ibn ,amr4 ,in ,khorassan the opinion was widely spread that ,abu ,muslim1 the great general who overturned the dynasty of the ,ommeyads and set up that of the ,abbasides1 was an incarnation of the spirit of ,god4 ,in the same province under ,al ,mansur1 the second ,abbaside ,caliph1 a religious leader named ,ostasys professes to be an emanation of the ,godhead4 ,he collected thousands of followers1 and the movement was not suppressed without much fighting4 ,under the ,caliph ,mahdi a self-styled ,avatar named ,ata arose1 who on account of a golden mask which he continually wore was called ,mokanna1 or the veiled prophet4 ,he also had a numerous following1 and held the ,caliph's armies in check for several years1 till in #ggi ,a4,d41 being closely invested in his castle1 he1 with his whole harem and servants1 put an end to themselves4 ,towards the end of the second century after ,muhammad1 ,babek in ,persia taught the transmigration of souls and communism4 ,his followers1 named ,khoramiyyah1 long successfully resisted the ,caliph's troops4 ,he claimed that the soul of an ancient law-giver named ,bod had passed into him1 which meant perhaps that he wished to pass for a ,buddha4 ,it is well known that ,shiite teachers were especially active in ,persia4 ,in the apotheosis of ,ali1 as well as in the cases of ,abu ,muslim1 we find an assertion of the ideas peculiar to the ,persians in pre-,islamic times4 ,the infusion or indwelling of the ,godhead in man as with the ,hindu ,avatars was also popular1 and widely spread in ,persia4 ,in ,bagdad1 from the time of the early ,abbasides1 the ,persians had exercised great influence4 ,shiahs were able to profess their views freely under the tolerant or rather religiously indifferent ,caliph ,mamoun4 ,bagdad early harboured within its walls a number of communities imbued with ,shiah doctrine1 and the ,persian conception of ,god silently1 but widely prevailed4 ,hellaj1 educated in the orthodox ,sunni school of ,junaid1 which1 through its laying stress on the idea of love to ,god1 possessed rather a mystic than dogmatic character1 allowed himself to be carried away by his passionate temperament into not only preaching1 but practically applying to himself the above-mentioned doctrines1 which though known to many1 had been discreetly veiled in reserve4 ,when once the populace have been prepared for a new idea1 the mere expression of it is sufficient to act as a spark on tinder4 ,the fatal word was spoken by ,hellaj2 the authorities did their duty1 seized the daring innovator and put him to death in the cruel fashion of the time4 ,but the word once spoken had been borne on the winds in all directions1 and the execution of ,hellaj gave a powerful impulse to the spread of his doctrine4 ,there are periods in the lives of some nations when the longing for a martyr's crown becomes epidemic4 ,a few years after the execution of ,hellaj1 a man of the people1 ,ibn ,aby ,azkyr1 from the same village1 ,shalmaghan1 where ,hellaj had spent his youth1 gave himself out as an incarnation of the ,godhead4 ,he was put to death with several of his followers under the reign of the ,caliph ,radhi1 #icc ,a4,d4 ,a century after ,hellaj an ,egyptian1 ,ismail ,darazy1 from whom the ,druses derive their name1 proclaimed the ,fatimite ,caliph ,hakim to be an incarnation4 ,how great was the influence exercised in general by those ideas for which ,hellaj died a martyr's death we learn most clearly from the pages of ,ghazzali1 who wrote not quite two hundred years later4 ,he says3 ,the speculations of the ,sufis may be divided into two classes3 to the first category belong all the phrases about love to ,god and union with ,him1 which according to them compensate for all outward works4 ,many of them allege that they have attained to complete oneness with ,god2 that for them the veil has been lifted2 that they have not only seen the ,most ,high with their eyes1 but have spoken with ,him1 and go so far as to say ,the ,most ,high spoke thus and thus4 ,they wish to imitate ,hellaj1 who was crucified for using such expressions1 and justify themselves by quoting his saying1 ,i am the ,truth4 ,they also refer to ,abu ,yazid ,bistamy1 who is reported to have exclaimed1 ,praise be to me61 instead of ,praise be to ,god6 ,this kind of speculation is extremely dangerous for the common people1 and it is notorious that a number of craftsmen have left their occupation to make similar assertions4 ,such speeches are highly popular1 as they hold out to men the prospect of laying aside active work with the idea of purging the soul through mystical ecstasies and transports4 ,the common people are not slow to claim similar rights for themselves and to catch up wild and whirling expressions4 ,as regards the second class of ,sufi speculation1 it consists in the use of unintelligible phrases which by their outward apparent meaning and boldness attract attention1 but which on closer inspection prove to be devoid of any real sense4 ,these words of the greatest thinker among the ,muhammadans at that time afford us a deep insight into the remarkable character of the period4 ,from them we gather with certainty that the division of ,sufism into two classes1 one orthodox and outwardly conforming to ,islam1 and the other free-thinking and pantheistic1 was already an accomplished fact before ,ghazzali's time4 ,we recognise also that the latter kind of ,sufism was very popular among the lowest classes of the people and even among the agricultural population4 ,the fundamental characteristic of mysticism1 the striving after the knowledge of ,god by way of ecstatic intuition1 had already come into open conflict with the fundamental principles of ,islam4 ,mystical love to ,god was the catchword which brought people to plunge into ecstatic reverie1 and by complete immersion in contemplation to lose their personality1 and by this self-annihilation to be absorbed in ,god4 ,the simple ascetic character of the ancient ,arabian ,sufism was continually counteracted by the element of passive contemplation which was entirely foreign to the ,arab mind4 ,the terms ascetic and ,sufi1 which were formerly almost synonymous1 henceforward cease to be so1 and often conceal a fundamental variance with each other4 ,we shall not go very far wrong if we connect the crisis of this intellectual development with the appearance of ,hellaj1 so that the close of the third and commencement of the fourth century after ,muhammad marks the point of time when this philosophico-religious schism was completed4 ,in ,persia the theosophy of ,hellaj and his supporters found a receptive soil and flourished vigorously2 on that soil were reared the finest flowers of ,persian poetry4 ,from the ,persians this tendency passed over to the ,turks1 and the poetry of both nations contains strongly-marked theosophical elements4 ,,iii4--,,the ,,love ,,of ,,god ,,and ,,ecstasy ,already in the second century of ,islam great stress was laid upon the cultivation of love to ,god1 an outstanding example of which is the female ,sufi ,rabia4 ,with it was connected a gradually elaborated doctrine of ecstatic states and visions which were believed to lead by the way of intuition and divine illumination to the spiritual contemplation of ,god4 ,we have already endeavoured to describe the religious enthusiasm which took possession of the ,moslems in the first and second century after ,muhammad and have partly traced the causes which led to this phenomenon4 ,ecstasy is an invariable concomitant of religious enthusiasm4 ,in the endeavour to break through the narrow bounds which confine the human spirit pious and credulous natures are only too easily led astray4 ,the instruments which man has at his command when he wishes to investigate the supernatural do not suffice to procure him an even approximately correct image of the object which he would fain observe4 ,while the optician with the aid of mathematics can reduce errors arising from the convexity of his magnifying lens to an infinitesimally small amount1 the theologian has never found a device1 and never will find one1 to obviate the errors which arise from the fact that his intellectual insight has to be exercised through the medium of material senses1 which obscure the clearness of his observation4 ,and yet it is precisely this ceaseless striving1 this irresistible impulse after something higher1 this unquenchable thirst for the fountain-head of knowledge1 which constitutes the highest and noblest side of humanity1 and is the most indubitable pledge of its spiritual future4 ,the net result of these strivings has been an endless series of self-delusions1 and yet humanity takes on a grander aspect in them than in all its other manifold efforts and successes4 ,the history of this spiritual wrestling1 this hopeless and yet never relaxed struggle against the impossible1 forms the noblest aspect of the history of mankind4 ,the phenomena produced by ,islam in this respect do not fundamentally differ from those produced by ,christianity and ,buddhism4 ,sufism exhibits a more remarkable development of these phenomena1 simply because it grew up in an environment which favoured their more luxuriant growth4 ,the ,koran1 which ,muhammad came1 as he said to preach1 was regarded as the very word of ,god1 and must therefore have produced an overpowering impression on the minds of the faithful4 ,of this numerous instances are reported4 ,abd al ,wahid ibn ,zaid heard one day a ,koran-reader recite the following verse 7,sura #de3 #bh73--,this is ,our book1 which announces to you the truth2 for ,we have caused to be recorded all that ye have done4 ,those who believe and do good works shall their ,lord admit to ,his favour2 verily this is the most manifest recompense4 ,on hearing this ,abd al ,wahid broke into loud weeping and fainted4 ,miswar ibn ,machramah was not even able to hear any verse of the ,koran read1 being so powerfully affected thereby as to become senseless4 ,of ,jobair ibn ,motim it is reported that he said3 ,i heard the ,prophet recite the following verses of the ,koran3-- #a4 ,i swear by ,tur4 #b4 ,by a book which stands written on outspread parchment4 #c4 ,by the house to which pilgrimage is made4 #d4 ,by the lofty dome of heaven4 #e4 ,and by the swelling ocean4 #f4 ,that the judgment of thy ,lord is at hand4 ,then it appeared to me1 said ,jobair1 as if my heart would burst in twain4 ,the pious ,cadi ,ijad adduces as a special proof of the inspiration of the ,koran the deep impression of fear and terror which its recital produced on the minds of the hearers4 ,muhammad ibn ,mansur relates that once passing a house at midnight he heard the voice of a man praying to ,god loudly and fervently1 lamenting his sins with deep contrition4 ,muhammad ibn ,mansur could not resist the temptation2 he put his mouth to the keyhole and uttered the verse which threatens the unbelievers with hell-fire4 ,he heard a heavy fall within the house1 and all was still4 ,as he went down the same street the next morning he saw a corpse being carried out of the same house1 followed by an old woman4 ,he inquired of her whose body it was1 and she answered3 ,last night my son heard a verse of the ,koran recited1 and it broke his heart4 ,we are far from believing all these stories1 but they show what a view was held in the earliest times regarding the effect produced by the ,koran on the minds of those who heard it4 ,the ecstatic bent of mind of the ascetics of ,islam and the later ,sufis arose from these beginnings4 ,then1 as now1 self-originated phases of feeling were attributed to outer causes2 from the remotest times men have sought without them the ,divinity which they carried within4 ,the wider spread and greater permanence of ecstatic phenomena among the ,moslems than elsewhere was due to the concurrence of various conditions1 chief among which was the peculiar temperament of the ,arab4 ,capable of the fiercest momentary excitement1 he quickly subsided into a state of complete apathy which is pain-proof4 ,i#f have a lively recollection of the cases mentioned by my late friend ,dr4 ,bilharz1 who spoke of the astonishing ansthesia which the patients in the medical school of ,kasr al 'ain in ,cairo1 where he was professor1 exhibited under the most painful operations4 ,they uttered hardly a sound when operated upon in the most sensitive nerve-centres4 ,the negro1 notoriously excitable as he is1 and therefore still more exposed to complete prostration of the organs of feeling1 exhibits this apathy in a yet more marked degree than the ,arab and ,egyptian4 ,many examples of this are found in old ,arabic authors--e4g41 in the narratives of the martyrdoms of ,hatyt1 of ,hellaj and of a young ,mameluke crucified in #abdg ,a4,d4 ,of the last ,suyuti has preserved a psychologically detailed description4 ,although ,christian martyrology is rich in such instances of unshakable fortitude under the most painful tortures1 yet in ,islam the ecstatic temper has attained a higher significance and been more constantly exhibited4 ,a chief reason of this was the religious fanaticism1 which was incomparably stronger and more widely diffused in ,islam than in medival ,christendom4 ,the minds of the ,moslems were kept in perpetual tension by severe religious exercises1 the effect of which was intensified by fasts and pilgrimages4 ,the peculiar manner of life in the desert1 the birthplace of ,islam1 also contributed to this2 the scanty diet1 the loneliness of the desert1 and in the towns the want of civic life1 the poverty of ideas among the ,arabs1 all helped to produce the same result4 ,finally1 deception1 hypocrisy1 and superstition1 as1 alas1 so often is the case in religious matters1 played a great part4 ,whoever did not feel ecstatically moved at the recitation of the ,koran pretended to be so1 and often thereby1 perhaps unconsciously1 exercised a great effect on others4 ,men began by pretending to feel religious enthusiasm and ended by believing that they really felt it4 ,ghazzali mentions in the ,ihya ul-ulum that the prophet commanded that whoever did not feel moved to tears at the recitation of the ,koran should pretend to weep and to be deeply moved2 for1 adds ,ghazzali sagely1 in these matters one begins by forcing oneself to do what afterwards comes spontaneously4 ,moreover1 the fact that religious excitement was looked upon as the mark of a fervent mind and devout intensity1 vastly increased the number of those who claimed mystic illumination4 ,when verses of the ,koran through frequent repetition lost their power to awaken ecstasy1 single lines of fragments of poems sufficed to produce it4 ,once the mystic ,taury found himself in the midst of a company who were discussing some scientific question4 ,all took part in it with the exception of ,taury1 who suddenly rose and recited3-- ,many cooing doves mourn in the mid-day heat1 ,sadly under the roof of foliage overhead1 ,remembering old companions and days gone by2 ,their lament awakens my sorrow also1 ,my mourning rouses them1 and often theirs disturbs my sleep2 ,i do not understand their cooing1 and they do not understand my weeping3 ,but through1 my sorrow of heart ,i know them1 and through their heart-sorrow they know me4 ,hardly had those present heard these verses than they all fell into a state of ecstatic contemplation4 ,ibrahim ben ,adham1 the celebrated ,sufi1 once heard the following verses3-- ,everything is forgiven thee1 except estrangement from ,us3 ,we pardon thee all the past1 and only that remains which has escaped ,our eyes 7i4e41 nothing74 ,they immediately caused him to fall into a trance which lasted twenty-four hours4 ,ghazzali1 who himself borrowed much from the ,sufis1 and was a diligent student of their doctrine1 seeks to explain these strange phenomena on psychological grounds4 ,he divides the ecstatic conditions which the hearing of poetical recitations produces into four classes4 ,the first1 which is the lowest1 is that of the simple sensuous delight in melody4 ,the second class is that of pleasure in the melody and of understanding the words in their apparent sense4 ,the third class consists of those who apply the meaning of the words to the relations between man and ,god4 ,to this class belongs the would-be initiate into ,sufism2 he has necessarily a goal marked out for him to aim at1 and this goal is the knowledge of ,god1 meeting ,him and union with ,him by the way of secret contemplation1 and the removal of the veil which conceals ,him4 ,in order to compass this aim the ,sufi has a special path to follow2 he must perform various ascetic practices and overcome certain spiritual obstacles in doing so4 ,now when1 during the recitation of poetry1 the ,sufi hears mention made of blame or praise1 of acceptance or refusal1 of union with the ,beloved or separation from ,him1 of lament over a departed joy or longing for a look1 as often occurs in ,arabic poetry1 one or the other of these accords with his spiritual state and acts upon him1 like a spark on tinder1 to set his heart aflame4 ,longing and love overpower him and unfold to him manifold vistas of spiritual experience4 ,the fourth and highest class is that of the fully initiated who have passed through the stages above-mentioned1 and whose minds are closed to everything except ,god4 ,such an one is wholly denuded of self1 so that he no longer knows his own experiences and practices1 and1 as though with senses sealed1 sinks into the ocean of the contemplation of ,god4 ,this condition the ,sufis characterise as self-annihilation 7,fana74 ,but he who is bereft of self-consciousness is none the less aware of what is without him2 it is as if his consciousness were withdrawn from everything but the one object of contemplation1 i4e41 ,god4 ,while he who is completely absorbed in the contemplation of the object seen is as little capable of theorising regarding the act of contemplation as regarding the eye1 the instrument of sight1 or the heart1 the seat of joyful emotion4 ,just in the same way a drunken man is not conscious of his intoxication1 so he who is drowned in joy knows nothing of joy itself1 but only knows what causes it4 ,such a condition of mind may occur with regard to created things as well as with regard to the ,creator ,himself1 only in the latter case it is like a flash of lightning1 without permanence4 ,could such a condition of the soul last longer1 it would be beyond the power of human nature to endure and would end in overwhelming it4 ,so it is related of ,taury that once in a meeting he heard this verse recited3-- ,in my love to ,thee ,i attained to a height where to tread causes the senses to reel4 ,he immediately fell into an ecstatic condition and ran into a field where the newly-cut stubble cut his feet like knives4 ,here he ran about all night till the morning1 and a few days afterwards died4 ,in this highest condition of ecstasy the soul is to be compared to a clear mirror1 which1 itself colourless1 reflects the colours of the object seen in it4 ,or to a crystal1 whose colour is that of the object on which it stands or of the fluid which it contains4 ,itself colourless1 it has the property of transmitting colours4 ,this exposition of ,sufistic ecstasy by ,ghazzali shows that in his time1 far from being on the wane1 such phenomena were on the increase4 ,for when a man of such comprehensive mind1 such a deep thinker1 so well versed in the knowledge of men and especially of his fellow-,moslems1 speaks so plainly and without doubt upon the matter and seeks to explain it psychologically1 this idea must have already taken deep root and spread widely4 ,ghazzali is consequently to be regarded as a decided adherent of ,sufism and as approving of the enthusiastic tendencies accompanying it4 ,he narrates in his autobiography#g how he left his family in ,bagdad and went to ,damascus1 where for two whole years he studied ,sufism4 ,afterwards he made the pilgrimage to ,mecca and ,medina4 ,in his lonely musings things were revealed to him1 which1 he said1 could not be described1 and he arrived at last at the firm conviction that the ,sufis were on the way of ,god and that their teaching was the best4 ,it must be admitted that by ,sufism ,ghazzali meant that kind of it which held fast to the general principles of ,islam and was in accord1 even though only externally1 with the orthodox party4 ,these ,sufis adhered to the ,koran and the traditions1 but interpreted them allegorically4 ,mysticism must always be propped up by a positive religion1 as it has no support in itself4 #e ,from ,von ,kremer4 #f ,von ,kremer4 #g ,the ,confessions of ,al ,ghazzali 7,wisdom of the ,east series74 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,hasan ,,basri#h 7,d #gbh ,,ad7 ,hasan ,basri was born in ,arabia at ,medina1 where his mother had been brought as a captive and sold to ,omm ,salma1 one of the wives of the ,prophet4 ,arrived at man's estate1 and having received his liberty1 he retired to ,basra on the ,persian gulf1 a stronghold of the ascetic sect4 ,here he lived undisturbed1 though his open disavowal of the reigning family of ,ommeyah exposed him to some danger4 ,the following incident1 illustrating his independence of character is narrated by ,ibn ,khalliqan4 ,when ,omar ibn ,hubaira was appointed to the government of ,irak in the reign of the ,caliph ,abd-al ,malik 7,a4,d4 #gba7 he called for ,hasan ,basri1 ,muhammad ,ibn ,sirin and as ,shabi to whom he said1 ,abd al ,malik has received my promise that ,i will hear and obey him2 and he has now appointed me to what you see1 and ,i receive from him written orders4 ,must ,i obey him in whatever orders he takes upon himself to give8 ,to this ,ibn ,sirin and as ,shabi gave a cautious reply1 but ,hasan ,basri1 being asked his opinion1 made this answer3 ,o ,ibn ,hubaira6 ,god outweighs ,abd al ,malik1 and ,abd al ,malik cannot outweigh ,god2 ,god can defend thee from ,abd al ,malik1 and ,abd al ,malik cannot defend thee from ,god4 ,he will soon send an angel to take thee from thy throne1 and send thee from the width of thy palace into the narrowness of the tomb4 ,then thy deeds alone can save thee4 ,ibn ,hubaira then rewarded them1 but bestowed a double reward on ,hasan ,basri1 upon which as ,shabi said to ,ibn ,sirin1 ,we gave him a poor answer1 and he gave us a poor reward4 ,hasan ,basri's adoption of the ascetic life was brought about in the following way4 ,when a young man he was a lapidary1 and had gone to ,roum 7,asia ,minor7 to practise his craft4 ,he there lived on friendly terms with the vizier of that country4 ,one day the vizier said to him1 ,we are going out of the city to a certain place2 will you come with us8 ,hasan ,basri assented1 and went4 ,we came1 he said afterwards1 to a plain where there was a vast tent the ropes of which were of silk and its stakes of gold4 ,i saw a large number of soldiers marching round it2 they repeated some words which ,i could not hear1 and then retired4 ,then came about four hundred mullahs and learned men1 who did the same4 ,these were followed by a similar number of old men4 ,then about four or five hundred beautiful maidens1 each holding in her hand a dish containing rubies1 pearls1 turquoises1 and other precious stones4 ,they went in procession round the tent in the same way4 ,finally the sultan and the vizier went into the tent and came out again4 ,as for me1 ,i remained transfixed with astonishment4 ',what does all this mean8' ,i asked the vizier4 ',the ,king1' he said1 'had an extremely beautiful child of a happy disposition1 who fell ill and died4 ,his tomb is within this tent1 and they visit it once a year4 ,first come the soldiers1 who circle round the tent and say1 ',o son of the sultan1 if we could have ransomed thy life by the strokes of our swords1 we would have done it1 even had it cost us our own2 but ,god willed otherwise1 and we cannot change his decree4' ,having so said1 they go away4 ,then the mullahs and learned men1 coming in their turn1 say1 ',o son of the sultan1 if we could have ransomed thee by knowledge or by eloquence1 we would have done so2 but all the knowledge and eloquence in the world cannot arrest the decrees of ,allah4' ,then they depart4 ,after them come the old men1 who cry1 ',if we could have saved thee by groanings and prayers1 we would have done so2 but our intercession is useless4' ,finally come the young maidens1 who say1 ',o son of the sultan1 if we could have ransomed thee at the price of beauty and wealth1 we would have done it2 but the steps of fate turn aside for neither4' ,after them the sultan and the vizier enter the tent4 ,the sultan says1 ',o my son1 ,i have done all that ,i could do4 ,i have brought all these soldiers1 these mullahs1 these learned men1 these old men1 these beautiful maidens bearing treasures1 and yet ,i cannot bring thee back4 ,it depends not on me1 but on ,him before ,whom all power is powerless4 ,may the mercy of the ,lord be multiplied upon thee for another year4' ,having thus spoken1 they return by the way they came4' ,hasan ,basri1 having heard this1 felt stirred to the depths of his heart4 ,leaving ,roum1 he retired to ,basra1 where he took an oath that he would not smile again till he knew what his eternal destiny would be4 ,he practised the severest asceticism1 and many came to hear him preach4 ,hasan ,basri had a disciple who was in the habit of casting himself on the ground and uttering groans when he heard the ,koran recited4 ,if thou art able to restrain these groans1 said he1 they will prove like a destructive fire to thee2 but if they are really beyond thy power to control1 ,i declare that ,i am six stages behind thee in the way of piety4 ,such groanings1 he added1 are generally the work of ,satan4 ,one day ,hasan ,basri was preaching when ,hejaj ben ,yusuf1 the bloodthirsty and formidable governor of ,irak1 accompanied by a great number of his retinue with drawn swords1 entered the mosque4 ,a person of distinction in the audience said1 ,we must watch to-day whether ,hasan will be embarrassed by the presence of ,hejaj4 ,when the latter had taken his place1 ,hasan ,basri1 without paying the least attention to him1 so far from shortening his discourse1 prolonged it4 ,when it was finished1 the person who was watching him exclaimed1 ,bravo1 ,hasan6 ,when he came down from the pulpit1 ,hejaj came forward1 and1 taking him by the hand1 said1 addressing the people1 ,if you wish to see him whom the ,lord has distinguished among you1 come and look on ,hasan ,basri4 ,hasan had in his heart such a fear of the ,lord that1 like a man seated near an executioner1 he was always in a state of apprehension4 ,seeing one day a man who wept1 he asked him what was the matter4 ,to-day1 answered the man1 ,i heard a preacher say that there were a great many among the ,moslems who1 by reason of their sins would remain several years in hell1 and then be taken out4 ,may ,god grant1 cried ,hasan1 that ,i be one of those who come out of hell at last2 may ,i be even as that man1 who1 as the prophet of ,god said1 will come out eighty-four years after all the rest4 ,one night he was overheard weeping and groaning in his house4 ,why these tears and laments8 he was asked4 ,i weep1 he answered1 thinking that perhaps to-day ,i have set my foot in an unlawful place1 or allowed an evil word to escape my lips which will cause me to be chased from before the throne of the most high4 ',away6' it will be said to me2 'thou hast no access here1 thy works of piety are not accepted4' ,and what answer shall ,i make8 ,behold the reason of my fear4 ,one of his sayings was1 ,i never saw a certainty of which there is no doubt bear a greater resemblance to a doubtful thing of which there is no certainty than death does4 ,hasan ,basri had a neighbour named ,shamaun1 who was an infidel and a fire-worshipper4 ,he fell ill1 and his last hour approached4 ,some one said to ,hasan1 ,shamaun is your neighbour1 and his last hour is come2 why don't you go to see him8 ,hasan having come to see him1 saw that by reason of his assiduous fire-worship1 his hair and beard were quite blackened by smoke4 ,hoping that he would become a ,moslem1 he said to him1 ,come1 ,shamaun1 fear the punishment which the ,lord prepares for thee who hast passed thy life of seventy years in infidelity and fire-worship4 ,as for me1 answered ,shamaun1 ,i see on the part of you ,moslems three characteristics which ,i cannot explain1 and which hinder me from becoming a ,moslem3--7#a7 ,you never cease repeating that the world is perishable and impure1 and yet day and night1 without interval or repose1 you heap up its treasures2 7#b7 ,you say that death is certain and inevitable1 and yet you put the thought of it aside1 and practise none of the works which should fit you for another world2 7#c7 ,you assert your belief that in that world it will be possible to contemplate the face of the ,most ,high1 and yet you commit acts which ,he abhors4 ,thou speakest like one of the initiated1 said ,hasan1 but although the faithful commit sins1 none the less they confess the unity and the existence of the ,most ,high1 whilst thou hast spent thy life in worshipping the fire4 ,at the day of judgment1 if they cast us both into hell1 the fire will carry thee away at once1 but if the grace of the ,lord is accorded to me1 it will not be able to scorch one of my eyebrows2 this shows that it is only a creature4 ,and1 moreover1 you have worshipped it for seventy years1 and ,i have never worshipped it4 ,these words made such an impression on ,shamaun that he made a profession of the faith of ,islam1 dying soon afterwards4 ,on the night of his death1 ,hasan in a dream saw ,shamaun wearing a crown of gold1 clothed in raiment of resplendent beauty1 and walking in ,paradise4 ,my ,god1 he cried when he awoke1 ,thou hast had mercy on him who spent seventy years in infidelity2 is it strange that ,thou shouldest show mercy to the faithful8 ,hasan was a man of such humility of mind that he considered everyone whom he saw his superior4 ,one day when he was walking along the bank of the river ,tigris he saw a negro seated near a woman2 before them was a jar and a cup4 ,each of them in turn poured from the jar into the cup and drank4 ,seeing this man1 ,hasan1 according to his wont1 said to himself1 ,there is a man better than myself4 ,at the same time he secretly thought1 ,as regards the observance of the ceremonial law1 it is possible that he is not superior to me1 for he is sitting near a woman of doubtful character and drinking wine4 ,while he was thus reflecting1 there appeared on the river a boat heavily laden1 and containing seven persons4 ,just as it was approaching the shore1 it foundered4 ,the negro1 casting himself into the water1 drew out six persons in succession2 then1 going to ,hasan1 he said to him1 ,rise1 if thou art better than ,i4 ,i have saved six1 for my part2 thou save one1 for thine4 ,then he added1 ,o true believers1 this jar contains water1 and this woman is my mother4 ,i have wished to tempt ,hasan4 ,then1 addressing the latter1 he said1 ,see1 thou hast looked with the outer eye only1 and hast not been capable of looking with the inner eye4 ,at these words1 ,hasan1 falling at his feet1 kissed his hand1 and understood that he was one of the ,lord's chosen servants4 ,sir1 he said1 as thou hast drawn these drowning men from the water so save me from the abyss of self-worship4 ,the negro replied1 ,go1 thou art saved4 ,from that time ,hasan considered no one smaller than himself1 but everyone his superior4 ,on one occasion1 ,hasan ,basri said1 ,i have been startled by the sayings of four persons1 7#a7 a drunkard1 7#b7 a debauchee1 7#c7 a child1 7#d7 a woman4 ,how was that8 he was asked4 ,one day1 he said1 ,i saw a drunkard staggering in the midst of the mire4 ,i said to him1 ',try and walk so as not to stumble4' ',o ,hasan1' the drunkard replied1 'in spite of all your efforts1 do you walk firmly in the way of ,god8 ,tell me1 yes or no4 ,if ,i fall in the mire no great harm is done1 ,i can get rid of it by washing2 but if you fall into the pit of self-conceit1 you will never emerge clean and your eternal welfare will be entirely ruined4' ,these words pierced me to the heart4 7#b7 ,again1 as ,i passed once close to a man of infamous character1 ,i drew my robes close about me lest they should touch him4 ',o ,hasan1' he said1 'why draw thy robes away from contact with me4 ,only the ,most ,high knows what will be the end of each4' 7#c7 ,another time ,i saw a child coming towards me holding a lighted torch in his hand4 ',where have you brought this light from8' ,i asked him4 ,he immediately blew it out1 and said to me1 ',o ,hasan1 tell me where it is gone1 and ,i will tell you whence ,i fetched it4' 7#d7 ,one day a beautiful woman1 with her face unveiled1 came to me4 ,she had just been quarrelling with her husband1 and no sooner had she met me than she began reporting his words4 ',o woman1' ,i said1 'first cover thy face and then speak4' ',o ,hasan1' she answered1 ',in my excitement ,i lost reason1 and ,i did not even know that my face was uncovered4 ,if you had not told me ,i should have gone thus into the bazaar4 ,but you who with so great zeal cultivate the friendship of the ,most ,high1 ought you not to curb your eye1 so as not to see whether my face was uncovered or not8' ,her words sank deeply into my heart4 ,one day ,hasan said to his friends1 ,you are like the companions of the prophet1 on whom be peace4 ,they felt immensely gratified at this1 but he added1 ,i mean your faces and beards are like theirs1 but nothing else in you4 ,if you had seen them1 such was their absorption in divine things1 you would have thought them mad4 ,had they seen you1 they would not have regarded one of you as a real ,moslem4 ,they1 in the practice of the faith1 were like horsemen mounted on swift steeds1 or like the wind1 or like the bird which cleaves the air2 while we progress like men mounted on donkeys with sores on their backs4 ,an ,arab visiting ,hasan ,basri asked him for a definition of patience4 ,hasan answered1 ,there are two kinds of patience2 one kind consists in bearing afflictions and calamities bravely and in abstaining from what the ,lord has forbidden1 the other kind consists in never lending an ear to the suggestions of ,satan4 ,as for me1 said the ,arab1 ,i have never seen anyone more retiring from the world and more patient than thyself4 ,alas1 answered ,hasan1 my renouncement of the world and my patience count as nothing4 ,why dost thou say so8 exclaimed the ,arab4 ,because1 if ,i practise renouncement it is only from dread of hell-fire1 and if ,i keep patient it is only because ,i hope to enter ,paradise4 ,now that man alone deserves to be taken into account who1 without self-regarding motives practises patience for the sake of the ,most ,high1 and whose renouncement of the world has not ,paradise for its object1 but only the desire to please ,god4 ,such a way of acting is a manifest sign of sincerity of heart4 ,asked on another occasion what his spiritual state was like1 ,hasan replied1 ,my state is like that of a man shipwrecked in the sea1 who is clinging to a solitary plank4 ,he never laughed4 ,at the moment of death he smiled once1 and called out ,what sin8 ,what sin8 ,someone saw him after his death in a dream1 and asked him1 ,o ,hasan ,basri1 thou who never wert in the habit of smiling1 why1 when dying1 didst thou say with a smile1 ',what sin8 ,what sin8' ,hasan answered1 ,when ,i was dying ,i heard a voice which said1 ',o ,azrael1 hold back his soul a little longer1 it has still one sin1' and in my joy ,i exclaimed1 ',what sin8' ,the night of his death another of his friends had a dream1 in which he saw the gates of heaven open and heard a voice proclaim1 ,hasan ,basri has come to his ,lord1 ,who is satisfied with him4 #h ,these and the following eight sketches are taken from ,attar's ,tazkirat-ul-,auliya4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,rabia1 ,,the ,,woman ,,sufi ,rabia1 the daughter of ,ismail1 a woman celebrated for her holy life1 and a native of ,basra1 belonged to the tribe of ,adi4 ,al ,qushairi says in his treatise on ,sufism1 ,she used to say when holding converse with ,god1 ',consume with fire ,o ,god1 a presumptuous heart which loveth ,thee4' ,on one of these occasions a voice spoke to her and said1 ',that we shall not do4 ,think not of us an ill thought4' ,often in the silence of the night she would go on the roof of her house and say1 ',the lover is now with his beloved1 but ,i rejoice in being alone with ,thee4' ,when ,rabia grew up her father and mother died4 ,at that time there was a famine in ,basra4 ,she came into the possession of an evil man1 who sold her as a slave4 ,the master who bought her treated her hardly1 and exacted all kinds of menial services from her4 ,one day1 when she was seeking to avoid the rude gaze of a stranger1 she slipped on the path and fell1 breaking her wrist4 ,lying there with her face to the ground1 she said ,lord1 ,i am far from my own1 a captive and an orphan1 and my wrist has just been broken1 and yet none of these things grieve me4 ,only this one thought causes me disquiet2 it is that ,i know not if ,thou art satisfied with me4 ,she then heard a voice1 ,vex not thyself1 ,o ,rabia1 for at the day of ,resurrection ,we shall give thee such a rank that the angels nearest ,us shall envy thee4 ,rabia went home with her heart at peace4 ,one night1 ,rabia's master being awake1 heard the sound of her voice4 ,he perceived ,rabia with her head bent1 saying1 ,my ,lord1 ,thou knowest that the desire of my heart is to seek ,thy approbation1 and that its only wish is to obey ,thy commands4 ,if ,i had liberty of action1 ,i would not remain a single instant without doing ,thee service2 but ,thou hast delivered me into the hands of a creature1 and therefore ,i am hindered in the same4 ,her master said to himself that it was not possible any longer to treat her as a slave1 and as soon as daybreak appeared1 he said to her1 ,o ,rabia1 ,i make thee free4 ,if thou desirest1 remain here1 and we shall be at thy service4 ,if thou dost not wish to stay here1 go whithersoever it pleaseth thee4 ,then ,rabia departed from them and devoted herself entirely to works of piety4 ,one day when she was making the pilgrimage to the ,kaaba#i she halted in the desert and exclaimed1 ,my ,god1 my heart is a prey to perplexity in the midst of this solitude4 ,i am a stone1 and so is the ,kaaba2 what can it do for me8 ,that which ,i need is to contemplate ,thy face4 ,at these words a voice came from the ,most ,high1 ,o ,rabia1 wilt thou bear alone that which the whole world cannot8 ,when ,moses desired to see ,our ,face we showed ,it to a mountain1 which dissolved into a thousand fragments4 ,abda1 the servant maid of ,rabia1 relates as follows1 ,rabia used to pass the whole night in prayer1 and at morning dawn she took a light sleep in her oratory till daylight1 and ,i have heard her say when she sprang in dread from her couch1 ',o my soul1 how long wilt thou sleep8 ,soon thou shalt sleep to rise no more1 till the call shall summon thee on the day of resurrection4' ,hasan ,basri once asked ,rabia if she ever thought of marrying4 ,she answered1 ,the marriage contract can be entered into by those who have possession of their free-will4 ,as for me1 ,i have no will to dispose of2 ,i belong to the ,lord1 and ,i rest in the shadow of ,his commandments1 counting myself as nothing4 ,but1 said ,hasan1 how have you arrived at such a degree of piety8 ,by annihilating myself completely4 ,being asked on another occasion why she did not marry1 she answered1 ,there are three things which cause me anxiety4 ,and what are they8 ,one is to know whether at the moment of death ,i shall be able to take my faith with me intact4 ,the second is whether in the ,day of ,resurrection the register of my actions will be placed in my right hand or not4#aj ,the third is to know1 when some are led to ,paradise and some to hell1 in which direction ,i shall be led4 ,but1 they cried1 none of us know any of these things4 ,what6 she answered1 when ,i have such objects to pre-occupy my mind1 should ,i think of a husband8 ,someone asked her one day1 ,whence comest thou8 ,from the other world1 was her reply4 ,and whither goest thou8 ,into the other world4 ,and what doest thou in this world4 ,i jest with it by eating its bread and doing the works of the other world in it4 ,o ,rabia1 said another to her1 dost thou love the ,lord8 ,truly1 she replied1 ,i love ,him4 ,and dost thou regard ,satan as an enemy8 ,i love the ,lord so much1 she answered1 that ,i do not trouble myself about the enmity of ,satan4 ,one night she saw the ,prophet 7on whom be peace7 in a dream4 ,he saluted her and said1 ,rabia1 lovest thou me8 ,o ,prophet of ,god1 she replied1 is there anyone who does not love thee8 ,yet the love of the ,most ,high fills my heart to such a degree that there is no room for love or hatred towards anyone else4 ,on one occasion she was asked1 ,dost thou see ,him ,whom thou servest8 ,if ,i did not see ,him1 she said1 ,i would not serve ,him4 ,she was frequently found in tears1 and1 being asked the reason why1 replied1 ,i fear that at the last moment a ,voice may cry1 ',rabia is not worthy to appear in ,our court4' ,the following question was put to her1 ,if one of ,his servants truly repents1 will the ,lord accept it or not8 ,as long as ,god does not grant repentance1 she replied1 how can anyone repent8 ,and if ,he does grant it1 there is no doubt that he will accept it4 ,once when ,rabia had immured herself for a long while in her house without coming forth1 her servant said to her1 ,lady1 come forth out of this house and contemplate the works of the ,most ,high4 ,nay1 said ,rabia1 enter rather into thyself and contemplate ,his work in thyself4 ,having kept a strict fast for seven days and nights in order to give herself to prayer1 on the eighth night she seemed to hear her emaciated body say1 ,o ,rabia1 how long wilt thou torture me without mercy8 ,whilst she was holding this soliloquy with herself1 suddenly someone knocked at the door1 and a man brought in some food in a bowl4 ,rabia took it and set it down2 then while she went to light the lamp1 a cat came and ate the food4 ,no sooner had ,rabia returned and seen what had happened than she said to herself1 ,i will break my fast on water4 ,as she went to draw water her lamp went out4 ,she then uttered a deep sigh1 and said1 ,lord1 why dost thou make me wretched8 ,whereupon she heard a voice saying1 ,o ,rabia1 if thou desirest it1 ,i will give thee the whole world for thine own2 but ,i shall have to take away the love which thou hast for ,me from thy heart1 for the love of ,me and of the world cannot exist together4 ,hearing myself thus addressed1 said ,rabia1 ,i entirely expelled from my heart the love of earthly things1 and resolutely turned my gaze away from them4 ,for thirty years ,i have not prayed without saying to myself1 ',this prayer1 perhaps1 is the last which ,i shall pray1' and ,i have never been tired of saying1 ',my ,god1 let me be so absorbed in ,thy love that no other affection may find room in my heart4' ,one day some men of learning and piety came to her and said1 ,the ,most ,high has crowned ,his chosen saints with the gift of performing miracles1 but such privileges have never been granted to a woman4 ,how didst thou attain to such a high degree8 ,what you say is true1 she answered1 but1 on the other hand1 women have never been so infatuated with themselves as men1 nor have they ever claimed divinity4 ,hasan ,basri relates1 ,one day when ,i had been to ,rabia who had fallen sick1 to ask after her1 ,i saw seated at her gate a merchant who wept4 ',why are you weeping8' ,i asked him4 ',i have just brought for ,rabia1' he answered1 'this purse of gold1 and ,i am troubled in mind1 not knowing whether she will accept it or not4 ,go in ,hasan1 and ask whether she will4' ,then ,i went in1 and no sooner had ,i reported to her the words of this merchant than she said to me1 ',thou knowest well1 ,o ,hasan1 that the ,most ,high gives daily bread even to those who do not worship ,him2 how then will ,he not give it to those whose hearts are aglow with love to ,him8 ,besides1 ever since ,i have known ,god1 ,i have turned my eyes away from all except ,him4 ,how can ,i accept anyone's money when ,i know not whether it has been gained by lawful or unlawful means8 ,present then my excuses to this merchant1 and let him go4' ,another merchant visiting ,rabia found her house in ill repair4 ,he presented her with a new house4 ,rabia had no sooner entered it than1 seeing paintings on the wall1 she became absorbed in contemplating them4 ,recovering herself1 she quitted the house1 and refused to re-enter it1 saying1 ,i fear lest my heart may become attached to this house to such a degree that ,i neglect preparation for the other world4 ,one day ,abdul ,wahid and ,sofin ,tsavri went to see ,rabia in her illness4 ,they were so touched by the sight of her weakness that for some moments they could not speak a word4 ,at last ,sofin said1 ,o ,rabia1 pray that the ,lord may lighten thy sufferings4 ,o ,sofin1 she answered1 who has sent me these sufferings8 ,the ,most ,high1 he said4 ,very well1 she replied1 if it is his will that this trial come upon me1 how can ,i1 ignoring ,his will1 ask ,him to remove it8 ,rabia1 said ,sofin1 ,i am not capable of talking to thee about thy own affairs2 talk to me about mine4 ,well1 answered ,rabia1 if thou hadst not an inclination to this low world1 thou wouldst be a man without fault4 ,then1 relates ,sofin1 ,i cried with tears1 ',my ,god1 canst ,thou be satisfied with me8' ,o ,sofin1 said ,rabia1 dost thou not blush at saying to the ,lord1 ',canst ,thou be satisfied with me8' without having done a single thing to please him8 ,malik ,dinar recounts the following3 ,i went to see ,rabia1 and found her drinking water out of a broken pitcher4 ,she was lying stretched on an old mat1 with a brick for her pillow4 ,i was pierced to the heart at the sight1 and said1 ,o ,rabia1 ,i have rich friends2 if you will let me1 ,i will go and ask them for something for you4 ,you have spoken ill1 ,malik1 she replied2 it is the ,lord who1 to them as to me1 gives daily bread4 ,he ,who provides for the needs of the rich1 shall ,he not provide for the necessities of the poor8 ,if ,he wills that it should be thus with us1 we shall gladly submit to ,his will4' ,on one occasion when ,malik ,dinar1 ,hasan ,basri and ,shaqiq were with her1 the conversation turned on sincerity of heart towards ,god4 ,hasan ,basri said1 ,he has not sincere love to ,god who does not bear with constancy the afflictions which the ,lord sends him4 ,that remark savours of self-conceit1 said ,rabia4 ,shaqiq observed1 ,he is not sincere who does not render thanks for afflictions4 ,there is a higher degree of sincerity than that1 said ,rabia4 ,malik ,dinar suggested1 ,he is not sincere who does not find delight in the afflictions which the ,lord sends4 ,that is not the purest sincerity1 she remarked4 ,then they asked her to define sincerity4 ,she said1 ,he is not sincere who does not forget the pain of affliction through his absorption in ,god4 ,one of the learned theologians of ,basra1 once visiting ,rabia1 began to enlarge upon the defects of the world4 ,you must be very fond of the world1 said ,rabia1 for if you were not1 you would not talk so much about it4 ,he who really intends to buy something keeps on discussing it4 ,if you were really disentangled from it1 what would you care about its merits or its faults8 ,other sayings of ,rabia were these1 ,my ,god1 if on the day of judgment ,thou sendest me to hell1 ,i shall reveal a secret which will make hell fly far from me4 ,o ,lord1 give all ,thou destinest for me of the goods of this world to ,thy enemies1 and all that ,thou reservest for me in ,paradise to ,thy friends1 for it is ,thou only ,whom ,i seek4 ,my ,god1 if it is from fear of hell that ,i serve ,thee1 condemn me to burn in hell2 and if it is for the hope of ,paradise1 forbid me entrance there2 but if it is for ,thy sake only1 deny me not the sight of ,thy face4 ,rabia died ,a4,d4 #geb1 and was buried near ,jerusalem4 ,her tomb was a centre of pilgrimage during the ,middle ,ages4 #i ,the sacred shrine at ,mecca4 #aj ,a sign the person is acquitted4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,ibrahim ,,ben ,,adham ,,prince ,,of ,,balkh 7,d #hge7 ,ibrahim ,ben ,adham was originally ,prince of the city of ,balkh1 and had control of the riches of many provinces4 ,one night when he was in bed he heard a sound of footsteps on the roof of his palace4 ,who are you on the roof8 he cried out4 ,an answer came1 ,i have lost a camel1 and ,i am looking for it on this roof4 ,well1 he said1 you must be a fool for your pains1 to look for a camel on a roof4 ,and thou1 witless man1 returned the voice1 is it while seated on a throne of gold that thou expectest to find the ,most ,high8 ,that is far madder than to seek a camel on a roof4 ,at these words1 fear seized the heart of ,ibrahim1 who spent the rest of the night in prayer1 till the early dawn4 ,the next morning he took his seat upon his throne1 round which were ranged all the grandees of his kingdom and his guards1 according to their rank1 in the usual manner4 ,all of a sudden ,ibrahim perceived in the midst of the crowd a majestic figure1 who advanced towards him unseen by the rest4 ,when he had come near1 ,ibrahim asked him1 ,who art thou1 and what hast thou come to seek here8 ,i am a stranger1 he answered1 and ,i wish to stay at this inn4 ,but this is not an inn1 answered ,ibrahim1 it is my own house4 ,to whom did it belong before thee8 inquired the stranger4 ,to my father4 ,and before thy father1 to whom did it belong8 ,to my grandfather4 ,and where are thy ancestors now8 ,they are dead4 ,well then1 is this house anything but an hotel1 where the coming guest succeeds to the departing one8 ,so saying1 the stranger began to withdraw4 ,ibrahim rose1 ran toward him1 and said1 ,i adjure thee to stop1 in the name of the ,most ,high4 ,the stranger paused4 ,who art thou1 cried ,ibrahim1 who hast lit this fire in my soul8 ,i am ,khizr1 ,o ,ibrahim4 ,it is time for thee to awake4 ,so saying1 he disappeared4 ,ibrahim1 pierced with sorrow1 awoke from his trance1 and felt a keen disdain for all earthly grandeur4 ,the next morning1 being mounted and going to the chase1 he heard a voice which said1 ,o ,ibrahim1 thou wast not created for this4 ,he looked round him on all sides1 but could see no one1 and went on again4 ,presently again the voice was heard1 proceeding1 as it were1 from his saddle1 ,o ,ibrahim1 thou wast not created for this4 ,struck to the heart1 ,ibrahim exclaimed1 ,it is the ,lord who commands2 ,his servant will obey4 ,he thereupon dismounted1 exchanged clothes with a shepherd whom he discovered close by1 and began to lead the life of a wandering dervish1 and became famous for his devoutness and austerity4 ,after some years1 he undertook the pilgrimage to ,mecca1 and joined a caravan which was bound thither4 ,the news of his coming having reached the chief men of the city1 they all came out to meet him4 ,some of their servants1 going on1 met ,ibrahim 7whom1 of course1 they did not know71 and asked him if ,ibrahim ben ,adham was approaching4 ,why do you ask me8 he said4 ,because the chief men of the city are come out to meet him4 ,and why make so much ado about that man1 he said1 who is a sinner and an infidel8 ,what right hast thou to speak thus of him8 they cried2 and1 seizing him1 handled him roughly4 ,after having beaten him they went on their way4 ,ibrahim said to himself1 ,thou hast had thy deserts4 ,when he was recognised afterwards1 an ample apology was made to him1 and he was conducted to ,mecca1 where he remained several years1 supporting himself by money earned by his daily toil4 ,when ,ibrahim left ,balkh1 he had a son who was then a child4 ,when the latter became a young man1 he asked1 ,where is my father8 ,whereupon his mother told him all that had occurred to his father4 ,well1 said the youth1 where is he to be found now8 ,at ,mecca1 his mother answered4 ,very well1 ,i will go to ,mecca1 he replied1 and find my father4 ,he set out1 and when he arrived there1 he found in the sacred precinct surrounding the ,kaaba many fakirs clothed with rags4 ,do you know ,ibrahim ben ,adham8 he asked them4 ,he is one of ourselves1 one of them answered2 he has gone to gather and sell wood wherewith to buy bread and bring it us4 ,the younger ,ibrahim immediately went out of the city to seek his father4 ,presently he found an old man carrying a bundle of wood on his head1 whom he recognised as his father4 ,at this sight he was near weeping1 but controlled himself1 and walked behind him unobserved4 ,as for ,ibrahim ben ,adham1 he carried his wood to the bazaar1 sold it1 and bought bread1 which he took to his fellow-fakirs1 and then performed his devotions4 ,on the other hand1 his son did not disclose himself1 for he feared that to do so suddenly would cause his father to fly4 ,the next morning one of ,ibrahim ben ,adham's fellow-fakirs rose and went to his son's tent4 ,he found the young man reading the ,koran and weeping4 ,the fakir advanced and saluted him1 asking1 ,who art thou8 ,whence comest thou8 ,whose son art thou8 ,i am the son of ,ibrahim ben ,adham1 replied the young man1 and ,i was never able to see my father until now2 but ,i fear that if ,i make myself known to him1 he will repulse me brusquely and flee away4 ,come1 said the fakir1 ,i will myself lead you to him4 ,without further delay the wife and son of ,ibrahim joined the fakir1 and went to seek him4 ,no sooner had his wife perceived him than she uttered a cry and said1 ,my son1 behold thy father4 ,all the bystanders burst into tears1 while ,ibrahim's son fell down in a swoon4 ,when he came to himself he saluted his father1 who returned his greeting1 embraced him1 and said1 ,o my son1 of what religion art thou8 ,of the religion of ,muhammad1 he answered4 ,god be praised6 exclaimed ,ibrahim4 ,then he asked1 ,dost thou know the ,koran8 ,i know it1 was the reply4 ,dost thou read the books which treat of religious knowledge8 ,i read them4 ,god be praised6 again exclaimed ,ibrahim4 ,then he prepared to leave them and depart1 but his wife and son would not let him1 and began to weep4 ,but ,ibrahim1 lifting up his eyes to heaven1 prayed1 ,my ,god1 come to my help1 on which his son immediately died4 ,the companions of ,ibrahim asked him1 ,what is the meaning of this8 ,when ,i saw my son1 he answered1 my paternal tenderness was aroused4 ,but immediately ,i heard a voice1 ',what1 ,ibrahim6 ,dost thou pretend attachment to ,us while all the while thy heart is engaged with another person8 ,how can two loves co-exist in one heart8' ,on hearing this1 ,i prayed to the ,lord and said1 ',o my ,god1 if my love to this child makes ,thee withdraw from me1 take his soul or mine4' ,my prayer was heard1 and ,he has taken the soul of my son4 ,on one occasion ,ibrahim is reported to have said1 ,many nights in succession ,i sought to find the ,kaaba unoccupied4 ,one night when it was raining very hard1 ,i at last found it so4 ,i entered it1 and lifting my heart to ,god1 ,i said1 ',o ,god1 blot out my sins1' upon which ,i heard a ,voice1 which said1 ',o ,ibrahim1 all over the world men ask ,us the same thing2 but if ,we blot out everyone's sins1 whom shall ,we cause to share in the ocean of ,our mercy8' ,on another occasion he was asked1 ,why hast thou given up thy rank and thy kingdom8 ,one day1 he said1 ,when ,i was seated on my throne1 ,i looked at a mirror4 ,i saw reflected in it my last resting-place1 which was an obscure tomb1 wherein ,i had no one to keep me company4 ,the road whereby to reach the other world was long1 nay infinite1 and ,i had no provision for the way4 ,i saw besides an upright judge1 who questioned me so rigorously that ,i could return him no fit answer4 ,behold why my rank and my kingdom lost all value in my eyes1 and why ,i abandoned them4 ,but why1 continued the questioner1 didst thou flee ,khorasan8 ,because1 he said1 they kept on questioning me4 ,and why dost thou not marry8 ,is there any woman who would marry a man like myself1 who am always hungry and naked8 ,if ,i could1 ,i would divorce myself2 how then can ,i attach anyone to myself8 ,once ,ibrahim asked a dervish1 ,have you a wife and children8 ,no1 answered the dervish4 ,it is all then well for thee4 ,why so8 asked the dervish4 ,because1 said ,ibrahim1 everytime a dervish marries he is like one who embarks on a vessel1 but when children are born to him he is like one who is drowning4 ,seeing a dervish groaning1 he said1 ,doubtless thou hast bought this position of dervish at a low price4 ,what1 ,ibrahim1 answered the other1 can the position of dervish be bought8 ,certainly1 answered ,ibrahim2 ,i have bought it at the price of royalty1 and ,i find ,i have made a good bargain4 ,one day a man brought to ,ibrahim a sum of a thousand pieces of gold1 which he had vowed to offer him4 ,i do not take anything from the wretched1 the latter said4 ,but1 said the other1 ,i am a rich man4 ,what1 answered ,ibrahim1 you are as rich as that1 and still seek to increase your wealth8 ,as a matter of fact1 ,i do4 ,well then1 you are more wretched than anyone1 and he added1 ,listen6 ,i possess nothing1 and ,i ask nothing of anyone4 ,i have aspired after the condition of a dervish and found riches in it2 others have aspired after riches and found poverty4 ,another person also offered ,ibrahim a thousand pieces of gold1 which he refused1 saying1 ,you wish doubtless by means of this gold to erase my name from the list of dervishes4 ,every day ,ibrahim worked for hire1 and whatever he earned he spent on provisions to take to his companions2 then they all broke their fast together4 ,he never returned in any case till he had performed his evening devotions4 ,one day when he had been absorbed in them1 he returned later than usual4 ,his companions1 who were waiting for him1 said to themselves1 ,we had better break our fast and all go to bed4 ,when ,ibrahim sees what we have done1 he will come earlier another time1 and not keep us waiting4 ,accordingly1 they all ate and lay down4 ,when ,ibrahim came and saw them asleep1 he said to himself1 ,perhaps they have gone to bed hungry4 ,he had brought with him a little meal1 which he made into dough2 then he blew up the fire1 and cooked supper for his companions4 ,they then rose and said to him1 ,what are you doing1 ,ibrahim8 ,i am cooking something for you1 for it has occurred to me that perhaps you have gone to bed without taking anything4 ,they looked at each other1 and said1 ,see1 while we were plotting against him1 he was engaged in thinking for us4 ,one day a man came to ,ibrahim and said1 ,o ,ibrahim1 ,i have done myself a great deal of harm 7by sin74 ,give me some advice4 ,listen then1 said ,ibrahim1 here are six rules for you4 ,first3 ,when you have committed a sin1 do not eat the food which the ,lord sends you4 ,but ,i cannot live without food1 said the other4 ,what6 exclaimed ,ibrahim1 is it just that you should profit by what the ,lord supplies while you do not serve ,him and never cease to offend ,him8 ,second3 ,when you are on the point of committing a sin1 quit the ,kingdom of the ,most ,high4 ,but1 said the man1 ,his ,kingdom extends from the ,east to the ,west2 how can ,i go out of it8 ,very well1 remain in it2 but give up sin1 and don't be rebellious4 ,third3 ,when you are about to sin1 place thyself where the ,most ,high cannot see you4 ,but one cannot hide anything from ,him4 ,very well then1 said ,ibrahim1 is it right that you should live on what ,he supplies1 and that you should dwell in ,his ,kingdom1 and commit evil actions under ,his eyes8 ,fourth3 ,when ,azrael1 the ,angel of ,death1 comes to claim your soul1 say to him1 ',give me a respite1 ,i wish to repent4' ,but how will ,azrael listen to such a prayer8 ,if it is so1 replied ,ibrahim1 repent now1 so as not to have to do so when ,azrael comes4 ,fifth3 ,when you are placed in the tomb1 dismiss the angels ,munkir and ,nakir1#aa who will come to examine thee4 ,but ,i cannot4 ,very well1 live such a life as to be able to reply satisfactorily to them4 ,sixth3 ,on the ,day of ,judgment1 when the order goes forth to conduct sinners to hell1 say you won't go4 ,it suffices1 ,ibrahim1 you have said enough4 ,the man repented1 and the fervour of his conversion lasted till his death4 ,ibrahim is said to have told the following story4 ,one day ,i went to glean1 but as soon as ,i put any ears of corn in the lappet of my robe they were shaken out4 ,this happened something like forty times4 ,at last ,i cried1 ',what does this mean1 ,o ,lord8' ,i heard a ,voice say in reply1 ',o1 ,ibrahim1 in the time of your prosperity forty bucklers of red gold were carried in front of thee4 ,it was necessary that you should be thus molested as a requital for the luxury of those forty golden bucklers4' ,once ,ibrahim was entrusted with the charge of an orchard4 ,the owner one day came down to visit it1 and told ,ibrahim to bring him some sweet pomegranates4 ,ibrahim went and gathered the largest he could find1 but they all proved to be bitter4 ,what6 said the owner1 you have eaten these pomegranates so long1 and cannot distinguish the sweet from the bitter8 ,sir1 replied ,ibrahim1 you told me to take charge of the orchard1 but you did not tell me to eat the pomegranates4 ,ah1 replied the other1 to judge by your austerity1 you must be no other than ,ibrahim ben ,adham4 ,the latter1 seeing that he was discovered1 left the orchard and departed4 ,a story told by ,ibrahim was as follows4 ,one night ,i saw in a dream ,gabriel1 with a piece of paper in his hand4 ',what are you doing8' ,i asked him4 ',i am writing on this sheet of paper the names of the friends of the ,lord4' ',will you write mine among them8' ,ibrahim asked4 ',but you are not one of ,his friends4' ',if ,i am not one of ,his friends1 at least ,i am a friend of ,his friends4' ,immediately a ,voice was heard1 ',o ,gabriel1 write ,ibrahim's name on the first line1 for he who loves ,our friends is ,our friend4'#ab ,once while ,ibrahim was walking in the country1 a horseman met him and asked him who he was1 ,i am1 answered ,ibrahim1 the servant of the ,most ,high4 ,well1 said the horseman1 direct me to the nearest dwellings4 ,ibrahim pointed to the cemetery4 ,you are jesting at me1 the other cried1 and struck him on the head so severely that the blood began to flow4 ,then he tied a cord round his neck1 and dragged him forcibly into the middle of the neighbouring town4 ,the people cried out ,madman1 what are you doing8 ,it is ,ibrahim ben ,adham4 ,immediately the horseman prostrated himself before ,ibrahim and implored his pardon4 ,o ,ibrahim1 he said1 when ,i asked you where were the nearest dwellings1 why did you point to the cemetery8 ,every day1 he answered1 the cemetery becomes more and more peopled1 while the town and its most flourishing quarters are continually falling into ruins4 ,when ,ibrahim's last hour arrived1 he disappeared from sight1 and no one has been able to say exactly where his tomb is4 ,some say it is at ,bagdad1 others at ,damascus1 others at ,pentapolis4 ,when he died1 a ,voice was heard saying1 ,the man who excelled all others in faith is dead2 ,ibrahim ben ,adham has passed away4 #aa ,according to the ,mahommadan belief every man as soon as he is buried is examined by these two angels4 #ab ,leigh ,hunt's well known poem refers to this3 ,abou ben ,adhem 7may his tribe increase67 ,awoke one night from a deep dream of peace1 ,and saw within the moonlight in his room1 ,making it rich and like a lily in bloom1 ,an angel writing in a book of gold4 ,exceeding peace had made ,ben ,adhem bold1 ,and to the presence in the room he said3 ,what writest thou8 ,the vision raised its head1 ,and with a look made all of sweet accord1 ,answered ,the names of those who love the ,lord1 ,and is mine one8 said ,abou4 ,nay not so1 ,replied the ,angel4 ,abou spoke more low ,but cheerily still2 and said3 ,i pray thee then ,write me as one that loves his fellow men4 ,the angel wrote and vanished4 ,the next night ,he came again with a great wakening light1 ,and showed the names whom love of ,god had blest1 ,and lo6 ,ben ,adhem's name led all the rest4 ,,chapter ,v ,,fudhayl ,,ben ,,ayaz1 ,,the ,,highwayman 7,d #hjc ,,ad7 ,in the beginning of his career ,fudhayl ben ,ayaz was a highwayman1 and used to pitch his tent on the plains between ,merv and ,abiwerd4 ,he had collected many other robbers round him2 when they brought in booty1 he1 as their chief1 apportioned it4 ,he never neglected saying the ,friday prayers1 and dismissed any of his servants whom he found neglecting them4 ,one day his men were lying in wait on the high road when a numerous caravan arrived and fell into their clutches4 ,in this caravan was a merchant who had a large sum of money in his purse4 ,desirous of hiding it1 he fled towards the open plain2 there he found a tent and a man clothed in coarse garments seated in it4 ,the merchant1 having explained the matter to him1 was told to leave his money there4 ,he did so1 and returned to the caravan4 ,when he got there he saw that the robbers had attacked it and taken all the goods1 after having bound and laid on the earth all the travellers4 ,he ransomed them1 and helped them to gather together the remains of their property4 ,when he returned to the tent he found the robbers there dividing their booty4 ,seeing this1 he said1 ,woe is me6 ,then he whom ,i trusted my money to was a robber4 ,he was on the point of departing when ,fudhayl called out to him1 ,what is the matter8 ,i had come1 he answered1 to take back my money which ,i had deposited here4 ,well1 said ,fudhayl1 you will find it where you placed it4 ,the merchant did so4 ,but1 cried ,fudhayl's companions1 we did not find any coined money at all in this caravan2 how is it that you hand over such a large sum8 ,this man1 answered ,fudhayl1 has trusted me in the simplicity of his heart2 now ,i1 in the simplicity of my heart1 trust in the ,lord2 and just as ,i have justified the good opinion which the merchant had of me1 ,i hope the ,lord will justify that which ,i have of ,him4 ,the conversion of ,fudhayl to an ascetic life took place in the following manner4 ,as he was climbing over a wall to see a girl whom he loved1 he heard a voice pronounce this verse of the ,koran3 ,is not the time yet come unto those who believe that their hearts should humbly submit to the admonition of ,god8#ac ,on this he exclaimed1 ,o ,lord1 that time is come4 ,he then went away from the place1 and the approach of night induced him to repair for shelter to a ruined edifice4 ,a caravan was encamped not far off1 and ,fudhayl heard one of the travellers say to another1 ,we must rise and be going1 lest ,fudhayl should arrive and rob us4 ,fudhayl then came forward and said1 ,i have good news for you4 ,fudhayl has entered upon the path of penitence1 and is more likely to flee from you than you from him4 ,then he departed1 after having asked their pardon for his former misdeeds4 ,for some time he resided at ,mecca1 where he received instruction from ,abou ,hanifeh1 and subsequently returned to his own country1 where his sanctity became widespread4 ,it is related that one night the ,caliph ,harun-al-,rashid said to ,fazl the ,barmecide1 ,take me to a man by whose aid ,i may rise out of the moral torpor into which ,i have fallen4 ,fazl took him to the door of a celebrated ascetic1 ,sofyan ibn ,oyaina1 who asked on their knocking1 ,who is there8 ,the ,prince of the ,faithful1 answered ,fazl4 ,why did you not send for me8 said ,sofyan1 ,i would have come myself in person to serve him4 ,al-,rashid1 hearing this1 said1 ,this is not the man ,i seek4 ,they then departed1 and knocked at the door of ,fudhayl4 ,as they arrived1 the latter was reciting the following verse of the ,koran3 ,do those who have done evil imagine that we shall set them on the same level with those who have done well8 ,koran 7,sura xlv41 v4 #bj74 ,the ,caliph had no sooner heard this verse than he said1 ,if it is good advice we are seeking1 here is enough for us4 ,then they knocked at the door4 ,who is there8 asked ,fudhayl4 ,the ,prince of the ,faithful1 ,fazl answered4 ,what do you want8 was the reply2 ,i have nothing to do with you1 leave me alone and don't waste my time4 ,but you should treat the ,caliph with honour1 and let us in4 ,it is for you to come in if you must1 in spite of me1 answered ,fudhayl4 ,when the ,caliph and his attendant entered1 ,fudhayl extinguished the lamp in order not to see the intruders4 ,harun-al-,rashid1 having touched ,fudhayl's hand in the dark1 the latter exclaimed1 ,how soft this hand is2 may it escape hell fire4 ,having thus spoken1 he rose to pray4 ,as for the ,caliph1 he began to weep1 and said1 ,speak to me at least one word4 ,fudhayl1 when he had finished his prayers1 said to him1 ,o ,harun1 thy ancestor ,abbas1 who was the paternal uncle of the ,prophet 7on whom be peace67 said to him one day1 ,o ,prophet of ,god1 make me ruler over a nation4 ,the ,prophet replied1 ,i have made thee ruler over thyself4 ,if thou rulest thine own body and keepest it constant in the service of the ,lord1 that is better than ruling a nation for a thousand years4 ,again1 ,omar1 the son of ,abd al ,aziz1 being installed on the throne of the ,caliphate1 sent for three of his intimate friends1 and said to them1 ',behold me caught in the toils of the ,caliphate2 how shall ,i get rid of them8 ,many people consider power a blessing2 ,i regard it as a calamity4' ,then ,fudhayl added1 ,o ,harun1 if thou wishest to escape the punishment of the ,day of ,judgment1 regard each old man among the ,moslems as thy father1 the young men as thy brothers1 the women as thy sisters4 ,o ,harun1 ,i fear lest thy handsome visage be scorched by the flames of hell4 ,fear the ,most ,high1 and know that ,he will interrogate thee on the ,day of ,resurrection4 ,at these words1 ,harun-al-,rashid wept copiously4 ,then ,fazl said to ,fudhayl1 ,say no more2 you have killed the ,caliph with grief4 ,oh ,haman6#ad ,fudhayl answered1 it is not ,i1 it is thou and thy relations who have misled the ,caliph and destroyed him4 ,hearing these words1 ,harun-al-,rashid wept still more bitterly1 and said to ,fazl1 ,be silent6 ,if he has called you ,haman1 he has 7tacitly7 compared me to ,pharaoh4 ,then1 addressing ,fudhayl1 he asked him1 ,have you any debt to pay8 ,yes1 he answered1 that of the service which ,i owe to the ,most ,high4 ,he furnishes me with subsistence1 ,i have no need to borrow4 ,then ,harun-al-,rashid placed in ,fudhayl's hand a purse in which were a thousand pieces of gold1 saying1 ,this money is lawfully acquired1 ,i have inherited it from my mother4 ,ah6 exclaimed ,fudhayl1 my advice has been wasted2 my object in giving it was to lighten thy burden2 thou seekest to make mine more heavy4 ,at these words1 ,harun-al-,rashid rose1 saluted him1 and departed4 ,all the way home he kept repeating to himself1 ,this ,fudhayl is a great teacher4 ,on another occasion the ,caliph is reported to have said to ,fudhayl1 ,how great is thy self-abnegation1 to which ,fudhayl made answer1 ,thine is greater4 ,how so8 said the ,caliph4 ,because ,i make abnegation of this world1 and thou makest abnegation of the next2 now this world is transitory1 and the next will endure for ever4 ,sofin ,tsavri relates the following anecdote4 ,one night ,i was talking with ,fudhayl1 and after we had been conversing on all kinds of subjects1 ,i said to him1 ',what a pleasant evening we have had1 and what interesting conversation4' ',no1' he said1 'neither the evening nor the conversation have been good4' ',why so8' ,i remarked4 ',because1' he said1 'you sought to speak words which might please me1 and ,i sought to answer so as to gratify you4 ,both of us1 pre-occupied with our talk1 had forgotten the ,most ,high4 ,it would be better for each of us to sit still in his place and to lift up his heart towards ,god4' ,a stranger coming to ,fudhayl one day was asked by the latter for what purpose he came4 ,i have come1 he answered1 to talk with you1 and to find in so doing calm of mind1 ,that is to say1 broke in ,fudhayl1 you wish to mislead me with lies1 and desire me to do the same to you4 ,be off about your business4 #ae;,but with all his austerity of life1 his prolonged fasts and watchings1 his ragged dress and wearisome pilgrimages1 he preferred the practice of interior virtue and purity of intention to all outward observances1 and used often to say that he who is modest and compliant to others and lives in meekness and patience gains a higher reward by so doing than if he fasted all his days and watched in prayer all his nights4 ,at so high a price did he place obedience to a spiritual guide1 and so necessary did he deem it1 that he declared1 ,had ,i a promise of whatever ,i should ask in prayer1 yet would ,i not offer that prayer save in union with a superior4 ,but his favourite virtue was the love of ,god in perfect conformity to ,his will above all hope or fear4 ,thus1 when his only son 7whose virtues resembled his father's7 died in early age1 ,fudhayl was seen with a countenance of unusual cheerfulness1 and1 being asked by his intimate disciple1 ,abou ,ali1 the reason wherefore1 he answered1 ,it was ,god's good pleasure1 and it is therefore my good pleasure also4 ,others of his sayings are the following3 ,to leave aught undone for the esteem of men is hypocrisy1 and to do ought for their esteem is idolatry4 ,much is he beguiled who serves ,god for fear or hope1 for ,his true service is for mere love4 ,i serve ,god because ,i cannot help serving ,him for very love's sake4 #ac ,koran1 ,sura #eg1 v #ae4 #ad ,according to the ,koran1 ,haman was the vizier of ,pharaoh whom he misled by bad advice4 #ae ,vide ,palgrave3 ,asceticism among ,mohammedan nations4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,bayazid ,,bastami 7,d #hgd ,,ad7 ,bayazid ,bastami1 whose grandfather was a ,zoroastrian converted to ,islam1 was distinguished for his piety while still a child4 ,his mother used to send him regularly to the mosque to read the ,koran with a mullah4 ,when he reached the chapter ,luqman1 he read the verse1 ,show thy gratitude in serving ,me1 and show thy gratitude to thy parents in serving them4 ,he asked his teacher the meaning of the verse1 and had no sooner heard it explained than he immediately ran home4 ,when she saw him1 his mother said1 ,why have you come home so early1 my child8 ,have they sent you for the fees8 ,mother1 answered ,bayezid1 ,i have just read the verse in which the ,lord commands me to serve ,him1 and to serve thee2 but1 as ,i cannot serve in two places at once1 ,i have come to propose to you that you should ask the ,lord to give me to you in order that ,i may serve you1 or that you should yourself give me to the ,lord that ,i may serve ,him4 ,since that is the case1 said his mother1 ,i give you up to the ,lord1 and renounce all my rights over you4 ,accordingly1 a few years afterwards1 ,bayazid left his native village ,bastam1 and for thirty years lived as a bare-footed ascetic in the deserts of ,syria4 ,once during this time ,bayazid came home and listened at the door of his mother's house before going in4 ,he heard her saying in prayer1 ,may ,god bless my poor exile1 may the hearts of the pious be rejoiced by him and accord him grace4 ,bayazid1 hearing these words1 wept1 and knocked at the door4 ,who is there8 she asked4 ,thy exile1 he answered4 ,no sooner had she opened the door than1 embracing ,bayazid1 she said to him1 weeping1 ,o my son1 separated from thee as ,i have been1 my eyes have lost the power to see1 and my back is bent1 and they both mingled their tears together4 ,some time after ,bayazid said to a friend1 ,what ,i ought to have known most clearly is just what ,i have only learnt when too late--to serve my mother4 ,that which ,i sought in devoting myself to so many religious exercises1 in putting myself at the service of others1 and in exiling myself far from my kindred and my country1 see1 how ,i have discovered it4 ,one night when my mother asked for water1 as there was none in the pitcher1 ,i went to the canal to draw some4 ,it was a winter night1 and the frost was very sharp4 ,while ,i had gone for the water1 my mother had fallen asleep again4 ,i stood waiting with the full pitcher in my hand till she should awake4 ,when she did so1 she asked for water1 but when ,i wished to give it her1 ,i found that the water was frozen1 and the handle of the jug stuck fast to my hand4 ',why1' said my mother1 'did you not put it down8' ',because ,i feared1' ,i answered1 'not to be ready when you asked for it4' ,that same night the ,lord revealed to me all that ,i wanted to know4 ,bayazid used to tell the following story4 ,a man came to see me1 and asked where ,i was going4 ',i am going to ,mecca1' ,i said1 'to make the circuit of the ,kaaba4'#af ',how much money hast thou8' he asked4 ',two hundred pieces of gold1' ,i answered4 ',very well1' he said1 'give them me and walk seven times round me4 ,by this act of charity thou wilt deserve a greater recompense than thou wouldest obtain at the ,kaaba4'#ag ,i did as he asked1 and that year ,i did not make the pilgrimage4 ,one day the thought crossed ,bayazid's mind that he was the greatest ,sufi of the age4 ,but no sooner had it done so1 than he understood it was an aberration on his part4 ,i rose immediately1 he said1 and went some way into the desert of ,khorassan1 where ,i sat down4 ,i took then the resolution of not moving from the spot where ,i was seated till the ,lord should send me someone who would make me see myself as ,i really was4 ,i waited thus for three days and three nights4 ,on the fourth night a rider on a camel approached4 ,i perceived on his countenance the marks of a penetrating mind4 ,he halted1 and1 fixing his eyes on me1 said1 ',thou desirest doubtless1 that in the twinkling of an eye ,i should cause to be swallowed up the village of ,bastam and all its population1 together with its riches1 and ,bayazid himself4' ,at these words ,i was seized with an indescribable fear1 and asked him1 ',whence comest thou8' ',o ,bayazid1' he answered1 'while thou hast been seated here ,i have travelled three thousand miles4 ,take care1 ,o ,bayazid1 to place a curb on thy heart1 and not to forget the road2 else shalt thou infallibly perish4' ,then he turned his back and departed4 ,one night ,bayazid1 having gone out of his house1 went to the burial-ground to perform his devotions4 ,there he found a young man playing a guitar1 who came towards him4 ,bayazid1 considering music unlawful1 exclaimed1 ,there is no might or power except in ,god4#ah ,the young man1 irritated1 struck the head of ,bayazid with his guitar1 breaking it1 and wounding him4 ,bayazid returned home4 ,the next morning very early he placed some sweetmeats and some pieces of gold in a dish and sent it to the young man1 charging the messenger to say from him1 ,last night you broke your guitar by striking my head with it2 take1 therefore1 this money1 buy another guitar1 and eat the sweetmeats so that there may remain no rancour in your heart4 ,when he had received the message1 the young man came in tears to ,bayazid1 asked his pardon1 and repented4 ,on another occasion1 ,bayazid was saying his prayers in company with a friend4 ,when they had finished their devotions1 his friend said to him1 ,tell me1 ,bayazid1 you do not ask anything of anyone1 you do not engage in any industry2 whence do you get your provision8 ,wait a little1 said ,bayazid1 ,i am going to say my prayers again4 ,why8 ,because it is unlawful to pray with a man who does not know ,who is the ,bestower of daily bread4 ,hatim ,assam used to say to his disciples1 ,if1 on the ,day of ,judgment you do not intercede for those who will be conducted to hell1 you are not my disciples4 ,bayazid1 having heard this1 said in his turn1 ,those only are my disciples who1 on the ,day of ,judgment1 will stand on the brink of hell1 in order to seize and save the wretches cast down thither1 even were it necessary to enter hell themselves for the salvation of the others4 ,bayazid related as follows4 ,one day ,i heard a ,voice1 which said1 ',o ,bayazid1 our treasure-house is brimmed full with acts of adoration and devotion offered by men2 bring ,us something which is not in ,our treasury4' ',but1 ,o ,god1' ,i cried1 'what then shall ,i bring8' ,and the voice answered me1 ',bring ,me sorrow of heart1 humility1 contrition4' ,another time he said1 ,after having endured the rigours of asceticism for forty years1 one night ,i found myself before the doors and curtains which hide the throne of ,god4 ',for pity's sake1' ,i exclaimed1 groaning1 'let me pass4' ',o ,bayazid1' cried a ,voice1 'you still possess a pitcher and an old cloak2 you cannot pass4' ,then ,i cast away the pitcher and the cloak1 and ,i heard the ,voice again address me1 ',o ,bayazid1 go and say to those who do not know3 ,behold1 for forty years ,i have practised rigorous asceticism4 ,well1 till ,i cast away my broken pitcher and torn cloak1 ,i could not find access to ,god2 and you1 who are entangled in the ties of worldly interests1 how shall you discover the way to ,him8' ,one night1 after having said his evening prayer1 ,bayazid remained standing till the morning1 and shedding tears4 ,when morning came1 his servant asked him1 ,what has happened to you to-night8 ,methought ,i had arrived at the throne of ,god1 replied ,bayazid1 and ,i said to it1 ',o ,throne1 we are taught that the ,lord rests on thee4' ',o ,bayazid1' replied the throne1 'it is said here that the ,lord dwells in a humble heart2 but where is the intelligence capable of penetrating this mystery8 ,heavenly beings question earthly ones concerning it1 and they only cast the question back4' ,bayazid said once1 ,when ,i had arrived at the station of ,proximity1 ,i heard a ,voice say to me1 ',o ,bayazid1 ask what thou hast to ask4' ',my ,god1' ,i answered1 ',thou art the ,object of my desire4' ',o ,bayazid1' the ,voice replied1 'if there lingers in thee an atom of earthly desire1 and till thou art reduced to nothing in the station of ,annihilation1 thou canst not find ,me4' ',my ,god1' ,i answered1 ',i shall not return from ,thy ,court empty-handed2 ,i wish to ask something from ,thee4' ',very well1 ask it4' ',grant me mercy for all men4' ,the ,voice said1 ',o ,bayazid lift up thine eyes4' ,i lifted them1 and ,i saw that the ,most ,high was far more inclined to have mercy on ,his servants than ,i4 ',lord1' ,i cried1 'have mercy on ,satan4' ',o ,bayazid1' the ,voice answered1 ',satan is made of fire1 and fire must needs go to the fire4 ,take heed lest thou thyself deserve to go there4' ,one day1 when ,bayazid was walking along the road1 a young man who followed him closely1 setting his feet in his tracks1 said to him1 ,tear off a piece of thy cloak and give it me1 in order that thy blessing may rest upon me4 ,bayazid answered1 ,although thou strip ,bayazid of his skin and clothe thyself with it1 it will profit thee nothing1 unless thou reproduce the actions of ,bayazid4 ,amongst other remarkable utterances of ,bayazid are the following4 ,when from hatred to the world ,i fled to the ,lord1 ,his love so filled my heart that ,i hated myself4 ,he who relies on his acts of piety is worse than he who commits sin4 ,there are those among the servants of the ,lord who would utter groans like the damned in hell if one put them in possession of the eight paradises without ,him4 ,a single grain of the love of ,god is worth more than a hundred thousand paradises4 ,he whom the ,lord loves is known by three distinct signs--his liberality is like the sea1 his kindness is like the sun1 his humility is like the earth1 which allows itself to be trampled on by everyone4 ,whoso has the knowledge of the ,lord receives from ,him intuitional wisdom in such a manner that he needs not to have recourse to anyone to learn anything4 ,being asked his age1 he replied1 ,i am four years old4 ,how is that1 ,sheikh8 they said4 ,for seventy years1 he said1 ,i have been enveloped in the veils of this dull world2 it is only four years since ,i disentangled myself from them and see ,god4 ,being asked to define ,sufism1 he said1 ,sufism consists in giving up repose1 and accepting suffering4 ,in the last moments of his life he put on a girdle and seated himself in the mihrab#ai of the mosque4 ,then1 turning his cloak and cap inside out1 he said1 ,my ,god1 ,i ask for no reward for the austerities ,i have practised all my life4 ,i say nothing of the prayers which ,i have prayed during whole nights1 of the fasts ,i have kept during the day1 of the number of times ,i have said the ,koran through4 ,o my ,god1 thou knowest that ,i think nothing of the works which ,i have done1 and that so far from putting trust in them1 ,i would rather forget them4 ,besides1 is it not thou who hast covered my nakedness with the raiment of these good works8 ,as for me1 ,i consider myself as a fire-worshipper who has grown to old age in a state of infidelity4 ,but now ,i say ',allah6 ,allah6' and ,i cut the girdle of the idolator4 ,i enter ,islam as a new proselyte1 and ,i repeat the profession of the ,moslem faith4 ,i reckon all that ,i have done nothing4 ,deign1 for ,thy mercy's sake1 to blot out all my evil deeds and transgressions4 ,when he was dying1 he again ejaculated ,allah6 ,allah6 ,then he cried1 ,my ,god1 ,i have passed my life in neglect of thee2 ,i have not served ,thee faithfully1 and expired4 #af ,pilgrims at ,mecca go round the ,kaaba seven times4 #ag ,an allusion to the mystics' doctrine that man himself is the true ,kaaba or ,house of ,god4 #ah ,a formula used by devout ,mussalmen at the sight of anything evil4 #ai ,the ,mihrab is the niche or apse in the wall of the mosque facing towards ,mecca4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,zu',n ,,nun ,,of ,,egypt 7,d #hfj ,,ad7 ,ibn ,khalliqan1 the historian1 calls ,zu'n ,nun the first person of his age for learning1 devotion and communion with the ,divinity4 ,his father1 who was a native of ,nubia1 was a slave1 enfranchised and adopted by the tribe of ,koraish4 ,zu'n ,nun1 being asked why he had renounced the world1 said1 ,i went forth from ,misr 7,egypt7 journeying to a certain village1 and ,i fell asleep in one of the deserts on the way4 ,and my eye was opened1 and lo1 a little bird1 still blind1 fell from its nest to the ground4 ,then the ground split open and two trays came forth1 one of gold1 the other of silver2 in one was sesame1 and in the other water2 and the bird ate of that1 and drank of this4 ',that'1 said ,i1 'is a sufficient warning for me2 ,i renounce the world4' ,and then ,i did not quit the door of divine mercy till ,i was let in4 ,having been denounced by his enemies to the ,caliph ,mutawakkil of ,bagdad1 he was summoned from ,egypt to appear before him4 ,on entering into his presence1 he addressed a pious exhortation to the ,caliph1 who shed tears1 and dismissed him honourably4 ,after this1 whenever men of piety were spoken of before the ,caliph1 he would weep and say1 ,speaking of pious men1 let me have ,zu'n ,nun4 ,at ,cairo1 however1 ,zu'n ,nun did not come off so easily4 ,he openly rebuked the vices of the inhabitants1 and especially of the local governors1 who caused him to be beaten and imprisoned4 ,all this is as nothing1 so ,i be not separated from thee1 ,o my ,god1 was his exclamation while dragged through the crowded street with blows and insults by the soldiers of the garrison4 ,zu'n ,nun related the following story of himself4 ,one day ,i saw a beautiful palace on the bank of a river where ,i was performing my devotions4 ,on the roof of this palace ,i perceived a lovely maiden4 ,curious of learning who she was1 ,i approached and asked her the name of her master4 ,she answered1 ',o ,zu'n ,nun when you were still a great way off1 ,i took you for a madman1 when you came nearer1 for a religious man1 when you came still nearer1 for one of the initiated4 ,i now perceive that you are neither mad1 nor religious1 nor initiated4 ,if you had been mad1 you would not have engaged in religious exercises2 if you had been religious1 you would not have looked at a person whom you ought not to approach2 if you had been initiated1 nothing would have drawn your attention away from ,god4' ,so saying1 she disappeared4 ,i then recognised that she was no mortal1 but an angel4 #bj,zu'n ,nun relates that he heard his spiritual teacher ,schakran recount the following story4 ,when ,i was young1 ,i lived on the eastern bank of the ,nile1 near ,cairo1 and gained my livelihood by ferrying passengers across to the western side4 ,one day1 as ,i was sitting in my boat near the river edge1 an aged man presented himself before me2 he wore a tattered robe1 a staff was in his hand1 and a water-skin suspended from his neck4 ',will you ferry me over for the love of ,god8' said he4 ,i answered1 ',yes4' ',and will you fulfil my commission for the love of ,god8' ',yes4' ,accordingly1 ,i rowed him across to the western side4 ,on alighting from the boat1 he pointed to a solitary tree some distance off1 and said to me1 ',now go your way1 and do not trouble yourself further about me till to-morrow2 nor indeed will it be in your power1 even should you desire it1 for as soon as ,i have left you1 you will at once forget me4 ,but to-morrow1 at this same hour of noon1 you will suddenly call me to mind4 ,then go to that tree which you see before you1 ,i shall be lying dead in its shade4 ,say the customary prayers over my corpse1 and bury me2 then take my robe1 my staff and the water-skin1 and return with them to the other side of the river2 there deliver them to him who shall first ask them of you4 ,this is my commission4' ,having said this1 he immediately departed4 ,i looked after him1 but soon lost sight of him2 and then1 as he had himself already forewarned me1 ,i utterly forgot him4 ,but next day1 at the approach of noon1 ,i suddenly remembered the event1 and hastily crossing the river alone1 ,i came to the western bank1 and then made straight for the tree4 ,in its shade ,i found him stretched out at full length1 with a calm and smiling face1 but dead4 ,i recited over him the customary prayers1 and buried him in the sand at the foot of the tree2 then ,i took the garment1 the staff and the water-skin1 and returned to my boat4 ,arrived at the eastern side1 ,i found standing on the shore to meet me a young man whom ,i knew as a most dissolute fellow of the town1 a hired musician by profession4 ,he was gaudily dressed1 his countenance bore the traces of recent debauch1 and his fingers were stained with henna4 ',give me the bequest1' said he4 ,amazed at such a demand from such a character1 ',what bequest8' ,i answered4 ',the staff1 the water-skin and the garment1' was his reply4 ,thereupon ,i drew them1 though unwillingly1 from the bottom of the boat1 where ,i had concealed them1 and gave them to him4 ,he at once stripped off his gay clothes1 put on the tattered robe1 hung the water-skin round his neck1 took the staff in his hand1 and turned to depart4 ,i1 however1 caught hold of him and exclaimed1 ',for ,god's sake1 ere you go1 tell me the meaning of this1 and how this bequest has become yours1 such as ,i know you4' ',by no merit of my own1 certainly1' answered he2 'but ,i passed last night at a wedding-feast1 with many boon companions1 in singing1 drinking deep1 and mad debauch4 ,as the night wore away and morning drew near1 tired out with pleasure and heavy with wine1 ,i lay down to sleep4 ,then in my sleep one stood by me1 and said1 ,god has at this very hour taken to himself the soul of such an ascetic1 and has chosen you to fill his place on earth4 ,rise and go to the river bank1 there you will meet a ferryman in his boat2 demand from him the bequest4 ,he will give you a garment1 a staff and a water-skin2 take them1 and live as their first owner lived4' ,such was his story4 ,he then bade me farewell1 and went his way4 ,but ,i wept bitterly over my own loss1 in that ,i had not been chosen in his place as successor to the dead saint1 and thought that such a favour would have been more worthily bestowed on me than on him4 ,but that same night1 as ,i slept1 ,i heard a voice saying unto me1 ',schakran1 is it grief to thee that ,i have called an erring servant of ,mine to repentance8 ,the favour is ,my free gift1 and ,i bestow such on whom ,i will1 nor yet do ,i forget those who seek ,me4' ,i awoke from sleep1 and repented of my impatient ambition4 ,zu'n ,nun had a disciple who had made the pilgrimage to the ,kaaba forty times1 and during forty years had passed all his nights in devotional exercises4 ,one day he came to ,zu'n ,nun and said1 ,during the forty years that ,i have practised austerity1 nothing of the unseen world has been revealed to me2 the ,friend 7i4e41 ,god7 has not spoken to me1 nor cast upon me a single look4 ,i fear lest ,i die and leave this world in despair4 ,thou1 who are the physician of sick souls1 devise some means for my cure4 ,go1 ,zu'n ,nun replied1 this evening1 omit your prayers1 eat as much as you like1 and go to sleep4 ,doubtless1 if the ,friend does not look upon you with an eye of mercy1 ,he will at any rate look upon you with an eye of anger4 ,the dervish went away1 but said his prayers as usual1 saying to himself that it would be wrong to omit them4 ,then he ate to satiety1 and went to sleep4 ,in his dreams he saw the ,prophet1 who said to him1 ,o ,dervish1 the ,friend sends thee his salutation1 and says1 ',surely that man is pusillanimous who1 as soon as he has arrived at ,my court1 hastens to return2 set thy feet on this path like a brave man1 and then ,we will give thee the reward for all the austerities which thou hast practised for forty years1 and make thee reach the goal of thy desires4' ,perhaps someone may ask why ,zu'n ,nun told his disciple to omit his prayers4 ,we should consider that sheikhs are physicians knowing the remedy for every kind of disease4 ,now there are many diseases whose treatment involves the use of poisons4 ,besides1 ,zu'n ,nun knew well that his disciple would certainly not neglect his prayers4 ,there are in the spiritual path 7tariqat7 many things not justifiable according to the written law 7shariat74 ,it is thus that the ,lord ordered ,abraham to slay his son1 an act unlawful according to the written law4 ,but whoever1 without having attained to so high a degree in the spiritual life as ,zu'n ,nun1 should act as he did in this matter would be a being without faith or law2 for each one in his actions must conform to the decisions of the written law4 ,zu'n ,nun related once the following4 ,when ,i was making the circuit of the ,kaaba1 ,i saw a man with a pale face and emaciated frame4 ,i said to him1 ',dost thou really love ,him8' ',yes1' he answered4 ',does the ,friend come near thee8' ',yes1 assuredly4' ',is ,he kind to thee8' ',yes1 certainly4' ',what6' ,i exclaimed1 'the ,friend approaches thee1 ,he is kind to thee1 and look at the wretched state of thy body6' ,he replied1 ',simpleton6 ,knowest thou not that they whom the ,friend approaches most nearly1 are the most severely tried8' ,one day1 said ,zu'n ,nun1 when ,i was travelling1 ,i arrived at a plain covered with snow4 ,i saw a fire-worshipper who was strewing seeds of millet there4 ',o infidel1' ,i said1 'why are you strewing this millet8' ',to-day1' he said1 'as it has been snowing1 ,i reflected that the birds would find nothing to eat1 and ,i strewed this millet that they may find some food1 and ,i hope that the ,most ,high will perchance have mercy upon me4' ',the grain which an infidel sows1' ,i replied1 'does not germinate1 and thou art a fire-worshipper4' ',well1' he answered1 'even if ,god does not accept my offering1 may ,i not hope that ,he sees what ,i am doing8' ',certainly ,he sees it1' ,i said4 ',if ,he sees it1' he remarked 'that is enough for me4' ,long afterwards ,i met this infidel at ,mecca making the circuit of the ,kaaba4 ,he recognised me1 and exclaimed1 ',o ,zu'n ,nun1 the ,most ,high1 witnessing my act1 has accepted it4 ,the grain ,i sowed has indeed sprung up1 for ,god has given me faith1 and brought me to ,his ,house4' ,seeing him1 added ,zu'n ,nun1 ,i rejoiced1 and cried1 ',my ,god1 dost ,thou give paradise to an infidel for a handful of millet seed8' ,then ,i heard a voice reply1 ',o ,zu'n ,nun1 the mercy of the ,lord is without limit4' ,zu'n ,nun daily asked three things of ,god in prayer4 ,the first was never to have any certainty of his means of subsistence for the morrow4 ,the second was never to be in honour among men4 ,and the third was to see ,god's face in mercy at his death-hour4 ,near the end of his life1 one of his more intimate disciples ventured to question him on this triple prayer1 and what had been its result4 ,as for the first and second petitions1 answered ,zu'n ,nun1 ,god has liberally granted them1 and ,i trust in ,his goodness that ,he will not refuse me the third4 ,during his last moments he was asked what he wished4 ,i wish1 he replied1 that if ,i have only one more breath left1 it may be spent in blessing the ,most ,high4 ,as he said this1 he breathed his last4 ,he died #hfj ,a4,d41 and his tomb is still an object of popular veneration at ,cairo4 #bj ,vide ,palgrave3 ,asceticism among ,muhammadan ,nations4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,mansur ,,hallaj 7,d #ibb ,,ad7 ,mansur ,hallaj 7the cotton-comber71 a ,persian1 of ,zoroastrian lineage1 was a pupil of ,junaid of ,bagdad1 a more sober-minded ,sufi than his contemporary ,bayazid ,bastami4 ,mansur himself however was of an enthusiastic temperament1 and took no pains to guard his language4 ,one of his extraordinary utterances1 ,i am the truth1 led at last to his execution1 the ,truth being one of the recognised names of ,god in ,muhammadan nomenclature4 ,notwithstanding this1 even at the present day he passes among the ,sufis for one of their greatest saints1 while the more orthodox regard him as a daring blasphemer who received his deserts4 ,his contemporaries1 says a ,muhammadan writer1 entertained as many different views concerning him as the ,jews and ,christians with respect to the ,messiah4 ,certainly when we read the various accounts of him by authors of different tendencies1 if we did not know to the contrary1 we might suppose ourselves reading about different persons bearing the same name4 ,the orthodox regard him chiefly as a sorcerer in league with supernatural powers1 whether celestial or infernal1 for he caused1 it is said1 summer fruits to appear in winter and vice versa4 ,he could reveal in open day what had been done in secret1 knew everyone's most private thoughts1 and when he extended his empty hand in the air he drew it back full of coins bearing the inscription1 ,say3 ,god is ,one4 ,among the moderate ,shiites1 who had more than one point of contact with the ,sufis1 it is not a question of sorcery at all4 ,for them the doctrine of ,hallaj1 which he had also practised himself1 meant that by using abstinence1 by refusing pleasure and by chastising the flesh1 man can lift himself gradually to the height of the elect and even of angels4 ,if he perseveres in this path he is gradually purged from everything human1 he receives the spirit of ,god as ,jesus did1 and all that he does is done by ,god4 ,the ,shiites say1 moreover1 that the reason for which ,hallaj was put to death should be found not in his utterances but in the astonishing influence which he exercised over the highest classes of society1 on princes and their courts1 and which caused much disquietude to others1 especially to the orthodox mullahs4 ,hallaj has even been judged not unfavourably by those among the orthodox who were characterised by a certain breadth of view1 and who1 like ,ghazzali1 although they disliked free-thinking1 yet wished for a religion of the heart1 and were not content with the dry orthodoxy of the great majority of theologians4 ,ghazzali indeed has gone so far as to put a favourable construction on the following sayings of ,hallaj3 ,i am the ,truth1 ,there is nothing in ,paradise except ,god4 ,he justifies them on the ground of the speaker's excessive love for ,god4 ,in his eyes1 as well as in those of other great authorities1 ,hallaj is a saint and a martyr4 ,the most learned theologians of the tenth century1 on the contrary1 believed that he deserved execution as an infidel and a blasphemer4 ,even the greatest admirers of ,hallaj1 the ,sufis1 are not agreed regarding him4 ,some of them question whether he were a thorough-going pantheist1 and think that he taught a numerical ,pantheism1 an immanence of the ,deity in certain souls only4 ,but this is not the opinion of the majority of the ,sufis4 ,the high esteem which they entertain for him is best understood by comparing the account they give of his martyrdom with that by orthodox writers4 ,the latter runs as follows3 ,the common people of ,bagdad were circulating reports that ,hallaj could raise the dead1 and that the ,jinn#ba were his slaves1 and brought him whatever he desired4 ,hamid1 the vizier of the ,caliph ,muqtadir1 was much disturbed by this1 and requested the ,caliph to have ,hallaj and his partizans arrested4 ,but the grand chamberlain ,nasir was strongly in his favour1 and opposed this2 his influence1 however1 being less than that of the vizier1 ,hallaj and some of his followers were arrested4 ,when the latter were questioned1 they admitted that they regarded their leader as ,god1 since he raised the dead2 but when he was questioned himself1 he said1 ,god preserve me from claiming divinity or the dignity of a prophet2 ,i am a mortal man who adores the ,most ,high4 ,the vizier then summoned two cadis#bb and the principal theologians1 and desired that they should give sentence against ,hallaj4 ,they answered that they could not pronounce sentence without proofs and without confession on the part of the accused4 ,the vizier1 foiled in his attempt1 caused ,hallaj to be brought several times before him1 and tried by artfully devised questions to elicit from him some heretical utterance1 but in vain4 ,finally he succeeded in finding in one of his books the assertion that if a man wished to make the pilgrimage to ,mecca1 but was hindered from doing so by some reason or other1 he could perform the equivalent of it in the following way4 ,he should go through all the prescribed circuits in a chamber carefully cleansed and closed4 ,in this chamber also he should give a feast of the choicest food to thirty orphans1 should wait upon them himself1 make them a present of clothing1 and give them each seven dirhems4#bc ,all this1 he maintained1 would be a work more meritorious than the pilgrimage itself4 ,the vizier showed to the cadi ,abou ,amr this passage which scandalised him4 ,abou ,amr then asked ,hallaj1 ,whence did you derive this idea8 ,hallaj quoted a work of ,hassan of ,basra1 from which he said he had taken it4 ,it is a lie1 ,o infidel1 whose death is lawful1 exclaimed the cadi2 the book you speak of was expounded to us at ,mecca by one of the learned1 but what you have written is not in it4 ,the vizier eagerly caught up the expressions ,o infidel1 etc41 which escaped the cadi in his excitement1 and asked him to pronounce sentence of death4 ,the cadi refused2 that1 he said1 was not his intention2 but the vizier insisted1 and ended by obtaining the sentence of death1 which was signed by all the maulvies present4 ,in vain ,hallaj sought to prove that the condemnation was unjust4 ,you have no right1 he exclaimed1 to shed my blood4 ,my religion is ,islam2 ,i believe in the traditions handed down from the ,prophet1 and ,i have written on this subject books which you can find everywhere4 ,i have always acknowledged the four ,imams#bd and the first four ,caliphs4 ,i invoke the help of ,god to save my life6 ,he was taken to prison4 ,the vizier despatched the sentence of death1 signed by the maulvies1 to the ,caliph1 who ordered that ,hallaj should be handed to the ,chief of ,police and receive a thousand strokes of the rod1 and then another thousand if he did not die from the effects of the first scourging1 and finally be decapitated4 ,the vizier1 however1 did not transmit the order accurately1 but modified it as follows3 ,if ,hallaj does not die under the blows of the rod1 let him first have a hand cut off1 then a foot1 then the other hand and foot4 ,lastly let his head be cut off1 and his body burnt4 ,hallaj underwent the terrible punishment with admirable courage1 and when his body had been burnt the ashes were cast into the ,tigris4 ,but his disciples did not believe in his death2 they were persuaded that a person resembling him had been martyred in his place1 and that he would show himself again after forty days4 ,some declared that they had met him mounted on an ass on the road leading to ,nahrawan1 and had heard him say1 ,be not like those simpletons who think that ,i have been scourged and put to death4 ,thus far the theologians' account4 ,that given by ,fariduddin ,attar in his ,tazkirat-ul-,aulia is as follows3 ,this is he who was a martyr in the way of truth1 whose rank has become exalted1 whose outer and inner man were pure1 who has been a pattern of loyalty in love1 whom an irresistible longing drew towards the contemplation of the face of ,god2 this is the enthusiast ,mansur ,hallaj1 may the mercy of ,god be upon him6 ,he was intoxicated with a love whose flames consumed him4 ,the miracles he worked were such that the learned were thunderstruck at them4 ,he was a man whose range of vision was immense1 whose words were riddles1 and profoundly versed in the knowledge of mysteries4 ,born in the canton of ,baida in the province of ,shiraz1 he grew up at ,wasit4 ,abd ,allah ,khafif used to say1 ,mansur really possessed the knowledge of the truth4 ,i and ,mansur1 declared ,shibli1#be followed the same path2 they regarded me as mad1 and my life was saved thereby1 while ,mansur perished because he was sane4 ,if ,mansur had been really astray in error1 the two learned men we have just quoted would not have spoken of him in such terms4 ,many wise men1 however1 have reproached him for revealing the mysteries of truth to the vulgar herd4 ,when he had grown up1 he was two years in the service of ,abd ,allah ,teshtari4 ,he made the pilgrimage to ,mecca1 and on his return became a disciple of the ,sufi ,junaid4 ,one day1 when ,mansur was plying him with questions on certain obscure and difficult points1 ,junaid said1 ,o ,mansur1 before very long you will redden the head of the stake4#bf ,the day when ,i redden the head of the stake1 rejoined ,mansur1 you will cast away the garment of the dervish and assume that of ordinary men4 ,it is related that on the day when ,mansur was taken to execution all the ,ulama#bg signed the sentence of death4 ,junaid also must sign1 said the ,caliph4 ,junaid accordingly repaired to the college of the ,ulama1 where1 after putting on a mullah's robe and turban1 he recorded in writing his opinion that though apparently ,mansur deserved death1 inwardly he possessed the knowledge of the ,most ,high4 ,having left ,bagdad1 ,mansur spent a year at ,tashter1 then he spent five years in travelling through ,khorassan1 ,seistan and ,turkestan4 ,on his return to ,bagdad1 the number of his followers largely increased1 and he gave utterance to many strange sayings which excited the suspicions of the orthodox4 ,at last he began to say1 ,i am the ,truth4 ,these words were repeated to the ,caliph1 and many persons renounced ,mansur as a religious leader and appeared as witnesses against him4 ,among these was ,junaid1 to whom the ,caliph said1 ,o ,junaid1 what is the meaning of this saying of ,mansur8 ,o ,caliph1 answered ,junaid1 this man should be put to death1 for such a saying cannot be reasonably explained4 ,the ,caliph then ordered him to be cast into prison4 ,there for a whole year he continued to hold discussions with the learned4 ,at the end of that time the ,caliph forbade that anyone should have access to him2 in consequence1 no one went to see him for five months except ,abd ,allah ,khafif4 ,another time ,ibn ,ata sent someone to say to him1 ,o ,sheikh1 withdraw what you said1 so that you may escape death4 ,nay1 rather he who sent you to me should ask forgiveness1 replied ,mansur4 ,ibn ,ata1 hearing this1 shed tears and said1 ,alas1 he is irreparably lost6 ,in order to force him to retract1 he was first of all given three hundred blows with a rod1 but in vain4 ,he was then led to execution4 ,a crowd of about a hundred thousand men followed him1 and as he looked round on them1 he cried1 ,true6 ,true6 ,true6 ,i am the ,truth6 ,it is said that among them was a dervish who asked him1 ,what is love8 ,thou shalt see1 ,mansur replied1 to-day and to-morrow and the day after4 ,and1 as it happened1 that day he was put to death1 the next day his body was burnt1 and on the third his ashes were scattered to the winds4 ,he meant that such would be the results of his love to ,god4 ,on his son asking of him a last piece of advice1 ,while the people of the world1 he said1 spend their energies on earthly objects1 do thou apply thyself to a study1 the least portion of which is worth all that men and ,jinn can produce--the study of truth4 ,as he walked along lightly and alertly1 though loaded with many chains1 they asked him the reason of his confident bearing4 ,it is1 he said1 because ,i am going to the presence of the ,king4 ,then he added1 ,my ,host1 in whom there is no injustice1 has presented me with the drink which is usually given to a guest2 but when the cups have began to circulate he has sent for the executioner with his sword and leathern carpet4 ,thus fares it with him who drinks with the ,dragon#bh in ,july4 ,when he reached the scaffold1 he turned his face towards the western gate of ,bagdad1 and set his foot on the first rung of the ladder1 the first step heavenward1 as he said4 ,then he girded himself with a girdle1 and1 lifting up his hands towards heaven1 turned towards ,mecca1 and said exultantly1 ,let it be as ,he has willed4 ,when he reached the platform of the scaffold1 a group of his disciples called out to him1 ,what do you say regarding us1 thy disciples1 and regarding those who deny thy claims and are about to stone thee8 ,they will have a two-fold reward1 and you only a single one1 he answered1 for you limit yourselves to having a good opinion of me1 while they are carried on by their zeal for the unity of ,god and for the written law4 ,now in the law the doctrine of ,god's unity is fundamental1 while a good opinion is merely accessory4 ,shibli the ,sufi stood in front of him and cried1 ,did we not tell thee not to gather men together8#bi ,then he added1 ,o ,hallaj1 what is ,sufism8 ,thou seest1 replied ,hallaj1 the least part of it4 ,what is then the highest8 asked ,shibli4 ,thou canst not attain to it1 he answered4 ,then they all began to stone him4 ,shibli making common cause with the others threw mud at him4 ,hallaj uttered a cry4 ,what1 said one1 you have not flinched under this hail of stones1 and now you cry out because of a little mud6 ,why is that8 ,ah6 he replied1 they do not know what they are doing1 and are excusable2 but he grieves me because he knows ,i ought not to be stoned at all4 ,when they cut off his hands1 he laughed and said1 ,to cut off the hands of a fettered man is easy1 but to sever the links which bind me to the ,divinity would be a task indeed4 ,then they cut off his two feet4 ,he said smiling1 ,with these ,i used to accomplish my earthly journeys1 but ,i have another pair of feet with which ,i can traverse both worlds4 ,hew these off if ye can6 ,then1 with his bleeding stumps1 he rubbed his cheeks and arms4 ,why do you do that8 he was asked4 ,i have lost much blood1 he answered1 and lest you should think the pallor of my countenance betokens fear1 ,i have reddened my cheeks4 ,but why your arms4 ,the ablutions of love must be made in blood1 he replied4 ,then his eyes were torn out4 ,at this a tumult arose in the crowd4 ,some burst into tears1 others cast stones at him4 ,when they were about to cut out his tongue1 he exclaimed1 ,wait a little2 ,i have something to say4 ,then1 lifting his face towards heaven1 he said1 ,my ,god1 for the sake of these sufferings1 which they inflict on me because of ,thee1 do not inflict loss upon them nor deprive them of their share of felicity4 ,behold1 upon the scaffold of my torture ,i enjoy the contemplation of ,thy glory4 ,his last words were1 ,help me1 ,o ,thou only ,one1 to whom there is no second6 and he recited the following verse of the ,koran1 ,those who do not believe say1 ',why does not the day of judgment hasten8' ,those who believe tremble at the mention of it1 for they know that it is near4 ,then they cut out his tongue1 and he smiled4 ,finally1 at the time of evening prayer1 his head was cut off4 ,his body was burnt1 and the ashes thrown into the ,tigris4 ,the high opinion entertained of ,mansur ,hallaj by ,fariduddin ,attar1 as seen in the above account1 has been echoed by subsequent ,sufi writers4 ,jalaluddin ,rumi1 the great mystic poet1 says of him3 ,pharaoh said ',i am the ,truth1'#cj and was laid low4 ,mansur ,hallaj said ',i am the ,truth1' and escaped free4 ,pharaoh's ',i' was followed by the curse of ,god4 ,mansur's ',i' was followed by the mercies of ,god4 ,because ,pharaoh was a stone1 ,mansur a ruby1 ,pharaoh an enemy of light1 ,mansur a friend4 ,mansur's ',i am ,he1' was a deep mystic saying1 ,expressing union with the light1 not mere incarnation4#ca ,similarly ,abdurrahman1 the chief poet of the ,afghans says3 ,every one who is crucified like ,mansur1 ,after death his cross becomes a fruitful tree4 #ba ,spirits4 #bb ,judges4 #bc ,a small coin4 #bd ,the founders of the four orthodox ,sects4 #be ,a celebrated contemporary ,sufi #bf ,referring to punishment by impaling4 #bg ,learned men4 #bh i4e4 ,god4 #bi ,koran ,v1 v #gj4 #cj ,according to the ,koran1 ,pharaoh claimed divinity4 #ca ,whinfield's ,masnavi p4 #bdh4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,habib ,,ajami 7,d #ggc ,,ad7 ,habib ,ajami was a rich usurer of ,basra1 and used to spend most of his time going about and collecting the money which was due to him4 ,he used also to insist on being paid for the time so spent4 ,one day he had gone to the house of one of his debtors1 and when he had knocked at the door the debtor's wife said to him1 ,my husband is not at home4 ,if he is not1 said ,habib1 pay me for my lost time and ,i will go4 ,but ,i have nothing1 replied the woman1 except a neck of mutton4 ,she fetched it and gave it to him4 ,habib took it home to his wife1 and told her to cook it4 ,but1 said she1 we have no bread or wood4 ,so ,habib went off again1 exacted his indemnity for lost time from another debtor1 and bought wood and bread1 which he took home4 ,his wife set about cooking the food1 when a dervish appeared at the door asking alms4 ,go away1 said ,habib to him2 you won't become rich with what you get here4 ,the dervish departed in silence4 ,habib's wife prepared to put the food on the plates1 but when she looked into the cooking pot she saw a mass of blood4 ,filled with terror1 she said to ,habib1 ,your harshness towards the dervish has brought this misfortune on us4 ,all the food in the cooking pot has turned to blood4 ,habib1 frightened himself1 repented1 and1 as a pledge of the reality of his conversion1 vowed to abandon the practice of usury4 ,the following day was a ,friday4 ,habib1 having gone out1 saw as he was walking along1 children playing on the road4 ,they no sooner saw him than they said to each other1 ,here is the usurer coming2 let us be off1 lest the dust raised by his feet touch us and we become cursed like him4 ,at these words ,habib ,ajami was profoundly stirred1 and went off to consult ,hasan ,basri1 whom he found in the act of preaching on the terrors of the judgment-day4 ,habib was so overcome with fear that he fainted4 ,when he came to himself1 he made public confession of his sins in the presence of ,hasan ,basri and the congregation4 ,then he left the mosque and returned home4 ,one of his debtors1 seeing him on the road1 attempted to get out of his way1 but ,habib called after him and said1 ,don't fly away2 formerly you used to avoid me1 but now it is ,i who seek to avoid you4 ,as he approached his house he met the same children as before1 and heard them say to one another1 ,we must get out of the way1 lest the dust raised by our feet should soil ,habib1 who has repented4 ,habib1 hearing this1 exclaimed1 ,o ,lord1 in that very hour1 when1 returning from my errors1 ,i have taken refuge with ,thee1 ,thou hast put affection for me in the hearts of ,thy friends1 and changed into blessings the curses which used to greet my name4 ,he remitted all the debts that were due to him1 and gave public notice that all his debtors had only to come and take back their bonds4 ,they all came and did so4 ,then he gave away all the wealth he had been amassing for years1 till he had nothing left4 ,he built a hermitage on the banks of the ,euphrates1 where he gave himself up to a devotional life1 spending whole nights in prayer4 ,during the day he attended the instructions of ,hasan ,basri4 ,at the commencement of his religious life he received the appellation ,ajami 7ill-instructed7 because he could not pronounce the words of the ,koran properly4 ,after some time his wife began to complain1 saying1 ,i must really have some money2 we have neither food to eat nor clothes to wear4 ,at this time ,habib was in the habit of going every day to his hermitage on the banks of the river1 and spending the day in devotional exercises4 ,in the evenings he came home4 ,one evening his wife asked him where he had been during the day4 ,i have been working1 he replied4 ,very well1 where are your wages8 she asked4 ,my employer1 said ,habib1 is a generous person4 ,he has promised to pay me at the end of ten days4 ,so he continued spending his time as before4 ,on the tenth day1 as he reflected in his hermitage1 he wondered what he should say to his wife when he returned in the evening1 and she wanted something to eat4 ,that day four men came to the house of ,habib4 ,one brought a quantity of flour1 another a sheep1 a third a jar of honey1 and the fourth a bottle of oil4 ,not long after them a fifth came with a purse of gold4 ,they gave all these to ,habib's wife1 saying to her1 ,your husband's ,employer has sent these1 and they added1 ,tell your husband that his ,master bids him continue his work1 and ,he will continue his wages4 ,then they departed4 ,in the evening ,habib came home1 pensive and anxious4 ,as he entered the house an odour of cooking greeted him4 ,his wife hastened to meet him1 and said1 ,o ,habib1 go on working for your employer1 for he is very generous1 and has sent all that you see here1 with this message that you are to go on working1 and he will continue to pay you4 ,hearing this1 ,habib became more confirmed than ever in his resolve to give up the world and to live to ,god4 ,one day ,hasan ,basri paid ,habib a visit in his hermitage4 ,the latter had two barley loaves and a little salt1 which he placed before his guest4 ,just as the latter was commencing to eat and in the act of stretching out his hand1 a dervish appeared at the door and asked for alms4 ,habib immediately handed him the two loaves4 ,hasan1 somewhat ruffled1 said1 ,habib1 you are a good man1 but you would be none the worse for a little culture and intelligence4 ,don't you know that one ought never to take food away from before a guest8 ,at any rate1 you might have given one of those loaves to the dervish1 and left the other4 ,habib made no reply4 ,some minutes afterwards a man came carrying in a napkin a roast lamb1 a large plate of sweetmeats1 and some money4 ,he set them before ,habib and said1 ,sir1 so and so sends you these with his compliments4 ,habib and ,hasan made a hearty meal1 and ,habib distributed the money to some passing mendicants4 ,then he said to ,hasan ,basri1 ,my master1 you are a good man1 but it would have been better had you shown more sincerity in this matter1 for then you would have possessed both knowledge and sincerity1 and the two go well together4 ,on another occasion ,hasan ,basri arrived at ,habib's hermitage just as the latter was commencing his evening prayers4 ,hearing him pronounce the words al hamdu#cb as al hemdu1 ,hasan said to himself1 ,this man cannot pronounce the words of the ,koran properly2 it is impossible to pray with him1 and he said his prayers apart4 ,that same night he saw the ,lord in a dream1 and asked him1 ,lord1 what must ,i do to gain ,thy approval4 ,an answer came1 ,o ,hasan1 thou hadst gained it1 but didst not appreciate its value4 ,thou shouldest have prayed with ,habib ,ajami4 ,such a prayer would have had more worth than all those which thou hast made in the course of thy life4 ,the tongues of others may speak rightly1 but the heart of ,habib feels rightly4 ,one day ,hasan ,basri1 flying from the agents of ,hejjaj ibn ,yusuf1 the bloodthirsty governor of ,irak1 took refuge in ,habib's hermitage4 ,the pursuers1 arriving1 asked ,habib whether ,hasan had passed that way4 ,no1 he said1 he is here in my dwelling4 ,they entered1 and seeing no one said to ,habib1 ,o ,habib1 whatever treatment ,hejjaj deals out to you1 you will have richly deserved it4 ,why did you lie to us8 ,i tell you1 said ,habib1 ,hasan is within this dwelling2 if you don't see him1 what can ,i do8 ,they again made a search1 but not succeeding in finding ,hasan1 departed4 ,hasan then came out of his hiding-place1 and said1 ,o ,habib1 is this the way thou repayest thy debt to thy master1 by betraying him8 ,master1 answered ,habib1 it is thanks to my truthfulness that thou hast escaped4 ,if ,i had told a lie we should have both been caught4 ,hasan then said1 ,what words didst thou recite as a safeguard8 ,i repeated ten times1 said ,habib1 the ',verse of the throne1'#cc ten times ',believe in the ,apostle1'#cd six times ',say1 there is one ,god1' and in addition ,i said1 ',lord1 ,i entrust ,hasan to ,thee2 take care of him4' ,hasan then asked ,habib how he had arrived at such a high degree of sanctity4 ,i spend my time1 he said1 in purifying my heart1 while you spend yours in blackening paper 7,hasan having written many theological works74 ,alas6 said ,hasan4 ,must then my knowledge benefit others1 only while ,i have nothing but the outward show of it8 ,we must not suppose1 says ,fariduddin ,attar in narrating the above incident1 that ,habib had really attained a higher degree of piety than ,hasan2 for in the eyes of the ,lord nothing is higher than knowledge4 ,the doctors of ,islam have said truly1 ',in the spiritual path the gift of performing miracles is the fourteenth stage1 while knowledge is the eighteenth4 ,the gift of miracles is the reward of many works of piety1 while the knowledge of mysteries is revealed only to profound meditation4 ,consider the case of ,solomon1 upon whom be peace6 ,he understood the language of birds1 and yet1 though arrived at such a high degree of knowledge1 he submitted to the ,law given by ,moses1 and acted according to its instructions4' ,every time that he heard the ,koran read1 ,habib used to weep bitterly4 ,some one said to him1 ,you are a barbarian 7the literal meaning of the word ',ajami'74 ,the ,koran is in ,arabic1 and you don't understand it2 why then do you weep8 ,it is true1 he said my tongue is barbarian1 but my heart is ,arab4 #cb ,praise to ,god4 #cc ,koran c4 #b1 v4 #bef4 #cd ,koran c4 #d1 v4 #ace4 ,,chapter ,x ,,avicenna 7,,ibn ,,sina7 7,,ad #ihj-ajcg7 ,avicenna1 now best known as a philosopher1 was perhaps better known in the middle ages as a kind of magician owing to the mastery of medical science4 ,his father was a native of ,balkh1 but removed from that city to ,bokhara2 having displayed great abilities as a government tax collector he was appointed to fill that office in a town called ,kharmaithen1 one of the dependencies of ,bokhara4 ,here ,avicenna was born4 ,at the age of ten years he was a perfect master of the ,koran1 and had studied arithmetic and algebra4 ,the philosopher ,an-,natili having visited them about that time1 ,avicenna's father lodged him in his own house1 and ,avicenna studied under him logic1 ,euclid and the ,almagest 7an astronomical treatise of ,ptolemy74 ,he soon surpassed his master1 and explained to him difficulties and obscurities which the latter had not understood4 ,on the departure of ,an-,natili1 ,avicenna applied himself to the study of natural philosophy1 divinity1 and other sciences4 ,he then felt an inclination to learn medicine1 and studied medical works2 he treated patients1 not for gain1 but in order to increase his knowledge4 ,when he was sixteen years of age1 physicians of the highest eminence came to him for instruction and to learn from him those modes of treatment which he had discovered by his practice4 ,but the greater portion of his time was given to the study of logic and philosophy4 ,when ,i was perplexed about any question1 he says in an autobiographical fragment1 ,i went to the mosque and prayed ,god to resolve the difficulty4 ,at night ,i returned home2 ,i lit the lamp1 and set myself to read and write4 ,when ,i felt myself growing tired and sleepy ,i drank a glass of wine1 which renewed my energy1 and then resumed reading4 ,when finally ,i fell asleep ,i kept dreaming of the problems which had exercised my waking thoughts1 and as a matter of fact often discovered the solution of them in my sleep4 ,when he came across the ,metaphysics of ,aristotle1 that work in spite of his acuteness seemed to present an insuperable difficulty4 ,i read this book1 he says1 but ,i did not understand it1 and the purport of it remained so obscure to me that though ,i read it forty times through and could repeat it by heart1 ,i was as far from understanding it as ever4 ,in despair1 ,i said to myself1 ',this book is quite incomprehensible4' ,one day at the time of afternoon prayer ,i went to a bookseller's1 and there ,i met a friend who had a book in his hand1 which he praised and showed me4 ,i looked at it in a listless way and handed it back1 certain that it was of no use to me4 ,but he said to me1 ',buy it2 it is very cheap4 ,i will sell it you for three dirhems2 its owner is in need of money4' ,it was a commentary of ,al ,farabi on the metaphysics of ,aristotle4 ,i bought it1 took it home and began to read it4 ,immediately all my difficulties were cleared up1 as ,i knew the ,metaphysics by heart4 ,i was delighted1 and the next day distributed alms to the poor in order to show my gratitude to ,god4 ,about this time the ,emir ,nuh ,ibn ,mansur1 prince of ,khorassan1 fell ill1 and having heard of ,avicenna's talent1 sent for him and was restored to health under his treatment4 ,as a reward1 ,avicenna was allowed to study in the prince's library1 which contained several chests of rare manuscripts4 ,here he discovered treatises on the sciences of the ancients1 and other subjects1 the essence of which he extracted4 ,it happened some time afterwards that this library was destroyed by fire1 and ,avicenna remained the sole depository of the knowledge which it contained4 ,some persons even said that it was he who had set fire to the library because he alone was acquainted with its contents1 and wished to be their sole possessor4 ,at the age of eighteen he had completely mastered all the sciences which he had studied4 ,the death of his father and the fall of the ,samanide dynasty forced him to quit those literary treasures which he had learnt to appreciate so well4 ,at the age of twenty-two he left ,bokhara and went to ,jorjan1 the capital of ,khwarezm where he frequented the ,court of ,shah ,ali ibn ,mamoun4 ,at this time the celebrated ,sultan ,mahmoud of ,ghazni1 having heard that there were several learned men1 and among them ,avicenna1 at the ,court of ,mamoun1 requested the latter to send them to him4 ,several of them went1 but ,avicenna refused1 probably because his orthodoxy was suspected1 and ,sultan ,mahmoud was a strict ,sunni4 ,mahmoud was much displeased at not seeing ,avicenna appear at his court with the rest1 and sent descriptions and drawings of him in several directions in order that he might be arrested4 ,in the meantime1 ,avicenna finding the allowance made to him at the ,court of ,mamoun insufficient1 left ,jorjan and wandered through the towns of ,khorassan4 ,finally he settled in a little village near ,balkh4 ,there he composed the greater part of his philosophical works1 and among others the book on the ,eternal ,principle and the ,return of the ,soul4 ,some time afterwards he was called to ,hamadan to treat the ,buwayhid ,sultan ,shams-ed ,dawla1 who suffered from a dangerous gastric malady4 ,he was successful in curing the ,sultan1 who showed his gratitude by appointing ,avicenna his vizier4 ,the affairs of ,state did not prevent ,avicenna from carrying on his studies1 for during his stay at ,hamadan he found time to commence his exposition of the philosophy of ,aristotle entitled the ,shifa which he undertook at the ,sultan's request4 ,at this time ,avicenna presented the rare spectacle of a philosopher discharging the functions of a statesman1 without injury to either statesmanship or philosophy4 ,his great physical energy enabled him to spend the day in the service of the ,sultan and a great part of the night in philosophical discussions with his disciples4 ,his writings1 which date from this time1 allow us to judge with what success he pursued his philosophical studies1 and we have every reason to believe that he was equally successful in the conduct of affairs1 for1 after the death of ,shams-ed-,dawla1 his son and successor ,taj-ed-,dawla requested him to retain the post of vizier4 ,avicenna appreciated this testimony to his worth1 but declined the offer in order to devote himself to the completion of his great work1 the ,shifa4 ,but even in his studious retirement he was not out of reach of political disturbance4 ,suspected of carrying on secret correspondence with ,ala-ed-,dawla1 the governor of ,ispahan1 an enemy of ,taj-ed-,dawla1 ,avicenna was imprisoned in a neighbouring fortress4 ,he would probably have remained there a long time had not the fortune of war put ,ala-ed-,dawla in possession of ,hamadan1 ,avicenna was liberated after an imprisonment of four months4 ,despite this misadventure he succeeded during his stay at ,hamadan in completing the ,shifa and several medical treatises1 besides1 a little mystical allegory1 ,hay ibn ,yokdhan 7,the living one1 son of the ,waking ,one74 ,this shows the mystical side of ,avicenna's philosophy1 and we therefore subjoin an abridgment and explanation of it4 ,during my sojourn in a certain country1 ,i used to make excursions with my friends to pleasant spots in our vicinity4 ,one day when strolling out with them ,i met an old man who1 in spite of his advanced age1 seemed brimful of juvenile ardour1 being neither bent nor having white hairs4 ,we felt attracted by him and accosted him4 ,after the usual salutations1 ,i opened the conversation by requesting him to inform us about himself1 his trade1 name1 family1 and country4 ',as to my name and family1' he answered1 ',i am called ,hay ibn ,yokdhan1 and ,i was born in ,jerusalem2 as to my occupation1 it consists in traversing all the regions of the earth1 always following the direction indicated by my ,father4 ,he has entrusted to me the keys of all the sciences and guided me through all ways even to the utmost bounds of the universe4' ,we continued to ask him questions regarding different branches of science till we touched on the science of physiognomy1 on which he spoke with marvellous precision1 taking it as the starting point of a discourse which he delivered to us4 ,this exordium may be interpreted as follows3 ,during the sojourn of my soul in the body ,i felt a desire under the guidance of my imagination and my senses to examine whatever presented itself to me4 ,while thus engaged1 ,i came in contact with active ,intelligence 7the old man71 the salutary effects of which ,i had long experienced and which had preserved my vigour unabated4 ,i commenced to examine the nature of this ,intelligence freed as it is from all material grossness and yet in a certain way1 linked to the material world4 ,since life includes the two conditions necessary to actual development1 consciousness and movement1 he calls himself ',hay' 'the ,living1' and adds 'ibn ,yokdhan' ',son of the ,waking1' meaning that he derives his origin from a ,being higher than himself1 ,who is always awake and has no need of repose4 ,his birthplace is the holy city of ,jerusalem1 free from all earthly stain1 and his occupation is to traverse the highest regions open to intelligence in order to understand the nature of his heavenly ,father1 who has committed to him the keys of all forms of knowledge4 ,thus1 favoured by his help1 we arrive at ,logic1 a science which leads by sure and evident conclusions to a knowledge of what is remote and occult4 ,for this reason logic is indicated by the term 'physiognomy' which judges of the hidden by its outward manifestation4 ,after this commencement the allegory proceeds3 ,logic1 continued the old man1 is a science whose income is paid in ready money2 she brings to light what nature conceals1 and what may be a source of either joy or sorrow2 she points you out the way of freedom from earthly entanglements and sensual propensities4 ,if her healing hand touches you1 it will give you salutary support1 but if your weakness cause you to stumble1 you will be exposed to ruin1 accompanied as you always are by bad companions#ce from which it is impossible to get free4 ,as to thy nearest companion 7imagination71 he is a confused babbler1 abounding in futility and falsity2 he brings you news in which truth and falsehood are mingled together1 and that1 though he professes to be your guide and enlightener4 ,he often brings matters before you very ill-suited to your dignity and position1 and you must be at the pains of distinguishing the false from the true in them4 ,but for all that1 he is very necessary to you1 and would exert a healthy influence on you1 if his false witness did not lead you into error4 ,but your companion on the right 7irascibility7 is still more impetuous1 and it is only with the greatest difficulty that his attacks can be repulsed by reason or avoided by dexterity4 ,he is like a blazing fire1 a rushing torrent1 a runaway horse1 or a lioness deprived of its young4 ,similarly with your left-hand companion 7carnal concupiscence7 whose evil influence springs from insatiable appetite2 he is like a famished beast let loose to graze4 ,such are your companions1 unhappy mortal1 to whom you are tied1 and from whom no release is to be obtained except by migrating to those countries where such creatures are unknown4 ,but till you are allowed to do so1 your hand at any rate must tame them2 beware of flinging the rein on their necks and giving them free course2 if you hold the reins tight they will submit1 and you will be master4 ,after ,i had heard this description of my companions1 ,i began to recognise the justice of it1 and accordingly ,i varied gentleness and severity in my treatment of them4 ,alternately ,i and they had the upper hand4 ,but ,i constantly invoked the help of ,god in this respect1 until ,i was delivered4 ,meanwhile ,i prepared for the journey1 and the old man added this last counsel3 ',you and those like you will be constantly impeded in this journey1 and the road will be very difficult for you1 unless you can succeed in quitting this world for ever2 but you cannot hasten the time fixed by ,god4 ,you must therefore be content with a frequently interrupted progress2 sometimes you will make way1 sometimes you will be at the beck and call of your companions4 ,when you apply yourself with your whole heart to making progress1 you will succeed1 and your companions will lose all influence over you2 but if you connive at their importunities1 they will conquer you1 and you will altogether lose touch with me4' ,i then asked the old man for information on the various regions of the universe1 of which he possessed ample knowledge1 and he replied3 ',the universe has three parts2 first1 the visible heaven and earth1 the nature of which is ascertainable by ordinary observation3 ,but as to the other two parts1 they are marvellous indeed2 one is on the ,east1 the other on the ,west4 ,each of these regions is separated from our world by a barrier which only a few elect souls succeed in passing1 and that only by divine grace2 the man who relies only on his natural powers is excluded from them4 ,what makes the passage thither easier is to wash in the flowing waters of the fountain whose source is close to a stagnant pool4#cf ,the traveller who has found the way to it and is refreshed by its healing waters1 will feel himself endued with a marvellous energy1 which will help him to traverse savage deserts4 ,unfatigued he will scale the heights of ,mount ,kaf1 and the guardians of hell will lose all power to seize him and to cast him into the abyss4' ,we asked him to explain more precisely the situation of this fountain1 and he said3 ',you are doubtless aware that perpetual darkness surrounds the pole#cg unpenetrated by any ray of light till ,god permits4 ,but he who fearlessly enters this darkness will emerge into a clearly lighted plain1 where he will find this springing fountain4 ,we then asked him to tell us more about the ,western region bordering our earth1 of which he had spoken1 and he gave us the following information3 ',in the extreme ,west is an immense sea called in the ,divine ,revelation#ch the miry sea1 where the sun sets and along which stretches a desolate and sterile land1 where the inhabitants never abide but are always passing away1 and which is covered by thick darkness4 ,those who go there are exposed to every kind of illusion4 ,the sun only gives a feeble light1 the soil is completely barren1 whatever is built there is soon destroyed again1 conflict and strife perpetually rage there1 whatever gets the upper hand tyrannises over those which were in power before it4 ,there are found all kinds of animals and plants passing through strange developments4 ',now if you turn to the ,east#ci you will see a region where there is no human being1 nor plant1 nor tree1 nor animal2 it is an immense and empty plain4 ,crossing it1 you will reach a mountainous region1 where are clouds and strong winds and rapid rivers2 there are also gold and silver and precious stones1 but no plants4 ,from thence you will pass into a region where there are plants but no animals1 then into another where there are animals but no men4 ,lastly you will arrive at a region where there are human beings such as are familiar to you4 ',after passing the extreme limit of the ,east1 you will see the sun rising between the two horns of ,satan1 the flying horn and the marching horn4 ,this latter is divided into two parts1 one having the form of a fierce animal1 the other of a gross one2 between these two composing the left horn is perpetual strife4 ,as to the flying horn1 it has no one distinct form1 but is composed of several1 such as a winged man1 a serpent with a swine's head1 or merely a foot or an arm4 ,the human soul which rules this region has established five ways of communication under the care of a watchman who takes whatever comes along them and passes it on to a treasurer who presents it to the ,king4 ',the two horns continually attack the human soul1 even to the point of driving it to madness4 ,as to the marching horn1 the fierce animal of which it is partly composed lays a trap for man by embellishing in his eyes all his evil actions1 murder1 mutilation1 oppression and destruction1 by exciting his hatred and impelling him to violence and injustice2 while the other part in the shape of a gross animal continually attacks the human soul by casting a glamour over vileness and foulness and urging her thereto2 nor does it cease its assaults till she is brought into complete subjection4 ,it is seconded in its attacks by the spirits of the flying horn1 which make man reject whatever he cannot see with his own eyes1 whispering to him that there is no resurrection nor retribution nor spiritual ,lord of the universe4 ',passing hence1 we find a region inhabited by beings of angelic origin1 free from the defects above-mentioned4 ,they enter into communication with man1 and contribute towards his spiritual progress4 ,these are the intellectual faculties1 which1 though they are far below the pure ,intelligences1 have an instinctive desire to shake off the yoke of irascibility and concupiscence4 ,beyond this region is that of the angels1 and further still1 one directly governed by the ,great ,king1 and dwelt in by his faithful servants1 who are engaged in fulfilling ,his commands4 ,these are free from all evil inclination1 whether to concupiscence or injustice or envy or idleness4 ,to them is committed the defence of the frontier of this ,kingdom1 which they guard in person4 ,allotted to different parts1 they occupy lofty forts constructed of crystal and precious stones1 which surpass in durability all that may be found in the region of earth4 ,they are immortal1 and subject to no feebleness nor decay of force in discharging their duties4 ',beyond this region again are beings in immediate and continual relation with the supreme ,king1 constantly occupied in ,his service1 and never replaced by others4 ,they are allowed to approach the ,lord1 to contemplate the throne of ,his ,majesty and to adore ,him1 enjoying the sight of ,him continually and without intermission4 ,they have the gentlest natures1 great spiritual beauty1 and a keen faculty of penetration and of arriving at the truth4 ,to each has been assigned a distinct place and fixed rank1 which can be shared by no one4 ,highest of all is that unique being1 the nearest to the ,lord1 and the parent of all the rest4 ,active ,intelligence#dj2 it is by his mediation that the word and commandment of the ,lord go forth to all the other beings of creation4 ',in this highest region all are pure spirits1 having no relation to matter1 except in so far as innate desire may set them in movement or cause them to move others4 ,from such desire only1 the ,lord himself is absolutely exempt4 ',those who think that ,he had a beginning are in complete error1 and those who think to describe ,him fully are beside themselves4 ,in relation to ,him all description and comparison are impossible4 ,those who attempt to describe ,him can only indicate the distance which separates ,him from all human attributes2 the beauty of being is represented in scriptural language by ,his ,face and ,his infinite bounty by ,his ,hand4 ,if even one of the cherubims wished to contemplate ,his essence1 he would be dazzled and frustrated by ,his glory4 ,since beauty is the veil of beauty1 ,his manifestation must always remain a mystery1 in the same way as the sun1 when lightly obscured by a cloud allows its disc to be seen1 but when it blazes forth in all its splendour1 its disc is veiled from human eye by excess of light4 ,the ,lord1 however1 is always communicating ,his splendour to ,his creation without grudging or reserve2 ,he imparts ,himself generously and the plenitude of ,his bounty is without limit3 ,he who has the least glimpse of ,his beauty remains entranced by it for ever2 sometimes saints of extraordinary attainments who have given themselves up to ,him and have been favoured by ,his grace1 aware of the worthlessness of the perishable world1 when1 from their ecstatic state they return to it1 are haunted for the rest of their lives by regret and sadness4' ,here ,hay ibn ,yokdhan closed his discourse by adding3 ',if ,i had not1 in thus addressing you1 been acting in obedience to the commands of my ,lord1 ,i would rather have left you for ,him4 ,if you will1 accompany me on the path of safety4' ,thus concludes this brief allegory1 which1 like ,avicenna's other mystical treatises1 is concerned with the progress and development of the human soul4 ,according to him1 the soul is created for eternity1 and the object of its union with the body is the formation of a spiritual and independent microcosm4 ,during our earthly life we have but a dim presentiment of this future condition2 this presentiment produces in different characters a lesser or greater desire for it1 and the thoroughness of our preparation depends on this desire4 ,this preparation is only accomplished by the development of the highest faculties of the soul1 and the inferior faculties of the senses furnish the indispensable basis for this4 ,every human faculty has some pleasure corresponding to it4 ,the pleasure of the appetitive faculty for example1 is to receive a sensation which accords with its desire2 the pleasure of the irascible faculty is attack2 the pleasure of the surmising faculty1 hope2 that of the recollective faculty1 memory4 ,generally speaking1 the pleasures attending these faculties consist in their realising themselves in action1 but they differ widely in rank1 the soul's delight in intellectual perception of realities1 in which the knower and the known are one1 being incomparably higher than any mere sensual satisfaction4 ,by attaining to such perceptions1 the soul prepares itself for the beatitude of the next life4 ,the degree of this beatitude will correspond to the intensity of spiritual desire awakened in it during its earthly sojourn4#da ,it is extremely difficult1 not to say impossible1 to determine the degrees of beatitude of the soul after death4 ,we may1 nevertheless1 understand that the various impediments of passions1 prejudices1 etc41 to which its union with the body has given rise1 are not immediately dissolved on its separation from the body4 ,souls thus hindered may pass into a state depicted by ,plato and other ancient philosophers1 in which they are still weighed down by the passions they indulged in4 ,every soul is eternal and imperishable1 and will finally attain the beatitude for which it was created4 ,but it may be punished after death by a shorter or longer exclusion from that beatitude4 ,to suppose with ,alexander ,aphrodisius that an imperfect or ill-prepared soul may be annihilated1 would be to admit a belief at complete variance with its eternal essence and origin4 ,but we may well conjecture that the punishment of such ill-prepared and refractory souls would consist in their being in a state in which after separation from the body they still pine after sensual enjoyments and suffer from the impossibility of such gratification4 ,it may also be supposed that such ill-prepared souls remember the notions that were current in this world regarding beatitude and damnation2 their conceptions would in that case resemble dreams which are often more vivid than impressions received in waking moments4 ,they would imagine themselves undergoing the examination in the tomb and all the other punishments depicted in the ,koran1 or it may be enjoying the sensual pleasures there described4 ,on the other hand1 the noble and well-prepared soul will pass at once to the contemplation of the eternal1 and will be exempt from every memory and every conception relating to this world4 ,for if anything of this kind remained in it as a reminder of its union with the body1 it would so far fall short of the plenitude of its perfection4 ,besides his mystical treatise ,on the soul1 ,avicenna has left a short but remarkable poem on the same subject1 which runs as follows3-- ,,the ,,soul4 ,it descended upon thee from the lofty station 7heaven72 a dove rare and uncaptured1 curtained from the eyes of every knower yet which is manifest and never wore a veil4#db ,it came to thee unwillingly and it may perhaps be unwilling to abandon thee although it complain of its sufferings4 ,it resisted at first1 and would not become familiar1 but when it was in friendly union with the body1 it grew accustomed to the desert waste 7the world74 ,methinks it then forgot the recollections of the protected park 7heaven71 and of those abodes which it left with regret2 but when in its spiral descent it arrived at the centre of its circle in the terrestrial world1 it was united to the infirmity of the material body and remained among the monuments and prostrate ruins4 ,it now remembers the protected park and weepeth with tears which flow and cease not till the time for setting out towards the protected park approacheth2 till the instant of departure for the vast plain 7the spiritual world7 draweth nigh4 ,it then cooeth on the top of a lofty pinnacle 7for knowledge can exalt all who were not exalted7 and it has come to the knowledge of every mystery in the universe1 while yet its tattered vest hath not been mended4#dc ,its descent was predestined so that it might hear what it had not heard1 else why did it descend from the high and lofty heaven to the depth of the low and humble earth8 ,if ,god sent it down by a decision of ,his will1 ,his motive is concealed from the intelligence of man4 ,why did it descend to be withheld from the exalted summit of heaven by the coarse net of the body1 and to be detained in a cage8 ,it is like a flash of lightning shining over the meadow1 and disappearing as if it had never gleamed4 ,although ,avicenna's reputation in the ,muhammedan world has always been high1 his mystical treatises have generally been regarded as heretical1 and many have only been preserved in ,hebrew translations4 ,he himself says explicitly that he only intended them for his most intimate disciples1 and forbade them to be communicated to the multitude4 ,for his own part1 he conformed to the religious law and customs4 ,the celebrated contemporary ,sufi ,abou ,said ,abi'l ,khair having asked his opinion regarding the custom of praying for the dead1 and visiting their tombs1 he answers thus3 ,god the ,unique ,being and ,source of all that exists--angels1 intelligences exempt from connection with matter1 souls united to matter1 elements in all their varied developments--animal1 vegetable and mineral1 inspires ,his whole creation1 and ,his omniscience embraces all4 ,his influence in the first place acts immediately on the ,active ,intelligences and angels1 who in their turn act on souls which in their turn act on our sublunary world4 ,if there were not homogeneity of substance between celestial and terrestrial souls and likeness between the macrocosm of the universe1 and the microcosm of man1 the knowledge of ,god would be impossible for us1 as the ,prophet himself hath said1 ',he who knows himself1 knows ,god4' ,all creation1 whose parts are linked together1 is subject to influences which all derive from a single source--,god4 ,terrestrial souls differ widely in rank2 the highest are endowed with gifts of prophecy1 and perfected so far that they attain the sphere of pure intelligence4 ,a soul of this kind entering after death into eternal beatitude1 shared with its peers1 continues along with them to exercise a certain influence on terrestrial souls4 ,the object of prayer for the dead and visiting their tombs is to beg for the help of those pure souls1 a help which is realised sometimes in a material1 sometimes in a spiritual way4 ,the former kind of help may be compared with the direction which the body receives from the brain2 spiritual assistance is realised by the purification of the mind from every thought but that of ,god4 ,avicenna1 after his liberation from imprisonment by ,ala-ed-,dowla1 being anxious to quit ,hamadan1 left the city secretly with his brother1 his disciple ,joujani and two servants1 all five disguised as ,sufis4 ,after a painful journey they reached ,ispahan1 where they were received in a friendly manner by ,ala-ed-,dowla4 ,avicenna here continued to hold philosophical discussions as he had done at ,hamadan4 ,at ,ispahan he also composed two of his most important works1 the ,shifa and the ,najat1 treating of medicine4 ,later on he followed ,ala-ed-,dowla to ,bagdad1 but on the way was seized with a gastric malady1 accompanied by an attack of apoplexy4 ,he recovered at the time1 but not long afterwards the sickness returned1 and he died at the age of #eg1 ,a4,d4 #ajcg4 ,in his ,literary ,history of ,persia 7vo4 ,,ii41 p4 #ajh7 ,professor ,browne points out that one of the most celebrated stanzas in ,fitzgerald's translation of ,omar ,khayyam was really composed by ,avicenna3-- ,up from earth's centre through the ,seventh ,gate ,i rose1 and on the throne of ,saturn sate1 ,and many a knot unravelled by the road1 ,but not the master-knot of human fate4 ,another interesting link between the two philosophers is supplied by the fact1 mentioned by ,professor ,browne1 that a few days before his death ,omar ,khayyam was reading in the ,shifa of ,avicenna the chapter treating of the ,one and of the ,many4 #ce ,the bad companions of man which hinder his intellectual progress are unregulated imagination1 irascibility and carnal concupiscence4 ,death alone delivers him and transports him to the celestial country of true repose4 #cf ,the flowing waters signify logic and metaphysics1 which help man to attain to the unknown4 ,because they provoke argument and discussion1 they are called flowing4 ,the stagnant pool signifies positive science1 which is the basis of philosophy4 ,the man who is refreshed by the flowing waters of philosophy will grasp the scheme of the universe without losing himself in the confusion of details2 he will scale the heights of science 7the encircling mountain of ,kaf7 without being held back by worldly entanglements4 #cg ,the pole surrounded by darkness signifies the soul of man which1 though intended to govern the body1 is without any power to attain truth unless guided by divine grace1 but then it will emerge into the full light and attain the end for which it was created4 #ch ,koran1 c4 #ah1 v4 #hd4 ,the miry sea indicates ,matter stirred into life by the setting sun 7,form71 entering at every moment into union with some new form1 birth and death and ebb and flow proceeding in ceaseless change4 #ci ,in the kingdom of ,form at first nothing is found but the four elements mingled with each other1 developed successively through mineral1 vegetable and animal stages4 ,after the last is found pure intellect struggling with powerful opponents1 that is to say1 the various human faculties4 ,the flying horn signifies imaginitive faculties2 the marching horn the passions1 the fierce animal representing irascibility1 and the gross one1 concupiscence4 ,the flying horn1 irregulated imagination1 is in need of constant supervision by the human soul4 ,the watchman is the perceptive faculty1 which1 gathering the various impressions of the five senses1 conveys them to the ,king1 the human soul4 #dj c4f4 the ,logos of ,philo4 #da c4f4 ,lowell ,perhaps the longing to be so1 ,helps make the soul immortal4 #db ,the existence of the soul1 though not manifest to the senses1 is yet too manifest to leave any doubt4 #dc ,the tattered vest of the soul or the body destroyed by death is not mended till the day of resurrection2 and yet the soul is in heaven and in the enjoyment of all knowledge4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,al ,,ghazzali 7,,ad #ajeh--aaaa7 ,al ,ghazzali is one of the deepest thinkers1 greatest theologians and profoundest moralists of ,islam4 ,in all ,muhammadan lands he is celebrated both as an apologist of orthodoxy and a warm advocate of ,sufi mysticism4 ,intimately acquainted with all the learning of his time1 he was not only one of the numerous oriental philosophers who traverse every sphere of intellectual activity1 but one of those rarer minds whose originality is not crushed by their learning4 ,he was imbued with a sacred enthusiasm for the triumph of his faith1 and his whole life was dedicated to one purpose--the defence of ,islam4 ,as ,browning says1 he made life consist of one idea4 ,his full name was ,abu ,hamid ,muhammad ,ibn ,muhammad ,ibn ,ahmed ,algazzali1 and he was born at ,tus in ,khorassan1 #ajeh ,a4,d41 where a generation earlier ,firdausi1 the author of the ,shahnama1 had died4 ,tus was already famous for learning and culture1 and later on ,ghazzali's own fame caused the town to become a centre of pilgrimage for pious ,moslems1 till it was laid in ruins by ,genghis ,khan1 a century after ,ghazzali's death4 ,his birth occurred at a time when the power of the ,caliphs had been long on the wane1 and the ,turkish militia1 like the ,pretorian guards of the later ,roman empire1 were the real dispensers of power4 ,while the political unity of ,islam had been broken up into a number of mutually-opposed states1 ,islam itself was threatened by dangers from without4 ,in ,spain1 ,alphonso ,,ii4 had begun to press the ,moors hardly4 ,before ,ghazzali was forty1 ,peter the ,hermit was preaching the ,first ,crusade1 and during his lifetime ,baldwin of ,bouillon was proclaimed ,king in the ,mosque of ,omar at ,jerusalem4 ,but more serious than these outer foes was the great schism which had split ,islam into the two great opposing parties of ,shiahs and ,sunnis--a schism which was embittered and complicated by the struggle of rival dynasties for power4 ,while the ,shiites prevailed in ,egypt and ,persia1 the ,turks and ,seljuks were ,sunnis4 ,in ,bagdad the seat of the ,caliphate during the reign of ,al ,kasim1 when ,ghazzali was a youth1 fatal encounters between the two contending factions were of daily occurrence4 ,ghazzali's native city was ,shiite1 and not till ,khorassan had been conquered by the ,ghaznevides and ,seljuks did ,sunni teaching prevail there4 ,yet1 however bitterly ,shiahs and ,sunnis might be opposed to each other1 they both counted as orthodox and were agreed as to the fundamental principles of ,islam1 nor did their strife endanger the religion itself4 ,but besides the two great parties of ,shiahs and ,sunnis1 a mass of heretical sects1 classed under the common name of ,mutazilites1 had sprung up within ,islam4 ,these heretics had studied ,aristotle and ,greek philosophy in ,arabic translations1 and for a long time all that the orthodox could do was to thunder anathemas at them and denounce all speculation4 ,but at last ,al ,asha'ari1 himself formerly a ,mutazilite1 renounced his heresies1 and sought to defend orthodoxy and confute the heretics on philosophical grounds4 ,the ,mutazilites had cultivated the study of philosophy with especial zeal1 and therefore the struggle with them was a fierce one1 complicated as it was by political animosity4 ,the most dangerous sect of all was that of the ,ismailians and ,assassins1 with their doctrine of a hidden ,imam or leader4 ,in some of his works ,ghazzali gives special attention to confuting these4 ,the whole aspect and condition of ,islam during ,ghazzali's lifetime was such as to cause a devout ,moslem deep distress and anxiety4 ,it is therefore natural that a man who1 after long and earnest search1 had found rest and peace in ,islam1 should have bent all the energies of his enthusiastic character to oppose these destructive forces to the utmost4 ,ghazzali is never weary of exhorting those who have no faith to study the ,muhammadan revelation2 he defends religion in a philosophical way against the philosophers1 refutes the heretics1 chides the laxity of the ,shiites1 defends the austere principles of the ,schafiites1 champions orthodoxy1 and finally1 by word and example1 urges his readers towards the mysticism and asceticism of the ,sufis4 ,his numerous writings are all directed to one or another of these objects4 ,as a recognition of his endeavours1 the ,muhammadan ,church has conferred upon him the title of ,hujjat al ,islam1 the witness of ,islam4 ,it is a fact worthy of notice that when the power of the ,caliphs was shattered and ,muhammadanism1 already in a state of decline1 precisely at that period theology and all other sciences were flourishing4 ,the reason of this may be found in the fact that nearly all the ,muhammadan dynasties1 however much they might be opposed to each other1 zealously favoured literature and science4 ,besides this1 the more earnest spirits1 weary of the political confusions of the time1 devoted themselves all the more fervently to cultivating the inner life1 in which they sought compensation and refuge from outward distractions4 ,ghazzali was the most striking figure among all these4 ,of his early history not much is known4 ,his father is said to have died while he was a child1 but he had a brother ,abu'l ,futuh ,ahmed ,alghazzali1 who was in great favour with the ,sultan ,malik ,shah1 and owing to his zeal for ,islam had won the title of ,glory of the ,faith4 ,from the similarity of their pursuits we gather that the relationship between the brothers must have been a close one4 ,ibn ,khalliqan the historian informs us that later on ,abu'l ,futuh succeeded his brother as professor1 and abridged his most important literary work1 ,the ,revival of the religious sciences4 ,while still a youth1 ,ghazzali studied theology at ,jorjan under the ,imam ,abu ,nasr ,ismail4 ,on his return journey from ,jorjan to ,tus1 he is said to have fallen into the hands of robbers4 ,they took from him all that he had1 but at his earnest entreaty returned to him his note books1 at the same time telling him that he could know nothing really1 if he could be so easily deprived of his knowledge4 ,this made him resolve for the future to learn everything by heart4 ,later on ,ghazzali studied at ,nishapur under the celebrated ,abu'l-,maali4 ,here also at the court of the ,vizier ,nizam-ul-mulk 7the school-fellow of ,omar ,khayyam7 he took a distinguished part in those discussions on poetry and philosophy which were so popular in the ,east4 ,in #ajia ,nizam-ul-mulk appointed him to the professorship of ,jurisprudence in the ,nizamiya ,college at ,bagdad1 which he had founded twenty-four years previously4 ,here ,ghazzali lectured to a class of #cjj students4 ,in his leisure hours1 as he informs us in his brief autobiography1 ,al munkidh min uddallal 7,the ,deliverance from error7 he busied himself with the study of philosophy4 ,he also received a commission from the ,caliph to refute the doctrine of the ,ismailians4 ,in the first chapter it has been mentioned how a deep-seated unrest and thirst for peace led him1 after many mental struggles1 to throw up his appointment and betake himself to religious seclusion at ,damascus and ,jerusalem4 ,this1 together with his pilgrimage to ,mecca and ,medina1 lasted nearly ten years4 ,ibn ,khalliqan informs us that he also went to ,egypt and stayed some time in ,alexandria4 ,here the fame of the ,almoravide leader in ,spain1 ,yusuf ibn ,tashifin1 is said to have reached ,ghazzali1 and to have made him think of journeying thither4 ,this prince had begun those campaigns in ,spain against the ,cid and other ,christian leaders which were destined to add ,andalusia to his ,moroccan dominions4 ,by these victories in the ,west he had to some extent retrieved the decline of ,islam in the ,east4 ,it is natural to suppose that the enthusiastic ,ghazzali would gladly have met with this champion of ,muhammadanism4 ,the news of ,yusuf ibn ,tashifin's death in #aajf seems to have made him renounce his intention of proceeding to ,spain4 ,the realisation of ,ghazzali's wish to withdraw from public affairs and give himself to a contemplative life was now interrupted4 ,the requests of his children and other family affairs1 of which we have no exact information1 caused him to return home4 ,besides this1 the continued progress of the ,ismailians1 the spread of irreligious doctrines1 and the increasing religious indifference of the masses not only filled ,ghazzali and his ,sufi friends with profound grief but determined them to stem the evil with the whole force of their philosophy1 the ardour of vital conviction1 and the authority of noble example4 ,in addition1 the governor of ,nishapur1 ,muhammad ,ibn ,malikshah1 had asked ,ghazzali to proceed thither in order to help to bring about a religious revival4 ,thus1 after an absence of ten years1 he returned to ,nishapur to resume his post as teacher4 ,but his activity at this period was directed to a different aim than that of the former one4 ,regarding the contrast he speaks like a ,muhammadan ,thomas ,kempis4 ,formerly1 he says1 he taught a knowledge which won him fame and glory1 but now he taught a knowledge which brought just the opposite4 ,inspired with an earnest desire for the spiritual progress of his co-religionists and himself1 and convinced that he was called to this task by ,god1 he prays the ,almighty to lead and enlighten him1 so that he may do the same for others4 ,how long ,ghazzali occupied his professorship at ,nishapur the second time is not precisely clear4 ,only five or six years of his life remained1 and towards the close he again resigned his post to give himself up to a life of contemplation to which he felt irresistibly drawn1 in his native city of ,tus4 ,here he spent the rest of days in devotional exercises in friendly intercourses with other ,sufis and in religious instruction of the young4 ,he died1 devout as he lived1 in the fifty-fourth year of his age1 ,a4,d4 #aaaa4 ,he founded a convent for ,sufis and a professorship of jurisprudence4 ,ghazzali's activity as an author during his relatively short life was enormous4 ,according to the literary historians1 he is the author of ninety-nine different works4 ,these are not all known to us1 but there are existing in the ,west a considerable quantity of them1 some in ,latin and ,hebrew translations1 as he was much studied by the ,jews in the ,middle ,ages4 ,a writer in the ,jewish ,encyclopdia says 7sub4 voc471 ,from his ',makasid-al-,falasifah' in which he expounded logic1 physics and metaphysics according to ,aristotle1 many a ,jewish student of philosophy derived much accurate information4 ,it was not1 however1 through his attacks on philosophy that ,ghazzali's authority was established among ,jewish thinkers of the middle ages1 but through the ethical teachings in his theological works4 ,he approached the ethical idea of ,judaism to such an extent that some supposed him to be actually drifting in that direction4 ,although ,ghazzali was a ,persian1 both by race and birthplace1 most of his works are composed in ,arabic1 that language being as familiar to ,muhammadan theologians as ,latin to those of ,europe in the ,middle ,ages4 ,one of his most important works is the ,tahafut al falasifah1 ,destruction of the ,philosophers1 which the great ,averroes endeavoured to refute4 ,somewhat in the style of ,mr4 ,balfour's ,defence of philosophic doubt1 ,ghazzali attempts to erect his religious system on a basis of scepticism4 ,he denies causation as thoroughly as ,hume1 but asserts that the divine mind has ordained that certain phenomena shall always occur in a certain order1 and that philosophy without faith is powerless to discover ,god4 ,although chiefly famous in the ,west as a philosopher1 he himself would probably have repudiated the title4 ,he tells us that his object in studying philosophy was to confute the philosophers4 ,his true element was not philosophy but religion1 with which his whole being was penetrated1 and which met all his spiritual needs4 ,even in his most heterogeneous studies he always kept before him one aim--the confirmation1 spread1 and glorification of ,islam4 ,it is true that more than one of his contemporaries accused him of hypocrisy1 saying that he had an esoteric doctrine for himself and his private circle of friends1 and an exoteric for the vulgar4 ,his ,sufistic leanings might lend some colour to this accusation1 it being a well-known ,sufi habit to cloak their teaching under a metaphorical veil1 wine representing the love of ,god1 etc41 as in ,hafiz and ,omar ,khayyam4 ,against this must be set the fact that in his autobiography written near the close of his life1 he constantly refers to his former works1 which he would hardly have done had he been conscious of any striking discrepancy between his earlier and his later teaching4 ,there is no reason to doubt his previously-quoted statement that he studied philosophy in order to refute the philosophers4 ,he was1 at any rate1 intensely indignant at having his orthodoxy impugned1 as appears from a striking story narrated by the ,arabic historian ,abu'l ,feda4 ,he tells us that ,ghazzali's most important work1 ,the revival of the religious sciences had created a great sensation when it reached ,cordova4 ,the ,muhammadan theologians of ,spain were rigidly orthodox1 and accused the work of being tainted by heresy4 ,they represented to the ,caliph ,ali ,ibn ,yusuf that not only this but all ,ghazzali's other works which circulated in ,andalusia should be collected and burnt1 which was accordingly done4 ,not long after1 a young ,berber from ,north ,africa named ,ibn ,tumart wandered to ,bagdad1 where he attended ,ghazzali's lectures4 ,ghazzali noticing the foreigner1 accosted him1 and inquired regarding religious affairs in the ,west1 and how his works had been received there4 ,to his horror he learned that they had been condemned as heretical and committed to the flames by order of the ,almoravide ,caliph ,ali4 ,upon this1 ,ghazzali1 raising his hands towards heaven1 exclaimed in a voice shaken with emotion1 ,o ,god1 destroy his kingdom as he has destroyed my books1 and take all power from him4 ,ibn ,tumart1 in sympathy with his teacher1 said1 ,o ,imam#dd ,ghazzali1 pray that thy wish may be accomplished by my means4 ,and so it happened4 ,ibn ,tumart returned to his ,north ,african1 proclaimed himself a ,mahdi1 gained a large following among the ,berbers1 and overthrew ,ali and the dynasty of the ,almoravides4 ,this story is not entirely beyond doubt1 but shows the importance attached by ,ghazzali's contemporaries to his influence and teaching4 ,as an example of ,ghazzali's ethical earnestness1 we may quote the following from his ,ihya-ul-ulum 7,revival of the religious sciences74 ,he refers to the habit common to all ,muhammadans of ejaculating1 ,we take refuge in ,god4 ,by the fear of ,god1 he says1 ,i do not mean a fear like that of women when their eyes swim and their hearts beat at hearing some eloquent religious discourse1 which they quickly forget and turn again to frivolity4 ,there is no real fear at all4 ,he who fears a thing flees from it1 and he who hopes for a thing strives for it1 and the only fear that will save thee is the fear that forbids sinning against ,god and instils obedience to ,him4 ,beware of the shallow fear of women and fools1 who1 when they hear of the terrors of the ,lord1 say lightly1 ',we take refuge in ,god1' and at the same time continue in the very sins which will destroy them4 ,satan laughs at such pious ejaculations4 ,they are like a man who should meet a lion in a desert1 while there is a fortress at no great distance away1 and when he sees the ravenous beast1 should stand exclaiming1 ',i take refuge in that fortress1' without moving a step towards it4 ,what will such an ejaculation profit him8 ,in the same way1 merely ejaculating ',i take refuge in ,god' will not protect thee from the terrors of ,his judgment unless thou really take refuge in ,him4 ,ghazzali's moral earnestness is equally apparent in the following extract from his work ,munqidh min uddallal ,the ,deliverance from error1 in which he sets himself to combat the general laxity and heretical tendencies of his time3-- ,man is composed of a body and a heart2 by the word 'heart' ,i understand that spiritual part of him which is the seat of the knowledge of ,god1 and not the material organ of flesh and blood which he possesses in common with the animals4 ,just as the body flourishes in health and decays in disease1 so the heart is either spiritually sound or the prey of a malady which ends in death4 ,now ignorance of ,god is a deadly poison1 and the revolt of the passions is a disease for which the knowledge of ,god and obedience to ,him1 manifested in self-control1 are the only antidote and remedy4 ,just as remedies for the body are only known to physicians who have studied their secret properties1 so the remedies for the soul are devotional practices as defined by the prophets1 the effects of which transcend reason4 ,the proper work of reason is to confess the truth of inspiration and its own impotence to grasp what is only revealed to the prophets2 reason takes us by the hand and hands us over to the prophets1 as blind men commit themselves to their guides1 or as the desperately sick to their physicians4 ,such are the range and limits of reason2 beyond prophetic truth it cannot take a step4 ,the causes of the general religious languor and decay of faith in our time are chiefly to be traced to four classes of people3 7#a7 ,philosophers1 7#b7 ,sufis1 7#c7 ,ismailians#de1 7#d7 the ,ulema or scholastic theologians4 ,i have specially interrogated those who were lax in their religion2 ,i have questioned them concerning their doubts1 and spoken to them in these terms3 ',why are you so lukewarm in your religion8 ,if you really believe in a future life1 and instead of preparing for it sell it in exchange for the goods of this world1 you must be mad4 ,you would not give two things for one of the same quality2 how can you barter eternity for days which are numbered8 ,if you do not believe1 you are infidels1 and should seek to obtain faith4' ,in answer to such appeals1 ,i have heard men say1 ',if the observance of religious practices is obligatory1 it is certainly obligatory on the ,ulema or theologians4 ,and what do we find amongst the most conspicuous of these8 ,one does not pray1 another drinks wine1 a third devours the orphans' inheritance1 and a fourth lets himself be bribed into giving wrong decisions1 and so forth4' ,another man giving himself out as a ,sufi said that he had attained to such a high pitch of proficiency in ,sufism that for him religious practice was no longer necessary4 ,an ,ismailian said1 ',truth is very difficult to find1 and the road to it is strewn with obstacles2 so-called proofs are mutually contradictory1 and the speculations of philosophers cannot be trusted4 ,but we have an ,imam 7leader7 who is an infallible judge and needs no proofs4 ,why should we abandon truth for error8' ,a fifth said1 ',i have studied the subject1 and what you call inspiration is really a high degree of sagacity4 ,religion is intended as a restraint on the passions of the vulgar4 ,but ,i1 who do not belong to the common herd1 what have ,i to do with such stringent obligations8 ,i am a philosopher2 science is my guide1 and dispenses me from submission to authority4' ,this last is the fate of philosophic theists1 as we find it expressed in the writings of ,avicenna and ,farabi4 ,it is no rare thing to find men who read the ,koran1 attend public worship at the mosque1 and outwardly profess the greatest respect for the religious law1 in private indulging in the use of wine and committing other shameful actions4 ,if we ask such men how it comes that although they do not believe in the reality of inspiration1 they attend public worship1 they say that they practise it as a useful exercise and as a safeguard for their fortunes and families4 ,if we further ask them why they drink wine1 which is absolutely prohibited in the ,koran1 they say1 ,the only object of the prohibition of wine was to prevent quarrelling and violence4 ,wise men like ourselves are in no danger of such excesses1 and we drink in order to brighten and kindle our imaginative powers4' ,such is the faith of these pretended ,moslems and their example has led many astray who have been all the more encouraged to follow these philosophers because their opponents have often been incompetent4 ,in the above extracts ,ghazzali appears as a reformer1 and it would not be difficult to find modern parallels for the tendencies which he describes4 ,professor ,d4,b4 ,macdonald compares him to ,ritschl in the stress which he lays on personal religious experience1 and in his suspicion of the intrusion of metaphysics into the domain of religion4 ,although intensely in earnest1 he was diffident of his powers as a preacher1 and in a surviving letter says1 ,i do not think myself worthy to preach2 for preaching is like a tax1 and the property on which it is imposed is the acceptance of preaching to oneself4 ,he then who has no property1 how shall he pay the tax8 and he who lacks a garment how shall he cover another8 and ',when is the stick crooked and the shadow straight8' ,and ,god revealed to ,jesus 7upon whom be peace74 ,preach to thyself1 then if thou acceptest the preaching1 preach to mankind1 and if not1 be ashamed before ,me4#df ,like other preachers of righteousness1 ,ghazzali strove to rouse men out of lethargy by laying stress on the terrors of the world to come and the ,judgment ,day4 ,he was not one of those who think fear too base a motive to appeal to2 he strikes the note of warning again and again4 ,towards the close of his life he composed a short work on eschatology ,al ,durra al ,fakhirah 7,the precious pearl7 of a sufficiently lurid character4 ,in it he says3 ,when you watch a dead man and see that the saliva has run from his mouth1 that his lips are contracted1 his face black1 the whites of his eyes showing1 know that he is damned1 and that the fact of his damnation in the other world has just been revealed to him4 ,but if you see the dead with a smile on his lips1 a serene countenance1 his eyes half-closed1 know that he has just received the good news of the happiness which awaits him in the other life4 ,on the ,day of ,judgment1 when all men are gathered before the throne of ,god1 their accounts are all cast up1 and their good and evil deeds weighed4 ,during all this time each man believes he is the only one with whom ,god is dealing4 ,though peradventure at the same moment ,god is taking account of countless multitudes whose number is known to ,him only4 ,men do not see each other1 nor hear each other speak4 ,regarding faith1 ,ghazzali says in the ,ihya-ul-ulum3 ,faith consists of two elements1 patience and gratitude4 ,both are graces bestowed by ,god1 and there is no way to ,god except faith4 ,the ,koran expounds the excellence of patience in more than seventy passages4 ,the ,caliph ,ali said1 ',patience bears the same relation to faith as the head does to the body4 ,he who has no head1 has no body1 and he who has no patience has no faith4' ,ghazzali's philosophy is the re-action of his intensely religious personality against the naturalistic tendencies of men like ,avicenna and ,averroes4 ,they believed in the eternity of matter1 and reduced ,god to a bare ,first ,cause4 ,he also1 though sympathising with the ,sufis1 especially on the side of their asceticism1 was opposed to ,sufistic ,pantheism4 ,he conceived ,god chiefly as an active ,will1 and not merely as the ,self existent4 ,while his contemporaries were busying themselves with metaphysical theories concerning matter and creation1 ,ghazzali laid stress on self-observation and self-knowledge 7,he who knows himself1 knows ,god74 ,as ,st4 ,augustine found deliverance from doubt and error in his inward experience of ,god1 and ,descartes in self-consciousness1 so ,ghazzali1 unsatisfied with speculation and troubled by scepticism1 surrenders himself to the will of ,god4 ,leaving others to demonstrate the existence of ,god from the external world1 he finds ,god revealed in the depths of his own consciousness and the mystery of his own free will4 ,he fared as innovators in religion and philosophy always do1 and was looked upon during his lifetime as a heretic4 ,he admits himself that his ,destruction of the philosophers was written to expose their mutual contradictions4 ,but he has no mere ,mephistophelic pleasure in destruction2 he pulls down in order to erect4 ,he is not a mere sceptic on the one hand1 nor a bigoted theologian on the other1 and his verdict on the ,mutazilite heretics of his day is especially mild4 ,acute thinker though he was1 in him will and feeling predominated over thought4 ,he rejected the dogmatic and philosophic systems of his contemporaries as mere jejune skeletons of reality1 and devoted the close of his life to study of the traditions and the ,koran4 ,like ,augustine1 he finds in ,god-derived self-consciousness the starting-point for the thought1 and like him emphasizes the fundamental significance of the will4 ,he sees everywhere the ,divine ,will at work in what philosophers call natural causes4 ,he seeks the truth1 but seeks it with a certain consciousness of possessing it already within himself4 ,he is a unique and lonely figure in ,islam1 and has to this day been only partially understood4 ,in the ,middle ,ages his fame was eclipsed by that of ,averroes1 whose commentary on ,aristotle is alluded to by ,dante1 and was studied by ,thomas ,aquinas and the schoolmen4 ,averroes' system was rounded and complete1 but ,ghazzali was one of those whose reach exceeds their grasp2 he was always striking after something he had not attained1 and stands in many respects nearer to the modern mind than ,averroes4 ,renan1 though far from sympathising with his religious earnestness1 calls him the most original mind among ,arabian philosophers1 and ,de ,boer says1 ,men like ,ghazzali have for philosophy this significance that they are a problem alike for themselves and for philosophy1 because they are a fragment of spiritual reality that requires explanation4 ,by the force of their personality they remove what hinders them in the construction of their systems without troubling about correctness4 ,later thinkers make it their business to explain the impulses that guide such men both in their work of destruction and of restoration4 ,original minds like his supply food for reflection to future generations4 #dd ,imam1 i4e4 leader4 #de ,a sect which declared the impossibility of arriving at truth except through an ,imam or infallible guide4 #df ,d4,b4 ,macdonald ,life of ,ghazzali4 ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,fariduddin ,attar 7,,ad #aaai-abbi7 ,fariduddin ,attar was born in the village of ,kerken near ,nishapur in ,khorassan1 ,a4,d4 #aaai under the ,sultan ,sandjar4 ,some years after his birth his father removed to ,schadbakh1 where he kept a druggist's shop4 ,on his father's death1 ,fariduddin carried on the business1 whence he received his cognomen ,attar 7druggist74 ,his call to the religious life was as follows3 ,one day while he was seated in his shop surrounded by servants busily attending to his orders1 a wandering dervish paused at the door and regarded him silently1 while his eyes slowly filled with tears4 ,attar sharply told him to be off about his business4 ,that is easily done1 replied the dervish2 ,i have only a light bundle to carry1 nothing in fact but my clothes4 ,but you with your sacks full of valuable drugs1 when the time comes to go1 what will you do8 ,had you not better consider a little8 ,the appeal went home4 ,he promptly abandoned his business in order to devote himself to a religious life4 ,bidding a decisive adieu to the world1 he betook himself to a ,sufi convent1 presided over by ,sheikh ,ruknuddin4 ,here he resided for some time engaged in devotional practices1 and then made the pilgrimage to ,mecca1 where he met with many devotees and conceived the idea of compiling a collection of stories of the holy men of ,islam4 ,to this work he devoted several years of his long life2 he also composed a ,pand-nama or ,book of ,counsels4 ,but the work by which he is chiefly known is the ,mantiq-ut-tair or ,parliament of ,birds1 and of this we proceed to give some account4 ,in this allegorical poem various birds representing mystics1 unite themselves under the leadership of the hoopoe in order to journey to the court of the ,simurgh1 a mysterious bird whose name signifies thirty birds1 dwelling in ,mount ,kaf1 the mountain which encircles the world4 ,at the commencement of the poem there is a long debate between the hoopoe and the other birds1 who at first allege various excuses for not undertaking the journey1 while he rebukes them for their lukewarmness1 not concealing1 however1 the fact that the journey is full of peril1 and that though many start few will reach the goal4 ,the hoopoe's description of the road is as follows3 ,we have seven valleys to traverse4#dg ,the first is the ,valley of ,search2 the second the ,valley of ,love1 which has no limits2 the third is the ,valley of ,knowledge2 the fourth is the ,valley of ,independence2 the fifth is the ,valley of ,unity1 pure and simple2 the sixth is the ,valley of ,amazement2 last of all is the valley of ,poverty and ,annihilation1 beyond which there is no advance4 ,there thou wilt feel thyself drawn1 but will have no power to go any further4 7#a7 ,when thou enterest the ,valley of ,search1 at every step new trials will present themselves2 there the parrot of the celestial sphere is as mute as a fly4 ,there thou must cast away all thy possessions and imperil all thy riches4 ,not only must the hand be empty1 but thy heart must be detached from all that is earthly4 ,then the ,light of the ,divine ,essence will begin to cast upon thee some rays4 7#b7 ,in order to enter the second valley 7of love7 thou must be made all of fire2 he who is not composed of fire will find no pleasure in that valley2 he must not think of the future1 but be ready to sacrifice a hundred worlds to the flames1 if needs be4 ,faith and infidelity1 good and evil1 religion and irreligion1 are all one for him who has arrived at the second stage2 for where love reigns1 none of them exist any more4 7#c7 ,in the third valley 7of knowledge7 the progress of the pilgrims is in proportion to their innate powers4 ,in the path traversed by ,abraham the ,friend of ,god1 can a feeble spider keep pace with an elephant8 ,let the gnat fly as hard as he may1 he will never keep up with the wind4 ,thus the degrees of knowledge attained to by the initiated are different2 one only reaches the entrance of the temple1 while another finds the ,divinity who dwells in it4 ,when the ,sun of ,knowledge darts its rays1 each is illumined in proportion to his capacity1 and finds in the contemplation of the truth the rank which belongs to him4 ,he sees a path lie open before him through the midst of the fire1 the furnace of the world becomes for him a garden of roses4 ,he perceives the almond within the shell1 that is to say1 he sees ,god under the veil of all apparent things4 ,but for one happy man who penetrates into these mysteries1 how many millions have gone astray8 ,only the perfect can dive with success into the depths of this ocean4 7#d7 ,in the fourth valley 7of independence7 thou hast done with everything but ,god4 ,out of this disposition of mind1 which no longer feels the need of anything1 there rises a tempestuous hurricane1 every blast of which annihilates whole kingdoms4 ,the seven seas are then no more than a pool of water2 the seven planets are a spark2 the eight paradises are only a single curtain2 the seven hells a mass of ice4 ,in less time than it takes the greedy crow to fill its crop1 out of a hundred caravans of travellers there remains not one alive4 7#e7 ,the ,valley of ,unity which succeeds to that of ,independence1 is the valley of privation of all things and reduction to unity1 that is to say1 the attainment of a degree of spirituality1 in which the ,divine ,essence1 apart from every attribute1 is the object of contemplation4 7#f7 ,in the sixth valley1 that of ,amazement1 the pilgrim's lot is to suffer and to groan2 each breath he draws is like a sword2 his days and nights are passed in sighs2 from each of his hairs distils a drop of blood1 which1 as it falls1 traces in the air the letters of the word alas6 ,there he remains in a state of stupefaction1 and finds his way no more4 ,to make the meaning of ,amazement clearer1 ,attar gives the following allegory4 ,he supposes that the young companions of a princess wished one day to amuse themselves at the expense of a slave4 ,they made him drink wine in which they had dropped a narcotic drug1 and when he was asleep had him carried to the harem4 ,at midnight1 when he woke1 he found himself on a gilded couch surrounded by perfumed candles1 scent-boxes of aloes1 and lovely women whose songs ravished his ear4 ,disconcerted and stupefied1 says the poet1 he no longer retained reason nor life4 ,he was no longer in this world1 nor was he in the other4 ,his heart was full of love for the princess1 but his tongue remained mute4 ,his spirit was in ecstacies4 ,when he awoke in the morning he found himself again a slave at his old post4 ,the memory of the past night was so vivid that it caused him to utter a cry2 he tore his garments1 and threw dust upon his head4 ,they asked him what was the matter1 but he knew not what to reply4 ,he could not say whether what he had seen was a dream or a reality2 whether he had passed the night in drunkenness or in full possession of his faculties4 ,what he had seen had left a profound impression on his mind1 and yet he could not trace it out accurately4 ,he had contemplated ,beauty beyond all words1 and yet he was not sure whether he had seen ,it after all4 ,the only effect of his vision was a trouble of mind and uncertainty4 7#g7 ,at last comes the seventh valley1 that of ,poverty and ,annihilation4 ,but these words are insufficient to describe it2 forgetfulness1 deafness1 dumbness1 fainting--such is the condition of the pilgrim in this valley4 ,one sun causes millions of shadows to vanish4 ,when the ocean is agitated1 how can the figures traced on its waters remain8 ,such figures are this world and the world to come1 and he who knows them to be nothing is right4 ,he who is plunged in this sea1 where the heart is astray and lost1 has by means of his very annihilation found immutable repose4 ,in this ocean1 where reigns a constant calm1 the heart finds nought but annihilation4 ,attar also illustrates the ,sufi doctrine of annihilation 7which resembles the ,buddhistic nirvana7 by an allegory4 ,one night1 he says1 the butterflies were tormented by the desire to unite themselves with the candle-flame4 ,they held a meeting1 and resolved that one of them should go and experiment1 and bring back news4 ,a butterfly was sent to a neighbouring house1 and he perceived the flame of the candle which was burning within4 ,he brought back word and tried to describe the flame according to the measure of his intelligence2 but the butterfly who presided over the assembly said that the exploring butterfly had attained no real knowledge of the candle-flame4 ,a second butterfly went forth1 and approached so close to the flame as to singe his wings4 ,he also returned1 and threw a little light on the mystery of union with the flame4 ,but the presiding butterfly found his explanation not much more satisfactory than the preceding one4 ,a third butterfly then flew forth2 he was intoxicated with love for the flame1 and flung himself wholly into it2 he lost himself1 and identified himself with it4 ,it embraced him completely1 and his body became as fiery-red as the flame itself4 ,when the presiding butterfly saw from afar that the flame had absorbed the devoted butterfly and communicated its own qualities to it2 ',that butterfly1' he exclaimed1 'has learnt what he wished to know1 but he alone understands it4 ,only he who has lost all trace and token of his own existence knows what annihilation is4 ,until thou ignorest thyself1 body and soul1 thou canst not know the object which deserves thy love4' ,the foregoing terrible description of the seven mysterious valleys was well calculated to discourage the birds1 and ,attar tells us that after hearing it they stood with hearts oppressed and heads bent4 ,all understood1 he says1 that it was not for a feeble hand to bend this bow4 ,they were so terrified by the discourse of the hoopoe that a great number died on the spot where they were assembled4 ,as to the others1 in spite of their dismay1 they consented to commence the journey4 ,during long years they travelled over hill and dale1 and spent a great part of their lives in pilgrimage4 ,finally1 of all who set out1 a very small band arrived at the goal4 ,some were drowned in the ocean1 others were annihilated and disappeared4 ,others perished on the peaks of high mountains1 devoured by thirst and a prey to all kinds of ills4#dh ,others had their plumes burnt and their hearts dried up by the scorching heat of the sun2 others fell a prey to the wild beasts which haunted the road1 falling panic-struck1 without resistance1 into their claws2 others died of sheer exhaustion in the desert2 others fought and killed each other madly for chance grains of corn2 others experienced all kinds of pains and fatigues1 and ended by stopping short of the goal2 others1 engrossed in curiosity and pleasure1 perished without thinking of the object for which they had set out4 ,when they started1 their numbers were countless1 but at last only thirty arrived1 and these without feathers and wings1 exhausted and prostrated1 their hearts broken1 their souls fainting1 their bodies worn out by fatigue4 ,they had arrived at the ,palace of the ,simurgh4 ,a chamberlain of the ,king1 who saw these thirty hapless birds without feathers or wings1 questioned them whence they came1 and why4 ',we have come1' they answered1 'that the ,simurgh may become our king4 ,the love that we feel for him has unsettled our reason4 ,we have denied ourselves all rest to follow the road that leads to ,him4 ,it is very long since we started1 and of our many millions1 only thirty have reached the goal4 ,the hope of appearing here has buoyed us up hitherto2 may the ,king think kindly of the perils we have undergone1 and cast upon us at least a glance of compassion4' ,the chamberlain returned a harsh answer1 and ordered them to go back1 telling them that the ,king had no need of their homage4 ,this answer at first cast them into despair1 but afterwards1 imitating the moth which seeks certain death in the flame of the lamp1 they persisted in their request to be admitted to the presence of the ,simurgh4 ,their steadfastness did not remain unrewarded4 ,the chamberlain of grace came out1 opened a door1 and presented them with a document which he ordered them to read4 ,this contained a list of all the sins which the birds had committed against the ,simurgh4 ,the perusal of it caused them nothing less than death1 but this death was for them the birth into a new life4 ,attar says3 ,by reason of the shame and confusion which these birds experienced1 their bodies became dust1 and their souls were annihilated4 ,when they were entirely purified from all earthly elements1 they all received a new life4 ,all that they had done or omitted to do during their earthly existence passed entirely out of mind4 ,the sun of proximity burnt them1 that is to say1 their former existence was consumed by the sun of the ,divine ,essence which they had approached1 and a ray of this light produced a life which animated them all4 ,at this moment they beheld themselves reflected in the ,simurgh4#di ,when they stole a glance at ,him1 ,he appeared to be the thirty birds themselves2 when they looked at themselves1 they seemed to be the ,simurgh2 and when they looked at both together1 only one ,simurgh appeared4 ,the situation was inexpressible in words4 ,they were all submerged in an ocean of stupefaction1 with all faculties of thought suspended4 ,without moving a tongue1 they interrogated the ,awful ,presence for an explanation of the mystery of apparent identity between the ,divinity and his adorers4 ,then a voice was heard saying1 ',the ,majesty of the ,simurgh is a sun-resembling mirror2 whosoever contemplates ,him beholds his own reflection2 body and soul see in ,him body and soul4 ,as you are thirty birds1 you appear in this mirror as thirty birds2 if forty or fifty birds came here they would see forty or fifty4 ,although you have passed through many changes1 it is yourselves only whom you have seen throughout4 ,can the eye of an ant reach the ,pleiades8 ,then how can your inch of inkling attain to ,us8 ,in all the valleys which you have traversed1 in all the acts of kindness which you have done to others1 it was by ,our impulse alone that you were acting4 ,all this while you have been asleep in the ,valley of the ,essence and the ,attributes4 ,you thirty birds have been unconscious hitherto4 ,the name thirty birds belongs rather to ,us1 who are the veritable ,simurgh4 ,find then in ,us a glorious self-effacement1 in order to find yourselves again in us4' ,so they vanished in ,him for ever1 as the shadow disappears in the sun4 ,while on pilgrimage they conversed2 when they had arrived1 all converse ceased4 ,there was no longer a guide2 there were no longer pilgrims2 the road itself had ceased to be4 ,such is this allegory1 or ,sufi's ,pilgrim's ,progress1 which contains nearly five thousand couplets4 ,attar varies the monotony of the long speeches of the ,hoopoe and the other birds by inserting anecdotes1 of which the following is one of the most striking3-- ,,story ,,of ,,the ,,sheikh ,,sanaan4 ,the ,sheikh ,sanaan was one of the saints of his age2 four or five times he had made the pilgrimage to ,mecca2 his prayers and fasts were countless2 no practice enjoined by the religious law was omitted by him2 he had passed through all the degrees of the spiritual life2 his very breath had a healing influence upon the sick4 ,in joy and in grief1 he was an example for men1 and1 as it were1 a standard lifted up4 ,one night1 to his distress1 he dreamt that he was fated to leave ,mecca 7where he was then residing7 for ,roum 7,asia ,minor71 and there become an idolator4 ,when he awoke1 he said to his disciples1 of whom he had four hundred1 ,my decision is taken2 ,i must go to ,roum in order to have this dream explained4 ,his four hundred disciples accompanied him on the journey4 ,they went from ,mecca to ,roum1 and traversed the country from one end to another4 ,one day1 by chance they saw on an elevated balcony a young and lovely ,christian girl4 ,no sooner had the ,sheikh seen her than he became violently in love1 and seemed to lose all regard for his religious duties4 ,his disciples tried to rouse him out of his perilous state1 but in vain4 ,one said to him1 ,o thou knower of secrets1 rise and perform thy prayers4 ,he replied1 ,my 'mihrab'#ej is the face of my ,beloved2 only thither will ,i direct my prayers4 ,another said1 ,dost thou not repent8 ,dost thou not preserve any regard for ,islam8 ,no one1 he said1 repents more deeply than ,i do for not having been in love before4 ,a third said1 ,anyone with intelligence can see that though thou wast our guide1 thou hast gone astray4 ,he answered1 ,say what you like1 ,i am not ashamed2 ,i break with a stone the vase of hypocrisy4 ,to many similar remonstrances he made similar replies4 ,at last1 finding their efforts of no avail1 his disciples left him4 ,lost in a kind of stupor1 he remained the whole night motionless before the balcony4 ,in the morning the young ,christian came out1 and seeing that he did not got away1 understood that he was in love4 ,he poured out a passionate appeal1 when she would have dismissed him1 and refused to depart4 ,at last she said1 ,if thou art really in earnest1 thou must utterly wash thy hands of ,islam2 thou must bow to idols1#ea burn the ,koran1 drink wine1 and give up thy religious observances4 ,the ,sheikh replied1 ,i will drink wine1 but ,i cannot consent to the three other conditions4 ,she said1 ,rise1 then1 and drink2 when thou hast drunk1 thou mayest1 perchance1 be able4 ,accordingly the ,sheikh drank wine1 and1 having done so1 lost his senses entirely1 complied with her requests1 and became her abject slave4 ,he then said to her1 ,o charming maiden1 what remains to be done8 ,i have drunk wine1 ,i have adored idols2 no one could do more for love than ,i have done4 ,she1 though she began to requite his affection1 wishing still further to prove him1 answered1 ,go1 then1 and feed my swine for a year1 and then we will pass our lives together in joy or in sorrow4 ,so this saint and great ,sheikh consented to keep swine for a year4 ,the news of his apostasy spread all over ,roum1 and his disciples again came to remonstrate with him1 and said1 ,o thou who disregardest religion1 return with us again to the ,kaaba4 ,the ,sheikh answered1 ,my soul is full of sadness2 go whither your desires carry you4 ,as for me1 the ,church is henceforth my place1 and the young ,christian the happiness of my life4 ,he spoke1 and turning his face from his friends1 went back to feed his swine4 ,they wept1 and looked at him wistfully from afar4 ,at last they returned sadly to the ,kaaba4 ,now there was a friend of the ,sheikh1 who happened to have been absent when the ,sheikh left ,mecca4 ,on the arrival of the ,sheikh's disciples1 he questioned them1 and learned all that had happened4 ,he then said1 ,if you are really his friends1 go and pray to ,god night and day for the ,sheikh's conversion4 ,accordingly1 forty days and nights they prayed and fasted1 till their prayers were heard1 and ,god turned the sheikh's heart back again to ,islam4 ,the secrets of divine wisdom1 the ,koran1 the prophecies1 all that he had blotted out of his mind1 came back to his memory1 and at the same time he was delivered from his folly and his misery4 ,when the fire of repentance burns1 it consumes everything4 ,he made his ablutions1 resumed his ,moslem garb1 and departed for ,mecca1 where he and his old disciples embraced with tears of joy4 ,in the meantime the young ,christian saw the ,prophet appearing to her in a dream1 and saying1 ,follow the ,sheikh6 ,adopt his doctrine2 be the dust under his feet4 ,thou who wert the cause of his apostasy1 be pure as he is4 ,when she awoke from her dream1 a strong impulse urged her to seek for him4 ,with a heart full of affection1 though with a feeble body1 she went to seek for the ,sheikh and his disciples4 ,while she was on the way1 an inner voice apprised the ,sheikh of what was passing4 ,this maiden1 it said1 has abandoned infidelity2 she has heard of ,our sacred ,house1#eb she has entered in ,our way2 thou mayest take her now1 and be blameless4 ,forthwith1 the ,sheikh set out on the way towards ,roum to meet her2 his disciples essayed to stop him and said1 ,was thy repentance not real8 ,art thou turning back again to folly8 ,but he told them of the intimation which he had received1 and they set out together till they arrived where the young ,christian was4 ,but they found her prostrate on the ground1 her hair soiled by the dust of the way1 her feet bare1 her garments torn4 ,at this sight tears ran down the ,sheikh's cheeks2 she1 when she saw him1 said1 ,lift the veil that ,i may be instructed1 and teach me ,islam4 ,when this lovely idol had become one of the ,faithful1 they shed tears of joy1 but she was sad2 ,o ,sheikh6 she cried1 my powers are exhausted2 ,i cannot support absence4 ,i am going to leave this dusty and bewildering world4 ,farewell1 ,sheikh ,sanaan1 farewell6 ,i can say no more2 pardon me and oppose me not4 ,so saying1 her soul left the body2 the drop returned to the ocean4 ,other anecdotes which occur in the ,mantiq-ut-tair are the following3-- ,,the ,,angel ,,gabriel ,,and ,,the ,,infidel4 ,one night ,gabriel was near the ,throne1 when he heard ,allah pronouncing words of acquiescence in answer to someone's prayer4 ,a servant of ,god1 said ,gabriel to himself1 is invoking the ,eternal just now2 but who is he8 ,all that ,i can understand is that he must be a saint of surpassing merit1 whose spirit has entirely subdued his flesh4 ,gabriel wished to know who the happy mortal was1 but though he flew over lands and seas1 he did not find him4 ,he hastened to return to the proximity of the ,throne and heard again the same answer given to the same prayers4 ,in his anxiety to know the suppliant1 he again sought for him throughout the world1 but in vain4 ,then he cried1 ,o ,god1 show me the way that conducts to his dwelling4 ,go1 was the answer1 to the country of ,roum2 enter a certain ,christian convent1 and thou shalt find him4 ,gabriel hastened thither1 and saw the man who was the object of the divine favour2 at that very moment he was adoring an idol4 ,then ,gabriel said to ,god1 ,o ,master of the world1 reveal to me this secret2 ,how canst ,thou hear with kindness him who prays to an idol in a convent8 ,god answered him1 ,a veil is upon his heart2 he knows not that he is astray4 ,since he has erred through ignorance1 ,i pardon him1 and grant him access to the highest rank of saints4 ,,the ,,clay ,,of ,,which ,,man ,,is ,,made4 ,one day the ,prophet drank of a stream and found its taste more sweet than rose-water4 ,as he was sitting by the stream1 someone came and filled his clay pitcher from it1 and the ,prophet drank out of that also4 ,to his amazement1 he found the water bitter4 ,o ,god1 he said1 the water of the stream and the water in the pitcher are one2 disclose to me the secret of the difference in their taste4 ,why is the water in the pitcher bitter1 and the other sweet as honey8 ,from the pitcher itself came the answer4 ,i am old2 the clay of which ,i am made has been worked over and over again into a thousand shapes4 ,but in every shape ,i am impregnated with the bitter savour of mortality4 ,it exists in me in such a way that the water which ,i hold cannot be sweet4 ,,the ,,dead ,,criminal4 ,a poor criminal died1 and as they were carrying him to burial1 a devotee who was passing by stood aloof1 saying that funeral prayers should not be said over such an one4 ,the next night1 in a dream1 the devotee saw the criminal in heaven1 with his face shining like the sun4 ,amazed1 he said to him1 ,how hast thou obtained so lofty a place1 thou who hast spent thy life in crime1 and art foul from head to foot8 ,he answered1 ,it is because of thy want of compassion towards me that ,god has shown me mercy1 though so great a sinner4 ,behold the mystery of ,god's love and wisdom4 ,in ,his wisdom1 ,he sends man1 like a child with a lamp1 through the night as black as a raven2 immediately afterwards he commands a furious wind to blow and extinguish the lamp4 ,then ,he asks ,his child why the lamp is blown out4 ,night and day1 ,o my child1 the seven spheres carry on their revolutions for thee4 ,heaven and hell are reflections of thy goodness and of thy wickedness4 ,the angels have all bowed down to thee4#ec ,the part and whole are lost in thy essence4 ,do not1 therefore1 despise thine own self1 for nothing is higher than it4 ,the body is part of the ,whole1 and thy soul is the ,whole4 ,the body is not distinct from the soul1 but is a part of it1 neither is the soul distinct from the ,whole4 ,it is for thee that the time arrives when the rose displays its beauty2 for thee that the clouds pour down the rain of mercy4 ,whatever the angels do1 they have done for thee4 ,,anecdote ,,of ,,bayazid ,,bastami4 ,one night ,sheikh ,bayazid went out of the town1 and found reigning everywhere profound silence4 ,the moon was shining at the full1 making the night as clear as day4 ,the sky was covered with constellations1 each fulfilling its course4 ,the ,sheikh walked on for a long while without hearing the least sound1 and without perceiving anyone4 ,he was deeply moved1 and said1 ,o ,lord1 my heart is pained4 ,why is such a sublime audience-hall as ,thine without throngs of worshippers8 ,cease thy wonder1 an inner voice replied to him4 ,the ,king does not accord access to ,his ,court to everyone4 ,when the sanctuary of ,our splendour is displayed1 the careless and the slumbering are without4 ,those who are to be admitted to this ,court wait whole years1 and then only one in a million enters4 99 99 99 99 99 ,in his latter years1 ,fariduddin ,attar carried his asceticism to such a degree that he gave up composing poetry altogether4 ,the story of his death illustrates in a striking way the indifference to external things cultivated by the ,sufis4 ,during the invasion of ,persia by ,jenghiz ,khan 7#abbi ,a4,d47 when ,attar had reached the great age of #aaj1 he was taken prisoner by the ,mongols4 ,one of them was about to kill him1 when another said1 ,let the old man live2 ,i will give a thousand pieces of silver as his ransom4 ,his captor was about to close with the bargain1 but ,attar said1 ,don't sell me so cheaply2 you will find someone willing to give more4 ,subsequently another man came up and offered a bag of straw for him4 ,sell me to him1 said ,attar1 for that is all ,i am worth4 ,the ,mongol1 irritated at the loss of the first offer1 slew the saint1 who thus found the death he desired4 #dg i4e43 ,the stages of the ,sufi's progress to ,god4 #dh c4f4 ,g4 ,meredith ,out of hundreds who aspire1 ,eighties perish1 nineties tire2 ,those who bear up in spite of wrecks and wracks1 ,were seasoned by celestial blows and thwacks4 #di ,it should be remembered that the name ,simurgh means thirty birds4 #ej ,the niche in the mosque wall facing ,mecca1 towards which ,muhammadans pray4 #ea ,christians are regarded as idolators by ,moslems4 #eb ,the ,kaaba4 #ec ,alluding to the ,koran 7,sura #ah7 where the angels are represented as worshipping ,adam by the command of ,god4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,suhrawardy#ed 7#aaec-aaia ,,ad7 ,very few remains in writing1 except their ,persian poems1 have come down to us from the older ,pantheistic mystics4 ,in the ,kingdom of the ,caliphs heretical books were suppressed by stronger measures than being placed on the ,index4 ,to express views openly at variance with the established religion was to imperil one's life4 ,the ,persian ,sufis1 therefore1 who in their mystical works generally used ,arabic1 veiled their views in a sort of technical language1 which was quite unintelligible to the uninitiated4 ,still some works are preserved which give us an insight into their tendencies4 ,the ,sheikh ,suhrawardy1 who was a martyr to his convictions1 must be regarded as the chief representative of this free-thinking tendency in ,sufism4 ,his works have been more appreciated by the ,persians and ,turks than by the ,arabs1 among whom copies of them are no longer to be found1 while they may be met with in ,turkish libraries4 ,suhrawardy belonged to the orthodox school of the ,shafiites1 and gained a great reputation for his learning4 ,he studied jurisprudence in ,maraghah1 then went to ,ispahan1 and later to ,bagdad and ,aleppo1 where he occupied himself chiefly with philosophical studies4 ,he gave himself the title ,disciple of the ,spirit-world4 ,in the ,arabic biographies of him1 his teaching is said to have aimed at overthrowing ,islam2 this1 however1 is always said of anyone who ventures to oppose the dominant orthodox party4 ,as a matter of fact1 he founded a sect who bore the name ,ishrakiyya--,the ,illumined4 ,for them he composed a work1 ,hikmat al ,ishrak1 i4e41 ,the philosophy of illumination1 containing mystical and fantastic teaching4 ,in ,aleppo1 where he finally took up his abode1 he seems to have exercised a powerful influence on ,prince ,malik ,zahir1 the son of the famous ,saladin4 ,the orthodox party persuaded the latter to pass sentence of death on him as a heretic1 which sentence ,malik ,zahir caused to be carried out 7#aaia ,a4,d471 but not till he had received a threatening letter from his father for his dilatoriness4 ,suhrawardy is said when he heard the sentence1 to have quoted a ,persian verse3 ,it is not worth while to draw the sword4 ,by his own consent1 he was then shut up in a separate chamber and deprived of meat and drink till he passed into the world for which he longed4 ,his tomb is still preserved in ,aleppo1 where the memory of him as the murdered ,suhrawardy has by no means faded4 ,the inhabitants say that no tree or shrub will grow in the tomb-enclosure4 ,his real character has1 for the most part1 been forgotten1 and he is represented as a magician and sorcerer who possessed the philosopher's stone1 and knew how to make gold4 ,many even believe that he was never killed at all1 but disappeared1 while a phantom was put to death in his place4 ,they say that at night weird sounds are heard from his grave4 ,these popular legends give us reason to suppose that ,suhrawardy's life and death in ,aleppo really made an extraordinary impression on the people1 and that his teaching penetrated more deeply than ,muhammedan writers find convenient to admit4 ,suhrawardy's writings were preserved from entire destruction by the ,persians and ,turks4 ,the most important of them are the above-mentioned ,hikmat al ,ishrak1 ,haikal-un-nur 7,the ,temple of ,light7 and others4 ,from the two first a few passages may be quoted1 which suffice to show that the theosophy of this ,persian ,sufi took a much bolder flight than that of the ,arabian ,sufis1 and that for it ,islam was a mere outward form4 ,in the ,hikmat al ,ishrak we find the influences of two entirely different schools of thought fantastically blended into an extraordinary compound of philosophy and mysticism4 ,in this1 ,neo-platonic ideas are brought into connection with a theory of light obviously derived from ,zoroastrian doctrine1 and both are variously modified by the influence of ,islamic monotheism and presented in the abstract terminology of the ,arabic ,sufis4 ,with these last1 ,suhrawardy found himself in harmony with regard to their ecstatic stages and arrival at the knowledge of ,god by way of intuition4 ,he also betrays the influence of the ,perso-,shiite dogma of the hidden spiritual ,imams1 of whom only one is believed to be on earth at any given time1 and he is the highest spiritual and religious authority among his contemporaries4 ,the following is an abridged translation of the preface to the ,hikmat al ,ishrak3 ,long have ye1 ,o worthy friends and companions--may ,god protect you6--prayed me to write for you a book wherein ,i should describe what has been revealed to me by way of inspiration in my lonely contemplations and soul-combats4 ,spiritual science is no class privilege reserved for the elect1 behind whom the doors of the spirit-world are closed1 and thereby he who would learn somewhat of the supernatural is excluded4 ,nay1 ,he who graciously granted us this knowledge1 ,he1 the ,horizon of ,illumination1 is not miserly with the secrets of the other world4 ,the worst of all ages is that in which the carpet of free spiritual investigation is rolled up1 the wings of thought are cramped1 the gates of intuition closed and the road of contemplation barricaded4 ,the world was never wholly without philosophy1 and without someone who cultivated it and was declared a philosopher by manifest proofs and facts4 ,this man is the real ,caliph or representative of ,god on earth1 and his successors will be so1 as long as heaven and earth shall endure4 ,the difference between the old and new philosophers only consists in the variations of their phraseology and of their methods of exposition and proof4 ,all in common acknowledge the three worlds 7the earthly world1 the spirit world1 and the world of ,deity72 all alike are agreed in ,monotheism and in their fundamental principles4 ,as regards the first teacher1 ,aristotle1 it is clear that he is of incomparable value1 that his wisdom is great and his faculty of penetration profound2 yet we should not so exaggerate our reverence for him as to undervalue his masters1 among whom especially are to be counted the travelling and law-giving philosophers1 such as ,agathodmon1 ,hermes1 sculapius and others4 ,the line of their succession is long2 the chief classes into which they may be divided are as follows3 7#a7 ,the ,theosophist without philosophy2 7#b7 the speculative philosopher without theosophy2 7#c7 the philosopher who is equally strong in both2 7#d7 the ,theosophist who is strong in theosophy but mediocre or weak in philosophy2 7#e7 the philosopher who is strong in philosophy but mediocre or weak in theosophy1 etc4 ,now if the complete mastery of both philosophic and theosophic science is found in one man1 this man is the representative of ,god on earth4 ,failing such a person1 the title devolves on him who is complete in theosophy1 though he may be mediocre in philosophy4 ,failing him1 the representative of ,god is he who is complete in theosophy without possessing any philosophy at all4 ,there never fails to be in the world one great theosophist4 ,but the speculative philosopher1 fully equipped in philosophy1 has no claim to the rule in this earth4 ,for there is always a theosophist on earth and he is better fitted for the post than the philosopher1 as the place of ,god's ,vicar on earth cannot remain unoccupied4 ,by this 'rule1' however1 ,i do not mean the possession of political power2 only the ,imam who is also a theosophist may take over the political power and exercise it publicly1 or he may rule in secret4 ,in the latter case he is termed the mystical pole 7qutb72 to him the rule belongs1 even though he live in the deepest poverty4 ,if the political power should really come into his hand1 the age becomes illuminated2 but if it lacks such divine guidance1 it is overwhelmed by darkness4 ,it is nobler to aim at a high attainment at theosophy and philosophy alike than to confine one's effort to one or the other4 ,this book is intended for those who devote themselves to both1 and not to the latter only2 in it we address ourselves only to the untrammelled thinker in the reign of theosophy2 the lowest step which the reader of it should have attained1 if he would derive any benefit therefrom1 is at any rate to have felt a flash of the divine light reach him1 and in some measure to have made it his own4 ,whoever merely wishes to study philosophy1 let him attend the school of the ,peripatetics2 for that purpose it is good and sufficient4 ,just as we form certain sense-perceptions and recognise their conditions with certainty1 and base further scientific investigations upon them1 so in the spiritual realm we form certain perceptions and build upon them2 but he who does not adopt this method1 understands nothing of philosophy4 ,continuing1 he assumes a peculiar theory of light1 which betrays a really ,persian origin4 ,one special light he designates by the old ,persian word ,isfahbad4 ,the ,godhead ,itself he calls the light of lights4 ,in other places he borrows from ,neo-,platonism4 ,he assumes a region in the heavenly spheres where the ideal prototypes of existing things are found4 ,the saints and devout ascetics1 according to him1 have the power to call those ideal prototypes into real existence1 and these can produce at their wish1 food1 figures or melodies1 etc4 ,suhrawardy's optimistic way of conceiving the world is peculiar for a ,moslem4 ,while ,islam regards the world as a vale of tears1 and earthly life as a time of temptation1 he finds the evil in this world much less than the good4 ,the following sentences of his work are noteworthy3 ,know that souls in whom the heavenly illuminations are lasting1 reduce the material world to obedience4 ,their supplication is heard in the ,upper ,world1 and fate has already decreed that the supplication of such a person for such an object should be heard4 ,the light which streams from the highest world is the ,elixir of power and knowledge and the world obeys it4 ,in the purified souls is reproduced a reflex of ,god's light1 and a creative ray is focussed in them4 ,the 'evil eye' is only a light-power1 which influences objects and injures them4 ,soon after ,suhrawardy had been put to death1 nearly the whole of his books were committed to the flames by order to the ,caliph ,nasir4 #ed ,from ,von ,kremer4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,jalaluddin ,,rumi ,jalaluddin ,rumi has been called by ,professor ,eth 7in the ,encyclopdia ,britannica7 the greatest pantheistic writer of all ages4 ,however that may be1 he is certainly the greatest mystical poet of ,persia1 though not so well known in ,europe as ,saadi1 ,hafiz and ,omar ,khayyam4 ,saadi1 ,jalaluddin's contemporary1 seems to have been conscious of this1 for when asked by the ,prince of ,shiraz to send him the finest poem which had been published in ,persia1 he sent an ode from ,jalaluddin's ,diwan4 ,jalaluddin 7the glory of religion7 was born at ,balkh1 in ,central ,asia 7#abjg ,,ad71 where his father1 ,behauddin1 was a professor of theology under the ,sultan ,khwarezm ,shah4 ,his discourses were largely attended by great and small1 but for some reason he seems to have excited the ,sultan's displeasure4 ,he therefore left ,balkh with the whole of his family and dependants1 taking an oath not to return thither while the ,sultan was on the throne4 ,behauddin's way led him to ,nishapur1 where he met the ,sheikh ,fariddudin ,attar1 who1 pointing to ,jalaluddin1 said1 ,take care6 ,this son of yours will light a great flame in the world4 ,attar also presented the boy with his ,asrarnama1 or book of secrets4 ,in every town which they visited the chief men came to see ,behauddin and listened to his teaching4 ,behauddin and his son made the pilgrimage to ,mecca1 after which the former settled at ,konia 7,iconium71 in ,asia ,minor 7,roum71 whence the poet received the title ,rumi4 ,here ,behauddin obtained as great a reputation as he had done at ,balkh1 and on his death ,jalaluddin succeeded him as ,sheikh1 or spiritual instructor4 ,he soon grew tired of the ordinary round of ,mohammedan learning and gave himself up to mysticism4 ,this tendency of his received an additional impulse from the arrival in ,iconium of an extraordinary man1 the fakir ,shams-i-,tabriz1 a disciple of the celebrated ,sheikh ,ruknuddin4 ,one day ,ruknuddin1 when conversing with ,shams-i-,tabriz1 had said to him1 ,in the land of ,roum is a ,sufi who glows with divine love2 thou must go thither and fan this glow to a clear flame4 ,shams-i-,tabriz immediately went to ,iconium4 ,on his arrival he met ,jalaluddin riding on a mule in the midst of a throng of disciples who were escorting him from the lecture hall to his house4 ,he at once intuitively recognised that here was the object of his search and his longing4 ,he therefore went straight up to him and asked1 ,what is the aim of all the teaching that you give1 and all the religious exercises which you practise8 ,the aim of my teaching1 answered ,jalaluddin1 is the regulation of conduct as prescribed by the traditions and the moral and religious law4 ,all this1 answered ,shams-i-,tabriz1 is mere skimming the surface4 ,but what then is under the surface8 asked ,jalaluddin4 ,only complete union of the knower with the known is knowledge1 answered ,shams-i-,tabriz and quoted the following verse of ,hakim ,sanai3-- ,only when knowledge frees thee from thyself1 ,is such knowledge better than ignorance4 ,these words made a most powerful impression on ,jalaluddin1 so that he plied ,shams-i-,tabriz with questions and resorted with him to lonely desert places for uninterrupted converse4 ,this led to a neglect of teaching on his part1 and his pupils and adherents persecuted and ridiculed ,shams-i-,tabriz1 calling him a bare-footed and bare-headed fakir1 who has come hither to lead the pattern of believers astray4 ,their treatment caused ,shams-i-,tabriz to flee to his native city without telling ,jalaluddin4 ,the latter1 however1 overcome by love and longing1 went after him1 found him and persuaded him to return4 ,shams-i-,tabriz did so1 and for some time longer they lived in friendly intercourse together2 but ,jalaluddin's disciples again began to persecute the former1 who departed to ,syria1 where he remained two years4 ,during this interval1 in order to soften the pain of separation1 ,jalaluddin instituted mystical dances1 which he ordered to be accompanied by the flute4 ,this was the beginning of the celebrated order of ,mevlevis1 or dancing dervishes1 which has now existed for over six hundred years1 successively presided over by descendants of ,jalaluddin4 ,their gyrations are intended to symbolise the wheelings of the planets round their central sun and the attraction of the creature to the ,creator4 ,they exist in large numbers in ,turkey1 and to this day the coronation of the ,sultan of ,turkey is not considered complete till he is girded with a sword by the head dervish of the ,mevlevi order4 ,shams-i-,tabriz subsequently returned to ,konia and perished there in a tumult1 the details of which are not known4 ,to commemorate his friend ,jalaluddin composed his ,diwan-i-,shams-i-,tabriz1 putting the latter's name in place of his own as the author4 ,it is a collection of spirited odes setting forth the doctrines of ,sufistic ,pantheism4 ,the following lines on pilgrimage to the ,kaaba afford a good instance of the way in which the ,sufi poets endeavour to spiritualise the rites of ,islam3-- ,beats there a heart within that breast of thine1 ,then compass reverently its sacred shrine3 ,for the essential ,kaaba is the heart1 ,and no proud pile of perishable art4 ,when ,god ordained the pilgrim rite1 that sign ,was meant to lead thy thoughts to things divine2 ,a thousand times he treads that round in vain ,who gives one human heart a needless pain4 ,leave wealth behind2 bring ,god thy heart1 ,whose light ,will guide thy footsteps through the gloomiest night ,god spurns the riches of a thousand coffers1 ,and says1 ',the saint is he his heart who offers2 ,nor gold nor silver seek ,i1 but above ,all gifts the heart1 and buy it with ,my love3 ,yea6 one sad1 contrite heart which men despise ,more than ,my throne and fixed decree ,i prize'2 ,the meanest heart that ever man has spurned ,is a clear glass where ,god may be discerned4 ,the following ode1 translated by the late ,professor ,falconer1 is frankly pantheistic3-- ,i was1 ere a name had been named upon earth1 ,ere one trace yet existed of aught that has birth3 ,when the locks of the ,loved ,one streamed forth for a sign ,and ,being was none1 save the ,presence ,divine4 ,named and name were alike emanations from ,me1 ,ere aught that was ',i' yet existed1 or ',we'2 ,ere the veil of the flesh for ,messiah was wrought1 ,to the ,godhead ,i bowed in prostration of thought2 ,i measured intently1 ,i pondered with heed 7,but1 ah1 fruitless my labour67 the ,cross and its ,creed3 ,to the pagod ,i rushed and the ,magian's shrine1 ,but my eye caught no glimpse of a glory divine2 ,the reins of research to the ,kaaba ,i bent1 ,whither hopefully thronging the old and young went2 ,candahr and ,herat searched ,i wistfully through1 ,nor above nor beneath came the ,loved ,one to view4 ,i toiled to the summit1 wild1 pathless and lone1 ,of the globe-girding ,kf1#ee but the ,anka#ef had flown6 ,the seventh earth ,i traversed1 the seventh heaven explored1 ,but in neither discerned ,i the court of the ,lord4 ,i questioned the ,pen and the ,tablet of ,fate1 ,but they whispered not where ,he pavilions ,his state2 ,my vision ,i strained1 but my ,god-scanning eye ,no trace that to ,godhead belongs could descry4 ,my glance ,i bent inward3 within my own breast ,lo1 the vainly sought elsewhere6 the ,godhead confessed6 ,jalaluddin's chief work1 the ,masnavi1 containing upwards of #bf1jjj couplets1 was undertaken at the instance of one of his disciples and intimates1 ,husam-ud-din1 who had often urged him to put his teaching into a written form4 ,one day when ,husam-ud-din pressed the subject upon him1 ,jalaluddin drew from his turban a paper containing the opening couplets of the ,masnavi1 which are thus translated by ,mr4 ,whinfield3-- ,hearken to the reed flute1 how it discourses1 ,when complaining of the pains of separation3-- ',ever since they tore me from my ozier-bed1 ,my plaintive notes have moved men and women to tears4 ,i burst my breast1 striving to give vent to sighs1 ,and to express the pangs of my yearning for my home4 ,he who abides far away from his home ,is ever longing for the day he shall return2 ,my wailing is heard in every throng1 ,in concert with them that rejoice and them that weep4' ,the reed flute is one of the principal instruments in the melancholy music which accompanies the dancing of the ,mevlevi dervishes4 ,it is a picture of the ,sufi or enlightened man1 whose life is1 or ought to be1 one long lament over his separation from the ,godhead1 for which he yearns till his purified spirit is re-absorbed into the ,supreme ,unity4 ,we are here reminded of the words of ,novalis1 ,philosophy is1 properly speaking1 home sickness2 the wish to be everywhere at home4 ,briefly speaking1 the subject of the ,masnavi may be said to be the love of the soul for ,god as its ,origin1 to ,whom it longs to return1 not the submission of the ordinary pious ,moslem to the iron despotism of ,allah4 ,this thesis is illustrated with an extraordinary wealth of imagery and apologue throughout the six books composing the work4 ,the following fable illustrates the familiar ,sufi doctrine that all religions are the same to ,god1 ,who only regards the heart3-- ,moses1 to his horror1 heard one summer day ,a benighted shepherd blasphemously pray3 ',lord6' he said1 ',i would ,i knew ,thee1 where ,thou art1 ,that for ,thee ,i might perform a servant's part2 ,comb ,thy hair and dust ,thy shoes and sweep ,thy room1 ,bring ,thee every morning milk and honeycomb4' ,moses cried3 ',blasphemer6 curb thy blatant speech6 ,whom art thou addressing8 ,lord of all and each1 ,allah the ,almighty8 ,thinkest thou ,he doth need ,thine officious folly8 ,wilt all bounds exceed8 ,miscreant1 have a care1 lest thunderbolts should break ,on our heads and others perish for thy sake4 ,without eyes ,he seeth1 without ears ,he hears1 ,hath no son nor partner through the endless years1 ,space cannot contain ,him1 time ,he is above1 ,all the limits that ,he knows are ,light and ,love4' ,put to shame1 the shepherd1 his poor garment rent1 ,went away disheartened1 all his ardour spent4 ,then spake ,god to ,moses3 ',why hast thou from ,me ,driven away ,my servant1 who goes heavily8 ,not for severance it was1 but union1 ,i commissioned thee to preach1 ,o hasty one6 ,hatefullest of all things is to ,me divorce1 ,and the worst of all ways is the way of force4 ,i made not creation1 ,self to aggrandize1 ,but that creatures might with ,me communion prize4 ,what though childish tongues trip8 ',tis the heart ,i see1 ,if it really loves ,me in sincerity4 ,blood-stains of the martyrs no ablution need1 ,some mistakes are better than a cautious creed1 ,once within the ,kaaba1#eg wheresoe'er men turn1 ,is it much to ,him ,who spirits doth discern8 ,love's religion comprehends each creed and sect1 ,love flies straight to ,god1 and outsoars intellect4 ,if the gem be real1 what matters the device8 ,love in seas of sorrow finds the pearl of price4' ,a similar lesson is taught by the apologue of the ,elephant in the ,dark3-- ,during the reign of an ,eastern sovereign1 he remarked that the learned men of his time differed widely in their estimate of the ,deity1 each ascribing to ,him different characteristics4 ,so he had an elephant brought in secret to his capital and placed in a dark chamber2 then1 inviting those learned men1 he told them that he was in possession of an animal which none of them had ever seen4 ,he requested them to accompany him to the chamber1 and1 on entering it1 said that the animal was before them1 and asked if they could see it4 ,being answered in the negative1 he begged them to approach and feel it1 which they did1 each touching it in a different part4 ,after returning to the light1 he asked them what they thought the animal was really like4 ,one declared that it was a huge column1 another that it was a rough hide1 a third that it was of ivory1 a fourth that it had huge flaps of some coarse substance2 but not one could correctly state what the animal was4 ,they returned to the chamber1 and when the light was let in1 those learned men beheld for the first time the object of their curiosity1 and learned that1 whilst each was correct in what he had said1 all differed widely from the truth4 ,though a pantheist1 ,jalaluddin lays great stress on the fact of man's sinfulness and frailty and on the personality of the ,devil1 as in the following lines3-- ,many a net the ,devil spreads1 weaving snare on snare1 ,we1 like foolish birds1 are caught captive unaware2 ,from one net no sooner free1 straightway in another ,we are tangled1 fresh defeats aspirations smother2 ,till upon the ground we lie1 helpless as a stone1 ,we1 who might have gained the sky1 we1 who might have flown4 ,when we seek to house our grain1 pile a goodly store1 ,pride1 a hidden mouse1 is there nibbling evermore2 ,till upon the harvest day1 lo1 no golden heap1 ,but a mildewed mass of chaff maggots overcreep4 ,many a brilliant spark is born where the hammers ply1 ,but a lurking thief is there2 prompt1 with finger sly1 ,spark on spark he puts them out1 sparks which might have soared ,perish underneath his touch4 ,help us then1 ,o ,lord6 ,what with gin and trap and snare1 pitfall and device1 ,how shall we poor sinners reach ,thy fair paradise8 ,again1 in contradiction to logical pantheism ,jalaluddin lays stress on man's free-will and responsibility1 as in the following illustration3-- ,on the frontier set1 the warden of a fort1 ,far from his monarch and his monarch's court1 ,holds the fort1 let foemen bluster as they may1 ,nor for fear or favour will his trust betray2 ,far from his monarch1 on the empire's edge1 ,he1 with his master1 keeps unbroken pledge2 ,surely then his lord his worth will higher own1 ,than their prompt obedience who surround his throne2 ,in the ,master's absence a little work done well ,weighs more than a great one when his eyes compel2 ,now is the time to show who faith and trust will keep1 ,once probation over1 faith and trust are cheap4 ,however much individual ,sufis may have fallen into ,antinomianism and acted as if there was no essential difference between good and evil1 the great ,sufi teachers have always enjoined self-mortification1 quoting the saying1 ,die before you die4 ,this dying is divided by them into three kinds3 black death 7suffering oppression from others71 red death 7mortifying the flesh71 and white death 7suffering hunger74 ,jalaluddin illustrates this by the following parable3-- ,a merchant from ,india a parrot had brought1 ,and pent in a narrow cage1 sorrow-distraught ,with longing for freedom4 ,one day the good man ,determined to try with his wares ,hindustan2 ,so he said to his parrot1 ',what gift shall ,i bring ,from the land you were born in--what curious thing8' ,the parrot replied1 ',there are kinsfolk of mine ,flying blithe in those woods1 for whose freedom ,i pine2 7,oh1 the green woods of ,india674 ,go1 tell them my state-- ,a captive in grip of implacable fate-- ,and say1 ,is it justice that ,i should despair ,while you1 where you list1 can flash swift through the air1 ,can peck at the pineapples1 bathe in the springs1 ,and spread in the sunlight your green-gleaming wings8 ,his message the man took1 and made his word good ,when he came where the parrots flew free in the wood2 ,but no sooner the message was given than one ,like lead to the earth fell as dead as a stone4 ,the merchant upbraided himself1 ',it is clear ,this parrot of mine was a relative dear1 ,and the shock has been fatal2 myself am to blame4' ,when his journey was finished and homeward he came1 ,his parrot inquired1 ',hast brought me a crumb ,of comfort in sorrow where1 caged1 ,i sit dumb8' ,the merchant said1 ',no2 'twas a pity you sent1 ,for the message you gave proved of fatal content2 ,as soon as ,i gave it one shuddered and fell ,stone-dead1 as if struck by some magical spell4' ,no sooner that bird's fate it heard1 than his own ,on the floor of its cage fell as dead as a stone4 ',alas6' cried the merchant1 'my own bird ,i've killed-- ,my own pretty parrot1 so ,allah has willed6' ,sadly out from the cage the dead body he drew1 ,when1 to his amazement1 straight upwards it flew ,and perched on a tree4 ',lo6 the message1' he said1 ',my friend sent--,die thou1 as ,i make myself dead1 ,and by dying win freedom4 ,farewell1 master dear1 ,i caught the plain hint with intelligence clear4 ,thyself reckon dead1 and then thou shalt fly ,free1 free1 from the prison of earth to the sky6 ,spring may come1 but on granite will grow no green thing2 ,it was barren in winter1 'tis barren in spring2 ,and granite man's heart is1 till grace intervene1 ,and1 crushing it1 clothe the long barren with green4 ,when the fresh breath of ,jesus shall touch the heart's core1 ,it will live1 it will breathe1 it will blossom once more4' ,the last couplet is a good illustration of the different ways in which ,christ is regarded by the ,sufi poets and by ,mohammed in the ,koran4 ,in the latter1 it is true1 ,he is acknowledged as the ,word of ,god and the ,spirit of ,god1 but ,his work among men is done1 having been entirely superseded by the coming of ,mohammed1 the last and greatest of the prophets4 ,jalaluddin on the other hand1 as in the above couplet1 speaks of ,christ as still exercising healing influences4 ,elsewhere he says1 referring to the ,gospel narrative of ,christ's entry into ,jerusalem 7not mentioned in the ,koran71 and taking the ass as the symbol of the body pampered by the sensualist3-- ,you deserted ,jesus1 a mere ass to feed1 ,in a crowd of asses you would take the lead2 ,those who follow ,jesus1 win to wisdom's ranks2 ,those who fatten asses get a kick for thanks4 ,pity keep for ,jesus1 pity not the ass1 ,let not fleshly impulse intellect surpass4 ,if an ass could somewhat catch of ,jesus' mind1 ,classed among the sages he himself would find2 ,though because of ,jesus you may suffer woe1 ,still from ,him comes healing1 never let ,him go4 ,in another place1 speaking of the importance of controlling the tongue because of the general sensitiveness of human nature1 he says3-- ,in each human spirit is a ,christ concealed1 ,to be helped or hindered1 to be hurt or healed2 ,if from any human soul you lift the veil ,you will find a ,christ there hidden without fail2 ,woe1 then1 to blind tyrants whose vindictive ire1 ,venting words of fury1 sets the world on fire4 ,but though he speaks with reverence of ,christ1 he shares the common ,mohammedan animus against ,st4 ,paul4 ,as a matter of fact ,st4 ,paul is rarely mentioned in ,mohammedan writings1 but ,jalaluddin spent most of his life at ,iconium1 where1 probably1 owing to the tenacity of ,oriental tradition1 traces of ,st4 ,paul's teaching lingered4 ,in the first book of the ,masnavi a curious story is told of an early corrupter of ,christianity who wrote letters containing contradictory doctrines to the various leaders of their ,church1 and brought the religion into confusion4 ,in this case ,jalaluddin seems to have neglected the importance of distinguishing between second-hand opinion and first-hand knowledge1 on which he elsewhere lays stress3-- ,knowledge hath two wings1 ,opinion hath but one1 ,and opinion soon fails in its orphan flight2 ,the bird with one wing soon droops its head and falls1 ,but give it two wings and it gains its desire4 ,the bird of ,opinion flies1 rising and falling1 ,on its wing in vain hope of its rest2 ,but when it escapes from ,opinion and ,knowledge receives it1 ,it gains its two wings and spreads them wide to heaven2 ,on its two wings it flies like ,gabriel ,without doubt or conjecture1 and without speech or voice4 ,though the whole world should shout beneath it1 ',thou art in the road to ,god and the perfect faith1' ,it would not become warmer at their speech1 ,and its lonely soul would not mate with theirs2 ,and though they should shout to it1 ',thou hast lost thy way2 ,and thinkest thyself a mountain and art but a leaf1' ,it would not lose its convictions from their censure1 ,nor vex its bosom with their loud reproof2 ,and though sea and land should join in concert1 ,exclaiming1 ',o wanderer1 thou hast lost thy road6' ,not an atom of doubt would fall into its soul1 ,nor a shade of sorrow at the scorner's scorn4 7,professor ,cowell's translation47 ,like all quietists1 ,jalaluddin dwells on the importance of keeping the mind unclouded by anger and resentment1 as in the following little parable3-- ,one day a lion1 looking down a well1 ,saw what appeared to him a miracle1 ,another lion's face that upward glared ,as if the first to try his strength he dared4 ,furious1 the lion took a sudden leap ,and o'er him closed the placid waters deep4 ,thou who dost blame injustice in mankind1 ',tis but the image of thine own dark mind2 ,in them reflected clear thy nature is ,with all its angles and obliquities4 ,around thyself thyself the noose hast thrown1 ,like that mad beast precipitate and prone2 ,face answereth to face1 and heart to heart1 ,as in the well that lion's counterpart4 ',back to each other we reflections throw1' ,so spake ,arabia's ,prophet long ago2 ,and he1 who views men through self's murky glass1 ,proclaims himself no lion1 but an ass4 ,as ,ghazzali had done before him1 ,jalaluddin sees in the phenomena of sleep a picture of the state of mind which should be cultivated by the true ,sufi1 dead to this world and alive to ,god3-- ,every night1 ,o ,god1 from the net of the body ,thou releasest our souls and makest them like blank tablets2 ,every night thou releasest them from their cages ,and settest them free3 none is master or slave4 ,at night the prisoners forget their prisons1 ,at night the monarchs forget their wealth3 ,no sorrow1 no care1 no profit1 no loss1 ,no thought or fear of this man or that4 ,such is the state of the ,sufi in this world1 ,like the seven sleepers#eh he sleeps open-eyed1 ,dead to worldly affairs1 day and night1 ,like a pen held in the hand of his ,lord4 --7,professor ,cowell47 ,as we have seen1 ,jalaluddin's conception of ,god is a far higher one than is embodied in the orthodox formula of the ,koran1 ,say3 ,god is ,one4 ,he neither begetteth nor is begotten4 ,with ,jalaluddin ,god is far more immanent than transcendent4 ,in one place he says1 ,he who beholdeth ,god is godlike1 and in another1 ,our attributes are copies of ,his attributes4 ,in a remarkable passage anticipating the theory of ,evolution he portrays man ascending through the various stages of existence back to his ,origin3-- ,from the inorganic we developed into the vegetable kingdom1 ,dying from the vegetable we rose to animal1 ,and leaving the animal1 we became man4 ,then what fear that death will lower us8 ,the next transition will make us an angel1 ,then shall we rise from angels and merge in the ,nameless1 ,all existence proclaims1 ,unto ,him shall we return4 ,elsewhere he says3-- ,soul becomes pregnant by the ,soul of souls ,and brings forth ,christ2 ,not that ,christ ,who walked on land and sea1 ,but that ,christ ,who is above space4 ,the work of man in this world is to polish his soul from the rust of concupiscence and self-love1 till1 like a clear mirror1 it reflects ,god4 ,to this end he must bear patiently the discipline appointed3-- ,if thou takest offence at every rub1 ,how wilt thou become a polished mirror8 ,he must choose a pir1 or spiritual guide who may represent the ,unseen ,god for him2 this guide he must obey and imitate not from slavish compulsion1 but from an inward and spontaneous attraction1 for though it may be logically inconsistent with ,pantheism1 ,jalaluddin is a thorough believer in free-will4 ,love is the keynote of all his teaching1 and without free-will love is impossible4 ,alluding to the ancient oriental belief that jewels are formed by the long-continued action of the sun on common stones1 he says3-- ,for as a stone1 so ,sufi legends run1 ,wooed by unwearied patience of the sun ,piercing its dense opacity1 has grown ,from a mere pebble to a precious stone1 ,its flintiness impermeable and crass ,turned crystalline to let the sunlight pass2 ,so hearts long years impassive and opaque ,whom terror could not crush nor sorrow break1 ,yielding at last to love's refining ray ,transforming and transmuting1 day by day1 ,from dull grown clear1 from earthly grown divine1 ,flash back to ,god the light that made them shine4 ,jalaluddin did not live to finish the ,masnavi1 which breaks off abruptly near the end of the sixth book4 ,he died in #abgb1 seven years after ,dante's birth4 ,his last charge to his disciples was as follows3-- ,i bid you fear ,god openly and in secret1 guard against excess in eating1 drinking and speech2 keep aloof from evil companionship2 be diligent in fasts and self-renunciation and bear wrongs patiently4 ,the best man is he who helps his fellow-men1 and the best speech is a brief one which leads to knowledge4 ,praise be to ,god alone6 ,he is buried at ,iconium1 and his tomb1 like those of all ,mohammedan saints1 in a greater or lesser degree1 is a centre of pilgrimage4 ,the reverence with which he is regarded is expressed in the saying current among ,moslems3-- ,paigumbar nest1 wali darad ,kitab 7,he is not a prophet1 but he has a book7 #ee ,the mountain which encircles the world4 #ef ,the ,eastern ,phoenix4 #eg ,all ,mohammedans pray towards the ,kaaba4 #eh ,koran1 c4 #ah4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,sharani1 ,,the ,,egyptian 7,,ad #aeej7 ,one of the last representatives of the mystical school of ,islam is ,sharani1 who wrote in the middle of the sixteenth century4 ,in his time ,egypt had just been conquered by the ,turks1 whose military despotism took the place of the feudal anarchy which had prevailed under the ,mameluke sultans4 ,the supremacy of ,islam was not affected by the change1 the ,turks being as sincere ,moslems as the ,arabs4 ,the administration of the country was centralised in the hands of a ,pasha1 who resided at ,cairo as governor-general4 ,as elsewhere in the ,muhammadan world1 the most powerful class was that of the ,ulema1 or learned men4 ,the generous gifts which the ,sultan showered upon them and the privileged position he allowed them quickly reconciled them to the new regime4 ,but there was another numerous body1 who1 though deprived of the substantial advantages which the ,ulema enjoyed1 had1 however1 with the masses a prestige almost as great4 ,these were the ,sufis4 ,poor and humble1 they were lost in the crowd1 whence they drew their origin1 and whose miseries they shared4 ,a smouldering animosity existed between these ,essenes of ,islam and the ,ulema1 who corresponded to the ,pharisees4 ,these last claimed to be the exclusive depositaries of religious knowledge and divine wisdom2 they administered justice and monopolised benefices4 ,the doctrine of the ,sufis was in diametrical opposition to this4 ,in their eyes the knowledge derived from books and theological science was far inferior to the inner perception of the supernatural1 the mystic intuition to which they claimed to attain in their religious ecstacies4 ,they regarded the theosophist as far superior in every respect to the theologian4 ,besides this1 they considered the different sects of ,islam as equally good1 and attached no importance to any of the formalities of the ceremonial law1 the strict observation of which was considered by the orthodox as binding on every good ,moslem4 ,thus1 the reading of the ,koran1 with rhythmical intonation1 as practised in every mosque1 had in their eyes no value4 ,to adore ,god with a pure heart1 according to them1 was infinitely more important than all outward observances4 ,such ideas could not be acceptable to the ,ulemas1 who saw the absolute authority in religious matters slipping from their hands4 ,only a moderate power of perception was needed to understand what dangers for the official hierarchy lurked in the ideas of these enthusiasts who claimed to derive divine wisdom from a source so different to that of which the ,ulemas believed themselves to be the sole dispensers4 ,it is true that ,arab mysticism had never taken such a bold flight as ,persian theosophy1 which proclaimed openly a ,pantheistic system1 in which the authority of the books revealed to different prophets was displaced by a poetic belief4 ,according to this faith1 the universe was an emanation of ,god1 the human soul a spark of the ,divine ,essence gone astray in this transitory world1 but destined to return finally to ,god1 after having been purified of its earthly stains4 ,the ,arab ,sufis did not go so far2 for them the ,koran was always the ,word of ,god1 and ,muhammed was ,his prophet4 ,they conformed externally to the precepts of ,islam1 but claimed at the same time to understand ,god and ,his law better than the theologians1 and that not by the study of large volumes of exegesis and traditions1 but by celestial inspiration4 ,the orthodox mullahs understood the danger1 and did not conceal their growing irritation against these audacious heretics4 ,the government and the great majority of ,moslems were on the side of the ,ulema1 but the mystics found sympathy among the people1 and their ideas spread with incredible rapidity4 ,in the eleventh century1 a man of great ability1 of whom the ,muhammadans are justly proud1 made a vigorous effort to reconcile orthodox ,islam with the ,sufi doctrines current in his time4 ,this man was ,ghazzali4 ,he consecrated the labour of a lifetime to this task1 and his chief work1 ,the ,revival of the ,religious ,sciences1 is a veritable encyclopdia of ,islam4 ,he did not work in vain1 but succeeded in erecting a system in which dogmatic theology is cleverly combined with the theosophy of the ,arab school of mysticism4 ,but ,islam such as ,ghazzali conceived it is no longer that of ancient times4 ,another order of ideas has been insensibly substituted for the austere creed of the ,prophet of ,mecca1 the very foundations of which they have undermined4 ,muhammad's religious edifice remains standing1 its framework and external outlines are the same2 but the spirit which informs it is profoundly different4 ,arab mysticism has succeeded in finding a footing in the official circles of the ,moslem hierarchy4 ,the reconciliation1 however1 of the mystics with the theologians was only apparent1 and could not be otherwise4 ,at the bottom of the question there were two incompatible principles4 ,for the theologians the letter of the ,koran and written tradition contained all religious knowledge4 ,for the mystics the dead letter was nothing1 and the inspiration of their own hearts was the sole source of all knowledge4 ,of these two principles1 one subordinates reason to tradition and tends to the almost complete abdication of thought in favour of absolute faith2 the other results in enthroning imagination1 spiritual hallucination and mystic ecstacy4 ,the first confines religion to too narrow limits2 the second robs it of all palpable substance and positive form1 and makes it as vague and intangible as the clouds4 ,egypt has always been a soil favourable to the development of mystic tendencies4 ,christian asceticism took early root there1 and during the first centuries of our era thousands of anchorites inhabited the deserts of the ,thebaid1 and carried on there religious exercises of extreme austerity4 ,we do not know what secret connection may exist between the climate of the valley of the ,nile and the character of its inhabitants1 but if the ,arab chroniclers deserve any credit1 ,arab mysticism originated in this country4 ,the celebrated theosophist ,zu'l ,noun is known as the first who introduced into ,islam visions and mystic ecstacies4 ,some centuries later the famous poet ,omar ,ibn ,faridh saw the light at ,cairo1 and since then ,egypt has produced a long series of ,muhammadan ascetics more or less famous4 ,sharani is one of the last of this theosophic school of ,egypt1 the doctrines of which he expounds in his numerous works4 ,we do not know if the impression he made on his contemporaries was as great as the zeal with which he pleads the cause of mysticism1 but up to the present day his memory is religiously preserved at ,cairo1 where a mosque still bears his name4 ,the natives revere his memory as that of a saint4 ,he himself informs us that the publication of his work entitled ,al bahr al ,maurud gave rise to serious disturbances at ,cairo4 ,in this work ,sharani expounds the duties of the true ,sufi1 the perfect theosophist1 and at the same time in very energetic language he exposes the defects and weakness of the ,muhammadan society of his day4 ,his most virulent attacks are naturally directed against the ,ulema1 as in the following extract3 ,we ,sufis have entered into an engagement never to allow one of our body to have recourse to intrigues to obtain employment such as those practised by self-styled doctors of the law4 ,the endeavour to obtain such a post is all the more contemptible when it has belonged to a person recently deceased who has left sons or brothers or when it is already occupied by a poor man who has no protector or support in the world4 ,such acts of injustice1 however1 are often committed by the so-called ,ulema4 ,the plot to supplant men of merit1 with the aim of obtaining for themselves lucrative posts1 which they straightway dispose of for money to incompetent individuals4 ,often one man occupies more than one office1 e4g41 that of preacher in mosques so far apart that it is impossible for him to attend to both properly2 in which case he puts in a deputy-preacher 7sometimes he does not even do that7 and pays him part of the emolument of the post1 pocketing the rest4 ,we have also entered into an engagement to rise before our superiors when they appear1 and to kiss their hands even when they are unjust4 ,we do this with the ,ulema1 although they do not act in a manner conformable to the science which they profess4 ,in speaking of the ,christians and the ,jews1 he praises their demeanour1 in order to censure all the more sharply the pretensions of the ,ulema4 ,see1 he says1 how modestly they conduct themselves towards the meanest subordinates1 and you will see that their manners and demeanour are more noble and worthy of imitation than those of the ,ulema4 ,they are not angry if people do not make room for them when they enter a public assembly2 and if they are offered to drink water which has been sullied by the hands of children1 slaves or beggars1 they do not change countenance1 but on the contrary consider themselves as the last of men4 ,when they are allowed to sit down in an assembly they look upon it as a favour4 ,they take their places with heads bent1 praying ,god to cover their faults with the veil of his clemency1 and not to expose them to the scorn of others4 ,these are the distinctive qualities of the truly learned2 for if learning does not increase the modesty of him who has it1 it is good for nothing4 ,these extracts make it sufficiently plain with what courage the daring theosophist censured the most influential class of ,moslem society in his day4 ,sharani reproaches the ,ulema1 with their ambition1 their cupidity1 their pride1 their hypocrisy1 and he advises them to confine themselves in their sermons simply to dwelling on the precepts of the moral law and to abstain from speaking of the recompenses and punishments of the future life1 since the destiny of souls after death depends on ,god1 and not on them4 ,as a natural consequence of these ideas1 ,sharani goes on to inveigh against the ,turkish ,government1 which1 wishing to create for itself a support in the powerful class of the ,ulema1 made them great concessions1 and by doing so annoyed their antagonists the ,sufis4 ,thus ,sharani does not hesitate to say that since a4d4 #aeag real learning had ceased to exist1 that being the date of the conquest of ,egypt by the ,sultan ,selim4 ,the lot of the ,egyptian fellahin or peasants has never been an enviable one4 ,successive ,roman and ,arab dominations brought no change favourable to them4 ,under the ,mamelukes1 when the country was parcelled out among petty feudal lords ruling over their domains with absolute authority1 the condition of the peasants was one of extreme wretchedness4 ,sharani finds that in his time the state of the agricultural class was worse than formerly4 ,in past times1 he says1 when a peasant died1 there was often found in the corner of his house a jar1 a pot or other vessel filled with pieces of gold4 ,it was what the poor man had saved from his harvests after having paid his taxes and the daily expenses of his family and his guests4 ,but in our day1 in order to pay his taxes1 the peasant is often obliged to sell the produce of his land1 the ox with which he ploughs1 and the cow which gives him milk4 ,if part of his tax is unpaid he is taken to prison1 and often his wife and children accompany him thither4 ,often the ,kashif or governor disposes of the hand of his daughter without consulting him1 and her dowry is kept back to pay the arrears of his tax4 ,it sometimes happens that the tax charged upon him is not really due from him at all1 but from his fellow-villagers who have gone away to avoid molestation4 ,elsewhere he says1 ,we ,sufis have entered into an engagement not to buy merchandises1 gardens or water-wheels1 for in our time the taxes on these are so heavy that no one can afford to possess them4 ,let him who listens not to our counsel and acquires such property1 blame himself if he has to undergo all kinds of humiliations2 if1 in order that the ,government may pay for naval expeditions1 it demands of him in advance a year's taxes on his houses1 his merchandise or his lands4 ,then he will say with a sigh1 ',how happy are they who possess nothing4' ,it is not difficult to see in these passages a profound dissatisfaction1 not only with the ruling class1 but with the ,government itself4 ,notwithstanding this1 ,sharani enjoins his disciples to respect the temporal authority and to submit to the laws4 ,passive obedience has always characterised the ,oriental4 ,we do not know precisely whether ,sharani had in view a veritable reform of ,muhammadan society4 ,probably the contrary4 ,he felt deeply the general uneasiness of the time2 he understood that ,islam was entering a period of decadence1 but he had1 as far as we can see1 no clear plan for its regeneration4 ,mysticism1 in which he was such a fervent adept1 here hindered him4 ,but this mystical tendency1 which was in one respect his weakness1 was his glory in another4 ,a tone of high moral purity marks his utterances on the social and religious state of his time1 and1 led rather by instinct than by philosophical considerations1 he hits the blot on ,muhammadan society--polygamy4 ,we may judge by the following extract3 ,we ,sufis have entered into an engagement to espouse only one wife1 and not to associate others with her4 ,the man who has only one wife is happy2 his means are sufficient to support his home2 but as soon as he takes a second wife1 the prosperity of his house decreases1 and when he opens his money-box he finds it empty4 ,a pure-hearted wife is a great happiness in the house4 ,oh1 how often while ,i was weaving#ei have ,i stolen a glance at my wife1 the mother of my son ,abdurahman1 sewing garments for the poor4 ,i understood then that ,i had happiness in my house4 ,often she opened her larder which sufficed us for whole months1 and distributed the contents to the poor1 who quickly emptied it4 ,may ,god be merciful to her4 ,as a religious reformer1 ,sharani endeavoured to restore ,islam to its primitive unity4 ,many sects existed in it from the earliest times#fj four of which preserved the title of orthodox4 ,sharani sought to unite these sects on a common basis1 and numerous passages in his writings attest that this idea remained with him all his life4 ,his efforts apparently had no success1 but for those who have faith in the power of ideas1 it is certain that ,sharani has not lived nor laboured in vain4 ,in the ,east1 reforming ideas do not make way so quickly as in ,europe1 but their effect is none the less great when they come to the front4 ,few details of ,sharani's life are known4 ,he informs us that he belonged to the order of the ,shadiliyah dervishes1 and that his instructor in mysticism was the ,egyptian ,sufi1 ,ali ,khawass4 ,he died at ,cairo1 ,a4,d4 #aefe4 #ei ,sharani was a weaver by trade4 #fj ,they are generally reckoned at #gc4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,mullah ,,shah 7,d #affa7 ,mullah ,shah was born ,a4,d4 #aehd1 in the village of ,erkesa in ,badakshan1 a mountainous and inaccessible country to the north of the ,indian ,caucasus4 ,his family1 which was of ,mongol origin1 held a certain position1 and his grandfather had been judge of the village4 ,at the age of twenty-one the young man quitted his relatives and his country1 and went back to ,balkh1 then a centre of learning in ,central ,asia4 ,he made great progress there1 especially in the knowledge of ,arabic4 ,after some time he left ,balkh1 and turning his steps southward1 arrived at ,kashmir1 where he continued his studies1 but an irresistible thirst after truth made him feel the necessity of seeking a spiritual guide1 and he resolved to go to ,lahore1 where there lived a celebrated saint1 ,sheikh ,mian ,mir4 ,the reception he met with was not favourable4 ,mian ,mir at first repulsed him1 but allowed himself at last to be overcome by the perseverance of the young man1 and taught him ,sufi exercises according to the rule of the ,qadiri order of dervishes4#fa ,the stifling heat of ,lahore did not suit the health of ,mullah ,shah1 who accordingly resolved to spend the summers in ,kashmir1 returning to ,lahore for the winter4 ,he led this life for several years1 till he had passed through all the stages of asceticism1 but his spiritual guide would not lead him to the supreme goal of mystical science1 which is termed ,union with ,god1 or knowledge of oneself4#fb ,mian ,mir only spoke to him of it in an enigmatic way and said1 ,do not cease to study thyself and thine own heart1 for thy goal is in thyself4 ,in the year #afcf ,a4,d4 he returned again1 as usual1 from ,lahore to ,kashmir1 and practised his austerities without relaxation1 when one day1 by the special favour of the ,divinity1 and without the assistance of any spiritual preceptor1 the desired image revealed itself to him4 ,by this expression is understood1 in mystic phraseology1 union with ,god1 and the conception of ,absolute ,being1 which is equivalent to the knowledge of one's self4 ,when ,mullah ,shah thus attained the goal of his mystical aspirations he was in his forty-seventh year1 and had been engaged twenty-seven years in the spiritual exercises of the ,sufis4 ,when he returned to ,lahore1 he informed his spiritual guide that he had attained union with ,god4 ,the latter advised him not to divulge the fact1 and not to give up his ascetic practices4 ,in ,kashmir ,mullah ,shah had collected round him a little circle of devoted disciples4 ,the strong emotional condition into which ,mullah ,shah's new spiritual experience had brought him did not prevent him from doing his best not to offend against the religious law1 and he was in the habit of saying to his friends1 ,whoso does not respect the precepts of the religious law is not one of us4 ,mullah ,shah had always been of a retiring disposition1 but in his present mood he carried his self-isolation so far that he closed the door of his house and only received his intimates at fixed times1 when he dropped his habitual reserve4 ,the spiritual power of ,mullah ,shah had become so great that every novice whom he caused to sit in front of him and to concentrate his mental faculties on his own heart1 became clairvoyant to such a degree that his internal senses were unfolded1 and the unseen world appeared to him4 ,mullah ,shah expressed himself in very bold terms regarding the manner with which he conceived ,god and ,his relation to humanity4 ,thus he said1 ,since ,i have arrived at understanding the absolute ,reality and that ,i know most positively that nothing exists besides ,god1 existence and non-existence are in my eyes the same thing4 ,in one of his poems he says1 ,the sage who knows himself has become ,god1 be sure of that1 my friend4 ,in another poem1 which caused a temporary estrangement between himself and the ,sheikh ,mian ,mir1 he said3 ,my heart by a thousand tongues cries to me ',i am ,god4' ,what reproach of heresy can they bring against me that this utterance comes to my lips8 ,those who had attained union with ,god used to say1 ',i am ,absolute ,being4' ,but ,i only say what ,i have heard from the mouth of ,sheikh ,mian ,mir4 ,in the meantime the number of his adherents daily increased2 persons of all classes in society became his adherents2 even women became capable of mystical intuitions by the effect of his prayers and without having seen him4 ,however1 the increasing number of those who wished to approach him commenced to be inconvenient1 and he said1 ,i am not a sheikh of dervishes who receives novices and builds convents4 ,neither the mosque nor the dervish-convent attract me1 ,but the purity of the desert and the freedom of the open country4 ,in the year #afcd ,a4,d41 a certain ,mir ,baki1 a descendant of the prophet1 attached himself to ,mullah ,shah1 and experienced in a short time ecstatic states2 he then preached the doctrine of union with ,god without any reserve4 ,at the same time he claimed to be free from the precepts of the religious law4 ,the following lines were composed by him3-- ,why should my hand let go this sparkling cup of my soul1 ,i already realise the aspirations of to-morrow4 ,which lines1 rendered into prose1 seem to mean1 ,why should ,i pass my life sadly on in self-maceration and austerity8 ,i prefer to anticipate now the delights which they speak of as belonging to the future life4 ,this is epicureanism1 pure and simple1 such as we find it in the odes of ,hafiz and the ,quatrains of ,omar ,khayyam4 ,when ,mullah ,shah heard of these extravagant utterances1 he caused ,mir ,baki to be expelled from the town4 ,at the same time the doctrines of ,mullah ,shah regarding union with ,god began to make a great deal of sensation1 and a large number of influential men who belonged to the ,conservative party raised against him the accusation of heresy without really understanding his teaching4 ,they quoted some of his verses against him1 and said1 ,mullah ,shah is beginning to imitate ,mansur ,hellaj4#fc ,he should be brought to trial and sentenced to death4 ,they unanimously drew up an indictment against him and affixed their seals2 a large number of religious functionaries joined them1 and they submitted their petition to the ,emperor ,shah-jehan1 requesting him to pronounce sentence of death against ,mullah ,shah4 ,the ,emperor consented1 and despatched a firman to that effect to ,zafer-,khan1 governor of ,kashmir4 ,shah-jehan's son1 the prince ,dara-,shikoh1 had been absent1 and only learned what had happened when he returned4 ,he immediately went to his father and represented to him that ,mullah ,shah was a pupil of ,sheikh ,mian ,mir1 a man renowned for piety1 and that the ,emperor ought1 before pronouncing final judgment1 to ask the latter regarding the conduct of his former disciple4 ,the prince concluded by saying that in such a matter haste was ill-omened1 because to deprive a man of life is to pull down a building of which ,god is the ,architect4 ,the ,emperor accepted this appeal graciously1 and ordered the execution to be deferred4 ,meanwhile the news of the condemnation of ,mullah ,shah had spread and reached ,kashmir1 but the respite obtained by the ,prince was still unknown there4 ,the friends of ,mullah ,shah were in despair1 and used their utmost endeavours to persuade him to fly4 ,but he answered1 ,i am not an impostor that ,i should seek safety in flight2 ,i am an utterer of truth2 death and life are to me alike4 ,let my blood in another life also redden the impaling stake4 ,i am living and eternal2 death recoils from me1 for my knowledge has vanquished death4 ,the sphere where all colours are effaced has become my abode4 ,once1 he added1 ,i used to bar the door of my house with a bolt in order not to be disturbed by anyone1 but now ,i will leave it wide open1 in order that whoever wishes to make me a martyr may enter at his pleasure4 ,mullah ,shah thus awaited death in an attitude of imperturbable calm1 but fate had decided otherwise4 ,not long afterwards the ,emperor ,shah-jehan went to ,lahore1 and in the company of ,prince ,dara-,shikoh paid a visit to the ,sheikh ,mian ,mir1 and questioned him concerning ,mullah ,shah4 ,mian ,mir told him that ,mullah ,shah was apt to be carried out of himself when in an ecstatic state1 and that then he sometimes spoke without observing the reserve necessary on the doctrine of union with ,god2 but he adjured the ,emperor at the same time to take no steps against his old pupil1 ,for1 he said1 this holy man is a consuming fire1 and woe to you if he be irritated1 for he could destroy the world4 ,in any case prevent the orthodox party from persecuting him1 otherwise some dreadful disaster may happen4 ,this advice made a deep impression on the ,emperor1 who thanked ,prince ,dara-,shikoh for having prevented his carrying out the sentence of death4 ,he said1 ,these theologians have tried to persuade me to kill a visionary dervish2 ,i thank thee1 my son1 for having prevented my committing an act of injustice4 ,some time afterwards the ,emperor went to ,kashmir1 but he did not see ,mullah ,shah1 who had become so fond of solitude that he rarely showed himself in the city4 ,in #afce ,a4,d41 the ,sheikh ,mian ,mir died at ,lahore1 and in the same year one of the chief nobles of the court named ,najat ,khan became a disciple of ,mullah ,shah4 ,about the same time1 ,mozaffer ,beg1 one of the ,emperor's suite1 devoted himself to his service1 and his example was followed by several of his friends4 ,but no sooner had they been initiated into the mystical doctrines than they believed themselves privileged to dispense with the prescribed fast of ,ramazan and the obligatory prayers1 considering that the religious law no longer applied to them4 ,being informed of these irregularities1 ,mullah ,shah prayed the governor to have them removed from the town4 ,about this time he made a collection of his verses1 among which are the following3-- ,if alchemy can change dust into gold1 thou marvellest2 ,but asceticism is an alchemy which changes dust into ,god4 ,if a man dives into the ocean of ,deity what does he become8 ,as a drop which falls from the clouds into the sea4 ,regarding pedantic theologians1 he says3-- ,well ,i know these preachers who do not practise1 ,their memory stored with a hundred thousand traditions1 ,while their mind is empty of ideas4 ,in #afci the ,emperor ,shah-jehan came a second time to ,kashmir1 and took up his dwelling in the park called ,zafer-abad1 in a pavilion which commanded a delightful view of the lake4 ,no sooner had he arrived than he sent for ,mullah ,shah1 who came without delay4 ,the ,emperor received him with marked kindness and conversed long with him on subjects relating to the ,sufi sciences4 ,this same year is remarkable for an event which had important results for ,mullah ,shah and his followers4 ,the ,prince ,dara-,shikoh1 who had saved ,mullah ,shah's life by his intervention1 had always been marked by keen religious feeling1 and often spent whole nights in prayer and meditation4 ,he had often heard of the extraordinary powers of ,mullah ,shah1 but had never had the opportunity of seeing him1 as the sheikh still maintained his habits of retirement4 ,little by little1 a feeling of irresistible curiosity took possession of the ,prince2 he determined to see the holy man who was so highly spoken of1 and one night1 accompanied by a single servant named ,mujahid1 he left his palace and directed his steps towards the dwelling of ,mullah ,shah4 ,the latter had in his courtyard an ancient plane-tree1 and was in the habit of sitting at the foot of it during the night1 lost in meditation4 ,having arrived at the house1 the prince ordered his servant to wait near the door1 and entered the courtyard alone4 ,seeing the ,sheikh seated at the foot of the tree1 he stopped and remained standing till the master should speak to him4 ,the latter knew very well who the new-comer was1 and that little persuasion was needed to make him one of his disciples2 but he made as though he did not see him4 ,a long time passed thus1 till the ,sheikh broke the silence by asking the ,prince ,who art thou8 ,the ,prince did not speak4 ,mullah ,shah then said again1 ,why dost thou not answer8 ,speak1 and tell thy name4 ,the ,prince1 filled with embarrassment1 replied1 ,my name is ,dara-,shikoh4 ,who is thy father8 ,the ,emperor ,shah-jehan1 ,why hast thou come to see me8 ,because ,i feel drawn towards ,god1 and seek for a spiritual guide4 ,on this ,mullah ,shah exclaimed sharply1 ,what are emperors and princes to me8 ,know that ,i am a man devoted to asceticism4 ,is this hour of the night the time to come and trouble me8 ,go1 and do not show thyself here a second time4 ,deeply wounded by this reception1 the ,prince withdrew and re-entered his palace1 where he spent the whole night weeping4 ,but in spite of all his disappointment1 he felt himself drawn the next night by an irresistible attraction towards the saint's dwelling1 but the latter this time did not even condescend to speak to him4 ,mujahid1 the servant who accompanied the ,prince1 became angry1 and said to his master1 ,what miracles has this crabbed dervish shown you that you should come here every night and expose yourself to such indignities8 ,ordinary dervishes are cheerful folk1 not uncivil and morose like this old man4 ,for my own part1 ,i set no great store by this asceticism1 and the only thing that makes me uneasy is your putting faith in it4 ,the ,prince answered1 ,if ,mullah ,shah was an impostor1 so far from treating me as he has done1 he would1 on the contrary1 have prayed ,god to bring me to him4 ,it is precisely his independent spirit and irritated manner which proves him to be an extraordinary man4 ,that same night when ,mujahid returned home1 he was seized by fever and carried off in a few hours4 ,dara-,shikoh1 when informed of this terrible event1 was profoundly moved4 ,he reproached himself bitterly for not having at once punished his servant's insolence1 and considered the death of ,mujahid as a divine punishment which menaced him also4 ,he immediately sent for the ,qazi ,afzal1 one of his most devoted friends1 and told him of his anxiety4 ,the latter was a friend of ,akhund ,mullah ,muhammad ,synd1 a disciple of ,mullah ,shah1 and at his instance the ,sheikh consented to see the prince4 ,dara-,shikoh could not pay his visit during the day1 from fear of arousing public curiosity1 but as soon as night fell1 he presented himself before the ,sheikh1 whom this time he found seated in his cell4 ,before crossing the threshold1 the ,prince saluted the holy man with profound respect1 and the latter bade him enter and be seated4 ,the cell was lighted by a single lamp1 whose wick was smoking2 in his eager desire to discern the venerable features of the ,sheikh1 the ,prince dressed the wick with his own fingers4 ,this simple action gained him the ,sheikh's affection4 ,at the end of some days he bade him to blindfold himself1 then he concentrated his attention upon him in such a way that the invisible world was revealed to the view of the ,prince1 who felt his heart filled with joy4 ,dara-,shikoh had a sister1 the ,princess ,fatimah1 to whom he was deeply attached4 ,as soon as he had become a disciple of ,mullah ,shah and his heart had been opened to the intuition of the spiritual world1 he hastened to inform his sister4 ,this news made such an impression on the mind of the ,princess that she wrote to the ,sheikh several letters full of humility and devotion4 ,he read them all1 but made no reply for more than a month1 till he was convinced that ,fatimah was animated by an invincible resolution4 ,at last he accorded his sympathy to her also1 and admitted her to the circle of the initiates4 ,the ,princess persevered ardently in these mystical studies1 and received the instructions of her spiritual guide by correspondence4 ,she attained to such perfection that she arrived at intuitive knowledge of ,god and union with ,him4 ,although the ,sheikh was full of affection for all his disciples1 he had a particular regard for her1 and was in the habit of saying that she had attained to such an extraordinary degree of knowledge that she was fit to be his successor4 ,mullah ,shah was now old and infirm2 he had passed several winters at ,lahore1 surrounded by the care and attention of his friends and pupils4 ,in the year #afee ,a4,d41 the ,emperor wrote to him to invite him to pass the winter with him at ,shahjahanabad1 his ordinary residence1 but the ,sheikh was beginning to suffer from weakness of the eyes1 and did not feel strong enough to undertake the journey4 ,for some years he remained in ,kashmir1 and would often say1 ,the theosophist ought to profit by length of life4 ,my life is approaching its end2 let us then enjoy our stay in ,kashmir1 and not leave it4 ,in ,a4,d4 #afeh ,aurangzeb1 ,dara-,shikoh's younger brother1 seized on the person of his father the ,emperor ,shah-jehan1 whom he kept in confinement for the rest of his life1 and had ,dara assassinated in prison4 ,aurangzeb was a bigoted ,muhammadan1 and his accession to the throne threatened to have serious consequences for ,mullah ,shah4 ,as soon as he had assumed the reins of government1 the clerical party began to represent to him that ,mullah ,shah taught doctrines contrary to revealed religion4 ,there were not wanting witnesses on the other side1 but the ,emperor1 on hearing the complaints against ,mullah ,shah1 sent an order to the governor of ,kashmir to send him to the capital4 ,the governor pleaded for a delay on account of ,mullah ,shah's advanced age and weakness till he was strong enough to make the journey4 ,a year thus passed by2 some verses which ,mullah ,shah composed in honour of ,aurangzeb made a favourable impression on the ,emperor1 and the ,princess ,fatimah having interceded on behalf of her old teacher1 ,aurangzeb revoked his first order1 and merely enjoined him to take up his residence at ,lahore as soon as possible4 ,it was not till #affj ,a4,d4 that ,mullah ,shah could obey this order2 he left ,kashmir at the beginning of winter and came to ,lahore1 where he continued to live a retired life1 only granting interviews to a few chosen disciples4 ,but when from time to time he had an access of mystical emotion he would speak of union with ,god without any reserve1 in a loud voice1 and without noticing who was present4 ,one of his friends said to him one day1 ,we live in a strange time1 and people are disquieted by your discourses on this matter2 it would be more prudent to expound your doctrines with a little more reserve4 ,the ,sheikh answered him1 ,up to the present ,i have never been afraid for my life2 books containing such doctrine are known to all1 and everyone has read them4 ,what precautions1 then1 at my time of life1 ought ,i to observe8 ,i cannot abandon or change my habits of thinking and speaking now4 ,some of his other sayings reported at this time show that he had already a presentiment of his approaching death4 ,kabil ,khan1 one of his friends1 said to him one day1 ,formerly our sovereign ,aurangzeb loved to listen to discourses on the subject of mysticism1 and ,i have often had the honour of reading before him passages from the ,masnavi of ,jalaluddin ,rumi4#fd ,the ,emperor was often so touched by them that he shed tears2 certainly when he comes to ,lahore he will wish to see you4 ,no1 replied ,mullah ,shah2 we shall never see him3 ',the night is great with child1 see what it will bring forth4' ,in #affa he had an attack of fever which lasted about fifteen days4 ,that year fever became epidemic at ,lahore1 and on the #aath of the month of ,safar ,mullah ,shah had another attack1 which carried him off on the night of the #aeth of the same month4 ,he was buried in a plot of ground which he had already acquired for the purpose4 ,the ,princess ,fatimah bought the surrounding land1 and erected a shrine of red stone over his tomb4 ,the foregoing sketch of ,mullah ,shah gives a general view of oriental spiritualism as it prevailed two and a half centuries ago over a great part of ,asia4 ,the first point worthy of notice in it is the immense popularity of mystical ideas at that time1 and the wide influence which they exercised over all minds4 ,round ,mullah ,shah gathered persons of every condition2 poor peasants as well as princes were seized with the same enthusiasm for his doctrines2 the same ascetic training produced the same results in the most varying temperaments4 ,the ,master seems to have exercised a kind of magnetic influence over his neophytes4 ,he fixes his gaze upon them for a longer or shorter time1 till their inward senses open and render them capable of seeing the wonders of the spiritual world4 ,all the accounts are unanimous in this respect1 and they carry such a stamp of sincerity that their veracity is indisputable4 ,we are then obliged to admit that at this period many minds shared a predisposition to religious ecstacy and enthusiasm4 ,under the apparent stagnation of the ,east1 there is continually going on a collision between two opposing forces--the official hierarchy of the ,ulema1 conservative to the core1 and mysticism in its early phases1 pietistic and enthusiastic1 but gradually tending to scepticism1 and finally to pantheism and the negation of all positive religion4 ,the ,mussalman hierarchy1 which in its own interests desired to maintain the prestige of dogma and of the revealed law1 combatted this tendency to mysticism1 but1 as we have seen1 without success4 ,the orthodox mullahs made fruitless efforts to obtain the condemnation of ,mullah ,shah1 who had on his side the members of the imperial family of ,delhi and the ,emperor himself1 all more or less imbued with mystical ideas4 ,the biography of ,mullah ,shah also throws a great deal of light on the fundamental ideas of oriental mysticism4 ,they spring from a pantheistic philosophy in many respects1 startlingly resembling those of modern times4 ,mullah ,shah often insists that individual existence counts for nothing1 and that nothing in reality exists outside of ,god1 the ,absolute ,being2 every particular life dissolves in this universal unity1 life and death are mere changes in the form of existence4 ,the individual is only in some way a part of the ,infinite ,being who fills the universe2 a particle which has been momentarily detached therefrom1 only to return thither4 ,to know oneself is therefore the equivalent of knowing ,god4 ,but in order to acquire this knowledge the pupil must submit to long and painful self-discipline2 he must pass through all the tests of the severest asceticism2 only after he has thus prepared himself will the spiritual master open his heart and render him capable of perceiving the mysteries of the spiritual world4 ,but this great secret must not be divulged2 it is only permissable to speak of it to the initiate1 as ,mullah ,shah says1 in the following verses3-- ,we must say that only ,one exists1 ,though such a saying excite astonishment2 ,the universe is ,he1 though we must not say so openly1 ,such doctrines must be kept secret4 ,this ,eastern ,pantheism does not lack a certain grandeur1 but it has also a dangerous side1 and tends to atheism and materialism4 ,of this some instances occur in the life of ,mullah ,shah4 ,the passage from pantheism to epicureanism is not a long one4 ,if the human soul only possesses a transient individuality1 and after death is merged like a drop in the ocean of divinity1 why1 many will argue1 not have done with asceticism for good1 and enjoy the pleasures of existence as long as possible during the little while our individuality endures8 ,thus ,omar ,khayyam says3-- ,ah1 make the most of what we yet may spend1 ,before we too into the dust descend1 ,dust into dust1 and under dust to lie1 ,sans wine1 sans song1 sans singer1 and--sans end4 ,it is precisely this dangerous side of oriental philosophy which has unhappily attained a much greater development and an incomparably more complete success than the elevated moral systems of the chief theosophists of ,persia4 ,a mocking cynicism has been1 up to modern times1 a common characteristic of the great majority of ,sufis and dervishes4 ,the dangerous consequences of theosophical ideas and of oriental spiritualism in general became at an early date so apparent that ,ghazzali1 although a fervent partisan of ,sufism1 did not hesitate to avow that if these doctrines were generally accepted society would necessarily fall into a state of anarchy4 ,in face of the wild aberrations caused by ,sufism1 we should not grudge all the greater credit to the few distinguished men who1 although adherents of ,sufism and dominated by its doctrines1 kept their characters clear of stain4 ,in spite of their conviction that there was no individual life after death1 these men spent their lives in mortification of the senses and in abstinence1 and often braved death with a truly ,roman stoicism4 ,such shining characters are not of frequent occurrence in oriental history2 but certainly ,mullah ,shah is one and ,prince ,dara-,shikoh another4 ,in a path strewn with pitfalls he kept a name without stain and without reproach1 thanks to the austere moral principles instilled into him by his master4 ,he faced death with calm resignation1 and knew how to die as a prince and as a philosopher4 ,,note4--,prince ,dara-,shikoh has left a curious fragment of spiritual autobiography in his preface to a ,persian translation of the ,upanishads or chapters from the ,vedas which he had caused to be translated from ,sanskrit4 ,it is indeed strange to see this son of a ,muhammadan ,emperor ranking these selections from the ,vedas above the ,koran1 the ,pentateuch1 ,psalms and ,gospels1 all of which he says he had read4 ,the ,preface runs as follows3-- ,when ,dara-,shikoh1 the resigned worshipper of ,god1 visited ,kashmir in the year of the ,hegira #ajej 7,a4,d4 #afdj71 by the blessing of the ,most ,high he met with ,mullah ,shah1 the chief of the learned1 the teacher of teachers1 versed in the subtleties of ,tauhid 7,unity72 may he be joined with ,god6 ,as that prince already relished the pleasure of seeing the learning of each sect1 had perused various treaties of the ,sufi philosophers1 and even composed some himself1 the thirst of exploring the doctrine of the ,unity 7which is a boundless ocean7 daily increased1 and his mind attained a degree of acuteness and subtlety which would have been impossible without the immediate assistance and favour of the ,divine will4 ,now the sacred ,koran1 being frequently obscure1 and few at this day being found capable of explaining it1 he determined to read all inspired works2 that the word of ,god might furnish a commentary on itself1 and what is concisely expressed in one book might be elucidated by a reference to others2 the abridged being the more diffuse4 ,with this view he perused the ,pentateuch1 the ,gospels and the ,psalms1 but the unity of ,god was obscurely and enigmatically expressed in these works2 nor did he derive more instruction from the simple translations of hired linguists4 ,he next desired to ascertain how it happened that in ,hindustan the ,unity of ,god is the frequent theme of discourse1 and that the ancient philosophers of ,india neither denied nor objected to the doctrine of the ,divine ,unity1 but on the contrary held it as an axiom4 ,unlike the ignorant race of the present day who set up for philosophers1 though they have fallen into the track of bloodshed and infidelity1 denying the attributes and unity of ,god1 and contradicting the proofs of that doctrine derived from the ,koran and authentic traditions2 these may be considered as banditti on the path of ,god4 ,in the cause of this inquiry it was discovered that amongst the ,hindus1 four inspired books were held peculiarly sacred1 viz43 the ,rig ,veda1 the ,jajur ,veda1 the ,sam ,veda and ,atharva ,veda1 which had descended from the skies to the prophets of those times1 of whom ,adam 7purified by ,god2 may blessings attend him67 was the chief1 containing rules and precepts2 and this doctrine 7viz43 the ,unity of ,god7 is clearly expressed in those books4 ,as the object of this explorer of truth 7,dara-,shikoh7 was not the acquisition of languages1 whether ,arabic1 ,syriac or ,sanskrit1 but the proofs of the ,unity of the ,supreme ,being1 he determined that the ,upanishads 7which might be considered as a treasure of ,unitarianism7 should be translated into ,persian without adding or expunging1 and without bias or partiality1 but correctly and literally that it might appear what mysteries are contained in those books which the ,hindus so carefully conceal from ,moslems4 ,as the city of ,benares1 which is the seat of ,hindu science1 was a dependency of this explorer of truth 7,dara-,shikoh71 having assembled the ,pundits and ,sanyasis who are the expounders of the ,vedas and ,upanishads1 he caused a translation to be made of the latter into ,persian4 ,this was completed in the year of the ,hegira1 #ajfg1 ,a4,d41 #afef4 ,every difficulty was elucidated by this ancient compilation1 which1 without doubt1 is the first of inspired works1 the fountain of truth1 the ,sea of the ,unity2 not only consentaneous with the ,koran1 but a commentary on it4 #fa ,founded by ,abdul ,qadir ,gilani4 #fb ,according to the reported saying of ,muhammad1 ,he who knows himself1 knows ,god4 #fc ,chapter #e4 #fd ,the great mystic poet of ,persia 7,a4,d4 #abjg-abgb74 ,,appendix ,i ,,mohammedan ,,conversions ,by ,mohammedan ,conversion is not here meant conversion from ,christianity to ,mohammedanism1 or vice versa1 but those spiritual crises which take place within ,mohammedanism1 as within ,christianity1 by which the soul is stung as with a regenerating shudder to use ,george ,eliot's phrase1 to rise from a notional to a real belief in ,god4 ,mohammedan theologians are as aware of this distinction as ,christian ones4 ,thus ,al ,ghazzali1 in his ,revival of the ,religious ,sciences1 is very sarcastic on the indulgence in the common expletive1 ,we take refuge in ,god1 by ,mohammedans without attaching any real meaning to it4 ,he says3 ,if you see a lion coming towards you1 and there is a fort close by1 you do not stand exclaiming1 ',i take refuge in this fort6' but you get into it4 ,similarly1 when you hear of the wrath to come1 do not merely say1 ',i take refuge in ,god1' but take refuge in ,him4 ,this transformation of a notional into a real belief has proved the crisis in the lives of many of the saints and mystics of ,islam1 without1 as far as it appears1 any contact on their part with ,christianity4 ,thus1 ,ibn ,khalliqan1 in his great ,biographical ,dictionary1 tells of ,al-,fudail1 a celebrated highwayman1 who1 one night1 while he was on his way to an immoral assignation1 was arrested by the voice of a ,koran-reader chanting the verse1 ,is not the time yet come unto those who believe1 that their hearts should humbly submit to the admonition of ,god8 ,on this he exclaimed1 ,o ,lord6 that time is come4 ,he then went away from that place1 and the approach of night induced him to repair for shelter to a ruined edifice4 ,he there found a band of travellers1 one of whom said to the others1 ,let us set out2 but another answered1 ,let us rather wait till daylight1 for ,al-,fudail is on the road1 and will stop us4 ,al-,fudail then turned his heart to ,god1 and assured them that they had nothing to fear4 ,for the rest of his life he lived as an ascetic1 and ranked among the greatest saints4 ,one of his recorded sayings is1 ,if the world with all it contains were offered to me1 even on the condition of my not being taken to account for it1 ,i would shun it as you would shun a carrion1 lest it should defile your clothes4 ,another striking conversion is that of ,ibrahim ,ben ,adham1 ,prince of ,khorassan4 ,he was passionately addicted to the chase1 and one day when so employed heard a voice behind him exclaiming1 ,o ,ibrahim1 thou wast not born for this4 ,at first he took it for a delusion of ,satan1 but on hearing the same words pronounced more loudly exclaimed1 ,it is the ,lord who speaks2 ,his servant will obey4 ,immediately he desisted from his amusement1 and1 changing clothes with an attendant1 bade adieu to ,khorassan1 took the road towards ,syria1 and from thenceforth devoted himself entirely to a life of piety and labour4 ,a third example is that of ,ghazzali himself1 who1 in his work ,the ,deliverance from ,error1 has left one of the very few specimens of ,eastern religious autobiography1 and one bearing a certain resemblance to ,newman's ,apologia4 ,he was professor of theology at the ,university of ,bagdad in the eleventh century4 ,in his autobiography he says3 ,reflecting upon my situation1 ,i found myself bound to this world by a thousand ties2 temptations assailed me on all sides4 ,i then examined my actions4 ,the best were those relating to instruction and education2 and even there ,i saw myself given up to unimportant sciences1 all useless in another world4 ,reflecting on the aim of my teaching1 ,i found it was not pure in the sight of the ,lord4 ,i saw that all my efforts were directed towards the acquisition of glory to myself4 ,after this1 as he was one day about to lecture1 his tongue refused utterance2 he was dumb4 ,he looked upon this as a visitation from ,god1 and was deeply afflicted at it4 ,he became seriously ill1 and the physicians said his recovery was hopeless unless he could shake off his depression4 ,then1 he continues1 feeling my helplessness1 ,i had recourse to ,god1 as one who has no other recourse in his distress4 ,he compassionated me as ,he compassionates the unhappy who invoke ,him4 ,my heart no longer made any resistance1 but willingly renounced the glories and the pleasures of this world4 ,we may close this short list with the name of the ,sufi poet1 ,ferid-eddin-,attar4 ,he was a druggist by trade1 and one day was startled by one of the half-mad fakirs1 who swarm in ,oriental cities1 pensively gazing at him while his eyes slowly filled with tears4 ,ferid-eddin angrily ordered him to go about his business4 ,sir1 replied the fakir1 that is easily done2 for my baggage is light4 ,but would it not be wise for you to commence preparations for your journey8 ,the words struck home1 ,ferid-eddin abandoned his business1 and devoted the rest of his life to meditation and collecting the sayings of the wise4 ,these four cases1 the highwayman1 the prince1 the theologian1 the poet1 are sufficient to show that the ,recognition 7anagnorisis7 and ,revolution 7peripeteia71 to use ,aristotle's phrase1 which turns life from a chaotic dream into a well-ordered drama1 of which ,god is the ,protagonist1 may receive as signal though not as frequent illustration in the territory of ,islam as in that of ,christianity4 ,they also serve to illustrate ,professor ,w4 ,james' thesis in his ,gifford ,lectures1 that conversion1 whether ,christian or extra-,christian1 is a psychological fact1 and not a mere emotional illusion4 ,,appendix ,,ii ,a ,,mohammedan ,,exposition ,,of ,,sufism ,,by ,,ibn ,,khaldoun ,sufism consists essentially in giving up oneself constantly to devotional exercises1 in living solely for ,god1 in abandoning all the frivolous attractions of the world1 in disregarding the ordinary aims of men--pleasures1 riches and honours--and finally in separating oneself from society for the sake of practising devotion to ,god4 ,this way of life was extremely common among the companions of the ,prophet and the early ,moslems4 ,but when in the second century of ,islam and the succeeding centuries the desire for worldly wealth had spread1 and ordinary men allowed themselves to be drawn into the current of a dissipated and worldly life1 the persons who gave themselves up to piety were distinguished by the name of ,sufis1 or aspirants to ,sufism4 ,the most probable derivation is from suf 7wool71 for1 as a rule1 ,sufis wear woollen garments to distinguish themselves from the crowd1 who love gaudy attire4 ,for an intelligent being possessed of a body1 thought is the joint product of the perception of events which happen from without1 and of the emotions to which they give rise within1 and is that quality which distinguishes man from animals4 ,these emotions proceed one from another2 just as knowledge is born of arguments1 joy and sadness spring from the perception of that which causes grief or pleasure4 ,similarly with the disciple of the spiritual life in the warfare which he wages with himself1 and in his devotional exercises4 ,every struggle which he has with his passions produces in him a state resulting from this struggle4 ,this state is either a disposition to piety which1 strengthening by repetition1 becomes for him a station 7maqam71 or merely an emotion which he undergoes1 such as joy1 merriment1 c4 ,the disciple of the spiritual life continues to rise from one station to another1 till he arrives at the knowledge of the ,divine ,unity and of ,god1 the necessary condition for obtaining felicity1 conformably to the saying of the ,prophet3 ,whosoever dies while confessing that there is no god but ,god1 shall enter ,paradise4 ,progress through these different stages is gradual4 ,they have as their common foundation obedience and sincerity of intention2 faith precedes and accompanies them1 and from them proceed the emotions and qualities1 the transient and permanent modifications of the soul2 these emotions and qualities go on producing others in a perpetual progression which finally arrives at the station of the knowledge of the ,unity of ,god4 ,the disciple of the spiritual life needs to demand an account of his soul in all its actions1 and to keep an attentive eye on the most hidden recesses of his heart2 for actions must necessarily produce results1 and whatever evil is in results betokens a corresponding evil in actions4 ,there are but a few persons who imitate the ,sufis in this practice of self-examination1 for negligence and indifference in this respect are almost universal4 ,pious men who have not risen to this class 7the mystics7 only aim at fulfilling the works commanded by the law in all the completeness laid down by the science of jurisprudence4 ,but the mystics examine scrupulously the results of these works1 the effects and impressions which they produce upon the soul4 ,for this purpose they use whatever rays of divine illumination may have reached them while in a state of ecstacy1 with the object of assuring themselves whether their actions are exempt or not from some defect4 ,the essence of their system is this practice of obliging the soul often to render an account of its actions and of what it has left undone4 ,it also consists in the development of those gifts of discrimination and ecstacy which are born out of struggles with natural inclinations1 and which then become for the disciple stations of progress4 ,the ,sufis possess some rules of conduct peculiar to themselves1 and make use of certain technical expressions4 ,of these ,ghazzali has treated in ,ihya-ul-ulum 7,revival of the ,religious ,sciences74 ,he speaks of the laws regulating devotion1 he explains the rules and customs of the ,sufis and the technical terms which they use4 ,thus the system of the ,sufis1 which was at first only a special way of carrying on worship1 and the laws of which were only handed on by example and tradition1 was methodised and reduced to writing1 like the exegesis of the ,koran1 the ,traditions1 ,jurisprudence1 and so forth4 ,this spiritual combat and this habit of meditation are usually followed by a lifting of the veils of sense1 and by the perception of certain worlds which form part of the things of ,god 7knowledge of which ,he has reserved for ,himself74 ,the sensual man can have no perception of such things4 ,disentanglement from the things of sense and consequent perception of invisible things takes place when the spirit1 giving up the uses of exterior senses1 only uses interior ones2 in this state the emotions proceeding from the former grow feebler1 while those which proceed from the spirit grow stronger2 the spirit dominates1 and its vigour is renewed4 ,now1 the practice of meditation contributes materially to this result4 ,it is the nourishment by which the spirit grows4 ,such growth continues till what was the knowledge of ,one absent becomes the consciousness of ,one present1 and the veils of sense being lifted1 the soul enjoys the fullness of the faculties which belong to it in virtue of its essence1 i4e41 perception4 ,on this plane it becomes capable of receiving divine grace and knowledge granted by the ,deity4 ,finally its nature as regards the real knowledge of things as they are1 approaches the loftiest heaven of angelic beings4 ,this disentanglement from things of sense takes place oftenest in men who practise the spiritual combat1 and thus they arrive at a perception of the real nature of things such as is impossible to any beside themselves4 ,similarly1 they often know of events before they arrive2 and by the power of their prayers and their spiritual force1 they hold sway over inferior beings who are obliged to obey them4 ,the greatest of the mystics do not boast of this disentanglement from things of sense and this rule over inferior creatures2 unless they have received an order to do so1 they reveal nothing of what they have learnt of the real nature of things4 ,these supernatural workings are painful1 and when they experience them they ask ,god for deliverance4 ,the companions of the ,prophet also practised this spiritual warfare2 like the mystics1 they were overwhelmed with these tokens of divine favour such as the power to walk on the water1 to pass through fire without being burnt1 to receive their food in miraculous ways1 but they did not attach great importance to them4 ,abu-bekr1 ,omar1 and ,ali were distinguished by a great number of these supernatural gifts1 and their manner of viewing them was followed by the mystics who succeeded them4 ,but among the moderns there are men who have set great store by obtaining this disentanglement from things of sense1 and by speaking of the mysteries discovered when this veil is removed4 ,to reach this goal they have had recourse to different methods of asceticism1 in which the intellectual soul is nourished by meditation to the utmost of its capacity1 and enjoys in its fullness the faculty of perception which constitutes its essence4 ,according to them1 when a man has arrived at this point1 his perception comprehends all existence and the real nature of things without a veil1 from the throne of ,god to the smallest drops of rain4 ,ghazzali describes the ascetic practices which are necessary to arrive at this state4 ,this condition of disentanglement from the things of sense is only held to be perfect when it springs from right dispositions4 ,for there are1 as a matter of fact1 persons who profess to live in retirement and to fast without possessing right dispositions2 such are sorcerers1 ,christians1 and others who practise ascetic exercises4 ,we may illustrate this by the image of a well-polished mirror4 ,according as its surface is convex or concave1 the object reflected in it is distorted from its real shape2 if1 on the contrary1 the mirror has a plane surface1 the object is reflected exactly as it is4 ,now1 what a plane surface is for the mirror1 a right disposition is for the soul1 as regards the impressions it receives from without4 ,,appendix ,,iii ,,christian ,,elements ,,in ,,mohammedan ,,literature ,the almost miraculous renaissance in ,islam which is now proceeding in ,turkey and other ,mohammedan countries reminds one forcibly of ,dante's lines3 ,for ,i have seen ,the thorn frown rudely all the winter long1 ,and after bear the rose upon its top4 ,paradiso1 xiii4 #acc4 ,it is not perhaps fanciful to conjecture that one of the hidden causes of this renaissance is the large quantity of ,christian truth which ,islam literature holds1 so to speak1 in solution4 ,it is a well-known fact that the ,koran has borrowed largely from the ,old ,testament and the ,apocryphal ,gospels1 but it is not so generally known that ,mohammedan philosophers1 theologians1 and poets betray an acquaintance with facts and incidents of the ,gospels of which the ,koran contains no mention4 ,leaving the ,koran on one side1 in the ,traditions1 i4e41 sayings of ,mohammed handed down by tradition1 we find ,god represented as saying at the ,judgment1 ,o ye sons of men1 ,i was hungry and ye gave ,me no food1 the whole of the passage in ,matt4 xxv4 being quoted4 ,this is remarkable1 as it strikes directly at the orthodox ,mohammedan conception of ,god as an impassible despot4 ,other sayings attributed to ,god which have a ,christian ring are1 ,i was a hidden ,treasure and desired to be known1 therefore ,i created the world2 ,if it were not for ,thee1 ,i would not have made the world 7addressed to ,mohammed71 evidently an echo of ,col4 ,i4 #ag1 ,all things have been created through ,him and unto ,him 7,r4,v474 ,the writer has often heard this last saying quoted by ,indian ,mohammedans in controversy4 ,another traditional saying attributed to ,mohammed is not unlike the doctrine of the ,holy ,spirit3 ,verily from your ,lord come breathings4 ,be ye prepared for them4 ,the ,second ,advent is also referred to in others3 ,how will it be with you when ,god sends ,jesus to judge you8 ,there is no ,mahdi but ,jesus4 ,it is a well-known fact that a certain gate in ,jerusalem is kept walled up because the ,mohammedans believe that ,jesus will pass through it when ,he returns4 ,some traditions have twisted ,gospel parables1 c41 in favour of ,mohammedanism4 ,thus in the mention of the parable of the hired labourers1 the first two sets of labourers are said to mean ,jews and ,christians1 and the last comers1 who receive an equal wage1 though grumbled at by the others1 are believed to indicate the ,mohammedans4 ,other traditions give one of ,christ's sayings a grotesquely literal dress4 ,thus our ,lord is said to have met a fox1 and to have said1 ,fox6 where art thou going8 ,the fox replied1 to his home4 ,upon which our ,lord uttered the verse1 ,foxes have holes1 c4 ,once when entering an ,afghan village the writer was met by a ,pathan1 who asked if the ,new ,testament contained that verse4 ,this shows how even garbled traditions may predispose the ,mohammedan mind for the study of the ,gospels4 ,tabari1 the historian 7d4 #ibc ,a4,d471 gives an account of the ,last ,supper and of ,christ washing the disciples' hands 7sic7--topics entirely ignored by the ,koran--and quotes the saying of our ,lord regarding the smiting of the ,shepherd and the scattering of the sheep4 ,sufi literature1 representing as it does the mystical side of ,islam1 abounds with allusions to ,scripture4 ,al ,ghazzali1 the great opponent of ,averroes 7#ajeh-aaaa ,a4,d471 in his ,ihya-ul-ulum 7,revival of the ,religious ,sciences7 quotes the saying of ,christ regarding the children playing in the market-place4 ,in his ,kimiya-i-,saadat 7,alchemy of ,happiness7 he writes1 ,it is said that ,jesus ,christ in a vision saw this world in the form of an old woman1 and asked how many husbands she had lived with4 ,she said they were innumerable4 ,he asked her if they had died1 or had divorced her4 ,she replied that it was neither1 the fact being that she had killed all4 ,here we seem to have a confused echo of the episode of the woman of ,samaria4 ,again in the same work he says1 ,it is a saying of ,jesus ,christ that the seeker of the world is like a man suffering from dropsy2 the more he drinks water the more he feels thirsty4 ,in the ,ihya-ul-ulum1 the verse ,eye hath not seen1 c41 is quoted as if from the ,koran1 where it nowhere occurs4 ,ghazzali was an ardent student of the ,neo-,platonists1 and through him the phrases ,aql-i-,kull 7--,logos7 and ,nafs-i-,kull 7--,pneuma7 passed into ,sufi writings 7v4 ,whinfield1 ,preface to the ,masnavi74 ,saadi 7b4 #aahd ,a4,d471 the famous author of the ,gulistan and ,bostan1 was for some time kept in captivity by the ,crusaders4 ,this may account for echoes of the ,gospels which we find in his writings4 ,in the ,gulistan he quotes the verse1 ,we are members of one another1 and in the ,bostan the parable of the ,pharisee and ,publican is told in great detail4 ,nizami 7b4 #aadj7 gives a story which1 though grotesque1 seems to show that he had apprehended something of the ,christian spirit4 ,some passers-by were commenting on the body of a dead dog1 saying how abominably it smelt1 c4 ,christ passed1 and said1 ,behold1 how white its teeth are6 ,but of all the ,mohammedan writers1 none bears such distinct traces of ,christian influence as ,jalaluddin ,rumi1 the greatest of the ,sufi poets1 who is to this day much studied in ,persia1 ,turkey and ,india4 ,in the first book of his ,masnavi he has a strange story of a vizier who persuaded his king1 a ,jewish persecutor of the ,christians1 to mutilate him4 ,he then went to the ,christians and said1 ,see what ,i have suffered for your religion4 ,after gaining their confidence and being chosen their guide1 he wrote epistles in different directions to the chief ,christians1 contradicting each other1 maintaining in one that man is saved by grace1 and in another that salvation rests upon works1 c4 ,thus he brought their religion into inextricable confusion4 ,this is evidently aimed at ,st4 ,paul1 and it is a curious fact that ,jalaluddin ,rumi spent most of his life at ,iconium1 where some traditions of the apostle's teaching must have lingered4 ,other allusions to the ,gospel narrative in the ,masnavi are found in the mention of ,john the ,baptist leaping in his mother's womb1 of ,christ walking on the water1 c41 none of which occur in the ,koran4 ,isolated verses of ,jalaluddin's clearly show a ,christian origin3 ,i am the sweet-smiling ,jesus1 ,and the world is alive by ,me4 ,i am the sunlight falling from above1 ,yet never severed from the ,sun ,i love4 ,it will be seen that ,jalaluddin gives our ,lord a much higher rank than is accorded to ,him in the ,koran1 which says1 ,and who could hinder ,god if ,he chose to destroy ,mary and her son together8 ,a strange echo of the ,gospel narrative is found in the story of the celebrated ,sufi1 ,mansur-al-,hallaj1 who was put to death at ,bagdad1 #iai ,a4,d41 for exclaiming while in a state of mystic ecstacy1 ,i am the ,truth4 ,shortly before he died he cried out1 ,my ,friend 7,god7 is not guilty of injuring me2 ,he gives me to drink what as ,master of the feast ,he drinks ,himself 7,whinfield1 preface to the ,masnavi74 ,notwithstanding the apparent blasphemy of ,mansur's exclamation1 he has always been the object of eulogy by ,mohammedan poets4 ,even the orthodox ,afghan poet1 ,abdurrahman1 says of him3 ,every man who is crucified like ,mansur1 ,after death his cross becomes a fruit-bearing tree4 ,many of the favourite ,sufi phrases1 ,the ,perfect ,man1 ,the new creation1 ,the return to ,god1 have a ,christian sound1 and the modern ,babi movement which has so profoundly influenced ,persian life and thought owes its very name to the saying of ,christ1 ,i am the ,door 7,ana ul ,bab71 adopted by ,mirza ,ali1 the founder of the sect4 ,when ,henry ,martyn reached ,shiraz in #ahaa1 he found his most attentive listeners among the ,sufis4 ,these ,sufis1 he writes in his diary1 are quite the ,methodists of the ,east4 ,they delight in everything ,christian except in being exclusive4 ,they consider they all will finally return to ,god1 from whom they emanated4 ,it is certainly noteworthy that some of the highly educated ,indian converts from ,islam to ,christianity have been men who have passed through a stage of ,sufism1 e4g41 ,moulvie ,imaduddin of ,amritsar1 on whom ,archbishop ,benson conferred a ,d4,d4 degree1 and ,safdar ,ali1 late ,inspector of ,schools at ,jabalpur4 ,in one of the semi-domes of the ,mosque of ,st4 ,sophia at ,constantinople is a gigantic figure of ,christ in mosaic1 which the ,mohammedans have not destroyed1 but overlaid with gilding1 yet so that the outlines of the figure are still visible4 ,is it not a parable8 ,,appendix ,,iv ,,christ ,,in ,,modammedan ,,tradition4 ,the following brief article is an attempt to bring together some of the passages in ,mohammedan writers in which ,christ is accorded a higher place than in the ,koran1 and in which deeds and words of ,his are mentioned regarding which the ,koran is quite silent4 ,for though the ,koran calls ,him 'the ,spirit of ,god' and 'a ,word proceeding from ,him1' at the same time it says ',what could hinder ,god if ,he chose to destroy the ,messiah and ,his mother both together8' ,in the traditional sayings of ,mohammed collected by ,al ,bokhari1 accepted by all ,sunni ,mohammedans1 we have the following3-- #ast4 ,the sinlessness of ,christ4 ,the ,prophet said1 ',satan touches every child at its birth and it cries out from the touch of ,satan4 ,this is the case with all1 except ,mary and her son4' #bnd4 ,a famous utterance of ,christ is attributed to ,god4 ,the ,prophet said1 ',at the resurrection ,god shall say1 ,o ye sons of men1 ,i was sick and ye visited ,me not4 ,they shall say1 ,thou art the ,lord of the worlds how should we visit ,thee8 ,he will say1 ,a certain servant of ,mine was sick2 if you had visited him you would have found ,me with him4' ,this tradition is noteworthy as it brings out the affinity between ,god and man which the ,koran for the most part ignores4 #crd4 ,christ returning to judgment4 ,the ,prophet said1 ',how will it be with you when ,god sends back the ,son of ,mary to rule and to judge 7hakiman1 muqsitan78' ,in the ',awarifu-l-,mawarif of ,shahabu-d-,din ,suhrawardi the doctrine of the ,new ,birth is definitely attributed to ,christ3 ',the death of nature and of will which they call the second birth even as ,christ has written4' ,ghazzali in the ,ihya-ul-ulum thus refers to ,st4 ,matt4 xi4 #ag3 ',some one said1 ,i saw written in the ,gospel1 ,we have sung to you but ye have not been moved with emotion2 we have piped unto you but ye have not danced4' ,he also quotes ,st4 ,matt4 vi4 #be1 ',jesus said1 ,consider the fowls1 etc4' ,the historian ,tabari mentions the institution of the ,last ,supper1 ,christ's washing ,his disciple's hands1 requesting them to watch with ,him1 predicting ,peter's denial1 and quotes the text1 ',the shepherd shall be smitten1 and the sheep shall be scattered4' ,in the ,bostan of ,sa'di the parable of the ,publican and the ,pharisee takes the following curious shape3-- ,in ,jesus' time there lived a youth so black and dissolute1 ,that ,satan from him shrank appalled in every attribute2 ,he in a sea of pleasures foul uninterrupted swam ,and gluttonized on dainty vices1 sipping many a dram4 ,whoever met him on the highway turned as from a pest1 ,or1 pointing lifted finger at him1 cracked some horrid jest4 ,i have been told that ,jesus once was passing by the cave ,where dwelt a monk who asked ,him in1-- ,when suddenly that slave of sin appeared across the way1 ,far off he paused1 fell down and sobbingly began to pray2 ,and like a storm or rain the tears pour gushing from his eyes4 ',alas1 and woe is me for thirty squandered years1' he cries2 ,the pride-puffed monk self-righteous lifts his eyebrows with a sneer1 ,and haughtily exclaims1 ',vile wretch6 in vain hast thou come here4 ,art thou not plunged in sin1 and tossed in lust's devouring sea8 ,what will thy filthy rags avail with ,jesus and with me8 ,o ,god6 the granting of a single wish is all ,i pray1 ,grant me to stand far distant from this man at ,judgement ,day4' ,from heaven's throne a revelation instantaneous broke1 ,and ,god's own thunder-words through the mouth of ,jesus spoke3 ',the two whom praying there ,i see1 shall equally be heard2 ,they pray diverse1--,i give to each according to his word4 ,that poor one thirty years has rolled in sin's most slimy steeps1 ,but now with stricken heart and streaming eyes for pardon weeps4 ,upon the threshold of ,my grace he throws him in despair1 ,and faintly hoping pity pours his supplications there4 ,therefore forgiven and freed from all the guilt in which he lies ,my mercy chooses him a citizen of paradise2 ,this monk desires that he may not that sinner stand beside1 ,therefore he goes to hell and so his wish is gratified4' 7,alger3 ,poetry of the ,orient7 ,it is refreshing to find one of the classical ,moslem writers so strongly denouncing self-righteousness4 ,the poet ,nizami in the following apologue seems to have caught no little of the spirit of the ,gospel3-- ,one evening ,jesus lingered in the market-place ,teaching the people parables of truth and grace1 ,when in the square remote a crowd was seen to rise ,and stop with loathing gestures and abhorring cries4 ,the ,master and ,his meek ,disciples went to see ,what cause for this commotion and disgust could be1 ,and found a poor dead dog beside the gutter laid2 ,revolting sight6 at which each face its hate betrayed4 ,one held his nose1 one shut his eyes1 one turned away1 ,and all amongst themselves began loud to say1 ',detested creature6 he pollutes the earth and air6' ',his eyes are blear6' ',his ears are foul6' ',his ribs are bare6' ',in his torn hide there's not a decent shoe-string left6' ',no doubt the execrable cur was hung for theft6' ,then ,jesus spake and dropped on him this saving wreath3 ',even pearls are dark before the whiteness of his teeth6' 7,alger3 ,poetry of the ,orient47 ,the entrance of our ,lord into ,jerusalem is referred to in the following passage from the ,masnavi of ,jalaluddin ,rumi3-- ,having left ,jesus1 thou cherishest an ass1 ,and art perforce excluded like an ass2 ,the portion of ,jesus is knowledge and wisdom1 ,not so the portion of an ass1 ,o assinine one6 ,thou pitiest thine ass when it complains2 ,so art thou ignorant1 thine ass makes thee assinine1 ,keep thy pity for ,jesus1 not for the ass1 ,make not thy lust to vanquish thy reason4 7,whinfield's ,translation74 ,elsewhere in the ,masnavi ,jalaluddin ,rumi says3-- ,jesus1 thy ,spirit1 is present with thee2 ,ask help of ,him1 for ,he is a good ,helper4 ,in the ,diwan-i-,shams-i-,tabriz1 by the same author1 we have the lines3-- ,i am that sweet-smiling ,jesus1 ,and the world is alive through ,me4 ,elsewhere he says1 ',the pure one is regenerated by the breath of ,jesus4' ,it is a significant fact that ,jalaluddin ,rumi spent most of his life at ,iconium1 where very likely some apostolic traditions lingered4 ,one aspect of our ,lord which has strongly impressed itself on the ,mohammedan imagination is ,his homelessness4#fe ,once on entering a ,pathan village the writer was met by a youth1 who asked1 ',is this verse in the ,injil3 ,the ,son of ,mary had nowhere to lay ,his head8' ,in the ,qissas-al-ambiya 7,stories of the ,prophets7 this takes the following grotesque shape3-- ,one day ,jesus saw a fox running through the wilderness4 ,he said to him1 ',o fox6 whither art thou going8' ,the fox answered1 ',i have come out for exercise2 now ,i am returning to my own home4' ,jesus said1 ',every one has built himself a house2 but for ,me there is no resting-place4' ,some people who heard it1 said1 ',we are sorry for ,thee and will build ,thee a house4' ,he replied1 ',i have no money4' ,they answered1 ',we will pay all the expenses4' ,then he said1 ',very well1 ,i will choose the site4' ,he led them down to the edge of the sea and1 pointing where the waves were dashing highest1 said1 ',build ,me a house there4' ,the people said1 ',that is the sea1 ,o ,prophet6 how can we build there8' ',yea1 and is not the world a sea1' ,he answered1 'on which no one can raise a building that abides8' ,a similar echo of ,christ's words is found in the famous inscription over a bridge at ,fatehpur ,sikri3 ',jesus 7upon ,whom be peace7 said1 ,the world is a bridge2 pass over it1 but do not build upon it4' ,this keen sense of the transitoriness of everything earthly is a strongly-marked feature of the ,oriental mind1 and characterized all their saints and mystics4 ,there is no wonder that this side of the gospel should make a special appeal to ,orientals1 and that the ,fakir-missionary should seem to them to approximate most closely to his ,master4#ff ,the following account of the trial of our ,lord before the ,sanhedrin and ,pilate which occurs in the ,dabistan of ,mohsin ,fani 7,a4,d4 #afdg7 approximates more nearly to the ,gospel narrative than that which is ordinarily current among ,mohammedan writers3-- ,when ,jesus appeared1 the high-priest said1 ',we charge ,thee upon ,thy oath by the living ,god1 say art ,thou the ,son of ,god8' ,the blessed and holy ,lord ,jesus replied to him1 ',i am what thou hast said4 ,verily ,we say unto you1 you shall see the ,son of man seated at the right hand of ,god1 and ,he shall descend in the clouds of heaven4' ,they said1 ',thou utterest a blasphemy1 because1 according to the creed of the ,jews1 ,god never descends in the clouds of heaven4' ,isaiah the prophet has announced the birth of ,jesus in words the translation of which is as follows3--',a branch from the root of ,i'shai shall spring up1 and from this branch shall come forth a flower in which the ,spirit of ,god shall dwell1 verily a virgin shall be pregnant and bring forth a ,son4' ,i'shai is the name of the father of ,david4 ,when they had apprehended ,jesus1 they spat upon ,his blessed face and smote ,him4 ,isaiah had predicted it4 ',i shall give up ,my body to the smiters1 and ,my cheek to the diggers of wounds4 ,i shall not turn ,my face from those who will use bad words and throw spittle upon ,me4' ,when ,pilatus1 a judge of the ,jews1 scourged the ,lord ,jesus in such a manner that ,his body from head to foot became but one wound1 so was it as ,isaiah had predicted1 ',he was wounded for our transgressions2 ,i struck ,him for ,his people4' ,when ,pilatus saw that the ,jews insisted upon the death and crucifixion of ,jesus1 he said1 ',i take no part in the blood of this ,man2 ,i wash my hands clean of ,his blood4' ,the ,jews answered1 ',his blood be on us and on our children4' ,on that account the ,jews are oppressed and curbed down in retribution of their iniquities4 ,when they had placed the cross upon the shoulders of ,jesus and led ,him to die1 a woman wiped with the border of her garment the face1 full of blood1 of the ,lord ,jesus4 ,verily she obtained three images of it and carried them home2 the one of these images exists still in ,spain1 the other is in the town of ,milan in ,italy1 and the third in the city of ,rome4 ,the same author1 ,mohsin ,fani1 says3-- ,the ,gospel has been translated from the tongue of ,jesus into different languages1 namely1 into ,arabic1 ,greek1 ,latin1 which last is the language of the learned among the ,firangis2 and into ,syriac1 and this all learned men know4 ,fragments of our ,lord's teaching are found not only in religious but also in secular ,mohammedan books2 thus in the ,kitab ,jawidan of ,ibn ,muskawih we have the following3-- ,the hatefullest of learned men in the eyes of ,god is he who loves reputation and that room should be made for him in the assemblies of the great1 and to be invited to feasts4 ,verily ,i say they have their reward in the world4 ,in the ,kitab-al-,aghani1 a history of ,arabic poetry1 it is related3-- ,satan came to ,jesus and said1 ',dost ,thou not speak the truth8' ',certainly1' answered ,jesus4 ',well then1' said ,satan1 'climb this mountain and cast ,thyself down4' ,jesus said1 ',woe to thee1 for hath not ,god said1 ,o ,son of ,man1 tempt ,me not by casting thyself into destruction1 for ,i do that which ,i will4' ,from the above instances taken from well-known ,mohammedan writers it will be seen that the ,christ of post-,koranic tradition is far more life-like than the ,christ of the ,koran4 ,the latter is a mere lay-figure1 bedecked with honorific titles indeed1 such as the ',spirit of ,god and a word proceeding from ,him1' and working miracles1 but displaying no character4 ,in the post-,koranic writers1 on the other hand1 we have ,his sinlessness1 ,his return to judgment1 ,his humility1 ,his unworldliness1 ,his sufferings1 ,his doctrine of the ,new ,birth1 topics upon which the ,koran is entirely silent4 ,an open-minded ,moslem perusing the above passages in the original ,persian and ,arabic 7and many might be added7 would certainly gain a far higher conception of our ,lord than from anything he would find in the ,koran4 #fe ,in one tradition ,he is called ',imam al ashin1' ',leader of the wanderers4' #ff ,although ,mohammed said1 ',there is no monkery in ,islam1' and rebuked one of his followers who showed a tendency to it1 celibacy and homelessness have often marked the saints of ,islam4 ,one of them1 ,bishr ,hafi1 being asked why he did not marry1 answered1 ',i am afraid of that verse in the ,koran1 ,the rights of women over men are the same as the rights of men over women4' ---------------------------------------- ------------------- ,transcriber's ,note3 ,there are a number of words1 mostly ,arabic1 spelled in different ways in the present book4 ,as many of these are variants often used in the transliteration of ,arabic names1 these differences have been retained4 ,below is the list of the words which have been spelled differently at different places in the book3 ,adham1 ,adhem4 ,alghazzali1 ,algazzali4 ,bayazid1 ,bayezid4 ,hassan1 ,hasan4 ,hejaj1 ,hejjaj4 ,judgment1 ,judgement4 ,kaf1 ,kf4 ,khorassan1 ,khorasan4 ,muhammad1 ,mohammed1 ,muhammed1 ,mohammad4 ,mohammedan1 ,muhammadan1 ,muhammedan1 ,mahommadan1 ,mohammadan4 ,mohammedanism1 ,muhammedanism4 ,saadi1 ,sa'di4 ,sofin1 ,sofyan4 ,suhrawardy1 ,suhrawardi4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------