Behold what fair and goodly sights they seem;
One glimpse I gave them of my glorious face,
And lo! ‘tis now the universal theme.
(E. H. Palmer, Orient. Myst.).
Recognise the mark of Deity in every place, and never place the foot without its own limit. The world is the image of the Godhead.—(Buslami.)
RABIA LEGENDS.
—The widow Rabia[56] is reported having said “an interior wound consumes my heart; it can only be cured by communion with a friend.[57] I shall remain sick till the day of judgment when I shall reach my end.”—
—It is told of Rabia, that once when requested to marry, she answered: My being has for a long time been in marital communion; hence I say that my ego is long ago lost in itself and arisen again in Him (in God); since then I am entirely in His power, yea, I am He. He, who would ask me for a bride, would ask me, not from myself, but from Him (God). Hassan Basri (a famous Mohamedan Theologian) asked her how she had reached this state. She answered: In this way, everything which I had found I lost again in Him (God). When questioned as to by which mode she knew Him, she made answer: O, Hassan, you know Him by certain methods and means, I know Him without modes and means.—
—Ibn Chali Kan tells about Rabia that she often in the middle of the night went up upon the roof and in her loneness cried out: O, my God! Now is silenced the noise of the day, and the lover enjoys the night with the beloved, but I enjoy myself in my loneness with Thee; Thou art my true lover.—