Original content

English translation

Praise be to the holy Creator of the soul, He who gave soul and faith to the dust. He laid the foundation of the Throne upon water; He cast the life of the dwellers of dust to the wind. He held the heavens in supremacy; He kept the earth in extreme lowliness. To the former He gave perpetual motion; and to the latter He granted permanent rest. He erected the sky like a tent, made it pillarless, and established the earth as its place. In six days He brought forth the seven stars; and from two letters He produced the nine domes. He made the beads of the stars from a golden casket; and each night He played with the heavens in the casket. He made the trap of the body of various states; and He set the dust in pursuit of the bird of the soul. He left the ocean in submission to Himself; He made the mountain frozen from fear of Him. He kept the lips of the ocean dry with thirst; He turned stone into ruby and blood into musk. He manifested the spirit in its pure form; He performed all this work from a handful of dust. He brought the rebellious intellect under the command of the divine law; He made the body alive with the soul, and the soul alive with faith. He gave the mountain both a sword and a belt, so that it raised its head in His command. Sometimes He gathered roses in the midst of fire; sometimes He built a bridge over the sea. He set a half-gnat upon His enemy, and kept it on his head for four hundred years. Through His wisdom, He gave a spider a web, and in it He gave peace to the leader of the world. He girded the waist of an ant like a strand of hair, and set it in league with Solomon. He bestowed the robe of honor of the descendants of Abbas upon it, and granted it 'Ta' and 'Sin' without the trouble of a bowl. The leaders who came as guides of the path, came time and again for the sake of this. They found their souls to be the very essence of bewilderment; alongside their souls they found only helplessness and regret. Look first at what He did to Adam; what He did to him for ages in that mourning. Look again at Noah, engulfed in his task, and what he endured from the infidels for a thousand years. Look again at Abraham, the beloved of heart, whose home became the catapult and the fire. Look again at Ishmael, mourning, whose ram was sacrificed in the alley of the Beloved. Look again at the bewildered Jacob, who lost his eyes in the expectation of his son. Look again at Joseph in judgement; servitude, the well, and prison falling upon his head. Look again at the long-suffering Job, left to the worms and wolves at his door. Look again at Jonah, who lost his way, going from the moon to the fish for a time. Look again at Moses from the beginning of his time; Pharaoh was his nurse, and a wooden chest was his cradle. Look again at David the armor-maker, who softened iron like wax from the heat of his breast. Look again at the sovereign Solomon, how his kingdom went to the wind when the demon seized it. Look again at the one whose heart boiled with passion; the saw was placed on his head, yet he did not breathe a word and remained silent. Look again at John before the gathering, his head severed in a basin, burning like a candle. Look again at Jesus who, from the foot of the gallows, fled from the Jews several times. Look again to see what cruelty and suffering the chief of the prophets endured from the infidels. Do you think that this is easy? Rather, the least thing is to give up one's life. How long shall I speak when no words are left to me? If there was a rose I plucked from the branch, none remains. I have been slain by bewilderment all at once; I know of no remedy except helplessness. O Lord, in Thy path intellect is but a suckling babe; and the aged wisdom is lost in seeking Thee. How then can I reach such an Essence? From my own presumption, how can I reach the Holy One? Neither do You enter into knowledge nor into sight; nor is there any loss or gain to You from profit and loss. No benefit ever reaches You from Moses, nor does any harm come to You from Pharaoh. O infinite God! Who is there besides You? Since You are limitless and endless, what exists besides You? Since nothing from infinity, without a doubt, can ever come to an end, where does the One remain? O You, while a world of creation remains bewildered, You remain hidden beneath the veil. Lift the veil at last and burn not my soul; do not burn me any longer, hidden behind the veil. Suddenly I was lost in the ocean of bewilderment; rescue me from all this wandering. I have remained like a vessel in the midst of the sea; and I have been left outside the inner veil. Bring Your servant out of this unfamiliar ocean; You cast me into it, and You must also pull me out. My carnal self has seized me from head to foot; if You do not hold my hand, woe unto me! My soul is polluted by vanity; I have no tolerance for pollution. Either cleanse me of this pollution, or else draw me in my own blood and turn me to dust. People fear You, but I fear myself; for I have seen only good from You, and only evil from myself. I am a corpse walking upon the earth; revive my soul, O holy Giver of life. Believer and infidel alike are stained with blood; they are either completely bewildered or have turned away. If You call them, it is bewilderment; and if You reject them, it is turning away. O King! My heart is stained with blood; from head to toe, I am wandering like the heavens. You have said: 'I am with you day and night; do not be free from seeking for a single breath.' Since we are neighbors in this manner, You are like the sun and we are like shadows. What would it be, O Giver of the poor, if You were to safeguard the rights of the neighbors? With a heart full of pain and a soul full of regret, I shed tears like a cloud out of longing for You. If I express my regret to You, I shall be lost; how long must I seek You? Be my guide, for I have come lost; grant me fortune, even though I have come late. Whoever found fortune as a friend in Your lane, became lost in You and weary of himself. I am not hopeless, yet I am restless; perhaps one in a hundred thousand will find favor.