English
Return to the Tale of the Wounded-Hearted Dervish
In short, that ragged, destitute man wept and cried out for a long while.
People gathered all around him, crowding in like moths around that candle.
Among them stood a man of pure heart and bright soul, who through insight grasped that poor man's state.
From the outside he read the man's inner condition; he knew the wound and recognized its cure.
When the knower of God becomes aware of the Truth, he inevitably sees by the light of God.
Freed from the stain of 'me and you,' he is light within light within light.
His sight is nothing but the light of God; indeed, he is not even aware of any sight of his own.
He has shattered his jar and merged into the sea; he is done with negation and dwells in affirmation.
His being has become wholly the light of God; he is the exempted part, saved from annihilation.
He knows neither sickness, nor recovery, nor remedy; these belong to the body, and he has reduced the body to nothing.
Since he escaped himself and was freed from self, God said: 'I fell ill and you did not visit Me.'
He is the light of God and the absolute friend; the pole of the age and a traveler on the path of Truth.
Free of every bond, he has become absolute, wholly the simple, undivided light of God.
If he breathes out 'I am the Truth,' he is moving upon the rays of the absolute light.
Pure as this pearl is, it too was pierced by the Sufi; so do not say that Hairi has lost his mind.
Hairi is not bewildered by such talk, yet an ancient secret is better kept hidden from you.
Beware, my friend, on the path of right guidance: do not be troubled by talk of indwelling and union.
Do not slip into the idea of indwelling here, if you are a traveler; instead enter divine manifestation, so you may go forward aware.
What is truth? It is to be delivered from perishing, to receive everlasting life from God.
He is truly with God who attains permanence through God; this saying is true when it is spoken.
This is not the speech of disbelief and error; do not think ill of the righteous.
Pass beyond multiplicity and behold unity; leave separation behind and behold the gathering together.
The man who battles a lifeless enemy with his sword is only cutting his own body to pieces.
With the pickaxe of denial and wrong words, he destroys the foundation of meaning.
If you would find the secret, listen to the rule of Truth: the light of God is not put out by a puff of breath.
If a dog barks along a road, when would a traveler abandon that road for it?
Take your own path and go on; pay little heed to every stranger's empty chatter.
Those masters who have completed the path, when did they ever lend an ear to the barking of dogs?
Call the impure Sufi a man gone astray; know him as a ravenous wolf in sheep's clothing.
To catch his prey he has lit his trap, set up a shop for the ignorant.
For the sake of bread he does these shameless things, and ruins the honor of true Sufis.
Likewise there are wolves in every kind of clothing; it is not only the Sufis who suffer this slander.
Open your eyes and learn to know well: tell the wolf from the sheep by its nature, not its dress.
Not everyone has the chance to rise to the throne of glory, steadfastness, and saintly nearness.
He who steps onto the road of truth and purity reaches, on the path of God, the rank of the chosen.
He shut his eyes to all beauty but His; in seeking His good pleasure, he burned away his own will.
He cut his heart from all else and befriended Him; so he became free to choose Him over everything.
He found his way to the Beloved's house; in the Beloved's presence he found high standing.
Through His bounty he became master of a hundred treasures, freed from the filth of the shopkeeper's trade.
He has seen the spread of His giving, and so he has shut down this soup-kitchen of a shop.
He has put his trust in 'the Best of Guardians,' freed from the filth of all this idle talk.
He has made 'whoever trusts in God' his habit; his reward has come: 'then He is enough for him.'
He has lost himself in the selfhood of the Majestic One, and so found a hundred everlasting selves.
He has cast the gaming-piece of his heart into the Beloved's lap, gambling away his own existence in His game.
Whether the chance shows him a height or a fall, or comes at him sideways like a maddened elephant,
Happy is the resolve that has driven away both right and left; he has been checkmated and has lost himself.
It is sweet even if it seems he wins, for the secret of lovers is a reversed horseshoe.
Any winning is His winning, not ours; our winning is nothing but defeat and entreaty.
How long will you boast of yourself, you self-worshiper? Catch hold of even one of His breaths.
These acts of worship done out of fear and hope are the craving of the self, not for the sake of God.
The obedience you offer for paradise's sake, even while you intend nearness to God through it,
If you want God, then what is this wanting for? And if not, then look: who is the one you truly worship?
Be fair with yourself, you man of judgment: can the love of two beloveds fit in one heart?
I am not saying do not ask Him for paradise; I say, seek it for the sake of nearness to God.
This longing too is a way of servanthood, yet He knows better who is the stranger to Him.
This longing is not fitting for everyone; this special worship belongs to the free.
The Lion of God said, in his hour of intimate prayer, to his own God out of pure need:
'My servanthood is not out of fear of hell, nor for the sake of gaining the gardens of bliss.'
'You are worthy that I sacrifice my life; whatever You command, that I will do.'
Such words befit the Lion of God; how could they be allowed to just anyone?
Such devotion is fitting for his followers; but tell me, where now is such a follower?
His true followers are those who manifest him; these and a hundred such gifts are fit only for them.
Whatever the heart seeks other than God, layer upon layer, even if it seems nearness to Him, it is hidden idolatry, my friend.
The hidden idolatry that lies in hearts is subtler than the creeping of an ant.
Cleanse your heart, dear soul, of the rust of idolatry; make yourself nimble for His service.
Read in the Quran the call of the sincere; one is commanded to nothing better than this.
When service comes purified of self-interest, nothing is its reward but the Master Himself.
The Truth said, 'Fasting is for Me,' you ruined heart; 'and I Myself am its reward, the best of recompenses.'
How long this crooked path? For here I have read His word: 'I am as My servant thinks of Me.'
Beware, do not walk in evil suspicion; keep your foot firm on the path of love.
Why have you made your heart bitter, you frustrated one? You have driven yourself away from this faith.
Why have you made yourself so bewildered? Cast away this far-fetched brooding.
Why have you become lost over others, wandering at every hour into temple and monastery?
Why so distraught, searching for a nest, when you are neither among the birds of the sky nor have a home of your own?
By God, by God, take heart, my companion; do not let your foot slip from the straight path.
Behold: 'whoever draws near to Me a hand's span,' He has pledged, 'I draw near to him an arm's length.'
Oh, what a benefactor, righteous and tender! Oh, what a generous One, unique and merciful!
Out of grace He has nurtured a handful of dust, and shown the pure soul to be His own.
And that house the Friend has called His own home, and through His care it became the dawning-place of lights.
The Truth said: I am beyond being and space; I am free of their how-much and how-so.
My pure Essence is free of limit and number, not in the way that being-unbound is itself a kind of bond.
Though I am beyond every tale and telling, still My home is in the heart of the believer.
Go and make this house flourish, so you may find the soul's own Beloved.
Cleanse this dawning-place of lights, so that in it you may see the beauty of the Friend.
Purify the heart, the dawning-place of lights; lend your soul's ear to the song of 'but for you.'
The seclusion of the heart is the display-place of our Friend; it is a polished mirror of holiness that reflects the Truth.
There is no permission to explain this further, though it is not hidden from the people of the heart.
Far-seeing reason said: do not linger here; hold this breath in, for you have no leave to speak it.
Strike up another tune here; begin the tale of that lion.
Though this lion's tale springs from that secret, in its outward form it still bears a trace of the hidden.
What grief is it to us if this verse stays obscure? This very breath is our dawning-place of lights.
This book of ours, the Dawning-Place of Lights, will in the end reveal our secrets.
I too will pass beyond this verse here, and move on to other breaths and verses.
It is sweeter that the secret of lovers be told within the story of others.