The Essence Of The Shari’ah

From the Pir of Rum, I learned many subtle truths —

In the fire of his words I dissolved my very self.

If you have no insight into this wisdom —

You are the slave and your master is silver and gold.

By the empty-handed, the nations find relief —

By the enslaved rich man, the nations fall into corruption.

In the eyes of the money-bound rich, all change is only shame —

He barters solely for what is ancient and worn with age.

In his dimming sight, the ugly passes off as fair —

He trembles at the very whisper of revolt.

Such a master devours the bread of his burdened servant —

And strips the honor from the servant’s daughter.

Before him the slave laments like a reed-flute —

And on his lips a ceaseless cry of woe is strung.

No wine crowns the laborer’s cup, nor fills his jar —

He builds palaces for others, yet himself lies spent in dust and streets.

Blessed is the wealthy one who lives as a wandering dervish —

Who even in this age keeps God alive within his heart.

Until you grasp the secret of the halal and pure earning —

Your life will be a burden and a plague upon the community.

Alas, the West is blind to this exalted station —

Its eye is not an eye that looks with the light of God.

It draws no line between the halal and the haram —

Its wisdom is unripe and work unfinished.

One nation is left to graze upon another —

This one sows the seed and that one carries off the harvest.

To snatch bread from the poor is called their diplomacy —

To drain the life from their bodies is likewise named diplomacy.

The habit of this new civilization is to rend human beings apart —

And this man-eating feast hides itself beneath the veil of trade.

These banks are born of the sly and scheming Jews —

And have stolen the light of Truth from the breast of man.

Until this rigged usurious order is overturned —

All talk of wisdom, culture and faith is hollow wind.

In this world where good and evil intertwine —

Man seldom discerns what harms him and what heals.

No one truly knows what goodness is and what is evil —

Which path is straight and which is crooked.

Shari'ah rises from the depth of life itself —

And by its radiance the darkness of the cosmos flees.

If people would deem forbidden what the Shari'ah has banned —

This order would stand firm, enduring to the end of time.

My son, the matter of Shari'ah is not the jurist’s toy —

Behold it instead with an altogether different sight.

The decree of Shari'ah is pure justice and submission to Divine Will —

Its root is planted deep in the heart of Mustafa (PBUH).

It is separation that turns desires into a fire in the breast —

Yet if the Divine cast off His veil, nothing of you would remain.

Though separation brings the soul up to the very lips —

Seek His union less, seek instead submission to His will.

Mustafa (PBUH) communicated His will to us —

The injunctions of religion consist of nothing else.

Jamshid’s throne lies hidden beneath the Faqir’s reed mat —

Both Faqr and kingship are stations within the realm of His contentment.

Carry out the command of the true King, and do not complain —

The field of battle is no place for idle argument.

As far as you can, do not turn your neck away from His command —

So that no neck may ever turn away from your command.

Through the Shari'ah, become the best-formed of creation —

Become the true heir to the faith of Abraham (A.S).

O you adorned with noble traits, what is Tariqah? —

To behold the Shari'ah through the abyssal depths of life.

If you would like to see religion’s hidden mysteries laid bare —

Look nowhere but into the deepest chambers of your own soul.

If you will not look in this way, your faith will be of compulsion —

And such a faith will only drive you far from God.

Until the servant beholds the God fully manifest —

He cannot rise higher than (the polarity of) free-will and determinism.

So plunge a while into the ocean of your inner-nature —

Become a man of truth and do not strut in guess and conjecture.

Then you shall see what goodness and what evil dwell in deeds —

And what lies veiled within these ninefold curtains of the world.

Whoever takes a portion from the Prophet’s secrets (of the Shari'ah) —

Draws near to Gabriel The trustworthy (A.S), in rank.

O Muslim who takes pride in the majestic Qur’an —

How long will you sit cloistered in your cell?

Step forth and unveil religion’s secret in this world —

Lay bare the subtle point of the clear-shining Shari'ah.

Let no human in this world be shackled to another’s chains —

This is the single point of the Shari'ah, and nothing more.

Educational institutes and clerics weave mere webs of talk —

The faithful could not grasp this vital point.

Once a living nation, but died through its false interpretations —

Its inner fire was extinguished within its own heart.

I have seen Sufis of pure and shining heart —

I have closely weighed the shaykh of Madrassah.

My age even birthed a claimant to prophethood (Mirza Ghulam Ahmad) —

Who in the noble Qur’an could see nothing but his own self.

All of them parade as masters of Qur’an and prophetic word —

Yet they are starved of the Shari'ah and blind to all its secrets.

Their reason and their learning are both shackled by desire —

Their pulpit has become a lowly stool for bread.

From such self-styled men of Moses, there is no hope of a nation’s cure —

For when their sleeves hold no white hand of wonder, what use are they at all?

The affairs of peoples and nations will not be set right this way —

Show through your deeds that the Truth is held in your hand.