This Good Works Translation is made from the 1888 Arabic printed text of Kitab Bilawhar wa-Budhasaf fi al-mawa'iz wa-al-amthal al-hikmiyah. This passage gives Bilawhar's answer to Budasaf's question about why prophets and messengers come in one age after another, and why only some answer their call.

Translation

Budasaf said, "Then what is the matter with the prophets and the messengers, who come, as you have claimed and described, in one age after another, and then are cut off, and their knowledge is cut off from the people, until their traces are effaced, their sciences are forgotten, and their landmarks are unknown?"

Bilawhar said, "The parable is of the owner of a garden who cultivates it, prepares it, plants it, and sets in it kinds of crops, sorts of plantings, and colors of fragrant herbs. Then he sets all its affairs in order, not neglecting the garden.

"When the season of spring comes, the trees blossom, the flowers come forth, the fragrant herbs appear, and the shoots come up. Then the owner of the garden enters. He goes toward the side where his need is, and he takes his need from the fruits and fragrant herbs.

"So too the prophets and messengers come for their object in one age after another. Each age has an object, like the season of spring and autumn for blossoms and fruits."

Budasaf said, "Do the prophets and messengers, when they come, aim at the object for which they were sent with their call, or do they make their call general to those who answer them and those who do not answer them, while they know who will answer them and accept the law they bring?"

Bilawhar said, "Listen to a parable I will tell you. It is said that on some seacoasts there is a bird called Qadim. It lays many eggs. This coincides with a time when the sea swells and the waves multiply, so that that coast becomes difficult for it. The bird has no choice but to seek another place until that season passes and the water recedes from it.

"So it takes its eggs and scatters them through the nests and lairs of birds, one egg by one egg, among the eggs of each kind of bird. The birds brood over its egg along with their own eggs, and its chicks come out with their chicks.

"When the time comes for that bird called Qadim to return to its place on the coast, it passes by night over the lairs and nests of those birds and makes its chicks, and the others, hear its voice. When its chicks hear its voice, its chicks gather to it when they hear its voice. As for the rest of the birds, they do not turn toward it and do not answer it.

"So too the prophets and messengers, peace be upon them, make their call general to the people. Those who are of them answer them and accept what they bring, while those who are not of them turn away from them and oppose them."

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was made from the Arabic text of Kitab Bilawhar wa-Budhasaf fi al-mawa'iz wa-al-amthal al-hikmiyah, al-Matba' al-Safdari, 1888. The English body is newly written from the Arabic source.

Source Colophon

Primary source witness: Google Books volume vYacAQAACAAJ, Kitab Bilawhar wa-Budhasaf fi al-mawa'iz wa-al-amthal al-hikmiyah, al-Matba' al-Safdari, 1888, original from Harvard.

Translated passage: Bilawhar's garden parable for the prophets' seasons and the bird-called-Qadim parable, printed Arabic pages 61-63. The translated passage begins inside page 61, after the answer on the divine call of truth, and ends inside page 63, before Budasaf asks whether what the prophets bring is the speech of God and his angels.

Public source: https://books.google.com/books?id=vYacAQAACAAJ

Source Text

Arabic Text

قال بوداسف فما بال الانبياء والرسل ياتون
كما زعمت ووصفت في زمان بعد زمان ثم ينقطعون
وينقطع علمهم من الناس حتى يندرس اثارهم وتجهل
علومهم وتجهل معالمهم قال بلوهر المثل لصاحب
البستان الذي يعمره ويهيئه ويغرسه ويجعل فيه
ضروب الزروع وصنوف الغرس والوان الرياحين ثم
يقيم شؤنه كلها لا يهمل البستان فاذا جاء زمان الربيع
توردت الاشجار وطلعت الانوار وبدت الرياحين
وطلعت الطلوع فحينئذ دخل صاحب البستان ثم يتيمم
الناحية التي فيها حاجته واخذ من الثمار والرياحين حاجته
فكذلك الانبياء والرسل ايضا تجيء لبغيتها في زمان
بعد زمان ولكل زمان بغية كزمان الربيع والخريف
للزهر والثمار قال بوداسف افيقصد الانبياء والرسل
اذا جاءوا لبغيتهم التي بعثوا بدعوتهم ام يعمون بدعوتهم
من يجيبهم ومن لا يجيبهم وهم يعرفون من يجيبهم ويقبل
ما ياتون به من الشريعة قال بلوهر اسمع لمثل انا
ضاربه لك فانه يقال ان في بعض سواحل البحر طيرا
يقال له قادم يبيض بيضا كثيرا ويوافق ذلك زمان
يزدحم فيه البحر ويكثر الامواج فيتعذر عليه ذلك
الساحل ولا يجد ذلك الطير بدا من ابتغاء بقعة اخرى
حتى يذهب ذلك الزمان وينقص عليه الماء فيأخذ بيضه
فيفرقها في اعششة الطيور واوكارها بيضة بيضة خلال
بيض كل صنف من الطيور فحضن الطيور على بيضة مع
بيضها وتخرج فراخه مع فراخها حتى اذا كان وقت الزمان
الذي ينصرف ذلك الطير الذي يقال له قادم الى مكانه
من الساحل مر على اوكار تلك الطيور واعششتها بالليل
فاسمع فراخه وغيرها صوته فاذا سمعت فراخه صوته
اجتمعت اليه فراخه حين تسمع صوته واما ساير
الطيور فلا تلتفت له ولا تجيبه فكذلك الانبياء والرسل
عليهم السلام يعمون الناس بدعوتهم فيجيبهم من كان منهم
ويقبلون ما ياتون به ويصد عنهم من لم يكن منهم
ويعاندهم