One of the greatest teachers of Qonya was one day giving a lecture on a terraced roof, when suddenly he heard the sound of a lute. He exclaimed: “These lutes are an innovation on the prophetic usages. They must be interdicted.”
Forthwith, the form of Jelāl appeared before him, and answered: “That must not be.” On this the teacher fainted away.
When he regained his consciousness, he sought to make his peace with Jelāl, by sending an apology and a recantation to him, through the medium of Jelāl’s son, Sultan Veled; but Jelāl would not accept them. He answered: “It would be easier to convert seventy Roman bishops to Islām, than to clear away from the mind of that teacher the stains of hate, and so set him on the right road. His soul is as foul as the paper on which children practise their writing exercises.”
At length, however, he allowed himself to be appeased by his son; so that he permitted the teacher, with his pupils, to constitute themselves his disciples.
66.
Jelāl one day addressed his son, saying: “Bahā’u-’d-Dīn, dost thou wish to love thy enemy, and to be loved of him? Speak well of him, and extol his virtues. He will then be thy friend; and for this reason: In like manner as there is a road open between the heart and the tongue, so also is there a way from the tongue to the heart. The love of God may be found by hearing His comely names. God hath said: ‘O My servants, take ye heed that ye often commemorate Me, so that sincerity may abound.’ The more that sincerity prevails, the more do the rays of the light of truth shine into the heart. The hotter a baker’s oven is, the more bread will it bake; if cool, it will not bake at all.”
67.
Sultan Veled, Bahā’u-’d-Dīn, is said to have recounted of his father, Jelāl, this saying: “A true disciple is he who holds his teacher to be superior to all others. So much so, that, for instance, a disciple of Bāyezīd of Bestām was once asked whether Bāyezīd or Abū-Hanīfa was the greater, and he replied that his teacher, Bāyezīd, was the greater. ‘Then,’ said the questioner, ‘is Bāyezīd the greater, or is Abū-Bekr?’ ‘My teacher is the greater.’ ‘Bāyezīd or Muhammed?’ ‘Bāyezīd.’ ‘Bāyezīd or God?’ ‘I only know my teacher; I know no other than him; and I know that he is greater than all others.’
“Another was asked the last question, and his reply was: ‘There is no difference between the two.’ A third was asked it also, and he replied: ‘It would require a greater one than either of the two to determine which of them is the greater.’
“As God does not walk in this world of sensible objects, the prophets are the substitutes of God. No, no! I am wrong! For if thou suppose that those substitutes and their principal are two different things, thou hast judged erroneously, not rightly.”