When the Súfí mounted and got going, he (the ass) began to fall on his face every time,
(And) every time the people (the travellers) lifted him up: they all thought he was ill.
One would twist his ears hard, while another sought for the (lacerated) part under his palate,
And another searched for the stone in his shoe, and another looked at the dirt in his eye.
Also they were saying,“O Shaykh, what is the cause of this? Were not you saying yesterday, ‘Thanks (to God), this ass is strong’?”
He replied, “The ass that ate Lá hawl during the night cannot get along except in this manner.
Inasmuch as the ass's food by night was Lá hawl, he was glorifying God by night and (is engaged) in prostrating himself by day.”
Most people are man-eaters: put no trust in their saying, “Peace to you.”
The hearts of all are the Devil's house: do not accept (listen to) the palaver of devilish men.
He that swallows Lá hawl from the breath (mouth) of the Devil, like that ass falls headlong in the fight.
Whoever swallows the Devil's imposture in this world and (swallows) veneration and deceit from the foe that has the face (semblance) of a friend,
In the Way of Islam and on the bridge Sirát he will fall upon his head from giddiness, like that ass.
Beware! Do not hearken to the blandishments of the bad friend: espy the snare, do not walk securely on the earth.
See the hundred thousand devils who utter Lá hawl! O Adam, in the serpent behold Iblís!
He gives (you) vain words, he says to you, “O my soul and beloved,” that he may strip the skin off his beloved, like a butcher.
He gives vain words that he may strip off your skin: woe to him that tastes opium from (the mouth of) enemies.
He lays his head at your feet (in flattery) and butcher-like gives (you) vain (wheedling) words, that he may shed your blood miserably.
Like a lion, hunt your prey yourself: leave (pay no heed to) the blandishment of stranger or kinsman.
Know that the regard of the base is like that servant; ’tis better to have nobody (as your friend) than (to accept) the flattery of nobodies (worthless people).
Do not make your home in (other) men's land: do your own work, don't do the work of a stranger.
Who is the stranger? Your earthen body, for the sake of which is (all) your sorrow.
So long as you are giving your body greasy (rich) and sweet (food), you will not see fatness in your (spiritual) essence.
If the body be set in the midst of musk, (yet) on the day of death its stench will become manifest.
Do not put musk on your body, rub it on your heart. What is musk? The holy name of the Glorious (God).
The hypocrite puts musk on his body and puts his spirit at the bottom of the ash-pit.
On his tongue the name of God, and in his soul stenches (arising) from his infidel thought.
In relation to him praise of God is (like) the herbage of the ash-pit: it is roses and lilies (growing) upon a dunghill.
Those plants are certainly there on loan (and belong to somewhere else); the proper place for those flowers is the symposium and (the scene of) festivity.
Do not bear malice: they that are led astray by malice, their graves are placed beside the malicious.
The origin of malice is Hell, and your malice is a part of that whole and is the enemy of your religion.
Since you are a part of Hell, take care! The part gravitates towards its whole.
O brother, you are that same thought (of yours); as for the rest (of you), you are (only) bone and fibre.
If your thought is a rose, you are a rose-garden; and if it is a thorn, you are fuel for the bath-stove.
If you are rose-water, you are sprinkled on head and bosom; and if you are (stinking) like urine, you are cast out.
Look at the trays in front of druggists—each kind put beside its own kind,
Things of each sort mixed with things of the same sort, and a certain elegance produced by this homogeneity;
If his (the druggist's) aloes-wood and sugar get mixed, he picks them out from each other, piece by piece.
The trays were broken and the souls were spilled: good and evil ones were mingled with each other.
God sent the prophets with scrolls (of Revelation), that He might pick out (and sort) these grains on the dish.
Before this we were one community, none knew whether we were good or bad.
False coin and fine (both) were current in the world, since all was night, and we were as night-travellers,
The eye can distinguish colours, the eye knows ruby and (common) stone.
The eye knows the jewel and the rubbish; hence bits of rubbish sting the eye.
These vile counterfeiters are enemies of day, those pieces of gold from the mine are lovers of day,
Because day is the mirror that makes it (the fine gold) known, so that the ashrafí (the coin of sterling gold) may see (receive) its (day's) gift of honour.
Hence God bestowed the title of “Day” on the Resurrection, (for) day displays the beauty of red and yellow.
In reality, then, day is the inmost consciousness of the saints, (though) beside their moon day is (dim) as shadows.
Know that day is the reflexion of the mystery (the illumined consciousness) of the man of God, while eye-sealing night is the reflexion of his occultation.
That Friend (Abraham) said, “I love not them that set”: how should the glorious Lord mean transiency by this (oath)?
In fact, every expression is the symbol of a state: the state is as a hand, while the expression is a tool.
The goldsmith's tool in the hand of a shoemaker is like a seed sown in sand;
And the cobbler's tool (put) before the husbandman is (as) straw before a dog (or) bones before an ass.
“I am God” on the lips of Mansúr was the light (of truth); “I am Allah” on the lips of Pharaoh was a lie.
In the hand of Moses the rod became a witness (to the truth); in the hand of the magician the rod became (worthless as) motes in the air.
On this account Jesus did not teach his fellow-traveller that Name of the Lord,
For he would not know (its proper use) and would attribute imperfection to the tool (which he misused). Strike stone on clay, and how should fire leap forth?
Hand and tool are as stone and iron; there must be a pair: (the existence of) a pair is the condition (necessary) for bringing to birth.
The One is He who hath no consort and no tool; in number there is doubt, and that One is beyond doubt.
Those who say “two” or “three” or more than these (numbers) are certainly agreed in (affirming the existence of) One.
When squinting has been put aside (so that they see correctly), they become alike: the assertors of two or three become assertors of Unity.
If you are a ball in His polo-field, keep spinning round from (the blows of) His polostick.
The ball becomes right and flawless (only) at the time when it is made to dance by the stroke of the King's hand.
Give ear heedfully to these (sayings), O squinting one: apply the eye-salve by way of the ear.
Holy words, then, do not abide in blind hearts, (but) go to the Light whence they came,
While the (guileful) spell of the Devil goes into crooked (perverse) hearts as a crooked shoe on to a crooked foot.
Though you may learn Wisdom by rote, it becomes quit of you when you are unworthy (to receive it);
And though you write it and note it (down), and though you brag (about it) and expound it,
It withdraws its face from you, O disputatious one: it snaps its bonds and (takes) flight from you.
(But) if you read not and it sees your ardour (of love), Knowledge will be a bird docile (and obedient) to your hand.
It does not abide with every unskilled tiro: (it is) like a peacock (which does not stay) in the house of a peasant.
