← Volver a la ficha del textoPersian Heritage Series
Edited by Ehsan Yarshater
Number 35
The Path of God’s Bondsmen
from Origin to Return
’ (Mersad al-‘ebad men al-mabda’ ela’l-ma'ad)
A Sufi Compendium by Najm al-Din Razi, known as Daya
Translated from the Persian, with introduction and annotation
by
Hamid Algar
Professor of Persian and Islamic Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Caravan Books
Delmar, New York
1982
Contents
Transcription Notes vii
Acknowledgements ix
Preface by E. Yarshater xi
Introduction by Hamid Algar 1
Prologue 25
Contents 29
First Part 33
First Chapter: The Utility of Composing This Work 34
Second Chapter: The Reason for Writing the Book 38
Third Chapter: The Manner and Method the Book is
Written 51
Second Part 59
First Chapter: The Creation of Spirits and the Degrees
of Knowledge 60
Second Chapter: The World of Dominion 70
Third Chapter: The Different Realms of Kingship
and Dominion 80
Fourth Chapter: The Creation of the Human Frame 94
Fifth Chapter: The Attachment of the Spirit to
the Frame 110
Third Part 123
First Chapter: The Veils That Cover the Human Spirit 124
Second Chapter: The Wise Purpose for Attachment of
the Spirit to the Frame 132
Third Chapter: The Need for Prophets 149
Fourth Chapter: The Abrogation of Previous Religions 153
Fifth Chapter: The Cultivation of the Human Frame 179
Sixth Chapter: The Refinement of the Soul 190
Seventh Chapter: The Purification of the Heart. 201
Eighth Chapter: The Adornment of the Spirit 220
Ninth Chapter: The Need for a Shaikh 235
Tenth Chapter: The Conditions and Attributes of the
Shaikh 243
Eleventh Chapter: The Conditions, Attributes, and
Customs of the Morfd . 255
Twelfth Chapter: The Need for Zekr 268
Thirteenth Chapter: The Method of Zekr 271
Fourteenth Chapter: The Transmission of Zekr 274
Fifteenth Chapter: The Need for Seclusion 279
Sixteenth Chapter: Visions Deriving from the Unseen 286
Seventeenth Chapter: The Witnessing of Lights 294
Eighteenth Chapter: Unveiling and its Varieties 304
Nineteenth Chapter: Manifestation of the Divine
Essence 310
Twentieth Chapter: Attaining to the Divine Presence 324
Fourth Part
First Chapter: The Return of the Oppressive Soul 334
Second Chapter: The Return of the Inspired Soul 349
Third Chapter: The Return of the Foremost Soul 359
Fourth Chapter: The Return of the Most Wretched
Soul 376
Fifth Part
First Chapter: The Wayfaring of Kings 395
Second Chapter: Kings and Their Conduct 411
Third Chapter: The Wayfaring of Ministers and
Deputies 433
Fourth Chapter: The Wayfaring of Different Classes of
Scholar 445
Fifth Chapter: The Wayfaring of the Holders of
Wealth 460
Sixth Chapter: The Wayfaring of Farmers 471
Seventh Chapter: The Wayfaring of Merchants 476
Eighth Chapter: The Wayfaring of Tradesmen and
Craftsmen 482
Conclusion 494
Bibliography 499
Name, Place, and Subject Index 507
Index of Qur’anic Verses 530
Listing of Volumes in Bibliotheca Persica 532
Transcription
The transcription system used here for Persian and for Arabic
elements in Persian, aims for simplicity and accuracy, and has been
jointly adopted by Corpus Inscripdonum Iranicarum, Encyclopaedia
Persica, The Persian Heritage Series, The Persian Studies Series,
Bibliotheque Persane, and Meisterwerke der persischen Literatur.
Persian
Arabic
Persian
Arabic
Persian
c
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z
d
Vowels
v-J
b
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t
T!
a
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P
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\s
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Cj
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t
3
u
Cj
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t
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lS
I
£
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v—9
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q
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Arabic
(but iy)
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Note:
The more familiar and commonly used proper names and titles when
not an integral part of the name, and other commonly known words
have been anglicized without diacritics for the sake of simplicity
(e.g., shah, Isfahan, Turkman, khan, etc.)-
Acknowledgements
To Professor Ehsan Yarshater, for accepting this translation,
for inclusion in the Persian Heritage Series, and his patience in
the face of a delay that saw the original deadline for completion
fade into oblivion; to Mr. Hasan Zowqi, of the Bongah-e Nasr va
Tarjoma-ye Ketab, Tehran, for his kindness in providing me with
proofs of Dr. Riyahi’s edition of the Mersad before its publica-
tion; to two cherished friends and colleagues — Dr. Abdulhadi
Hairi, for reviewing the translation in accordance with the regu-
lations of the series, and Dr. Assad Busool, for his assistance in
identifying the source of Traditions quoted in the work; to
Florence Myer, for the characteristic punctiliousness she de-
voted to the typing of a long and difficult manuscript.
Hamid Algar
Preface
The present volume is a translation for the first time in a
Western language of one of the major works on Islamic mys-
ticism. The author, Najm al-Din RazI, an acknowledged Sufi
master of the thirteenth century, lived at a time when the
Islamic Middle East was going through a turbulent period of
its histroy, marked by many disruptions and calamities, culmina-
ting in the Mongol invasion. Despite this grim background, or
perhaps partially because of it, the period witnessed a flowering
of mystical thought and practice and a flourishing of Sufi writ-
ings. It was in this period that major systematizations of
speculative Sufism and elaborations of Sufi ritual and practice
were worked out.
RazI, who like Ghazall adhered to the Sunnite branch of
Islam and followed the Ash’arite theology, focused his attendon
on the exploration and analysis of the visionary states exper-
ienced by the Sufis in the course of their mystical journey. In
elaborating his system in the Mersad, RazI strikes a middle
course between those mystics who concentrated on ecstacy and
spiritual raptures and neglected or made light of religious
observances and rituals, and the ascetic Sufis who emphasized
worship through meticulous or excessive performance of reli-
gious duties. He particularly stresses the necessity of having a
mentor ( plr , shaikh) and the proper regard for the rules and
rites of Sufi hospices ( kanegahs ).
The Mersad has been one of the most successful as well as
one of the most popular treatises on Sufism. It offers a system-
atic exposition of Sufi doctrine and practice as it has evolved
by the seventh century of Islam.
The translation, ably rendered and annotated by Professor
Algar, is based on the critical edition by Dr. Mohammad Amin
Rlahl (Tehran, 1973). It is hoped that its publication will
further promote a knowledge of Islamic mysticism.
Ehsan Yarshater
Introduction
i
Sufism, the inner dimension of Islam, began, it is said, as “a
reality without a name.” Its beginnings are coterminous with
those of Islam itself, for it is firmly rooted in the Qur’anic revela-
tion and the exemplary person and model of the Prophet Mo-
hammad, upon whom be peace. Yet the word Sufi does not occur
in the text of the Qur’an, nor did it exist in the lifetime of the
Prophet and his companions. It emerged, rather, in the process
of a historical elaboration that made explicit and differentiated
what had previously been implicit and undifferentiated; the
inner and outer dimensions of the religion each attained a sepa-
rate identity within the subsuming framework of its total struc-
ture. The early elaboration of Sufism is parallel and comple-
mentary to the establishment of the discipline of jurisprudence
and the emergence of the law schools; both phenomena oc-
curred at approximately the same time, the second and third
centuries of the Islamic era (eighth and ninth centuries of the
Christian era ). 1 In this period, lines of mystical affiliation grew
up; an expository literature was written; a technical vocabulary
was elaborated; paraliturgical practices were formalized;, and
distinct institutional forms came into being.
The stages of this process cannot even be sketched here; suf-
fice it to say that numerous channels of development converged
in the seventh century of the Islamic era (thirteenth century of
the Christian era) to produce one of the richest and most brilliant
epochs in the history of Sufism, almost as if all that had gone
before constituted a preparation for what has been termed “a
fresh flowering or second youth” of Islam . 2 This flourishing of
Sufism took place against a somber background of barbarian
invasion — the Crusaders descended on the Islamic world from the
west, and the Mongols from the east — and it may almost be re-
*See Victor Danner, "The Necessity for the Rise of the Term Sufi,” Studies in
Comparative Religion, spring 1972, pp. 71-77.
2 By Martin Lings, in his introduction to R. W. J. Austin’s translation of Ebn
‘Arabl Sufis of Andalusia (London, 1971), pp. 11-12.
1
Hamid Algar
garded as a kind of compensation for the political disasters of
the period. From the Islamic west arose the supreme master of
Islamic theosophy, Ebn Arab! (d. 638/1240), whose career
embraced Cairo, Damascus, and Konya, where he gained a num-
ber of disciples who assured the dissemination of his teachings
throughout the eastern Islamic world. Several Sufi orders
emerged in Egypt, including the Badawlya of Ahmad al-Badaw!
(d. 674/1276) and the Sazellya of Abu’l-Hasan Sazell, who died
in 656/1258, the same year as the Mongol conquest of Baghdad,
and whose order, with its numerous derivatives, continues to
dominate the spiritual life of North Africa down to the present
day. Anatolia witnessed the career of Mowlana Jalal al-Dln
Rum! (d. 672/1273), who composed some of the greatest liter-
ary monuments of Sufism in the Persian language and founded
an order that enriched the cultural life of the Turkish people for
almost five centuries. In India, the CestI order arose under the
auspices of Mo'In al-D!n CestI (d. 633/1236), and the SohravardI
order, brought to the subcontinent by Baha al-Dln Zakartya
MoltanI (d. 665/1267), began to take firm root. And finally in
Central Asia we encounter the figure of Abd al-Kaleq GejdovanI
(d. 616/1220), the spiritual ancestor of the Naqsbandl order;
several important shaikhs of the cognate Yasavl order; and,
most important, the Kobrav! order to which was affiliated
Najm al-dln Daya RazI, author of the present work.
The founder of the Kobrav! order, Najm al-Dln Kobia, was
born in 540/1145-1146 in the city of Karazm to the south of the
Aral Sea; although he traveled for many years in other regions
of the Islamic world, he spent the major part of his life in his
birthplace and died there. He was in a sense the patron saint of
Karazm, and it was there, and in contiguous regions of Central
Asia, that his order initially spread. He began his career as a
scholar of prophetic Tradition (kiadis) and theology (kalam),
traveling wide in the cultivation of these disciplines. His interest
in Sufism was awakened in Egypt, where he became a morid
of Shaikh Ruzbehan al-Wazzan al-Mesrl, who had been ihitiated
into the SohravardI line. After a number of years in Egypt, he
went to Tabriz to pursue his studies of kalam, but came instead
under the influence of a certain Baba Faraj Tabrtzl, who per-
suaded him to abandon his concern with the external religious
2
Introduction
sciences and devote himself fully to the Sufi path. He then spent
some time in the company of two other preceptors, Ammar b.
Yaser and Esma'il al-Qasri, before returning to Shaikh Ruz-
behan in Egypt. Ruzbehan evidently regarded Kobra by then as
fully mature, for in about 540/1 145 he sent him back to Karazm
with full authority to iniuate and train his own disciples.
Kobra swiftly gathered a large following in Karazm, including
an extraordinary number of individuals who attained promi-
nence in their own right as gnostics and writers on Sufism. He
is, in fact, frequently designated in the traditional literature as
vali-taras, the "manufacturer of saints.” Among the foremost
disciples of Kobra we may mention Majd al-Dln Bagdad! (d.
616/1219), Sa‘d al-Din Idamuya (d. 650/1252), Baba Kamal
Jandi, Seyf al-Din Bakarzi (d. 658/1260), Razi al-Dln All
Lala (d. 642/1244), and Kobra’s namesake, the author of this
book, Najm al-Din Day a Razi.
The major emphasis in the wriung and teaching of Najm al-
Din Kobra was on the analysis of visionary experience that un-
folds itself to the wayfarer on the Sufi path, and the morphology
of man’s inner being. He examined the differing significances of
dreams and visions; the degrees of luminous epiphany that are
manifested to the mystic and their origins; the various classes of
concept and image (kavater) that engages the Sufi’s attention
and their significance; and the nature of the heart, the spirit and
the "mystery,” as well as the interrelation between these subtle
centers of cognition ( lata’ef ). He transmitted these emphases to
his followers, including Daya, who as we shall see enlarged
upon the terminology and classification of his master in one re-
spect. 3
Najm al-Din Kobra died during the Mongol conquest of
Karazm in 618/1221; according to the traditional accounts, he
refused an invitation by the Mongols to leave the city before
3 The life and work of Najm al-Dln Kobra have been exhaustively examined by
Fritz Meier in his long introduction to Kobra’s Fawa’ih al-Jamal wa Fawalih
al-Jalal (Wiesbaden, 1957). The late Marijan Mole published several of Kobra’s
briefer works under the title “Traites Mineurs de Nagrn al-Dln Kubra,”
Annates Islamologiqu.es , Cairo, IV (1963), 1-78.
3
H amid A Igar
they proceeded with their massacre of the inhabitants, and died
at the head of a band of his followers while engaged in hand-to-
hand combat with the attackers. He is reputed to have been
buried at the site of his kanaqah (hospice) outside the city. His
tomb, located in what subsequently became known as Kohne-
Urgenj, became a center of pious visitation, and is said to retain
this function even under Soviet rule. 4 Various disciples perpetu-
ated his line, and even took a kind of revenge on the killers of
their master by presiding over their meek conversion to Islam.
Seyf al-Dln Bakarzl established a well-endowed kanaqah in
Bokhara, some time between 644/1246 and 651/1253. Berke
Kan, the fifth ruler of the Golden Horde, came to it to proclaim
his acceptance of Islam. 5 Another disciple, Sa‘d al-Dln Hamuya,
initially took refuge in Syria from the Mongol invaders but later
turned eastward again and set up his kanaqah at Bahrabad in
Khorasan. The direction of the kanaqah was inherited by his son,
$adr al-Dln Ebrahlm, who in 694/1295 presided over the con-
version to Islam of Gazan Kan the Ilkhanid, ruler of another
branch of the Mongol empire. 6
Other members of the Kobravl line continued to cultivate
the analytical and speculative interests of Najm al-Dln Kobra.
For example, ‘Aziz al-Dln NasafI, a morid of Sa‘d al-Dln
Hamuya, wrote an important treatise on the Sufi concept of the
Perfect Man, the dominant theme of all Sufi anthropology. 7
Rokn al-Dln ‘Ala al-Dowla SemnanI (d. 736/1336), connected
’To the references concerning his tomb assembled by Meier (pp. 60-62), we
can add the following information: that invisible winged dogs are popularly
thought to guard Kobia’s tomb; and that stone troughs placed at either side of
the entrance to the tomb are filled by pilgrims piously desirous of slaking the
dogs’ thirst (G. P. Snesarev, Relikty Domusul'manskikh Verovanii i Obryadov u
Uzbekov Khorezma, Moscow, 1969, pp. 269, 322).
5 On the life and writings of Bakarzl, see Sa'ld NaflsI, “Seyf al-dln Bakarzl,”
Majalla-ye daneshada-ye adablyal, II; 4, Tir, 1334/October, 1955, 1-15;
Iraj Afsar, Sargozast-e Seyf al-dln Bakarzl, Tehran, 1341 S./1962. The wealth
of his kanaqah is attested by the documents assembled by O. D. Chekhovich,
Bukharskie Dokumenly XIV v., Tashkent, 1965, and his role in the conversion of
Berke is described by Jean Richard in “La Conversion de Berke et les Debuts de
l’lslamisation de la Horde d’Or,” Revue des Eludes Islamiques, XXXV (1967),
173-178.
6 RashId ad-Dln Fadlullah, Tarlkh-i Mubarak-i Ghaza.nl, ed. Karl Jahn, Lon-
don, 1940, pp. 76-80.
7 AzIz al-Dln NasafI, Kelab al-ensan al-kamel, ed. Marijan M'ole, Tehran &
Paris, 1962.
4
Introduction
by two links of the initiadc chain with Razi al-Dln All Lala,
further elaborated the analysis of man’s subtle centers begun by
Najm al-Dln Kobra and Daya, and formulated a critique of the
theosophy of Ebn Arabi that had much influence on Indian
Sufism, particularly in Naqsbandl circles. 8
The major works of these writers have been published and
made the object of scholarly analysis; far less well known is the
subsequent history of the Kobravl order, both in its Central
Asian homeland and in more distant regions. Badr al-Dln
Samarqandl, a morid of Seyf al-Dln Bakarzi, traveled south-
ward to India and established a branch of the Kobravlya that
came to be known as the Ferdowslya. 9 Its most important figure
was Ahmad Yahya Maneri (d. 772/1371), author of a celebrated
collection of letters on Sufi topics and respected by the Togloq
sultans of Delhi. 10 It is not known how long the ka.na.qah atBahra-
bad survived; it probably disappeared by the fifteenth century
at the latest.
The most long-lived and prolific line deriving from Najm al-
Dln Kobra was that descending by way of Rail al-Dln All to
Ala al-Dowla Semnani; one of its derivatives, the Zahabiya,
is still to be found in Iran, although in very attenuated form.
All Hamadani, a morid successively of two of Semnani’s
followers, Taqi al-Dln Aki and Mahmud Mazdaqani, introduced
the Kobravl order to Badaksan and Kashmir. He was buried in
Kottalan (present-day Kolab, Tajik S.S.R.) in 786/1385. He
called himself a “second All” — not in a reincarnatory sense, but
in the sense that he possessed the same fullness of perfection as
the Prophet’s cousin, who was the first link in the inidatic
ancestry of the Kobravl order and, according to a tradition fre-
quently quoted by Kobravl authors, the gate to the city of
knowledge that was the Prophet. 11 Eshaq al-Kottalani, successor
a See Mokcitabat-e 'Abd al-rahmcin-e Esfara'eni va Ala al-dowla Semnani, ed.
Hermann Landolt, Tehran & Paris, 1972, and the copious bibliography given on
p. 33 of his introduction.
9 See J. S. Trimmingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam, Oxford, 1971, p. 56; and
Aziz Ahmad, An Intellectual History of Islam in India, Edinburgh, 1969, p. 43.
According to the latter, the Ferdowslya was restricted to the area of Behar.
10 The maktubat of Maneri were published at Lucknow in 1911.
’’Concerning Hamadani, see J. K. Teufel, Eine Lebensbeschreibung des
Scheichs Ali-i H amadani , Leiden, 1962.
5
Hamid Algar
of All Hamadanl, was murdered by emissaries of the Timurid
ruler Sahrok in about 826/1423, but before dying he appointed
as his successor Mohammad Nurbaks. The majority of the fol-
lowers of Kottalani accepted Nurbaks, but a minority disputed
his succession and gave their loyalty to one Abdollah Bar-
zesabadl. 12 This schism gave rise to two separate derivatives of
the Kobraviya, each with its own name, but having in common
an abandonment of Sunnism for Shi'ism. One was the Nur-
bakslya that survived into the Safavid period, although its his-
tory under the Safavids is in many respects obscure; the other
came to acquire, at a date and in a fashion unknown, the desig-
nation of Zahablya, and has survived down to the present in
Iran, where its major center is Shiraz. 13
Given this ultimate choice of Shi'ism by a relatively well-
studied branch of the Kobraviya, as well as expressions of devo-
tion for the Twelve Imams found in the writings of Najm al-Dln
Kobra himself, it has been assumed that the Kobravl order was
a proto-Shi'ite order from its inception. 14 This conclusion by no
means follows, however, since pious sentiments toward the
family of the Prophet and especially the Twelve Imams — primar-
ily but not exclusively associated with Shi' ism — are frequently
encountered in other Sufi orders, including those of militantly
Sunni affiliation such as the Naqsbandlya. 15 Then too, there is
the fact of the persistence of the Kobraviya as a purely Sunni
order in Central Asia and elsewhere. Here we can assemble only
disparate pieces of evidence, but they suffice to prove that the
Kobraviya flourished for many centuries in strictly Sunni en-
vironments. From the fourteenth century onward, radiating
12 Marijan Mole, "Les Kubrawiya entre Sunnisme et Shiisme aux Huitieme et
Neuvieme Siecles de l’Hegire,” Revue des Eludes Islamiques, XXIX (1961),
124-128.
13 Richard Gramlich, "Die schiitischen Denvischorden Persiens,” Abhandlun-
gen fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes, XXVI, 1 (1965), 14-26.
H This view was first put forward by that gluttonous appropriator of Sunni
gnostics, Ntirollah Sustarl (d. 1019/1610), in his celebrated Majales al-mo'menm
(II, 72-75 of the 1375/1955 Tehran edition). It has been resurrected in recent
years by S. H. Nasrand others on the basis of inconclusive evidence contained
in Mole’s article, "Les Kubrawiya entre Sunnisme et Shiisme.”
15 See the brief remarks contained in Hamid Algar, "Some Observations on Re-
ligion in Safavid Persia,” Iranian Studies, VII, 102 (winter-spring 1974),
287-290.
6
Introduction
from its center in, Bokhara, the Naqsbandlya became the dom-
inant order in Central Asia and ultimately displaced the
Kobravlya even in Karazm. There remained, however, areas of
Kobravi concentration, such as the small town of Saktari near
Bokhara; the shaikhs of Saktari produced an important corpus
of late Kobravi literature, and their line persisted until at least
the early seventeenth century. 16 Somewhat to the south, we en-
counter in late nineteenth-century Afghanistan the figure of
Mian Faqlrollah, a renowned Kobravi saint and the author of
a work much read in that country, Qotb al-ersad. 11 There appears
also to have been a considerable transmission of the Kobravi
order itself — not the derivatives listed above — to India, although
the Kobravi line frequently became intertwined with others,
multiple affiliation to numerous Sufi orders being a common
feature of Indian Sufism. Thus, Taj al-Dln al-‘OsmanI (d. 1050/
1640), known primarily as a Naqsbandl, was also affiliated with
the Kobravlya, and wrote a treatise on the methods of spiritual
realization used by the Kobravls. 18 The Kobravlya was trans-
mitted eastward from Central Asia to China and struck root
among the Muslims of Kansu, although not much is known of its
history there. 19 Finally, there are traces of the Kobravlya in Tur-
key, although no lasting implantation took place. 20
The Kobravlya derives its importance in the history of Sufism
not so much from its longevity and the ubiquitousness of its
branches, whether Shi'ite or Sunni, as from the influence exerted
by its analytical theories and literature. The most influential
and widely read of all Kobravi writings was, without doubt, the
present work, Mersad al-‘ebad. We now turn to an examination
of the career of its author, Najm al-Dln Daya Razl.
16 See A. A. Semenov, Sobranie Voslochnykh Rukopisei Ahademii N auk Uz-
bekskoi SSR, Tashkent, 1955, III, 327-328.
17 See introduction by Kalil Kalill to the Neynama of Ya'qub Cark.1 and Abd
al-Rahman Jam!, Kabul, 1336 S./1957, p. 2.
18 Al-MohebbI, Kolasat al-asar fi a'yan al-qarn al-hadi 'asar, Bulaq, 1284/
1867, I, 469.
19 Mohammad Tawazoc, al-eslam wa 'yStn, Cairo, 1364/1945, p. 1 12.
Z0 Kamal al-Dln al-Harin, Tebyan wasa'el al-haqa’eq wa salasel al-tara’-eq, ms.
Ibrahim Efendi (Istanbul), III, ff. 79a-84b.
7
H amid. A Igar
II
Abu Bakr Abdollah b. Mohammad b. Sahavaral-Asadl al-Razi,
commonly known by the laqab, or sobriquet, of Najm al-Dln,
combined with the further title of Daya 21 and the toponymous
designation of Razi, was born in the year 573/1177 in the city
of Ray, one of the major centers of urban life and culture in pre-
Mongol Iran. 22 Even before the disasters of the Mongol conquest
and the sacking of Ray, the vitality of the city was being sapped
by continuous disputes between various Saljuq princes, all of
whom claimed rule over it, as well as by incessant clashes be-
tween the followers of different schools of law — Hanafi, Safe‘1,
and Shi'ite. This turmoil may have incited Daya to leave his
native city, for a number of allusions to the instability of the age
and the evil of fanatical attachment to one school of law are to
be found in his work. 23 It was, in any event, the habit of both
scholars and Sufis to travel widely throughout the Islamic lands,
and according to the autobiographical sketch with which he
prefaced his celebrated commentary on the Qu’ran, Daya left
Ray in 599/1202-03, visiting in turn Syria, Egypt, Hejaz, Iraq,
and Azerbaijan. 24 In the present work he also mentions having
been in Cairo and Damascus in the year 600/1204. 25 He recounts
too, certain memories of Mecca, but these may relate to his
second hajj, performed shortly before his flight to Anatolia. 26
Some time thereafter, he traveled eastward to Karazm, pass-
ing through Nishapur, where he recounts having met Shaikh
Mohammad Kuf, one of the more renowned Sufis of Khorasan
in that age. 27 At an unknown date, he arrived in Karazm and,
according to the testimony of all sources, became a morld. of his
great namesake, Najm al-Dln Kobra. 28 It may be supposed that
“The word Daya literally means "wetnurse”; its application to the author of
the Mersad. derives from the idea of the initiate on the Path being a newborn
infant who needs suckling to survive; see pp. 222-226 of the text. We shall
use this element of the name to refer to the author.
22 For the date of Daya’s birth, see FasStl kkfl, Mojmal-e Fasihi, ed. Mahmud
Farrok, Tehran, 1339 S./1960, II, 262.
23 See pp. 43, 261 and 454.
“Daya, Bahr al-haqa’eq, ms. Hasan Hiisnii Pa$a (Siileymaniye), 37, ff. 3a-3b.
“Seep. 429.
“See p. 279.
27 See p. 130.
“See, for example, Abd al-Rahman JamI, Najahal al-ons, ed. Mahdl Tow-
hldrpur, Tehran, 1336 S./1948, p. 435.
8
Introduction
he had journeyed to Karazm for precisely this purpose. Kobra,
however, delegated the task of his spiritual training to one of
his morlds, Shaikh Majd al-Dln Bagdad!, to whom Daya con-
stantly refers with great reverence as “our shaikh.” Majd al-Din
— who came not from Baghdad but from the small village of Bag-
dadak near Karazm — was the preceptor of the celebrated Sufi
poet Attar, whom he initiated at his kanaqah in Nishapur, and
the author of several important works marked by the same em-
phases as those of Kobra. 29
It is remarkable that there is, by contrast, not a single men-
tion of Najm al-Din Kobra anywhere in the writings of Daya.
Doubtless this is explicable in part by the deep impression made
on Daya by Bagdad!, an impression that could well have effaced
all effective memory of Kobra. It may also be connected with
the circumstances under which Bagdad! met his death. Accord-
ing to the ninth/fifteenth-century hagiographical compendum,
Abd al-Rahman Jami’s Najahat al-ons, Bagdad! once boasted to
his followers as follows: “I used to be an egg on the edge of the
river, and Najm al-Din (Kobra) was a hen who took me under
the wing of his training. Now I have emerged from the egg and
become like a duck; I enter the water while my shaikh still
stands on the bank.” Kobra, who came to know of this arrogant
metaphor through the intuitive light of his sanctity, uttered the
imprecation: “May he die in the river!” Penitent and ashamed,
Bagdad! abased himself before Kobra, who duly forgave him,
but prophesied that Bagdad! would still die in the river, and that
all of Karazm would ultimately follow him to destruction. 30 Majd
al-Din Bagdad! was indeed drowned in the Oxus on the orders
of the ruler of Karazm, in the year 607/1210. While Sufi tradition
sees in his drowning the inevitable result of Najm al-Din Kobra’s
imprecation, the immediate cause for his death is reputed to
have been a secret liaison with Torkan Katun, the mother of the
Karazmsah. 31 Karazm was, moreover, inhospitable terrain for Sufis,
as a result of the prominence at court of the philosopher Fakr
29 Conceming Bagdadi, see JamI, Najahat al-ons, pp. 424-430; and Ye. E.
Bertel’s, "Chetverostishiya Sheikha Madzhd ad-Dina Bagdadi,” in Sujizm i
Sufiiskaya Literature, Moscow, 1965, pp. 335-339.
30 JamI, Najahat al-ons, pp. 425-426.
>'Ibid., p. 426.
9
H amid A Igar
al-Dln RazI, from whose maleficent influence Baha al-Dln
Valad, the father of Jalal al-Dln Rum!, is also reputed to have
fled. It is therefore conceivable that the murder of Majd al-Dln
Bagdad! should have been no more than a particularly violent
instance of the Karazmsah’s aversion to the Sufis. In any event,
Daya’s silence concerning Kobra — a silence that must have
been deliberate — may be interpreted as a sign of resentment at
Kobra’s fatal imprecation.
Whether because of the death of Majd al-Din Bagdad! or
because of his anticipation that Kobra’s prophecy of general
disaster would also be fulfilled, Daya left Karazm before the
Mongol conquest and resumed his wanderings in western Iran.
No security was to be had . there, however, and in 618/1221,
after a return visit to the Hejaz, Daya fled from the advancing
Mongol armies to the haven of Anatolia, abandoning his family,
by his own admission, to be massacred in the Mongol sack of
Ray. Traveling via Hamadan, Erbll, and Diyarbekir, he reached
Kayseri in central Anatolia in Ramadan 618/October 1221. 32
Anatolia was an obvious place, of refuge for him. It was not
only, as Daya writes, a land where orthodoxy prevailed, un-
tainted by the heresy of Mo'tazelism and philosophy, and a
branch of the great Saljuq dynasty reigned; 33 it was also, thanks
to Saljuq patronage, a center for the cultivation of Persian litera-
ture — Persian being the court language of the Saljuqs despite
their Turkish origin and environment — and a point of attraction
for Sufis from the western and eastern extremes of the Islamic
world. Ebn Arab! traveled three times to Anatolia, visiting
Malatya, Sivas, and Konya; in the last city he acquired one of
his most influential disciples, $adr al-Dln Qonyav! (c. 673/
1274), whose lectures on the teachings of Ebn Arab! inspired
the celebrated Lama'at of Fakr al-Dln ‘Eraq! (d. 688/1289).
Another disciple of Ebn Arab!, Arif al-Dln Soleyman from
Tlemcen in Algeria, is known to have resided in Konya for many
years. From the Islamic east there arrived in Anatolia four years
before Daya another migrant from Kkrazm, Baha al-Dln Valad
and his son, Jalal al-Dln Rum!, who was later to make of Konya
32 See p. 49.
33 See pp. 42-43.
10
Introduction
one of the principal poles of spiritual attraction in the Islamic
world. Finally, we may mention Owhad al-Dln Kennanl, who
stayed for some time in Kayseri and Konya. 34 The appearance of
Daya in Anatolia was not, then, an isolated phenomenon, and
he is reputed to have encountered there $adr al-Dln Qonyavi,
Jalal al-Dln Rumi, and Owhad al-Dln Kennanl. 35
An encounter he himself records took place soon after his
arrival in Anatolia. In Malatya, Daya met Shaikh Sehab al-Dln
Abu Flafs ‘Omar al-Sohravardl (d. 632/1234), nephew of Abu
Najlb al-Sohravardi, the founder of the SohravardI order. The
younger SohravardI had elaborated a certain fusion of Sufism
with another initiatic tradition, that olfotowwa — the ideal of ethi-
cal manliness that inspired a series of chivalrous sodalities. He
placed this fusion in the service of the Abbasid caliph al-Naser
le Din Allah, who employed it in order to restore the political
authority of the caliphate by binding the prominent and power-
ful to himself with an allegiance that transcended mere political
loyalty. 36 When Daya met SohravardI, he had just completed a
mission to Ala al-Dln Keyqobad, the Saljuq ruler of Anatolia,
on behalf of al-Naser, and was on his way back to Baghdad.
Ebn Blbl’s history of the Saljuqs of Anatolia confirms the
meeting in Malatya between Daya and SohravardI. But where-
as Daya’s account clearly implies that the Mersad was written
after the meeting with SohravardI in order to be presented to
Keyqobad, Ebn Blbl writes that the book was already written
and dedicated to Keyqobad before Daya came to Malatya. 37 The
^Concerning the cultural and religious life of Saljuq Konya, see Osman Turan,
Sel(uklular Tarihi ve Tilrk-Islam Medeniyeti, Istanbul, 1969, pp. 210 ff; and
Claude Cahen, Pre-Ottoman Turkey, New York, 1968, pp. 252-258.
35 Daya’s acquaintance with Qonyavi and Rumi is reported by JamI in an
anecdote that has him leading them in prayer (Najahat al-ons, p. 435); the
anecdote is repeated by a wide variety of later sources. The cryptic and silent
meeting that took place between Daya and Owhad al-Dln KermanI could have
occurred either in Anatolia or later in Baghdad ( Manaqeb-e Owhad al-dln,
quoted in Riyahl’s introduction to the Mersad, p. 43).
36 See Herbert Mason, Two Statesmen of Mediaeval Islam, The Hague, 1972, pp.
123-125; and Angelika Hartmann, an-N apr li-Din Allah (1180-1225), Politik,
Religion, Kultur in der spdten Abbasidenzeit, Berlin, 1975, pp. 111-121,
233-254.
37 Ibn Bibi, Histoire des Seldjoucides d’Asie Mineure (Turkish text), ed. M. Th.
Houtsma, Leiden, 1902, p. 226.
11
H amid A Igar
role of Sohravardl would have been, then, merely to recom-
mend to Kayqobad an already complete work, not to suggest to
Daya that he present himself to the Saljuq court, thus indirectly
inspiring the composition of his work. The discrepancy between
the two accounts probably stems from the fact that the Mersad
exists in two distinct recensions. The first was completed soon
after Daya’s arrival in Kayseri in Ramadan, 618/October 1221,
and was intended as “a gift to true seekers and veracious
lovers”; the second was completed in Sivas, in Rajab, 620/
August 1223, and was dedicated to Keyqobad. Daya naturally
made no mention of the first recension in the version he pre-
pared for Keyqobad, wishing to present his work as exclusively
inspired by the desire to present the monarch with a suitable
gift. It is probable, then, that Daya composed the work before
his meeting with Sohravardl, but decided to revise it and dedi-
cate it to Keyqobad at the suggestion of Sohravardl. 38
Despite the bright expectations Daya evidently had of his
sojourn to Anatolia, and the encomium to Keyqobad that con-
cludes the Mersad, he was severely disappointed. In the Mar-
muzat-e Asadl dar mazmurat-e Da’udi, composed in Erzincan
three years after the second recension of the Mersad, he wrote
this of his misfortunes:
Three years I wandered in that land [Anatolia], up
hill and down dale, residing for a time in each city,
casting the coin of life’s hours at every footstep I
took. In its markets I saw all goods eagerly bought
but the goods of religion; every trickster and charla-
tan found a customer, but the people of certainty
found none; the market was sluggish and sales were
slow for the masters of the Law and the Path, where-
as those wed to instinctual nature and shamelessness
enjoyed ever-increasing esteem. People rushed eager-
ly to buy donkey beads, but would not deign to look
at the lustrous pearl. I found no one in that realm able
to tell musk from dung, or the sincere from the
swindler. However much I tested both the high and
3a The difference between the two recensions is largely one of style, the second
being more ornate and prolix than the first. See Riyahl’s introduction, pp. 62-63.
12
Introduction
the low, I saw that the whole garden was planted
with celery. When I thus discovered there was no host
in the house, I fully detached my heart from the
realm . . . and gladly, without any regret, turned my
back on the whole herd. 39
Daya’s new destination was Erzincan, a city ruled by a petty
Turkish dynasty, the Mengii^eks, but still inhabited by a largely
Armenian population. As for the Muslims of Erzincan, they also
failed to win his approval, and he composed fourteen lines of
verse in condemnation of them, calling them in the first “a
people void of all humanity, with the seed of vileness sown in
their souls.” 40
the prospect of a new patron, Ala al-Dln Da’ud, the Mengiigek
ruler. He was renowned for his interest in Persian letters, and it
was to him that the great poet NezamI Ganjavl (d. 605/1209)
had dedicated his didactic poem, Mak,zan al-asrar. Daya now
composed the second work of his Anatolian sojourn, the Mar-
muzdt-e Asadl dar mazmurat-e Da’udi (The Symbolic Expres-
sions of Asadl [an allusion to one element of Daya’s name]
concerning the Psalms of David). The second half of the title
refers to the fact that each chapter of the book is introduced by a
quotation from the Psalms; it is, however, at the same time a
skillful reference to the name of the Mengii^ek ruler. The work
has been described as “a special edition” of the Mersad, in that
much of the material from the Mersad is incorporated in it —
with, however, the strictly Sufi portion diminished and the sec-
tions on kingly power greatly expanded. 41
than the Mersad and seems not to have exercised much influ-
ence; only a single manuscript survived. It is of some interest
as a statement of traditional Persian views of kingship modified
by a Sufi coloring.
After a series of provocations offered to the Saljuqs, Da’ud
was overthrown by Keyqobad in 625/1228, and Erzincan was
39 Marmuzat-e Asadl dar mazmurat-e Da'udl, Tehran, 1352 3./ 1973, ed. Mo-
hammad Reza Safi'I KadkanI, p. 5.
w Ibid., p. 6.
■“See Hermann Landolt’s English introduction to the work (p. 10), where he also
makes an interesting comparison between the Mazmurat and Gazall’s. Nasihat
al-mol uk, which was in some sense a royal edition of Kimiya-ye sa'adal.
13
H amid A Igar
incorporated in the Saljuq realm. Daya must have left Erzincan
several years earlier, however, for in 622/1225 we find him
traveling from Baghdad to Tabriz on a diplomatic mission for
the Caliph, al-Zaher be Amr Allah. In Tabriz he met Jalal al-Din
Karazmsah, son of the monarch who had put Majd al-Din Bag-
dad! to death. Fleeing westward from the Mongol onslaught,
Jalal al-Din was seeking to organize resistance to the invaders.
The Mersad contains several exhortations to Muslim rulers to
stand firm against the Mongols, so it is probable that Daya
looked upon him with favor, despite his father’s misdeed. 42
turned to Baghdad in the company of Qaz! Mojir al-Din, the
Karazmsah’s ambassador, to find the Caliph dead. 43
Nothing further is known of Daya’s worldly career; it is pos-
sible that he continued in the service of the caliphate. He died in
Baghdad in 654/1256, two years before the city was conquered
and sacked by the Mongols from whom he had fled thirty-five
years earlier. 44 Remarkably, Daya seems not to have left any
successors, although al-Yafe‘I mentions a certain Demyat! as
having been his moridd 5 He was buried in the Soneyziya ceme-
tery, in the Kark area of Baghdad, near such luminaries of early
Sufism as Ma'ruf Kark! and Joneyd Bagdad!. 46
stands.
During this final phase of his life, which lasted approximately
three decades, Daya turned to writing in Arabic. Shortly before
his death, he completed an Arabic version of the Mersad, en-
titling it Manarat al-sa’erin ela ’llah wa maqamat al-ta’erln be
’llah (Light Towers for Those Voyaging to God, and the Stations
of Those Flying with God). In the preface to this he reversed the
argument used to justify the composition of the Mersad in Per-
sian and declared his wish to benefit those who knew only
Arabic. The work attained some fame, although never as much
“See pp. 40-41 and 383.
“Mohammad b.,Ahmad al-NasawI, Sirat al-soltan Jalal al-Din Mankubarti,
ed. Hafiz Ahmad Hamdl, Cairo, 1953, p. 280.
“See JamI, Nafahat al-ons, p. 435.
“Abdollah al-Yafe’I, Mer'al al-janan, Hyderabad, 1339/1921, IV, 136.
“Louis Massignon, "Les Saints Musulmans Enterres a Baghdad,” Opera Min-
ora, Beirut, 1963, p. 180.
14
Introduction
as the Mersad; curiously enough, it was translated into Persian
for the Ottoman Sultan, Bayazld II. 47
Far more important than this reworking, yet again, of the
Mersad was the Arabic commentary upon the Qur’an that Daya
composed in Baghdad. Indeed, it is to be regarded as one of the
chief monuments of Sufi exegesis, and an edition of it must
count as one of the major desiderata of Sufi studies. There has
for long been much confusion surrounding this tafslr, partly be-
cause it is referred to by several different names, and partly
because two Kobravls in addition to Daya had a hand in its
composition. It is known variously as al-Ta’wllat al-najmlya,
‘Ayn al-hayat, and Bahr al-haqa’eq ; the last of these three desig-
nations appears to be the earliest. Kobra himself began with the
composition of a tafslr, but did not proceed far beyond the open-
ing chapter of the Qur’an. The work was then taken up by Daya,
who was overtaken by death before he could complete the com-
mentary; he reached surat al-najm ( sura 53). Then came a later
Kobravl, Ala al-Dowla Semnani, who wrote a long and im-
portant preface on the principles of Sufi exegesis, and finally
brought the tafslr to its completion. The work, then, may be re-
garded in a sense as a joint Kobravl enterprise, but it has
always been ascribed to Daya, who did indeed write the major
portion of it. 48
Its fame spread very swiftly. An anecdote in Aflakl’s Mana-
qeb al-'arefln, a collection of MevlevI biographies, relates how
it was first introduced to Anatolia: a certain Sehab al-Dln Maq-
bull of Tabriz presented a copy to ‘Aref Celeb! (d. 719/1319),
head of the Mevlev! order; he in turn passed it on to others,
and caused copies to be made. 49
manuscripts of this commentary found in Turkish libraries testi-
fies to the popularity it enjoyed. At about the same time, the
47 See Fritz Meier, "Stambuler Handschriften dreier persischer Mystiker: Ain
al-qudat al-Hamadanl, Nagm ad-DIn al-Kubra, Nagm ad-DIn Daya,” Der
Islam, XXIV (1937), 36-38.
48 See Mohammad Hoseyn al-Dahabl, at-Tafsir wa 'l-mofasserun, Cairo, 1381/
1961, I, 59-65; Henry Corbin, En Islam Iranien, Paris, 1972, III, 175-176, 276,
n. 90; Mojtaba Mlnovl's introduction to Daya, Resala-yc ‘esq o ‘aql, ed. TaqI
Tafazzoll, Tehran, 1345 S./1966, pp. 30-32; and Suleyman Ates, Igari Tejsir
Ohulu, Ankara, 1974, pp. 139-160.
49 Ahmad AflakI, Manaqeb al-'arejin, ed. Tahsin Yazici, Ankara, 1967, II, 933.
15
Hamid Algar
important Shi'ite gnostic and writer, Heydar Amoll, praised
Daya’s commentary as being "without like or peer,” and de-
clared that he had taken it as a model for his own Qur’an com-
mentary, al-Mohit al-a‘mm , 50 Large secdons o£ Daya’s com-
mentary were incorporated in Ruh al-bayan, the great work of
the Turkish Sufi Esma'Il Haqql Borusawl (d. 1136/1724), and
also the last specimen of this genre to be written, Ruh al-ma‘anl
by Sehab al-Dln al-AlusI (d. 1270/1854). Since both later com-
mentaries have been printed, Daya’s work is pardally accessible.
Before passing finally to some salient points of interest con-
cerning the Mersad, let us briefly review the lesser writings of
Daya. Probably in his youth, Daya wrote a brief allegory in Per-
sian called Resalat al-toyur (Treadse of the Birds), a theme
more celebrated in its treatment by Avicenna and Attar. 51 Then
he produced a short treadse in exposition of the celebrated utter-
ance of Abu’l-Hasan KaraqanI, “the Sufi is uncreate,” 52 and a
longer piece on the respecdve virtues of love and intellect, with
preference going to the former. This last work, variously en-
titled Me'yar al-sedq fl mesdaq al-‘esq (The Criterion of Verac-
ity concerning the Touchstone of Love) or simply ‘Esq o ‘aql
(Love and Intellect), bears great similarity to certain sections of
the Mersad; it was probably a preliminary essay for part of that
work, although the date of its composidon is unknown. 53 Three
other brief treadses have also been attributed to Daya, but the
ascriptions are probably inaccurate. 54
Ill
The key word in the dtle of Daya’s masterpiece, Mersad,
rendered here as "path,” is drawn from Qu’ran, 89:14: “Verily
thy Lord watches over the path” (enna rabbaka la be ’l-mersad).
The divine vigilance implied here is generally taken as referring
to God’s omniscience of men’s deeds, but it is plain that Daya
takes it in a slightly different sense, that of a protecdve and
50 Corbin, En Islam Iranien, III, 175.
51 A synopsis of this work in German by Hellmut Ritter is given as an appendix
to Meier’s article, "Stambuler Handschriften,” pp. 39-42.
5Z Meier, "Stambuler Handschriften,” p. 38.
53 See Mlnovl’s introduction to Resala-ye 'esq o' aql, pp. 33-34.
54 See Riyahl’s introduction to the Mersad., p. 53.
16
Introduction
guarding vigilance. The word mersad occurs in the text of the
work also, as a synonym of jadda-ye mostaqim (straight path;
see p. 36 below), which further clarifies the sense in which Daya
uses it. The second part of the title, men al-mabda’ eld ’1-ma‘ad,
“from origin to return,” is to be found in the titles of many works
that purport to treat in comprehensive fashion both cosmogony
and eschatology and all that lies between. We may mention the
poem of Sana’!, Seyr al-‘ebad eld al-ma‘dd ; 55 a work by Naslr
al-Dln TusI entitled with the Persian equivalent of mabda’ and
ma' ad, Agdz va an jam; the Resdla-ye mabda’ va ma'dd of Shaikh
Ahmad Serhendl (d. 1034/1624); 56
by the celebrated Shi'ite sage, Molla §adra Slrazi (d. 1050/
1640). 57
The comprehensiveness promised in this title of the work is
amply fulfilled in its text. It deals, in a systematic manner, with
the origins of the various realms and orders of creation, prophet-
hood and the different dimensions of religion, the ritual prac-
tices, mores, and institutions of Sufism, the destinations that
await different classes of men in the hereafter, and the fashion
in which different professions and trades may come to yield
spiritual benefit and heavenly reward. Thus it provides a full
conspectus of Sufism, combining exposition of doctrine with
description of method. It is unique in this respect, excelling
earlier expository texts which lack the degree of elaboration,
systematization, and explicitness that characterized the Sufism
of the seventh/ thirteenth century. The Mersad can indeed be
regarded as a summation of the historical elaboration of Sufism
down to the period of this “second flowering.”
A particular virtue of the book is its clear demonstration of
the Qur’anic origins of Sufism. The numerous quotations from
the Qur’an found in Daya’s work are not to be regarded as mere
ornament, nor even as scriptural proofs adduced in support of
various statements. Rather, they bear witness to the fact that
“Contained in Masnavlha-ye Hakim Sana’l, ed. Mohammad TaqI Modarres
Razavl, Tehran, 1348 S./1969, pp. 181-316.
“Published at Delhi, n.d.
57 See S. H. Nasr, "§adr al-Dln ShlrazI,” in A History of Muslim Philosophy,
ed, M. M. Sharif, Wiesbaden, 1966, II, p. 935.
17
H amid A Igar
for Daya, as for other Sufis, the Qur’an constitutes a well-
structured, seamless, and coherent universe. The coherence of
the Qur’anic universe is not immediately apparent; a process of
ta’vil, of esoteric exegesis, is required to perceive and uncover
it. In his celebrated Qur’an commentary, Daya has left behind a
great monument of ta’vil, and the Mersad also contains im-
portant elements of Sufi exegesis. The Qur’anic verses encoun-
tered throughout the book are the loom on which it is woven, a
particular sense for each verse being implied by the context in
which it occurs.
Another prominent feature of the book is the frequency with
which it draws parallels between the inner and the outer worlds,
particularly with reference to processes of growth and develop-
ment (the progress of seed, tree, branch, and fruit; the emer-
gence of the hen from the egg; the refining of sugar and the
baldng of bread, to name but a few examples). This also should
not be taken as a mere literary device. For characteristic of the
Sufi world view is a belief in the morphological affinity of all
orders of being: form and meaning, higher and lower, microcosm
and macrocosm, world and hereafter. Daya says in his com-
mentary on the Qur’an: "Verily all that God created in the world
of form has its like in the world of meaning; all that He created
in the world of meaning — this being the hereafter — has its true
essence in the world of reality, which is the uttermost unseen.
Know too that of all that God created in all the worlds, a speci-
men and sample is present in man ..” 58 It follows, then, that inner
and unseen processes may be accurately described in terms of
their outer counterparts.
The “originality” of Daya lies generally in his systematiza-
tion and elaboration of what went before. There is, however, one
respect in which he appears to be an innovator — the enumeration
and description of the subtle centers of perception (lata’ef). He
added to the fourfold scheme known to earlier Sufis — heart,
spirit, intelligence, mystery — a fifth element, the “arcane” (kafi).
Two other elements were added later by another Kobravi, Ala
al-Dowla Semnani, who, as we have seen, also acted as the cul-
5S Quoted in Esma‘11 Haqql, Ruh al-bayan, Istanbul, 1389/1970, I, 404.
18
Introduction
minator o£ Daya’s work in taking his Qur’an commentary to its
conclusion . 59
Apart from the dominant religious interest of the work, it also
offers much historical information. Daya’s recurrent condemna-
tion of the hellenizing philosophers, although typical for Sufism
and akin to numerous utterances of Gazali, Sana’!, Attar, and
RumI, doubtless owes some of its vigor to the ascendancy of
Fakral-DinRazI in Karazm and the hostility manifested by that
philosopher to the Sufis. In this connection, his denunciation of
Kayyam and scornful quoting of some of the notorious quatrains
is one of the earliest proofs that Kayyam the philosopher and
mathematician was also Kayyam the poet. The awestruck men-
tion of the Mongols at various points in the work gives some
indication of the apocalyptic impact of that barbaric onslaught
on the Muslim world. Finally, the fifth part of the book is rich in
incidental information on social and administrative history: the
rapaciousness of the king’s appointees when left to their own
devices, the venality of the judiciary, the duties of king and min-
ister, the qualities expected of a pious merchant, and so forth.
This part is in itself deserving of detailed analysis as a document
of Perso-Islamic political philosophy, couched in distinctively
Sufi terms.
The literary importance of the Mersad is considerable: it ranks
among the masterpieces of Persian literature, and certain
sections — particularly the narrative of the creation and appoint-
ment of Adam — bear comparison with the best prose written in
Persian . 60 Daya’s choice of illustrative verses — both those of his
own composition and those of his predecessors — is judicious, and
makes of his work an incidental anthology of Sufi poetry,
particularly quatrains.
Ever since its composition, Daya’s work has enjoyed a con-
tinuous and wide popularity in the Islamic world that has far
transcended the confines of the Kobravl order. The broad diffu-
sion of the work is attested to by the abundance of manuscript
59 See p. 134 n. 9.
60 For a discussion of the stylistic qualities of the Mersad, see Mohammad TaqI
Bahar, Sabksenasl, Tehran, 1337 S./1958, III, 22-27.
19
H amid A Igar
copies to be found in the libraries of Iran, India, Central Asia,
and Turkey, an abundance that stands in contrast to the rarity
of many early works on Sufism restored to prominence in recent
times by the labors of Orientalists. Quotations from the Mersad
are to be found in a wide range of later Persian works on Sufism,
and its unacknowledged influence is visible in still more numer-
ous writings. 61 The Mersad appears to have reached India in the
lifetime of its author, for the early fourteenth-century historiog-
rapher BaranI lists it among the Sufi works that became popular
in Delhi thanks to the ascendancy of the CesQ order. 62 About two
centuries later, in Ebn ‘Omar Mehrabl’s Hojjat al-Hend, a po-
lemic against Hinduism, we find extracts from the Mersad being
placed in the mouth of a parrot instructing a princess in Islam. 63
Daya’s arguments concerning the inadequacy of Brahmanic
mysticism must have aroused particular interest in India. The
Mersad exercised great influence in Turkish Anatolia, the land
of its composition, in both the Persian original and a much-read
Turkish translation made in the ninth/fifteenth century by one
Qasem b. Mahmud Qarahesaii and dedicated to Sultan Morad
II. 64 Finally, we may note that the Mersad was known also in
China. Among the Sino-Muslim manuscripts brought from
Kansu to Europe in 1909 by the d’Ollone mission, together with
several Naqsbandl works, was a copy of the Mersad containing
marginal glosses in a North Chinese idiom written in the Arabic
script. 65 In short, the influence of the Mersad permeated virtually
the whole of the Islamic world, with the exception of its Arab
61 Among the works containing quotations from the Mersad, we may mention
the following: Hafez Hoseyn Karbala’! Tabriz!, Rouizat al-jenan va jannat
al-janan, ed. Ja far Solfan Qorra’I, Tehran, 1349 S./1970; Aziz al-Dln Nasafi,
Kasf al haqa’eq, Tehran, 1965; Kaseft Va'ez Sabzevarl, Fotovvatnama-ye
soltanl, ed. Mohammad Ja'far Mahjub, Tehran, 1353 S./1974; Mo’azzen
Korasanl, Tohfal al-' abbaslya, Shiraz, 1342 S./1963; Abd al-§amad HamadanI,
Bahr al-ma'aref, Tabriz, 1293/1876; and Mohammad Ja'far Kabudarahangl,
Mer’al al-haqq, Tehran, 1315 S./1937.
62 Tarik-e Flruzsalu, quoted by Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of
Islam, Chapel Hill, 1975, p. 348. See too Aziz Ahmad, Studies in Islamic Cul-
ture in the Indian Environment, Oxford, 1964, p. 133.
63 See Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam, p. 257.
6< Meier, "Stambuler Handschriften,” pp. 34-35.
65 Alessandro Bausani, "Un caso estremo di diffusione della scrittura araba: il
‘sino-arabo,’" Oriente Modemo, XLVIII (1968), 875.
20
Introduction
and African regions. Western scholarship, by contrast, has paid
little attention to this important work. 66
The Persian text of the Mersad was first published in Tehran
in 1312/1894 by Abd al-Gaffar Najm al-Dowla, and then again
in. 1352/1933 by Hoseyn Sams al-‘Orafa Ne'matollahl, one of the
most celebrated Iranian Sufis of recent times. Both printings
were unreliable, since the editors were evidently unaware of
the existence of two recensions of the Mersad, and the texts they
produced were an arbitrary melange of the two. A new edition,
based upon a critical examination of numerous manuscripts,
was prepared by Dr. Amin Rlyahl and published in Tehran in
1352 S./1972. The text of Dr. Rlyahl, upon which this transla-
tion is based, represents chiefly the second or “royal” recension,
although in some parts he has used the first recension as the
basis for his edition.
I have striven to make this translation of Daya’s masterpiece
as close to the original as is compatible with comprehensibility.
The syntactic complexity of many sentences, atypical for Per-
sian, the frequency of multiple ezafa constructions, and the
parenthetic insertion of Qur’anic verses or fragments of verses
all present particular problems; the reader must judge how
felicitously the translator was able to solve them. It should be
borne in mind that the stylistic qualities of the original —
reflected to some degree, I hope, in the translation — addressed
themselves to an esthetic and spiritual sensibility different from
that of the modem world, so that the translation is, in a sense,
an invitation to transpose oneself to the realm of an archaic
sensibility.
It is a commonplace of Sufism that true knowledge of the Path
is to be had from men, not from books; books can at best be a
temporary substitute for the presence of a living preceptor. But
the traditional Muslim audience for which Sufi writings were
“Apart from Meier’s bibliographical article (“Stambuler Handschriften”), we
may mention the chapter “Doctrine des photismes chez Najm Razi,” in Henry
Corbin’s L'Homme de Lumiere dans le Soujisme Iranien, Paris, 1971, pp. 154—
163; a brief notice of the Mer$ad by R. C. Zaehner in his Hindu and Muslim
Mysticism, London, 1960, pp. 180-183; and some passages from the work trans-
lated in A. J. Arberry, Classical Persian Literature, London, 1958, pp. 248-253,
and Cyprian Rice in The Persian Sufis, London, 1964, pp. 91-97.
21
H amid A Igar
destined at least enjoyed some acquaintance with the Qur’anic
source of Sufism and lived, if less intensely and consciously, in
the same conceptual universe as the Sufi masters. Such will not
be the case with most readers of this translation. I have there-
fore added to the translation notes that not merely clarify refer-
ences and allusions and identify the sources of quotations, but
also seek to elucidate the meaning of terms and phrases when-
ever necessary. I have thus sought to be not merely the trans-
lator of Daya’s work from Persian to English, but also, in some
measure, his interpreter to a new audience.
In conclusion, just as Daya intended his work to fulfill pur-
poses peculiar to his own age, let it be permitted to the trans-
lator to express the hope that the Mersad in English garb will
meet certain needs of the present time. I hope first, that it will
serve to refute the pseudo-Sufis of the present age who wish to
detach Sufism from its Qur’anic roots, and that it will offer, as
Daya puts it, a “touchstone” against which to strike their claims;
second, that it may reintroduce modem-minded Muslims to the
inward dimension of their religion and to the riches of Sufism
that they all too frequently neglect or deny; and finally that it
may provide students of comparative religion with a compre-
hensive, authentic, and coherent account of Sufism.
From God is success, and upon Him reliance.
Hamid Algar
Zu’l-hejja 1399/October 1979
22
In the Name of God, the Compassionate,
the Merciful
23
Prologue
Praise without end and laudation without limit to that Mon-
arch from Whose munificence the existence of all beings results,
and Whose existence is praised and' magnified by their excel-
lence — “there is naught but celebrates His praise”; 1 that Lord
Who, out of the creativity of His nature and the artistry of His
wisdom, inscribed, with the pen of generosity, the impress of
souls on the leaf of nonbeing; Who concealed the Water of Life
that is gnosis in the darkness of the createdness of the human
state — “in your own selves too are signs; will ye not then see?”; 2
Who enabled the distraught and thirsty wanderers in the desert
of the search to tread, like Alexander, 3
ness of human attributes with the foot of sincerity; and Who, in
His uncaused grace, brought those like Kezr 4
burned with the fire of love to the fountainhead of the Water of
Life that is gnosis — “is he who was dead, to whom We gave life,
and a light to walk by among men, like him who is in the dark-
ness and comes not forth therefrom?” 5
‘Qur’an, 17:44.
z Qur’an, 51:21.
Alexander was depicted in the legend evolved by medieval Islam as the
archetype of the seeker after illumination. His progress through the world was
seen as inspired not so much by a lust for conquest as by a desire for mystical
knowledge, his outer journey serving as the mirror and support of the inner
journey; an attempt was made to identify him with the figure designated as
Zu’l-Qarnayn (The Two-Homed One) in Qur’an, 18:83 ff. His goal, the Water of
Life, signifying ma'refat/'erfan (gnosis; direct cognition of reality), was found
concealed in a region of utter darkness on the fringe of the earth. The source of
illumination is analogously to be found hidden in the tenebrous densityof man’s
corporeal state. Daya makes frequent reference and allusion to these compo-
nents of the Alexander legend, which is one of the favored themes of Persian
narrative poetry. It has been treated with particular mastery by NezamI of
Ganja (d. 605/1209; a prose translation of his version by H. Wilberforce Clarke,
Book of Alexander the Great, appeared in London in 1881), Amir Kosrow of
Delhi (d. 725/1325), and Abd al-Rafiman JamI (d. 898/1492). The works of
these three inspired a host of imitations not only in Persian but also in Turkish
and Urdu, so that the theme of Alexander as the spiritual seeker became part of
the literary patrimony of all the Muslim East. See the article "Iskender-Name"
by Orhan §aik Gokyay in Islam Ansiklopedisi, V, 1088-1090.
4 Kezr: the ubiquitous and immortal personification of the initiatic principle,
generally identified with the unnamed figure encountered by Moses and men-
tioned in Qur’an, 18:65-82. He appears also in the Alexander legend as the
supreme guide on the path, who finally conducts him to the Water of Life.
5 Qur’an, 6:122.
25
Prologue
Salutations without number and plaudits without bound to
those sanctified spirits in unsullied frames, the one hundred and
twenty thousand and more instances of prophethood and re-
positories of manly nobility, who were wayfarers on the paths of
Truth and exemplary guides in the lands of the Law — "these it is
to whom We have given the Book, and authority and prophet-
hood ,” 6
of the caravan of saints, Mohammad the Chosen One, may God
bless and give abundant peace to him and his family, his wives
and goodly, pure descendants, his righteous successors, rightly
guiding and rightly guided, and all of his companions.
O brothers in God’s guidance, and companions in the reveren-
tial fear of Him! May God enable us all to rise from the depths
of the human state to the summit of His servitude, and grant us
that we slough off the attributes of the human domain and don
those of the divine domain. Know that the purpose and essence
of all creation is the existence of man, and all that partakes of
existence throughout the twin realms does so by virtue of his
existence. If one possesses clear and total vision, he will recog-
nize that all of existence is man.
Thou art the height and depth of this world.
I know not who thou art; all that is, thou art . 7
The purpose of the existence of man is knowledge of the es-
sence and attributes of God Almighty. Thus when David asked:
“O Lord, why didst Thou bring forth creation?” the Almighty
answered: “I was a hidden treasure, and I desired to be known;
thus I brought forth creation, that I might be known .” 8 True
6 Qur’an, 6:89.
’A verse from the Sahnam.a of FerdowsI (Tehran edition, 1313 S./1934, IV,
1003), which according to a dream of the celebrated Sufi Abu’l-Qasem Gor-
ganl (d. 450/1058) earned the poet forgiveness for his sins (Daulatsah Samar-
qandl, Tadhkiratu’sh-shu'ara, ed. E. G. Browne, Leiden, 1901,. p. 102). It is
frequently quoted in Sufi literature; see, for example, the Lama'at of Razl’s
contemporary, Fakr al-DIn ‘EraqI (in Kolllyat-e 'Eraqi, ed. Sa'Id NafisI,
Tehran, 1338 S./1959, p. 386).
8 A kadis qodsi, that is, a saying attributed to the Prophet in which the Al-
mighty speaks in the first person. It is a constant point of reference of the Sufis,
but its status as hadis is dubious. See BadI' al-Zaman Foruzanfar, Ahadis-e
Masnavi (2nd ed., Tehran, 1347 S./1968), p. 29.
26
Prologue
knowledge of God can be attained only by man, for although the
angels and the jinn are his partners in the worship of God, man
was set apart from all other beings by accepting the burden of
the Trust of this knowledge. “We offered the Trust to the
heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they refused to
bear it, being afraid thereof, and man accepted to bear it .” 9 By
the heavens are meant their inhabitants — the angels; by the
earth, its inhabitants — the animals, jinn, and demons; by the
mountains, their inhabitants — the wild beasts and birds. None of
these was fit to bear the burden of the Trust of knowledge, for
out of all creation it was only man whose soul desired to be a
mirror to the beauty of the Divine Presence and to manifest all
of His attributes, both passively and actively . 10 This is the mean-
ing of the saying that “God created. Adam in His own image .” 11
The essence of the soul of man is the heart, and the heart is
like a mirror, with the two realms of creation enclosing it like a
pericardium. It is in this mirror that all the attributes of the
beauty and splendor of the Divine Presence are manifested.
Thus He said: “We will show them Our signs upon the horizons
and in their souls .” 12
Men and jinn have their being for the sake of the mirror;
Throughout the twin realms, every gaze falls on the
mirror.
The heart is the mirror of that imperial beauty,
And these twin realms are the cover of that mirror . 13
When the soul, inherently disposed to the state of mirrorhood, is
nurtured and brought to perfection, it will observe in itself the
manifestation of all the divine attributes. It will know itself and
the purpose for which it has been created, and thus realize the
9 Qur’an, 33:72.
10 It has been suggested that this passage of the work, with its evocation of the
“burden of the Trust,” served to inspire the following line in the Divan of Hafez
(ed. Mohammad Qazvlnl and Qasem Gant, Tehran, n.d., p. 125): The heavens
were unable to bear the burden of the Trust; the task fell to the lot of this crazed
one.
"Tradition recorded by Bokarl, Moslem, and Ebn Hanbal.
"Qur'an, 41:53.
13 A quatrain presumably composed by Daya himself.
27
Prologue
meaning of the saying that “he who knows his self knows also
his Lord.’ ’ 14 It will come to recognize its own nature and to under-
stand the mystery on account of which it has been ennobled and
•preferred. This feeble one says:
O thou copy of the script divine!
O thou mirror of the royal beauty!
Naught in the world lies outside of thee;
Ask of thyself thine every desire, thou art it ! 15
But for the soul of man to reach the perfection of the degree
that is lustrous mirrorhood, many paths and perilous places
must be traversed, a task fulfilled only by following the highway
of the Law, the Path, and the Truth . 16 As iron is extracted from
the mine and treated with numerous subtle stratagems in water
and fire, passing from the hand of one craftsman to another in
order gradually to become a mirror, so too man is the mine from
which the iron for this mirror is extracted. "Men are mines, like
mines of gold and silver .” 17 The iron must be carefully brought
forth from the mine of man’s being and then tempered until,
passing gradually through a series of degrees, it attains the rank
of mirrorhood.
The reed thou seest standing tall on the shore
Grows and sprouts from stem to stem . 18
H A saying variously attributed to the Prophet and Alt b. Abu Taleb (see Foru-
zanfar, Ahadls-e Masnavi, p. 167); it is of almost universal occurrence in Sufi
literature.
15 Although this quati-ain is here identified as Daya’s own composition, it is fre-
quently ascribed in other works to Baba Afzal al-DIn KasanI (d. 654/1256 or
664/1265), a prolific writer on mystical and philosophical themes in both
Arabic and Persian. The same is true of several other quatrains quoted in this
work.
16 This triad of Law, Path, and T ruth refers to the outer dimension of religion, its
inner aspect, and the center which vivifies and lies at the heart of both of these.
The concern of the Law is with man’s bodily frame; that of the Path with his
heart; and that of the Truth with his spirit (see third part, chapters five, seven,
and eight).
’’Tradition recorded by Bokarl, Moslem, and Ebn I;fanbal.
18 An Arabic verse of unknown origin.
28
Contents
This book concerning wayfaring on the road of religion and
attainment of the realm of certainty, the training of the human
soul and the knowledge of the divine attributes, has been com-
posed in five parts and forty chapters, which shall presently be
set forth, God Almighty willing.
List of Parts and Chapters
. First Part: Introduction to the book, containing three chap-
ters, the first explaining the utility of composing this work on
the sayings of the men of the Path, and the means of traveling
the Path; the second, concerning the reason for writing the book,
particularly in Persian; and the third, treating of the manner
and method in which the book is written.
Second Part: Concerning the origin of created beings, and
containing five chapters: the first, expounding the creation of
spirits and knowledge of the stages through which they pass;
the second, describing the world of Dominion and the degrees
of all that it contains; the third, concerning the appearance of
the different realms of Kingship and Dominion; the fourth, ex-
plaining the beginning of the createdness of the human frame;
and the fifth, setting forth the origin of the attachment of the
spirit to the frame.
T hird Part: Concerning the life of man, and containing twenty
chapters: the first, concerning the veils that cover the human
spirit as a result of attachment to the bodily frame, and the tribu-
lations that spring therefrom; the second, concerning the attach-
ment of the spirit to the frame, the wise purpose implicit therein
and the benefits thereof; the third, concerning the necessity of
the prophets, upon whom be peace, for man’s cultivation; the
fourth, concerning the reason for the abrogation of all previous
religions and the sealing of prophethood with Mohammad, upon
whom be peace and blessings; the fifth, concerning the training
of the human frame in accordance with the code of the Law; the
sixth, concerning the refinement of the human soul and the
knowledge thereof; the seventh, concerning the purification of
29
Contents
the heart in accordance with the code of the Path, and the
knowledge thereof; the eighth, concerning the adornment of the
spirit in accordance with the code of the Truth, and the knowl-
edge thereof; the ninth, concerning the necessity of a shaikh for
man’s training and wayfaring; the tenth, concerning the station
of shaikhhood, its conditions and attributes; the eleventh, con-
cerning the conditions, attributes, and customs of the morid; the
twelfth, concerning the need for zekr, and the special properties
of the zekr of la elaha ella’llah; the thirteenth, concerning the
method of uttering zekr, its conditions and customs; the four-
teenth, concerning the need of the morid for transmission of
zekr by the shaikh, and the property of such transmission; the
fifteenth, concerning the necessity of seclusion, and its condi-
tions and customs; the sixteenth, concerning certain visions
deriving from the unseen, and the difference between dreams
and visions; the seventeenth, concerning the witnessing of lights
and the degrees thereof; the eighteenth, concerning unveiling
and its varieties; the nineteenth, concerning the manifestation
of the Divine Essence and attributes; and the twentieth, con-
cerning attaining to the divine presence, with neither absorption
nor separation.
Fourth Part: Concerning the return of the souls of the felici-
tous and the wretched, and containing four chapters. God Al-
mighty said: ‘And among them some wrong their own souls;
some follow a middle course; and some are foremost in good
works, by God’s leave .” 1 And again, “None shall fall into the
fiercely blazing fire but the most wretched one, who calls the
Truth a lie and turns away .” 2 The first chapter is concerning the
return of the oppressive soul, which is the reproachful soul; the
second, concerning, the return of the soul that follows a middle
path, which is the inspired soul; the third, concerning the return
of the foremost soul, which is the tranquil soul; and the fourth,
concerning the return of the most wretched soul, which is the
commanding soul.
Fifth Part: Concerning the wayfaring of different classes of
men, and containing eight chapters: the first, concerning the
'Qur’an, 35:32.
2 Qur’an, 92:16.
30
Contents
wayfaring of kings and the lords of command; the second, con-
cerning the state of kings, their conduct toward each group of
their subjects, and their solicitude for the people; the third,
concerning the wayfaring of ministers, men of the pen and
deputies; the fourth, concerning the wayfaring of the different
classes of scholar — experts in the law, preachers, and judges; the
fifth, concerning the wayfaring of the possessors of bounty and
the holders of wealth; the sixth, concerning the wayfaring of
farmers, village headmen, and peasants; the seventh, concern-
ing the wayfaring of merchants; and the eighth, concerning the
wayfaring of tradesmen and craftsmen.
31
First Part:
The Introduction to the Book Con-
taining Three Chapters, in Accor-
dance with the Blessed Saying of
God Almighty: Ye Shall Be Three
Bands 1
‘Qur’an, 56:7.
33
First Chapter:
Concerning the Utility of Composing This
Work on the Sayings of the Men of the Path
and the Means of Wayfaring
God Almighty said: “So We have made the Qur’an easy by
thy tongue, that thou mayest give glad tidings to the Godfearing
and warn a stubborn people .” 2 The Prophet, upon whom be
peace, said: “A word of wisdom is the lost property of every
wise man .” 3
Know that discourse concerning the Truth and exposition of
wayfaring on the Path bring forth the promptings of longing and
the urgings of desire in the inner beings of those disposed to the
search, and kindle the sparks of the fire of love in the hearts of
the sincerely devoted, particularly when such discourse arises
from the vision of sincere lovers and those who have attained
realization.
He whose heart is full of love’s fire,
Every tale that he tells will be alluring.
Seldom now do you hear the tale of a lover.
So hearken unto it, it is most sweet . 4
Even the neglectful and unaware may awaken through the aus-
picious effect of such discourse, for one cannot know what key
will unlock the door to the felicity of the search. It has been said
that “at times the ear will love before the eye ,” 5 and indeed it
was through the door of the ear that the auspicious effect of
such discourse came to those who said: “Our Lord! We have
heard a caller calling us to belief, saying ‘believe in your Lord,’
and we have believed .” 6
2 Qur’an, 19:97.
5 A Tradition of slightly different wording — "a word of wisdom is the lost prop-
erty of every believer" — is recorded by TermezI and Ebn Maja.
4 A quatrain presumably of Daya’s own composition.
5 The second half of a line of verse by the Arabic-writing Persian poet, Bassar
b. Bord (d. 167/783). See Ebn Kallekan, WajayaL al-a'yan, ed. Ahmad Farid
Refa‘1, Cairo, 1367/1948, III, 22.
6 Qur’an, 3:193.
34
The Utility of Composing This Work
sown in the soil of hearts by the hand of the divine summons,
“am I not your Lord ?” 7 It then remained to be seen which fortu-
nate ones would be enabled to nurture that seed, for the eternal
realm of love is not bestowed on every monarch and king.
Not every Solomon is given the kingdom of His search;
Nor every soul and heart the charter of His sorrow.
Those who seek relief are deprived of His pain,
For it is a pain not given to those desiring relief.
While no man is free of the tribulation of aspiring to such love,
nonetheless the searching hand of every aspirant cannot reach
the skirt of majesty of this auspicious fortune. “Religion is not
by aspiration.” This feeble one says:
When my heart was smitten with the charms of his face,
My body became thinner than a hair on his head.
Not every hand may reach out to touch him —
Who even am I? A nobody in his domain!
A further purpose in the exposition of wayfaring is the refuta-
tion of those evil ones of bestial aspect who worship their own
passions and devote all their energies to the utmost enjoyment
of bestial, animal and predatory pleasures and lusts. Being con-
tent like beasts and cattle with what the passing moment offers
them, they are barred from the joys experienced by men of God
and the enjoyments of those who draw near to Him. Out of all
the perfections of religion and the degrees of the people of cer-
tainty, they content themselves with the mere form of prayer
and negligent, careless fasting, polluted by endless impurities.
Let them not say tomorrow, like the rest of the rueful band, “we
were unaware of these auspicious matters. ‘If we had heard or
understood, we would not be among the people of the flames .’” 8
Joneyd — may God sanctify his cherished spirit! — was once
asked how the sayings and narratives of the shaikhs profited the
’Qur’an, 7:171. This question, addressed to men's souls in pre-eternity, and
the answer bala ("indeed Thou artl”), constituted a pact of fealty to God binding
on men for all time.
8 Qur’an, 47:10.
35
First Part, First Chapter
morid. He replied that they strengthened his heart, made stead-
fast his foot of exertion, and renewed his fidelity to the search . 9
They then asked him if he was sure his answer was from the
Qur’an. He affirmed that it was, and recited: ‘All that We relate
to thee of the tidings of the Messengers is that whereby We
make firm thy heart .” 10 It has been said too that “the words of the
shaikhs are the armies of God upon earth,” in the sense that
they afford assistance to seekers on the path. If, for example,
some luckless wayfarer is deprived of the guidance of a perfect
shaikh, and during his search, ascetic practice, and inner com-
bat, Satan wishes to bar his way by inciting him to doubtful or
innovative practice, he may then hold fast to the words of the
shaikhs and strike the coin of his state against the touchstone of
their trenchant speech. Thus he may escape from the grasp of
satanic temptation and the whisperings of his soul, and return
to the road of the straight path, and the highway of the upright
faith.
For on this path, highway robbers are numerous — demons in
human and jinn form — and if the traveler goes forth without
guide or escort, he will soon be cast into the valley of doom.
Shaikh Abu Sa'ld b. Abu’l-Keyr, upon whom be the mercy of
God, said that the morid should each day relate or listen to an
amount of discourse of the shaikhs equivalent to one thirtieth of
the Qur’an . 11 For as has truly been said, one delights in frequent
remembrance of what one cherishes.
9 Abu’l-Qasem Joneyd (d. 297 or 298/910 or 911): one of the most prominent
early Sufis of Baghdad, and the first to produce a systemadc account of Sufism
in written form. The literature of Sufism is replete with references to him, often
with the honorific epithet seyk al-ta'efa (The Elder of the Group); two recent
studies are Ali Hasan Abdel-Kader, The Life, Personality and Writings of Al-
Junayd, London, 1962, and Siileyman Ate§, Ciineyd-e Bagdddi, Hayati, Eserleri
ve Mektuplari, Istanbul, 1970.
'“Qur’an 1 1:120.
"Abu Sa’ld b. Abu’l-Keyr (d. 440/1049): one of the earliest Sufis of Khorasan,
and the first notable mystic to have expressed himself in Persian. The origins
of the Sufi hospice (hanaqah) are closely associated with him, and to him are
attributed the first Persian Sufi quatrains. The main source for his life is the
biography written by his grandson, Mohammad b. al-Monavvar, Asrar al-tow-
hid fl maqamat al-seyk Abu Sa'ld, ed. Zablhollah §afa, Tehran, 1348 S./1969,
now available in French translation (Mohammad Achena, Les Elapes Mystiques
du Shaykh Abu Sa'id, Paris, 1974). See too R. A. Nicholson, Studies in Islamic
Mysticism, Cambridge, 1921, pp. 1-76.
36
The Utility of Composing This Work
For these reasons, certain travelers on the Path and wayfarers
in the world of Truth, who have amassed a quantity of this aus-
picious fortune while voyaging along the highway of rectitude,
have conformed to the precept that “the purifying due shall be
rendered on everything,” 12 and obeying the injunction to grant
everyone his right, they have regarded it as incumbent on their
generosity to give the deserving their due. Thus they have be-
stowed a draught from the fountainhead of the Water of Life
that is gnosis on the thirsty wanderers in the desert of the search,
so that pain may be added to their pain, longing to their longing,
and thirst to their thirst.
I am like sand, and drink in the water of Thy grief;
The more I drink, the greater is my thirst.
12 The first part of a Tradition which states that “the purifying due incumbent
on the body is fasting” (Ebn Maja).
37
Second Chapter:
Concerning the Reason for Writing the Book,
Particularly in Persian
God Almighty said: “We have sent no messenger save with
the tongue of his people that he might make all clear to them .” 1
The Prophet, upon whom be peace, said: ‘Address people in
accordance with their degree of intelligence.”
Know that although many books have been written concern-
ing the Path, both detailed and concise, and in them many mat-
ters and truths set forth, most of them are in Arabic, and they
benefit men of Persian tongue but little.
’Tis of the ancient grief one must tell the new. beloved,
And in her tongue that one must make address.
To say la tafal and efal is of little use;
If thou art with Persians, ’tis kon and makon
thou must say . 2
For some time a group of truth-desiring seekers and sincere
morids has been demanding of my feeble self a compendium in
Persian, notwithstanding my lack of means and inability. Such
compendia have already been penned, in accordance with the
capacity and need of every class. They desired, however, one
that should be slight of girth and rich in content; set forth the
beginning and end of creation, the start of wayfaring and the
finish of voyaging; and treat of the goal and the destination, the
lover and the beloved. It should be a world-displaying goblet , 3
and a mirror to God’s beauty; it should both benefit the deficient
beginner on the path and profit the perfect adept drawing near
to the goal.
‘Qur’an, 14:4.
2 A quatrain of unknown origin. La tafal and efal: "do not” and "do” in Arabic;
kon and makon: "do” and "do not” in Persian.
5 An allusion to the miraculous goblet owned by the legendary Iranian monarch
Jamsld, a vessel that enabled its possessor to survey the entirety of creation.
One of the most common motifs in Persian poetry, it generally corresponds in
Sufi symbolism to the purified human heart that reflects the manifestation of
the divine attributes in creation (Seyyed Ja'far SajjadI, Farhang-e mostalahat-e
‘orafa va motafavvefa, Tehran, 1339 S./1960, pp. 130-131).
38
The Reason for Writing the Book
While I was in the lands of Iraq and Khorasan, never long
settled before departing once again, the hindrances of mis-
fortune and calamity robbed me of the leisure and opportunity
to undertake the completion of such a work. For each day some
new disaster would emerge, and bring distraction to my heart
and confusion to my mind. It was as if that region were the
homeland of disaster, just as the Prophet, upon whom be peace,
once said, pointing to the east, “thence shall come disaster.” 4
Yet we did not quietly accept those disasters; did not bow our
heads to heavenly decree and divine destiny; did not come forth
with patience and submission; did not offer thanks for religion
and Islam; did not say, “some evils are lesser than others.” In-
stead, we showed ingratitude for the blessing of Islam until the
ineluctable and awesome blows of “if ye are thankless, My
chastisement is surely terrible” 5 descended on those lands and
their people. Through the sinister effect of the licentiousness of
the frivolous and the oppression of the tyrannical, and in ac-
cordance with God’s custom — “and when We desire to destroy a
city, We command its men who live at ease and they commit
wickedness therein; thus is Our word proved true against them,
and We destroy them utterly” 6 — ruination was visited upon those
lands and their inhabitants.
All the oppression that heaven works is, in short,
Less than we deserve, if the truth should be told.
Never did I show gratitude for His bounty,
So inevitably He cast me into trouble and toil.
It was in the year 617 (1220) that the godforsaken army of the
Tartar infidels, may God forsake and destroy them, conquered
all those lands. The confusion and ruin, the killing and seizure of
captives, the destruction and burning that were enacted by those
accursed creatures had never before been witnessed in any age,
whether in the lands of the infidels or the realm of Islam, nor
had they ever been recorded in any book of history. They re-
■‘A different version of this Tradition, which has the Prophet pointing to Iraq,
is to be found in Ebn Hanbal.
5 Qur’an, 14:7.
6 Qur’an, 17:16.
39
First Part, Second Chapter
semble only the catastrophes that shall ensue at the end of time,
foretold by the Prophet, upon whom be peace: “The hour shall
not come until you fight the Turks; a people with small eyes, red
faces and slight, flat noses, whose countenances are like the skin
drawn tight over a shield.” This saying of his is indeed a descrip-
tion of these accursed infidels. He then added: ‘And anarchy
shall be rampant.” When asked, “what shall that anarchy be?”
he replied, “killing, killing abundant .” 7 In truth, this event is
none other than that which the Messenger of God, upon whom
be peace, foresaw with the light of prophethood more than six
hundred years ago. Could killing be more extensive than this,
that in the city and province of Ray alone, where this feeble one
was born and spent his youth, it has been estimated that they
killed and took captive about five hundred thousand people ? 8
The calamity and disaster inflicted by those damned, accursed
ones on all of Islam and the Muslims are more than can be ex-
pressed in words; and this event is, moreover, too famed
throughout the world to need description. But if, God forbid,
feelings of honor and jealous concern for Islam do not arise in
the breasts of kings and sultans to whose care the protection of
Islam and the Muslims has been entrusted — “the prince is a
shepherd for his subjects and accountable for them” 9 — if the
magnanimity and manly courage of the faith do not lay hold of
their souls so that they join in union and gird on the belt of obedi-
ence to the command of “go forth, light and heavy laden, and
struggle in God’s way with your possessions and your selves ;” 10
if they do not sacrifice their lives, their riches, and their king-
7 This Tradition is to be found in Bokarl and Ebn Maja. Its applicability to the
Mongols derives partly from the fact that the bulk of the Mongol soldiery was
Turkish (see Bertold Spuler, Die Mongolen in Iran, Berlin, 1955, p. 237) and
partly from the failure ever to make a clear differentiation between Turk and
Mongol, the term Talar serving as a general designation for both non-Islami-
cized Turks and for Mongols. Fazlollah Ruzbehan KonjI, writing in the tenth/
sixteenth century, says that the 'olama of Transoxania were unanimously agreed
on the applicability of this tradition to Holagu and his armies (Transoxanien
und Turkestan zu Beginn des 16, ] dhrhunderts, a translation of his Mehman-
nama-ye Bokdra by Ursula Ott, Freiburg i. Br., 1974, p. 105).
Concerning the circumstances of the capture and sacking of Ray, see J. A.
Boyle in T he Cambridge History of Iran (Cambridge, 1968), V, p. 310.
9 Part of a Tradition that opens with the statement: "Each of you is a shepherd”
(Bokan, Moslem, Abu Da’ud, TermezI, Ebn Hanbal).
‘“Qur’an, 9:42.
40
The Reason for Writing the Book
doms in order to repel this catastrophe — then one must fear that
Islam will be totally destroyed, and that it will be overthrown in
those few lands where it remains unvanquished.
O kings of the world, hasten forth
To save some remnant of the faith.
Islam is lost, and you are unaware;
Unbelief engulfs the earth, and you slumber on.
It is to be feared as a present danger that the name and trace
of Islam that still survive will also vanish, thanks to our ill-
omened and useless disputes, so that no sign of religion will re-
main, and it will withdraw behind the veil of dignity. “Islam
began as a stranger, and again shall become a stranger as it
began .” 11 O God, awaken us from the sleep of the neglectful; O
God, take us not to task for our evil deeds; give no dominion
over us to those who are without compassion for us; “burden us
not beyond what we have the strength to bear; pardon us, for-
give us, and have mercy upon us; Thou art our Protector, so help
us against the people of unbelief .” 12
When the ferocious conquests of those accursed and godfor-
saken ones began, this feeble one stayed patiently for almost a
year in the lands of Iraq, and in the hope that the morning of
salvation might dawn after the somber night of catastrophe and
disaster and that the sun of good fortune might rise again, en-
dured all kinds of severe hardship and tribulation. For I was
loath to abandon my children and womenfolk, to part from my
friends and dear ones and to leave house and home behind; and
neither was it possible to bring forth from those lands all my
dependents and following, nor did my heart permit me to ex-
pose them to destruction and perdition. Finally, when the catas-
trophe passed all bounds and the disaster exceeded all limits,
when life itself was endangered and the knife cut through to the
bone, it became necessary to declare that “necessity renders
permissible the forbidden.” Obeying the command of “O ye
who believe, guard your own souls; he who is astray cannot
"A Tradition (Moslem, TermezI, Ebn Maja, DaremI, Ebn Hanbal).
12 The final phrases of this supplication, included within quotation marks, are
taken from Qur’an, 2:286.
41
First Part, Second Chapter
harm you,, if ye are rightly guided,” 13 1 was compelled to abandon
all of my kith and kin; profiting from the adage that “he who
has saved his head has truly profited,” and conforming to the
principle that “flight from the unendurable is a custom of the
prophets,” H I had to depart and entrust my dear ones to
calamity. 15
When no disaster threatened, dearly did he cherish him;
But when he saw disaster coming, he left him to his fate.
Know then that in times of trouble
There is none who will stand by you, none!
One night in the year 618 (1221), this feeble one left his abode
in Hamadan with a group .of cherished darvishes, and confront-
ing extreme peril set out on the road to Erbll. Soon the news
caught up with us that the accursed infidels — may God destroy
and abase them! — had reached Hamadan and beleaguered it. The
people of the city strove to defend it as best they could, but
when their power to resist was exhausted, the infidels triumphed
and captured the city. They martyred many men, took captive
numerous women and children, and wrought utter destruction.
Most of my kinsfolk who had been in the city of Ray were
martyred.
Hail rained down upon my garden;
Not a leaf remained on the rosebush.
“To God we belong, and to Him we shall return.” 16
Then we severed all hope of returning to our accustomed
homeland and dwelling, and saw religious and worldly interest
alike to dictate that we should settle in a land inhabited by the
13 Qur’an, 5:104.
‘’Purportedly a Tradition; see Foruzanfar, Ahadls-e Masnavl, p. 191.
15 Daya’s self-concern, ill-concealed by his invocation of Qur’an and Tradition,
may have inspired these lines in the first chapter of Sa'di’s Golestan:
See that one devoid of honor
Who will never see good fortune’s face.
For he chose ease for himself
And left wife and child in hardship.
( Golestan , ed. Mohammad All Forugl, Tehran, 1316 S./1937, p. 30).
16 Qur’an, 2:156.
42
The Reason for Writing the Book
People of the Sunna and the Community, and free of the blight
of heresy, deviation, and fanaticism ; 17 a land adorned with secur-
ity and justice, where goods were cheap and the means of liveli-
hood abundant, and a pious, learned, just, equitable, and dis-
cerning monarch ruled, who might appreciate the true value of
men of religion and grant the accomplished their due.
Whenever we inquired after such a place among the perspica-
cious and experienced, who were well acquainted with the con-
ditions of every land and clime, they replied unanimously as
follows:
“In our time, the region answering this description and the
land possessing this property is the country of Rum, for it is both
adorned with the persuasion of the People of the Sunna and the
Community and embellished with justice and equity, security
and prosperity. Praise be to God, the king of that realm is a
perpetuator of the line of Saljuq, a living memory of that blessed
dynasty to the shadow of whose blessed baldachin the people of
Islam owe every instant of ease, peace, security and tranquillity
they have ever enjoyed. The virtuous and pious works per-
formed in the auspicious age of those God-fearing, religion-
nurturing kings — may God illumine the proofs of their piety! —
were never witnessed in any other age: raids and conquests in
the lands of unbelief; the capture of citadels and castles from
the heretics ; 18 the building of colleges and hospices, mosques,
small and great, and their pulpits, bridges, caravanserais, hos-
pitals, and other pious foundations; the honoring and patronage
of the scholars of religion; the cherishing and veneration of
ascetics and devout men; the care and compassion shown to all
the subjects of the king — these and other means of drawing nigh
to the presence of God. the Glorious had never before been seen.
This truth is too well known and celebrated to need prolonged
17 By "fanaticism" (ta'assob) Daya doubtless intends rivalry and enmity be-
tween the adherents of the different Sunni mazhabs; his native city of Ray had
witnessed prolonged disturbances between Hanafls and Safe'Is in the last quar-
ter of the sixth/twelfth century (Yaqut al-l:famawl, Mo'jam al-boldan, Cairo,
1323/1906, II, 893).
la The heretics (malaheda): the Isma'IlI sect known as the ’Assassins,” who had
established strongholds at various points in northern and eastern Iran from
which they mounted raids on cities of the Saljuq domain.
43
First Part, Second Chapter
exposition, for throughout the lands of the Arabs and the Per-
sians, in Turkestan, Fargana, Transoxania, and Karazm, in
Khorasan, Gur, Garjestan and GaznI, in India, Kabul and
Zabol, in Slstan and Kerman, in Kuzestan and the two Iraqs , 19
in Diyarbekir, Armenia and Syria, on the North African coast 20
and in Egypt, in Rum and elsewhere, the monuments of their
virtue and that of their vassals are manifest, and the tongues of
the people of Islam resound with pious prayer and joyous
encomium for that blessed dynasty. May God the Monarch
Almighty make of their compassion, mercy, and tender care for
their subjects a means for their advancing to high degree in the
hereafter and for drawing nigh unto Him; and may He perpetu-
ate the blessings of just rule and the cultivation of religion in
their blessed house until the end of the world, by His grace and
generosity.”
When matters became thus clear to my feeble self, I realized
that the means of obtaining tranquillity and peace and cultivat-
ing the life of the heart, of disseminating learning and summon-
ing men unto God, and of serving in fit fashion men given to
pious retreat, were to be found and had only in that land, in the
refuge provided by the rule of that blessed dynasty to pray for
whose welfare was a tradition I had inherited from my ancestors
and forefathers, and to whose bounteous generosity I and all the
people of Islam are indebted. Thus I considered it my duty to set
out without delay for that blessed land; to settle in the sanctuary
of that realm — may it enjoy daily increase and protection and
immunity from the evil and cunning of the unbelievers; and to
busy myself with prayer for the welfare of that victorious state —
may God strengthen it! Auspicious fortune aided me, divine
grace befriended me, and limping and stumbling I managed to
reach the frontier of this blessed realm in the company of a few
dear followers.
19 "The two Iraqs”: a now obsolete geographical expression designating Per-
sian Iraq — north-central and western Iran — and Arab Iraq — lower Mesopotamia.
See G. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate, Cambridge, 1930, pp.
25, 185.
20 The word sahel, here translated as the North African coast, also means the
Red Sea littoral or the East African coast, although such translations would be
less plausible in this context.
44
The Reason for Writing the Book
By happy chance we were met in the city of Malatya by a
hundred thousand species of auspicious favor and good fortune
in the shape of the arrival of the shaikh of shaikhs, the foremost
scholar of the world, the pole of the age, perpetuator of the line
of shaikhs supreme, the shining meteor of the community and
the faith, ‘Omar al-Sohravardi, may God profit Islam and the
Muslims by granting him long life, and may his blessed breath
and visage never be far from us ! 21 We counted this as great good
fortune and wondrous favor, and considered it an auspicious
omen. When we were honored by being received into his pres-
ence, that great one waxed eloquent in gratitude for the aid,
assistance, and generosity he had received from the monarch of
Islam, the sultan of sultans, may God perpetuate his rule and
elevate his dignity and repute! In the presence of both elect and
commonalty, he described some part of the virtues and noble
features of that one of pure lineage and sanctified spirit.
In the midst of his discourse, he turned to this feeble one and
said:
Since you have been compelled to leave behind
your accustomed homeland and your well-loved
dwelling place, and have been constrained to lose
both time and tranquillity — ‘it may happen that ye
will hate a thing which isbetterforyou’ 22 — settlein this
blessed realm; tarry in the sanctuary of this kingdom;
and apply the principle of ‘when you find pasture,
alight.’ Although the world is not fitting to be a place
of habitation, and treacherous life is of short dura-
tion, yet spend what remains of life in the refuge af-
forded by the auspiciousness of this monarch, who is
young in fortune yet mature in wisdom, this sultan
who nurtures religion as a true servant of God. ‘If
your choice be correct, then cleave to it.’ Although it is
the custom of the Sufis to seek seclusion, isolation,
and solitude for the sake of God’s fear, to avoid the
company of kings and sultans and to abandon all
2 'Concerning the circumstances of al-Sohravardl’s presence in Malaga, see
the introduction to this translation.
22 Qur’an, 2:216.
45
First Part, Second Chapter
intercourse, nonetheless one may not shun com-
pletely this divinely supported king who has both a
full share of learning and a generous amount of the
fruits of ascetic combat, and who loves the possessors
of learning and the people of the heart. Nor may one
deprive oneself and the people of the benefits and
advantages derived from attending on his presence.
He spoke for a while in this manner, and then sought in the
Qur’an for a sign confirming the rightness of his proposal. Then,
with his blessed hand, he penned a few words to the lieutenants
of the king , 23 and turning to me, he said: 'After drawing a sign
from the Noble Qur’an and consultation with God the Glorious,
I see the matter to be as I said.”
This feeble one regarded the order of that great one as the
order of God, and I Was unable to disobey his command. Then,
without delay, he stood up like the rising sun and departed like
the wind, while my wretched self, with an eye full of tears and a
heart full of fire, heavy laden like a cloud returning from the
ocean shore, set out for the royal presence of lofty elevation.
Doubly was I laden, with the pearls of wisdom I had gathered
from that ocean, and with the sorrow of separation. But the
messenger of felicity gladdened me with the tidings of a hundred
thousand bounties, and the impending good fortune of attaining
the royal presence mended all hurt and damage.
A voice then addressed my inmost heart, reminding me that
those who enter the presence of kings and sultans must bear
with them some gift reflecting their own state, although falling
short of the lofty disposition of kings. Now I was indigent and
without means, and that majesty was of truly exalted rank.
Hence I replied: It has been said that —
The remedy for lovers is, I know, the forsaking of remedy,
But still in my lack of remedy I fret and tear out my soul.
However exalted is the monarch’s rank, it cannot exceed that of
23 Al-SohravardI’s letter of recommendation for Daya is referred to in the
Avamer al-'ald’iya of Ebn BIbl.
46
The Reason for Writing the Book
Solomon, and however indigent I may be, I cannot be less than
an ant. Let me then prepare for that king of Solomonic degree a
gift befitting an ant, and offer excuse for my impotence with
these two lines of verse:
0 King! to carry a hundred souls into thy presence as gifts
Would be less even than taking caraway seeds to
Kerman . 24
But thou knowest that it is the custom for ants
To bear a locust’s leg to Solomon’s court . 25
Then, however much I longingly sought a gift, sallying re-
peatedly forth into the battlefield of reflection, diving into the
ocean of meditation, and inspecting both worldly possessions
and provisions for the afterlife, I could find no clue of anything
that might speak for me in that presence.
1 inspected my establishment from end to end
And my foot did not stumble on so much as a potsherd.
When I had totally despaired, I addressed to all things the
verse, “they are enemies unto me; not so the Lord of the
Worlds ,” 26 and in my impotence and confusion, with humility
and abasement, I turned to the presence of Him Whose generos-
ity is absolute and Who alone is deserving of worship. I took the
basket of supplication in the hand of high endeavor and went
forth to beg in accordance with daily habit. Forthwith His
bounteous majesty, in accordance with His generous custom —
“call upon me, and I shall answer you” 27 — opened the gates of His
treasury of liberality, and showing me every kind of bounty pro-
claimed: "Take all thou desirest of these guarded and hidden
treasures, and grieve thy heart no more.” This feeble one re-
24 “Taking caraway seeds to Kerman”: a proverb having the sense of taking
something as a gift to a place where it already abounds; cf. English "coals to
Newcastle.”
25 The references to Solomon, the ant, and the locust's leg have the sense that
Islam sees in Solomon a prophet-king whose rule extended over all animate
creation. On the occasion of a review of his subjects, when every order of being
offered some form of gift, the ant could find nothing to present to Solomon ex-
cept the leg of a locust that had been severed in the crush.
2fi Qur'an, 26:77.
27 Qur’an, 40:60.
47
First Part, Second Chapter
plied: “O Lord! If I should take worldly bounties, it would be to
no purpose, for the monarch already possesses such riches in
boundless measure, and they are, moreover, of no consequence
in the lofty view of that auspicious one. If I should take with me
deeds performed in obedience to religion, again it would be to
no end; for, God be praised, he has storehouse upon storehouse
filled with such deeds, and the ship of his lofty intent is heavily
laden with the cargo of worship and obedience. Should I take
with me various of the sciences, they too would be of. little bene-
fit, for learning and the learned are plentiful in his presence,
and he possesses hundredweight upon hundredweight, nay
camel train upon camel train, of the different kinds of knowl-
edge.”
When God in His grace perceived the loftiness of my intent,
He caressed me with thousandfold generosity and liberality and
said: “O Ayaz to Our Mahmud ! 28 O devoted slave at the threshold
of Our mastery! O lover illumined by the light of Our beauty!
‘There are hidden gems of knowledge unknown to all but those
who know God; if they are spoken of, none denies them except
those arrogant toward God .’ 29 There are unpierced jewels in Our
treasury, never touched by the jeweler’s file and hidden in vir-
ginal state behind the veil of the unseen — ‘whom neither man nor
jinn hath touched .’ 30 Take as gift a necklace of these precious
jewels, a band of these virginal lustrous-eyed houris, and present
them to that servant whom We have chosen, that monarch
whom We have raised up; who in Our Potiphar-like presence is
like Joseph raised to honor from the well, and who shows the
patience of Job in the beneficial afflictions with which We try
28 Ayaz: a trusted and devoted servant of Sultan Mahmud of Gazna (d. 421/
1030), celebrated for valor, intelligence, and beauty” The relationship between
Ayaz and his master was often celebrated in Persian poetry (notably by $a’eb
[d. 1087/1677] in his narrative poem Mahmud o Ayaz), and became one of the
stock archetypes of love. The sense here is that Daya is a beloved slave of the
divine majesty; mahmud, in addition to being the name of Ayaz’s master, also
has the sense of "deserving of praise”; there is therefore a double entendre in
the phrase hairat-e mahmudl-ye ma.
29 A Tradition related on the authority of Abu Horeyra by two early Sufis, al-
Solaml (d. 421/1021) and al-KalabazI (d. 390-1000). See Siileyman Ates,
Siilemt ve Tasawufi Tefsiri, Istanbul, 1969, p. 17.
3o Qur'an, 55:56.
48
The Reason for Writing the Book
him; 31 the shadow of the name of Our essence, 32 and the manifesta-
tion of the meaning of Our attributes; succorer of Our saints
and vanquisher of Our enemies; the personification of loftiness
in affairs both religious and temporal; 33 support of Islam and the
Muslims; the pride and perpetuator of the house of Saljuq,
Abu’l-Fath Keyqobad b. Keykosrow b. Qelej Arslan, may God
exalt his rule, make prosper his worldly and religious concerns,
give victory to his armies and allies, and strengthen the proof
and evidence of his piety! For no other commodity is so eagerly
sought in the marketplace of conviction, and no other rare
novelty fetches the same price in the shop of innermost truth!”
This bounty and inspiration were bestowed upon mein the
city of Kayseri in the blessed month of Ramazan in the year 618
(1221), at the time when the gates of divine compassion were
flung open, the universal feast of generosity lay ready, and the
summons of “where are the needy and the supplicant?” 34 had
been sounded. Seizing the advantage that the season afforded, I
entrusted the reins of my pen to the hand of direction from the
world of the unseen, so that whatever precious jewel arrived in
the depths of my heart as a gift from that world might be drawn
by the tongue of the pen on to the thread of expression, and
placed on the tray of the written page. Then I might take it as a
gift to the royal presence, saying the while, “O mighty prince,
affliction has visited us and our people; we come with merchan-
dise of scant worth.” 35
After renewed consultation of the Noble Qur’an and request-
31 The implicit comparison of the Saljuq ruler, Keyqobad, to Joseph and Job is a
delicate and skillful reference to the sufferings and misfortunes he endured at
the hands of his brother, Keyka’us. Upon the death of his father, Keykosrow, in
607/1210, Keyqobad was imprisoned for a period of seven years, first in Malat-
ya and then in Harput. In 616/1219, Keyka’us died, and he was released and
brought to Konya as monarch. See "Keykubad I” by Osman Turan, Islam
Ansiklopedisi, VI, 646-666.
32 The name of God’s Essence is Allah; and there is a Tradition that "the sultan
is the shadow of Allah upon earth.” The Tradition is recorded by Ebn Kozeyma,
Ebn No'eym and al-Deylaml, but regarded as weak by al-Beyhaq! in his So'ab
al-lman.
33 This phrase is a rendering of Keyqobad’s title, Ala al-Donya wa’l-dln.
34 A Tradition, recorded with a slightly different wording by Moslem and Ebn
Hanbal.
35 Qur’an, 12:88.
49
First Part, Second Chapter
ing the aid of God Most Glorious, I adorned and embellished
this bride from the unseen with the auspicious titles of that
religion-nurturing monarch, that justice-dispensing sultan,
whose baldachin is the sky, and whose banner, the stars, the
pride and perpetuator of the line of Saljuq, may God multiply
his glory and extend the shadow of his rule over east and west!
Abundant thanks to the Lord of the World
That I have entrusted a jewel to a knower of jewels.
He will know, looking upon it with the gaze of his soul,
The toil my soul endured, to nurture his soul.
Our hope of the uncaused grace and boundless generosity of
God, the Monarch Exalted and Almighty, is that He will guard
and protect our speech and our hand from error and fault, mis-
take and shortcoming; open to our heart and our tongue the
door to the hidden treasures of the unseen; permit us to reach
our aim by traveling the highway of following the Master of the
First and the Last ; 36 make our work a source of benefit in this
world and intercession in the hereafter for ourselves and our
readers; and render it acceptable to the hearts of men and pleas-
ing to their gaze, if God the Glorious so wills. He is sufficient
unto us, and upon Him is our reliance. "O Lord, make not our
hearts to swerve after Thou hast guided us, and give us mercy
from Thy presence, for truly Thou art the giver .” 37
36 I.e., [he Prophet.
37 Qur’an, 3:8.
50
Third Chapter:
Treating of the Manner and Method in Which
the Book is Written
God Almighty said: “He it is Who originates creation, and
then causes it to return .” 1 The Prophet, upon whom be peace and
blessings, said: “People die in the state in which they lived, and
shall be resurrected in. the state in which they died.”
Know that according to this verse and this Tradition, three
states were established for man: the beginning of his creation,
known as origin; the period of his worldly existence, known as
life; and the obligatory severance by the spirit of its attachment
to the body, or its voluntary separation from the attributes of the
body, and this state we call return. The book, then, is based on
these three: origin, life, and return, and God willing, a part con-
taining several chapters will be devoted to each, so that some
account may be given of the various states of man at each suc-
cessive stage, within the confines of this brief treatise. Thus, in
the part treating of origin, the beginning of the creation of
spirits and bodily shapes, and of the realms of Kingship and
Dominion , 2 will be described. In the part concerned with life, the
training of man, his traveling and wayfaring through the stages
of the human condition, the lights of spirituality, the transmut-
ing of characteristics and the transforming of attributes, his
different states as he proceeds along his journey, and the need
for the means of spiritual training and progress — all these mat-
ters will be set forth. In the part devoted to return, the return of
the souls of the felicitous and the wretched and the manner in
which each group is brought back shall be expounded, all this in
accordance with the method of the prophets and saints.
A section concerning the wayfaring of various classes of men
will be added, so that all may derive profit and benefit from the
book. Another part has been written by way of introduction, so
that the book consists of five parts and forty chapters, as listed
and described above. In choosing the number five, we wish to
‘Qur’an, 30:27.
Concerning Kingship and Dominion, see p. 70 no. 1.
51
The Manner and Method the Book is Written
partake of the blessedness and auspiciousness inherent in it, for
it is the number of the pillars on which Islam is based: “Islam is
built on five pillars: bearing witness that there is no god other
than God and that Mohammad is His Messenger; the regular
performance of prayer; the payment of the purifying due; the
fast in the month of Ramazan; and pilgrimage to God’s house
for those possessing the means.” This is a sound Tradition, re-
ported by Abdollah the son of 'Omar, may God be pleased with
both of them . 3 The number forty was chosen for the chapters in
order to partake of the blessedness of the figure, which has a
certain property with respect to the training of man. Thus God
said: 'And We appointed with Moses thirty nights, and We
completed them with ten, so the appointed time of his Lord was
forty nights .” 4 Similarly, the Prophet, upon whom be peace, said:
"Whoever worships God sincerely for forty days, the springs of
wisdom shall well up from his heart to his tongue .” 5 At the be-
ginning of each chapter we have quoted a verse from the Qur’an
and a Tradition of the Prophet, suitable to its contents, in order
to hold fast thereby to the Book and the Sunna.
The description that we shall give of the origin and return of
man, of his excellencies and deficiencies in the course of his
training and his traveling through all states and stations, may
serve as a touchstone against which aspirants to the Path and
the Truth, the wayfarers and gnostics, can strike the coin of their
state. If they find within themselves some sign and indication of
the stations we describe, they will be fortified and may hope
that their feet are planted on the highway of the Truth and that
they are progressing along the straight path. If, on the other
hand, they find no such indication, they will not be deceived by
the wiles of Satan and the oglings of the soul; they will expel all
arrogant fancies from their minds, and set their feet on the path
of true search, refusing to be deceived by stale verbiage.
Chase out empty passion from thy head!
Lessen thy conceit, increase thy supplication!
3 This important Tradition is found in Bokarl, Moslem, TennezI and Nasa’I.
'•Qur’an, 2:51.
5 A Tradition recorded by Ebn No’eym, and Sa’Id b. Mansur in his Sonan.
52
First Part, T hird Chapter
Love is thy master, and when thou reachest the goal,
He, none other, will silently direct thy deeds . 6
This book has been named, in accordance with its contents
and purpose, THE PATH OF GOD’S BONDSMEN FROM
ORIGIN TO RETURN, and is dedicated to Sultan Keyqobad,
may God appoint him as one of His elect servants, cause him to
tread the path of guidance, and destroy his enemies as He de-
stroyed Samud and ‘Ad . 7
When the devoted morid, the enamored seeker, studies this
work with sincerity and care, not out of fancy and frivolity, and
comprehends the principles it contains, he will perceive who he
is, whence, how, and for what purpose he has come; whither
and how he shall go; and what his goal and destination are.
O soul! The heart of lovers everywhere is sorely troubled
By this stage which lies ahead for all.
The sword of fate has felled into the bowl of annihilation
The heads of countless wise and troubled souls.
It will become clear to him for what wise purpose the pure,
exalted, and luminous spirit has been shrouded in its lowly,
tenebrous frame of clay; to what end the spirit is then separated
and severed from the frame; why the outward form decays; and
for what reason the bodily frame is restored at resurrection to
serve as garment for the spirit. Then he will leave the category
of “they are like cattle; nay, more misguided ”; 8 attain a truly
human degree; and be delivered from the veil of forgetfulness
described in the verse, "They know but the outer part of the
present life, and of the hereafter they are heedless .” 9 With joyous
yearning he will set his foot on the path of wayfaring, so that all
his gaze perceives his foot will pursue, for the fruit of gazing is
faith, and that of pursuing is gnosis.
6 A quatrain by Aslr Akslkatl (d. 570/1174); see Divan, ed. Rokn al-DIn
Homayunfarrok, Tehran, 1337 S./1958, p. 480.
7 Samud and 'Ad: two peoples destroyed by God for their impiety and rejec-
tion of His messengers (Qur’an, 26:123-159).
“Qur’an, 7:179.
“Qur’an, 30:7.
53
The Manner and Method the Book is Written
Philosophers, atheists, and materialists are deprived of both
these stations, and hence wander in bewilderment. One of these
pretended men of learning, who is known and celebrated among
them for scholarship, wisdom and perspicuity, by name ‘Omar
Kayyam, in the extremity of his confusion while wandering in
the wilderness of misguidance, finds himself constrained to say
in one of his quatrains, thus confessing to his blindness:
In this circle of our coming and going
Neither beginning nor end is visible.
None in the whole world can tell us truly
Whence is our coming and whither our going.
And again:
Why did the Maker adorn the forms of creation
And then cast them down to decay and decrease?
Should the forms be ugly, whose fault is it?
And if pleasing they be, why cause their ruin ? 10
That blind wanderer — "it is not their sight that is blind, rather
the hearts within their breast” 11 — is unaware that God Almighty
has servants who through following the Master of the First and
the Last have traversed the entirety of creation. They have
passed beyond "the distance of two bowstrings,” and arriving at
10 This attack on Kayyam (d. 562/1131), author of the excessively renowned
quatrains, repeated later in the work, is of interest as one of the earliest indica-
tions that Kayyam, the mathematician and philosopher, was also a poet (see Mo-
hammad All Forugl’s preface to his edition of the Roba'lyat [Tehran, 1321
S./1943], p. 16); and also as a decisive refutation of claims, ancient and modem,
that Kayyam was in reality a Sufi. The great Sufi poet Aftar (d.c. 617/1220) de-
nounced Kayyam, in terms very similar to those used by Daya, in his Elahinama
(ed. Hellmut Ritter, Istanbul, 1940, p. 272). In his study of Kayyam entitled
Daml ba Kayyam (Tehran, 1345 S./1966), the modem writer All DastI takes
note of Daya’s hostility to his hero, and in order to exact a kind of posthumous
and imaginary vengeance mocks Mer$ad al-'ebad as “a dark forest of hearsay,
fable, and fantasy,” and stages a fictitious debate before Keyqobad in which
Daya is decisively worsted (Damt ba Kayyam, pp. 265-286; English translation
by L. P. Elwell-Sutton, In Search of Omar Khayyam, London, 1971, pp. 216—
225).
"Qur'an, 22:46.
54
First Part, T hird Chapter
the station of “or closer” have lost their beings . 12 They have
anointed the eye of vision with the collyrium of "his gaze swerved
not nor strayed ;” 13 and studying the verse “He beheld the supreme
signs of his Lord ,” 14 they partook of the manifold light of “God
guides to His light whomsoever He wills .” 15 Then, in that light,
from the station of “he sees by Me,” 16 they witnessed the begin-
ning of the world of Command, whence the spirits proceed, and
saw how each object emerges from the obscurity of nonbeing
onto the plain of being, and ever shall emerge until the end of the
world. They comprehended the mystery inherent in the being of
each, and looking out from the window of pre-eternity onto
post-eternity, they perceived the end and destination of each
class of being, and like a compass traced out the circle of pre-
eternity and post-eternity. Repeatedly they passed from being
to nonbeing, and from nonbeing back to being; first they were
nonexistent beings, and then existent nonbeings; and at times
neither existent nor nonexistent. Behind this veil many myster-
ies are concealed, perceptible only to those free of attachment,
for such matters are not within the reach of every passion-
polluted intellect. Most men think them mere absurdities, while
each is one of the hidden mysteries of the world of the unseen,
and only the gaze of the people of that world may alight upon
them. As the proverb has it, “The language of the dumb is known
only to their mothers.”
When I joined in unison with the sorrow of thy love,
A hundred times or more to nonbeing I repaired.
12 "The distance of two bowstrings or closer” (Qur’an, 53:9): the distance of the
Prophet from the divine presence at the end of the Me’raj, the ascension from
Jerusalem to heaven that took place shortly before the Hejra. The expression has
been taken by Sufis to mean the utmost proximity to God, with opposite at-
tributes meeting in obedience to divine command (SajjadI, Farhang-e mostala-
hal-e ‘orafa va motasawefa, p. 311). The Me'raj was also taken by the Sufis as
a model for the spiritual journey; the earliest example is furnished by Bayazld
BastamI (d. 261/875); see his Me'rdjnama in Farid al-DIn Attar, Tazkerat
al-ouiliya, ed. Mlrza Mohammad Kan Qazvlnl, Tehran, 1346 5./ 1967, I,
160-164.
13 Qur’an, 53:17.
1 ’Qur'an, 53:18.
15 Qur’an, 24:35.
lfi Part of a long hadis qodsi: “My servant continually draws nigh unto Me
through supererogatory works until I love him. And when I love him, I am to him
an ear, an eye and a hand. He hears by Me, sees by Me and strikes by Me.” See
Forurzanfar, Ahadis-e Masnavi, pp. 18-19.
55
The Manner and Method the Book is Written
Then far beyond nonbeing I passed and traveled on.
A mystery I already was; now I am mystery
consummate . 17
Where are these lost and sightless ones? If there were left in
them any desire to search for vision, the scales of egoism could
soon be lifted from their truth-perceiving sight, with dominical 18
aid and the instrumentality of the Path, and on condition of sub-
mission. Then they would be delivered from the blindness de-
scribed in the verse “Deaf, dumb, and blind, and they under-
stand not ,” 19 and instead constantly proclaim: “Were the veil to
be lifted, my certainty would not increase .” 20
It was my aim that both elect and commonalty should be
seated at the beneficial banquet of this book, and that none of
the differing groups and classes of men should be without a
share in the station of those drawn nigh unto God, or fail to taste
the libations of His saints. All should attain this good fortune
without abandoning their crafts and trades, their normal garb
and clothing, thus causing affairs to be neglected and the essen-
tial needs of men to remain unfulfilled. In the fifth part of the
book, the wayfaring of each class will therefore be described,
for there is no group whose craft and trade cannot lead to either
paradise or hell, or to the presence of God. All three paths lie
open at the foot of everyone. The straight path is that road
which leads to God; the road to paradise is on its right, and that
to hell on its left. God said: "Ye shall be three bands: Com-
panions of the Right — what are the Companions of the Right?
Companions of the Left — what are the Companions of the Left?
and the Foremost: the Foremost, those are they brought nigh
unto God .” 21
17 A quatrain by Daya. The last line contains a pun: razi, here translated as "a
mystery,” might also be the adjective of place, Razi, thus constituting a signa-
ture to the poem.
'“Dominical: this word and the corresponding substantive "dominicality” will
be used throughout the book to render rabbanl and robubiyat respectively. The
adjective rabbanl refers to the divine attribute rabb ("Lord”), signifying the
Creator as the solicitous and watchful sustainer of all being. Robubiyat is the
abstract noun designating that quality.
19 Qur’an, 2:171.
20 A saying variously attributed to All b. Abu Taleb and ’Amer b. Abd al-Qeys
Tamlml, an early ascetic. See Bad!’ al-Zaman Foruzanfar’s notes to his edition
of Jalal al-DTn Ruml’s Flhe ma flh (Tehran, 1330 S./1952), p 272.
21 Qur’an, 5fi:7-9.
56
First Part, Third Chapter
The shaikhs have said that “the paths to God are as numerous
as the breaths of men.” By breaths are intended the livelihoods,
crafts, and trades of men, in the exercise of which they breathe.
These paths may be compared to the roads that lead to the
Ka'ba. From every place, point, and direction where men live
throughout the world, a road goes forth toward the Ka'ba: ‘And
from whatsoever place thou goest forth, set thy face toward the
Sacred Mosque .” 22 To depart and go forth is the first major con-
dition for performing the hajj. Once it is fulfilled, one must set
one’s face to the Ka'ba, for although prayer may be valid if the
direction of the Ka'ba cannot be established, hajj cannot be. The
third condition is to traverse the distance separating oneself
from the Ka'ba. When these three conditions have been fulfilled,
it is possible to perform the hajj.
Similarly, each class in its trade and craft must first depart
from the pleasures of the soul and all selfish interest. It must
turn fully toward God in all things, and regard it as a duty to
traverse the distance that being constitutes. Only thus may it
hope to reach the Ka'ba of attainment: "Wheresoever ye turn,
there is the face of God .” 23
Keep not the company of thyself, thy companion is a
brigand;
Cut loose from self, for in selfhood lies calamity.
Thou didst ask: “What is the distance from me to him?”
O friend, thy self is the measure of that distance.
A description of the proper conduct of each class of men shall
be set forth concisely at a suitable point, God willing. Obscure
expressions, unfamiliar words, and phrases caused artificially to
rhyme will be avoided, so that both neophyte and adept may
profit from the work, and both elect and commonalty be satis-
fied. This, in accordance with the prayer, "O Lord, expand for
me my breast; ease my task for me; unloose the knot upon my
tongue that they may understand my words .” 24
And peace be upon Mohammad and his family.
22 Qur’an, 2:149-150.
23 Qur’an, 2:115.
2 <Qur'an, 20:25.
57
Second Part:
Concerning the Origin of Existent
Beings, and Containing Five Chap-
ters, in accordance with the Bless-
ed Fivefold Nature of the Daily
Prayer
59
First Chapter:
Expounding the Creation of Spirits and the
Degrees of Knowledge Thereof
God Almighty said: "Indeed We created man in the fairest of
shapes, then caused him to descend to the lowest of the low .” 1
The Prophet, upon whom be peace and blessings, said: "God
created spirits four thousand years before He created bodies” —
or, according to another version, "two thousand years.” This
Tradition explains the verse just quoted in the sense that God
first created human spirits and then corporeal frames and fleshly
bodies . 2
Know that the origin of all creation and all beings consists of
the spirits of men, and the origin of the spirits of men is the pure
Mohammadan Spirit, may peace and blessings be upon its
possessor . 3 Thus the Prophet said: “The first that God Almighty
created was my spirit” — or, according to another version, "my
light .” 4 Since the Prophet, peace be upon him, was the choice
essence of all beings and the fruit of the tree of creation — “were
it not for thee, I would not have created the heavens” 5 — he was
also of necessity the origin of all beings. For creation is like a
tree, and the Prophet is the fruit of that tree, and the tree origi-
nates in truth from the seed contained within its fruit.
Thus, when God wished to create existent beings, He first
‘Qur’an, 95:4-5.
2 Ajsam va ajsad: the first word denotes bodies with respect to volume and di-
mension, and the second bodies with respect to fleshly composition.
3 The Mohammadan Spirit (also known as the Supreme Spirit) is authorita-
tively defined by Sarlf JorjanI (d. 816/1413) as follows: “The human spirit as a
locus for manifestation of the divine essence with respect to its dominicality;
none may wander near it, nor tarry. God alone knows its true ground, ft is the
First Intellect, the Mohammadan Reality, the Unitary Soul, the Reality of the
Names. It is the first existent created by God in His form; it is the supreme
viceregent, and the very substance of light” (Kelab al-ta'rlfal, Beirut, 1969,
p. 118).
Tradition reported on the authority of Hasan b. All; see Foruzanfar, Ahadls-e
Masnavi, pp. 113-114.
5 A hadis qodsl; see Foruzanfar, Ahadis-e Masnavi, p. 172.
60
The Creation of Spirits
brought forth the light of the Mohammadan Spirit from the ef-
fulgence of the light of the unity of His essence, in reference to
which the Prophet said: “I am of God, and the believers are of
me.” According to certain traditions God Almighty looked upon
the Mohammadan Light with the gaze of love, so that shame
overcame it, and drops of sweat appeared from which He created
the spirits of the prophets, upon whom be peace and blessings.
Then, from the light of the spirits of the prophets, He created the
spirits of the saints; from the light of the spirits of the saints, the
spirits of the believers; from the spirits of the believers, those of
the sinners; from those of the sinners, those of the hypocrites
and the unbelievers. Then, from the light of the spirits of men,
He created the spirits of the angels; from the spirits of the
angels, those of the jinn; from those of the jinn, those of the
devils, rebellious spirits , 6 and demons , 7 in accordance with the
different degree and state of each. From the residue of their
spirits He then created those of the different animals. Next, He
brought into being the world of Dominion and all that pertains
to it: animal souls, the vegetable and mineral realms, and com-
pound and simple elements, as shall be set forth in the second
and third chapters, God willing.
These degrees and stages of creation may be compared to the
process whereby a sugar merchant extracts raw white sugar
from the cane; boils it a first time and obtains white sugar candy;
a second time, and obtains white sugar; a third time, and ob-
tains brown sugar ; 8 a fourth time, and obtains caramel; a fifth
time, and obtains black cube sugar ; 9 and finally a sixth time,
after which only dregs will remain, exceedingly dark and black,
these being known as treacle.
From the first stage of raw sugar to that of treacle, lucency
and whiteness gradually decrease until only darkness and black-
ness remain. He who is unaware of the art of the sugar merchant
will not know that he obtains these several and different prod-
6 Rebellious spirits (marada): plural of mared (cf. Qur’an, 37:7) or marld (cf.
Qur’an 22:3, 4:1 17). The rebelliousness of this class of evil spirit is said to con-
sist of its desire to leant surreptitiously the designs of God.
’Demons (abalesa): plural of Eblls, the proper name of the devil.
“Literally, “red sugar” (sekar-e sork).
9 Sekar-qavaleb-e siyah.
61
Second Part, First Chapter
ucts from the same sugar; he will deny the fact and say that
black treacle could never have emerged from the white, translu-
cent sugar. He will not know that blackness and darkness were
inherent in the particles of the sugar.
My friend and I both drank of the same wine;
His cheek turned red, mine turned yellow.
It is in truth necessary for the raw white sugar to contain dark-
ness and blackness within the particles of its being, so that even
in its original state it may have, by virtue of those attributes,
some share of the properties that are inherent in darkness and
blackness, a share proportionate to its needs. When it reaches
the state of sugar candy, the sugar candy is thereby enabled to
obtain its share; so too the white sugar, and all succeeding states
and stages. Each takes a share of the whiteness and lightness,
the darkness and blackness, inherent in the particles of the raw
white sugar, one proportionate to its capacity, and leaves the
rest. Finally, in the treacle, only a small amount of whiteness
and lightness remains, and all else is darkness and blackness,
just as in white sugar candy there had been only a small amount
of darkness and blackness, and all else was whiteness and
lucency. In the same way that the visual sense cannot perceive
darkness and blackness in the sugar candy even though they are
present, so too it cannot perceive whiteness and lucency in the
treacle, even though they are present.
This difference of degree in light and darkness, whiteness and
blackness, in each of these types of sugar is necessary, for each
type possesses a certain perfection on its own plane, and there is
inherent in each a certain property deriving from the difference
of degree and not found in the other types. Where one in particu-
lar is to be employed, another may not be used. Thus, when
sugar candy is thought to be useful, the physician will not pre-
scribe white sugar; nor will he prescribe sugar candy when white
sugar is called for. None may take the place of another, and it is
therefore clear that each on its own plane has a perfection lack-
ing in all others. Thus God says: "He Who has made good all
that He created .” 10
'"Qur’an, 32:7.
62
The Creation of Spirits
Know that in this similitude the raw sugar represents the pure
Mohammadan Spirit, which is in truth the Adam of Spirits; in
the same way that Adam, upon whom be peace, is the father of
man, so too the Prophet Mohammad is the father of spirits. This
is the meaning of his saying: “We are the first and the last .” 11
That is, “although our form was the last in that it followed on
other forms, our spirit was first because it preceded all other
spirits.” The spirits of the prophets, upon whom be peace and
blessings, emerged from the Mohammadan Spirit, like the sugar
candy from raw sugar. The spirits of the saints were then ex-
tracted from those of the prophets, like white sugar from sugar
candy; those of the believers from those of the saints, like brown
sugar from white sugar; those of the sinners from those of the
believers, like caramel from brown sugar; and those of the unbe-
lievers from those of the sinners, like black cube sugar from
caramel. In the same way the spirits of angels, jinns, and demons
were then extracted until there remained only a residue corres-
ponding to treacle. From that which was subtle and clear in this
residue the animal and vegetable spirits were fashioned, and
from that which was dense and dark the compound and simple
elements were formed.
There occurs to us now an extremely subtle truth deriving
from the unseen world, which probably none has hitherto ex-
pressed, namely, that the darkness and blackness inherent in the
raw sugar serve as vehicles, respectively, for heat and density.
Therefore wherever darkness and blackness are found in greater
quantity, in the different kinds of sugar candy, white sugar,
caramel, black cube sugar, and treacle, there too heat and density
will be greater. Thus white sugar is one degree hotter and denser
than sugar candy, and similar differences separate the rest from
one another.
Now heat is an attribute of fire, and fire is the substance of
love; density is an attribute of earth, and earth is the substance
of lowliness and abasement. Rebellious pride and striving for
loftiness and elevation are the properties of fire. Hence Satan
rebelled in pride and said: “I am better than him .” 12 For he indeed
“Tradition recorded by Bokari, Moslem, Nasa’I, and Dareml.
12 Qur'an, 7:12. The words of protest uttered by Satan when commanded to
prostrate himself before Adam.
63
Second Part, First Chapter
was of fire, while the properties of earth are vileness and abjec-
tion. Hence the animals whose origin is earth are of abject dis-
position and lowly aspiration, seeking out only perishable and
earthly sustenance. All oppressiveness (zolm) arises from the
attributes of fire, and all ignorance (jahl) arises from the attri-
butes of earth. When both reach their limit, there come into be-
ing extreme oppressiveness (zalumi) and extreme ignorance
(j ahull), these words being emphatic in form . 13
These two attributes of darkness and blackness, even though
inherent in the raw sugar, were not evident in it, nor in the sugar
candy and the white sugar; they became fully manifest only in
the treacle, a residue remaining from the sugar, in which there
was but little lucency and whiteness. Conversely, lucency and
whiteness were evident in their plenitude in the sugar candy, in
which there was but little darkness and blackness.
Similarly, heat, the substance of love, was present in small
quantity in the sugar candy of luminous spirits, and likewise
density, the leavening for humility and servitude. But since these
two attributes had not attained perfection in luminous spirits,
they were unable to carry the burden of the Trust of Knowledge.
Conversely, in the treacle represented by the water and clay of
animal form, clarity, luminosity, and spirituality were present in
small quantity, but since they had not attained perfection, the
animals too were incapable of bearing the burden of the Trust of
Knowledge.
Therefore a combination was needed of the two worlds,
spiritual and corporeal, a combination that should possess in
perfect degree the means of love and servitude and of knowl-
edge and cognition. It would thereby be enabled manfully and
ardently to bear the burden of the Trust on the shoulders of its
soul. This bearing of the burden is none other than the twofold
fealty of man 14 mentioned by God Almighty: “We offered the
Trust to the heavens, and the earth, and the mountains; but they
n Zaluml and jahuli: each word is formed of an Arabic particle on the em-
phatic paradigm of fa'ul and the Persian abstract noun ending -I. Zalum and
jahul are drawn from Qur’an, 33:72, where they refer to the qualities of man
that have caused him to accept the burden of the Trust.
“Twofold fealty (velayat-e dorang): that is, a fealty to be exercised in both the
material and spiritual domains.
64
T he Creation of Spirits
refused to bear it, being afraid thereof, and man accepted to
bear it — he is indeed extremely oppressive and ignorant .” 15 Ex-
treme oppressiveness and ignorance are necessary attributes
of the human state, since the burden of the Trust cannot be
borne except with the strength of extreme oppressiveness and
ignorance, even though it may be perceived with spiritual light
and clarity alone . 16 The angels saw the Trust with their spiritual
light and clarity, but being without the strength of corporeal at-
tributes, they were unable to lift up its burden. The animals had
the strength and capacity of corporeal attributes, but being with-
out the spiritual light and clarity needed to perceive the honor of
bearing the burden, they did not accept it. Since man was the
combination of the two worlds, spiritual and corporeal, he was
ennobled with the task of bearing the burden. This is the inner
meaning of God’s saying: “Truly We have ennobled the sons of
Adam .” 17
As for the knowledge of the essence of the spirit, earlier
writers have accomplished little more than a preliminary de-
scription. Nonetheless, let some account be offered here. Again
a comparison with sugar is appropriate: Know that just as there
are seven attributes inherent in sugar — whiteness, blackness,
lucency, darkness, subtlety, density, and sweetness — so too there
are seven attributes inherent in the spirit, which is a subtle es-
sence proceeding from God’s dominicality and peculiarly hon-
ored by the possessive adjective “My” in the Qur’anic phrase
“of My spirit .” 18 These attributes of the spirit are luminosity, love,
knowledge, forbearance, familiarity , 19 permanence , 20 and life.
15 Qur’an, 33:72.
' s Z.alumi (extreme oppressiveness) is derived from the triliteral root ZLM
which has the sense of darkness as well as that of sin, transgression, and cruelty.
This sense is contained within zalumi, man being dark in that he is fashioned of
clay, and his darkness being providentially necessary for his bearing the burden
of the Trust.
"Qur'an, 17:70.
18 Qur’an, 15:29. The verse reads in full: "When I have shaped him [Adam] and
breathed in him of my spirit, fall ye down in prostration,” this command being
addressed to the angels. Man is “peculiarly honored” in that it was only he who
was thus directly created and given the breath of life by God. See below, p. 1 10.
19 Familiarity ( ons ): primordial familiarity with the Creator. The word ensan
(man as theomorphic being) is sometimes related etymologically to the root of
ons. See below, p. 124.
20 Permanence (baqa): permanence or “abiding” in God after the effacement of
separative consciousness.
65
Second Part, First Chapter
Further attributes arise from each of these: hearing, vision, and
speech from luminosity; yearning, seeking, and sincerity 21 from
love; will and cognition from knowledge; dignity, modesty, en-
durance, and tranquillity from forbearance; pity and compas-
sion from familiarity; steadfastness and persistence from per-
manence; and intelligence, understanding, and other modes of
perception from life. Other attributes are also derived from
them, both before and after the attachment of the spirit to the
bodily frame, a description of all of which would result in pro-
lixity.
All originate in the seven principal attributes of the spirit,
each of which corresponds to one of the attributes of sugar.
Thus, luminosity corresponds to whiteness and love to blackness,
as has already been explained; knowledge to lucency; forbear-
ance to darkness; familiarity to subtlety; permanence to density;
and life to sweetness. The attribute corresponding to that the
trace of which is least evident in the sugar will also be least evi-
dent in the spirit.
Thus, if it is desired that such an attribute reach the fullness of
manifestation, one must take it, as it were, to a mine 22 where it is
present in perfection. For example, if one wishes the attribute of
blackness, which is slight in sugar candy, to attain perfection,
the sugar candy must be mixed with treacle, which may be con-
sidered as a mine of blackness. Then the sugar candy too will
become black to the same degree as the treacle. Similarly, when
it was desired to perfect the attribute of love in the spirit, which
corresponds to blackness in the sugar candy, the spirit was at-
tached to the bodily frame, which is a mine of blackness, so that
the quality of love might there be nurtured to perfection. This is
one of the mysteries of the attachment of the spirit to the bodily
frame. Since the angels lacked this attachment to the corporeal
and tenebral frame, their seed of love was never nurtured to
perfection, that it might bear the fruit of “He shall love them
and they shall love Him .” 23
21 Sincerity (fedq): the congruence of outward action with inward state (Jor-
janl, Ketcib al-la'njat, p. 137).
22 "Mine” appears to mean here the unalloyed source of an attribute, where
nothing other than itself is visibly present.
23 Qur’an, 5:57.
66
T he Creation of Spirits
It is possible that someone might now pose the following ques-
tion: “You have said that blackness, darkness, and density were
inherent in the sugar that is the light of the spirit of Mohammad,
upon whom be peace and blessings. You have also explained
that the spirits of men need these attributes so that each may
serve in its proper place as a means for the knowledge of God.
Furthermore, you have said that the Mohammadan Spirit
emerged from the effulgence of the light of the unity of the Es-
sence. Can it then be said that these attributes are inherent in
the light of the unity? If you reply affirmatively, then it is estab-
lished that need exists within the unity. If your reply is negative,
then whence came to the pure Mohammadan Spirit that which
was not present in the light of the unity?”
The answer is threefold. First, although the sugar of the pure
Mohammadan Spirit emerged from the sugarcane of the efful-
gence of the light of the unity, it nonetheless bore the imprint of
createdness, which is an attribute absent from the light of the
unity. All that is created is without exception subject to the
darkness of the created state, for light as such is an attribute
exclusively of divinity — “God is the light of the heavens and the
earth” 24 — while darkness as such is an attribute exclusively of the
created state. Thus the Prophet, upon whom be peace, said:
“God fashioned creation in its darkness .” 25 It is therefore fitting
that blackness, darkness, and density should be among the at-
tributes of the created state and the properties of createdness.
Second, the Essence in Its unity, may It be glorified and
exalted, possesses the attributes of favor and wrath, and it may
be said that all the luminosity and clarity present in spirits de-
rives from the effulgence of the attribute of favor, and all black-
ness and darkness from the effulgence of the attribute of wrath.
Third, we compared darkness in the sugar with the attribute
of the fire of love in the spirit, and there can be no doubt that the
seed of love was sown in the disposition of the spirit before all
other attributes.
“Qur’an, 24:35.
“First part of a tradition recorded by Ebn Hanbal, BeyhaqI, and Tabaranl. It is
cited in its entirety on p. 326.
67
Second Part, First Chapter
We imbibed the wine of love for Thee, together with milk;
We were reared on love for Thee in infancy.
Nay, ’tis falsely I speak; how might it be thus?
For we were nurtured together with love for Thee
in pre-etemity.
It is certain that love is the foremost among all the attributes of
the spirit, since the love it possesses is derived from the honor of
“He shall love them .” 26 If “He shall love them” did not precede
“they shall love Him ,” 27 none would have the temerity to boast of
love. The rope of love was unwound by the expansion 28 of “He
shall love them.”
Thou has made me daring with Thy lip.
For else, how might my wretched self be meet for Thee?
“He shall love them” is thus an attribute of uncreatedness, and
“they shall love Him” likewise savors of the uncreated state.
What other attribute of the spirit could then vie with love, for it
alone is linked to uncreatedness?
In this there are many mysteries which books are incapable of
expounding: ‘And the harvests that ye reap, ye shall leave them
in the ear, except a little, whereof ye shall eat .” 29 All the exalted
host of cherubim and spirit beings could not. speak of love, for
they were unable to bear its burden. Love and suffering were
born in the same household, while love and joy are strangers to
each other.
Shaikh Abdollah Ansar !, 30 may God’s mercy be upon him,
26 Qur’an, 5:57.
2, That is, both in the order of things and in the Qur’anic verse to which refer-
ence is made.
28 Expansion (enbesat or bast): God’s manifestation of Himself through the
workings of His attributes, as contrasted with contraction (enqebai or qabi),
the nonmanifest state of the essence in its immutable transcendence.
29 Qur’an, 12:47. Words spoken by Joseph in interpreting the dreams of the
king of Egypt.
30 Shaikh Abdollah Ansari (d. 481/1088), an early and renowned writer on
Sufism in both Arabic and Persian, whose shrine at Gazorgah outside Herat is
still a place of visitation. Particularly celebrated are his Manazel al-sa’erin, a
depiction of the stages on the Path, and his Monajal, supplications composed in a
mixture of rhymed prose and verse. The passage quoted here appears to have
been taken from Annan's Elahlnama, although its wording diverges somewhat
from that of the original (see Rasa’el-e £aja 'Abdollah An$ari, ed. Vahid Dast-
gerdl, 3rd ed,, Tehran 1349 S./1970, p. 171).
68
T he Creation of Spirits
said: “Love knocked at the door, and suffering answered: ‘I am
a slave to him who scorned his own being.’ ” Wretched is the son
of Adam who, in his extreme oppressiveness and ignorance,
took upon himself the burden that the inhabitants of both worlds
shunned, and thus elected suffering eternal and forfeited the joy
of this world and the next! My feeble self has composed these
verses:
Love it is that steals youth's pleasure;
Love too that steals eternal joy.
Though love for the heart is the Water of Life,
From the heart it steals the Water of Life!
69
Second Chapter:
Describing the World of Dominion /Malakut 1
and the Degrees of All That It Contains
God Almighty said: “So glory be to Him, in Whose hand is the
Dominion /malakut of all things, and unto Whom ye shall be
returned .” 2
The Prophet, upon whom be peace, said: “The first that God
created was the intelligence.”
Know that as the origin of the world of spirits was the pure
Mohammadan Spirit, as explained in the previous chapter, so too
the origin of the world of Dominion was the Universal Intelli-
'The world of Dominion ('Slam-e malakut) (cf. Qur’an, 6:75, 7:175, 23:88,
36:83): one of the multiple realms of creation, generally coupled in a contrasting
pair with 'Slam-e molk (numerous Qur’anic references, but see especially 57:2,
67:1, 85:9, 43:85, 45:27), the world of Kingship, that is, the material or phe-
nomenal world. Malakut is sometimes translated as the “angelic realm,” but
this is misleading, since the derivation of malakut, like that of molk, is from
malek, “king,” not from malak, "angel.” Moreover, while the angelic beings be-
long to malakut, it is a realm which also embraces the immutable spiritual
verities (haqa'eq) and the heavenly entities (the Pen, the Preserved Tablet, the
Balance, and the Throne). Malakut is frequently identified with 'Siam al-geyb,
the hidden or suprasensible world (as contrasted with ’alam as-sehada, the
manifest or sensible world); with 'alam al-amr, the world of Command, that is,
supraformal manifestation (see n. 7 below); and with ‘alam al-mesal, the world
of archetypal images. It may then be said to contain within itself all these sig-
nificances. See the extract from Daya’s commentary on Qur’an, 6:75, quoted by
Esma’Il Haqql (d. 1137/1725) in his Ruh al-bayan (new ed., Istanbul, 1389/
1970), III, p. 56; and SajjadI, Farhang-e moslalahat-e ‘orafa va motasauveja,
p. 387.
A great contemporary of Daya who may have exercised some influence upon
him, Shaikh Mohyl al-DTn b. 'Arab! (d. 638/1240), established a schema of
Five Divine Presences (al-hazarat al-elaheyat al-kams), in which malakut oc-
cupies the fourth rank, coming immediately before nasut, the corporeal world of
formal manifestation. See A. E. Affifi, The Mystical Philosophy of Muhyid Din
Ibnul Arabi (Lahore, 1964), pp. 13ff.
In the present work, Daya uses the word malakut in a dual sense: to indicate
the inward aspect of created beings, the souls by means of which they subsist,
and also to designate the realm of suprasensible being that contains all those
inward aspects. Both senses can indeed be deduced from the Qur’anic occur-
rences of the word. Since it is impossible to render both senses with a single Eng-
lish equivalent, the word will be retained in the original for the first sense, and
translated as "Dominion” for the second.
2 Qur’an, 36:82.
70
The World of Dominion
gence. Dominion is the inward aspect of the world , 3 while its
outward aspect is Kingship. In truth the malakut, or inner as-
pect, of everything is its soul, that whereby it subsists, and all
souls in turn subsist by virtue of the divine attribute of sustaining
and self-subsistent . 4 Thus He says: “in Whose hand is the
Dominion /malakut of all things.” Nothing subsists of and by
itself except the pure Essence of God, may His glory be exalted.
The malakut of everything is in conformity with its nature, as
He has said: “Have they not looked upon the Dominion /malakut
of the heavens and the earth ?” 5 The malakut of the heavens is
suited to the heavens, and that of the earth, to it.
Although the inward aspects of things that make up the world
of Dominion are of many kinds, they all belong to two cate-
gories. One pertains to the world of the spirits, both the higher
spirits such as those of men and angels, and the lower spirits
such as those of the jinn, demons, and animals, and the vege-
table spirit. The origin and source of this category is the Moham-
madan Spirit — may peace and blessings be upon its possessor —
as was previously explained.
The other category pertains to the world of the souls , 6 and it
too embraces both higher and lower. The higher includes the
heavenly souls, such as those of the stars, spheres, and divisions
of the zodiac, while the lower comprises the souls of terrestrial
bodies. These latter consist, in turn, of simple and compound
bodies. Simple bodies are the four elements, the natures and
properties of which constitute their malakut. Thus the nature of
water is wetness and coldness, and its property is the quenching
of thirst; the nature of fire is dryness and heat, and its property
burning; the nature of earth is dryness and coldness, and its
property the causation of growth; and the nature of wind is wet-
ness and heat, and its property the bestowal of ease.
, Jahan: the world in the sense of the planet earth, as opposed to 'alam, mean-
ing world in the sense of sphere, plane, or realm of being.
'Qayyuml: a noun formation from qayyum (see Qur’an, 2:255, 3:2, 20:111).
This attribute is always coupled with that of hayy, "living”; the two are some-
times thought to form a single attribute. See al-Gazall, al-maqyad al-asna, ed.
F. A. Shehadi (Beirut, 1971), pp. 142-143.
5 Qur'an, 7:184.
6 "Souls” (nofus) designates in this context the inner natures of sentient be-
ings, that by means of which they subsist.
71
Second Part, Second Chapter
Compound bodies are of two kinds, solids and plants. The
malakut of solids, such as stones, also consists of their natures
and properties. The malakut of plants, however, is constituted by
the vegetable soul as well as by their natures and properties. The
origin of this category is the world of the intelligence. If the
various kinds of malakut, both spirit and soul, are found united
in the vegetable realm, it is because the malakut of plants is
called both the vegetable spirit and the vegetable soul. The vege-
table realm is intermediate between the animal and the mineral
realms. It contains growth, an animal property found in beings
endowed with spirit and not in minerals, and its malakut is there-
fore called the vegetable spirit. At the same time, the vegetable
realm partakes of the properties of the mineral in that it lacks
sense perception. It is therefore reckoned among the beings
endowed with soul, and its malakut is thus also called the vege-
table soul.
In every type of malakut, spirit or soul, higher or lower, an
attribute of other species of malakut is to be found. Thus attrib-
utes of the malakut of the soul are to be found in that of the
spirit, and those of the malakut of the spirit in that of the soul. In
each type, however, the attributes of one malakut will predomi-
nate, and the type will be known by virtue of these dominant
attributes. A detailed description of this would lead to prolixity.
Now all of creation is divided into two categories: Kingship
and Dominion, which are also called Creation and Command . 7
God Almighty has mentioned both together in this verse: "Surely
your Lord is God, Who created the heavens and the earth in six
days — then rested upon the throne , 8 covering the day with the
night it pursues urgently — and the sun, and the moon, and the
stars, subjugated to His command. Verily His are the creation
and the command. Blessed be God, the Lord of the Worlds .” 9
The world of Command consists of the antithesis of bodies,
for it is not subject to measurement, division, or decomposition.
’Creation ( kalq) and command (arm): both these terms, like molk and malakut
to which they respectively correspond, are of Qur’anic derivation.
Concerning the meaning of the Throne, see n. 25 on p. 84.
9 Qur’an, 7:54.
72
The W orld of Dominion
Further, it came into being directly upon the command of “be .” 10
The world of Creation, by contrast, consists of bodies, subtle
and opaque, that are susceptible to measurement and decom-
position. Although it too was created by the command of “be,”
its creation was through the employment of means and extended
over a period of days: “Who created the heavens and the earth
in six days.”
The world of Command includes both the malakut of spirits
and that of souls, for God said: “They will ask thee concerning
the spirit; say, ‘the spirit is from my Lord’s command .’” 11 He
made mention too of “the sun, and the moon, and the stars, sub-
jugated to His command.” The human spirit, however, has been
uniquely honored through the possessive adjective in the phrase
“of My spirit .” 12 Hence the nobility of man: “Truly we have en-
nobled the sons of Adam, and carried them forth on dry land
and sea .” 13 You have doubtless heard the outer meaning of this
verse, but listen now to its inner meaning, for the Qur’an has an
outer and an inner aspect: “The Qur’an has an exterior and an
interior .” 14 God says in this verse:
We have lifted up the son of Adam, and carried him
by Our grace across dry land and sea. The dry land is
the world of bodies, or Kingship, and the sea is the
world of Dominion. Land and sea cannot lift up man,
for he bears the burden of Our Trust, that burden
which land and sea could not bear: “They refused to
bear it, being afraid thereof .” 15 When man took up the
burden, how then might land and sea have borne
both him and the burden together? Since he is carry-
ing Our burden, despite all his impotence and weak-
10 "Be” (kon): the creative fiat: “His Command, when He desires aught, is to
say to it, 'be,' and it is” (Qur’an, 36:82).
“Qur’an, 17:85. That is, the spirit belongs to the world of Command or Do-
minion.
l2 See p. 65, n. 18.
“Qur’an, 17:70.
H A Tradition quoted by AbO Taleb al-Makkl (d. 386/996), with a somewhat
fuller wording and on the authority of Abdollah b. Mas’ud, in Qul al-qolub
(Cairo, 1381/1961), I, 284.
“Qur’an, 33:72.
73
Second Part, Second Chapter
ness, it is more fitting that We should carry him, with
Our power and strength and generosity. We are both
lover and beloved; that which passes between Us and
man passes not between Us and other than man, nor
between man and other than Us.
If the heart surges up in desire for a gypsy , 16
Offer it a hundred Turks 17 and it will pay no heed.
None may intervene between Lover and Beloved, for none but
the Lover can bear the burden of the belovedness of the Be-
loved, and none but the Beloved the burden of the loverhood of
the Lover. The Lover cannot dispense with the Beloved, nor the
Beloved with the Lover. Yet the desire of the Beloved for the
Lover precedes that of the Lover for the Beloved, for it is the
charms and enticements of the Beloved that arouse the Lover.
The Lover had no desire for the Beloved before his own ex-
istence, whereas the Beloved desired the Lover even before the
Lover came into being. Thus KaraqanI 18 says: “He desired Him-
self when He desired us.”
Thou, the pre-etemal candle; my heart, the moth
bemused by Thee.
For the world, Thou art its soul; for me, my beloved.
16 LulI, here translated as "gypsy,” is a word of imprecise reference, which in
addition to being synonymous with Luri (Lur tribesman), may also mean gypsy,
vagabond, and, in poetry, a shameless and coquettish beloved. See Mohammad
Hoseyn b. Kalaf Tabriz!, Borhan-e Qate' , ed. Mohammad Mo'In (Tehran, 1333
S./1954), III, 1916.
‘'The Turk is a common image in Persian poetry for the desirable yet wayward
object of love.
18 Abul-Hasan KaraqanI (d. 425/1034): an unlettered Sufi of great distinction,
regarded as a morld of Bayazld Bastainl by way of posthumous initiation. A
number of his sayings have been preserved in Attar’s Tazkerat al-owliya, II,
pp. 169-213; and another collection of his utterances under the title Nut al-
'olum has been published with an introduction and translation in Russian by Ye.
E. Bertel’s in Izbrannye Trudy: Sufizm i Sujiyskaya Literature (Moscow, 1965),
pp. 225-278. Daya’s interest in KaraqanI is attested by his brief Arabic com-
mentary on this mystic’s celebrated utterance: "the Sufi is uncreate.” See intro-
duction, p. 16.
74
The World of Dominion
From the tumult of the tip of Thy twisting tress,
Madness struck my maddened heart . 19
Even though in reality there is neither strangeness nor duality
between Lover and Beloved,
There is no strangeness between us; Thou art us, and we
are Thee.
Thou art the top of the garment, and we are its hem —
for the warp of the garment of love is “He shall love them” and
its woof, “they shall love Him ”; 20 moreover, the thread of this
alluring discourse was unwound by “I desired to be known” 21 —
nonetheless our lips are compelled to silence on this point. The
vehemence and vigor of Moses were needed to say: “Truly this
is none other than Thy trial .” 22 Even he was chastised with the
blow of "thou shalt not see Me ,” 23 and when the angels on Mount
Sinai impudently taunted him by saying, “O son of menstruating
women, what does dust seek of the Lord Supreme?” he drew in
his tongue and fell silent. He did not answer them saying: “Ye
ask me, ‘what does dust seek of the Lord Supreme?’ Why ask ye
not Him, ‘What does the Lord Supreme seek of dust?’ We were
content with our station of dust, and at first desired pardon of
God. We threw the ragged cloak of inauspicious remoteness from
Him over the shoulder of safety, and in the comer of tranquillity
drew the skirt of submission over the foot of intent. We recited
19 The symbolism of the candle and the moth in these verses is clear. As for the
twisting tress, it refers to the manifestation of the divine attributes, and the tip
of the tress signifies the lowest degree of manifestation, the material or phe-
nomenal plane. The tress is “twisting” or "chainlike” in that the phenomenal
plane of manifestation is subject to constant variation and change, and in that
it is a means for "capturing” man and directing his attention to the attributes
(Sajjadl, Farhang-e mostalahat-e 'orafa va motasavveja, pp. 206-209; anony-
mous, Mer’cit-e 'osfaq, text published by Bertel’s in Izbrannye Trudy: Sufizm i
Sufiyskaya Lileratura, p. 153).
20 Qur'an, 5:57.
21 Part of the hadis qodsi quoted on p. 147.
22 Qur’an, 7:155. Words spoken by Moses when interceding with God on behalf
of the Israelites after their worship of the golden calf.
23 Qur’an, 7:143. The reply given to the plea of Moses: "O my Lord, show Thy-
self to me that I may look upon Thee.”
75
Second Part, Second Chapter
the saying ‘true resoluteness is caution ,’ 24 and were conscious
that the proximity of kings, although yielding numerous bene-
fits, gives rise to limitless misfortune:
The sultan in his greatness is naught but a sea;
And nearness to the sea is fraught with peril . 25
We feared lest our capital be lost, and gain be unattained, and
considered that the downfall of dust was to be found in water —
‘O would that I were dust . 126 Yet He, with His uncaused grace and
without our will, brought us forth from the comer of ill-fortuned
obscurity, set us apart through the honor of being kneaded ‘by
My hand ,’ 27 and cast over the head of our being the robe of honor
of inhalation ‘of My spirit .’ 28 He seated us on the throne of His
viceregency — ‘He it is Who has made you His viceregents on
earth ’; 29 and placed on our heads the crown of ‘He shall love
them ’; 30 and commanded all the sublime host to prostrate them-
selves before our throne, addressing us before the worlds of
Kingship and Dominion as ‘those We have chosen from among
Our bondsmen .’ 31 If we were to recount all the instances of our
belovedness of God, who would have the strength to hear? Does
aught, in the manifest or hidden world, from one horizon to the
other, have the treasure that is in the court of our pride?”
Such coquetry must I bear for Thy love's sake,
That it would be an error to say Thou lovest me.
^Supposedly a Tradition (see Foruzanfar, Ahadis-e Masnavi, p. 74), but
according to al-Maydanl’s Majma' al-amsal (Cairo, 1379/1959) p. 175, a saying
of one Aksam b. §eyfl.
25 An Arabic verse by Saheb b. Abbad (d. 385/995). See al-Ta‘alebI, Yalimat
al-dahr (Cairo, 1376/1958), II, p. 107.
26 Qur’an, 78:40. “The unbeliever shall say (on the Day of Judgment), ‘would
that I were dust!’”
27 A reference to the hadis qodsi: “I kneaded the clay of Adam with My hand
for forty days.” (Foruzanfar, Ahadis-e Masnavi, pp. 197-198).
2e Qur’an, 15:29.
29 Qur’an, 6:165.
30 Qur’an, 5:57.
31 Qur’an, 35:32: “Then We caused to inherit the Book those We have chosen
from among Our bondsmen.”
76
The World of Dominion
Let union with Thee pitch tent on my head,
Or let me lose my head for the sake of the error ! 32
Let us return to our discussion of the verse, “and carried them
forth on dry land and sea.” Dry land is the world of Kingship;
sea, that of Dominion. In the same way that wherever land is to
be found it is on the face of the seas, so too the world of King-
ship floats upon that of Dominion. The verse means, then, “We
carried man over the worlds of Kingship and Dominion,” in the
sense that “We created both of these from the effulgence of the
light of his spirit and intelligence.” Thus all that is endowed
with spirit — angels, jinn, demons, and animals — draws its life
from the effulgence of the light of his spirit; and all that is en-
dowed with soul — the stars, the spheres, the firmament, the
earth, the elements, the minerals and plants — derives its sub-
stance from the workings of his intelligence.
The relationship of the intelligence to the spirit is like that of
Eve to Adam, who was taken from his left rib. A subtle truth is
implied by this comparison. Since women proceeded from the
left of Adam, the Prophet, upon whom be peace and blessings,
said: “Consult them and oppose them .” 33 That is, “consult them
concerning your affairs and then do the opposite of whatever
they say, for such will be the proper course.” Women are taken
from the left rib and are therefore crooked, and the straight and
true opinion will be the opposite of that which they hold.
Now the intelligence also proceeds from the left of the spirit.
One should consult it concerning the knowledge of the essence
and attributes of the Creator, may His glory be exalted. What-
ever its perception may attain and its understanding compre-
hend of the essence and attributes of the Creator, know that
God Almighty' is exalted above it and free of its taint. He is not
32 This quatrain, the authorship of which is not established, is to be found also in
the Savaneh of Ahmad Gazall (d. 520/1126), ed. Hellmut Ritter (Istanbul, 1942),
p. 13; and the Tamhidat of his pupil, ‘Eyn al-Qozat HamadanI (d. 526/1132),
in Ahval o asar, ed. AfTf ‘Oseyran (Tehran, 1338 S./1959), p. 236. “Coquetry”
(naz) means, in Sufi poetry, the beneficial afflictions to which the seeker is sub-
jected by the interruption of manifestation and withdrawal behind the veil.
33 A Tradition of dubious authenticity; see Foruzanfar, Ahadis-e Masnavi,
pp. 30-31.
77
Second Part, Second Chapter
such that the intelligence might penetrate to the depths of His
essence and attributes. Rather, His essence may be known
through Him alone. Thus it has been said: “I knew my Lord
through my Lord, and had it not been for the Grace of my Lord,
I would not have known my Lord.”
There is a strange and subtle truth which now occurs to us.
The Prophet, upon whom be peace and blessings, said: “The first
that God created was the Pen; the first that God created was the
Intelligence; the first that God created was my spirit .” 34 All three
statements are true, and all three are the same. Many are con-
fused by this mystery and wonder at it. When he said, “the first
that God created was the Pen,” the Pen intended is not an ordi-
nary human pen, but the Pen of God, a pen befitting His might
and glory, and identical with the pure Spirit and Light of Mo-
hammad. When God Almighty created the Mohammadan Spirit
and looked upon it with the gaze of affection, shame overcame
it and caused it to split in two. The intelligence was the half that
fell away from the spirit.
It is for this reason that wherever intelligence is present, there
too will be shame; and wherever intelligence is absent, shame
too will be lacking. This is the inward meaning of the Tradition
that* “shame is a branch of faith .” 35 One half of the Pen of God
was the Spirit of the Prophet, and the other half, the Intelligence
of the Prophet. Though in appearance they were three, in reality
they were the one Pen and its two halves. The Pen was in the
hand of God’s power, and He wrote with its nib all that He de-
sired in the worlds of Kingship and Dominion. He made of the
Pen an oath by which He swore: “By the Pen and that which
they write ,” 36 and He lauded His Own majestic self for mani-
festing His power: “Is not He Who created the heavens and the
earth able to create the like thereof? Yes, indeed; He is the
Creator Supreme, the All-knowing. His command, when He
desires aught, is to say to it, ‘be,’ and it is. So glory be to Him, in
“Only the first of these three Traditions is well-attested; it is recorded by
DaremI, TermezI, and Ebn Hanbal.
“Tradition recorded by Moslem, Bokarl, Abu Da’ud, TermezI, Nasa’I, Ebn
Maja, Ebn Jdanbal, and Malek.
36 Qur’an, 68:1.
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The World of Dominion
Whose hand is the Dominion of all things, and unto Whom ye
shall be returned .” 37
May God’s peace and blessings be upon our master Moham-
mad and all his family.
3, Qur’an, 36:81-83.
79
Third Chapter:
Concerning the Appearance of the Different
Realms of Kingship and Dominion
God Almighty said: “Surely in the creation of the heavens and
the earth, and the alternation of night and day, and the ship that
runs on the seas with profit to men, and the water God sends
down from heaven, therewith reviving the earth after its death,
and His scattering forth in it of all manner of crawling thing,
and the turning about of the winds, and the clouds, subjugated
between heaven and earth — surely there are signs for a people
having understanding .” 1
The Prophet, upon whom be peace and blessings, said: “God
created the soil on Saturday, the mountains rooted therein on
Sunday, the trees on Monday, evil on Tuesday, light on Wed-
nesday; He scattered forth the beasts on Thursday; and He
created Adam on the evening of Friday, at the end of one of the
hours between afternoon and night .” 2
Know that God Almighty has created numerous different
worlds, extending from the beginning of the world of spirits to
the end of the world of bodies, including this world and the here-
after, and Kingship and Dominion. In each world He has created
spiritual and corporeal classes of beings, each class comprising
different types imbued by Him with distinctive properties.
Thus He has created numerous different types of the class of
being known as angel: the cherubim , 3 the spirit beings, the bear-
ers of the throne ; 4 the angels pertaining to each of the seven
spheres, each sphere having its separate type; the scribes, the
’Qur’an, 2:164.
Tradition recorded by Ebn Hanbal, Moslem, Abu Da’ud, TermezI, Nasa’I,
Ebn Maja, and Dareml.
3 Cherubim (karrubi): the angels mentioned as moqarrabun (“those drawn
nigh to God’s throne”) in Qur’an, 4:172, and given the name of karrublyun by
most exegetes.
’Cf. Qur’an, 40:7: "Those who bear the Throne, and those round about it pro-
claim the praise of their Lord”; and 69:17: "and the angels will be on the sides
[of the skies rent asunder], and eight will on that day bear the Throne of thy
Lord above them.”
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The Different Realms of Kingship and Dominion
immaculate 5 and the noble recorders ; 6 and the angels of the air
under whose sway come the clouds, the rain, thunder, lightning,
and the wind. According to a certain Tradition, every raindrop is
entrusted to an angel so that it may fall precisely where God has
ordained. Then there are the angels appointed over the seas;
those of the earth; the guardian angels of the night and the day ; 7
the angels of the circles and gatherings of pious remembrance;
the angels of the wombs; the angels who infuse passing thoughts
into men’s inward beings; those who repel Satan from the sons
of Adam; those who protect children; Monkar and Naklr who
interrogate the newly buried dead ; 8 those who bear glad tidings;
those who bring torment; the angels of death who seize men’s
spirits; the angels of life who blow upon the trumpet of Resur-
rection ; 9 the angels to whom men’s daily sustenance is entrusted;
those who bear messages; those who have two, three, and four
pairs of wings ; 10 those who are the treasurers of Paradise; Rezvan,
the gatekeeper of Paradise; those who are the servants of
Paradise; those who are the treasurers of Hell; the angels of
punishment ; 11 the guardians of Hell and those entrusted with its
supervision ; 12 those who are entrusted with the seven planes of
5 These two types of angel, the "scribes” and the "immaculate,” are mentioned
in Qur’an, 80:12-16: “Whoso wills shall remember it [revelation], upon pages
high-honored, uplifted, purified, by the hands of scribes noble and immaculate.”
Safara (scribes) and barara (immaculate) are in apposition: yet Daya appears to
regard each as a separate type of angel.
6 The "noble recorders” are mentioned in Qur'an, 82:10-12: “There are over
you watchers, noble recorders, who know what ye do.”
7 Cf. Qur’an, 6:61: "He is the All-powerful over His bondsmen, and He sends
guardians over you.”
8 Monkar and Naklr are mentioned only in Tradition, not in the Qur’an, al-
though 40:50 ("They shall say, ‘did not your messengers bring you the clear
signs?’ They shall say, 'Yes’ ”) has been taken to refer to the sepulcral interro-
gation. The names of both angels are derived from the root NKR, having the
sense of “unknown,” a derivation justified by their unfamiliar and awesome
aspect.
9 Cf. Qur'an, 6:73, 18:99, 20:102, etc.
I0 Cf. Qur’an, 35:1: "Praise be to God, Who created out of nothing the heavens
and the earth, Who made the angels messengers with wings, two, three or four
pairs.”
11 Zabaniya : cf. Qur’an, 96:18.
lz "The guardians of Hell”: (malekan): cf. Qur’an, 43:77: "They shall call, ‘O
guardian (malek), let thy Lord have done with us!’ He shall say, ‘Ye will surely
tarry.’” Malek is generally taken to be a proper name designating a single.angel
who is the guardian of Hell; Daya, however, uses the word in the plural.
81
Second Part, Third Chapter
the firmament and the descending degrees of Hell ; 13 the angels
who hold in their hands the veins of the soil and the mountains;
the angel who bears upon his shoulders the cow, the fish, and
the world ; 14 and the Spirit , 15 who occupies a rank separate from
that of all the other angels. In addition to all these there are still
further angels, in the heavens and on earth, in this world and
the hereafter, and the number and nature of each class is known
to God Almighty alone.
The angelic realm is thus one of the different realms of crea-
tion, containing numerous types of angel each with its separate
and distinctive attribute and property. Behold now the types
and classes of being found in the other realms: men; animals,
terrestrial and marine; the various classes of jinn, devil, demon , 16
rebellious spirit , 17 ghoul and nasnas; l& the inhabitants of Jabalqa
13 “Planes” (atbaq): cf. Qur’an, 67:3: "He Who created the seven heavens one
upon another (lebaqan).” "Descending degrees” (darakat): cf. Qur’an, 4:145:
"The hypocrites shall be in the lowest depth (dark) of the Fire; no helper wilt
thou find for them.”
'■'According to a cosmological notion of apparently pre-Islamic Iranian origin,
the world is borne on the horns of a cow which in turn stands on a fish swimming
in the cosmic ocean.
15 The Spirit (rub): cf. Qur’an, 70:4, 78:38 and 97:4, in each of which verses
occurs the phrase, "the angels and the Spirit.” The Spirit is generally taken to
mean Gabriel, the angel of revelation.
16 See p. 61, n. 7.
l7 See p. 61, n. 6.
lB Nasnas: a mythical being combining human and demonic features. "The
nasnas is an animal found in the deserts of Turkestan, ft has a tall and upright
stature and broad fingernails. It is extremely fond of humans, and whenever it
sees a human, it will stand in his path and gaze upon him. If it meets a solitary
traveler, it will carry him off and take seed from him, so it is said" (NezamI
‘ArtizI [d. c. 550/1155], Cahar maqala, ed. Mohammad Qazvlnl [Tehran, 1334
S./1955], pp. 14-15). According to other accounts, the nasnas was born of the
union of a demon and a human being, inhabits the Yemen, and speaks Arabic
(Zakareya b. Mohammad Qazvlnl [d. 682/1283], Aja’eb al-makluqdt [Tehran,
n.d.], p. 384). The widely traveled nineteenth-century Sufi, Zeyn al-’Abedln
SIrvanI, wrote that "although the masses of mankind are in truth all nasnas, it is
said that the nasnas is a type of savage bereft of the gift of speech, frequently
encountered in the [East] Indian archipelago, and not without some share of
beauty" (Hada’eq al-siyaha, ed. Fazlollah 'Alavl [Tehran, 1389/1969], p. 539).
This last description foreshadows the modem usage of the word to mean or-
angutang.
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The Different Realms of Kingship and Dominion
and Jabalsa ; 19 Gog and Magog , 20 and other classes of creature men-
tioned in stories. Then there are the different types of houri 21 and
serving maids, the youths 22 and boys 23 of Paradise; the various
kinds of plant and animal; solids and minerals; bodies subtle
and dense, simple and compound; the elements; different kinds
of light and darkness; essences and accidents; colors, natures,
dispositions, properties, attributes, consequences, forms, shapes,
images, meanings, mysteries, subtle essences, and immutable
truths; the outer senses, such as hearing, sight, smell, taste, and
touch; the inner senses such as the intellect, the heart, the
secret, the spirit, and the hidden ; 24 the human faculties such as
the imaginative, the conceptual, the reflective, the recollective,
the memorizing and the regulatory, as well as common sense;
and then a further category of faculties such as the attractive,
the retentive, the digestive, and the excretive, as well as other
practical faculties, the detailed description of which can be
found elsewhere.
19 Jabalqa and Jabalsa: two mythical cities situated, respectively, at the ex-
treme east and west of the earth. Jabalqa has been identified with the realm of
archetypes ('alam al-mesal), situated to the east of the world of spirits and con-
stituting an isthmus between the seen and the unseen. Jabalsa is similarly situ-
ated to the west of the world of bodies. It is also said of Jabalqa that it is the
point where necessary and contigent existence (vojub and emkan) converge,
and that it comprises the immutable archetypes (a'yan-e sabeta) of all things.
Jabalsa is, by contrast, the field of manifestation (majla) of the divine names,
where the archetypes take on substantial and differentiated form. Whatever
rises sunlike in its essence from the orient of Jabalqa will set in the Occident of
Jabalsa, in the darkness of the world of forms. The two mythical cities are, then,
the poles that encompass created being. See the numerous references in Henry
Corbin, Terre Celeste et Corps de Resurrection (Paris, 1960).
20 Gog and Magog: two peoples mentioned in the following Qur'anic verses:
“O Zu’l-Qarneyn! Gog and Magog are doing corruption in the earth; so shall we
assign to thee a tribute against thy setting up a barrier between us and them?”
(18:94); and “There is a ban upon any city that We have destroyed; they shall
not return until Gog and Magog are unloosed and swarm down from every
slope” (21:95-96). On the basis of these verses, Gog and Magog have been
considered to be two ferocious and savage peoples who toward the end of time
will break out of their enclosed dwelling places on the edge of the world to
wreak havoc and destruction. Concerning Zu’l-Qarneyn and his possible iden-
tification with Alexander, see n. 3 to the prologue.
21 Cf. Qur'an, 44:54, 52:20, 55:72, 56:22.
22 Cf. Qur’an, 44:54, 52:20, 55:72, 56:22.
22 Youths (gelman): cf. Qur’an, 52:24.
23 Boys (uioldan): cf. Qur’an, 56:17, 76:19.
M For a discussion of these five inner senses, see p. 134, n. 9.
83
Second Part, Third Chapter
Then there are the supernal entities, such as the Throne , 25 the
Footstool , 26 the Tablet , 27 and the Pen ; 28 the divisions of the
zodiac , 29 the spheres, the planets both moving and fixed, and the
mansions of the moon ; 30 the Frequented House ; 31 the Lote Tree of
the Extremity ; 32 the Distance of Two Bowstrings ; 33 and Nonlocal-
ity, as well as different classes of being and types of creature.
“The Throne Cars): cf. Qur’an, 7:54, 10:3, 13:2, and twenty other mentions.
The Throne is regarded as the “stable center” of the divine names from which
their manifestations emerge; it is also the equivalent of the universal soul
(nafs-e kolliya) that encompasses all things. It therefore stands at the center of
the cosmos and embraces it simultaneously. Its terrestrial counterpart is the
Ka’ba, while in the microcosm it corresponds to the heart. See SajjadI,
Farhang-e mostalahal-e 'orafa va molasamiefa, p. 274, and p. 203 below.
“The Footstool (korsl): cf. Qur’an, 2:255. On the basis of a Tradition, the
Footstool is said to be the threshold of the Throne and to encompass the seven
heavens. According to Daya’s tafsir, it corresponds in the microcosm to the
inner sense designated as the serr (“mystery”). See the passage quoted by
Haqql, Ruh al-baydn, I, p. 404. Finally, the Footstool has been identified as the
locus of divine command and prohibition (SajjadI, Farhang-e mostalah'al-e
‘orafa va motafavvefa, p. 326).
z7 The Tablet (louih): cf. Qur’an, 85:22. The Tablet is generally understood to be
the heavenly archetype of the Qur’an, or alternatively, undifferentiated mani-
festation. Daya’s tafsir suggests the additional sense of "the heart of the
Prophet and of his heirs, the saints enamored of God” (quoted in Haqql, Ruh
al-baydn, X, p. 396).
28 The Pen (qalam): cf. Qur’an, 68:1, 96:4. The Pen represents the efficient
cause of differentiated manifestation, the means whereby forms are traced out
in the book of the cosmos, the Tablet; it is identified by Daya with the Moham-
madan Spirit and the Universal Intellect (see above; p. 78). In his lafsir of
Qur’an, 68:1, Daya further suggests that the Pen may refer to God’s knowledge
of particulars (quoted in Haqql, Ruh al-baydn, X, p. 103).
29 Cf. Qur’an, 85:1, 15:16, 25:61.
3 °Cf. Qur’an, 10:5, 36:39.
51 The Frequented House (bey l al-ma'mur): cf. Qur’an, 52:4. The Ka'ba fre-
quented by pilgrims; its heavenly archetype, the Throne; or its microcosmic
counterpart, the heart (Daya, quoted in Haqql, Ruh al-baydn, IX, pp. 185-186).
32 The Lote Tree of the Extremity (sedral al-montaha): cf. Qur’an, 53:13-18:
"For indeed he [the Prophet] saw him [Gabriel] once more, by the Lote Tree of
the Extremity, when there covered the Lote Tree that which covered; his eyes
sweived not nor strayed. Truly he beheld some of the supreme signs of his
Lord.” These verses refer to the Me’raj of the Prophet, his ascent to heaven from
Jerusalem through the different realms of being. According to certain traditions,
the Lote Tree, which is the abode of Gabriel, is situated in the seventh heaven,
to the right of the Throne. It also marks the boundary of the knowable, for be-
yond it stands naught but that which is absolutely hidden (al-geyb al-motlaq),
and the frontier between unity and multiplicity (Daya quoted in Haqql, Ruh
al-baydn, IX, p. 225).
S3 The Distance of Two Bowstrings (qdba qawsayn): cf. Qur’an, 53:9: 'And he
was the distance of two bowstrings or closer.” The distance of the Prophet from
the divine presence at the end of the Me'raj. See above, p. 55, n. 12.
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The Different Realms of Kingship and Dominion
Who might describe them, for in truth none but God, almighty
and exalted, is aware of their subtleties? “None knows the
armies of thy Lord except He .” 34
According to certain Traditions, there are eighteen thousand
different worlds , 35 while others give the number as seventy thou-
sand or three hundred and sixty thousand. All, however, are
subsumed in the two worlds of Creation and Command, or
Kingship and Dominion, as God Almighty said, praising His
creation thereof: “Verily His are the Creation and the Com-
mand. Blessed be God, the Lord of the Worlds .” 36
As for the degrees and stages of Kingship and Dominion, the
first degree of Dominion consists of two parts: spirits and souls.
Among the spirits the first degree is that of the human spirit, as
was explained in the previous chapter; then come in descending
order the angelic spirits, the spirits of the jinn, those of the
demons, those of the animals, and the vegetable souls which are
also called the vegetable spirit.
As for the degree of souls, their origin and beginning is the
universal intelligence; then, after the degrees of the differenti-
ated intelligences, come the souls of the Throne, the Footstool,
the Tablet, and the Pen; those of the spheres and the divisions of
the zodiac; those of the fixed and moving planets; those of the
centers, such as the ethereal center which is the center of fire,
the air which is the center of wind, the ocean which is the center
of water, and the land which is the center of earth; those of
minerals; those of compound bodies; and those of simple bodies
and elements.
This, then, is a concise exposition of the stages and degrees of
what in the different worlds pertains to Dominion.
All this is unveiled to those wayfarers endowed with insight
33 Qur’an, 74:31 .
35 For an account of the concept of eighteen thousand worlds and its occurrence
in various texts, see Mohammad Parvln Gunabadl, "Hejdah hazar 'alam,” in
Yadnama-ye 'Allama-ye A mini, eds. Seyyed Ja'far Sahidl and Mohammad Reza
Haklmi (Tehran, 1352 S./1973), pp. 21-33.
36 Qur’an, 7:54.
85
Second Part, Third Chapter
who attain the station of Showing: “We shall show them Our
signs upon the horizons and in their souls .” 37 If the degrees appear
to them in other than their proper order, this is not on account
of any error in the world of unveiling, but rather because of an
error in the gaze of the soul in the perception of matters relating
to the unseen world, or an error of the reflective faculty, which
is like an ambassador passing back and forth between the un-
seen world and the seen. For that which is unveiled to the gaze
of the spirit in the world of the unseen is not subject to variation
or error, particularly since the gaze of the spirit is strengthened
with the aid of God’s light. Thus it has been said: “Beware of the
intuitive vision of the believer, for he gazes forth with God’s
light .” 38 Now the soul is subordinate to the spirit and dependent
on it for the perception of those matters relating to the unseen
world that are within its reach; hence fancy and imagination
may intervene, and variation, excess, and deficiency come to
affect perception. Moreover, as has been explained concerning
these matters relating to the unseen world and their degrees,
each group of men, the People of the Path and the People of
Wisdom, has a different method and teaching in accordance
with its mode of vision:
Those who look on Thy fair face,
When they gaze in from the horizons,
See their own image in the mirror,
And thus arise these many different signs . 39
As for the degrees of creation of the worlds comprising King-
ship, the following has been related in a Tradition: “When God
desired to create this world, He created a substance upon which
He gazed with an awesome gaze, causing it to melt. From awe
of the Compassionate, it split into two halves, one fire, the other
water. He caused the fire to pass over the water, and smoke
3, Qur’an, 41:53.
“Tradition recorded by Termezl.
“Two lines of verse from the poet Anvarl (d. 565/1169-1170) (Dwan, ed.
Sa‘Id NaBsI [Tehran, 1337 S./1958], p. 487). Although Anvari was not a Sufi
poet, Daya’s quotation of his verses implies a mystical interpretation: the
“horizons” signify the manifestation of the attributes in phenomenal creation,
and that toward which they "gaze in” consists of human souls (cf. Qur’an,
41:53).
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The Different Realms of Kingship and Dominion
arose. He created the heavens from the smoke, and the earth
from the froth on the surface of the water.” In this manner did
He create the heavens and the earth.
The degrees and stages of earthly creation are stated in con-
cise form in the Qur’anic verse quoted at the beginning of this
chapter and expounded in detail by the Prophet, upon whom be
peace, in the Tradition following the verse. God created the
earth on Saturday, which was the first of days pertaining to this
world, for days are the result of time, and time is the result of the
rotation of the spheres. When He created the heavens and
caused them to revolve, the first of the days appeared, and He
called it Saturday. On Sunday He created the mountains, on
Monday the plants and trees, on Tuesday pain and evil, on Wed-
nesday the lights, on Thursday the different species of animal,
and on Friday, after the afternoon prayer, in the last hour of the
day , 40 He created Adam, upon whom be peace. These stages con-
stitute the outer meaning of the Tradition; now hear its inner
meaning.
Know that a beam from the effulgent light of the spirit of the
Prophet — upon whom be peace — passed through the degrees of
malakut constituted by the spirits until it reached the last of
beings, namely the malakut of simple elements. Another beam
from the effulgent light of the spirit of the Prophet, a beam
which we have called the Intelligence, passed through the de-
grees of malakut constituted by the souls, until it too reached the
malakut of the elements. These two beams may be compared to
a compass describing a circle: When the compass reaches the
end of its revolution, the two arcs composing the circle will be
joined and become one. When those two subtle essences, the
Spirit and the Intelligence, circled the worlds of the malakut of
spirits and the malakut of souls, they joined each other at the
final degree of the malakut of the elements. All that was pure in
those essences had been expended, as we explained in the com-
parison with sugar. Treacle-like dregs remained, from which He
created the substance referred to by the Prophet, upon whom be
peace: “He created a substance upon which He gazed with an
“It should be recalled that the Muslim day ends at sunset.
87
Second Part, Third Chapter
awesome gaze, causing it to melt.” He then divided that sub-
stance into two through the effect of His awe-inspiring gaze:
half of it became fire, and the other half water. He then gave fire
dominion over water, so that smoke arose from water. With the
smoke, fire began striving upward on account of its extreme
subtlety and fleet-footedness, while water remained abased
because of its density and sluggishness.
Now hearken to this subtle point: that when God Almighty
made that substance the object of His gaze, the part that derived
from the effulgent light of the Mohammadan Spirit separated
from the part that derived from the Intelligence, and the gaze of
the Almighty nurtured it with longing. It aspired again to
ascend, while the part that derived from the lisdess intelligence
remained stationary on account of its deficiency. The reason for
this is that the Mohammadan Spirit has various attributes, as
has already been explained. Among these are love and light:
love is a burning fire, while light is listless. Thus the subtle es-
sence that, arising from the Mohammadan Spirit, passes through
the degrees of spirits consists of Love, while that from which
the Intelligence arises before passing through the degrees of
souls consists of light. Between Love and Intelligence there is
dispute and conflict, and they can never be reconciled. In every
abode where Love alights, Intelligence will quit the. dwelling;
and wherever Intelligence sets up house, Love will withdraw
from view.
Love came and plundered Intelligence;
Convey, O heart, these happy tidings to the soul.
Know that Love is a Turk from the steppe , 41
And plundering is not strange in a Turk.
Intelligence wished, through metaphor.
In a phrase to describe his cheek,
But the light of his cheek put forth a tongue of flame,
And burned both Intelligence and the phrase.
■•’“A Turk from the steppe:” literally, "alien Turk” (tork-e ‘ajami). The expres-
sion tork-e ' ajami appears to have originated in the Abbasid period as a desig-
nation for Turkish military slaves that had not been fully assimilated into the
Muslim- Arab environment. See al-Ya’qubl, Ketab al-boldan, Leiden, 1892, p. 255.
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The Different Realms of Kingship and Dominion
Now when Love had traversed numerous veils and passed
through the degrees of malakut constituted by the spirits, it be-
came separated from its beloved until, in the malakut of the
elements, it encountered the subtle essence of the Intelligence.
It smelled the fragrance of familiarity, for the Intelligence had
come from the same homeland. Even though one had been a
king there and the other a mere doorman, because of previous
acquaintance and a common homeland, the yearning of “love of
homeland is a part of faith ” 42 stirred in Love’s nature, and it cried:
The wind wafts the fragrance of Muliyan’s stream;
The wind wafts too the beloved’s perfume . 43
In the extremity of its longing for the beloved, it laid its arm
around the neck of listless Intelligence, reciting the while:
In memory of thy lip, I kiss the ruby in the ring;
When that is out of reach, on this I plant my kiss.
When union grants me not thy hand to kiss
My devotion I offer, and on the ground plant my kiss.
But at this point the palate of Love’s soul tasted again in mem-
ory the pleasure it had had from the gaze of the true beloved,
and ardor consumed it. It loosed its embrace from the neck of
Intelligence, and then declared: “The substance became two
halves. One half was Intelligence, cowardly Intelligence, which
melted in fear and became water. The other half was Love,
which was nurtured by the gaze of the Beloved and overcome
by longing. The fire of Love sent forth flames, and caused fire
to appear. As there is opposition between water and fire, so too
between Intelligence and Love.” Thus Love could not be recon-
ciled to Intelligence; it rejected it and abandoned it, and set its
face toward the true Beloved.
42 A Tradition of dubious status: see Foruzanfar, Ahadis-e Mas navi, pp. 97-98.
“The first line of a famous poem by Rudaki (d. 329/940), composed, according
to the traditional account, at the urging of the courtiers of Na$r b. Ahmad the
Samanid who were anxious to return to Bokhara after a prolonged absence. Upon
hearing the poem and its evocation of the charms of Bokhara, such as the
streams of Muliyan, Na$r is recounted to have immediately set out homeward.
The second hemisdch usually begins yad-e yar ("the memory of the beloved”;
see Osori Rudaki [Stalinabad-Dushanbe, 1958], p. 125); Daya gives it, how-
ever, as bu-ye yar ("the perfume' of the beloved”). See Nezami Aiuzl, Cahar
maqala, pp. 59-66.
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Second Part, Third Chapter
Intelligence has naught to do with Love; put it to flight
without ado!
What dost thou want of that spidery, faint-hearted one?
Intelligence may never draw nigh unto Love;
What seeks the rabble of the camp in the king’s presence?
The supernal world, consisting of the spheres, the stars, and
so forth, was fashioned from the part of the substance that
aspired to ascend; while from the part that remained abased
were created the land, the mountains, the sea, and other things
in the manner set forth above. Then the subtle essence which
had arisen from the Mohammadan attribute of love was con-
ducted through the malakut of spirits, and then brought forth
from the gate of substance and caused to pass through the forms
and attributes of both Kingship and Dominion, so that not a
single particle of being, in either of these realms, should remain
without one of the mysteries of love being implanted in it. Thus
not a single particle remained empty of the love of its Creator,
enjoying a degree of love in accordance with its capacity, and by
means of this love each particle with its very being praises and
glorifies God Almighty: “There is naught but proclaims His
praise, but ye understand not their praising .” 44
If Thy lovers are drawn up in review,
Every particle of being will be found in the ranks.
The peacock and the fly will be together in one place,
When the hawk of Thy sorrow begins to hunt.
It is as if God were to say: “O angels, do not boast of your
praise and glorifying, nor venture forward self-assertively, say-
ing, ‘We proclaim Thy praise and call Thee holy .’ 45 Is there aught
or anyone that does not praise Our glorious majesty? All that is
in the heavens and earth proclaims the praise of God: He is the
Almighty, the All -wise .’ 46 Our glorious majesty is too sublime and
magnificent for anyone to be able to praise and laud Us as We
deserve. Whatever praise and laudation thou seest coming forth
from the denizens of heaven and earth and from every particle
“Qur’an, 17:44.
“Qur’an, 2:30.
“Qur’an, 57:1.
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T he Different Realms of Kingship and Dominion
of created being, all derives from the ray of Our divine praise of
Our own majesty. ‘Glorified and Exalted be thy Lord, theLordof
Glory, above that which they describe .’” 47
It is by means of the mirror of the Mohammadan Spirit which
cast its reflection on the particles of created being that all are
engaged in praise and laudation. Everyone imagined that his
utterance of praise was a property of his servitude to God and
was unaware of the origin of all praise. When it was the turn of
the Paragon of Being , 48 he traversed the realms of Kingship and
Dominion, nurturing them as he progressed. Then like a fruit he
settled on the branch of the tree of creation, this being expressed
in the Qur’anic phrase, “the distance of two bowstrings .” 49 His
truth-perceiving eye was opened by the workings of the mystery
of “or nearer ,” 50 and the Divine Majesty addressed him, saying:
“O Mohammad, give praise unto me, like the other beings and
the angels.” The Prophet, upon whom be peace, perceived that
all the praise of His Majesty that created beings could accom-
plish was but borrowed, while his code required that “the bor-
rowed is to be returned .” 51 Thus, in accordance with the order
“God commands you to deliver trusts back to their owners ,” 52 he
returned the loan entrusted to him, saying: “The stammering
tongue of created being is unfit to praise Thy uncreate Es-
sence — ‘I cannot enumerate Thy praise.’ Only Thy attributes are
fit to praise Thy Essence: ‘Thou art as Thou hast lauded Thyself
to be.’ ” 58
Thus not only the angels who are mere infants and novices in
the school of Adam — “O Adam, teach them their names” 54 — and
are unaware even of their own names, but also their teacher
Adam, together with all his offspring, all stand beneath Mo-
hammad’s banner of laudation: “On the Day of Resurrection,
47 Qur’an, 37:180.
4a I.e., the Prophet.
49 Qur’an, 53:9 (see p. 55, n. 12).
"Qur’an, 53:9.
51 A Tradition; see Foruzanfar, Ahadis-e Masnavi, p. 218.
"Qur’an, 4:58.
"These two phrases are part of a Tradition recorded by Moslem, Abu Da’ud,
Nasa’I, TermezI, Ebn Maja, Ebn Hanbal.
"Qur’an, 2:33.
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Second Part, Third Chapter
Adam and all his offspring shall stand beneath my banner, and I
take no pride therein; and in my hand shall be the banner of
praise, and I take no pride therein .” 55 Thus it becomes clear that
Mohammad was the seed of creation and its fruit, and the tree of
creation is in truth none other than his being.
Verily a rare bird art thou, that both realms are full of thee,
And ne’er hast thou spread thy wings nor quit thy nest.
Imagine the different types of malakut to be the roots of the
tree, corporeal bodies to be its trunk, the Prophets, upon whom
be peace and blessings, to be its branches, and the angels to be
its leaves. As for the fruit of the tree, it escapes all description
and cannot be set down by the two-tongued pen on two-faced
paper.
Many a tale did KaqanI write;
When his pen reached here, its head was broken . 56
Thus just as the tree is contained within the fruit, so too the
fruit is contained within the tree, and not a single particle of the
tree is without the presence of the fruit. The seed of the tree is
drawn from the effulgence of the Light of Unity, and there is no
particle of the tree and its fruit which is without the effulgence
of the Light of Unity. The hidden meaning of “We are closer' to
him than the jugular vein ” 57 and “He is with you wherever ye
are ” 58 becomes apparent from this, and the true sense of “God is
the Light of the heavens and the earth ” 59 stands manifest.
Know that God Almighty has created, in the world of form
and image, a form for all that He has brought forth in the world
of meaning. Now the form for all the realms of Dominion is the
person of Mohammad, upon whom be peace, and the form for
the effulgence of the Light of Unity is the affirmation of unity:
“There is no god other than God.” The profound cause for the
55 Part of a Tradition recorded by Dareml.
56 A line from the poet KaqanI (d. 595/1199) (Divan, ed. ‘All Abd al-RasulI
[Tehran, 1316 S./1937], p. 717).
57 Qur’an, 50:16.
58 Qur’an, 57:4.
59 Qur’an, 24:35.
92
The Different Realms of Kingship and Dominion
sending of the Prophets was the sowing of the seed of that af-
firmation in the soil of hearts: “This world is a tillage for the
hereafter .” 60 Hence it was that the Prophet said: "I have been
commanded to fight men until they say: ‘There is no god but
God.’ ” 61 What is meant by this if not the scattering of the seed of
Unity on the soil of men’s hearts? “Hast thou not seen how God
has struck a similitude? A good word is as a good tree — its roots
are firm, and its branches are in heaven; it gives its fruit every
season by the leave of its Lord. Thus God strikes similitudes for
men, that haply they may remember .” 62
60 A Tradition; see Foruzanfar, Ahadis-e Masnavl, p. 112.
61 A Tradition recorded by Moslem, Bokarl, Abu Da’ud, TermezI, Nasa’I, Ebn
Maja, Ebn Hanbal, and Dareml.
62 Qur’an, 14:24-25. The "good word” mentioned in these verses is generally
understood to be “there is no god but God.”
93
Fourth Chapter:
Concerning the Beginning of the Creation of
the Human Frame
God Almighty said: “I am about to create a man from clay .” 1
The Prophet, upon whom be God’s peace and blessings, said,
narrating the words of God Almighty, the Exalted: “I kneaded
the clay of Adam with my hands for forty days .” 2
Know that when it was desired to fashion the human frame
from the four elements of water, fire, wind, and earth, they were
not kept in the stage of simplicity, but instead carried down
through degrees of descent. The first degree was that of com-
poundness, for the element while at the stage of simplicity is still
close to the world of spirits, as was explained. When it is desired
to bring the element to the stage of compoundness, it must leave
simplicity behind and advance to compoundness, thereby dis-
tancing itself one degree from the world of spirits. When it
comes to the vegetable stage, it must leave behind compound-
ness and solidity, thereby becoming a further degree remoter
from the world of spirits. When it leaves the vegetable for the
animal realm, it descends another degree; and when it abandons
the animal for the human state, it descends one more degree.
There is no degree lower than that of the human person, and
“the lowest of the low” consists thereof.
Our words here refer only to the elements which descend
through changing states to these low degrees of remoteness
from the world of the spirits; for if you consider the malakut of
matter, which after passing through several stages reaches the
state of man, it is a question of degrees of ascent, not descent,
for with each stage the malakut comes closer to the world of
spirits, not more distant from it. Our words concern the form of
the elements, which belongs to the world of Kingship, and not
their inner aspect, which belongs to the world of Dominion.
‘Qur’an, 38:71 .
tradition; see p. 76, n. 27.
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The Creation of the Human Frame
In the sense intended here, then, the human frame is situated
at a lower degree than all creation, and it is truly described as
“the lowest of the low.” God’s words, “then We caused him to
descend to the lowest of the low ,” 3 refer to the attachment of the
spirit to the frame. Thus it is clear that while man’s spirit is the
supreme apex of creation, his frame is the lowest of the low. The
meaning of this verse will now be apparent:
Thou art the height and depth of this world;
I know not who thou art; all that is, thou art . 4
The shaikh of this feeble one, the spiritual monarch of the age,
Majd al-Dln Bagdadi 5 — may God be content with him — said in a
collection of his writings: “Glory be to Him Who in His power
joined together the nearest of the near and the farthest of
the far.”
The providential wisdom implicit in the human frame being
the lowest of the low and the human spirit the highest of the
high is that since man has to carry the burden of the Trust, he
must possess the strength of both worlds in perfect measure.
There is nothing in either world that is endowed with his strength
and thus fitted to bear the burden. The strength must be derived
from attributes, not from form, and the strength that the human
spirit possesses, as the highest of the high, naught else has in all
the world of the spirits, whether angel, demon, or other being.
Similarly, the strength that the human soul possesses, as the
lowest of the low, naught else has in all the world of the souls,
whether savage beast, predator, or other being.
The four elements from which the human frame was fash-
ioned were created out of the residue of the spirits, correspond-
ing to the treacle in the comparison we made in the first chapter
with sugar and its boiling by the sugar merchant. In the same
way that the attributes of raw white sugar persist in treacle, so
3 A phrase taken from Qur'an, 95:5: "then We caused him to descend to the
lowest of the low.”
4 Verse taken from the Sahnama of FerdowsI previously quoted on p. 26 above.
See too p. 26, n. 7.
Concerning Majd al-DTn Bagdadi, see the introduction to this translation,
pp. 9-10, and the sources cited there.
95
Second Part, Fourth Chapter
too something of each attribute that characterized the spirits
remained in the residue constituted by the elements; this we ex-
plained in the chapter treating the appearance of the different
realms. The subtle essence of each attribute passed through the
different classes of being so that not a single particle remained
without some slight share in the attributes of the world of spirits.
The four elements, even though they were the most distant of
beings from the world of spirits, nonetheless contained within
them something of the pure attributes of that world. Indeed, that
part of the existence of the elements which is capable of sur-
vival belongs itself to the world of spirits.
Similarly, although in the kneading of the clay of Adam all
satanic, predatory, bestial, vegetable, and mineral attributes
were present, his clay was nonetheless set apart by the honor
conveyed by the words, "with My hands,” and there was be-
stowed upon him, for each of these reprehensible attributes, a
jewel-like shell containing one of the attributes of divinity. Now
under the influence of the gaze of the sun, granite becomes the
receptacle for garnet, ruby, emerald, turquoise, and agate, like
the shell enclosing the pearl . 6 See how through the properties of
"I kneaded the clay of Adam with My hands,” in a period of
"forty days,” each of which according to a certain tradition was
equivalent to a thousand years, the water and clay of Adam be-
came the shell of a noble pearl. This honoring of Adam was
before the inhalation of the spirit, and it was the auspicious for-
tune of the bodily frame that it was to be the palace of God’s
viceregent. He labored on it in His own divine person for forty
thousand years, and who knows what treasures He secreted in it?
When monarchs in the world of form desire to construct a
palace, they set their servants to work, and consider it an indig-
nity to dip their hands in the clay. But when the builders come
to the place where the monarch wishes to store his treasure, he
sends away all his servants and retinue, dips his own hands in
6 Precious stones were traditionally supposed to result from the prolonged suf-
fusion of rocks and mountains with sunlight, in the same way that pearls were
believed to form within the shell from rainwater penetrating to the depths of the
ocean. There is in both cases the notion of a pure element descending and pene-
trating a grosser one in order to form a jewel in its very heart.
96
The Creation of the Human Frame
the clay, fashions the place according to the amount and dimen-
sion of the treasure, and then installs it himself.
So too when God Almighty was creating the different classes
of being, pertaining to this world and the hereafter, to heaven
and hell, He employed various intermediaries at each stage. But
when it was time to create Adam, He said: “I am about to create
a man from clay ,” 7 that is, “I myself shall fashion Adam’s dwell-
ing of water and clay.” This caused confusion to some, and they
said, “He created the heavens and the earth ’; 8 didst Thou not
create all?” He replied: “There is a distinction here, for I cre-
ated all else with the command ‘be,’ for ‘Our command to aught,
when We desire it, is “be,” and it is ’; 9 whereas Adam I shall
create directly Myself, without intermediary, for I shall conceal
within him the treasure of knowledge.”
He then ordered Gabriel to go and pick up a fistful of earth
and bring it to His presence. Gabriel, upon whom be peace, went
to comply with His command. But the earth said, “O Gabriel,
what wouldst thou do?” He replied, “I shall take thee to the
presence of God that He may fashion a viceregent from thee.”
The earth then pleaded with Gabriel, saying, “By God’s glory
and splendor, do not take me, for I have not the strength to bear
the burden of being nigh unto Him. Rather I have chosen ex-
treme distance from Him so that I may escape the awesome
blows of His wrath. For there is much danger in nearness — ‘and
the sincere are in great peril .’” 10
Those close to the monarch are the most distraught,
for they know the full measure of his wrath . 11
When Gabriel heard these pleadings and invocations, he re-
7 Qur’an, 38:71.
8 Qur’an, 10:3, 11:7, etc.
9 Qur’an, 16:40.
10 Part of a Tradition (see Foruzanfar, Ahadls-e Masnavi, p. 53), the full text of
which is as follows: ‘All men shall perish except the learned; all the learned
shall perish except those who act in accordance with their knowledge; all those
shall perish except the sincere; and the sincere are in great peril.”
"Half of a quatrain probably composed by Abu Sa‘Id b. Abu’l-Keyr. See Mo-
hammad b. Monavvar, Asrar al-towhld, p. 311.
97
Second Part, Fourth Chapter
turned to the Divine Presence and said: “O Lord, Thou art the
more knowing: the earth withholds obedience.” God then sent
Michael , 12 but again the earth pleaded and invoked the Divine
glory and splendor. So too did Esrafll 13 go and return empty-
handed. Then God Almighty commanded ‘Ezra'Il , 14 saying, “If
the earth will not come in willing obedience, then seize it with
force and coercion and bring it.” ‘Ezra’Il went and forcibly
plucked up a fistful of earth from the ground. According to a
certain tradition, he picked up forty cubits of earth from the
ground, brought it to the Divine Presence, and then set it down
between Mecca and Ta’ef. Love came swiftly rushing to the spot:
The earth for Adam’s frame was still unsifted.
When love came and laid hold of his heart.
This wine I drank when still a suckling infant —
Nay, rather the wine and the milk were mingled.
The first honor that was bestowed on the earth was this, that
it was summoned to the Presence by several messengers, and yet
it disdainfully refused, saying, “we comprehend not this
mystery.”
My words were all mafa'il and fa'elat;
Far removed was I from all talk of Kingship’s secret . 15
Truly, such is the normal rule: He who is the foremost in the
denial of love will be the most exalted in loverhood when he falls
prey to love; and the converse is also true.
For a time I denied the love of idols;
But my denial cast me to ruin.
12 Michael, mentioned in Qur'an, 2:98, is seen in Tradition as fulfilling various
roles: assisting and encouraging Gabriel, the angel of revelation; leading the
other angels in prostration before Adam, also in conjunction with Gabriel; and.
lamenting eternally the necessity for Hell.
13 EsraBl, the angel of resurrection who will rouse the dead from their tombs
with his trumpet on the Last Day.
“‘Ezra'Il (also spelled Azra’Tl), the angel of death who takes men’s souls at
the appointed hour.
l5 Mafa‘il, fa'elat: paradigms representing two of the feet in Perso-Arabic
prosody. The line is quoted from the work of Mojlr al-Din BeylaqanI (d. c. 586/
1190).
98
The Creation of the Human Frame
All the angels were meanwhile biting the finger of surprise
with the tooth of astonishment and asking themselves, “What
mystery is this, that lowly earth is summoned to the Almighty
Presence with such honor, and then, despite its utmost lowli-
ness and abjection, treats Him, for all His might and majesty,
with arrogance and disdain? And He, for all His wealth and
utter freedom from need, and despite His jealous honor, does
not forsake the earth, nor summon another in its place, nor re-
veal the mystery to any one 1”
I have grieved beneath the weight of heaven and earth;
My grief is unquenched, and my beloved, unmatched.
A gazelle, for example, can be tamed by men,
But not thou, for all my thousand stratagems. 16
Divine grace and wisdom then addressed the mystery of the
angels, saying: "Truly I know that which ye know not.” 17 What
know you of the tasks I intend for this fistful of earth, from pre-
etemity to post-etemity?
A love which has possessed me, from before eternity;
A task which lies before me, beyond eternity.
You are to be excused, for you have never had any concern with
love. You are dry ascetics, living withdrawn in the secluded
shrine of sanctity; what might you know of those who run ar-
dently back and forth to love’s ruined temple? How might the
seekers of safety savor the joys of those who court reproach? 18
16 A quatrain quoted from the Savaneh of Aljmad Gazall, p. 13.
17 Qur’an, 2:30.
18 "Those who court reproach”: i.e., the Malamatls, the People of Blame, repre-
sentatives of a current of Islamic piety inspired by the Qur’anic mention of those
who "struggle in God’s path and fear not the blame of any blamer.” The Mala-
mati “courts reproach’’ by concealing all sign of spiritual work and devotion.
Originally a current of piety akin to but distinct from Sufism, in the course of
time the Malamatls became one more Sufi order, and still later degenerated —
in many cases — into antinomianism. See Abu’l-Ala’ A fill, Al-Malamatiya
wa'-suftya wa ahl al-fotowwa (Cairo, 1346/1945), and Abdiilbaki Golpinarli,
Melamilik ve Melamiler (Ankara, 1931). Daya, of course, uses the term Mala-
mati in a deliberately extended and anachronistic sense designed to show the
universality of the Malamati attitude.
99
Second Part, Fourth Chapter
The afflicted know the pain of a wounded heart,
N ot the lighthearted with their empty laughter.
Thou hast no share in the qalandar’s 19 secret,
But the mystery of his ways is known to the libertine.
“Be padent for a few days while I wield My power on this
fistful of earth, and cleanse the rust of the darkness of created-
ness from the mirrorlike visage of its primordial state, and then
behold the images of manifold color that appear in its mirror.
The first image will be such that all will have to fall before it in
prostration.”
Then from the cloud of generosity the rain of love poured
down on the dust of Adam, turning it to clay, and with the hand
of His power God fashioned a heart of clay within the clay.
From love’s dew Adam’s dust turned to clay;
The world fell into tumult and disarray.
The lancet of love pierced the vein of the spirit;
A drop of blood fell, and they called it the heart . 20
The entire exalted host, cherubim and spirit beings, gazed on
the scene in wonder: God the Almighty and Glorious worked for
forty days and nights on fashioning the clay of Adam, and just as
the potter who wishes to make an earthenware pot rubs and
molds the clay in different ways, adding to it as he proceeds, so
too did God Almighty knead Adam’s clay: "He created man
from clay like baked earthenware .” 21 In each particle of the clay
He secreted a heart, which He then nurtured with the gaze of His
grace, and His wisdom addressed the angels, saying: "Look
upon the heart, not upon the clay.”
l9 Qalandar: an untranslatable term with a wide range of meaning. Its most
common sense is one who deliberately offends against social and religious
norms in order to approach God by his own obscure path. Qalandars also came
to form a Sufi order in Turkey, while elsewhere they fell swiftly into open anti-
nomianism and debauchery. See Mortaza §anaf, “A’In-e Qalandaii,” Armagan,
LIII (1350 5./1971), pp. 15-21.
20 A quatrain of Afzal al-Dln KasanT. See Mosannajat, eds. Mojtaba MlnovI
and Yahya MahdavT (Tehran, 1337 5./1958), II, p. 764.
21 Qur’an, 55:14.
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The Creation of the Human Frame
If I fix my gaze on the stone,
It yields the burnt heart that it holds.
According to certain traditions, the Divine Power was exer-
cised on Adam’s clay for forty thousand years in accordance
with perfect wisdom, between Mecca and Ta’ef. Mirrors were
affixed to him on both the outside and inside, to the number of
the divine attributes, each one being a manifestation of a sepa-
rate attribute. It is generally believed that a thousand and one
mirrors were put in place, to correspond to a thousand and one
attributes. Now even though the possessor of beauty may have
gold and silver ornaments in abundance, in her view nothing
has the same value as a mirror. For gold and silver ornaments
are subject to damage which the beautiful one cannot set aright;
but if the slightest dust alights on the face of the mirror, immedi-
ately and with the utmost care she will wipe it clean with the
sleeve of generosity. Moreover, even if she has a thousand hun-
dredweights of gold jewelry, she can do little with it but store it
in her dwelling, or use it to adorn her hands and ears. Hence
she turns away from it all, and remains face to face with the
mirror —
We are infatuated with thee — and thou, with the mirror;
Our gaze is fixed on thee — and thine, on the mirror.
When the mirror glimpsed thy beauty and thou,
thine own fairness,
Thou wert enamored of thyself; still more was the
mirror . 22
Love for thy face it was that thus sharply
Parted me from men and turned me toward thee.
In each beauty-displaying mirror that was placed in Adam’s
being was set too a beauty-perceiving eye, so that as God might
behold Himself in the mirror, through a thousand and one
apertures, so too Adam might behold Him with a thousand and
one eyes.
When thou lookest upon me, my whole body becomes
a heart;
22 Two lines taken from a poem by KaqanI (Divan, p. 393).
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Second Part, Fourth Chapter
When I look upon thee, my whole heart becomes
an eye . 23
Here love becomes reversed. If the beloved desires to flee from
the lover, he lays hold of his skirt with a thousand hands. The
beloved protests, saying: "First you fled from me, yet now you
would seize me,” and the lover replies, “Yes, I fled then so that
I would not have to seize you today.”
I reared like a stallion all unaware
That the lasso tightens when pulled . 24
Then I was dust, and sought to shun you; now I am a heart, and
will not release you. If then I loved you not so much as a grain of
dust, today I would make amends and love you with a thousand
hearts —
Behold this wonder that I who have not a single heart
Love thee with not less than a thousand.
Thus did the frame of Adam lie for forty thousand years be-
tween Mecca and Ta’ef, and each moment some delicate jewel,
some noble essence from the hidden treasuries of the unseen,
was implanted within his being. All the precious contents of
those treasuries were buried in Adam’s clay, until when it was
the turn of his heart, the clay for it was brought from the soil of
Paradise, soaked in the water of eternal life, and nurtured in the
sunlight of three hundred and sixty divine glances.
Heed now the subtle truth inherent in this figure of three hun-
dred and sixty. Adam’s clay was kneaded for forty thousand
years, and forty thousand years is equivalent to three hundred
and sixty thousand times forty days. Upon completing each
thousandth period of forty days, Adam’s clay became deserving
of one divine glance, and when three hundred and sixty thou-
sand such periods had been completed, it became worthy of
three hundred and sixty glances.
23 The first line of a quatrain of uncertain attribution.
2 '•Part of a poem by the poetess Rabe'a b. Qozdarl (fl. fourth/tenth century).
See Zablhollah §afa, Ganj-e sohan (Tehran. 1339 S./19601. I; p. 54.
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The Creation of the Human Frame
One glance from the friend, and happiness by the
hundred thousand;
I wait upon the time when that one glance is given.
Now when the heart reached this stage of perfection, there
was a jewel in the treasure house of the unseen that was hidden
even to the gaze of the treasurers and guarded by God Himself
in His own divine person. For He proclaimed: “There is no
treasury worthy of this jewel other than Our presence, or the
heart of Adam.” And the jewel was the jewel of love, secreted
within the shell of the Trust of knowledge that had been offered
to all the worlds of Kingship and Dominion. But none was
deemed a fit treasury for housing the jewel, or a proper treasurer
for guarding it. Only the heart of Adam was fit to be treasury,
for it had been nurtured by the sun of the divine glance; and only
the soul of Adam was worthy to act as treasurer, for it had been
nourished several thousand years on the effulgent light of the
attributes of Majesty of the Unity of the Essence.
I became enthralled by that idol on the day
That Adam was lying between Mecca and Ta’ef.
Strange it is that several thousand kindnesses and favors were
lavished on Adam’s heart and soul by God’s uncaused grace,
both in the seen and the unseen worlds, and none of it was con-
fided to the cherubim, so that they all remained ignorant of
Adam’s true nature. One by one they passed by Adam and said:
"What strange image is this, now being adorned? What crea-
ture of manifold hue, about to emerge from the veil of the un-
seen?” Adam meanwhile said softly to himself: “Even if you do
not know me, I know you. Wait until I raise my head from sweet
sleep, and I shall recite your names one by one.” For among the
jewels that had been buried within him was the knowledge of all
names: ‘And He taught Adam all the names .” 25
However much the angels examined the form of Adam, they
were unable to discover the compendium of mysteries that he in
truth was. But Eblis the cunning was once walking around
Adam, and gazing on him with his one squint eye, saw his mouth
“Qur'an, 2:31.
103
Second Part, Fourth Chapter
to be open. He said to the other angels: “Wait here, for I have
found the means to loosen the knot of our problem. I will enter
this hole and see what I discover within.” When he descended
the hole and explored the being of Adam, he found it to be a
small world in itself, and beheld there a replica of all that he
had seen in the great world without. He found his head to be
like the heavens with their seven layers; and in the same way
that there are seven moving stars in the seven heavens, he found
seven faculties in the seven layers of the human head: the im-
aginative, the conceptual, the reflective, the memorizing, the
recollective, and the regulatory faculties, together with common
sense. As there are angels in heaven, so too there were the
senses of sight, hearing, smell, and taste in the head. Further-
more, Eblls found Adam’s body to be like the earth: As there are
trees, plants, flowing streams, and mountains on the earth, the
body had long hairs on the head, corresponding to trees; short
hairs on the body, corresponding to plants; veins, corresponding
to flowing streams; and bones, corresponding to mountains.
As there are four seasons in the macrocosm — spring, autumn,
summer, winter — so too he found four humors in the microcosm
— heat, coldness, wetness, and dryness, these being inherent in
the yellow bile, black bile, phlegm, and blood, respectively.
In the macrocosm there are four winds, those of the spring,
autumn, summer, and winter. The spring wind fecundates trees,
brings forth leaves, and causes verdure to grow; that of the
summer ripens the fruit; that of the autumn dries it; and that of
the winter causes it to fall. So too in Adam there were four
winds: the attractive, digestive, retentive, and excretive facul-
ties. The attractive faculty draws food toward his gullet, and
gives it to the digestive to be ripened and matured. It then
passes to the retentive faculty, which extracts all possible bene-
fit from it, and is finally expelled from the body by the excretive
faculty. In the same way that the absence of one of the four
winds of the macrocosm would cause the ruin of the world, so
too the absence of one of the four winds of the microcosm would
render impossible the stability of the human frame.
In the macrocosm there are four kinds of water — salt, bitter,
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The Creation of the Human Frame
fetid, and sweet — and each of these was also found to be present
in Adam. Each was set in a certain place in accordance with
divine wisdom. Salt water was placed in the eye, for the eye
contains tallow and tallow is preserved through salt water . 26
Tallow serves to protect the eye; the eye to protect the white of
the eye; the white of the eye to protect the black of the eye; and
the black of the eye to protect the pupil. The pupil is the locus of
vision, and vision is the cause of sight.
Bitter water was placed in the ear to forbid access to insects;
fetid water in the nostrils so that what formed in the nose might
be evacuated by the nostrils; and sweet water in the mouth, to
keep the mouth sweet and the tongue fluent in speech, as well as
to accompany food on its way down the gullet. Much providen-
tial wisdom may be observed in the case of each, and it would
take long to enumerate.
There are other examples of how all that is in the macrocosm
is to be found also in the microcosm, but a complete exposition
would lead to prolixity.
When, then, Eblis traversed the entirety of Adam’s bodily
frame, he perceived an indication of the macrocosm in all that
he saw. But when he came to the heart, he saw it to be like a
pavilion, with the breast in front of it like the square erected
before a royal palace. However much he sought a way to gain
access to the heart he was unable, and said to himself: ‘All that
I have previously seen was easy; it is here that the difficulty lies.
If one day this person should cause us some misfortune, it may
have its origin here; and if God Almighty has some task planned
for this frame, or secreted something within it, it is here that it
may be hidden.” With a hundred thousand such thoughts, he
turned back from the heart’s threshold in despair.
Since Eblis was not admitted to the court of Adam’s heart
and the hand of rejection was laid upon him, he was rejected by
all the world. It is for this reason that the elders of the Path have
said: “Whoever is rejected by one heart is rejected by all hearts;
26 It was traditionally believed that the eye was fashioned of a substance akin to
tallow.
105
Second Part, Fourth Chapter
and whoever is accepted by one heart is accepted by all hearts.”
This is true on condition that the heart in question is truly a
heart, for most men cannot distinguish between the heart and
the soul.
A heart it is wherein in time of trouble
Ye find naught but God . 27
When Eblis emerged from Adam’s frame disappointed and
dismayed, he said to the angels: “There is no cause for alarm.
This person is hollow; he needs food and is subject to lust like
other animals; we may soon gain mastery over him. But in his
breast I found a pavilion with neither door nor roof, and there
was no way of entering; I know not what it can be.”
The angels said: “The difficulty is still unsolved; we have not
come to the root of the matter.” So they went back to the pres-
ence of God Almighty and said: “O Lord! Thou it is that solves
all difficulties, that loosens all knots, that bestows all knowl-
edge! Thou hast labored for some time in Thine own divine per-
son on this fistful of earth, created from it a whole world, and
hidden countless treasures therein. Yet Thou hast told us nothing
of the whole affair, nor confided in any of us; tell us now what is
to be the outcome.”
The Almighty addressed them, saying: “ ‘I am about to make a
viceregent on earth .’ 28 I am creating a deputy for My majestic
presence on earth, a task which is not yet complete. That which
you see is his dwelling, his abode, and the seat of his throne.
When I have completed it and seated him on the throne of
viceregency, fall in prostration before him. ‘When I have fash-
ioned him and inhaled in him of My spirit, fall ye down in pros-
tration before him .’” 29
They said to each other: “Our difficulty has but grown. He
now orders us to prostrate ourselves before him and calls him
27 A line from the Hadlqat al-haqiqa of Sana’!, ed. Modarres Razavl (Tehran,
n.d.), p. 339.
28 Qur’an, 2:30.
29 Qur’an, 15:29.
106
The Creation of the Human Frame
His viceregent. We never knew that any but He was worthy to
receive prostration. We knew Him, Almighty and Exalted, to be
without helper or partner, without like or peer, without consort
or offspring; we knew not that any was worthy to be His vice-
regent and deputy. Let us go and circumambulate this Ka'ba,
and learn well the nature of this dwelling.”
They came and walked around Adam’s frame, all gazing upon
it with care. They said: "We see here naught but water and clay.
The beauty of viceregency is not to be observed in him, nor can
we remark any worthiness to receive prostration.” But from the
uiiseen an indication came to their souls:
The beloved is not to be seen with the eyes of others;
’Tis with my eyes my cherished one should be seen.
They said: “This person cannot be of any account because of
his form. Perhaps his worth derives from his attributes; let us
then examine them.” Upon close examination they saw Adam’s
frame to be made of the four elements: earth, wind, water, and
fire. They then found that the attribute of earth was immobility
and that of wind, mobility, and that earth was thus in opposition
to wind. Similarly, they found that water was abased and fire
exalted, and that these two were in opposition to each other.
They looked again and found the humor of earth to be dry, that
of wind to be wet, that of water to be cold, and that of fire to be
hot, and all were thus in opposition to each other. They then
said: "Wherever two opposites are joined, naught but corrup-
tion and transgression can arise. ‘If there were within them a
plurality of gods, other than God, both would decay.’ 30 And if it is
true of the macrocosm that it is subject to corruption because of
the opposition of the elements and their attributes, it will be
even truer of the microcosm.”
Again they returned to the Divine Presence, and said: “‘Wilt
Thou make upon earth one who will cause corruption and blood-
shed?’ 31 Wilt Thou bestow the viceregency upon one who will give
30 Qur’an, 21:22. "Both” refers to the heavens and the earth.
31 Qur’an, 2:30.
107
Second Part, Fourth Chapter
rise to corruption and bloodshed?” It is related in tradition that
their words were not yet finished when a flame- leapt forth from
the pavilions of Splendor and Majesty and set fire to some of
their number.
Know that the lamp kindled by God
Burns whoever would blow out its flame.
The substance of Adam’s viceregency, drawing on the capital
of corporeal being, has inspired these verses in my feeble self:
All thou hast seen of us is but our shadow;
Our substance lies beyond creation’s twin realms.
We are without we; this is our resource for the task;
We nurture others, and He nurtures us.
The first seeker of reproach in the world was Adam; or, to tell
the truth, it was none other than God the glorious Himself, for
the first objection was that made to Him: “Wilt Thou make
upon earth one who will cause corruption and bloodshed ?” 32 Here
lies a wondrous indication that the foundation of love is the
courting of reproach . 33
Better for love to be in the company of blame;
Safety’s for the ascetic held back by his shame.
The soul of Adam silently addressed the Majestic Presence,
saying: "With the rope of reproach we have lifted the burden of
the Trust onto the shoulder of our soul; we have sold safety and
bought reproach. We fear the blame of no one; let them say
what they will, for it matters not.”
“Let them rip my fur cloak to pieces
If it be for thy sake, nimble rogue!”
Be alone in thy love, and pay men no heed;
The beloved is thine, so dust on the world’s head!
Honor enough were it for Adam that God Almighty created
32 Qur’an, 2:30.
33 See n. 18 above.
108
The Creation of the Human Frame
the heavens and earth and all therein in six days and nights —
“He created the heavens and earth in six days” 34 — and did not
bestow on them the honor of “with My hands ,” 35 even though
they formed the macrocosm. But to the creation of Adam, the
microcosm, He assigned no less than forty days, and He be-
stowed on him too the cloak of honor of “with My hands,” so
that the unaware might realize that he has a distinction in the
Almighty Presence which no other being enjoys. Moreover,
through the property of “with My hands,” a mystery was se-
creted in Adam's nature upon which all other beings were
dependent for their creation. All these honors pertained to his
frame, the microcosm corresponding to the macrocosm. But con-
sider the special dignity bestowed on his spirit by the Almighty,
for “I inhaled in him from My spirit ”! 36 Compared to the infini-
tude that the realm of the spirit thus acquired, this world, the
hereafter, and all therein appear to be a mere microcosm.
When the two are joined together, spirit and frame, and
brought to perfection, who knows what felicity and auspicious
fortune He will shower down on them! Wretched is he who, de-
prived of perfection, looks upon his own self in contempt, uses
the potentialities of the human degree, the noblest part of crea-
tion, to gain bestial pleasures, the vilest part of creation, and
thus remains ignorant of his own true worth!
Thou art the offspring of two worlds.
Passed from one nursemaid to the next.
First of all by innate nature, last by frame;
Such art thou, waste not thyself in game . 37
^Qur’an, 7:53, 10:30, 11:7, 57:4.
,5 Part of the hadis discussed on p. 76, n. 27.
36 Qur'an, 15:29.
37 A line from the Sahnama of FerdowsI (IV, p. 276).
109
Fifth Chapter:
Concerning the Beginning of the Attachment
of the Spirit to the Frame
God Almighty said: “When I have fashioned him and inhaled
in him of My spirit, fall ye down in prostration before him .” 1
The Prophet, upon whom be God’s peace and blessings, said:
“The creation of one of you is that he is a drop of sperm for forty
days, collected in his mother’s womb; then a drop of coagulated
blood for another forty days; and then a formless lump of flesh
for a further forty days. Then God sends an angel, instructing
him to write four words concerning the child’s destiny: his sus-
tenance, his deeds, his life span, and whether he will be wretched
or blessed. When the angel has written, the spirit is inhaled into
him. If one of you should perform deeds like the people of Para-
dise, so that only a span separates him from it, but fate has de-
creed otherwise, his deeds shall end like those of the people of
Hell, and Hell he shall enter; and if one of you should perform
deeds like the people of Hell so that only a span separates him
from it, but fate has decreed otherwise, his deeds shall end like
those of the people of Paradise, and Paradise he shall enter .” 2
Know that when the fashioning of the bodily frame was com-
pleted, and it was time for the spirit to be joined to the frame,
just as God Almighty had permitted none to share in the knead-
ing of Adam’s clay, performing the task in His own divine per-
son, so too He now undertook to inhale the spirit in His own
divine person.
Note here the indication of a subtle truth, and the proclama-
tion of noble good tidings. It was as if God were saying: “I am
sending the spirit from the highest degree of the world of spirits
to the lowest degree of the world of bodies in the protective
company of My unique inhalation. For the journey is long, and
both friend and enemy are plentiful along the route, and it is
necessary that the spirit should not be engrossed with friend
‘Qur’an, 15:29.
2 Tradition recorded by Bokarl, Moslem, Abu Da’ud, TermezI, andEbn Maja.
110
The Attachment of the Spirit to the Frame
and enemy at each stage and stopping place, thereby forgetting
Me and being deprived of the taste of the intimacy it enjoyed in
My presence. Robbers along the road are numerous, both envious
enemies and jealous friends. But if the spirit is accompanied by
the trace of My inhalation, it will not permit the taste of My
intimacy fully to depart from the palate of its soul, nor be com-
pletely enthralled by friend and enemy at every stage.
“I shall, moreover, cause the spirit to pass through three hun-
dred and sixty thousand worlds, both spiritual and corporeal,
relating to both Kingship and Dominion, and in each of them I
have placed some provision for it, and buried some treasure on
its account, so that on the day when I send it to be my viceregent
in the lowest, corporeal realm, it will take these provisions and
treasures with it to earth. I have informed none of these hidden
treasures — ‘I have not caused them to witness the creation of the
heavens and the earth’ 3 — I alone have buried them, and I alone
know what I have buried, and where, and how, and how each is
to be retrieved.
“I shall be at each stage the guide and helper of the spirit: I
shall display all things to it, and bestow upon it all the hidden
treasures that may profit it on its passage through each separate
world, withholding that which will benefit it upon its journey of
return to My presence. I shall show it the talismans that I have
made on this path to ward off the gaze of the intruder and pre-
vent the access of false claimants to the presence of the treasure,
and teach it how to open these talismans, so that the journey of
return will be easy for it. Then too I shall instruct it in all that
will benefit or harm it along the way.
“It is some time since I sent forth into the world the cry of ‘I
am about to make a viceregent on earth ’; 4 friend and foe, ac-
quaintance and stranger, are all awaiting his arrival. When I
dispatch the spirit as my viceregent and bestow deputyhood
upon it, it must therefore be with all manner of dignity and
honor. I have thus ordered the cherubim to prostrate themselves
before the spirit when it mounts the throne of viceregency. All
3 Qur’an, 18:52.
■•Qur’an, 2:30.
Ill
Second Part, Fifth Chapter
must behold the signs of dignity and honor I have bestowed
upon it, and perceive thereby the magnitude of its rank.”
Then the pure spirit of Adam, having passed several thousand
years in successive forty-day periods of prayer in the retreat of
the secluded shrine of sanctity; having been honored with the
gaze of grace, in the station of immediacy; and having learned
the customs and norms of viceregency, the conditions and con-
ventions of deputyship from God, the Overlord — for unless the
deputy and viceregent of a king has spent a lifetime in the king’s
presence being trained in the practice and customs of rule, he
will not be qualified for deputyship or viceregency — then was his
pure spirit seated on the unique mount of “I inhaled in him .” 5
Intelligence ran along at his stirrup;
Love made its way to his shade.
The trappings on his bay mount’s neck were moonlight,
And the tress of his black standard was dark night . 6
Clothed in a cloak of honor that was inscribed “of My spirit,”
it was borne through all the spiritual and corporeal domains,
and at each station and stopping place, they brought forward
the essence and choice part of the buried treasures that were
hidden there, and sent them with it as it proceeded on its way.
Finally it was seated as viceregent on the throne of the bodily
frame in the kingdom of humanity, and immediately the entire
exalted host, cherubim and spirit beings, fell prostrate before
the throne — “and the angels prostrated themselves, all with one
accord .” 7 Gabriel was then appointed chancellor at Adam’s
court, and Michael as treasurer, and all the other angels were
also given some post.
It was found desirable to lay the foundation of punishment, to
hoist someone onto the scaffold, so that throughout the realms
of Kingship and Dominion none should dare to claim viceregency
or to oppose that of Adam. Eblis, that arrogant, black-fortuned
5 Qur’an, 15:29.
Two lines from a poem of Jamal al-DIn 'Abd al-Razzaq E$fahanl (d. 588/
1192) (Divan, ed. Vahid DastgerdI [Tehran, 1320 S./1941], p. 2).
’Qur’an, 15:15.
112
The Attachment of the Spirit to the Frame
one, who in his inquisitiveness had once made stealthy and
illicit entry into Adam’s frame, gazed with the eye of contempt
upon the domain of his viceregency, and desired in vain to make
a breach in the treasurehouse of his heart, was therefore seized
on the charge of robbery and bound with the rope of wretched-
ness. When it was time for all the angels to prostrate themselves,
Eblis was unable to do so, for he had in reality been bound with
the rope of wretchedness on the day that he entered the work-
shop of the unseen without permission.
It is related in a certain Tradition that when all the creatures
are gathered together on the Plain of Resurrection, one of the
lights of God, Almighty and Glorious, will manifest itself and
all will desire to fall down in prostration. Whoever prostrated
himself before God while still in the world will then enter pros-
tration; but those who prostrated themselves before idols,
worldly desires, and the passions, will be unable to do so, for
their necks will have been bound with the rope of wretchedness
on that day when they failed to prostrate themselves before
God. That rope cannot be seen today with the outer eye; but
whoever has his inner eye open will see it and not fail to sever it
with the scissors of repentance and the seeking of forgiveness.
For if he does not sever it today, he will be brought to the mar-
ketplace of resurrection bound in chains and fetters, and the
sense of the verse “Behold the fetters on their necks, and the
chains ” 8 will be fulfilled.
The neck of Eblis the cunning was then bound on that day,
for he out of all the angels had acted impudently and illicitly
entered the workshop of the unseen, thereby contravening the
divine command: “Do not enter the dwellings of the Prophet
unless it be permitted to you .” 9 His neck was tied with the rope
of wrath so that he was unable to prostrate himself before Adam
— ‘And they prostrated themselves, except Eblis, who refused
and was arrogant .” 10
People imagine that his refusal and arrogance began at the
“Qur'an, 40:71.
“Qur'an, 33:53.
10 Qur’an, 2:34.
113
Second Part, Fifth Chapter
time of prostration. It was indeed then that the outer form of his
refusal and arrogance became apparent, but this was only the
tree coming to fruit, for the reality of his refusal and arrogance
had been sown like a seed in the soil of his wretchedness on that
day when he flouted the norms of courtesy and entered the work-
shop of the unseen without permission. When he emerged, he
was arrogant and said: “A hollow creature, incapable of self-
restraint.” He looked on himself with the eye of grandeur, and
on the viceregent of God with the eye of contempt. That seed
was nurtured with the passage of time, and bore the fruit of his
refusal and arrogance on the day of prostration. Of necessity,
then, they dragged him onto the scaffold of accursedness with
the rope of wretchedness: “My curse is upon thee until the Day
of Judgment .” 11 They left him on the scaffold of chastisement,
there to remain until the coming of the Hour. Rather, he will not
be taken down for all eternity, to serve as warning example for
all who might dare to show disrespect for God’s viceregent any-
where in his realm. Whoever follows Eblls in this earthly king-
dom shall be placed with him in one rank and sent down to Hell:
"Truly I shall fill Hell with thee and with all of those who follow
thee .” 12
It is related that when the spirit entered the frame of Adam, it
immediately explored all the domains of the body and found it
to be an exceedingly gloomy and fearsome abode, founded on
four contradictory principles and thus incapable of permanence.
It saw it to be dark and cramped, full of several thousand insects
and noisome creatures such as snakes, scorpions, and serpents,
different kinds of raging beast such as lions, tigers, leopards,
bears, and swine, and other animals such as donkeys, cows,
horses, mules, and camels. All these were in conflict with one
another, and all too were attacking the spirit, inflicting injury
on it and vexing it in manifold ways. Then too, the soul turned
on it in its exile, like a dog, and fell on it like a wolf.
The pure spirit that for many a millennium had been nurtured
with a hundred thousand delicate cares in the proximity of the
Lord of the Worlds was now struck with terror by all these perils.
liQur’an, 38:78.
i2Qur’an, 38:85.
114
The Attachment of the Spirit to the Frame
It knew for the first time the value of the intimacy it had enjoyed
in the presence of the Almighty, and realized how great was the
blessing of union in which it had been constantly immersed
without knowing its pleasure and true value. The fire of separa-
tion leaped up in its soul, and the smoke of exile rose up to its
brain. It exclaimed:
Yesterday, wine, pleasure, and the idol’s face;
Today, sorrow, exile, separation from her.
O revolution of days! to you both are as one,
So bring back yesterday, I renounce today ! 13
The spirit forthwith turned its back on that abode of terror,
and desired to return along the path that had brought it:
My resolve is firm to quit this place;
Coming was without sense; broken be the leg that
brought me!
When it desired to return, it looked around for the mount of
the inhalation that had brought it, for it had not come on foot,
but mounted. It could not find the mount, and its heart was
shattered. Then it was told: “It is this shattering of thy heart
that was Our aim.” Upon hearing this, its heart was straitened
and it gave a deep sigh. Now it was told: “It is on account of this
sigh that We have brought thee here.” The steam of the sigh
mounted to Adam's nose, like the smoke of a fire to the hole in
the roof, and immediately he began to sneeze. Thus motion
stirred in him: He opened his eye, and saw the spacious width of
the world of form and witnessed the brightness of the sun.
“Praise be to God,” he said, and the divine address reached him,
saying, “Thy Lord will have mercy on thee.” 14 The sweetness of
those words reached his soul and a degree of tranquillity arose
within him.
But whenever he thought of the joy of proximity to God and
13 A quatrain by Anvari (DlvMn, p. 608).
H An allusion to the fact that it is recommended for the one who sneezes to ex-
claim, "Praise be to God!” and for the one who hears him to respond, “May God
have mercy upon thee!” (Tradition recorded by al-Katlb al-Bagdadl.)
115
Second Part, Fifth Chapter
intimacy with Him, and recalled the spacious breadth of the
world of spirits and the bounties that God had given him with-
out intermediary, he wanted to break the cage of his bodily
frame and rend his garment of water and clay.
That captive nightingale known as the soul
Has not the strength to shatter its cage.
In the same way that children are distracted with brightly
colored objects and the noise of bells, with sweetmeats and fruit,
so too Adam was distracted by being appointed teacher to the
angels, by receiving their prostration, by being conducted
around the heavens, by mounting the pulpit, and all the other
well-known means recounted in Tradition. Thus it was hoped
that the fire of his desire for the beauty of the Divine Presence
might somewhat abate, that he might grow attached and ac-
customed to something new, and that his terror would depart
from him.
Yet he proclaimed silently all the while:
Never, O chosen idol of mine,
Shall thy love quit my heart, nor thine image, mine eye.
If after my death thou shouldst come seeking,
Thou wilt find love for thee still in my rotting bones!
Then the divine address was heard: "O Adam, enter Paradise
and live there in joy, eating and resting as thou desirest, and
keep the company of whomever thou wilt — ‘O Adam, live thou
and thy mate in Paradise, and eat plenteously there, as ye
desire .’” 15
Yet still Adam persisted:
May my heart never be able to part itself from thee,
Nor to become familiar with other than thee!
Should it cut loose from thy love, whom might it love?
And should it leave thy dwelling, where might it go ? 16
l5 Qur’an, 2:35.
16 This quatrain has been attributed to Najm al-DIn Kobra. See Bertel’s, "Chet-
verostishiya Sheikha Nadzhm ad-DIna Kubra,” in Izbrannye Trudy: Sufizm i
Sufiyskaya Lileratura, p. 326.
116
The Attachment of the Spirit to the Frame
Since Adam’s fear did not diminish and. he formed no new
attachment, Eve was created of his own self and placed beside
him so that he might form intimate attachment to his own kind:
‘And He made thereof its pair, that he might find tranquillity
therein.” 17
When Adam gazed on the beauty of Eve, he saw a ray of the
beauty of God; and through his contemplation of Eve it became
apparent to him that “all that is beautiful proceeds from the
beauty of God,” and he experienced the joy of that beauty anew.
' O rose, thou art like the face of a loved one,
And O wine, thou art as if pressed from her being.
O cruel fortune, thine enmity grows with each moment —
Yet withal thou resemblest the friend.
Then Adam began, in accordance with this fragrant percep-
tion, to embrace his mate, and as he discovered the pleasure of
that proceeding, the attribute of passion gained mastery over
him, the foremost of the animal attributes and the thickest of all
veils. The other animal attributes, such as taking pleasure in
eating and sleeping, also overcame him; the veils were in-
creased, and his intimate attachment to the Divine Presence
was lessened. For in the measure that the human soul takes
delight in animal pleasures and passions, becoming attached to
them, the attachment to God that dwells in the heart will
decrease.
Indeed, so attached did Adam become to Paradise and its
pleasures that when the temptation of the Tree came upon him
— "approach not thisTree” 18 — Eblis was able to deceive him with
a promise of the kingdom of Paradise: "Shall I guide thee to the
Tree of Immortality and a kingdom that fadeth not?’” 9 Adam
chose immortality and the kingdom of Paradise in preference to
God’s pleasure, and in the extremity of his greed, at Satan’s
behest, he abandoned the commands of the All-compassionate
One.
17 Qur’an, 7:188.
'“Qur’an, 2:35.
'“Qur'an, 20:120.
117
Second Part, Fifth Chapter
The jealous wrath of God forthwith fell upon him. “O Adam,
We did not create thee for the sake of carnal enjoyment and
animal pleasure. ‘Did ye think that We created you to no pur-
pose, and that ye are not to be returned unto us ?’ 20 Now that We
have left thee for half a day in Paradise and placed the veil of
pleasure before thee, thou hast begun to forget Us and become
preoccupied with and attached to other than Us, acting with
disobedience and eating from the Tree. If We leave thee there
for a whole day, We fear thou wilt forget Us entirely, exchange
intimacy for estrangement, and no longer remember Us and the
grace We have shown thee.
The friend that was once constant in fidelity
And cared only to seek our pleasure,
Is now a distant stranger, and none might think
He had ever in his life with us made acquaintance.
"O Adam, go forth from Paradise! And Eve, be parted from
him! ‘Get ye down from here, together !’ 21 O crown, leave the
head of Adam, and O precious garment, abandon his body! O
houris of Paradise, beat the two-faced tambourine 22 for Adam to
the tune of ‘Adam rebelled against His Lord and erred .’ 23 We will
cast the stone of reproach against the bottle of safety; pour the
oil of Adam’s self-worship on the soil of abasement and servi-
tude; and strike the blade of his intent against the rock of trial
and testing.”
This is the abode of reproach, the square of destruction;
The path for gamblers risking their all.
A qalandar one must be, with a split hem to one’s cloak,
To pass by the peril, nimbly with cunning . 24
20 Qur’an, 23:116.
21 Qur’an, 2:38. The plural form of the imperative verb in this verse refers to the
descendants of Adam, present in potentiality within his loins.
22 It appears that tambourines were often beaten to the accompaniment of taunt-
ing verses when it was desired to humiliate someone. For an example from the
Saljuq period, see Ravandl, Rahal as-sodur, ed. Muhammad Iqbal (London,
1921), p. 161.
23 Qur’an, 20:121.
^Concerning the concepts of "reproach” and qalandar, see p. 99 n. 18 and
p. 100 n. 19.
118
The Attachment of the Spirit to the Frame
Adam was cast forth into the abode of terror that is the world,
and separated from his mate and companion:
No friend, no companion, no mate:
Grievous pain, rare sorrow, happy state!
When he had wandered distraught for several days in this
state and found none to aid him, he turned back to lamenting his
ancient sorrow; and the teacher of the unseen world again in-
scribed the alphabet of his first love on the slate:
Once more on the slate of love I have written;
Write thou, O idol, on the slate of enticement.
Then we may recite, to the master of love,
For a few days more our love and enticement . 25
Adam unrolled anew the carpet of lamentation and began to
recite: “O Lord, we have wronged ourselves .” 26 God said to
him: “O Adam —
Thou comest to Me when all else fails;
I am thy Beloved on the day of misfortune.”
He answered: “O Lord, this distraught wandering was needed
for me to know the value of Thy grace and to be truly grateful
for Thy sovereignty. It was fitting that I should be humiliated
and abased so that I might discern the extent of the nobility and
dignity Thou hast bestowed upon me, and know what favors
were conferred on this fistful of dust by Thy divine grace: how I
was raised from low to high degree, honored by being created
in utmost solitude, and separated from other than Thee by Thy
jealous pride — ‘be thou Mine, and I shall be thine .’ 27 T oday, then, I
have returned in my frailty to Thy gate of generosity, and even
though my tongue of excuse is struck dumb, still I say —
In patience I bore two, three days without Thee,
But hear my hundred fine, alluring excuses.
“Two lines from the poetry of Anvar! (Divan, p 528).
26 Qur’an, 7:22.
27 Part of a hadis qodsi.
119
Second Part, Fifth Chapter
Beloved, Thy grief casts me down to disaster;
Come to my aid, before I depart and I vanish!”
It is related that Adam was left for four hundred years thus
lamenting and pleading, wandering and distraught, with his eye
bathed in the blood of his heart. His Almighty Lord, in His
splendor and glory, then addressed Adam’s yearning soul, his
wounded heart, saying: “I created thee from a fistful of earth,
exalted thee in power and dignity above the cherubim, and
caused all to envy thee and fall in prostration before thee. I ex-
posed My glorious presence to the reproach of ‘Wilt Thou make
upon earth one who shall cause corruption and bloodshed ?’ 28
and on account of thy friendship made an enemy of Azazil . 29 I
mounted him on the scaffold of accursedness before thy throne
of viceregency, and because of his refusal to prostrate himself
before thee even once, I made his seven hundred thousand years
of prostration before Me like scattered dust, and with the blow
of ‘depart from here ’ 30 drove him forth from My proximity.
“Yet thou hast been ungrateful for all these blessings, ignored
My claims upon thee and not known thine own true worth. Thou
hast taken thine enemy to be thy friend, looked upon thy friend
as thine enemy, and made us both the subject of talk among
friend and foe alike. When the might of Our wrath strikes out in
accordance with ‘if ye are ungrateful, truly My chastisement is
severe ,’ 31 thou shouldst receive the first blow with patience, with-
out even wrinkling thy brow — ‘Patience, when the first blow
falls.’”
On the day when thy fortune suffers decline,
Patience it is thou hast to display.
When evil enters the account, it’s all for the good;
No man’s foot in the stirrup may constantly stay.
But Adam persisted and again hoisted the banner of frailty,
and with the pen of pleading inscribed the form of excuse on the
28 Qur’an, 2:30.
29 AzazIl: the name of Eblls before his fall from the archangelic hierarchy.
30 Qur’an, 15:34.
31 Qur’an, 4:7.
120
The Attachment of the Spirit to the Frame
page of shortcoming. With heart enflamed and weeping eye, the
tongue of his soul spoke thus:
Should Thou draw back Thy shade from my head,
My wails of lament will start once again.
Should Thou reject and drive me from Thee
I’ll be like one sleeping in the realm of the waking . 32
“I confess that we are all frail, and Thou alone art mighty; that
we all fade and pass away, and Thou alone remainest; that we
are all helpless, and Thou alone art our helper; that we are all
friendless, and Thou alone art our friend. Cast not down that
which Thou hast raised up; break not that which Thou hast
fashioned; humiliate not that which Thou hast ennobled; cause
not grief to that which Thou hast nurtured in joy. Thou raised us
up; sustain us, then, and abandon us not to ourselves. Forgive us
for this rashness, for Thou planted this seed, and Thou moulded
this clay.”
If the fruit be a thorn, Thou sowed the seed;
Or if the garment be silk, Thou sewed the cloth.
When Adam’s pleadings exceeded all bounds and his words
reached this extremity, the auspicious sun of ‘Adam received
words from his Lord and He turned to him in forgiveness ” 33 rose
over the horizon, and the true morning of auspicious union
dawned after the dark night of sinister separation. Divine grace
addressed Adam in his servitude, saying:
Return, and be more than once thou wert;
What thou wert not before, be now.
In time of war thou wert beloved, an equal to the world;
See what shall now be thy rank, in time of peace!
“That which is past, is past, and amity is restored between us.”
He commanded that the herald of “God has chosen Adam ” 34
32 A quatrain written in RazI dialect, i.e., the dialect of Daya’s native city, Ray.
Since few examples of this dialect are extant and it cannot be reconstructed in
its totality, the translation — particularly of the second line — is tentative.
33 Qur’an, 2:37.
3,1 Qur'an, 3:33.
121
Second Part, Fifth Chapter
should supplant the cry of ‘Adam rebelled against his Lord and
erred ,” 35 and the worlds of Kingship and Dominion resounded
with the declaration: “Then did his Lord choose him; he re-
pented and was guided aright .” 36
God’s generosity sought excuse for Adam’s crime from both
friend and foe, saying, “ ‘he forgot; We found in him no deliber-
ate intent ,’ 37 so draw in henceforth, all of you, the tongue of con-
demnation, place the seal of courtesy on the lip of silence, and
wipe the rust of denial from the face of the mirror.”
The beloved has been reconciled; ’tis thus it should be!
Her infidelity has turned to faith; ’tis thus it should be ! 38
Praise be to God for affliction;
To the vile it brings pain, but to the noble, redemption!
“What meant these various workings of Our will? Only that
We were training Adam in the task of viceregency and bringing
to perfection the point of his love through affliction. ‘Trial is ap-
pointed over the prophets, and then the saints; and the trial is in
proportion to the rank of each.’ ” 39
May God’s peace and blessings be upon Mohammad and his
family.
“Qur’an, 20:121.
“Qur’an, 20:122.
“Qur’an, 20:114.
38 A line from a poem by Sana’I (Divan, ed. Modarres Razavl [Tehran,
1320 5./1941], p. 612).
“This quotation is probably intended as a Tradition, although I have not been
able to identify it positively as such.
122
Third Part:
Concerning the Life of Man and
Containing Twenty Chapters, the
Number Twenty Being Chosen Be-
cause of the Blessing Inherent in
These Words of God Almighty: (( If
There Be Twenty Patient Ones
from among You, They Shall Con-
quer Two Hundred ” 1
‘Qur’an, 8:65.
123
First Chapter:
On the Veils That Cover the Human Spirit as
a Result of Attachment to the Bodily Frame,
and the Tribulations That Spring Therefrom
God Almighty said: “By the declining day! Truly man is in a
state of loss, except those who believe and perform good
deeds .” 2
The Prophet, upon whom be God’s peace and blessings, said:
“God has seventy thousand veils of light and darkness .” 3
Know that when the spirit of man was taken from the intimate
proximity of the Lord of the Worlds and attached to the bodily
frame, the dark abode of the elements and the terror-filled
realm of this world, it was caused to traverse all the worlds of
Kingship and Dominion. It had bestowed on it the choice es-
sence of each world to accompany it as it proceeded, and was
given, too, awareness of all that remained behind in each world,
whether beneficial or harmful, that it might attract benefit and
repel harm, for the human spirit is inherently disposed to attract
benefit and repel harm. When it had traversed several thousand
different worlds, both spiritual and corporeal, and finally be-
come attached to the bodily frame, there had come into being
seventy thousand veils of light and darkness. For its sight of
each object in the multiple worlds of creation, although later a
source of perfection, now had the effect of a veil; and the sum of
these veils robbed it of the contemplation of the worlds of Do-
minion, the observation of the beauty of the unity of the Es-
sence, the taste of direct discourse with God and the nobility of
nearness unto Him. From the supreme zenith of nearness it fell
to the lowest nadir of nature.
I was content with thee; fate disapproved.
I was happy with thee; destiny dissented.
We spited the envious, and our night passed
In discourse fragrant like wine-mingled musk.
2 Qur'an, 103:1-3.
3 Similar tradition recorded by Moslem, Ebn Maja, and Ebn Hanbal.
124
The Veils That Cover the Human Spirit
But when morning dawned, it sundered our union;
Remains any joy untarnished by fate? 4
Within a few brief days after being joined to the frame, the
pure spirit that for many millennia had been ennobled with un-
tiammeled nearness in utter exclusion of all other became
separated by so many veils that it totally forgot those blessings:
“They forgot God, and He forgot them.” 5 Now, however much it
reflects, it can recall nothing of that world; but if it were not for
the sinister effect of those veils, it would not be so forgetful, ex-
changing the intimate familiarity once enjoyed for the solitude
of its present state and the abandonment of the true beloved.
Were we not parted from those that we love
The fates could never lay hold of our souls.
The name of man (ensan) is derived from that intimate famil-
iarity (ons) which he once enjoyed in the divine presence. It has
been said that “Man is called man because he is an intimate
(anls) of God.” When God Almighty refers to man’s past, He
speaks of him as ensan: “Has there come to man (ensan) a period
in time when he was a thing unmentioned?” 6 — when he was, that
is to say, in the enclosed shrine of sanctity and had not come into
this world. God also says: “We created man in the fairest of
forms,” 7 that is, in the world of spirits.
When he reached this world and forgot that intimate famil-
iarity, he received another name in keeping with that forgetful-
ness, and it was mostly by this name that God now addressed
him: “O men (naso)!‘ ,& that is, “O forgetful on e(nasen)!” in the
hope that he might then recall the days of his intimacy. It has
also been said that “men are called men (naso) because they are
forgetful (nasen) of God.” It was because of man’s forgetfulness
that the Prophet, upon whom be God’s peace and blessings, was
■'These two lines of Arabic verse have been attributed to Moslem b. al-Walld
(known by the sobriquet of §arl' al-Gawanl).
5 Qur'an, 9:68.
"Qur'an, 76:1.
7 Qur'an, 95:5.
8 A form of address occurring many times in the Qur’an (e.g., 10:57, i0:108,
22 : 1 ).
125
T hird Part, First Chapter
commanded, “Remind them of the days of God ”; 9 that is, “Re-
mind those who are preoccupied with the life of this world of the
days of God Almighty, when they were in the shade of His pres-
ence and the stadon of nearness; then love and affection may
stir in their hearts and they will aspire to return to their original
abode and true homeland — ‘that haply they might remember ,’ 10
‘that haply they might return .’” 11 If love for the true homeland
stirs in the heart, it is the very essence of faith, for “love of the
homeland is a part of faith .” 12
If man aspires to return by the path whence he came, he has
reached the degree of certainty; if he attains his original home-
land, he has reached the stadon of beneficence ; 13 if he passes
beyond that homeland, he has reached the limit of the threshold
of gnosis; if he does not tarry there and instead enters the fore-
court of the palace of union, he has reached the rank of direct
vision; and as for what lies beyond, it is outside the boundaries
of speech and the realm of description.
But if that love does not stir and man does not aspire to return,
and he instead gives his heart to the world, it is a sign of lack of
faith: “But he inclined to the world and followed his passions;
and his likeness is that of a dog .” 14 Whoever remains within the
veils and does not yearn to remove them is doomed to eternal
loss: “By the declining day! Truly man is in a state of loss .” 15 God
swears an oath in these verses that the human spirit, because of
its attachment to the bodily frame, inevitably suffers the calami-
ties of loss, and that only those are exempt who, by means of
faith and good deeds, deliver the spirit from such misfortune
and from the veils to which the bodily attributes give rise, thus
enabling the spirit to return to its primal abode.
9 Qur'an, 14:5.
I0 A phrase concluding seven verses of the Qur'an (2:221, 14:25, 28:43, 28:46,
28:51,39:27,44:58).
n A phrase concluding eight verses of the Qur’an (3:72, 7:168, 7:174, 30:41,
32:21, 43:28, 43:48, 46:27).
12 Tradition; see p. 89, n. 42.
13 Beneficence (ehsdn): the spiritual station described by the Prophet as "wor-
shipping God as if thou saw Him; for if thou seest Him not, verily He seeth thee”
(Tradition recorded by Moslem). See also below, pp. 294 and 298.
H Qur'an, 7:176.
15 Qur’an, 103:1-2.
126
The Veils That Cover the Human Spirit
The attachment of the human spirit to the frame and the
calamities that arise therefrom may be compared to the sowing
of a seed. If man sows a seed and nurtures it, it will increase a
hundred or seven hundredfold, and even if he does not sow it, he
can benefit from it in some way. But if he sows the seed in the
ground and then fails to nurture it, the property of soil is such
that it will cause the seed to decay and negate its inherent use-
fulness. Now the seed of the human spirit, before being sown in
the soil of the frame, was given the capacity for hearing the
word of God, as is evidenced by the covenant of ‘Am I not your
Lord ?” 16 when man showed himself able to give positive answer.
The sowing of this seed took place in order that the vision,
speech, and hearing of man might increase a hundred or seven
hundredfold; but if the seed be not watered with faith and nur-
tured with good deeds, it will suffer loss and decrease, and its
powers of true vision, hearing, and speech will be lost. Only
when watered with faith and nurtured with good deeds will the
seed prove fertile and strive upward from the soil of unredeemed
humanity to the world of God’s servitude, escape the abasement
of loss, and, in proportion to the aid and nourishment received,
attain the high degrees of salvation that are the gardens of
Paradise.
If, by virtue of lowly aspiration and foolish disposition, it con-
tents itself with being mere foliage on the tree and does not seek
to become fruit, it will join the people of Paradise with its .differ-
ent degrees — “most of the people of Paradise are fools .” 17 But if it
reaches the station of fruit, which is the rank of gnosis, then it
will join the People of God and His Elect. And if — God forbid —
the seed of the spirit is not watered with faith and nurtured with
good deeds, it will rot in the soil of unredeemed humanity and
take to itself the nature of earth, joining the category of “but he
inclined to the world and followed his passions .” 18 Then will man
be in a state of eternal loss, “abiding therein eternally .” 19
16 Qur’an, 7:171. Concerning the primordial covenant, see p. 35, n. 7.
■’Part of a Tradition the remainder of which states that “most of the people of
Hellfire are women” (Foruzanfar, Ahadis-e Masnavi, p. 103).
■“Qur’an, 7:175.
19 A phrase occurring twelve times in the Qur’an.
127
Third Part, First Chapter
When a child first enters existence, the veils of his vision are
not firmly fastened, for he has but recently emerged from the
Divine Presence, and the taste of intimacy lingers on in him. As
soon as he leaves the womb of his mother, he begins to weep in
the pain of separation from the celestial world, and whenever
longing overcomes him, he laments and complains, as if his
afflicted heart and desolate soul were saying to God, the posses-
sor of glory:
The heart on which Thou gazed is still struck by grief;
On account of Thy love, it still moans and laments.
The fire in my heart still blazes strong;
The tears from my eye still pour down . 20
Each moment the child is charmed and distracted with some
different object suited to the vision of his senses and attractive
to his nature, so that he forgets the other world and forms at-
tachments to this one. But when he is alone again, he will dream
of the world he left behind, like the elephant remembering India,
and resume his weeping and lamentation. This occurs most fre-
quently at night, for during the day his gaze is distracted with
sense objects, whereas at night such distraction decreases, and
weeping and lamentation correspondingly increase.
Night has come, and I turn back to my grief,
And my eye, as wonted, turns back to its weeping.
My heart’s blood pours down from each eyelash —
A spit, with a piece of my liver impaled on its tip . 21
The affectionate mother then again puts her breast to the
mouth of the child; the sweet taste of her milk reaches his palate
and he gradually becomes attached to it, forgetting his original
attachment. Indeed, until reaching maturity, the child is con-
stantly occupied in forming attachments to the world of the
senses and forgetting the world of the unseen . 22 It is for this rea-
20 A quatrain from AnvarT (Divan, p. 610).
21 This quatrain has been attributed to Abu Sa'Id b. Abu’l-Keyr.
22 Daya's great contemporary, Jalal al-Dln RumI (d. 672/1273) expounds in
his Flhe ma jlh, p. 186, a similar concept of gradual detachment from the un-
seen: “Man’s growth from infancy until maturity is made possible only by
neglect [of the unseen]; otherwise he would never develop and grow.”
128
The Veils That Cover the Human Spirit
son that the young of all other species are reared in a brief space
of time, soon learning how to provide for themselves, attaining
the perfection of the species to which they belong, gaining in
strength and completing their bodily development. But the child
of man takes fifteen years to reach maturity, and forty to attain
perfection. Time must elapse before he can come to provide for
himself, for he is intimately acquainted with another world and
has tasted the pleasure of its modes of being, and his soul is bur-
dened by separation therefrom. He cannot acquaint himself
with this world or become habituated to it until gradually, over a
long period, he dissociates himself from the world above and
accustoms himself to the world below; until he forgets the plea-
sure of the modes of the unseen and perceives the pleasure of
the modes of the senses. Only then will he become entirely of
this world, for as long as he is in a two-hued world of the unseen
and seen, his growth will be slight and he will not attain perfec-
tion. Once he has completely forgotten the other world, he will
concoct innumerable tricks and stratagems for attracting profit
and repelling harm, such as no animal or demon could invent.
Animals are unaware of another world; they are completely of
this world and devote all their attention to their immediate
needs. With extreme concupiscence, they busy themselves in
extracting the utmost sensual pleasure, and are soon nurtured to
attain the perfection of their species.
The gazelle eats its morsel in trembling and fear;
Hence the absence of flesh on its tail and its flank.
To make our meaning clear: When the human spirit is made to
traverse the worlds spiritual and corporeal, of Kingship and
Dominion, becomes attached to the bodily frame, and begins to
employ the instrument of the body for various acts, then each
breath that issues from it gives rise to the veils of remoteness
and darkness, and deprives the spirit of its acquaintance with
the world of the unseen, so that it becomes entirely unaware
thereof. Sometimes a thousand heralds will tell it that it once
inhabited a different world, but it will not accept or believe in
their words.
A certain group, however, namely those upon whom the gaze
129
Third Part, First Chapter
of God’s grace has fallen, will preserve within them the trace of
that intimate familiarity they once enjoyed in the presence of the
Almighty. Even though they do not know of themselves that they
once inhabited a different world, nonetheless when a truth-
speaking herald so informs them, the trace left in them by the
light of his truthfulness will join the trace of that intimate
familiarity preserved within them. The two will recognize and
embrace each other, for they share the same homeland; the
effect of their affinity and their coming together will be trans-
mitted to the heart, and all will then admit the truth.
In short, whoever bears within him a trace of that intimate
familiarity bears also the seed of faith, and sooner or later he
will be able to have faith. But whoever has severed all connec-
tion with that familiarity and has closed the door of his heart to
the world of the unseen, for him faith will be impossible: “Equal
it is to them if thou wamest them or dost not warn them; they
will not believe. God has sealed their hearts and their hearing,
and over their sights is a cover, and for them there shall be a
mighty chastisement .” 23
There are some of God’s bondsmen from before whose eyes
He lifts up the veil so that they can perceive all the stations,
spiritual and corporeal, through which they have passed. It hap-
pens, too, that some are protected from forgetfulness at the time
when the spirit is attached to the bodily frame; this is in order to
demonstrate the power of God and to establish His proof. Those
thus protected remember and can vividly see all the stations they
traverse from the beginning of their attachment to the bodily
frame: the different realms of creation through which they pass,
their arrival in the loins of their fathers, their entry into the
wombs of their mothers, and finally their coming into this world.
Thus Shaikh Moliammad Kuf , 24 may God have mercy upon him,
used to relate in Nishapur that he had once been in the presence
of Shaikh All Mo’azzen when he said: “I remember that I was
25 Qur’an, 2:6-7.
24 It appears that Shaikh Mohammad Kuf was a contemporary of Daya and
known to him. He is also mentioned in Tohfat al-barara, the major but as yet
unpublished work of Daya’s preceptor, Majd al-Dln Bagdadl.
130
The Veils That Cover the Human Spirit
coming from the world of nearness to God into this world. My
spirit was being passed through the heavens, and when I arrived
at each heaven, its inhabitants would weep over me, saying,
Another wretch is being dispatched from the station of near-
ness to the world of remoteness; brought down from highest to
lowest; carried from the spacious expanse of sanctity’s enclosure
to the world’s constricted abode!’ They were much sorrowed
and pitied me greatly, but the address of the Almighty reached
them, saying, ‘Do not imagine that I am sending him to that
world to abase him. By Our own divine might, if during his life
in that world he once fills the bucket of an old woman at a well,
it will be better for him than a hundred thousand years of pro-
claiming Our exaltation in the enclosure of sanctity. Draw over
your heads the cloak of 'each party is happy with what it pos-
sesses ,’ 25 and leave My divine work to Me. ‘Truly I know that
which ye know not .’” 26
Peace be upon Mohammad and all his family.
“Qur’an, 23:54.
“Qur’an, 2:30.
131
Second Chapter:
On the Wise Purpose for Attachment of the
Spirit to the Frame and the Benefits That
Flow Therefrom
God Almighty said: “I created jinn and men only that they
might worship Me,” that is, “know Me .” 1
The Prophet, upon whom be God’s blessings and peace, said:
“This world is the tillage for the hereafter .” 2
Know that as the soil of the world was made fitting to have
sown and nurtured in it the seeds of different kinds of grain and
fruit, so that one might be multiplied a hundred or seven hun-
dredfold — “like a grain from which grew seven ears; in each ear
were a hundred grains; and God gives increase to whomever He
wills’ ’ 3 — so too the essence of the world was made fitting to be the
tillage of the hereafter, and to have sown in it the seed of good
deeds, so that each might be multiplied ten, a hundred, or seven
hundredfold — “A good deed is multiplied by ten like unto it, and
then seven hundred times .” 4 Indeed, it is possible that a yield
may be gathered without limit or reckoning, for "the patient
receive their reward in full measure, beyond all reckoning .” 5
Similarly, the soil of the human frame was prepared in such a
way that when the seed of spirituality was sown in it by the hus-
bandry of the divine inhalation, and nurtured with the sunlight
of God’s grace and watered with His law, there should grow
from it the fruits of nearness and knowledge in such abundant
■Qur’an, 51:56. The gloss of "worship Me” as “know Me” is found in almost
all Sufi commentaries. Daya himself, in commenting on this verse, says: ‘"I
created jinn and men only that they might worship Me’ because the pearl of
knowledge of Me is contained within the shell of worship of Me. Knowledge of
Me is of two kinds: knowledge of My attributes of beauty and knowledge of My
attributes of splendor. Each of these two has a particular manifestation, and
worship embraces both manifestations” (passage quoted in Haqql, Ruh al-bayan,
IX, pp. 178-179).
■■Tradition; see p. 93, n. 60.
’Qur’an, 2:261.
•■Apparently a Tradition, close in wording to Qur’an, 6:61 (“Whoever per-
forms a good deed shall receive tenfold reward”).
’Qur’an, 39:10.
132
The Wise Purpose for Attachment of the Spirit to the Frame
measure that no creature might encompass them with his imag-
ination, understanding, or intellect, nor speech penetrate their
profundity, beyond that which God Himself said: “I have pre-
pared for My righteous servants that which no eye has seen, nor
ear has heard, nor has crossed the heart of any man .” 6
When it is desired to cultivate a seed in the world of form to
reach perfection as fruit, countless different causes and instru-
ments must be present, such as the soil in which the seed is
sown, the sky which gives rain and sunlight, both needed to nur-
ture the seed, and the air, which establishes an equilibrium
between the coldness of the soil and the warmth of the sun. Then
too men are required to sow the seed, and a pair of beasts to pull
the plough; iron, wood, and rope to make the plough; and a
blacksmith, carpenter, and ropemaker to produce each of these.
Numerous other people must in turn be constantly at work so
that these three can perform their tasks: bakers and butchers,
grocers and cooks, spinners and weavers, washers and sewers,
all of these requiring still others to busy themselves in order that
they may devote themselves to their tasks: millers and mule-
teers, shepherds and merchants, horse dealers and camel driv-
ers. Each group of men thus stands in need of the others in order
to perform its functions. Finally, a just and capable monarch is
required to maintain equilibrium among his people, to repel
evil and prevent the oppression of the weak by the strong, and
to protect and preserve his subjects so that all may busy them-
selves with their tasks in security and tranquillity.
Indeed, when you examine the matter with care, you see that
all that the world contains — the firmaments and the stars; the
heavens and the earth; the sun and the moon; simple elements
and compounds; plants and animals; angels, jinn, and men;
artisans, tradesmen, and merchants; scholars, heads of craft
guilds, and kings; ministers, agents, and armies — all must be
constantly at work for a single seed in the world of form to be
sown, nurtured, and yield fruit.
When the seed of spirituality is to be cultivated, and is brought
6 A hadis qodsi, recorded by Bokarl, Moslem, TermezI, Ebn Maja, and Ebn
Hanbal.
133
Third Part, Second Chapter
forth from the unique granary of “of My spirit,” sown in the soil
of the human frame by the husbandry of “ I inhaled in him, ” 7 and
nurtured to perfection as fruit, this being the station of knowl-
edge, see then what numerous causes and instruments are
needed for the goal to be reached. If you look to the core of the
matter, you will see that this world and the hereafter, the eight
paradises and seven hells and everything that lies between, all
are needed for nurturing the seed so that the fruit of knowledge
may ultimately attain perfection. Thus God said: “I created jinn
andmenonly that they might worship Me” — that is, "knowme .” 8
The spirit, therefore, even though it experienced the taste of
nearness to God in the world of spirits, had a degree of knowl-
edge appropriate to that world, and enjoyed there discourse
with God and the vision and contemplation of Him, was none-
theless destined to attain the perfection of these stations and the
completion of these felicities through attachment to the frame
and being nurtured there. For the instruments and causes, ex-
ternal and internal, needed for the perfection of knowledge
were to be found only in the frame: the soul, heart, spirit, mys-
tery, and arcane ; 9 inner means of perception and other faculties
relating to the human state; and the five outer senses — hearing,
sight, smell, taste, and touch.
The spirit had possessed in the world of the unseen a light
whereby it perceived the universals of that world, and it had en-
joyed there a degree of intelligence consonant with its station.
But it did not have the other means of perception, relating to
both the unseen and the seen, that make it possible to perceive
the universals and particulars of both worlds. Those means were
to be had only here, in the bodily frame, and it was through them
and other instruments that the spirit would become fit for true
knowledge — namely, knowledge of God’s essence and attributes.
For God said, “and I desired to be known .” 10
’Qur'an, 15:29.
8 Qur’an, 51:56.
9 The soul, heart, spirit, mystery, and arcane: in this pentad of "inner means of
perception” (modrekat-e bateni), the intelligence should properly take the place
of the soul, as it does in Daya's more careful list on p. 139. The Kobravl order
paid considerable attention to the morphology of man’s inner being, and Kobra
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himself discusses the nature of the intellect, the spirit, the heart, and the
mystery, as well as the interrelation of these four, in his major work, Fauia’ih
al-Gamal i ua Fawalih al-Galal (ed. Fritz Meier [Wiesbaden, 1957], pp. 168-174).
Heart, spirit, and intelligence can all be deduced from Qur’anic texts; they are
discussed by Daya in detail in the seventh and eighth chapters of this part. As for
the mystery (serr), tentative and sometimes contradictory definitions are of-
fered by earlier Sufi writers. Abu Nasr al-Sarraj (d. 378/988) describes it as
“that which is inaccessible to the enticements of the soul; that which God has
caused to remain hidden and of which He alone has awareness” ( Ketab al-loma',
ed. R. A. Nicholson [London Sc Leiden, 1914], p. 226). Al-Qoseyri (d. 465/1074)
says of the mystery: "It is most probably a subtle essence (lapfa) lodged in the
bodily frame like the spirit; the Sufis regard it as being the locus of witnessing,
in the same way that the spirit is the locus of love and the heart is the locus of
gnosis ... it is more subtle than the spirit, just as the spirit is nobler than the
heart . . . the word ‘mystery’ is also applied to that which passes between man
and God during spiritual states (ahval) and is sealed and protected” (al-Resalal
al-Qosayriya, ed Abd al-Hallm Mahmud [Cairo, 1385/1966], I, p. 251). Kobra
himself regarded the mystery as occupying the third place in man’s inner per-
ceptions, coming after the heart and the spirit, and he defined it as the place
where divine power and spiritual aspiration (hemmat) meet and coalesce
(Fawa'ih al-Gamal wa Fawalih al-Galal, p. 174). Faced with this multiplicity of
definition, Sehab al-Dln Abu Hafs ‘Omar al-Sohravardl (an acquaintance, as we
have seen, of Daya) suggested that the word serr in its Sufi sense does not occur
in the Qur’an, and that the mystery cannot therefore be something independent;
it is merely an attribute, either of the heart or the spirit according to circum-
stances ('Awaref al-ma'aref, in the margin of FJiya 'oliim al-din [Cairo, n.d.], IV,
pp. 237-240). Daya, however, was of an opposite opinion, and found a reference
to both the mystery (serr) and the arcane (hap) in Qur’an, 20:7: “If thou makest
utterance aloud, verily He knows the secret (serr) and what is more hidden
(kap).” Commenting on this verse, he says: "the secret/mystery is, in the
terminology of the people of realization, a subtle essence between the heart and
the spirit. It is the source of the mysteries of spirituality. Now the arcane/hidden
(tap) is a subtle essence between the spirit and the divine presence; it is the
locus for the descent of the lights and mysteries of dominicality. . . . The arcane
is more hidden than the mystery; that is, it is more subtle, more precious, more
exalted, more noble and closer to the divine presence than the mystery. It is al-
luded to in God’s saying, 'and He taught Adam the names, all of them,’ and it is
the inward meaning of the Prophet’s saying — peace be upon him: ‘God created
Adam and manifested Himself in him’ ” (quoted in Haqql, Ruh al-baydn, V, 367).
Identifying "mystery” (serr) in its Sufi sense with this Qur’anic occurrence of
the word, Daya obviously concluded that the word kap must also refer to an
inner means of perception, translated by us as “arcane.” He appears to be the
first Sufi to use the word in this sense. Ala al-Dowla SemnanI expanded the
fivefold schema of Daya to a sevenfold one, adding qaleb (bodily frame) and
akfa (super-arcane), establishing a complex series of correspondences between
the seven subtle essences (lata'ef), seven major prophets, seven layers of
Qur’anic meaning, seven heavens, etc. (see Henry Corbin, En Islam Iranien
[Paris, 1972], III, pp. 278-355). From SemnanI the concept of a sevenfold inner
world of man passed into the general patrimony of Sufism. We may finally note
that Corbin suggests as a translation for serr “surconscience” and for kap
"transconscience” (L'homme de lumiere dans le soufisme irrnien [Paris, 1971],
163).
10 Part of a hadis qodsi previously quoted on p. 75.
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T hird Part, Second Chapter
Knowledge is of three kinds: rational, meditative, and vision-
ary. Rational knowledge belongs to all men: Muslim and infidel;
Christian, Jew, and Mazdean; heretic, philosopher, naturalist,
and materialist. All have a share in it, for all have the intelli-
gence in common and all are agreed on the existence of God.
The difference between them relates to the attributes of divin-
ity, not to its essence. Among the people of Islam there is also
dispute concerning the attributes, while all are agreed on the
essence. Thus God says: “If thou ask them, ‘who created the
heavens and earth?’ truly they will say, ‘God.’ ” n Similarly, those
who worshipped idols used to say, “We worship them only that
they might bring us closer to God .” 12
This kind of knowledge does not bring salvation unless the
gaze of the intelligence is reinforced by the light of faith, so that
prophecy is accepted and the injunctions and prohibitions of the
Law are fulfilled; for it is by these means alone that the seed of
the spirit may be nurtured to fruition.
Rational knowledge is dependent on the perceptions of the
outer senses and the inner faculties as well as the gaze of the in-
telligence. The outer senses first look upon the sensible world,
and then the gaze of the intelligence is exercised through use
of the inner faculties. The intelligence immediately judges that
the created object perceived by the outer senses has a creator,
and as it progressively surveys all the species of creation, it dis-
cerns in them the precision of God’s power and the excellence
of His creativity. It deduces that such an act of creation can only
have proceeded from one who is all-powerful, eternally living,
all- wise, all-knowing, all-hearing, all-seeing, everlasting, and
endowed with speech and will . 13 Thus, he whose gaze is more
"Qur’an, 31:25, 39:38.
12 Qur’an, 39:3.
15 Of the attributes listed here, “everlasting” (baql) is designated by As’arl
kalam as ye/a salbiya (a “negative attribute”), i.e., one that negates a certain
defect or imperfection; while the remaining eight form the category of the
fefat al-ma'dni or the ye/at al-kamal ("attributes of meaning or perfection”);
they are neither identical with the essence nor hypostatically separate from it.
See Sa’d al-Dln TaftaSnl, Sarhal-'aqa'ed (Delhi, n.d.), pp. 37 ff., and Ali Arslan
Aydin, Islam Inanglari ve Felsejesi (Ankara, 1964), p. 181. This listing of at-
tributes by Daya, despite the intrusion of “everlasting” among the y ejat al-
kamal, may be regarded as one of the several proofs of his As’arl affiliation
contained in this work. See too p. 315, n. 17 and p. 483, n. 4.
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The Wise Purpose for Attachment of the Spirit to the Frame
direct and whose intelligence more lucid, whose veils are fewer
and whose acts of self-denial and meditation more abundant —
he it is who will be able to deduce more from the different classes
of creation, and whose proofs and evidences for the divine unity
will be clearer.
But know that it is not for the sake of this kind of knowledge
that the spirit was sent to join the frame: For this kind consists
of the searc.h for proofs, and much dispute arises on the basis of
proofs — the unbelievers, the heretics and the philosophers, all
who hold to unbelief, hold to it by virtue of a proof. When proofs
are contradictory, there is no reason to accept one rather than
another except preference. If one happens to accord preference
to the side of truth, then the result is no more than the affirma-
tion of the Creator by means of rational proofs. The spirit left
this stage in the knowledge of God behind it even before its at-
tachment to the frame, for what it today hears by way of
rational proof, it then heard directly from God Himself. For He
said, ‘Am I not your Lord?” and the spirit answered, "Indeed
Thou art .” 14 “Hearing is not the same as seeing ,” 15 and there
would have been no need for the spirit to come to this plane
simply in order to exchange seeing for hearing, and vision for
statement. This is what is referred to in the expression: “Here is
the foot; why look for the footprint ?” 16
As for meditative knowledge, it belongs to the elect among
men, and is attained in the following way: When the seed of the
spirit, sown in the soil of the human state, is nurtured on the
Path with the ordinances of the Law — as shall be explained, God
willing, in the chapter on the adornment of the spirit — and when
the human tree reaches the stage of fruit giving, then the prop-
erty that was inherent in the seed will become apparent in the
fruit in multiple form, in addition to things not found in the seed.
Thus from each apricot seed that is planted will grow verdure,
the trunk of a tree and its branches, leaves, blossom, unripe and
ripe fruit. Only one seed will have been planted, but it will yield
^Qur'an, 7:71.
15 A Tradition recorded by Ebn Hanbal.
16 A conjectural translation of this proverb, which is not to be found in any of the
standard collections of Persian proverbs. The Turkish translator of the Mer$ad.
omitted it in his version, presumably because of its obscurity.
137
Third Part, Second Chapter
a thousand exactly like itself, in addition to the skin of the apri-
cot, the leaves, branches, roots, and trunk of the tree that were
not originally present in the seed. Each of these will have a prop-
erty absent in the others: Thus the skin of the fruit will have a
property lacking in the kernel, and the kernel a property lacking
in the skin. The seed profits only the mouth, but the tree and its
fruit profit not only the mouth, in superior measure, but also the
eye, for “verdure gives increase to sight .” 17 The sense of smell is
likewise profited by the pleasing perfume of its blossom; the
hand, by its branch, from which a stick may be fashioned; and
the foot, by its wood, from which, clogs may be made. The tree
contains many other qualities, properties, uses, and benefits
which were not present in the seed except in potentiality.
In the same way, the tree of the body has grown from the seed
of the spirit, and put forth in one direction the branches of the
soul and its attributes, and in another direction those of the heart
and its attributes. The leaves of the outer senses appear; the
roots of the inner faculties reach down into the soil; the blossom
of the mystery 18 unfolds; the unripe fruit of the arcane 19 springs
forth; and the mature fruit of knowledge becomes manifest. Thus
the spirit, when it reaches the station of fruithood, has acquired
different tools and instruments that it did not previously pos-
sess. Among these are the outer and inner means of perception.
The outer senses — sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch— are
those by means of which we perceive the manifest world, called
the world of Kingship, with all its multiplicity of number. That
which cannot be perceived by these five senses is called the
world of Dominion, the unseen world with its numerous degrees
and stages. This world is perceived by five inner means of per-
ception: the intelligence, the heart, the mystery, the spirit, and
the arcane.
In the same way that none of the five outer senses can inter-
fere with the functioning of another, hearing being unable to
perceive the visible, and sight to perceive the audible, so too
none of the five inner senses can interfere with the functioning
17 An Arabic proverb — not, however, recorded in al-Maydanl's Majma' al-amsal.
18 See n. 9 above.
19 See n. 9 above.
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of another: the intelligence cannot perceive that which is visible
to the heart, nor the heart that which is comprehended by the
intelligence, for the gaze of the intelligence has a property pecu-
liar to itself. So it is, too, with the other inner senses. Thus when
those who surveyed the rationally comprehensible with the gaze
of the intelligence wished to survey the world of the heart, the
mystery, the spirit, and the arcane, again using their fettered
intelligence in ignorance of that which the heart beholds and the
other degrees of perception, inevitably their intelligence fell into
the trap of philosophy and heresy.
But when the possessor of true felicity enters by the gate of
“enter houses by their doors ,” 20 he will nourish the seed of the
spirit in accordance with the Law until all his senses attain per-
fection. He will then perceive, through his outer and inner
senses, all the three hundred and sixty thousand realms that
constitute the worlds of Kingship and Dominion. Whereas in
the world of the unseen he knew only the universals of that
world, he now knows both the universals and particulars of the
seen and the unseen worlds. He sees every atom in each of these
worlds to be a manifestation of one of the divine attributes con-
taining within it one of God’s signs; he removes the veil from
the face of the manifestation, and the beauty of God’s signs is
displayed to him:
In all things is a sign of His inscription,
Showing that He is but One . 21
This is the threshold of the world of certainty, as He. said:
“Thus do We show to Abraham the Dominion of the heavens
and earth, that he may be among the certain .” 22 Then the pure
essence of God may be known in its unity, and the attributes of
divinity may be contemplated with the eye of certainty. This is
the stadon described by a certain great one when he said: “I
gazed upon naught without seeing God in it .” 23 Now this is a
20 Qur’an, 2:189.
21 A much-quoted line of the celebrated Arabic poet, Abu Eshaq Abu’l-Atahlya
(d. 221/836).
22 Qur’an, 6:75.
23 A saying of one of the earliest Sufis, Mohammad b. Vase' (Attar, Tazkerat
al-owliya, I, p. 55).
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T hird Part, Second Chapter
noble station and the degree of God’s chosen, but the spirit was
not sent to this world as a seed merely for the sake of such
knowledge, which is like mere blossom on the tree of humanity.
For the elect among the elect, to whom has been vouchsafed
both supreme capacity and proper training, are not left at the
stage of blossom; instead they are carried on to that of true
fruitfulness, this being visionary knowledge . 24 The profound rea-
son for the creation of all beings was this knowledge, for God
said: "I brought forth creation that I might be known .” 25
Visionaiy knowledge is like a secluded virgin dwelling in the
unseen world, from whose visage no groom from among the
prophets or saints has been permitted to lift the veil of dignity.
She has been constantly concealed beneath the domes of honor
and hidden behind the curtain of jealousy, so that the outsider’s
intrusive eye might not fall upon her perfect beauty, and she
might be safe from the crowd’s baneful gaze: “The evil eye is a
reality .” 26
Kindle, in thy might, a fire on the path to her abode,
Lest some meddling intruder make his way down
the road.
Cover her moonlike face with her hair
Lest every vulgar wretch see her visage so fair . 27
The moon fell into sore trouble and affliction because the
crowd’s finger was pointed at it, and their luckless gaze fixed
upon it. When the sun observed this, it drew over the multitude
the veil of "be distant, shed light ,” 28 so that if the pupil of the eye
should desire rashly to gaze upon it, it would sever the head of
2 ■'Visionaiy knowledge (ma'refat-e sohudi): sohud has the literal sense of wit-
nessing through immediate presence, and the technical sense in Sufism of
"viewing all things as proofs of the divine unity; the counterpart of seeing God
in all things, it is seeing God’s outwardness in all things” (JorjanI, Kelab
al-ta’rifal, p. 229). It seemed, however, convenient to translate sohudi, the
adjective derived from sohud, as "visionary.” Concerning sohud, see also the
seventeenth chapter of this part of the book, and n. 1 on page 294.
25 The remaining part of the hadis qodsi quoted on p. 147.
26 Part of a Tradition.
27 A quatrain quoted, with some adaptation, from Sana’I (Divan, p. 578).
2 ®"Be distant" (dur bas): an allusion to a jeweled mace, called dur bas, that was
carried in front of kings to clear their path of all lesser mortals.
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The Wise Purpose for Attachment of the Spirit to the Frame
that gaze with the sword of the rays. Thus it remained safe from
the evil eye, and while the gaze of the inquisitive visited afflic-
tion on the moon, the sun unsheathed the sword of its rays
against all that could see (for the unseeing perceive naught of
the sun but its warmth).
To resume: If the shaikhs have up to now fastened the veil of
jealousy on the virgins of the unseen world, instead of throwing
back the covering of dignity with the hand of speech, so that the
beauty of knowledge has remained hidden, it was because they
did not perceive in every group of men the virility of servitude,
and found the generosity of high intent only in some men.
Hoseyn b. Mansur had a sister who laid claim to manly intent
on the Path, and was also beautiful. She would come to Bagh-
dad with one half of her face covered by a veil and the other half
exposed. A great one came to her and asked: “Why do you not
cover your face entirely?” She said: “Show me a man, that I
may cover my face. In all of Baghdad there is only half a man,
and that is Hoseyn. If it were not for him, I would leave this half
uncovered also !” 29
If then today the moon of gnosis emerges from the halo of
dignity, it will be safe from the baneful gaze of all who might
point at it the finger of wonder, for they themselves are so rare
as to be objects of wonder. If the sun of unity, dispensing with
the sword of jealousy, rises from behind the Mount Qaf of
duality, it will be untroubled, for those avid watchers have set
like the Slmorg behind the Mount Qaf 30 of exile — “Islam began as
29 Hoseyn b. Mansur, better known as Hallaj (d. 309/922), possibly the most
celebrated of all the early Sufis. His theopathic utterances earned him condem-
nation and death, but also posthumous repute among many Sufis as a martyr of
the Path. His life and teachings have been studied extensively by Louis Mas-
signon, albeit with a certain Christological bias. See above all La passion d'al-
Hallaj (Paris, 1922). I am not aware of any source in which the present anec-
dote concerning Hallaj’s sister is to be found.
30 The STmorg: a phoenixlike bird originating in the pre-Islamic mythology of
Iran, but adapted to various symbolic purposes in Sufi expression. The most
celebrated appearance of the Slmorg in Sufi literature is in ‘Attar’s poem,
Manteq al-teyr, where it figures as a symbol for the Perfect or Universal Man
(ensan-e kamei (see n. 52 below). Mount Qaf: the mountain on the extreme edge
of the world that is the nesting ground of the Slmorg, as well as the towering
frame of that tenebrous region where the Water of Life is found.
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Third Part, Second Chapter
a stranger and shall become again a stranger, as it began .” 31 And
if the secluded virgins of the unseen were to pronounce the re-
moval of all veils, there would be none to reproach them, for
those nobles who used everywhere to boast of their virility have
departed for the heights: “On the heights — glory be to God — are
men vanished and gone .” 32
It is as if they were all eunuchs,
For not one is left of their stock.
Visionary knowledge is, then, the knowledge of the elect
among the elect, those who are the choice essence of all crea-
tures and the foremost of all beings; the two realms and the two
horizons are dependent upon them, and their existence is in truth
the point at the center of the circle of pre- and post-etemity.
I have composed a verse in this sense:
Before being was, there was naught but I and thou;
Love’s substance and result, together, I and thou.
“Today and yesterday,” “late and early,” these are now;
Then neither late nor early, naught but I and thou.
The essential benefit deriving from the attachment of the
spirit to the frame is then the true essence of this species of
knowledge. For human spirits were, like the angels, aware of
the attributes of God’s lordship, but there was interposed be-
tween them and the attributes, concealed behind the covering of
dignity, several thousand veils of light. If a single one of these
veils were to be lifted, all the angelic spirits, including Gabriel,
the spirit of sanctity, would cry out: “Were I to approach a fin-
ger’s breadth, I would surely be burned !” 33 Such is the property
of the rays of light shed by the luminous veils. Whenever the
’'Tradition recorded by Moslem, TermezI, Ebn Maja, DaremT, and Ebn Hanbal.
S2 An adaptation of Qur’an, 7:46: “On the heights shall be men who know all by
their marks,” a verse generally understood to relate to the Day of Judgment.
’’Words uttered by Gabriel when proclaiming his inability to accompany the
Prophet beyond the Lote Tree of the Extremity (see p. 84, n. 32 above) into the
most immediate presence of God at the climax of the Me’raj. Cf. Rumi,
Mathnawi, ed. R. A. Nicholson (London, 1925), I, p. 66 (1. 1066).
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The Wise Purpose for Attachment of the Spirit to the Frame
attributes of divinity are manifested in their immediate reality,
vision and visionary knowledge will result, and the figurative
being of the spirit, beholding the reality of that vision, will pro-
claim: “The Truth has come and the false has vanished; truly the
false was desdned to vanish .” 34 Who, then, has the capacity to
partake of such knowledge ? 35
The spirit is in itself exceedingly delicate and unable to re-
ceive the reflection of the manifestation of the attributes of
divinity, and the same is true of the angels. As for the animals,
they were not given the fivefold inner senses — the intelligence,
heart, mystery, spirit, and arcane — that they might perceive the
lights of that manifestation.
Hence the limitless wisdom and boundless power of God de-
creed that when Adam’s clay was being kneaded by the hand of
His might, there should be fashioned within his inner being —
that treasurehouse of the unseen world — a heart like glass, dense
yet utterly translucent. This glass was then placed in the niche
of his dense, dark body, and a lamp fashioned in the glass of his
heart: “The lamp is in a glass .” 36 This lamp is known as the
mystery, and in it was inserted the wick of the arcane. Then the
oil of the spirit, taken from the blessed tree of “of My spirit ,” 37
not from the orient of the world of Dominion nor from the Occi-
dent of the world of Kingship , 38 was poured into the glass of the
heart. It was an exceedingly pure and luminous oil, for it almost
gave light to the lamp even before fire had touched it: “Its oil
nearly gives light, though the fire hath not touched it .” 39 On ac-
count of the extreme luminosity of the oil of the spirit, the glass
of the heart also attained utmost luminosity: “The glass is, as it
were, a gleaming planet .” 40 The reflection of the luminosity of the
glass fell upon the inner space of the niche and illumined it, this
31 Qur’an, 17:81.
3S Compare the similar passage in the Lama' at of ‘EraqT concerning the an-
nihilating effects that follow upon the removal of the veil of the attributes
(Kolllyat, p. 391).
36 Qur’an, 24:35.
37 Qur’an, 15:29.
38 See p. 83, n. 19.
39 Qur’an, 24:35.
40 Qur’an, 24:35.
143
Third Part, Second Chapter
illumination constituting the intelligence, while the inner space
of the niche itself, having received the reflection of the glass,
came to form the human faculties. The rays that penetrated
through apertures from within the niche to the outside were
called the five outer senses. Undl these instruments and means
of perception had attained perfection in this fashion, the secret
of "I was a hidden treasure ” 41 could not become apparent — or, to
express it differently, the lamp and all that pertained to it were
needed for the manifestation of God’s light. Until the lamp
came into being, even though the manifestation of God’s
ethereal fire had encompassed all the particles of creation —
“Does He not encompass all things?” 42 — it was nonetheless con-
cealed — "I was a hidden treasure .” 43 For the light of that fire to
manifest itself, the lamp was necessary with all that pertained
to it.
In the world of spirits, the oil of spirituality was formless and
incapable of receiving the luminosity of fire. In the world of
animality, both niche and glass existed, but not the lamp, the
oil, and the wick, and it too was therefore incapable of receiving
the luminosity of fire. Therefore a union of these two worlds
was fashioned, in the shape of Adam. His body was made the
niche; his heart, the glass; his mystery, the lamp; his arcane, the
wick; and his spirit, the oil. Then the fire of the divine light
manifested itself in its immediate reality to the lamp in. the
niche, a mystery alluded to by the Prophet, upon whom be
peace, in his saying: “God Almighty created Adam and mani-
fested Himself in him .” 44 And God Almighty and Glorious has
said in explanation of this matter: “God is the light of the
heavens and the earth; and the likeness of His light is a niche
wherein a lamp is set; the lamp is in a glass; the glass is, as it
were, a gleaming planet, lit from a blessed olive tree, neither of
the orient nor of the Occident; its oil nearly gives light, though
41 Part of a hadis qodsi quoted on p. 147.
12 Qur’an, 41:54.
”Part of a hadis qodsi quoted on p. 147.
41 A Tradition of dubious authenticity.
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The Wise Purpose for Attachment of the Spirit to the Frame
the fire hath not touched it. Light upon light; God guides to His
light whomsoever He wills .” 45
The meaning of these words is as follows. The light of the
lamp is from God’s light, and it falls upon the light of the oil of
the spirit: “God guides to His light whomsoever He wills.” There
is here an indication that although everyone possesses both
niche and lamp, not every lamp is lit with God’s light, although
lit with the light of the oil of the spirit.
The glass of everyone’s heart has, however, a certain luminos-
ity derived from the light of the spirit, which is known as the
intelligence, and the reflection of that luminosity illumines the
inside and outside of the niche with the human faculties and the
outer senses. Thus a group of distraught and deprived wander-
ers whose entire trust is placed in the intelligence and the objects
it perceives have come to imagine that their lamp is lit with real
light. They are unaware that the light they perceive in them-
selves is derived from the reflection cast by the light of the oil of
the spirit, and is thus only a figurative light: “Its oil nearly gives
light, though the fire hath not touched it.” The meaning of
“nearly gives light” is that the oil desired to illumine, but failed
to do so. The lamp of this group of men is extinguished by the
fire of God’s light, and of this they are unaware, for only he
whose lamp was once lit with real light and who experienced it
can be aware, so that he will be conscious of its extinction. God
Almighty has made mention of these two groups, those whose
lamp is lit with the reality of God’s light, and those whose lamp
is deprived of that light, in the following verse: “Is he who was
dead, whom We brought back to life and to whom We appointed
45 Qur’an, 24:35. It should be noted that this “anthropological” interpretation of
the Light Verse is not intended by Daya to exhaust its meaning. In his tafslr, he
suggests a different set of meanings for the various elements in the verse, iden-
tifying the lamp with the Footstool (see p. 84, n. 26) and the glass with the
Throne (see p. 84, n. 25); the whole constitutes “a simile coined by God Al-
mighty for the sake of mankind; each group of men, commonalty and elect, will
comprehend it in accordance with its station and capacity” (quoted in Haqql,
Ruh al-bayan, VI, p. 157). The “anthropological’ interpretation is clearly des-
tined for the elect. It corresponds essentially to Gazall’s celebrated commentary
upon the same verse, the Meskat al-anwar (Cairo, 1343/1924); English transla-
tion, W. H. T. Gairdner, The Niche for Lights (London, 1924).
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Third Part, Second Chapter
a light whereby he might walk among men, like he whose like-
ness is one in darkness, never emerging therefrom ?” 46
This, then, is the description of visionary knowledge, to the
degree that it is at all capable of being confined within the fold
of expression and the retreat of indication. He who knows it,
knows it; and he who is ignorant of it, is ignorant of it. Whoever
is living by that light will comprehend and perceive our words
and be chastened thereby (“that he might warn all who live ”), 47
while those who are dead to that light, even though you recite
into their ear a thousand times what we have written, will be
unable to hear a single word; for “Thou shalt not make the dead
to hear .” 48
Know then that the reason for the attachment of the spirit to
the bodily frame consists in the matters set out above. Had it not
been for this attachment, the spirit could not have acquired
those means of perception of the seen and unseen worlds that
enable it to receive the manifestation of the attributes of divin-
ity and to be the oil in the lamp for the knowledge of the divine
essence and attributes. If a hundred thousand intelligent ones
should attempt to describe the luminous and igneous nature of
the lamp, all they say will be but figurative. The true descrip-
tion is that furnished by the wick and the oil, for both sacrifice
their beings in order to experience the visionary knowledge of
light and of fire.
O candle, why smile thus vainly to thyself?
Dost thou resemble my heart’s burning in aught?
A fire that mounts up from the soul
Is different from one tied on by a string . 49
What a strange mystery is this, that all these different means
are needed for the oil of the spirit to be able to sacrifice its being.
The wick too is but a means for the spirit to change its figurative
“Qur'an, 6:123.
'’’Qur’an, 36:70.
“Qur’an, 27:80, 30:52.
“By “one tied on by a string” is meant the flame at the end of a wick.
146
The Wise Purpose for Attachment of the Spirit to the Frame
being into true being, and to make visible and manifest its own
true being as fire which was invisible and hidden.
In reality, in the same way that the oil was enamored of the
fire, in order to turn figurative into true being, so too the fire
was enamored of the oil in order to reveal the hidden treasure.
This is the mystery of “He will love them and they will love
Him ,” 50 and the true meaning of "I was a hidden treasure and I
desired to be known .” 51 All of this was the beneficial result of the
attachment of the spirit to the bodily frame, that creation came
to know God’s pure Essence in its unity and to recognize all the
divine attributes.
To know is to see; to see is to attain; to attain is to taste; to
taste is to be; to be is not to be; and not to be is to be.
No night hast thou laid eyes on Solomon;
What knowest thou then of the birds’ tongue ? 52
If the spirit had not attained its various means of perception
through attachment to the bodily frame and acquired various
instruments, talents, and faculties for perceiving the unseen and
the seen, it would never have reached this station in the knowl-
edge of the Unity of the Essence and the attributes of the Know-
er of the Unseen and Seen. Since the angels did not have the
characteristics and attributes acquired by the human spirit when
it was attached to the frame, they were unfit for the task of vice-
regency and deputyship, unable to bear the burden of the Trust,
and incapable of being a mirror for the beauty and splendor of
God. Thus none would ever have discovered the treasure of “I
was a hidden treasure.”
50 Qur’an, 5:57.
5l Hadls qodsi; see p. 26, n. 8.
52 Verse quoted from the Seyr al-'ebad of Sana’I (in Masnaviha-ye Sana'i, ed.
Mohammad TaqI Modarres Razavl [Tehran, 1348 S./1969], p. 229). “The
birds’ tongue”: Solomon is credited with having known the speech of the birds;
cf. Qur’an, 27:16: 'And He said: ‘We have been taught the speech of the birds
(manteq al-teyr)."’ Sufi tafsir generally identifies the birds with “spirits that
speak of tru th/reality while in the body, by way of symbol and mystery” (Haqql,
Ruh al-bayan, VI, 331). See too Rene Guenon, "La Langue des Oiseaux,” in
Symboles jondamentaux de la Science sacree (Paris, 1962), pp. 75-79, for a
suggested correlation between the birds and the angelic order.
147
T hird Part, Second Chapter
No path led to thy dwelling; I cut out the path.
In the mirror of affliction I cast my steady gaze.
A happy and joyous life I wasted down to ruin;
None is to be blamed, for I incurred the blame.
Peace be upon our master Mohammad and upon all his family.
Third Chapter:
Concerning the Need for Prophets, Upon
Whom Be Peace, for Man's Cultivation
God Almighty said: “Those it is whom God has guided: follow
then their guidance .” 1
The Prophet, upon whom be peace and blessings, said: “The
prophets are leaders and the scholars are masters .” 2
Know that when God Almighty sealed the talisman of the
worlds of Kingship and Dominion by wedding man’s spirit to his
frame, He fashioned it so strongly and closed it so firmly with
different locks that no man or angel can open it by his own ef-
forts and deliberations, however much he may try. For the talis-
man is sealed with the lock of seventy thousand veils of light
and darkness, and if the talisman could be opened, the spirit
would never remain in the prison of this world — “This world is a
prison for the beliver .” 3 When a monarch imprisons someone, he
always closes the door of the prison so firmly that the prisoner
cannot open it. God set His supreme talisman in place in his own
divine person and permitted none to see it: “I did not cause
them to witness the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor
their own creation .” 4 He possesses the true power of opening,
and the key is in His command: “He has the keys of the heavens
and the earth .” 5 Only He may open the locks on this talisman, or
one to whom He entrusts the key.
When God Almighty wished Adam’s progeny to exist in the
world, He first created Adam out of dust, with neither mother
nor father, and then created Eve out of Adam, her father, but
without mother, in order to demonstrate His power. He then
entrusted to Adam and Eve as His deputies the task of creating
Adam’s progeny. They joined together, and He caused offspring
to come forth from them.
■Qur’an, 6:90.
2 A Tradition recorded by Deylaml.
5 A Tradition recorded by TermezI, TabaranI, and Ebn Habban.
■Qur’an, 18:52.
5 Qur’an, 39:63, 42:12.
149
Third Part, Third Chapter
Similarly, when He wished to open the supreme talisman of
all created being, to free the human spirit from confinement in
the fetters of the frame and to bring it back to the world of near-
ness with all the benefits it had acquired on its journey, He chose
in each age and epoch one from among His creatures whom He
exalted over all His bondsmen and honored with the gaze of His
grace:
One day on my wretched self thou cast a gaze;
All that I ever gained, from that gaze it came.
The seed of this felicity had been sown in the world of spirits,
in the station of immediacy. The spirit won the fruit of accep-
tance and unhindered nearness, and hence the Prophet, upon
whom be peace and blessings, said: “The spirits are armies pre-
pared for battle .” 6 In the primordial age, the spirits were arranged
in four ranks, like armies drawn up in lines. The first rank was
that of the spirits of the prophets, upon whom be peace, stand-
ing in the station of immediacy; the second rank was that of the
spirits of the saints; the third, that of the spirits of the believers;
and the fourth, that of the spirits of the unbelievers. The spirits
in the first rank were nurtured in the station of immediacy with
the intimate gaze of God Almighty, and thus were enabled to act
as the Adam of the age in opening the talisman of the world of
form. Through their guidance, all men may leam how to open
the talisman — “Those it is whom God has guided; follow then
their guidance .” 7
The divine intention in this verse is the following: “I have
taught the prophets in My divine person, without intermediary,
the science of opening talismans. For many years they received
the radiant light of My gaze in the station of immediacy, and
thus became worthy for the door of their hearts to be opened by
the workings of My divine attraction, descending from the un-
seen. We taught them the secret art of the talisman in the school
of 'the Compassionate One, taught the Qur’an ,’ 8 for ‘those it is to
whom We gave the Book and wisdom and prophethood .’ 9 But as
6 Tradition recorded by Bokarl, Moslem, Abu Da’ud, and Ebn Hanbal.
7 Qur’an, 6:90.
“Qur’an, 55:1-2.
“Qur’an, 6:89.
150
The Need for Prophets
for those who first received the affluence of Our grace in the
world of spirits from behind the veil of prophetic spirits, they
cannot today approach Our presence without intermediary nor
open unaided the talisman We have set. ‘This is the custom of
God that has been in past ages; and thou shalt find no changing
in God’s custom .’ 10 Let them serve, then, as apprentices in the
shop of the prophets and diligently observe the command of
‘this is my path, the straight; follow it, then, shunning all others,
for they would lead you astray from His path .’ 11 ‘Dost thou wish
for union with the bride? Attend then to the broker .’” 12
They must first learn the alphabet of the Law at the school of
divine legislation, for each commandment of the Law is a key to
one of the locks on the supreme talisman. When you faithfully
fulfil a commandment in the proper manner, one of the locks
enclosing the talisman will be opened and a breeze from the ex-
halations of divine grace will be wafted to your soul: "God sends
His exhalations to you in the days of your life; will ye not re-
ceive them ?” 13 Receiving them is by heeding the commands and
prohibitions of the Law. Each footstep taken on the road of ad-
herence to the Law is a means for approaching God Almighty,
for traveling one stage on the path that leads back to the world
whence man came: "There is naught that brings men nigh unto
Me as performing that which I have made incumbent upon
them .” 14 When you plant your feet on this path with sincere in-
tent, God’s sustaining grace will come forth apparently to greet,
but in reality to aid you: "Whosoever approaches Me a hand’s
breadth, I shall approach him a cubit; whoever approaches me a
cubit, I shall approach him a span; whoever comes to me walk-
ing, I shall go to him running .” 15
If thou should plant thy foot firmly on the path
of loverhood,
'OQur'an, 33:62.
"Qur’an, 6:153.
12 Apparently a proverb indicating the necessity of recourse to intermediaries.
"Tradition generally quoted with a slightly different wording (“your Lord” in-
stead of “God”); see Foruzanfar, Ahadls-e Masnavi, p. 20.
"Opening part of a hadis qodsl, generally recorded with a slightly different
wording. See Zeyn al-DTn al-Haddadl, al-Elhafat al-saniya be’l-ahadis al-qodslya
(Cairo, 1388/1968), p. 149.
"Fusion of two hadis qodsl, recorded by Moslem and Ebn Hanbal.
151
Third Part, Third Chapter
The beloved will come to thee at the first step thou
takest.
Since the lock on the talisman of man’s being cannot, then, be
opened except with the key of the Law, know it to be truth that
the Law needs such as will bring and proclaim it, these being
the prophets, upon whom be God’s blessings.
There are certain other aspects of the matter that are to be
set forth, God willing, in the chapter concerning the need for a
shaikh, where it will be shown that if there is need for a shaikh,
there is even greater need for a prophet.
And God knows best concerning the truth.
152
Fourth Chapter:
Concerning the Abrogation of Previous Reli-
gions and the Sealing of Prophethood with
Mohammad, upon Whom Be Peace and
Blessings
God Almighty said: “Mofiammad was not the father of a man
from among you; rather, he was the Messenger of God and the
Seal of the Prophets .” 1
The Prophet, upon whom be peace and blessings, said: “I
have been granted excellence over the other prophets in six
things: the earth has been made a mosque for me, with its soil
declared pure; booty has been made lawful for me; I have been
given victory through the inspiring of awe at the distance of a
month’s journey; I have been given permission to intercede; I
have been sent to all mankind; and the prophets have been
sealed with me .” 2
Know that God Almighty, in His uncaused grace, has severed
the relation of the Prophet to Adam and his progeny, and at-
tached him instead to the world of prophethood and messenger-
hood: “Mohammad was not the father of a man from among
you.” Mohammad was not of you and your world; rather he was
the Messenger of God and the Seal of the Prophets. The whole
world is illumined with his light; water and clay have no claim
on him. Adam himself subsists through Mohammad; do not im-
agine Mohammad to be a dependent of Adam.
Think not that we are of the race of Adam,
For when Adam still was not, already then we were.
Without the distraction of ‘eyn and sin and qaf, of
body or heart,
We and Love and the Beloved, all in intimate union . 3
‘Qur’an, 33:40.
2 Tradition transmitted by Moslem, TermezI, and Ebn Hanbal.
i 'Eyn, sin and qaf: the letters that make up the word esq, “love.” A quatrain
by Afzal al-Dln KasanI (Mosannafat, II, p. 770).
153
Third Part, Fourth Chapter
Should a falcon leave the arm of its royal master to hunt its
prey and alight to rest for a moment on the wall of some old
woman’s abode, it does not thereby become the old woman’s
property. However long it tarries, when it hears the drumbeat
or trumpet blast, it will fly back to the arm of its royal master . 4
When for a moment I come nigh to the candle of thy cheek,
I surrender my soul like the moth in despair.
And on that day when this cage I must quit,
Back to my master’s arm I will fly like the falcon.
The Prophet, upon whom be peace, said: “What bond is there
between me and this world? I am like a rider on a summer’s day
who dismounts to rest in the shade of a tree, then mounts again
and departs .” 5 His meaning was this: “How vast is the gulf be-
tween me and this world! I am he to whom was displayed, at the
station of the Lote Tree, all that the treasury of the unseen con-
tained, all the gems and jewels of the worlds of Kingship and
Dominion, and I did not look upon them even from the comer of
my eye of lofty intent — ‘when there covered the Lote Tree that
which covered it, his eye swerved not, nor strayed .’ 6 In that game
of hazard, I played and lost the coin of existence, and flew
through the gate of nonbeing back to the primal nest of ‘or
nearer .’” 7
Our shaikh , 8 may God be pleased in him, has said:
I was a falcon flown down from on high
To snatch some prey up to the heavens.
Yet none did I find here to share in the secret
and I left once more by the door that I came.
And again:
On that day when union’s goal is reached
■‘A figure already employed by All b. 'Osman Hojvlrl (d. 465/1073?) in
Kasf al-mahjub (Samarkand, 1330/1912), p. 12.
Tradition recorded by Termezl and Ebn Maja.
6 Qur’an, 53:16.
’Qur’an, 53:9.
8 I.e., Majd al-DTn BagdadI, concerning whom see Introduction, pp. 9-10.
154
The A brogation of Previous Religions
And the bird flies forth from its cage,
The spirit shall hear the king’s clarion call, “Return !” 9
and fly back to the royal master’s arm.
The Prophet, upon whom be peace, further intends in the tra-
dition just quoted: “I severed my connection with this world and
the hereafter and all eight paradises on that day when I fashioned
this genealogy, that ‘I am of God .’ 10 All ties that related me to the
created state were sundered and there remained only my line of
descent from God. All parentage and descent shall be severed,
except my parentage and descent .’ 11 And to others God says: ‘On
that day no parentage shall there be between them, nor shall
they be asked concerning it .’ 12
"I have moreover borne off the contested ball of primacy in
every field. With respect to the primordial nature of man, I was
the first shoot to grow on that tree, for ‘the first that God created
was my light .’ 13 I will be the first, too, to emerge from the dust on
the Plain of Resurrection, like a pearl from its shell — I shall be
the first yielded up by the earth on the Day of Resurrection .’ 14
And if you seek in the station of intercession, you will see that I
am the first to succor with my intercession those submerged in
the sea of their sins — ‘I am the first intercessor, and the first to
be caused to intercede .’ 15 If you speak of primacy and leadership
on the bridge of §erat, know that I shall be the first to place my
foot on that sharp, narrow path — ‘I shall be the first to cross the
§erat .’ 16 If you wish for the one who shall occupy the foremost
place in Paradise, know that I shall be the first for whom the
gates of Paradise are opened so that I may behold what lies
within — ‘I am the first for whom the gates of Paradise shall be
opened .’ 17 If you look for the leader of all lovers, the paragon of
9 "Return!” (erje'i): taken from Qur’an, 59:27: "Return unto thy Lord (O tran-
quil soul) well-pleased and well-pleasing.”
‘“Beginning of a Tradition that continues “and the believers are of me.” See
above, p. 63’.
“Tradition.
12 Qur’an, 23:102.
13 Tradition previously quoted on p. 63.
“Tradition recorded by Ebn Hanbal.
15 Part of a Tradition recorded by Moslem and Dareml.
‘“Tradition recorded by Nasa’I.
“Tradition recorded by Dareml.
155
Third Part, Fourth Chapter
devotees, know that I am the first devoted lover to gain the
auspicious fortune of union with the Beloved — ‘I am the first to
whom the Lord manifested Himself .’ 18 How strange, that all of
this should be mine, while my own self is lost to me — ‘as for I, I
speak not of I.’”
When that moonlike visage appears, who am I that I
might be I?
For once without self, with her I am then happy.
If I seem to have substance, know that it is her,
And if she seems to have shadow, know that it is me . 19
That which you have heard concerning the Prophet, upon
whom be peace and blessings, having no shadow, is true for two
reasons: first because the Prophet was, from one point of view,
the sun — “a summoner to God, with His permission, and a light-
giving lamp” 20 — and the sun has no shadow; and second because
he was, from a different point of view, the monarch of religion,
and the monarch is the shadow of God — “the monarch is God’s
shadow upon earth” 21 — and a shadow has no shadow. Insofar as
he was concerned with men, he was a light-bestowing sun, and
the first and the last of mankind were created from his -light.
When he turned to the Almighty Presence, he became the
shadow thereof, so that those wanderers in the wilderness of
misguidance who wished to take refuge in God might find
shelter in obedience to his auspicious person. “Whoever obeys
the Prophet obeys God .” 22 And whenever he turned to himself, he
fled from himself and took refuge in God’s shadow — “I have a
time with God which neither cherub nor prophetic messenger
can attain .” 23
For a few days like a shadow I pursued him,
Content with his shadow for it was his shadow.
18 Tradition of dubious authenticity.
19 Quoted from a poem of Sana’! (Divan, p. 678).
20 Qur’an, 33:46.
21 An alleged Tradition, previously quoted on p. 49. See also p. 49, n. 32.
22 Qur’an, 4:79.
25 A Tradition much beloved of Sufi authors; see ForQzanfar, Ahadis-e Masnavi,
p. 39.
156
The A brogation of Previous Religions
Today it is as plain to me as the sun
That no shadow will he cast over my strivings . 24
Even though the Prophet was a sun for all mankind, he was
nurtured by God’s shadow: “I am lodged in my Lord’s presence”;
he ate from the spread of “He feeds me”; and he drank from the
goblet of “He gives me to drink .” 25
Jamal al-Dln Abd al-Razzaq says:
Thy food, “I am lodged in my Lord’s presence,”
Thy sleep, “my heart slumbers not.”
The twin realms lie beneath thy feet;
Thou has passed the limit of “two bowstrings.”
The people of the world are the dust of thy feet,
The sons of Adam stand beneath thy banner.
Peacock-like angels are thy messengers,
The leaders of the cherubim are thy devotees.
No acts of worship can we offer for sale;
From us, naught but sin, and from thee, intercession . 26
Even though each of the prophets, upon whom be peace and
blessings, was the leader of his people’s caravan — “those are Our
messengers, some of whom We have caused to excel others” 27 —
and all were chosen by God, some enjoying preference over
others, so that they might each guide a people along- the path of
religion through the gate of certainty to the Plain of Resurrec-
tion, nonetheless the Prophet Mohammad was the caravan
leader who first stepped forth from the concealment of non-
being and led the entire caravan of creation out onto the plain of
being — “We are the last and the foremost .” 28 And when it is time
for the caravan to return, he who was once the vanguard shall
then bring up the rear: “The prophets have been sealed with
me.”
21 Quoted from a poem of Anvari (Divan, p. 601).
2S These three phrases taken together form a Tradition recorded by Bokari,
Moslem, and Ebn Hanbal.
26 Although attributed here to Jamal al-Dln Abd al-Razzaq EsfahanI, this puem
is not to be found in his printed Divan.
2, Qur'an, 2:253.
2a Tradition recorded by Bokari, Moslem, Nasa’I, and Dareml.
157
Third Part, Fourth Chapter
The . Prophet, upon whom be peace and blessings, says: “ ‘I
have been granted excellence over the other prophets in six
things .’ 29 The first is that for each prophet a certain mosque was
appointed wherein he might pray, all other places being deemed
unfit. When my turn came, the entire surface of the earth was
made a mosque for me, so that I and my people may pray
wherever we desire.”
What meaning is contained in this distinction? A mosque is a
place of prostration, and the length and breadth of the realm of
the earlier prophets had been such that they were able to
sanctify only a single mosque with the alchemy of the light of
prophethood, and could not transform the soil of this world into
the celestial paradise. Then too, they each nurtured beneath the
wing of their prophethood only those few individuals who con-
stituted their community, and each of them was assigned to a
single people.
Moreover, the effectiveness of the alchemy .of their prophet-
hood had not attained that state of perfection which would have
made licit and pure the impure property of the unbelievers cap-
tured as booty. In addition, no prophet before Mohammad had
been fully delivered from the veil of the self in order then to
devote himself to intercession for others; indeed, each of them
will be constantly proclaiming his selfhood on the Day of Resur-
rection. Furthermore, the power and might of each of the
prophets had been such that only when they confronted an
enemy were they able to repel him, but when the enemy receded
they were unable to rout him. Finally, the strength of the proph-
ethood of each was such that although in his own lifetime he led
his own people, the need arose after his death for another
prophet to lead them.
But when the turn of prophethood came to Mohammad, upon
whom be peace and blessings, the beloved of pre- and post-
etemity, the alchemy of his prophethood was of the utmost
strength, so that its workings were able to penetrate and trans-
form the earth that had been Satan’s fief and disdained by the
29 Parts of the Tradition quoted at the beginning of the chapter.
158
The A brogation of Previous Religions
All-Compassionate One — "God did not look upon the world after
creating it, in repugnance” 30 — into the house of God and a series
of mosques for the bondsmen of the All-Compassionate One —
“the earth has been made a mosque for me.” Dark earth was
raised to the degree of pure water (“with its soil declared pure”)
and the impure booty of the infidels was turned into pure and
licit property (“Booty has been made lawful for me.”) The ban-
ner of intercession was placed in his capable hands — “I have
been given permission to intercede” — and every nation that shall
be until the end of the world was made part of his people: “I
have been sent to all mankind.” Finally, all enemies within the
radius of a month’s journey were routed, being struck with awe
of his blows and fear of his might: "I have been given victory
through the inspiring of awe at the distance of a month’s
journey .” 31
As in the beginning, the sermon of prophethood was pro-
nounced to the heavens in his name: “I was a prophet when
Adam was still between water and clay” 32 — so too in the end the
coin of the seal of prophethood was struck in his name. It is
indeed not strange that he should be the seal of the prophets, for
as we have previously shown, Mohammad, upon whom be peace,
was both the seed of the tree of creation and its fruit, while the
other prophets were the branches and leaves of the tree. Now
leaves will sprout forth on a tree only as long as the fruit has not
appeared, and once it has appeared, no more branches or leaves
will grow. The fruit is the sealing of all, and thus prophecy was
sealed with Mohammad, upon whom be peace.
Now the Jews and Christians might ask us: “What proof is
there that Mohammad was a prophet? And even if it be estab-
lished that he was a prophet, why must his religion abrogate all
others, and why is it necessary that each people should abandon
the religion brought by its own prophets and follow him? Each
prophet has a book from God; why then should all books other
’“Presumably intended as a Tradition; I have not been able to identify its source.
’'“With its soil declared pure,” etc., are all parts of the Tradition quoted at the
beginning of the chapter.
S2 A Tradition frequently quoted by the Sufis in illustration of the pre-etemal
connection of the Prophet with the institution of prophethood.
159
Third Part, Fourth Chapter
than his be abrogated, and all religions vanish and yield to his?
Why is it not fitting that, as in the age of other prophets, each
people should follow its own religion, with each book and reli-
gion remaining in force?”
The answer to be given them is twofold, one rational and the
other relating to inner truth. The rational reply is that we should
say to them: “The same question applies to you. In the light of
what evidence did you recognize Moses and Jesus, upon both of
whom be peace and blessings, to be prophets, without seeing
either them or their miracles?” Their answer can be only one of
two things: either “The accounts of their miracles have come
down to us by tradition ; 33 tradition is a source of knowledge, and
miracles are a proof of true prophethood”; or “The matter is
confirmed for us by our heart, through the light of faith, and we
have no need of further evidence.”
To this we then say: “Our evidence is exactly the same, for
accounts of the miracles of Mohammad, upon whom be peace
and blessings, have come down to us by tradition. As for con-
firmation by the heart, springing from the light of faith, it is in
truth we who possess it, for we believe in all of the prophets and
their books, not like you who believe in some and not others. The
Jews refuse to believe in Jesus, upon whom be peace and bless-
ings, and his book; and the Christians refuse to believe in Moses,
upon whom be peace and blessings, and his book, while yet call-
ing Jesus the Son of God and the third part of the trinity. ‘Verily
God is exalted above that which the transgressors say concern-
ing Him .’ 34
“Furthermore, the miracle of each prophet is confined to his
own age; when he departs, he takes the miracle with him. But
the special property of the religion of Mohammad is that one of
his miracles, namely, the Qur’an, has survived him and will re-
main until the end of the world. The miraculous nature of the
“Tradition (lavator): more exactly, that which is current and universally ac-
cepted without query or investigation; "that which is established through cur-
rency on men’s tongues and cannot be imagined to have originated from a
conspiracy to lie” (JorjanI, Ketab al-ta'rifat, p. 74).
3 ‘'This sentence is close to Qur’an, 17:43: “Glorified and most exalted be God
above that which they say concerning Him.”
160
The Abrogation of Previous Religions
Qur’an is to be seen in the fact that it has defeated all the efforts
of the eloquent, whether among the Arabs or other peoples, to
produce its like, and this indeed was his challenge: ‘Say: If men
and jinn united to produce the like of this Qur’an, they would be
unable, even if they aided each other .’ 35
"What miracle could be greater than this, that despite numer-
ous enemies and adversaries in east and west, eloquent rhetori-
cians among the Arabs and other peoples, the People of the
Book, and the philosophers and materialists who regard the
world as eternal, deny the resurrection of the body, and con-
sider the Qur’an to be the word of Mohammad — that despite all of
these he delivered a powerful challenge and prophesied that for
more than six hundred years none would be able to defy it? And
in truth none has been able to produce a book like the Qur’an,
either separately or with the aid and assistance of others.”
The truthfulness of this prophecy is in itself a manifest
miracle, and an indication of how all else that the Prophet has
foretold shall come to pass in due time. Thus he foretold in par-
ticular the coming of the accursed Tartar unbelievers — may God
destroy them — when he said that resurrection would not come
until his people should fight against a tribe of the Turks with
small eyes, broad noses, and wide faces like the skin drawn
tight over a shield, and there would be much killing . 36 This has
indeed come to pass. Nor may we yet rest secure, for there are
further indications contained in the Traditions of the Prophet
that have not yet come to pass. O God, we ask of Thee forgive-
ness and well-being, protection in affairs of religion and the
world, and an end to our lives in a manner pleasing unto Thee,
by Thy generosity and bounty.
As, then, the People of the Book have accepted Jesus and
Moses as prophets because of accounts of their miracles handed
down by tradition, so too they should more readily accept the
prophethood of Mohammad, were it not for their obstinacy; for
his age is closer at hand, accounts of it are more plentiful and
trustworthy, and the miracles constituted by the Qur’an and his
foretelling of events are as plain as could be desired.
35 Qur’an, 17:88.
36 Tradition quoted in full on p. 40.
161
Third Part, Fourth Chapter
The faith of the Jews and the Christians, even in the previous
prophets, is by way of imitation of their mothers and fathers,
without any clear proof, and is not the result of the gaze of the
intelligence; nor is it confirmed by the light of the heart. As it is
said in the Qur’an: “We found our fathers adhering to a religion,
and we follow them in guidance .” 37 Similarly, the Prophet, upon
whom be peace, said, “Every child is bom in his primordial dis-
position; it is his parents who make of him a Jew, a Christian, or
a Magian. ’ ’ 38 A religion that is taken on authority from mother and
father without the light of faith or the gaze of intelligence has no
value and is the opposite of true religion.
Now as to the query why, if the prophethood of Mohammad is
established and accepted, his religion must abrogate all others,
our answer is this: “Since you have admitted his claim to proph-
ethood to be true, you must regard him as truthful of speech and
accept his book. Now in the glorious Qur’an, which is his Book,
it is said: ‘He it is Who sent His messenger with guidance and
the religion of truth to make it prevail over all religion, though
those who assign partners to God may be averse ’; 39 for all that is
in the books of other prophets is in his Book, and all that is in
their laws is contained within his Law, while the virtues of
religion that are contained in his Book and his Law are absent
from their books and laws. Therefore, all other religions and
books are abrogated by his. This abrogation does not mean that
they are declared totally false and untrue, or that belief is not to
be reposed in them; rather it means that the truths contained in
different books and the mysteries scattered in various laws have
been gathered together in the Qur’an and the Law of Moham-
mad, upon whom be peace and blessings — ‘neither wet nor dry,
but contained in a Book perspicuous .’ 40 There is then added to
this totality the perfection of the blessing of religion that derives
only from the path of Mohammad: ‘I have completed My blessing
upon you and approved Islam for you as religion .’ 41 Thus while
other peoples follow the guidance of a single prophet and bene-
37 Qur'an, 43:22.
3a Tradition recorded by Bokarl, Moslem, and Ebn Hanbal.
39 Qur’an, 9:34.
40 Qur’an, 6:59.
■'‘Qur’an, 5:4.
162
The A brogation of Previous Religions
fit from submission only to a single auspicious figure, this people
of Islam follows the guidance of all the prophets and benefits
from obedience to all of them, for ‘those it is whom God has
guided; follow then their guidance .’” 42
The relationship of the prophethood of Mohammad, upon
whom be peace and blessings, with that of the other prophets
may be compared to the relationship of the sun with the stars.
When religion in the beginning had not yet reached perfection,
men were, so to speak, in the night of religion, and each people
in each age found its way through this night by the light of a
different star of prophethood — “and by the star they are
guided .” 43 When religion attained the perfection of "this day I
have perfected for you your religion ,” 44 the sun of Mohammad’s
being rose over the entirety of mankind (“We did not send thee
save for all mankind” 45 ), the night of religion was changed into the
day of religion, and God’s attribute of “Master of the Day of
Religion ” 46 became apparent. Now clearly the guiding function of
the stars lasts only so long as the sun has not risen — “When day
has broken, no need for a lamp .” 47 When the monarch of all the
stars displays his beauty, he severs the head of the beams they
emit with the sword of his own rays.
Whenever the sun rises, the moon gathers up its dice.
A further comparison may be drawn with a king who wishes
to conquer the world and to establish the signs of his justice and
the laws of his rule in all the lands of the earth and among the
peoples of every clime; who desires to benefit and profit all his
subjects with his regal bounty and generosity, his might and
splendor. He sends to each land and each people a messenger
equipped with a letter suitably composed, containing threats
“Qur’an, 6:90.
“Qur’an, 16:16.
■“Qur'an, 5:4.
“Qur’an, 34:28.
“Qur’an, 1:4. The expression malek yawm al-din in this verse is generally
understood in the sense of “Master of the Day of Judgment,” i.e., the day on
which men’s practice of religion (din) will be judged: Daya takes it, however, in
another sense, which is clear from the context.
“An expression originating with the early Sufi Abu ’1-Hasan Nuri (d. 295/
907); see Kasf al-mahjub, p. 233.
163
Third Part, Fourth Chapter
and menaces, promises and enticements. The messenger ad-
dresses himself to each group in accordance with its intelligence
and capacity, summoning some to the royal presence with per-
suasion and gentleness and bringing others by force and co-
ercion. For dispositions vary: If the one who requires coercion is
summoned with gentleness, he will not appreciate it; and if the
one who deserves gentleness is brought by coercion, he will
remain deprived of all blessing. Thus God Almighty addressed
the Prophet: “If thou wert harsh to them and hard of heart,
truly they would disperse from around thee .” 48 But concerning
others He said: “Be harsh with them .” 49 Thus each messenger set
out in a certain direction and addressed himself to a certain
people in a manner suited to their state, gradually expounding
to them the monarch’s laws so that they might accustom them-
selves to his service, become submissive to his commands and
desire to behold the beauty of his countenance.
In the fullness of his regal grace, the king then desired that
all mankind should partake of his utmost munificence and
liberality; that whereas in the beginning each group had enjoyed
a share in one form of his munificence and served him in some
fashion, now all should partake of the whole of his munificence,
serve him in numerous different ways, turn toward the presence
and be ennobled by proximity to him. He therefore dispatched
another messenger, this time to the whole world, drew up an-
other writ in which were assembled all the laws contained in
previous edicts, and summoned all men to his presence by means
of this messenger and his writ. He laid upon men duties of per-
fect service they had not yet borne and conferred upon them a
degree of proximity earlier messengers had not conveyed. In
order to prepare men to receive this final and perfect writ, it had
been necessary in the beginning to send numerous messengers,
for in their initial state of estrangement they would not have
been able to offer perfect service, to receive all the laws of the
monarch’s rule, to attain the supreme degree of proximity, and
to be worthy of waiting and attending upon his presence or fit
to act as his viceregent and deputy.
’“Qur’an, 3:159.
’“Qur’an, 9:74.
164
The Abrogation of Previous Religions
Thus too did God Almighty desire to cast the gaze of His
divine grace on this handful of dust and to ennoble every man
with his viceregency — “and He made you viceregents upon
earth .” 50 In each age and to each people He sent a messenger,
with a book wherein He expounded the ordinances of His law in
a manner suited to the capacities of that people. There too He
set forth some of the virtues of religion so that each people might
perform some species of worship and partake of one of the de-
grees of religion; leave the estrangement of misbelief for the
intimacy of religion; and quit the darkness of instinctual nature
for the light of the law.
Then He chose Mohammad, upon whom be peace and bless-
ings, from among all the prophets, exalting him above them. He
sent to him the glorious Qur’an in which He gathered together
all the ordinances that had been scattered in previous books
(“neither wet nor dry but contained within a Book per-
spicuous ”) 51 and dispatched him as messenger to all mankind —
“We did not send thee save for all mankind” 52 — so that while
earlier prophets had called men to Paradise, he might call them
to God — “a summoner to God, with His permission” — and be a
leader and a guiding lamp to His presence — “and a light-giving
lamp .” 53 It was his mission too to convey to all men the degrees of
religion which were to attain perfection through him; to com-
plete for them the blessing of religion (“I have completed My
blessing upon you”); and to guide them to Islam, that most lofty
degree which is the object of the pleasure and approval of God:
“I have approved Islam for you as religion .” 54 For in truth the
perfect religion in the sight of the Almighty is Islam — “Truly the
religion in the sight of God is Islam” 55 — and any religion other
than that of Islam is rejected — “Whoever desires other than
Islam as religion, it will not be accepted from him, and in the
hereafter he will be among the losers .” 56
50 Qur’an, 6:165,
51 Qur’an, 2:59.
52 Qur’an, 34:28,
“Qur’an, 33:46.
“Qur’an, 5:4.
“Qur’an, 3:19.
56 Qur'an, 3:85.
165
Third Part, Fourth Chapter
Now as for the other answer to the objections of the Jews and
the Christians, that relating to inner truth: know that the pur-
pose for the creation of all beings is the existence of man, that
the purpose for the existence of man is knowledge, which is
what God Almighty has designated as the Trust, and that man
alone has proved able to bear the burden of the Trust. Now
knowledge is contained within religion, and the greater man’s
share in religion, the greater will be his share in knowledge,
while he who does not partake of religion will have no part of
knowledge. It is only generic man 57 who is capable of bearing the
full burden of religion and its perfection, not one human being
among others, in just the same way that only a tree can bear
fruit, not its component branches. When a single branch sprouts
up from the ground, no fruit will appear on it; but when it has
grown into a tree, fruit will appear on every branch.
The human person is one throughout the world, and each in-
dividual is like a member of that person. The prophets, upon
whom be peace and blessings, are the chief members of that
person, namely, those indispensable for life, such as the head,
the heart, the liver, the spleen, the lungs, and so forth. Among
them Mohammad, upon whom be peace and blessings, acts as
the heart of the human person, and the heart is the essence of
its being, for it is that place wherein the lights of the spirit are
made manifest as well as having a corporeal aspect.
Even though the heart cannot engage alone in that practice of
religion which yields the fruit of knowledge, and needs the aid
and assistance of all the other members, nonetheless it is within
the heart that knowledge, the fruit of religion, appears, and it is
the heart that partakes fully thereof, . while each of the other
members receives a limited share befitting its state.
The heart has. a further property which is not shared by any
other member, namely, it has a soul peculiar to itself in addition
to that soul whereby the life of each member is sustained. The
form of the heart is made of the essence of the world of bodies,
and its soul is made of the essence of the world of spirits. All
57 Generic man (ensan-e mollaq): i.e., the whole human iace considered as a
single being; humanity as an interrelated and hierarchically organized whole.
166
The A brogation of Previous Religions
subtle material in the world of bodies, both simple and com-
pound, was taken and made into nourishment for the vegetable
realm; all subtle material in the vegetable realm was taken and
made into nourishment for the animal realm; all subtle material
in the animal realm was taken and made into nourishment for
man; all subtle material in this nourishment was taken and made
into the human body; and all subtle material in the body was
taken and made into the form of the heart. Similarly, human
spirits were made from the subtle material of angelic spirits;
angelic spirits were made from the subtle material of the spirits
of the jinn; and the spirits of the jinn were made from the subtle
material of the various components of the world of Dominion.
All subtle material in the human spirit was taken and made into
the soul of the heart.
The heart thus came to be the essence of the two worlds,
corporeal and spiritual, and hence too the locus for the mani-
festation of gnosis. It is for this reason that God said, “He in-
scribed belief in their hearts .” 58 No other part of man was fit to
receive the divine inscription, nor worthy of being “held be-
tween two fingers of God .” 59
Since the Prophet Mohammad, upon whom be peace and
blessings, held the place of the heart in the human person, and
the other prophets represented the other members, it was he
who was found fit for “He revealed to His servant what He re-
vealed ,” 60 this being for the Prophet that which “He inscribed
belief in their hearts” was for the generality of men; and it was
he who was honored with the proximity of “or closer ,” 61 this
being for the Prophet that which “between God’s two fingers”
was for the generality of men.
Thus in the same way that in gnosis all the members are sub-
ordinate to the heart, so too in prophethood all the prophets are
subordinate to Mohammad. It is for this reason that he said:
5S Qur’an, 58:22.
59 Allusion to a Tradition: “Verily the hearts of the Children of Adam areall held
between two fingers of the Compassionate One; He turns them as He wills as if
they were but a single heart” (recorded by Moslem, Ebn Hanbal, and Nasa'I).
60 Qur’an, 53:10.
61 Qur’an, 53:9.
167
Third Part, Fourth Chapter
“Were Moses and Jesus to be alive, they would have no choice
but to follow me .” 62 Although all the prophets were engaged in
the cultivation of religion, it was in the age of Mohammad’s
prophethood — may peace and blessings be upon him — that the
perfection of religion was manifested.
God Almighty, in the perfection of His divine wisdom, en-
trusted the true essence of religion to each of the prophets in
turn that they might exert themselves in its cultivation. So too
wheat passes through the hands of many people before it be-
comes bread, each of them exercising his trade upon it: one will
clean the wheat; one turn it into flour; one make the flour into
dough; one form the dough into lumps; one flatten the lumps;
and one place them in the oven. It is at the hands of this last that
bread attains perfection, although the tasks of the others are
also necessary.
From the age of Adam to the time of Jesus, each of the proph-
ets kneaded the dough of religion in a different fashion, but it
was to Mohammad, upon whom be peace, that the glowing oven
full of the fire of love belonged. When the dough that had been
kneaded by more than a hundred and twenty thousand embodi-
ments of prophecy was handed to him — “They it is whom God
has guided; follow then their guidance’ ’ 63 — he closed on it the door
of the oven of love, and the bread of religion was baked to
perfection in the twenty-three years of his prophethood: “Today
I have perfected your religion for you .” 64 Then he brought it forth
from the oven of love and hung over the door of his shop a
proclamation saying, “I have been sent to the red and the
black .” 65 Those who had been starved in the famine of “an inter-
val between the messengers ” 66 spent freely of their selves and
their goods in purchasing the bread — “Strive with your goods
“Tradition.
“Qur’an, 6:90.
“Qur’an, 5:3.
“Tradition. The word "red” in early Arabic usage might refer either to Persians
and Greeks, the Arabs regarding themselves, like the Africans, as "black”; or to
the Arabs themselves, in which case "black” would designate only Africans. See
Bernard Lewis, Race and Color in Islam (New York, 1971), pp. 8-9. Irrespective
of the precise sense of the color designations, the Tradition yields the sense that
the Prophet’s mission was universal.
“Qur’an, 5:21.
168
The Abrogation of Previous Religions
and your selves in the path of God” 67 — and that well-baked bread
of religion, longed for in vain by countless thousands of peoples,
became the object of delight to those of auspicious fortune who
“were the best of peoples raised up for mankind .” 68
Although the prophets, upon whom be peace, had labored on
this bread ever since wheat had existed, each had been able to
contribute only his own share, giving thereof to his people by
way of sustenance, so that each group partook of the object of
his labor. The first to work upon the bread was Adam, upon
whom be peace, and since in his age the bread was still at the
stage of wheat, it was wheat that he ate. He was reviled on this
account in the world of Dominion, and they said, ‘Adam has
rebelled .” 69 What was the meaning of this? Until then, the wheat
had been in the hands of the angelic peasants and tillers who
had sown it in the soil of Paradise and continued to cultivate it,
as food for Adam, until God Almighty came to fashion his water
and clay between Mecca and Ta’ef. When the creation of Adam
was completed, his sustenance had also been nurtured to per-
fection, and it was desired to test him to see whether he could
recognize the sustenance intended for him. He was addressed:
‘Adam, enter Paradise and eat all thou desirest, but approach
not that nee .” 70 In accordance with this command, he did not
approach the tree, but his soul would not accustom itself to any
other food and constantly inclined to the fruit of that tree.
In the same manner, if a bag of barley were placed at some
distance from a horse and a pile of straw in front of it, and it were
then told to eat of the straw and not to approach the barley, it
would of necessity eat the straw, but at the same time con-
stantly desire and incline toward the barley. Only the halter
placed on its leg would prevent it from approaching the barley,
until someone should come and remove the halter.
Even though the bounty of all eight paradises had been placed
before Adam, it appeared to him as mere straw when compared
to that wheat, and he was restrained only by the halter of “ap-
6, Qur’an, 8:72.
68 Qur’an, 3:110.
69 Qur’an, 20:121.
,0 Qur'an, 2:35.
169
T hird Part, Fourth Chapter
proach not that tree.” When Eblis came and said to him: “Shall
I guide thee to the tree of immortality and a kingdom that
fadeth not?” 71 Adam replied: “I already know of that tree, and
have no need of thy tutoring, for I am not an angel that I might
need thee as teacher. Rather, in the school of ‘He taught Adam
all the names’ 72 1 learned the nature and name of that tree. Thou
perceives t truly that it is the tree of immortality and the means
for attaining an eternal kingdom, but thou speakest out of enmity
and crooked intent, in order to cast me into disobedience. I de-
sire the tree with my whole heart and soul, but I am held back by
the halter of God’s command.” Eblis had recourse to an oath,
and swearing that "unto you I am a sincere well-wisher,” 73 he
loosened the halter of God’s command from Adam’s foot.
Adam regarded him with simplicity of heart, not imagining
that anyone would swear a false oath by the greatness and glory
of God. In his utter purity of heart he was deceived by the mere
mention of God’s name and attributes. Such is the mark of
lovers, that they are not to be deceived by love of this world and
the hereafter, but only by the beloved: “We were deceived
through our infatuation with God.”
God’s reproach against Adam was not on account of the
wheat, for it was for his sake that the wheat had been created,
and even though the angels had cultivated it, it was not . they
who were to consume it, but Adam. His reproach was rather
because Adam had eaten of it at the behest of Eblis. Hence the
cry went forth in the world, ‘Adam has rebelled.” 74 Numerous
providential and mysterious purposes of God were contained in
this revolt of Adam, but they were hidden in the world of the
Unseen, and the angels were unaware of them.
Their view of the matter was this: “We have been cultivating
this tree for several thousand years until it has finally attained
so graceful a shape as to adorn all eight paradises with its
beauty. Now this raw infant has come and rebelliously broken
’■Qur'an, 20:120.
72 Qur'an, 2:31.
73 Qur’an, 7:20.
’■■Qur'an, 20:121.
170
The A brogation of Previous Religions
off a branch in his childish desire; he has eaten of its fruit and
destroyed the tree. We had correctly foreseen this outcome
when we said, ‘Wilt Thou create one who will cause corruption
therein ?’ 75 Now his corruption has become manifest, for if he had
not eaten that wheat, each grain, once sown, would have yielded
another tree.” They knew not that a grain sown becomes a tree,
and a grain eaten, a man. This is a great mystery, not within
the reach of everyone’s understanding.
The meaning of all this is as follows: Adam was reviled be-
cause until his time the wheat of religion had been under cultiva-
tion and none had partaken of it. It was necessary for Adam to
take charge of the wheat, and then for the prophets following
him, for it finally to be passed to the masterly hands of Moham-
mad when the time arrived for baking. All nurtured themselves
on it, for as the proverb says, “Whoever busies himself with clay
will eat thereof .” 76 Adam worked with wheat, and ate wheat;
those who worked with flour, ate flour; and those who worked
with dough, ate dough. Finally it fell to Mohammad and his
followers to eat the baked bread when it was brought forth from
the oven of Mohammadan love.
Then the bread of religion that had been baked in the fire of
love was placed at the shop door of Mohammad’s summons, and
a crier proclaimed that whoever should desire to eat of that
bread and be beloved of the Divine Presence should come to the
door of Mohammad’s shop: “Say: ‘If ye love God, follow me that
God too may love you.’ ” 77 If the other prophets should wish their
bread to be baked, they too must come to his shop on the mor-
row of resurrection, for “all men will need my intercession on
the Day of Resurrection, even Abraham .” 78
The cultivation of religion was, then, possible only through
generic man: Each of the prophets was a member of that man,
and each kneaded the dough as was meet until it was the turn of
Mohammad, the heart of the human person, to take it into his
75 Qur’an, 2:30.
76 See 'All Akbar Dehkoda, Amsal va hekam, Tehran, 1338 S./1960, IV, p. 1966.
77 Qur’an, 3:31.
’“Tradition; source unknown.
171
T hird Part, Fourth Chapter
hand. Then did religion attain its perfection, no longer needing
the attentions of any craftsman. Never had it reached the per-
fection of “this day I have perfected for you your religion ” 79 be-
fore the age of the Prophet, upon whom be peace. Any addition
to perfection is to be accounted a decrease, and for this reason
the Prophet, upon whom be peace, said: “If someone introduces
into our religion what is not a part of it, it is to be rejected .” 80 He
also said, “Beware of all that is introduced into religion, for it is
innovation, and innovation is misguidance .” 81
Religion has many attributes, each of which required one of
the prophets to nurture it to perfection. Thus Adam brought to
perfection the attribute of pure devotion to God; Noah, that of
summoning men to God; Abraham, that of intimate friendship
with God; Moses, that of discourse with God; Job, that of
patience; Jacob, that of sadness; Joseph, that of sincerity of pur-
pose; David, that of recitation of God’s word; Solomon, that of
gratitude; John, that of fear; and Jesus, that of hope. Similarly,
all the other prophets brought a certain attribute to perfection,
and although they were simultaneously nurturing other attri-
butes, the cultivation of one particular attribute was foremost
in them.
Now the pearl in the diadem of all these attributes and the
supreme gem in their necklace was the attribute of love, and it
was this attribute of religion that Mohammad, upon whom be
peace, nurtured to perfection, for he was the heart of the human
person, and the cultivation of love is the special task of the heart.
Since the perfection of religion consists in the perfection of
love, the dignity of “God will bring forth a people whom He
loves and who will love Him ” 82 was as a cloak of honor tailored to
the stature of Mohammad’s people, and the nobility of “radiant
faces gazing on that day upon the face of their Lord ” 83 was as a
candle lit for those who, mothlike, had immolated the substance
of their being. Whereas the people of Moses had been given
79 Qur’an, 5:4.
“Tradition recorded by Bokarl, Moslem, Ebn Maja, andEbn Hanbal.
“Tradition recorded by Moslem, Abu Da’ud, Nasa’i, Ebn Maja. DaremT, and
Ebn Hanbal.
“Qur’an, 5:57.
“Qur’an, 75:22.
172
The Abrogation of Previous Religions
quail and manna, and that of Jesus a heavenly spread — “let them
eat and take pleasure therein’’ 84 — it was enough for these ragged
drinkers of dregs, these roofless profligates, to imbibe the wine
of vision that the cupbearer of “their Lord gave them to drink ’’ 85
poured from the goblet of His beauty down the throats of their
being. It is true that from the effects of that wine there arises the
tumult of “I am the Truth ’’ 86 and “Glory be unto me !”; 87 but to de-
stroy the house of being was a cloak that fitted only these dis-
traught gamblers, and to lose life on the flame of vision was
possible only for these broken-winged moths. The two worlds
have been farmed out to other peoples, but the pavilion of God’s
majesty is erected in the courtyard of these indigent beggars — “I
am with those whose hearts are shattered on My account .” 88
God Almighty has inspired a verse in this beggar:
He said: “Not every heart may look on our love;
Not every soul is a shell for its pearl.
Thou art not alone in thy longing for union,
But it is not a cloak that fits every figure.”
Since the perfection of religion was dependent upon the per-
fection of the attribute of love, and that attribute reached per-
fection by means of the Prophet Mohammad, upon whom be
peace, the heart of the human person, therefore he was the Be-
loved of God and the Seal of the Prophets. Whoever desires re-
ligion in its perfection and the rank of beloved of God, let him
place his head on the path of imitating the Prophet, for “Say: ‘If
ye love God, then follow me that God may love you .’” 89
Since perfection was reached with this religion of Islam, all
other religions became abrogated, in the same way that when-
ever water is to be had, ablution with soil is not permitted . 90 We
M Qur'an, 15:3.
B5 Qur’an, 76:21.
86 The celebrated utterance of Hallaj; see ‘Attar, Tazker at al-owliya’, I, p. 122.
B7 An utterance of Bayazld BaslamI that concludes: “and how sublime is my
rank." See Anar, Tazkerat al-owliya, I, p. 134.
BS A liadis qodsl: al-Haddadl, al-Etliafat al-saniya, p. 136.
B9 Qur'an, 3:31.
“Ablution with soil (tayammom): When water is not to be had, a token minor
ablution may be made before offering prayer by dusting the palms of the hands
with soil.
173
T hird Part, Fourth Chapter
have explained how, in the time of earlier prophets, it had been
necessary to eat wheat, flour, and dough; now that the bread
had been baked, the eating of these was abrogated. Indeed, all
the prophets, upon whom be peace, will come tomorrow to the
door of this shop and obtain bread from our baker, for ‘Adam
and all who come after him shall stand under my banner on the
Day of Resurrection; yet I take no pride therein .” 91 Yet the
Prophet, in the breadth of his powers and the loftiness of his
intent, is not contented with the mere baking of the bread of
religion, not satisfied with saying, “I am the master of the sons
of Adam,” for again he adds, “yet I take no pride therein.”
What truth is indicated here? An extremely profound truth
and a subtle allusion, for the Prophet says in effect: ‘All this
baking of bread, this mastery, leadership and standard bearing,
is the benefit men derive from me, for ‘We have not sent thee
save as a mercy to all the worlds .’ 92 All this is then a cause of pride
and boasting for them, that they have a commander, a leader,
an intercessor, a paragon, a model, and a guide such as me. My
share in all this is in sharelessness; my fulfillment in nonfulfill-
ment; my wish, in wishlessness; my being, in nonbeing; and my
wealth and my pride, in poverty: ‘Poverty is my pride .’” 93
This feeble one says:
Neither Khorasan nor Iraq is our wish,
And of the friend not union, not parting, we seek.
To no wish can I be joined, I am free of all wish;
Such and such alone, this is my wish.
O Mohammad, we ask, what mystery is this that you do not
boast of the command and leadership of the prophets, but take
pride instead in poverty? “This is because our path is founded
on love and affection, and it can be traveled only in a state of
nonbeing, while command, leadership, and prophethood are all
part of being — ”
91 Tradition recorded by Daremi, Ebn Hanbal and Termezl.
92 Qur’an 21:107.
93 Tradition universally quoted in Sufi texts; see Foruzanfar, Ahadls-e Masnavl,
p. 23.
174
The Abrogation of Previous Religions
Only the lightly laden may travel this path;
Lighten thy burden of self, then tread the path.
A hundred times daily thou wilt be slain on the path;
But breathe not a hint of desire for requital.
When a party of infidels broke the lip and the tooth of the
Prophet, upon whom be peace, with the stone of affliction, he
was about to part his lips in prayer for them . 94 He had not yet
moved his lips when the heavy rock of “Thou hast naught to do
with the affair ” 95 was cast at his feet. How strangel None had
treated Noah in this manner, yet he said: “My Lord, leave not a
single inhabitant upon earth from among the unbelievers !” 96
Immediately a storm arose throughout the world and destroyed
all mankind. Truly Noah was the manifestation of the attribute
of wrath, and the path he trod was in accordance therewith —
“Say: ‘Each acts according to his disposition .’” 97 Mohammad,
upon whom be peace, was the manifestation of the attributes of
grace and of love, and the path he trod was that of concern for
the well-being of others. Thus, after they had stoned him, he
said: “O God, guide my people, for they know not.”
Whence sprang this conduct? From the path of self-diminu-
tion and nonbeing that had been laid out before him, so that he
might lose his being in nonbeing.
Unless thou become less and then less again,
Never can thou join the ranks of the lovers.
For as long as figurative being persists, it is impossible to par-
take in full of the presence of true being; only insofar as you
sacrifice figurative being for the sake of true being can you have
any share therein. Thus firewood comes to partake of its being
as firewood by means of fire, but only insofar as it sacrifices its
91 A reference to the battle of Ohod, the second major engagement between the
Muslims and the Meccan polytheists, in the course of which the Prophet was
struck by a stone cast by 'Otba b. Abl Waqqas. See Ebn Hesam, al-Sirat al-
nabauiiya (Cairo, 1375/1955), II, pp. 79-80.
"Qur’an, 3:128: one of the verses revealed on the occasion of the defeat at
Ohod (3:121-129).
"Qur'an, 71:26.
"Qur’an, 17:84.
175
Third Part, Fourth Chapter
own firewood being to the being of the fire, and it partakes fully
of its own being only when it sacrifices it completely to the
being of the fire. Then it is transformed from firewood, with
density, darkness, and lowliness, into fire, with subtlety, lumi-
nosity, and elevation. If there is anything left of its own fire-
wood being, smoke will be seen to arise as a sign of longing for
the fire. For the firewood, having once tasted the fire, is no
longer content with its own firewood being and wishes to be-
come totally transformed into the fire being.
O Lord, what place is there now for desire
For today He is both rival and cupbearer ? 98
Come, O cupbearer, pour out more wine,
Fora trace remains yet of our being.
Thus whatever fire the wood encounters while in this state it
encounters for its own sake, and it can give nothing of it to
others.
The true worth of thy burning is hidden from the raw;
Burn then for me, already burned a hundredfold!
But once the firewood has entirely sacrificed itself to the fire, it
will desire its own being and any fire that it may encounter only
for the sake of other firewood.
There is a great mystery contained within this allegory. The
one hundred and twenty thousand and more instances of proph-
ethood have sacrificed the firewood of their human nature to
the fire of love and the manifestation of God’s attributes, but
some half -burned fragment has remained from each, so that on
the morrow of resurrection smoke will arise from them, pro-
claiming their selfhood.
But as for Mohammad, upon whom be peace, he has immo-
98 The cupbearer (saql) represents in Sufi poeuy "the superabundant source of
grace that intoxicates all the particles of existence with the wine of conjunctive
being (hastl-ye eiafi ) [i.e., a being that derives from God without intermedi-
ary]” (anon., Mer'at-e 'ossaq, p. 155). The rival (harif) is he who competes for
the attention of the cupbearer; the wayfarer on the spiritual path.
176
The Abrogation of Previous Religions
lated, mothlike, the entirety of his being on the candle of the
glory of the unity of the Essence, and sacrificed all of his Mo-
hammadan being to the fiery tongue of love that leaps forth
from that candle. He cries out instinctively, “My peoplel My
peoplel ” 99 and the tongue of the candle has become his tongue.
Severing all relation to the sons of Adam, he proclaims: “Mo-
hammad was not the father of a man from among you; rather
the Messenger of God and the Seal of the Prophets .” 100
This feeble one has composed the following verse:
We are those who have voided their selves of all being;
Who have set light to all their being;
Who in the nights of union before thy candlelike cheek.
Have like the moth lost all their being.
What you have heard concerning Mohammad, upon whom be
peace, being shadowless, is because he had become entirely
transmuted into light — “O people, a light has come unto you
from your Lord” 101 — and light has no shadow. When the Prophet
had been delivered from the shadow of his self, the whole world
took refuge in his light, for ‘Adam and all who come after him
shall stand under my banner on the Day of Resurrection; yet I
take no pride therein .” 102 The Mohammadan Light had marked
out the first boundary of being, for “The first that God created
was my Light ”; 103 now it marked out the boundary of eternity, for
“There is no prophet after me .” 104
After the sun of Mohammad’s ascendancy had risen, the stars
of sanctity of the earlier prophets departed, the night illumined
by their religions yielded to day, and the verse of their prophet-
hood became abrogated by that of “Master of the Day of Reli-
"Allusion to a long Tradition, recorded by Bokari and Moslem, in which the
Prophet foretold his intercession on the Day of Judgment and his plea to God:
"My people, O Lord, my peoplel”
‘“Qur’an, 33:40.
101 A phrase close in its wording to Qur’an, 5:17: ‘A light has come to you from
God and a perspicuous Book”; and also to 4:174, “O people, a proof has come to
you from your Lord, and We have send down to you a perspicuous light.”
‘“Tradition: see n. 91 above.
‘“Tradition; compare with the Traditions quoted on p. 78.
‘“Tradition recorded by Bokari and Ebn Hanbal.
177
Third Part, Fourth Chapter
gion .” 105 For there is no use to be had of a lamp in the daytime:
“Once the day has broken, no need for a lamp .” 106 Wretched is
that blind and unseeing one who is deprived of all light when it
exists in such plenitudel
The sun has long since risen, O idol;
If it shines not on me, ’ds my misfortune.
The Prophet, upon whom be peace, may be thought of as
saying: “Even though the sun of my form shall set in the Occi-
dent of ‘every soul shall taste death,’ the sun of ascendancy of
my religion shall remain until the end of the world, through the
medium of pious and truthful scholars — ‘There will constantly be
a group of my people adhering steadfastly to the truth .’ 107 What
need henceforth for prophets, for each of the scholars of my
religion shall be equal to a prophet? ‘The scholars of my people
are like the prophets of the Children of Israel .’” 108
Religion has an outer and an inner aspect. The former is pre-
served by the knowledge cultivated by God-fearing scholars and
the latter is cultivated and maintained by shaikhs who have
themselves traveled on the Path and guide others on it, for “The
shaikh among his following is like the prophet among his peo-
ple . ” 109 God Almighty in His generosity has made incumben t upon
Himself the preservation of religion by means of these two
classes, for He says: “We it is Who have sent down the Remem-
brance, and We it is Who shall preserve it .” 110
'““Qur’an, 1:4. See n. 46 above.
106 See n. 47 above.
'“’Tradition recorded by Bokan and Nasa’I.
'““Tradition recorded by Ebn Hanbal.
'““Tradition recorded with a slightly differentwording(“the shaikh in hishouse-
hold is like the prophet among his people”) by Ebn Habban.
"“Qur'an, 15:9.
178
Fifth Chapter:
Concerning the Cultivation of the Human
Frame in Accordance with the Code of the
Law
God Almighty said: “He prospers who purifies himself, in-
vokes the name of his Lord, and prays .” 1
The Prophet, upon whom be peace and blessings, said: “By
Him in Whose hand my soul is held, the faith of none of you is
steadfast until his heart is steadfast; his heart is not steadfast
until his tongue is steadfast; and his tongue is not steadfast until
his deeds are steadfast .” 2
Know that God Almighty has opened a path from the malakut
of spirits to the heart of His servant, laid down another path
from the heart to the soul, and made a third path from the soul
to the bodily frame. Thus every gracious aid that comes to the
spirit from the world of the Unseen is passed on to the heart;
then some part of it is given to the soul by the heart; and finally
some trace of it is bestowed by the soul on the bodily frame,
causing a suitable deed to appear there.
If, conversely, some dark and carnal deed should appear on
the bodily frame, a trace of its darkness will affect the soul; then
blackness will be transmitted from the soul to the heart; and
finally a covering will come to the spirit from the heart, veiling
its luminosity like a halo around the moon. Through this veiling,
the path connecting the spirit with the world of the Unseen will
become partially closed, so that it will be unable fully to con-
template that world and the gracious aid it receives will de-
crease.
As that dark deed increases on the bodily frame, so too will
the trace of darkness afflicting the spirit. The veils covering it
will multiply, and its vision, hearing, speech, and knowledge
will correspondingly diminish, so that if it is not cured by the
‘Qur’an, 87:14.
2 Tradition recorded by Ebn Hanbal.
179
Third Part, Fifth Chapter
ordinances of the Law, it is to be feared that — God forbid — the
phrase "God sealed their hearts ” 3 will be descriptive of its state,
and that it will acquire the attribute of "deaf, dumb and blind;
so they understand not .” 4
This interrelation of bodily frame, soul, heart, and spirit re-
sembles a talisman with its parts, spiritual and corporeal, locked
in position one over the other by God Almighty. The key for un-
locking this talisman is the Law. The Law has an outer and an
inner aspect. Its outer aspect consists of bodily deeds, these
forming the key for opening the talisman of the bodily frame.
The key has five teeth: prayer, fasting, the purifying tax, pil-
grimage, and uttering the testimony of faith. For the talisman
of the bodily frame has been secured with the five locks of the
five senses and can be opened only by this five-toothed key —
“Islam is built on five pillars .” 5 As for the inner aspect of the
Law, this consists of deeds of the heart and spirit and is called
the Path. It will be described in the chapters concerning the
cultivation of the soul, the heart, and the spirit, God Almighty
willing. The Path is the key to the talisman of man’s inner being,
and enables him to attain to the world of Reality.
Men are of two kinds: the prophets, upon whom be peace,
and the peoples who follow them. The prophets first had the
gate to the talisman of their inner beings unlocked by the key of
the Path, coming from the world of the Unseen. The gracious
aid of God’s munificence came to their spirits, for they were pre-
pared to receive it, and the talisman was opened; its effect then
reached their hearts and their souls in succession, and finally
came to the form of their bodily frames, causing the form of the
Law to appear there. Thus God said: “Thou knewest not what
was the Book, nor faith; but We made thereof a light whereby
We guide whomsoever We will of Our bondsmen .” 6
The form of the Law was then made the key to unlock the
talisman of other men’s bodily frames, so that a door was opened
3 Qur’an, 2:7.
■'Qur’an, 2:171.
5 First part of the Tradition quoted in full on p. 52.
"Qur’an, 42:52.
180
The Cultivation of the Human Frame
onto the world of the Unseen. Once they have gradually opened
the talisman of form with the key of the Law, they receive the
key of the Path to unlock the talisman of their inner beings. But,
until they use the key of the Law in the proper manner, with
obedience to its commands, they cannot escape the talisman of
form. Proper use of the key of the Law consists in making each
member engage in the deed ordained for it, and in abstaining
from deeds that have been forbidden. Then the teeth of the key
will fit exactly into the locks of the talisman, and it will immedi-
ately be opened. But if some teeth fit and others do not, or slip
after entering the lock, the talisman will never be fully opened.
To the degree that the teeth of the key fit straight into the lock,
it will be partially opened; the signs of straightness and rectitude
will appear on the tongue, from the tongue go to the heart, and
from the heart reach the world of the Unseen, so that the light of
faith appears from that world in the heart. As this straightness
and rectitude increase in the bodily form, through deeds per-
formed in accordance with the Law, the lights of faith will reach
the heart from the world of the Unseen in greater measure —
“that they might be increased by faith added to their faith.” 7
When the form of the bodily frame has been cultivated to per-
fection through the ordinances of the Law, faith too will attain
perfection in the heart. All this is plain from the Tradition
quoted at the beginning of this chapter.
As for the fact that the five pillars of the Law are the five teeth
of the key for unlocking the talisman of the five senses, this is
because man has suffered certain afflictions and veilings of his
vision as a result of the five senses, so that he has reached the
level of the animals and beasts, or descended even lower. If he
remains in this lowly degree and the talisman is not opened to
deliver him from bestial attributes, then God’s saying “They
are like the beasts, rather more errant,” 8 will apply to him.
Now the animals and beasts partake of the world below by
means of their five senses. The first of these is sight, which per-
tains to the eye; all desire to look upon what is pleasing and
good. The second is hearing, which pertains to the ear; all desire
7 Qur’an, 48:4.
a Qur’an, 7:178.
181
T hird Part, Fifth Chapter
to hear pleasant sounds, and they fear and shun unpleasant
sounds. The third is smell, which pertains to the nose; all desire
to smell pleasant scents. The fourth is taste, which pertains to
the palate; all desire to eat something pleasant. The fifth is
touch, which pertains to all of the body. The animals desire,
with all of their bodies, to enjoy to the utmost their bestial plea-
sures and passions, and are unaware of any other world, for they
lack the means whereby they might have some share in the
world above and the hereafter, or eternity.
To man too the five senses have been given, but he has re-
ceived also the ability to partake of other worlds through means
that are lacking in the beasts. If he occupies himself completely
with the enjoyments of the bestial world, he will become totally
unaware of those other worlds, and be like the animals or worse.
For since they are by nature deprived of those worlds, they can-
not know or perceive the fact of their deprivation, and they will
escape the torment of seeing the deprivation and loss that arise
from the squandering of high fortune. But man will on the mor-
row perceive his deprivation and be called to account for his
wastage of good fortune; he will see members of his own species
engaged in the auspicious enjoyment of “When thou seest, then
thou shalt see bounty and a great kingdom ”; 9 and he will suffer
the torment of deprivation and the chastisement for disobedi-
ence. The beasts suffer neither of these, and it is for this reason
that it is said, “rather more errant .” 10 If, on the other hand, man
were totally to abandon bestial and animal enjoyment, he would
be unable to cultivate his bodily frame and would be thus de-
prived of the benefits arising therefrom.
The Law was therefore sent to him so that every action he
undertakes in bestial pleasure and animal enjoyment may be in
accordance with divine command, not with instinctual nature.
For from instinctual nature comes naught but darkness, and
from divine command naught but light. When man performs an
action in accordance with nature, he sees himself and not God,
and this is darkness and a veiling; but when he performs it in
accordance with command, he sees in it only God and not him-
9 Qur’an, 76:20.
'“Qur’an, 7:178.
182
The Cultivation of the Human Frame
self, and this is light and an unveiling. Further, all darkness and
blackness that appear on the frame because of actions inspired
by nature result from conforming to the desires of the soul; they
are to be removed by means of the acts of worship enjoined by
the Law that run counter to the desires of the soul.
Each pillar of the Law also acts as a reminder to man of his
original homeland and of his coming here from that world, and
guides him too on his journey of return to the true abode, which
is the proximity of the Lord of the Worlds. Saying “no god but
God” makes him aware of the world where naught stood be-
tween him and the Divine Presence. Longing for that world and
yearning for that state will awaken in him and he will desire to
return to them. He will detach his heart from this world, bestial
pleasures will become bitter to the palate of his soul, and he will
direct himself toward the Divine Presence. Thus one tooth of the
key of the Law will have fitted into the lock of the talisman and
opened one part of it.
Prayer informs man of his original state in two ways: through
the forms and motions of prayer, and through the attribute of
orison inherent in it. The shape, forms, and motions of prayer
both inform him of his coming to this world and indicate to him
how he might return to the other world. Standing erect, bowing,
prostration, and sitting to bear witness all have significance in
this respect. The position of sitting to bear witness reminds man
of his contemplation of the Almighty and his presence with Him
before coming here. Prostration is a reminder that when man
came to this world, he first joined the vegetable realm, for the
plants are all in prostration — “The plants- and the trees prostrate
themselves
Path Of God's Bondsmen ( Meesad By Razi)
Smirna Si