On Knowing the World of Hypocrisy

A scholar who lets this trait take over his mind sets fire to the faith of the Prophet. Day and night he takes the path of falsehood, and from constant arguing he burns as if with fever. He turns rebellious against a fellow Muslim in debate, then speaks with pompous show and bluster. All for a reputation among the people of the world, he preys on people like a ravening beast. To make his own falsehood look like truth, he stings people like a mosquito. You who claim the rank of a jurist, you play the fool among the Muslims. Since foolishness is no way to safety, give some thought at last to what you are doing. So that you are not merely a matter of 'kaf and nun', not of the kind of whom it is said 'they do not understand'. Build your house on the knowledge of the sacred law, for the sake of the Provider, not for the sake of your daily bread. It is a mistake to bend the law to fit yourself; you must straighten yourself to fit the law. You who are trapped in 'permitted and not permitted', close your eyes to your own self-regard. How long will you pour out your soul over grammar and syntax? The knowledge of the people of the heart is a total erasure of the self. Lift the pride of your name and your soul will open; break the outward trappings and faith will stand firm. When your heart is freed from Satan's pull, after that you become of the added, joined kind. You stay busy with hollow verbs, and the doubled ailment grows worse every moment. The past has passed, and nothing remains but mere talk; what will your state be in the future? You, ruined by your own evil-commanding self, veiled from the friend who gives your soul its life. How long will you roam mountain and plain like a beast of burden? Turn toward the divine 'He, He' from the good place of return.