Talbís. They denote by talbís the appearance of a thing when its appearance is contrary to its reality, as God hath said: ”We should assuredly have deceived them (lalabasná `alayhim) as they deceive others” (Kor. vi, 9). This quality of deception cannot possibly belong to anyone except God, who shows the unbeliever in the guise of a believer and the believer in the guise of an unbeliever, until the time shall come for the manifestation of His decree and of the reality in every case. When a Ṣúfí conceals good qualities under a mask of bad, they say: “He is practising deception (talbís),” but they use this term in such instances only, and do not apply it to ostentation and hypocrisy, which are fundamentally talbís, because talbís is not used except in reference to an act performed by God.
Shurb. The Ṣúfís call the sweetness of piety and the delight of miraculous grace and the pleasure of intimacy shurb (drinking); and they can do nothing without the delight of shurb. As the body’s drink is of water, so the heart’s drink is of (spiritual) pleasure and sweetness. My Shaykh used to say that a novice without shurb is a stranger to (i.e. unacquainted with the duties of) the novitiate, and that a gnostic with shurb is a stranger to gnosis, because the novice must derive some pleasure (shurbí) from his actions in order that he may fulfil the obligations of a novice who is seeking God; but the gnostic ought not to feel such pleasure, lest he should be transported with that pleasure instead of with God: if he turn back to his lower soul he will not rest (with God).
Dhawq. Dhawq resembles shurb, but shurb is used solely in reference to pleasures, whereas dhawq is applied to pleasure and pain alike. One says dhuqtu ´l-ḥaláwat, “I tasted sweetness,” and dhuqtu ´l-balá, “I tasted affliction;” but of shurb they say, sharibtu bi-ka´si ´l-waṣl, “I drank the cup of union,” and sharibtu bi-ka´si ´l-wudd, “I drank the cup of love,” and so forth.[[180]]
[177]. Maḥq denotes annihilation of a man’s being in the essence of God, while maḥw denotes annihilation of his actions in the action of God (Jurjání, Ta`rífát).
[178]. Nafaḥát, No. 15.
[179]. Here the author refers to the example of Moses, whose prayer for vision of God was refused (Kor. vii, 139), because he was exercising his own choice.
[180]. This distinction between shurb and dhawq is illustrated by citations from the Koran, viz., lii, 19; xliv, 49; and liv, 48.
CHAPTER XXV.
The Uncovering of the Eleventh Veil: Concerning Audition (samá`).
The means of acquiring knowledge are five: hearing, sight, taste, smell, and touch. God has created for the mind these five avenues, and has made every kind of knowledge depend on one of them. Four of the five senses are situated in a special organ, but one, namely touch, is diffused over the whole body. It is possible, however, that this diffusion, which is characteristic of touch, may be shared by any of the other senses. The Mu`tazilites hold that no sense can exist but in a special organ (maḥall-i makhṣúṣ), a theory which is controverted by the fact that the sense of touch has no such organ. Since one of the five senses has no special organ, it follows that, if the sense of touch is generally diffused, the other senses may be capable of the same diffusion. Although it is not my purpose to discuss this question here, I thought a brief explanation necessary. God has sent Apostles with true evidences, but belief in His Apostles does not become obligatory until the obligatoriness of knowing God is ascertained by means of hearing. It is hearing, then, that makes religion obligatory; and for this reason the Sunnís regard hearing as superior to sight in the domain of religious obligation (taklíf). If it be said that vision of God is better than hearing His word, I reply that our knowledge of God’s visibility to the faithful in Paradise is derived from hearing: it is a matter of indifference whether the understanding allows that God shall be visible or not, inasmuch as we are assured of the fact by oral tradition. Hence hearing is superior to sight. Moreover, all religious ordinances are based on hearing and could not be established without it; and all the prophets on their appearance first spoke in order that those who heard them might believe, then in the second place they showed miracles (mu`jiza), which also were corroborated by hearing. What has been said proves that anyone who denies audition denies the entire religious law.