Returning to the story of the sick man and the visit paid (to him) by the Prophet, God bless him and grant him peace!

2212 This visiting of the sick is for the sake of this (spiritual) attachments, and this attachment is pregnant with a hundred loving kindnesses.

2213 The peerless Prophet went to visit the sick man; he found that Companion at the last gasp.

2214 When you become far from the presence of the saints, you have in reality become far from God.

2215 Inasmuch as the result of parting from fellow-travellers is Literally, "one whose hand has been cut off."

2216 Hasten every moment to seek the shadow (protection) of (those) kings, that by means of that shadow you may become superior to the sun.

2217 If you have a journey (to make), go with this intention; and if it be (that you stay) at home, neglect not this.

How a certain Shaykh said to Báyazíd, “I am the Ka‘ba: perform a circumambulation round me.”

2218. Báyazíd, the Shaykh of the community, was hurrying to Mecca for the greater pilgrimage (hajj) and the lesser (‘umra).

2219. In every city to which he went he would at first make search after the venerable (saints).

2220. He would roam about, asking, “Who is there in the city that is relying on (spiritual) insight?”

2221. God has said, “Whithersoever thou goest in thy travels, thou must first seek after a (holy) man.”

2222. Go in quest of a treasure, for (worldly) profit and loss come second: regard them as the branch (not as the root).

2223. Whoever sows is in quest of wheat; the chaff comes to him indeed, (but only) secondarily.

2224. If you sow chaff, no wheat will come up: seek a man, seek a man, a man!

2225. When it is the season of pilgrimage, go in quest of the Ka‘ba; when you have gone (with that purpose), Mecca also will be seen.

2226. In the Mi‘ráj (Ascension of the Prophet) the quest was (for) vision of the Beloved; it was but secondarily that the empyrean and the angels were also shown.

Story.

2227. A novice one day built a new house; the Pír came (and) saw his house.

2228. The Shaykh said to his new disciple—he put to the test him that had good thoughts.

2229. “Wherefore hast thou made a window, O comrade?” Said he, “In order that light may come in by this way.”

2230. He (the Shaykh) said, “That is (only) the branch (secondary object); (thy) want (desire) must be this, (namely) that through this channel thou mayst hear the call to prayer.”

2231. Báyazíd, on his journey (to the Ka‘ba), sought much to find some one that was the Khizr of his time.

2232. He espied an old man with a stature (bent) like the new moon; he saw in him the majesty and (lofty) speech of (holy) men;

2233. His eyes sightless, and his heart (illumined) as the sun: like an elephant dreaming of Hindustán.

2234. With closed eyes, asleep, he beholds a hundred delights; when he opens (his eyes), he sees not those (delights)—oh, (’tis) wonderful!

2235. Many a wonder is made manifest in sleep: in sleep the heart becomes a window.

2236. One that is awake and dreams fair dreams, he is the knower (of God): smear your eyes with his dust.

2237. He (Báyazíd) sat down before him and asked about his condition; he found him to be a dervish and also a family man.

2238. He (the old man) said, “Whither art thou bound, O Báyazíd? To what place wouldst thou take the baggage of travel in a strange land?”

2239. Báyazíd answered, “I start for the Ka‘ba at daybreak.” “Eh,” cried the other, “what hast thou as provisions for the road?”

2240. “I have two hundred silver dirhems,” said he; “look, (they are) tied fast in the corner of my cloak.”

2241. He said, “Make a circuit round me seven times, and reckon this (to be) better than the circumambulation (of the Ka‘ba) in the pilgrimage;

2242. And lay those dirhems before me, O generous one. Know that thou hast made the greater pilgrimage and that thy desire has been achieved;

2243. (That) thou hast (also) performed the lesser pilgrimage and gained the life everlasting; (that) thou hast become pure (sáf) and sped up (the Hill of) Purity (Safá).

2244. By the truth of the Truth (God) whom thy soul hath seen, (I swear) that He hath chosen me above His House.

2245. Albeit the Ka‘ba is the House of His religious service, my form too, in which I was created, is the House of His inmost consciousness.

2246. Never since God made the Ka‘ba hath He gone into it, and none but the Living (God) hath ever gone into this House (of mine).

2247. When thou hast seen me, thou hast seen God: thou hast circled round the Ka‘ba of Sincerity.

2248. To serve me is to obey and glorify God: beware thou think not that God is separate from me.

2249. Open thine eyes well and look on me, that thou mayst behold the Light of God in man.”

2250. Báyazíd gave heed to those mystic sayings, and put them in his ear as a golden ring.

2251. Through him (the old man), Báyazíd came into an increase (of spiritual endowment): the adept at last attained unto the end.

How the Prophet God bless and save him!-perceived that the cause of that person's sickness was irreverence in prayer.

2252 When the Prophet saw the sick man, he dealt sweetly and tenderly with that familiar friend.

2253 He became alive when he saw the Prophet: you might say, that moment created him.

2254 He said, "Sickness has given me this good fortune, that this Sultan has come to my side at morn,

2255 So that health and well-being have accrued to me from the arrival of this King who is without retinue.

2256 O happy pain and sickness and fever! O blessed anguish and wakefulness in the night!

2257 Lo, in (my) old age God of His grace and bounty hath bestowed on me such a sickness and malady!

2258 He too hath given me pain in the back, so that every midnight I cannot help springing up quickly from sleep.

2259 In order that I may not slumber all night like a buffalo, God of His grace hath given me pains.

2260 Through this infirmity the mercy of Kings has been aroused, and Hell's threatening of me has been silenced."

2261 Pain is a treasure, for there are mercies in it: the kernel becomes fresh when you scrape off the rind.

2262 O brother, (to dwell in) a dark and cold place, to endure patiently sorrow and weakness and pain,

2263 Is the Fountain of Life and the cup of (spiritual) intoxication, for those heights are all in lowliness.

2264 That Spring is implied in autumn, and that autumn is (fulfilled) in the Spring: do not flee from it.

2269 The community said, "With whom shall we take counsel?" The prophets answered, "With intellect, (which is) the Imám (leader)."

2270 He (the questioner) said, "(But) if a child should come in, or a woman who has no judgement or clear understanding."

2271 "Take counsel with her,' said he (the prophet), "and do the contrary of what she bids (thee), and go thy way."

2274 If she bid you pray and fast-the fleshly soul is a great plotter, she will bring some plot against you to birth.

2275 (When you take) counsel with your fleshly soul concerning (your) actions-whatsoever she tells (you to do), the reverse of that is perfectly right.

2276 (If) you cannot cope with her and her contumacy, go to a friend and mix with him

How an inquirer managed to draw into conversation an eminent (saintly) man who had feigned to be mad.

2338. A certain man was saying, “I want some one of intelligence, (that) I may consult him about a difficulty.”

2339. One said to him, “In our city there is nobody of intelligence except yonder man who appears to be mad.

2340. Look, there is (one named) so-and-so: mounted on a cane, he rides (it as a cock-horse) amongst the children.

2341. He is possessed of judgment and (keen as) a spark of fire; he is as the sky in dignity, and as the stars in high estate.

2342. His glory has become the (rational) soul of the Cherubim; he has become concealed in this (feigned) madness.”

2383. Seek (that knowledge) from the man of heart; do not seek it from the inanimate, for (all other) people are inanimate beside (in comparison with) him.

2384. The seeker of counsel approached him (the saint who was feigning madness), saying, “O father who hast become (as) a child, tell (me) a secret.”

2385. He answered, “Begone from this door-ring, for this door is not open. Turn back: to-day is not the day for secrets.

2386. If the spatial had (any) access to the non-spatial, I should be (seated) on the bench, (giving instruction) like the Shaykhs (spiritual directors).”

How the Police Inspector summoned the man who had fallen dead-drunk (on the ground) to (go to) prison.

2387. The Inspector came at midnight to a certain place: he saw a man lying at the bottom of a wall.

2388. He cried, “Hey, you are drunk: tell (me), what have you been drinking?” Said the man, “I have drunk of this which is in the jar.”

2389. “Pray,” said he, “explain what is in the jar.” He replied, “Some of what I have drunk.” “(But),” said the Inspector, “this is hidden (from sight).”

2390. He asked (again), “What is it that you have drunk?” He rejoined, “That which is hidden in the jar.”

2391. These questions and answers were becoming a (vicious) circle. The Inspector was left (stuck) in the mud, like an ass.

2392. The Inspector said to him, “Come now, say ‘Ah’”; (but) the drunken man, at the moment of utterance, said “Hú, Hú.”

2393. “I told you to say ‘Ah’,” said he; “you are saying ‘Hú’.” “(Because) I am glad,” he replied, “while you are bent with grief.

2394. Ah’ is (uttered) on account of pain and grief and injustice; the ‘Hú, Hú’ of the wine-drinkers is from joy.”

2395. The Inspector said, “I know nothing about this. Get up, get up! Don't retail mystic lore, and leave off this wrangling.”

2396. “Go away,” said the man; “what have you to do with me?” “You are drunk,” the Inspector said. “Get up and come to prison.”

2397. Said the drunken man, “O Inspector, let me alone and go away. How is it possible to carry off pledges from one that is naked?

2398. If indeed I had had the power to walk, I should have gone to my house—and (then) how would this (affair between us) have occurred?

2399. Were I (still) possessed of understanding and of contingent (unreal) existence, I should be on the bench, (giving instruction) like the Shaykhs.”

How the inquirer, for the second time, drew that eminent (saint) into conversation, in order that his condition might be made better known (to the inquirer).

2400. That seeker said, “O thou mounted on the cane, pray, ride thy horse this way for one moment.”

2401. He rode towards him, crying, “Hark, say as quick as you can (what you want), for my horse is very restive and fierce- tempered.

2402. Be quick, lest he kick you: explain clearly what you are asking about.”

2403. He (the inquirer) saw no opportunity to tell his heart's secret: he at once made an evasion and drew him into jesting talk.

2404. He said, “I wish to marry a woman in this street: who is suitable for one like me?”

2405. “There are three kinds of women in the world,” said he: “two of those are a sorrow, and one is the soul's treasure.

2406. The first, when you marry her, is wholly yours; and the second is half yours and half separate (from you);

2407. And the third, know she is not yours at all. You have heard this. Away (with you)!—I start in a trice—

2408. Lest my horse let fly a kick at you, so that you fall and never rise up (again).”

2409. The Shaykh rode off amongst the children, (but) the young man shouted to him once more,

2410. “Come, prithee declare the exposition of this. Thou hast said that these women are of three kinds: pick (them) out.

2411. ”He rode towards him and said to him, “The virgin of your choice will be wholly yours, and you will gain freedom from sorrow;

2412. And she that is half yours is the (childless) widow; and she that is nothing (to you) is the married woman with a child:

2413. When she has a child by her first husband, her love and whole heart will go there.

2414. (Now) get away, lest my horse launch a kick, and the hoof of my restive horse land upon you.” 2415. The Shaykh gave a loud cry of jubilation and rode back: he again called the children to him.

2416. That inquirer shouted to him once more, “Come (hither), I have one question left, O sovereign king.”

2417. He rode back in this direction. “Say what it is,” he cried, “as quick as you can, for yonder child has enraptured my heart.”

2418. Said the other, “O king, with such intelligence and erudition (as thou hast), what dissimulation is this? What acting is this? Oh, ’tis a marvel!

2419. Thou transcendest the Universal Intellect in (thy power of) elucidation. Thou art a sun: how art thou hid in madness?”

2420. He replied, “These rascals are proposing to make me Cadi in this their city.

2421. I raised objections, (but) they said to me, ‘Nay, there is none so learned and accomplished as thou.

2422. Whilst thou art in existence, it is unlawful and wicked that any one inferior to thee should cite Prophetic Traditions in the office of Cadi.

2423. Permission is not (given) in the Law, that we should appoint one less than thee as (our) prince and leader.’

2424. By this necessity I was made distraught and mad (in appearance), but inwardly I am just the same as I was.

2425. My intelligence is the (hidden) treasure, and I am the ruin (which covers it); if I display the treasure, (then) I am mad (indeed).

2426. The (real) madman is he that has not gone mad, he that has seen this night patrol and has not gone home.

2427. My knowledge is substantial, not accidental; and this precious (thing) is not for (the purpose of gaining) every (worldly) interest.

2428. I am a mine of candy, I am a plantation of sugar-canes: it is growing from me, and at the same time I am eating (of it).

2429. Knowledge is conventional and acquired (not real), when he (its owner) laments because the hearer is averse to (hearing) it.

2430. Since it is (learned) as a bait (for popularity), not for the sake of (spiritual) enlightenment, he (the seeker of religious knowledge) is just as (bad) as the seeker of vile worldly knowledge;

2431. (For) he is seeking knowledge on account of the vulgar and the noble, not in order that he may win release from this world.

2432. Like a mouse, he has burrowed in every direction, since the light drove him (back) from the door (the entrance to the hole) and said, ‘Away!’

2434. If God give him wings, the wings of Wisdom, he will escape from mousiness and will fly like the birds;

2436. Dialectic knowledge, which is soulless, is in love with (eager for) the countenance of customers;

2437. (But) though it is robust at the time of disputation, it is dead and gone when it has no customer.

2438. My purchaser is God: He is drawing me aloft, for God hath purchased.

2439. My bloodwit (the reward of my self-sacrifice) is the beauty of the Glorious One: I enjoy my bloodwit (as) lawful earnings.

2440. Abandon these insolvent customers: what purchase can be made by a handful of (worthless) clay?

2441. Do not eat clay, do not buy clay, do not seek clay, because the eater of clay is always pale-faced.

2442. Eat your heart (in love of God), that you may be young always, (and that) your visage (may be rosy) with Divine illumination, like the arghawán.”

2443. O Lord, this gift is not (within) the compass of our work (achievement): verily, (the gift of) Thy grace is (not according to our work, but) according to Thy mysterious grace.

Conclusion of the admonishment given by the Prophet, God bless and save him, to the sick man.

2456 The Prophet said to the sick man, when he visited (his) suffering friend,

2457 "Maybe you have made a prayer of some (peculiar) sort, and from ignorance have (as it were) eaten some poisoned food.

2458 Bring to mind what (sort of) a prayer you said when you were being vexed by the guile of the fleshly soul.

2459 "He answered, "I do not remember; but direct a (spiritual) influence towards me, and it (the prayer) will come to my memory in a moment."

2460 Through the light-giving presence of Mustafá (Mohammed), that prayer came into his mind;

2462 Through the window which is between heart and heart flashed the light that separates truth and falsehood.

2463 He said, "Look now, I have remembered, O Prophet, the prayer which I, impertinent fool, spoke.

2464 When I was being caught in (the toils(therein) was. clutching at straws of sin, and drowning

2465 (Whilst) there was coming from thee to sinners a threat and menace of punishment exceedingly severe.

2466 (And) I was becoming agitated, and there was no help (for me), (since) there were chains made fast and a lock not (to be) opened:

2467 Neither room for patience nor means of flight, neither hope of repenting nor opportunity for rebelling.

2468 I, like Hárút and Márút, was crying in sorrow, 'Alas!' and saying, 'O my Creator!"

2469 Because of the dangers (of the Last Judgement) Hárút and Márút openly chose the pit of Babylon,

2470 So that they might suffer here (in this world) the punishment of the world to come; and they are cunning and intelligent and magician like.

2471 They acted well, and 'twas fitly done: the pain of smoke is lighter than (that of) fire.

2472 The pain of that (future) world is beyond description; light is the pain of this world beside it.

2475 "I was saying, 'O Lord, quickly inflict on me in this world that punishment,

2476 So that I may have exemption (from it) in yonder world.' About such like a request was I knocking at the door¹.

2477 (Thereupon) such a (painful) sickness as this appeared in me: through pain my soul was deprived of rest.

2478 I have been left without power to perform my dhikr (com- memoration of God) and litanies: I have become unconscious of myself and of (all) good and ill.

2479 If I had not now beheld thy face, O thou whose scent is fortunate and blessed,

2480 I should have passed altogether from the bondage (of this life). Thou in kingly fashion hast bestowed on me this sympathy."

2481 Said the Prophet, "Hey! do not offer this prayer again: do not dig yourself up from root and base.

2482 What strength have you, O wretched ant, to endure that He should lay on you such a lofty mountain?"

2483 He answered, "O Sultan, I repent (and vow) that in no wise will I (henceforth) brag recklessly.

2485 We are wayfaring for years, and at the end we are still held captive in the first stage (of the journey).

2486 If the heart of Moses were pleased with us, there would be shown (to us) the way through the Desert and the (farthest) border (thereof);

How the Prophet, God bless and save him, gave injunctions to the sick man and taught him to pray.

2551 The Prophet said to the sick man: "Say thus:-'O Thou that makest easy that which is hard,

2552 Give good unto us in our present abode, and give good unto us in our future abode!

2553 Make the way agreeable to us as a garden: Thou indeed, O Glorious One, art our goal."

2594 Learn such a trade that hereafter the earning of God's forgiveness may come in as revenue (to thee).

2595 Yonder world is a city full of trafficking and earning: think 2595 not that the earnings here (in this world) are a sufficiency.

2596 The high God hath said that beside those (the next world's) earnings these earnings in the (present) world are (but) children's play-

2597 As a child that embraces another child modo coitum facientis contactum facit;