The light of God no converse has in being’s bound;
By converse, then, man has not its distinction found.
Our eyes cannot distinguish God, decidedly;
Though He distinguish Moses and the Mount from thee.—
The doctrine, which Jelal was most emphatic about was the extinguishment of Self, and his teachings are quite characteristic for him, though the general doctrine is a common one among the Sufis. He argues for simplicity. He tells us a story about a dispute between Chinamen and Greeks before the Sultan, as to who is the more skilful of the two nations, in the art of decoration. The Chinese ask for and get thousands of colours and work hard, while the Greeks ask for no color; they only polish their front,
“Effacing every hue with nicest care,”
and when the Sultan came to examine the relative merit of Chinese gorgeousness and Greek simplicity,
“Down glides a sunbeam through the rifted clouds,
And, lo the colours of that rainbow house
Shine, all reflected on those glassy walls