بخش 37 - وحی آمدن موسی را علیه السّلام در عذر آن شبان

After that, God hid in the inmost heart of Moses mysteries which cannot be spoken.

Words were poured upon his heart: vision and speech were mingled together.

How oft did he become beside himself and how oft return to himself! How oft did he fly from eternity to everlastingness!

If I should unfold (his tale) after this, ’tis foolishness (in me), because the explanation of this is beyond (our) understanding;

And if I should speak (thereof), ’twould root up (men's) minds; and if I should write (thereof), ’twould shatter many pens.

When Moses heard these reproaches from God, he ran into the desert in quest of the shepherd.

He pushed on over the footprints of the bewildered man, he scattered dust from the skirt of the desert.

The footstep of a man distraught is, in truth, distinct from the footsteps of others:

(At) one step, (he moves) like the rook (straight) from top to bottom (of the chessboard); (at) one step he goes crossways, like the bishop;

Now lifting his crest like a wave; now going on his belly like a fish;

Now writing (a description of) his state on some dust, like a geomancer who takes an omen by drawing lines (on earth or sand).

At last he (Moses) overtook and beheld him; the giver of glad news said, “Permission has come (from God).

Do not seek any rules or method (of worship); say whatsoever your distressful heart desires.

Your blasphemy is (the true) religion, and your religion is the light of the spirit: you are saved, and through you a (whole) world is in salvation.

O you who are made secure by God doeth whatso He willeth, go, loose your tongue without regard (for what you say).”

He said, “O Moses, I have passed beyond that: I am now bathed in (my) heart's blood.

I have passed beyond the Lote-tree of the farthest bourn, I have gone a hundred thousand years' journey on the other side.

Thou didst ply the lash, and my horse shied, made a bound, and passed beyond the sky.

May the Divine Nature be intimate with my human nature— blessings be on thy hand and on thine arm!

Now my state is beyond telling: this which I am telling is not my (real) state.”

You behold the image which is in a mirror: it is your (own) image, it is not the image of the mirror.

The breath which the flute-player puts into the flute—does it belong to the flute? No, it belongs to the man (the flute-player).

Take good heed! Whether you speak praise (of God) or thanksgiving, know that it is even as the unseemly (words) of that shepherd.

Though your praise is better in comparison with that, yet in relation to God it too is maimed (feeble).

How often will you say, when the lid has been raised, “This was not what they were thinking (it was)!”

This acceptance (by God) of your praise is from (His) mercy: it is an indulgence (which He grants), like (the indulgence granted in the case of) the prayers of a woman suffering from menorrhagia.

Her prayers are stained with blood; your praise is stained with assimilation and qualification.

Blood is foul, and (yet) it goes (is washed away) by a (little) water; but the inward part (the inner man) hath impurities

Which fail not (are not removed) from the interior (the heart) of the man of works except by the water of the grace of the Maker.

Would that in your bowing low in prayer you would turn your face (to attentive consideration) and apprehend the meaning of “Glory to my Lord!”

Saying, “Oh, my prostration (in prayer), like my existence, is unworthy (of Thee): do Thou give good in return for evil!”

This earth has the mark of God's clemency, in that it got filth and gave flowers as the produce;

In that it covers our pollutions, (and that) buds grow up from it in exchange.

Therefore, when the infidel saw that in giving and lavishing he was meaner and unwealthier than the earth,

(That) flowers and fruit did not grow from his being, (and that) he sought (and achieved) nothing but the corruption of all purities,

He said, “I have gone backwards in (my) course. Alas! would that I had (still) been earth!

Would that I had not chosen to travel away from earthiness, (and that) like a clod of earth I had gathered some grain!

When I travelled, the Way tried me: what was the present I brought (home) from this travelling?”

’Tis from all that propensity of his towards earth that he sees before him no profit in the journey.

His turning his face back is that greed and cupidity (of his); his turning his face to the Way is sincerity and supplication.

Every herb that has a propensity for (moving) upwards is in (the state of) increase and life and growth;

When it has turned its head towards the earth, (it is) in (the state of) decrease and dryness and failure and disappointment.

When the propensity of your spirit is upwards, (you are) in (the state of) increase, and that (lofty) place is the place to which you will return;

But if you are upside down, (with) your head towards the earth, (then) you are one that sinks: God loves not them that sink.