The (author's) return to the story of Zayd.
You will not find Zayd now, for he has fled: he has darted away from the shoe-row and dropped his shoes.
Who are you (that you should hope to find him)? Zayd cannot even find himself, (he has vanished) like the star on which the sun shone.
You will find neither mark nor trace of him, you will not find a straw (star) in the straw-strewn Way (the Milky Way).
Our senses and finite speech (reason) are obliterated in the knowledge and wisdom of our (Divine) King.
Their (the God-intoxicated mystics') senses and understandings within (them) are (tossed), wave on wave, in (the sea of) they are assembled before Us.
When night comes, ’tis again the time of (bearing) the burden: the stars, which had become hidden, go (again) to work.
God gives back to the senseless ones their (lost) senses: (they return to consciousness) troop after troop, with rings (of mystic knowledge) in their ears,
Dancing, waving their hands in praise (of God), triumphing (and crying), “O Lord, Thou hast brought us to life.”
Those crumbled skins and bones have become (like) horsemen and have raised the dust:
At Resurrection both the thankful and the ungrateful rush along from non-existence towards existence.
Why do you turn away your head and pretend not to see? Did you not turn away your head at first, (when you were) in non- existence (and disbelieved that you would ever come into existence)?
You had planted your foot (firmly) in non-existence, saying, “Who will uproot me from my place?”
Are not you beholding the action of your Lord, who dragged you (into existence) by the forelock,
Until He drew you into (all) these various states (of being), which were not in your thought or fancy?
That non-existence is always His slave: work (in His service), O demon! Solomon is living.
The demon is making large bowls like watering-troughs: he dare not say a word in refusal or in retort.
Look at yourself, how you are trembling with fear (of non-existence): know that nonexistence also is constantly trembling (lest God should bring it into existence).
And if you are grasping at (worldly) dignities, ’tis from fear too that you are suffering agony of spirit.
Except love of the most beauteous God everything, though (outwardly) it is (pleasant like) eating sugar, is (in truth) agony of spirit.
What is agony of spirit? To advance towards death and not grasp the Water of Life.
People fix both their eyes on earth and death: they have a hundred doubts concerning the Water of Life.
Strive that the hundred doubts may become ninety (may decrease): go (towards God) in the night (of this world), for if you slumber, the night will go (from you).
In the dark night seek that (shining) Day: put in front (follow) the darkness consuming Reason.
In the evil-coloured night there is much good: the Water of Life is the mate of darkness.
How is it possible to lift up the head from slumber, whilst you are sowing a hundred such seeds of slothfulness?
Dead (heavy) slumber and dead (unlawful) food became friends: the merchant fell asleep and the night-thief got to work.
Do you not know who your enemies are? Those made of fire are enemies to the existence of those made of earth.
Fire is the enemy of water and its children, even as water is an enemy to the life of fire.
Water kills fire because it is the enemy and foe of the children of water.
To proceed, this fire is the fire of lust, wherein is the root of sin and error.
The external fire may be quenched by some water, (but) the fire of lust is bringing (you) to Hell.
The fire of lust is not allayed by water, because it has the (insatiable) nature of Hell in respect of (inflicting) torment.
What is the remedy for the fire of lust? The light of the Religion: your (the Moslems') light is the (means of) extinguishing the fire of the infidels.
What kills this fire? The Light of God. Make the light of Abraham your teacher,
That this body of yours, which resembles wood (faggots), may be delivered from the fire of the Nimrod-like flesh (nafs).
Fiery lust is not diminished by indulging it: it is diminished, without any escape (inevitably), by leaving it (ungratified).
So long as thou art laying faggots on a fire, how will the fire be extinguished by a carrier of faggots?
When thou withholdest the faggots, the fire dies out, because fear of God carries (as it were) water to the fire.
How should the fire blacken the beauteous face (of a soul) which lays (on itself) rose colour (derived) from the fear of God that is in (men's) hearts?
