As long as a hair of thee remains upon its place,
Know, by this one hair, thy foot remains fettered.
As long as thou playest not at once thy life,
I shall consider thee as polluted and impious.”
* Why dost thou not thyself produce revelation, so that thou mayest always be illuminated? *[258]
As this question, solved in this manner by me, humble individual, was very abstruse, I sent it to my friends, that, if there were occasion for further discussion, they might write to me, and thus the matter be better elucidated. God alone is all-sufficient; the rest is inordinate desire. What has been hitherto said is taken from the prince of the world (Dara sheko).
It should be known that, in the work Merás ed al ânáyet, “Observations upon the blessed favor,” is stated, that the sect, which in their (exalted) feeling[259] conquer the state of jazbet,[260] jamâ va vahedet, “attraction, union, and unity,” have acquired, by means of the superiority of the manifest name (the quality of) exterior deity, and interior and hidden creation. This sect is called, in the language of the Súfis, saheban-i-kereb[261] -i-feráis, “the masters of proximity to divine “precepts,” and this proximity is acknowledged to be that of divine precepts. This sect, which, on account of the proper meaning of the name of al báten, “interior,” may be brought into relation with expansive creation and hidden reality, this sect after jamâ, “union,” obtains ferk, “division,”[262] and this is called kereb-i-naváfil, “proximity of supererogation.” The lord Shaikh Muhammed Láheji states that jamâ, “union,” is contrary to ferk, “division;” and division is the veil of God before the creatures. Every one sees the creation, but acknowledges God to be without it; every one has the sight of God by means of the creation, that is, every one sees God, but the creation by itself affords no access to the sight of him.
Besides, the Mariyam of the world, the Fátima of the time and ages, the purity of human kind, the protecting intelligence, Jehán ára “the ornament of the world,” the begum, the lady, the daughter of Abu ’l Muzafer Shíhábu ’d dín Muhammed sáhib-Kirán sání Amir ul muslemin sháh Jehán pádsháh ghází, “the victorious lord, the bright star of religion, Muhammed, a second Sáhib Kírán, the Amir of the believers,” Shah Jehan, the conquering emperor, having secretly followed, by the desire of her heart, the injunctions of the blessed Mullá shah, turned her face to the right rule, and attained her wish, the full knowledge of God. One of the wonderful speeches of this blessed and exalted personage, whom the author of this book knew, is the following: In the year of the Hejira 1057 (A. D. 1647) Mulla shah came to the house of a friend in Hyderábád. One of the persons present, by way of reproving allusion, began to ask questions about the hurt which the begum of the lord received by fire. The teacher of morality said to him: “A slight garment imbibed with oil, when it takes fire, is easily burnt;” in such a manner came the misfortune upon the most pure form of her majesty. This person laughed and continued to revile. By accident, somebody came from the house of this person and said: “What, art thou sitting here, whilst thy sister is burnt, because fire fell upon her garment.” The master observed: “In such a manner, I said, befell misfortune on the illustrious princess; God has shown it to thee.”
“The lamp which God has lighted,
Whoever blows it out burns his beard.”