The Noble Spirits of Hallaj, Ghalib and Qurrat al-Ain Tahira

Let me be a ransom for this demented heart which every instant bestows on me another desert;

Whenever I take up a lodging, it says, ‘Rise-up!’ The self-strong man reckons the sea as but a pool.

Seeing that the signs of God are infinite where, traveller, can the high-road end?

The task of science is to see and consume, the work of gnosis is to see and augment;

Science weighs in the balance of technology; gnosis weighs in the balance of intuition;

Science holds in its hand water and earth, gnosis holds in its hand the pure spirit;

Science casts its gaze upon phenomena, gnosis absorbs phenomena into itself.

In quest of continuous manifestations I travel through the skies, lamenting like a reed;

All this is by the grace of a pure-born saint whose ardour fell upon my soul.

The caravan of these two scanners of existence presently halted by the shores of Jupiter;

That world, that earth not yet complete, circling about it moons swift of pace;

Its vine's flask is still empty of wine; desire is still unsprouted from its soil.

Midnight, a world half day in the moon’s gleam, the air thereof neither chill nor torrid.

As I lifted my gaze towards heaven I saw a star closer to me;

The awful prospect robbed me of my senses – near and far, late and soon became transformed.

I saw before me three pure spirits the fire in whose breasts might melt the world.

They were clad in robes of tulip hue; their faces gleamed with an inner glow;

In fever and fervour since the moment of Alast, intoxicated with the wine of their own melodies.

Rumi said, ‘Do not go out of yourself so, be quickened by the breath of these songs of fire.

You have never seen intrepid passion; behold! You have never seen the power of this wine; behold!

Ghalib and Hallaj and the Lady of Persia have flung tumult into the soul of the sanctuary.

These songs bestow stability on the spirit; their warmth springs from the inmost heart of creation.’