The Opening: In Praise of God

In the name of God, who gives life to the soul, the wise one who set speech upon the tongue. God, the generous one who lifts the fallen, kind, forgiving of faults, accepting of apologies. So honored that whoever turned away from his door found no honor at any other door. The heads of proud, high-necked kings bow to the ground of need before his gate. He does not seize the defiant in haste, nor drive off those who bring their excuses with cruelty. And if he grows angry at an ugly deed, once you return, he closes the matter and lets it go. If someone picks a fight with his father, the father will surely burn with anger. And if a relative is displeased with his kin, he drives him from his sight like a stranger. If a servant is not quick at his work, his master does not hold him dear. If you are not kind to your companions, your companion flees miles away from you. If a soldier abandons his service, the warlike king washes his hands of him. But God, the lord of high and low, never shut the door of sustenance on anyone for disobedience. Both worlds are but one drop from his sea of knowledge; he sees the sin and veils it in his patience. The surface of the earth is his table set for all; at this open feast, what matters friend or foe? If he moved swiftly against the cruel, who would find safety from the grip of his wrath? His essence is free of any rival or likeness; his kingdom needs no worship from spirits or humans. All things and all beings serve his command: humankind, birds, ants, and flies. He spreads the tablecloth of his grace so wide that even the Simorgh feeds on its share atop Mount Qaf. Gentle, generous, and provident, keeper of creation and knower of its secrets. To him alone belong majesty and self-sufficiency, for his kingdom is eternal and his essence is rich beyond need. On one head he sets the crown of fortune; another he casts down from the throne into the dust. One wears the cap of happiness; another wears the coarse cloak of misery. For Abraham he turns fire into a rose garden; a whole people he drowns in the waters of the Nile. If it is the first, it is the decree of his kindness; if the second, it is the seal of his command. He sees evil deeds behind the curtain, yet he himself draws a veil over them with his generosity. If in threat he raises the sword of judgment, even the angels fall silent, deaf and mute. And if he offers a single call of mercy, even Satan says: 'Let me take a share.' At the gate of his grace and greatness, the great ones lay their greatness aside. He is near in mercy to the helpless, responsive in his call to those who plead. His knowledge sees clearly into things not yet come to be; his kindness knows the secrets never spoken. By his power he holds heights and depths in place; he is lord of the ledger on the Day of Reckoning. No back is free of the need to obey him, and no one can lay a finger of objection on his word. Eternal, doer of good, lover of what is good, he draws the design in the womb with the pen of fate. From east to west he set the moon and sun in motion, and laid the world upon the water. The earth grew weary from its trembling, so he drove the nails of mountains into its skirt. He gives the sperm a form fair as a fairy; who else has painted a picture upon water? He sets rubies and turquoise inside the loins of stone, and red roses on turquoise-colored branches. From the cloud he drops a drop toward the sea; from the loins he casts a seed into the womb. From that drop he makes a shining pearl, and from this seed he shapes a form tall as a cypress. Not one speck of knowledge is hidden from him, for the seen and the unseen are one before him. He provides the sustenance of snake and ant, though they have no hands, no feet, no strength. At his command existence took shape from nothing; who but he can make being out of what is not? Then he returns it again into the hiding place of nothingness, and from there brings it to the field of resurrection. The world agrees upon his divinity, yet stands helpless before the truth of his essence. No human found what lies beyond his majesty; no eye reached the utmost of his beauty. The bird of imagination cannot fly to the height of his essence, nor can the hand of understanding reach the hem of his attributes. In this whirlpool a thousand ships have gone down, and not a single plank washed up on the shore. How many nights I sat lost in this searching, until dread seized my sleeve and cried: 'Rise!' The King's knowledge encompasses all that exists; your reasoning cannot encompass him. No perception reached the depth of his essence, no thought reached the bottom of his attributes. One can reach the eloquence of Sahban, but not the depth of the incomparable God. For the chosen ones have galloped their steeds on this road and fallen short of the run, crying: 'I cannot count your praise.' You cannot ride your horse in every place; in some places you must throw down your shield and surrender. And if a seeker becomes intimate with the secret, they close the door of return upon him. In this gathering the cup is given only to the one whom they have first dosed with the draught of unconsciousness. One falcon has its eyes stitched shut; another has open eyes but scorched wings. No one found the way to Qarun's treasure; and if he did, he found no way back out. I died in this surging sea of blood, from which no one has steered a ship to safety. If you long to cross this ground, first hamstring the horse of returning. Gaze into the mirror of your heart, and gradually you will gain its clarity. Perhaps a scent of love will make you drunk and set you seeking the covenant of eternity. On the feet of longing you will travel there, and from there fly upon the wings of love. Certainty tears through the veils of illusion, until nothing remains but the pavilion of his majesty. Then the steed of reason can no longer run; bewilderment seizes its reins and says: 'Stop.' In this sea only the guided one made it through; lost was the one who did not follow the caller. Those who have turned away from this road went far and wandered, bewildered. Whoever chose a path against the Prophet will never arrive at the destination. Do not imagine, Saadi, that the road of purity can be walked except in the footsteps of the Chosen One.