For other vision is in vain."
Sa'dí in the Bustán says: "Art thou a friend of God? Speak not of self, for to speak of God and of self is infidelity." Shaikh Abu'l-Faiz, a great poet and a friend of the Emperor Akbar, from whom he received the honourable title of Málik-ush-Shu'ará—Master of the Poets, says: "Those who have not closed the door on existence and non-existence reap no advantage from the calm of this world and of the world to come." Khusrau, another well-known poet says:—
"I have become Thou: Thou art become I,
I am the body, Thou the soul;
Let no one henceforth say
That I am distinct from Thee, and Thou from me."
The fact is, that Persian poetry is almost entirely Súfíistic. It is difficult for the uninitiated to arrive at the esoteric meaning of these writings. Kitmán, or the art of hiding from the profane religious beliefs, often contrary to the revealed law, has always been a special quality of the East. Pantheistic doctrines are largely inculcated.[[81]] Thus:—
"I was, ere a name had been named upon earth;
Ere one trace yet existed of aught that has birth;