بخش 10 - جمع آمدن اهل آفت هر صباحی بر در صومعهٔ عیسی علیه السلام جهت طلب شفا به دعای او

The table of the spiritual is (like) the cell of Jesus: O afflicted one, beware, beware! Do not forsake this door!

From all sides the people would gather—blind and lame and palsied and clothed in rags—

At the door of the cell of Jesus in the morning, that he by his breath might deliver them from tribulation.

As soon as he finished his litanies, that man of goodly religion (Jesus) would go forth at morning tide,

And would see troops of afflicted feeble folk seated at the door in hope and expectancy.

(Then) he would say, “O ye that are smitten, the wants of all you here present have been granted by God.

Hark, set off and go without pain or trouble towards the forgiveness and kindness of God.”

All, like tethered camels whose knees you unbind with foresight,

At his prayer would begin to run on their feet, hastening gladly and joyously to their homes.

(So too) thou hast experienced many maladies in thyself, and hast gained health from these kings of religion (the saints).

How oft hath thy limping been turned into a smooth (easy) gait, how oft hath thy soul been made void of grief and pain!

O heedless one, tie a string to thy foot, that thou mayst not become lost to (unconscious of) thyself even, O sluggard!

Thy ingratitude and forgetfulness did not call to mind thy (former) drinking of honey.

Necessarily, that way (by which spiritual blessings were conveyed) became barred to thee, since the hearts of the “men of heart” were made sore by thee.

Quickly overtake them and ask pardon of God; weep lamentably like a cloud,

In order that their rose-garden may open its blossoms to thee, and that the ripe fruits may burst and reveal themselves.

Pace round that same door: do not be less than a dog, if thou hast become (associated as) a fellow-servant with the dog of the Cave,

Because even dogs admonish dogs, saying, “Fix thy heart on thy first home,

Hold fast to the first door where thou didst eat bones, and fulfil thy obligation: do not leave that (debt unpaid).”

They keep biting him (the strange dog), that from a sense of duty he may go thither and be prospered by his first abode.

They bite him, saying, “O naughty dog, begone! Do not become an enemy to thy benefactor.

Be attached, like the door-ring, to that same door; keep watch and be nimble and ready to spring.

Do not be the type of our breaking faith, do not recklessly make (our) disloyalty notorious.

Since fidelity is the badge by which the dogs are known, begone and do not bring opprobrium and ill-fame upon the dogs.”

Inasmuch as unfaithfulness has (always) been a disgrace (even) to dogs, how shouldst thou deem it right to show unfaithfulness?

The high God hath boasted of faithfulness: He hath said, “Who but I am most faithful in keeping a promise?”

Know that faithfulness (to others when it is accompanied) with rejection of God is unfaithfulness: no one hath precedence over (hath a prior claim to) God's rights.

Thy mother's right (only) arose after that Bounteous One had made her indebted (to Him) for thy embryo.

He bestowed on thee a form within her body, He gave ease to her during pregnancy and accustomed her (to the burden).

She deemed thee as a part joined (to herself); His providence separated (from her) that which was joined.

God hath prepared thousands of artifices and contrivances, so that thy mother hath thrown (her) love upon thee.

Therefore God's right is prior to (that of) the mother: whoever does not recognise that right is an ass.

(If thou deny it), do not even admit that He created mother, teat, and milk, and united her with the father!

O Lord, O Thou whose beneficence is eternal, Thine is both that which I know and that which I know not.

Thou didst command, saying, “Remember God, because My right shall never grow old.

Remember the kindness which I did unto you that morn by protecting (you) in the ship (ark) of Noah.

At that time I gave to the stock of your fathers security from the Flood and from its waves.

Water, like fire in (its deadly) nature, had covered the earth: its waves were sweeping away the highest peaks of the mountains.

I protected you, I did not spurn you, in the bodies of the ancestors of the ancestors of your ancestors.

Now that you have come to the head, how should I smite the sole of your foot? How should I let My workshop go to waste?

How are you becoming devoted to the unfaithful and going in that direction from ill thoughts (of Me)?

I am clear of negligence and infidelities, (yet) you come to Me and think evil.

Think this evil thought against the place where you cringe before one like yourself.

You got many powerful friends and companions: if I ask you, ‘Where (is so and- so)?’ you will say, ‘He is gone.’

Your good friend is gone up to the highest Heaven, your wicked friend is gone to the bottom of the earth.

You are left in the middle (between them) so helpless (as you are), like a fire (left behind) from a caravan.”

O valiant friend, lay hold of the skirt of Him who is exempt from “above” and “below.”

Neither doth He ascend to Heaven, like Jesus, nor go (down) into the earth, like Qárún (Korah).

He is with you in space and in the spaceless (world) when you leave house and shop behind.

He brings forth purity from defilements, He takes your acts of wrong as faithful performance (of duty).

When you commit wrong, He sends chastisement, to the end that you may go back from imperfection towards perfection.

When you have neglected a part of your orisons in the Way, there comes over you a painful and hot feeling of contraction.

That is the corrective act (of God), meaning, “Do not make any change in the ancient covenant

Before (the day when) this contraction shall become a chain, (and when) this which (now) grips the heart shall become a fetter gripping the foot.”

Your mental pain shall become perceptible to the senses and manifest. See (therefore) that you do not hold this indication as naught.

The (spiritual) contractions (which occur) in (the case of) sins affect (only) the heart; after death (these) contractions become (actual) chains.

“Whosoever here (in this world) shall turn his back upon Our commemoration, We shall give him a straitened life (hereafter) and reward him with blindness.”

When a thief is carrying off people's property, contraction and straitness of heart prick his heart (conscience),

(And) he says, “I wonder what this contraction is”: (say), “The contraction (distress) of the injured person who wept at thy wickedness.”

When he pays no regard to this contraction, the wind of perseverance (in evil) blows (fans) its (the evil's) fire.

The contraction that grips the heart turns into the grip of the policeman: inevitably those ideas become sensible (materialised) and display themselves.

The pangs have become prison and the cross (crucifixion): the pang is (as) the root, and the root produces boughs.

The root was hidden, it is (now) revealed. Consider (your) inward contraction and expansion as a root.

When it is a bad root, smite it quickly, so that an ugly thorn may not grow in the garden.

You have felt the contraction: seek a remedy for it, because all heads (excrescences) grow from the bottom (root).

You have felt the expansion: water your expansion, and when the fruit appears, give it to your friends.