Story of Bilqís sending a gift from the city of Saba to Solomon.

(563) - The gift of Bilqís was forty mules: their whole load consisted of bricks of gold.

(564) - When he reached the open plain, belonging to Solomon, he saw that its carpet was entirely of solid gold.

(565) - He rode on gold for the distance of forty stages, till gold had no more esteem in his sight.

(566) - Times they said, “Let us take the gold back to the treasury: what a quest are we in !

(567) - A spacious land of which the soil is pure gold— to bring gold thither as a gift is folly.”

(568) - O you who have brought intelligence to God as a gift, there intelligence is less than the dust of the road.

(569) - When the worthlessness of the gift became apparent there, shamefacedness was drawing them back;

(570) - Again they said, “Whether it is worthless or valuable, what matter to us ? We are slaves to the command.

(571) - Whether we have to bring gold or earth, the command of the one who gives the command is to be executed.

(572) - If they command you to bring it back, take the gift back according to the command.”

(573) - When Solomon beheld that, he laughed, saying, “When did I seek broken bread (tharid) from you ?

(574) - I do not bid you bestow gifts on me; nay, I bid you be worthy of the gifts;

(575) - For I have rare gifts from the Unseen, which human beings dare not even ask for.

The miraculous gifts and illumination of Shaykh ‘Abdullah Maghribi, may God sanctify his spirit.

(598) - Shaykh ‘Abdullah Maghribi said, “During sixty years I never perceived in night the quality of night.

(599) - During sixty years I never experienced any darkness, neither by day nor by night nor from infirmity.”

(600) - The Sufis declared his words to be true: “During the night we would follow him.

(601) - Into deserts filled with thorns and ditches, he going in front of us like the full moon.

(602) - Without looking behind him, he would say, at night-time, ‘Listen ! Here is a ditch: turn to the left !’

(603) - Then, after a little while, he would say, ‘Turn to the right, because a thorn is before your feet.’

(604) - Day would break: we would come to kiss his foot, and his foot would be like the feet of a bride,

(605) - No trace of earth or mud on it, not a scratch from thorns or bruise from stones.”

(606) - God made the Maghribi a Mashriqí : He made the place of sunset light-producing like the place of sunrise.

(607) - The light of this one who belongs to the Sun of suns is riding : by day he is guarding high and low.

(608) - How should that glorious light, which brings thousands of suns into view, not be a guardian ?

(609) - By his light do you walk always in safety amidst dragons and scorpions.

(610) - That holy light is going in front of you and tearing every highwayman to pieces.

(611) - Know rightly on the Day when He will not put the Prophet to shame; read light shall run before them.

(612) - Although that will be increased at the Resurrection, beg of God trial here;

(613) - For He bestows spiritual light both on cloud and mist, and God best knows how to impart.

How Solomon, bade the envoys of Bilqis return to her with the gifts which they had brought; and how he called Bilqis to the Faith and to abandon sun-worship.

(614) - "O shamefaced envoys turn back ! The gold is yours: bring unto me the heart, the heart !

(615) - Lay this gold of mine on the top of that gold: tie all the gold to a mule’s vulva.”

(649) - "I, Solomon, do not desire your kingdom; nay, but I will deliver you from every destruction;

How Solomon, showed affection and kindness to the envoys and removed resentment and injury from their hearts and explained to them the reason for declining the gift.

(653) - O envoys, I will send you as envoys: my refusal is better for you than acceptance.

(654) - Relate to Bilqis what marvellous things you have seen concerning the desert of gold,

(655) - That she may know we do not covet gold: we have gotten gold from the gold-Creator,

(656) - At whose will the whole earth’s soil from end to end would become gold and precious pearls.”

(657) - On that account, O you who choose gold, God will make this earth silver on the Day of Resurrection.

(658) - We have no need of gold, for we are very skilful: we make earthly beings entirely golden.

(659) - How shall we beg gold of you? We make you alchemists.

(660) - Abandon that, if it is the kingdom of Saba, for beyond water and earth there are many kingdoms.”

(661) - That which you have called a throne is a splint- bandage: you deem the seat of honour, but you have remained at the door.

(665) - But the savour of a single prostration before God will be sweeter to you than two hundred empires :

(666) - Then you will cry, “I desire not kingdoms: commit unto me the kingdom of that prostration.”

(672) - Sovereignty and gold will not accompany your spirit on its journey: give your gold away, get eye salve for your sight,

(673) - In order that you may see that this world is a narrow well, and that, like Joseph, you may grasp that rope,

(674) - So that, when you come from the well to the roof, the Soul will say, “Oh, good news for me! This is a youth for me.

(677) - His gnostics have become alchemists, so that mines have become worthless in their eyes.

How Solomon, urged the envoys to hasten the emigration of Bilqis for the Faith’s sake.

(718) - Even as in warfare King Solomon drew the cavalry and foot-soldiers of Bilqis,

(719)- Saying, “O honoured men, come quickly, quickly, for the waves have risen from the sea of bounty.

(720) - At every moment the surge of its waves is scattering shoreward a hundred pearls without danger.

(721) - We cry welcome, O people of righteousness, for now Rizwan (doorkeeper) has opened the gate of Paradise.”

(722) - Then Solomon said, “O couriers, go to Bilqis and believe in this Religion.

(723) - Then bid her come hither with all speed, for truly God invites to the peace.” Listen, come speedily,

(724) - O seeker of happiness, for now is manifestations and the opening of the door.

(725) - O you who are not a seeker, come you also, that you may gain seeking from this faithful Friend.

(762) - Nas is Man, and where is Manhood ? You have never seen the head of Man: you are a tail.

(763) - You have recited you "didst not throw when you threw" but you are a body: you have remained in division. Like Bilqís,

(764) - O foolish one, abandon the kingdom of your body for the sake of the prophet Solomon.

(797) - Since He is the Soul of the soul of everything, how is it a light matter to be hostile to the Soul of the soul ?

(804) - You stop at every form that you come to, saying, “I am this.” By God, you are not that.

(807) - You are your own bird your own prey, and your own snare; you are your own seat of honour, your own floor, and your own roof.

(810) - What is in the jar that is not in the river ? What is in the house that is not in the city ?

(811) - This world is the jar, and the heart is like the river; this world is the chamber, and the heart is the wonderful city.

The rest of the story of the people of Saba, and of the admonition and guidance given by Solomon, on whom be peace, to the kinsfolk of Bilqis—to everyone suitable to his religious and spiritual difficulties; and how he caught each sort of conceptional bird with the whistle and bait proper for that sort of bird.

(846) - The bodies met the day of their union: the children turned again in the direction of their home.

(847) - Amongst the communities the community of secret Love is like a liberality surrounded by the meanness of distemper.

(848) - The baseness of spirits is from their bodies; the nobility of bodies is from their spirits.

(849) - O lovers, the draught is given to you. You are the everlasting: everlastingness is bestowed on you.

(850) - O you that are forgetful arise and love! That is the wind of Joseph: smell !

(851) - Come, O bird-speech of Solomon, sing the song of every bird that comes.

(852) - Since God has sent you to the birds, He has instructed you in the note of every bird.

(853) - To the necessitarian bird speak the language of necessitarianism; to the bird whose wings are broken speak of patience.

(854) - Keep the patient bird happy and free from harm; to the bird ‘Anqa recite the descriptions of Mount Qaf.

(855) - Bid the pigeon to beware of the falcon; to the falcon speak of forbearance and being on its guard.

(856) - And as for the bat that is left destitute (of spiritual illumination), make it to consort and to be familiar with the Light.

(857) - Cause the warlike partridge to learn peace; to the cocks display the signs of dawn.

(858) - Even so proceed from the hoopoe to the eagle, and show the way. And God best knows the right course.

How Bilqis was freed from her kingdom and was intoxicated with longing for the Faith, and how at the moment of her emigration the regard of her desire became severed from the whole of her kingdom except from her throne.

(859) - When Solomon uttered a single whistling note to the birds of Saba he ensnared them all,

(860) - Except, maybe, the bird that was without spirit or wings, or was dumb and deaf, like a fish, from the beginning.

(862) - When Bilqis set out with heart and soul, she felt remorse too for the bygone time,

(863) - She took leave of her kingdom and riches in the same way as those lovers take leave of honour and disgrace.

(864) - Those charming pages and handmaidens to her eye as a rotten onion.

(865) - For love’s sake, orchards and palaces and river-water seemed to her eye a dunghill.

(867) - Love’s jealousy causes every emerald to appear as a leek: this is the meaning of "La".

(869) - No wealth, no treasury, and no goods or gear were being grudged by her except her throne.

(870) - Then Solomon became aware of her heart, for the way was open from his heart to hers.

(871) - He that hears the voice of ants will also hear the cry from the inmost soul of them that are afar.

(872) - He that declares the mystery of “an ant said ” will also know the mystery of this ancient dome.

(873) - From afar he discerned that to her who was following the path of resignation it was bitter to part with her throne.

(878) - There was no possibility of transporting the throne because of its hugeness which exceeded bounds.

(879) - It was filigree work, and there was danger in taking it to pieces, like the limbs of the body with one another.

(880) - Therefore Solomon said, “Although in the end the diadem and throne will become chilling to her”

(881) - When the spirit puts forth its head from the Unity, in comparison with its splendour the body has no splendour;

(882) - When the pearl comes up from the depths of the seas, you will look with contempt on the foam and sticks and straws.

(883) - The flaming sun lifts up its head, who will make Scorpio’s tail his resting-place ?

(884) - "Yet, notwithstanding all this, in the actual case transporting her throne must be sought,

(885) - In order that she may not feel hurt at the time of meeting, and that her wish may be fulfilled, like children.

(886) - It is lightly esteemed by me, but it is exceedingly dear to her: that the devil too may be at the table of the houris.

(887) - That throne of delight will become a lesson to her soul, like the frock and shoes in the presence of Ayaz.

(888) - So that the afflicted one may know in what she was and from what places to what a place she has arrived.”

How Solomon, devised a plan for bringing the throne of Bilqis from Saba.

(904) - Asaf said, “By means of the greatest Name I will bring it here into your presence in a single moment.”

(905) - Though the Demon was a master of magic, yet that was displayed by the breath of Asaf.

(906) - The throne of Bilqis came into the presence instantly, but through Maf (Asaf), not through the art of them that have the nature of Demons.

(907) - He said, “Praise to God for this and a hundred such which I have seen from the Lord of created beings.”

(908) - Then Solomon turned his eyes towards the throne. “Yes,” he said, “you are one that catches fools, O tree!”

(909) - Oh, many are the fools that lay down their heads before wood and graven stone.

The rest of the story of Mercy’s calling Bilqis.

(1041) - "Arise, O Bilqis ! Come and behold the Kingdom ! Gather pearls on the shore of God’s Sea !

(1042) - Your sisters are dwelling in the glorious Heaven: why do you behave like a sultan on account of a carcass ?

(1043) - Do you know at all what noble gifts that Sultan gave to your sisters ?

(1044) - How did you jubilantly take drummers, proclaiming, ‘I am queen and mistress of the bath-stove’ ?

(1096) - O Bilqís, arise now with free-will, before Death appears in his sovereign might.

(1097) - After that, Death will pull your ear in such wise that you will come in agony, like a thief to the magistrate.

(1098) - How long will you be stealing shoes from these asses ? If you are going to steal, come and steal a ruby !

(1099) - Your sisters have gained the kingdom of everlasting life; you have won the kingdom of misery.

(1100) - Oh, happy he that escaped from this kingdom, for Death makes this kingdom desolate.

(1101) - Arise, O Bilqís! Come; behold for once the kingdom of the Shahs and Sultans of the Religion.

(1103) - The garden is going with him wherever he goes, but it is being concealed from the people.

(1104) - The fruit is making entreaty, saying, “Eat me”; the Water of Life is come, saying, and “Drink me.”

(1105) - Make a circuit of heaven without wing and pinion, like the sun and like the full-moon and like the new moon.

(1106) - You will be moving, like the spirit, and no foot; you will be eating a hundred dainties, and none chewing a morsel.

(1108) - You will be sovereign, army, and throne, all together: you will be both the fortunate and Fortune.

Ya Ali Madad