In Section 50 of *Golshan-e Raz*, Mahmud Shabestari explains why Sufis employ sensory metaphors like the 'curl' (*zulf*), 'cheek' (*rukh*), and 'mole' (*khal*) to describe spiritual realities. Because language was initially created to describe the physical world, it is inherently limited and cannot fully capture infinite, formless spiritual meanings. Therefore, the 'people of heart' (Sufis) are compelled to use sensible forms as analogies for divine attributes, such as using the cheek and curl to represent God's Beauty/Grace (*Jamal*/*Lutf*) and Majesty/Wrath (*Jalal*/*Qahr*), asserting that the material world is merely a reflection of the spiritual realm.

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## Original content
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هر آن چیزی که در عالم عیان است 
چو عکسی ز آفتاب آن جهان است
جهان چون زلف و خط و خال و ابروست 
که هر چیزی به جای خویش نیکوست
تجلی گه جمال و گه جلال است 
رخ و زلف آن معانی را مثال است
صفات حق تعالی لطف و قهر است 
رخ و زلف بتان را زان دو بهر است
چو محسوس آمد این الفاظ مسموع 
نخست از بهر محسوس است موضوع
ندارد عالم معنی نهایت 
کجا بیند مر او را لفظ غایت
هر آن معنی که شد از ذوق پیدا 
کجا تعبیر لفظی یابد او را
چو اهل دل کند تفسیر معنی 
به مانندی کند تعبیر معنی
که محسوسات از آن عالم چو سایه است 
که این چون طفل و آن مانند دایه است
به نزد من خود الفاظ مأول 
بر آن معنی فتاد از وضع اول
به محسوسات خاص از عرف عام است 
چه داند عام کان معنی کدام است
نظر چون در جهان عقل کردند 
از آنجا لفظها را نقل کردند
تناسب را رعایت کرد عاقل 
چو سوی لفظ معنی گشت نازل
ولی تشبیه کلی نیست ممکن 
ز جست و جوی آن می باش ساکن
بدین معنی کسی را بر تو دق نیست 
که صاحب مذهب اینجا غیر حق نیست
ولی تا با خودی زنهار زنهار 
عبارات شریعت را نگه دار
که رخصت اهل دل را در سه حال است 
فنا و سکر و آن دیگر دلال است
هر آن کس کو شناسد این سه حالت 
بداند وضع الفاظ و دلالت
تو را گر نیست احوال مواجید 
مشو کافر ز نادانی به تقلید
مجازی نیست احوال حقیقت 
نه هر کس یابد اسرار طریقت
گزاف ای دوست ناید ز اهل تحقیق 
مر این را کشف باید یا که تصدیق
بگفتم وضع الفاظ و معانی 
تو را سربسته گر خواهی بدانی
نظر کن در معانی سوی غایت 
لوازم را یکایک کن رعایت
به وجه خاص از آن تشبیه می کن 
ز دیگر وجه ها تنزیه می کن
چو شد این قاعده یک سر مقرر 
نمایم زان مثالی چند دیگر

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## English translation
Whatever is apparent in this world,
Is like a reflection from the sun of that world.
The world is like [the beloved's] curl, down, mole, and eyebrow,
For everything is good in its own place.
The manifestation is sometimes beauty and sometimes majesty;
The cheek and the curl are examples of those meanings.
The attributes of God Almighty are grace and wrath;
The cheek and the curl of the beloveds have their share from these two.
Since these heard words are sensory,
They were first coined for the sensory.
The world of meaning has no end;
Where can a word find its limit?
Every meaning that is born of spiritual taste,
How can it find a verbal expression?
When the people of heart interpret meaning,
They express meaning by way of comparison.
For the sensory things are like shadows of that world;
This is like a child and that is like a nurse.
In my view, these interpreted words
Were actually applied to those meanings in their primary designation.
Their restriction to specific sensory things is by common usage;
What does the commoner know of what that meaning is?
When they looked into the world of intellect,
They transferred the words from there.
The wise person observed proportion
When meaning descended toward the word.
But complete comparison is not possible;
Be quiet and cease searching for it.
In this matter, no one has any objection to you,
For there is no master of doctrine here other than the Truth.
But as long as you are with yourself, beware, beware!
Guard the expressions of the Shariah.
For permission is given to the people of heart in three states:
Annihilation, intoxication, and the third is intimacy.
Whoever knows these three states
Knows the designation of words and their signification.
If you do not possess the states of ecstasy,
Do not become an infidel out of ignorance through blind imitation.
The states of truth are not metaphorical;
Not everyone finds the secrets of the spiritual path.
Idle talk, my friend, does not come from the people of verification;
This requires either unveiling or confirmation.
I have told you the coining of words and meanings,
In a sealed way, if you wish to know.
Look toward the end in meanings,
And observe the implications one by one.
Compare them in a specific aspect,
And declare them transcendent in other aspects.
Since this rule has been established completely,
I will show some other examples of it.

بخش ۵۰ - جواب / Section 50 - Answer

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Ganjoor

Shabestari's Justification for Sufi Metaphorical Language

## Original content
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نگر کز چشم شاهد چیست پیدا 
رعایت کن لوازم را بدینجا
ز چشمش خاست بیماری و مستی 
ز لعلش گشت پیدا عین هستی
ز چشم اوست دلها مست و مخمور 
ز لعل اوست جانها جمله مستور
ز چشم او همه دلها جگرخوار 
لب لعلش شفای جان بیمار
به چشمش گرچه عالم در نیاید 
لبش هر ساعتی لطفی نماید
دمی از مردمی دلها نوازد 
دمی بیچارگان را چاره سازد
به شوخی جان دمد در آب و در خاک 
به دم دادن زند آتش بر افلاک
از او هر غمزه دام و دانه ای شد 
وز او هر گوشه ای میخانه ای شد
ز غمزه می دهد هستی به غارت 
به بوسه می کند بازش عمارت
ز چشمش خون ما در جوش دائم 
ز لعلش جان ما مدهوش دائم
به غمزه چشم او دل می رباید 
به عشوه لعل او جان می فزاید
چو از چشم و لبش جویی کناری 
مر این گوید که نه آن گوید آری
ز غمزه عالمی را کار سازد 
به بوسه هر زمان جان می نوازد
از او یک غمزه و جان دادن از ما 
وز او یک بوسه و استادن از ما
ز «لمح بالبصر» شد حشر عالم 
ز نفخ روح پیدا گشت آدم
چو از چشم و لبش اندیشه کردند 
جهانی می پرستی پیشه کردند
نیاید در دو چشمش جمله هستی 
در او چون آید آخر خواب و مستی
وجود ما همه مستی است یا خواب 
چه نسبت خاک را با رب ارباب
خرد دارد از این صد گونه اشگفت 
که «ولتصنع علی عینی» چرا گفت

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## English translation
Look at what is revealed from the eye of the Beloved;
Observe the necessary requirements in this place.
From His eye arose illness and intoxication;
From His ruby lip became manifest the essence of existence.
From His eye, hearts are intoxicated and languishing;
From His ruby lip, souls are all concealed.
From His eye, all hearts are consuming their own livers;
His ruby lip is the healing of the sick soul.
Although the world does not enter His eye,
His lip shows grace at every moment.
At one moment, with humanity, He caresses hearts;
At another, He provides a remedy for the helpless.
Playfully, He breathes life into water and dust;
By breathing, He sets fire to the heavens.
From Him, every glance became a snare and a bait;
From Him, every corner became a tavern.
With a glance, He plunders existence;
With a kiss, He builds it up again.
From His eye, our blood is constantly in ferment;
From His ruby lip, our soul is ever unconscious.
With a glance, His eye steals the heart;
With coquetry, His ruby lip increases the soul.
When you seek a limit from His eye and lip,
This one says 'No', and that one says 'Yes'.
With a glance, He manages the affairs of a world;
With a kiss, He caresses the soul at all times.
From Him a single glance, and from us the giving of life;
From Him a single kiss, and from us standing firm.
By the 'glance of the eye', the resurrection of the world occurred;
By the 'breathing of the soul', Adam became manifest.
When they contemplated His eye and lip,
A whole world took to worshipping wine.
All existence does not enter His two eyes;
How then can sleep and intoxication enter therein?
Our existence is all intoxication or a dream;
What relation has dust to the Lord of Lords?
Intellect has a hundred kinds of wonder at this:
Why did He say, 'And that you might be brought up under My eye'?

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