Original content

English translation

The prophets said within their hearts: "How long shall we give sermon and counsel to this one and that? How long shall we beat cold iron of waywardness, blowing into a cage — hark, until when? The movement of the people is from qaḍā and the promise; the sharpness of the teeth comes from the burning of the stomach. The first breath drives on the second; fish rots from the head, not from the tail. But still, know this and drive the donkey straight as an arrow; since the Ḥaqq said 'Convey,' it has become unavoidable. You do not know which of these two you are; strive until you see what you are. When you place cargo upon the back of a ship, you perform that work through tawakkul. You do not know which of the two you are — drowned in the voyage, or one who is saved. If you say: 'Until I know who I am, I will not rush into ship and sea — Am I in this path one who is saved or one who drowns? Reveal to me from which group I am; I will not travel this path on mere conjecture, on dry hope like the others' — No commerce will come from you, for the secret of these two faces lies in the Ghayb. The merchant fearful by nature, glass-souled, in seeking has neither profit nor loss — nay, he suffers loss, for he is deprived and degraded; light is gained by one who feeds on flame. Since all affairs rest on 'perhaps,' the work of religion is most worthy — from it you find release. Here there is no leave to knock at the door except through hope — Allāhu aʿlam bi'l-ṣawāb.