There was no grace left which that fair idol did not perform; what fault is it of ours, if he acted not generously towards you?
You are upbraiding because that beauty was cruel; whoever saw a lovely one in both worlds who acted not cruelly?
His love is sugar enough, even if he gave not sugar; his beauty is all fidelity, even if he was not faithful.
Show me a house that is not filled with lamps of him; show me a portico which his cheek has not filled with brightness.
This eye and that lamp are two lights, each one on its own; when the two met, none made parting between them.
When the spirit became lost in contemplation, it said this: “None has contemplated the beauty of God but God.”
Each one of these similitudes is at once an exposition and an error; only out of jealousy God named His Face, By the Forenoon.
The sun of the face of Shams al-D¯ın, Pride of Tabriz, never shone on aught transient but it made it eternal.
