English
The Third Assembly
The Messenger of God (peace be upon him) said: Whoever wakes with a single concern, God suffices him against all the cares of this world and the next; but whoever is scattered among many concerns, God does not care in which valley he perishes.
The chief of the world and lord of Adam's children (peace be upon him) says this: whoever rises in the morning from his bed of sleep, and in his heart there is the care of faith, and in his breast the sorrow of Islam, and in his soul the love of the Most High, then God, in His generosity and grace, sends His eternal favor to be his everlasting sufficiency. But whoever has some other passion in his heart, or some other grief lodged in his breast, God sends the armies of His wrath to raid his very being, and with the sword of His majesty's power He strikes off the head of his rebellion, and no one has the right to ask why this, or how that.
At the threshold of Your glory all creatures are humbled;
no one may ask why this, or how that.
You who have hoarded love for every unworthy stranger inside you, how long will this scattering last? You who have sold your heart in a thousand markets of others' love, how long will this turmoil go on?
You brought your heart to my market and sold it;
once sold to me, do not sell it in another market.
You who do not keep our words on your tongue, how long this silence? You who never remember your friend, how long this forgetting? You who set up a market with everyone, how long this disgrace? You who make yourself agreeable to all, how long this unevenness? You who find a place among all the worthless, how long this humiliation? Whoever makes forgetting us his trade, and does not melt soul, body, and heart in the fire of our love, then We too, in Our justice, proclaim throughout the realm of dominion and the unseen: 'They forgot God, so He forgot them; truly the hypocrites are the corrupt.' And We make them part of Satan's army: 'Satan overcame them and made them forget the remembrance of God; those are the party of Satan.'
This is the mark of strangers and the brand of the banished. Come, let us tell the sign of the intimate and speak of true men. You who at dawn lift your head from the pillow and drink the draught of our love, may it be sweet to you. You who each night roast your heart on the fire of our love and turn your liver to blood from longing for us, blessed be you. You whose body burns in our pain and whose soul is kindled by our love, may this burning increase in you.
Noble one, never imagine that love of this world and longing for the next can go together. This world and the hereafter are two rival wives: when you please one, you anger the other. You can have this world or the next; you can have desire or you can have God. But whoever wants both this world and the hereafter, that comes to nothing, for the friendship of the Beloved is a sovereignty that shares with no one; on the road of love, either you fit or I do. Kindle a fire from His love, then burn the world in that fire, then the hereafter. Once you have burned world and hereafter, burn yourself, for on His road, just as world and hereafter are obstacles, your own being is an obstacle too. As long as the burden of your existence remains, the sovereign of His presence stays hidden behind the veil of His majesty. Love came charging upon Moses (peace be upon him). He climbed the mountain, stood firm with the step of sincerity, and said, 'Show me.' The answer came: O Moses, you still hold on to your own self, adding it to yourself when you say 'Show me.' This matter cannot bear the burden of your existence; either you can be, or We can, 'You will never see Me.' The sovereign of Our presence cast a shadow over his being, so that he became nothing and hid himself in the concealment of non-existence; only then did We reveal Ourself. With Moses, leave the self behind, and turn to Us; see Us, for whoever sees Us sees only by Us. They asked the Commander of the Faithful, Ali (may God be pleased with him): How did you know your Lord? He said: I knew my Lord through my Lord. I knew Him by Him, and knew that had I not known Him through Him, I would never have found the way to the pavilions of His glory and knowledge. Beware the insight of the believer, for he sees by the light of God.
The peacock of the knowers, Bayazid Bastami (may God sanctify his soul), one night in the private chamber of revelations flung the lasso of longing over the battlement of God's grandeur, kindled the fire of love in his being, opened his tongue in helplessness and weakness, and said: O Lord, when will I reach You? My God, how long shall I burn in the fire of Your separation? When will You give me the draught of union? A voice came within him: Bayazid, you are still your own 'you'; your self travels with you. If you wish to reach Us, leave your self at the door and come in.
How glorious the chief of the world and the best of Adam's children, that you alone can say, 'Were Moses alive, he would have no choice but to follow me.' Moses and all others must learn love-making from you, for he says 'Show me' and is told 'You are still your own you; your self travels with you.' When fortune's turn reaches you, who are the master of all beings and the lord of all creation, you say: 'As for me, I do not say I.' I will never say 'I,' for in the presence of the Beloved nothing suits us but nothingness; since existence is His, nothing but non-being can unpack its baggage for us. 'Have you not seen your Lord?' I do not know what tenderness the very first letter of 'Have you not seen' holds within itself, nor what flirtations it plays with the souls of lovers. Noble one, which lover has the right to command the Beloved? If the Beloved, out of generosity, lays a hand of grace on someone's head, that is another matter, but the lover is dismissed from all initiative, and if he presumes to act, that act is unacceptable. When Muhammad, the Messenger of God (peace be upon him), walked the road with perfect courtesy and saw his own unworthiness, he knew that the ornament and adornment fitting him was this: 'The eye did not swerve, nor did it transgress.' Since 'the eye did not swerve' was his trait, they said to him, 'Have you not seen your Lord?' But when Moses passed judgment upon the Eternal and Everlasting, a right that was not his, they branded the mark of deprivation on the brow of his desire, forged a nail from 'You will never see Me,' and drove it into the pupils of his longing, so that his eye might learn courtesy.
Noble one, the Beloved is all glory, majesty, and grandeur, and the lover is all submission, humility, and lowliness. The lover keeps saying: 'Show me, that I may look upon You.' The Beloved proclaims throughout the realm of dominion and the unseen: 'You will never see Me.' And the fallen ones of love's desert cry out: 'O mighty one, hardship has touched us and our people, and we have come with meager goods, so give us full measure and be charitable to us; truly God rewards the charitable.'