[226] The immolation of an animal in honor of the Eternal on the prescribed day is of canonical obligation: every Muselman, free, settled, and in easy circumstances, is bound to offer in sacrifice a sheep, an ox, or a camel. Several persons, to the number of seven, may associate for such a purpose. To this is added the distribution of alms to the poor, consisting of killing one or more animals, sheep, lambs, goats, to be dressed, a part of which is tasted by the sacrificer and his family, and the rest given to the poor. (Ibid., t. II. p. 425.)
[227] Fasting, with the Muhammedans, imposes an entire abstinence from all food whatever, and a perfect continence during the whole day from the first canonical hour of morning, which begins at day-break, until sunset. There are different sorts of fasts; canonical, satisfactory, expiatory, votive, and supererogatory. Each of them, although determined by different motives, requires, nevertheless, the same abstinence during the whole day.—(Ibid., t. III. p. 1).
[228] A possessor of velayet, a veli, “a saint,” according to Jámi (in the Lives of Súfís) is destined to serve as an instrument for manifesting the proof of prophetic mission. Extraordinary powers over all nature are ascribed to such a man. According to the Kashef ul mahjub, “the revelations of the veiled being,” composed by Shaikh Ali Osman Ben Ebil-Ali el Ghaznavi, there are four thousand saints in the world, walking separate from each other upon the ways of God. Among these, the first three hundred are called Akhyár, “the best;” the next four hundred are the Abdal, commonly called “Santons;” after them seven hundred Ebrar, “just men;” further, four hundred Awtad, “posts or stakes;” finally, three hundred Nukeba, “chosen.” According to the author of Futuhat-i-Mekkí, “the revelations of Mecca,” that is, Mahi-eddin Muhammed, before-mentioned (p. 334, [note 1]), there exist at any time seven Abdal, or Saints, who preside the seven terrestrial zones, or climates. Each of them, in his climate, corresponds to one of the seven prophets in the following order: Abraham, Moses, Aaron, Edris, Joseph, Jesus, and Adam, who reside as we have said (see pp. 186-89, notes [2.] [1.] [1.] [2.] [3.] [1.] [2.]) in so many heavenly spheres. To the said Abdal belong the Oweis, that is the great shaikhs, and pious men who, nourished in the prophet’s lap, are never tainted by age.
[229] The text has ملھمہ malhamah, which means “gluttonous, eager after any thing to excess;” if mulhim, it means “inspired.”
[230] The ecstatic conditions desired by the Súfís are attainable only in a perfect apathy, that is, in a cessation of all action of the corporeal organs and intellectual faculties.
[231] According to the Dict., Ferhengi Shuuri (vol. II p. 430, edit. of Constantinople) the seven heavens mentioned in these pages as habitations of the perfect are called Heft-aureng, “seven thrones” (a name commonly given to the seven stars of the Great Bear); they have seven colors, the highest is the black.
[232] فيوب الغيوب. Silvestre de Sacy translates it, la disparition de la disparition, “the disappearance of disappearance,” that is to say, perfect absorption. We have (pp. 238-9, [note 1]) met with the term hazeret, “presence,” which is a qualification either of attentive expectation, or perfect intuition; opposite to this we find ghaib, “absence, disappearance, evanescence:” this is a station attainable only to a vali, “saint,” by means of jamah, “union,” when he sees nothing else but God and his unity; this station coalesces with faná, “annihilation,” when his personal existence is withdrawn from his eyes, and he acquires baka, “eternal and sole life with and in God.”
[233] The word used in the original is تجلى tajelí, signifying here properly “a sudden burst upon the eyes, a transitory vision.” This word occurs, evidently with this meaning, in the following passage of Sâdi’s Gulistan, “Rose-garden,” (chap. II. tale 9), which at the same time elucidates the state of the Súfí above alluded to: “The vision (of God) which the pious enjoy, consists of manifestation and occultation; it shows itself, and vanishes from our looks,”—Verse. Thou showest thy countenance and thou concealest it. Thou enhancest thy value and sharpenest our fire. When I behold thee without an intervention, it affects me in such a manner that I lose my road. It kindles a flame, and then quenches it by sprinkling water; on which account you see me sometimes in ardent flames, sometimes immersed in the waves.
There are different sorts of تجليات tajelíat, “manifestations,” and whenever the mystic has attained the first degrees of such divine favors, he receives no more his subsistence but by supernatural ways.
[234] The bush from whence Moses heard the voice of God is mentioned in the Commentary upon the Koran in the following manner. Moses, travelling with his family from Midian to Egypt, came to the valley of Towa, situated near mount Sinai; his wife fell in labor and was delivered of a son, in a very dark and snowy night; he had also lost his way, and his cattle was scattered from him, when on a sudden he saw a fire by the side of a mountain, which on his nearer approach he found burning in a green bush. The Koran (chap. XX. vv. 9-14) says: “When he saw fire and said to his family: Tarry ye here, for I perceive fire: peradventure I may bring you a brand thereout, or may find a direction in our way by the fire. And when he was come near unto it, a voice called unto him, saying: O Moses! verily I am thy Lord: wherefore put off thy shoes: for thou art in the sacred valley Towa. And I have chosen thee: therefore hearken with attention unto that which is revealed unto thee. Verily I am God; there is no God beside me: wherefore worship me, and perform thy prayer in remembrance of me.”