بخش 104 - قصهٔ آن زن کی طفل او بر سر ناودان غیژید و خطر افتادن بود و از علی کرم‌الله وجهه چاره جست

A woman came to Murtadá (‘Alí) and said, “A child belonging to me has gone up on to the water- spout.

If I call it, it will not come to my hands; and if I leave it, I am afraid it will fall to the ground.

It is not intelligent, that it should apprehend, like us, if I say, ‘Come to me (and escape) from the danger.’

Moreover, it does not understand signs made by the hand; or if it should understand, it will not hearken: this too is bad (useless).

Many times have I shown to it the milk and the teat, (but) it always turns its eyes and face away from me.

For God's sake—(since) ye, O noble ones, are those who give succour in this world and that (other) world—

Quickly apply the remedy, for my heart is trembling lest I be torn painfully from the fruit of my heart.”

He (‘Alí) said, “Take another child up to the roof, in order that the boy may see his congener,

And come nimbly from the water-spout to his congener: congener is ever in love with congener.”

The woman did so, and when her child saw its congener, it turned its face towards it with delight

The child came crawling along to the (other) child: it was saved from falling to (the ground) below.

Therefore he (the Prophet) called himself a man like you, that ye might come to your congener and might not become lost;

For homogeneity is a wondrous attractor: wheresoever there is a seeker, his congener is attracting him.

Jesus and Idrís ascended to heaven, since they were homogeneous with the angels.

Again, Hárút and Márút were homogeneous with the body: hence they descended from on high.

The infidels have become homogeneous with Satan: their spirits have become disciples of the devils.

They have learned a hundred thousand evil dispositions; they have sewn up the eyes of intellect and heart.

From those curs they have learned hatred and envy, for he (Satan) does not wish the kingdom everlasting (to be granted) to (God's) creatures.

When he sees, on left or right, any one perfect, colic comes to him and pain arises (in him) from envy,

Because every miserable wretch whose stack has been burnt is unwilling that any one's candle should be lighted.

Hark, bring to hand (acquire) some (degree of) perfection, in order that thou too mayst not be aggrieved by the perfection of others.

Beg of God the removal of this envy, that God may deliver thee from the body,

And bestow on thee an inward occupation, from which thou wilt not become disengaged (so as to turn thy attention) outwards.

God gives to a draught of wine such (potency) that one intoxicated with it escapes from the two worlds.

He hath endowed hashísh with the property that, for a time, it delivers him (who eats it) from self-consciousness.

God makes sleep to be (constituted) in such a manner that it erases (all) thought of the two worlds.

He hath a hundred thousand wines of this sort which He sets (in authority) over thy (intellectual) perceptions.

For the carnal soul there are the wines of damnation, which carry that illstarred one out of the (right) way.

For the intellect there are the wines of felicity, so that it gains the abode whence is no departure.

Through its intoxication it uproots the tent of the sky and takes the way (leading) onward from that (earthly) direction.

Hark, be not deceived, O heart, by every intoxication: Jesus is intoxicated with God, the ass is intoxicated with barley.

Both (jars) will intoxicate thee, but this (blessed) intoxication, drawing (thee along), will lead thee to the Lord of the Judgement,

So that thou wilt be delivered from thought and anxiety and expedients, (whilst) this intellect (moves) unshackled at the camel's ambling pace.

Since the prophets are homogeneous with spirit and angel, they drew angels from heaven.

Wind (air) is the congener and friend of fire, for the tendency of both is upward.

When you stop the mouth of an empty pot and put it in a tank or river,

It will not sink till the Resurrection, for its heart (interior) is void and there is (nothing but) wind (air) in it.

Since the desire of the wind (confined) in it is (to move) upward, it draws upward also the vessel containing it.

Again, the spirits that are homogeneous with the prophets are moving gradually, like shadows, towards them,

Because its (such a spirit's) intelligence is predominant; and beyond doubt the intelligence is homogeneous in nature with the angel;

While in the enemy (of God) the carnal soul's concupiscence is predominant: the carnal soul is homogeneous with the lowest (of the low) and goes to it.

The Egyptian was a congener of the reprobate Pharaoh; the Israelite was a congener of Moses, the Kalim.

Hámán was more congenial (than any one else) to Pharaoh: he (Pharaoh) chose him out and brought him to the high-seat in the palace.

Inevitably he (Hámán) dragged him (Pharaoh) from the high-seat to the lowest depth, for those two unclean ones are homogenous with Hell.

Both, like Hell, are burning and contrary to light: both, like Hell, are exceedingly averse to the light of the heart;

For Hell says, “O true believer, pass by quickly, since thy light hath taken away (extinguished) the Fire.

The man destined for Hell, also, is recoiling from the light, because he hath the nature of Hell, O worshipful one.

Hell flees from the true believer just as the true believer flees with (all) his soul from Hell,

Because his light is not homogeneous with the Fire: the seeker of the light is in reality the contrary of the Fire

It is related in the Hadith that when the true believer prays to. God for protection from Hell,

Hell also begs earnestly for protection from him, saying, “O God, keep me far from such-and-such a one!”

‘Tis the attracting power of homogeneity (that indicates one’s real nature): consider now with whom thou art congenial in respect of infidelity or true religion.

If thou art inclined towards Hámán, thou hast the nature of Hámán, and if thou art inclined towards Moses, thou art a glorifier of God.

And if thou art inclined and impelled towards both, thou art carnal soul and reason both mingled together.

Both (these) are at war: take heed, take heed, and strive that the spiritual realities may prevail over the (sensuous) forms.

In the world of war ‘tis joy enough that thou shouldst always, see defeat (inflicted) on the enemy.

Finally that quarrelsome-looking (contumacious) man (Pharaoh) in his hardness (of heart) told Hámán, for the purpose of consultation.

He told (him) the promises pf the one (Moses) with whom God spoke, and made that misguided person his confidant.